The First Big Scare

I think there is a point in everyone's field research that something goes utterly wrong and the fate of one's project flashes before the researcher's very eyes. This 'first big scare' was nothing like that thankfully but something happened yesterday that could have turned my time here very sour. Yesterday was the first day since I've arrived that I did not make extensive plans in my schedule. Usually I'm off to markets, going to festivals, meeting with colleagues, or checking out museums - something/anything to get me out of the house and into the Rotterdam life. While all of this is extremely intriguing it's starting to make a real dent in my wallet (as a Canadian student on Canadian money I really have to watch this!) and so I decided to take a long bike ride yesterday afternoon to save some cash AND to get an idea of what biking culture is all about.

My roommate showed me a nice green area around a lake and we made a route that would take me all around the city. Everything began well as I cycled along the route. I came upon sporting facilities in the park, and rode by the beautiful lake and under wonderfully old trees. There was a petting zoo with deer and ducks and geese galore! Yet, I must have taken the wrong road at some point (probably looking at the deer too long) because I ended up coming out of the park at an earlier point than I was suppose to and I thought that I was at my proper destination. Thinking I was facing south (and not north like I was) I began to cycle into another suburb of Rotterdam and not down toward the Maasboulevard like I was trying to do. Getting lost in Rotterdam has become somewhat of a pastime for myself but I choose not to mind because I've heard it somwhere before that getting lost comes before being 'found'. Yet as I rode on and on, my slipup with the directions was becoming more and more apparent to me. So while on the bike I rummaged through my purse, which I had strapped to the back of my bike, to get out the map. I cycled on for a little bit and determined that I was indeed going the wrong way. No matter, I thought to myself, I had only gone about 10 minutes in the wrong direction and I had a bike to get me back. So I turn around and start cycling back around the gas station, across the intersection, under the bridges, when I conducted my once-every-5-minute check on my purse that was sitting on the back of my bike.

I don't think I'm a very obsessive person however the straps on the back of my bike are quite loose because they're old, and so I often check to make sure that my packages (which that day only included my purse) are indeed safely stowed on the back of my bike. The only problem was that when I went to check the purse, although it was there, it was missing a couple of important items because my purse had fallen to the side of my bike and things like my WALLET had passed out of it and were left on the path somewhere (around the gas station, across the intersection, and under the bridge) behind me.

It was time for panic and heart attacks as I made the realisation, turned the bike around and rode as fast as I've ever rode before back down the bike path. Now, this would not be life and death for myself or my project. I've come prepared with photocopies of all my cards and documents and while it would be extremely annoying thing to do, everything could be replaced. Yet it was just the thought of loosing something so important in such a stupid way (if it's stolen then fine! but out of my own stupidity! the horror!) that killed me. I stopped and asked another person on the path if they had seen a wallet, "is it quite large?" I said "yes!" thinking to myself I have a Kastanza Wallet? "Then yes, I think I saw something like that back at the first intersection", he replied. "Thank yoooouuu!" I called breathlessly as I dashed away on my bike to get back to the intersection which was approximately 3 minutes away. During that ride I passed other cyclists and everytime I did so, I would give them the hairy eyeball thinking to myself that each one had picked up my wallet and were going to enjoy and nice lunch on me! But as I rounded the last corner, to my utter relief, there sat my (rather large) wallet on the path in between the road signs and the cross walk just laying there seeming to say to me: Um...forgot something?

I retraced the entire length of the path that I had traversed picking up a pen and chapstick that had also fallen out in addition to my wallet. I've come to appreciate the honesty of those cyclists/motorists on the path that day and I've decided to buy a saddlebag for my bike if for no other reason than to lessen the chance of heart attacks while in the field. I continued on along my appointed route and even made it to the Maasboulevard and eventually home. The picture above is taken from a moment's rest along the Maas. It shows the two bridges of Rotterdam. Although quite tranquil, my day was anything but. For the 'first big scare' I know I got off light as everything worked out in my favour. As I was telling my friend QueenB, I hope that I haven't used up all my luck by getting the wallet back...but if that is the case, I'll have to make my own!