My Apartment

I am enjoying my apartment so much here, sometimes it's hard to leave. I'm on the top floor of a four story building. There is a very narrow, winding set of wooden stairs that climb up here - kind of like stairs that you would climb to the top of a lighthouse on. The apartment is an open plan design, except for the bedroom which is its own little room, and of course, the bathroom, which is private. The kitchen is nice and big and looks out onto the dining area and the living space. There is one big bank of french doors with windows and a little balcony with a sliding glass door. When I open the french door and the sliding door to the balcony, I get a really nice cross breeze. The apartment is always filled with light and the sky is always changing and visible. Even when it gets dark, I can see stars from up here. It's really amazing. If I were to live in Amsterdam, I'd want to live here.

My "landlord" is a very nice guy too. He was great about getting me a mosquito net yesterday. I was sitting down at the computer today about to send him an e-mail. I was looking up how to say "thank you" in Dutch. I knew there was a formal and informal way and was not sure which was which and which I should use. I had the e-mail form ready and had just begun my search when there was a knock on the door. It was Machiel, my landlord, who lives downstairs. He said he was checking to see how I slept. I told him I was just going to send him an e-mail. It was a very strange coincidence, so much so that I wonder if he believed me.

I then told him I found one of the little diffuser thingies for the citronella oil. He asked me where, and I told him Gouda.

He was very surprised that I went to Gouda. He asked why.

I had to tell him I was looking for stroopwafels.

I wonder if he thinks I am very strange, or just a little.

But then he told me a little about Gouda. He said there have been some tensions there with youth of Moroccan descent. He didn't tell me much, but I found it interesting that here I was in this place looking for stroopwafels, otherwise known for cheese, with a very visible old medieval center and a not very visible current social upheaval.

I don't know what the tension is about, but I am sensing that the immigrants in the Netherlands might not be as happy as one would think. I don't know why, but I can imagine.

I've definitely seen a race/class relationship in my short time here that I know so little about, I probably should not even mention it, but I will. For example the women working as cashiers at the supermarket are mostly women of color. When I ride my bike to the outer sections of Amsterdam, I see more minority communities, especially Arab (and possibly Persian, Armenian, etc). I've just noticed a difference in terms of the spaces different types of people occupy. The preppy young guys riding around in boats all seem to be the tall, blonde "Dutch-looking" ones, while those working in lower paying jobs all seem to be immigrants.

I'm guessing that the tension in Gouda all has to do with either some form of police harassment or misconduct (or the perception of it) and/or lack of economic/educational opportunities for immigrant youth. It's the same old story that I have seen again and again in my travels. No matter how bad off people in a country may be (or in this case, well off) there is always a group that is lower on the ladder, and the lower rung on the ladder is often not a good place to be not only because it is more difficult, but also because there are frequently insults dropped down from those above.

Talking briefly to Machiel made me realize how much there is to Amsterdam and the Netherlands that I am not seeing. I had no idea about the tensions in Gouda and if I had, I don't know if I would have gone, or if it would have changed my perception of the place.

Yesterday when Machiel and I were talking and I told him about my bike trip to Edam, he also told me about the town of Vondeldam being a bit strange. He said the people of the village were inbreeding and they were so strange that Edam wanted to be a separate entity, not Vondeldam/Edam like it had been. It was another one of those under the surface observations that you can only get from a local.

I like learning more about a place than just the famous sites, it's history, or shopping districts. I wish I had more opportunities to talk to Dutch people and find out some of the underlying secrets to the things I am seeing. I guess most things are not secrets at all, just things I don't know because I'm not from here, but hearing some of these stories definitely adds a depth to my experience. I'm grateful to have Machiel's perspective, even though it is only one person, it's better than none.