Today Liam and I went to Rotterdam so I could have an information interview over lunch with one of Ivo’s colleagues who used to work here, which seems like somewhere I’d very much like to work. Unfortunately, he kinda confirmed what I thought before, that it would be difficult for me to work there because the level of Dutch I’d have to have would be very, very high. They’d had some non-Dutch people there before and it was always difficult because even though their Dutch was good, a native speaker always had to check their work. And, while they do write things in English for the EU, most EU people are not native English speakers, so it really doesn’t matter if the English in those reports is beautiful. But he said to give it a shot, so I probably will – can’t hurt really and they might have other ideas of where I could go even if it doesn’t work out. I do think I’ll need to work in English though – even though I’ve made pretty good progress in Dutch, enough that I could probably take university courses in the language, it’s not at the level I’d need to do my kind of job.
Of course, we also got to show Liam around Ivo’s work and of course everyone loved him. His colleague and I were a little late getting back from lunch and Liam had emptied the recycling and was playing on the floor with Duplo. Then, since I hadn’t been to Rotterdam yet, Liam and I went exploring, despite the pouring cold rain as we left Ivo’s work.
Luckily, by the time we got off the train in downtown Rotterdam, the rain had stopped. Weather happens quickly here. But we still kept to the plan hastily concocted on the rainy train platform, which was to go to a museum, the Schielandshius (sorry, only in Dutch) for an overview of the history of the city. The Schielandshuis is the only surviving 17th century building in central Rotterdam.
It was a cool display – it’s dark inside except for the lights which guide you along the way, through the multimedia displays and with a soundtrack (in Dutch, though they hand out printouts with much of it in English). The displays form a circle and the whole thing takes about 30 minutes, with the show repeating itself automatically every 5 minutes. Liam and I were the only ones in there, so we got to take pictures, once I thought about it. Part of the between the wars display:
A streetscape from that time, looking like many other Dutch cities.
After the German bombing:
Rebuilding in the 50s:
Then to the cafe to have a tea and feed Liam his solid food – a pleasant little courtyard in the museum:
And then to wander around Rotterdam, seeing what it’s like until Ivo got off work and we could go to dinner. Down by the Maritime museum:
And finding the walk of fame, and Meat Loaf’s not-so-big handprints (I have a secret love of Meat Loaf – the singer, not the meal):
Random public art and some old buildings interspersed in the new city:
I then found the “Chinatown” – a block or so of Chinese/Asian shops, and had fun buying things like kimchee and Korean pancake mix. There are Tokos (Asian shops) throughout the Netherlands, and they tend to have most popular type Asian things (as well as things like baking soda and evaporated milk which aren’t available in Dutch supermarkets), but I haven’t found anything Korean until now.
And finally, dinner. I was excited to try out the other vegetarian Chinese restaurant in the Netherlands since we’ve been so happy with the one in Lelystad (and it really is the only reason to go to Lelystad). This one, the Oude Plek (old place), didn’t have an extensive menu or much of the fancy “meat replacements”, but the food was really good if a little on the pricy side compared to the other.
And they did have a carved carrot carp:
