Off the Tourist Track

Luke has been here for a little over a week now and so we're now doing those lesser known activities for visitors to Rotterdam, which include:

Trying to stay warm while walking through new neighbourhoods in Rotterdam North:
Little bit of ornithology. Many of the avian wildlife were in cramped quarters starting at the beginning of this week since much of their canal and lake spaces have frozen over. It made for good photo shots though!
Well, this is still a bit tourist. Luke and the windmills (and if you look closely, me in the glasses reflection).

Watching the national waterpolo finals! Our team won - thank goodness, and apparently we're all famous because we sat in the V.I.P section (thanks to Malt) and were right behind where the teams were sitting. While I felt important, the coach made a better door than a window.

Our inclusion in the V.I.P area also won us some new shoe attire! Luck us! This is me and Vespa looking gorgeous as you can see.

Winter Quiet in the Neighbourhood

As a researcher of space and place it is interesting to note some of the differences around life in the neighbourhood, when something like seasonal weather changes take place. I was finally getting use to all the daily screaming and racket produced by the children on the playground located next to my building (I know, I sound like the grinch), but since the heavy snow fall, I’ve heard hardly anything at all. As a child growing up in Canada and as someone who is use to the quiet that winter snow can bring, I am a bit surprised to find the same kind of quiet here where I was sure that such a large and uncharacteristic snowfall, coupled with the fact that today is the first day of winter break, would bring children out in droves! Yet, there were hardly any children to see. In fact, the only ones that I did see were being pulled around by their parents on sleighs (there are no hills in our area to speak of but this also looked quite fun). This is not to say that playing in the snow doesn't exist. Numerous snow-people, snow families, and at times just big snow balls have popped up over night along our sidewalks so it seems as though the engineering spirit still abounds.

Another notable of the seasonal changes are, as mentioned in an earlier blog, the Opzommer trees that are now fully adorned with ornaments (some made out of cardboard and foil while others are replete with thin board cut-outs of the Opzommer symbol that I assume were provided by the same bunch). An interesting detail to these Opzommer projects is that most of these trees have lights in them and that one house nearest the tree must take the responsibility (and the charge?) for lighting it each night. I'd be interested to learn who does this and why? At the very corner of my street, the doctor's office is paying for the lights. This tree however does not appear to be for the residents of my street but for the lane that we come off of.

Finally, and with Luke's insight, it has now become apparent to me that this level of snow has be somewhat debilitating for travelers in Rotterdam. While there are less bikes on the roads, there are still those brave enough to cycle. Even this is tough as the snow creates slippery roads and decreases the speed of one’s trip. Most of cars here are snowed into place and many get stuck on the smallest of inclines due to their rear wheel drive systems or lack of snow tires. Luke and I helped push one car out of it spot today and felt sorry for many others. As I write, Pdot is currently stuck in Utrecht where he went on Saturday because the trains were and are sporadically running (the NS website asks that passengers try not to take the train for today) and Luke and I check on the status of planes at the Schiphol airport every so often since we leave for England in just a couple days. Even with all the setbacks, Luke and I watched cyclists, pedestrians, drivers and trams narrowly avoid one another as they traversed an intersection bursting with snow and activity today while sitting in the Nika Coffee Corner.

So in reflection, I think it's a bit of both. My neighbourhood seems to be full of business and activity in certain commercial areas and somewhat devoid of it in the more residential areas. It's my impression that the people of the neighbourhood are spending more time getting together at private parties and gathering with their families. As it stands, most of my neighbourhood group events are scheduled to start up again in January and even those events planned by the city appear to be waiting until at least New Years to begin anew. So from this, I get the feeling that Rotterdam has only slowed and not stopped. Either way, it makes for a nice bit of winter quiet.

Giving Credit Where It's Due

So the people of the Netherlands can all thank Luke for the wonderful weather he brought over with him. I guess he thought that he might miss the white stuff over Christmas as he left Canada for Europe and as it turns out, Father Winter felt like obliging him. To lend evidence to this point, I've included two pictures take of my street from my balcony window. Would you care to note the difference?

This is the usual scene when I live here:

This is the scene yesterday, days after Luke's arrival:

Ships Ahoy

Luke and I walked down to Wilhelminaplein yesterday which is one of the areas around Rotterdam's harbour. In our snow gear (because it's still snowing and cold here), we walked out onto Wilhelmina Pier to take in some of the extremely interesting architecture like the raging red Luxor Theatre, KPN's 'Piano' building (this 98 metre tall office building has a front facade that tilts away from the building at an angel that matches the suspension cables of the nearby Erasmus Bridge or the Swan Bridge as I noted in an earlier post), Las Palmas (which is the Foto Museum that we both thoroughly enjoyed, especially their 'This is War!' exhibit), and Hotel New York that once used to be the headquarters of the Holland-America transatlantic shipping company is now both a kitchy hotel and restaurant. In the midst of these sites we stopped for a coffee at the Cafe Rotterdam, which is a cafe located in the Terminal Building for the Holland-America Line that although ruined during the 1940s bombing was restored to an impressive concrete structure of six shell roofs and floor to ceiling glass walls. Yet, none of this most stunning architectural feats really impressed Luke. Instead, he was impressed by the ocean liner that was docked at the harbour that was as grand as it was huge. Working cranes, men walking around in hardhats and steel toed boots occupied our conversation while we sat and sipped our strong coffees. It was like we were back in Sudbury watching 'Big Machines' on the National Geographic channel except we were getting a much more up front view. As long as we were both dazzled at something, my abilities as a tour guide remain intact!

Winter Wonderland

To date, Luke and I have spent a couple days in Amsterdam trying to avoid large crowds (quite a feat but if one tries to avoid the Damrak their chances are higher), one day taking in the sites of Gouda during their annual Christmas Tree Lighting festival with my family, one or two days in Rotterdam showing him where I live, the places I go, and introducing him to the people I spend time with here in Rotterdam (and beyond). Yet, with all this crucial planning, there were two events that I just could not plan for...the bitter cold and the snow. Now you'll say, "why would two Canadians have an issues with either of these?" Well, it probably wouldn't be as much of a problem if Luke had been able to come prepared. But days before he came I said to him over the phone, "Just so you know, it hasn't really dipped below 11 degrees during the day so I don't think you need to bring your big winter jacket. Seriously, you won't need it." And what happens? On the very first day that he arrives the temperature drops, the wind picks up, and then we wake up to this scene this morning:

I know, it looks more beautiful than horrible, but the point is that I'm still dragging Luke around to see the sites of Rotterdam with only his leather jacket, no gloves or toque (hat for non-Canadians), and with only one sweater to warm him. Oops. I'll take responsibility on this occassion (it's probably good that I'm somewhat publically declaring this).

In any case, my research concerning Rotterdam neighbourhoods has not stopped (although it's definitely declined somewhat). Just yesterday Luke and I were walking about our neighbourhood taking pictures of the Opzommer trees. What are these? During the month of December, the local government has been advertising for different communities to take advantage of government funds to decorate their neighbourhoods for the Christmas holiday season in the form of large pine trees. These trees are then decorated with ornaments and lights by residents living on a particular street. The importance of these trees is that, from what I understand, individuals or families from one street must get together and request this tree. This action in itself is showing a certain amount of community belonging among neighbours. It might also be the case that local schools or neighbourhood organisations also request trees and hold events to decorate these trees so there is a chance that these trees have less to do with the surrounding neighbourhood. After it is requested, the tree is then decorated (although I haven't seen this in action), but this event is also a means by which to bring people together (regardless of the requesting insitution) and just one of the many events that the Opzommer money (government money) funds throughout the year. This activity has raised some questions for me.

For example, what sort of community networks and feelings of belonging exists on those streets without trees? Is there no tree because there was a lack of resources? Was it because of the choice of decoration and the particular holiday (Christmas) that made certain residents not participate? Was it the method of advertising (ads in local newspapers and bus/tram stops)? For whatever reason, there are some streets with beautifully decorated trees (or trees at all) and others without. In any case, this is something that warrents further attention. At least the snow at this point is spread around equally.

Guess who's here?!?!

Yep, it's been 3 months and 1 day since I've seen my partner Luke and it's been tough. Actually, after the first week or two (maybe three) away you get back into the mode of being by yourself and living life according to your own rhythum - marching to your own drum beat. This feeling builds and although you miss one another, life goes on. I noticed that in the weeks before we saw one another again, I started to feel the pangs that I felt in the first few weeks. I realised just how much I had missed him as I waited anxiously at the gates in Schiphol for him to arrive. To the left is a picture of a very tired looking Luke after a 12 hour trip from Toronto to Chicago to Amsterdam. Unfortunately, he sat beside a lovely woman who had some sort of deep chest cold that kept him up most of the night.

Although I gave him a coffee the minute he touched down and have proceeded to fill and re-fill him full of coffee during all day light hours, he's still in the process of conquering jet-lag as is evinced from the photo taken moments ago on the right.

Bridges of Rotterdam

Picture taken from : http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/images4/212vm_WillemsBridgeRotterdam.jpg
Willemsbrug was built in between 1975 and 1981 to accommodate more traffic in between Rotterdam North and South. Its deck is held aloft by a system of tie rods attached to two V-shaped steel towers the colour of red lead (Historical information was taken from Architectuurgids Rotterdam that was a present from Audi on my birthday! Thank you Audi!) .

Picture taken from : http://www.archi-europe.info/Archinews/032006/2portrait.jpg

The Erasmus Brug built between 1990 and 1996 as 'a bridge for the 2000s' and was dubbed the Swan on account of its white colour and because of its angeled pylon that can be conceived of as a swan's neck.

Finally, in October there was an event put on by 'YourCity09' in Rotterdam Zuid called 'I Bridge You'. I have found another blogger that has covered this event impeccably. Please visit: http://observatoriumrotterdam.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html

Questioning One's Interest

Often in the field I am analysing the direction of my project, which at times can lead to my questioning the entire purpose of my project! All of this is actually good in my opinion because it allows me to tweak it or its direction when necessary. I try not to be obsessive over it for fear that I'll never get anything done but when, for example, explaining my project to others, certain things tend to peak my interest in ways I have yet to come across. Yesterday was one of these times.

I met with another scholar yesterday who asked if I would provide him with a quick run-down of my project, something which I have done many times before and so I began: 'Well, my project looks at how individuals interact, connect to, and have an interest in certain public places. I've decided to use the neighbourhood as one means by which to understand how unique individuals connect with one another. So I will be looking into why certain connections happen in the neighbourhood? And why that is. What interests there are, etc. etc.'.

My answer prompted another question from him: 'But what then is the difference between places and spaces?' Oh, well...'In my usage of the terms, places are specific areas that are involved with human understandings, experiences, or are connected to humans in some way. Spaces are those areas that have no immediate connection with particular or group of individuals. Those in-between or container areas'. I then explained that I was also interested in learning how public places and the understanding of what proper behaviour within these places were (as conceived of by those in positions of authority). And that I also wanted to understand how these places were used in accordance with or contradiction to these more official understandings by different and unique individuals. Finally (I swear), I also wanted to know how the physical make-up of places affected one's use, and understanding of that space, as well as how and when this usage changes. For more theoretical background see Henri Lefebvre's 'Production of Space'. If you can't tell already, I had many exam questions on this topic. If it makes your head spin it's alright, I still don't have it all worked through either.

This however, brought up another question in my own mind: how can I know whether or not the people that I speak with from the neighbourhood are actually interested in their neighbourhood or just involved because of their proximity to activities that happen to fall within neighbourhood jurisdiction? Is the neighbourhood important? If it is not, does that matter? Right away I thought that there are some people, like those who belong to the neighbourhood association, who are pretty easy to peg in terms of their preliminary ideas about the importance of the neighbourhood. They're heavily involved in the administrative activities of the neighbourhood because they're interested in its outcome/future. But what about others?

So I decided to look up the definition of 'interest' to see whether or not my new lens (that of the neighbourhood) would stand a test of importance. Is the neighbourhood important in its own right?

The following are different definitions that I received from dictionary.com with examples and explanations from my fieldwork.
1. Interest: the feeling of a person whose attention, concern, or curiosity is particularly engaged by something. For example, she has a great interest in the affairs of her own neighbourhood. Yes, I've met some people like this, genuinely interested in the future of their own neighbourhood whether it be for personal or other reasons.
2. Interest: something that concerns, involves, draws the attention of, or arouses the curiosity of a person. It is true. The idea of ‘neighbourhoods’ and the categorization of certain neighbourhoods as either good or bad, has produced more discussion about neighbourhoods in the Dutch media. Supposed 'problemwijken' have become a matter of debate (in terms of what to do about them) since a list of those offending neighbourhoods was leaked to the press in early 2009.
3. Interest: a concern. The fact that there are newly instituted Stadswacht which is a security group that walks around problem areas, who are not the police, but are in charge of the moral order and with providing security and atmosphere on the street (but are only present in certain neighbourhoods) is an interesting example where interest turns to concern (although I'm sure this can be interpreted differently).

So to answer my own question, yes, I believe neighbourhoods are becoming an important topic in the Netherlands. As a physical place, many unique individuals come together through different interest programs which allow me to look into processes of interaction between individuals and groups within places and interaction between individuals and their environment. Now does everything that individuals living within a certain neighbourhoods do, constitute as something 'of the neighbourhood'? Certainly not! But as a lens, the neighbourhood and different interests (whether personal or group) within and concerning the neighbourhood are one avenue by which to understand use of place and ideas concerning belonging and involvement.

Not that any of this is concrete as of yet. Ask me next week and I’ll probably give you another take on the matter. For now, I’ll continue to think about it.

Sounding of the Alarms

On the first Monday of every month, an alarm sounds from towers strategically placed throughout Rotterdam to warn of an impending threat whether it be from a chemical spill in the wharf, the failure of a dike, or an air raid from a neighbouring country (this last reason is of course a bit dated). Now if this alarm happens on the first Monday of every month then it's just a drill. Schools and related emergency programs get to practice their emergency procedures and life is allowed to return to normal.

For someone who has not been brought up with this knowledge, the siren is frightening! What first came to mind the first Monday in October (I arrived in mid September) was an air raid. I was so confused! Through Second World War movies, I had been trained to recognise this sound (or at least imagine this sound) and as the siren wailed, I walked through the apartment and looked out the windows for the sight of panicking people and flashing lights in the streets. I also began to wonder what the emergency numbers (the 911) of the Netherlands are and why I hadn't thought it important enough as of yet to learn any. I racked my brains about what this alarm was trying to tell me to do, do I run and hide, just run, just hide? Eventually it stopped and after some time I returned to my work convinced the school next door was having a fire drill.

Pdot returned home for a trip yesterday and was home today, the first Monday of the month, when the siren when off. 'That siren! That's it! What does it mean?' I asked. I had tried to describe this siren before to him with no avail. 'Oh that!' he said and started laughing. After explaining the possible threats (see above), he told me matter of factly that if I hear this sound on another day besides the first Monday of the month that should 'get inside somewhere, lock the doors, close the windows...and turn on the radio'. He said it just like that. 'The radio?' I thought, turn on the radio as oppose to turning on the computer, television, or mobile phone with internet capabilities? From my understanding, this siren was created during the Second World War to warn of the very real threat of bombing attacks on Rotterdam (Rotterdam city centre was in fact leveled during WWII) and the procedure continues to be reinacted today, on the first Monday of every month. Although it has morphed to include other threats such as environmental disasters, its history remains pertinent through how Dutch children are educated about the sirens and of course through the history of the city that one can see in its post-war architecture.

Just an interesting point to ponder as a stranger living in another country. Past histories are not always lying low waiting to be uncovered but get up in your face and bark loudly. Here's to hoping that a natural disaster (or national emergency) doesn't happen on the first Monday of the month...yet another question unanswered!