January
24-26, 2016
Like
Brussels, we spent two days in Amsterdam, the capital of Holland (or more
formally, The Netherlands). This was the perfect amount of time to see the
city.
Similar
to how I almost missed my Barcelona plane, Casey and I almost missed my stop in
Amsterdam. When the bus stopped to let passengers off, Alex got off and told us
she would wait for us outside. I collected my belongings (I’m a bag lady at
this point, with my duffle bag, chocolates, purse), and began to bundle up.
Casey was on his phone still hooked to the wifi. All of a sudden, the bus
started moving! We jetted down the stairs (the bus had two levels), and ran
towards the bus driver to tell him to stop the bus. When he finally did, we got
off in a parking lot about 30 feet away from the original stop. Alex got
worried that the bus drove away with us. So that happened. Now, of course it
was also the middle of the night so public buses were going to be rare. After
waiting about 20 minutes in the cold, we finally decided to split a taxi with
strangers. It turned out that our taxi driver was Turkish! We practiced our
Turkish and made small talk until we got to our hostel, also owned by a Turk. We
stayed at the Slotania Hostel, and shared 10 bunk-bed room with other
strangers.
Bikes – The
first thing I noticed about this quaint city was that people LOVE biking. Even
that might be an understatement. Biking is part of their soul, their everyday
life. There were so many bikers, and the public roads are feasible to this
lifestyle. Bike lanes on the road, bike lanes sidewalks, and bike parks were
common. Bikes of every color, size, and style could be found at these stations.
I am curious to compare the mortality rates of this city to other major cities
of the world. If I had to guess, these people will live longer than the average
human.
Canals – As you
may know, Amsterdam is known for its canals. The entire city is built around
beautiful canals running through it. Walk (or biking) along the water is lovely
and peaceful pastime. There are daily boat tours that attract tourists and city
dwellers alike. We didn’t go on one, unfortunately. Some of my favorite scenes of canals were those that had bikes resting against railings.
Anne Frank
House
Museum – We waited 45 minutes in a
long line before having the unique opportunity to enter the Anne Frank House,
which is now a museum (9 euros). Anne Frank is the famous young Jewish girl who
wrote a copious diary about her experiences during the Holocaust. Her family
escaped Germany and hid in this house in Amsterdam. Walking through this
tour-guided house was a chilling experience. Many of the rooms are kept the
same way as they served the Frank family. The door to the hiding place was
behind a shelf. Almost all rooms were tightly shut and windows were covered in
black curtains, permitting zero light. The rooms were dark, dusty, and small. There
were small plaques with quotes from Anne’s diary throughout the museum. In the
final area of the museum, there were short videos from WW2 and the Holocaust,
interviews with those that knew Anne, and pages from Anne’s diary on display. During
the tour, I was struck by something Anne’s surviving father, Otto Frank, said
in a video interview:
“most parents don't know really their children.” This got me thinking about how
well my parents know me. I wonder how
different my parents’ views are from my own understanding of myself. The truth
is many immigrant children, particularly Muslim-Americans, lead two lives; one
that their parents know, and one that their true friends know. I don’t think
there is anything wrong with living two lives, although it is often burdensome
to keep the two spheres separate.
Van Gogh
Museum
– Europe has so many artists! It was a privilege to visit the Vincent Willem van
Gogh Museum, which cost 17 euros. The expensive ticket was worth it to see
Gogh’s original artwork. We saw hundreds of paintings that were produced
throughout his lifetime. There were different galleries on each of three floors
of the museum. Each gallery had a paragraph of text plastered on the wall,
which introduced the time period and provided context for Gogh’s artwork. It
read in a timeline fashion; from the time Van Gogh went to boarding school in Zevenbergen,
to the time he spent in Paris, from the time he had his ear cut off to the time
he shot himself. I don’t know why amazing artists are often mentally ill. They
so beautifully capture the world around them yet almost always, their personal
lives are a mess. Maybe painters seek another reality through their artwork;
perhaps depicting the world around them is their escape from their own world. I
was inspired by Van Gogh’s work, particularly his famous paintings that include
“The Potato Eaters,” “Vase With Fifteen Sunflowers,” and “Self Portrait.” Note that Van
Gogh’s “The Starry Night” is exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in
New York City and “The Bedroom” is housed at the Art Institute of Chicago. We
were not allowed to take pictures of the original artwork at the museum, but I
have compiled them here from the Internet.
Rembrandt
Museum
– I actually hadn’t heard too much of the Dutch painter Rembrandt until we
visited this museum. His full name is Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. He is considered
one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art. Like the Van Gogh
museum, Casey, Alex, and I all experienced this museum on our own through the
audio tours. Rembrandt used a lot of oil paints, and depicted scenes from
famous stories from the Bible or Greek mythologies. I loved learning about
these contextual details when listening to the audio recordings while starring
directly at the paintings. Here is some of this artwork – we were allowed to
take pictures in this museum.
Dam Square – We roamed
around the Dam Square with food. Casey bought blue Doritos chips and Rise
Krispys; I was craving coconut water and tangerines; and Alex bought Coca-Cola.
Dam Square typical hosts large events like concerts and public gatherings. It
is a town square surrounded by nice buildings, just like Brussels’ La Grand
Place.
Other
things
– People often joke “Will you eat a brownie when you go to Amsterdam?” The joke
continues to popularize the marijuana-bearing brownies. My friends and I ate no
such thing. We did, however, walk through the Red Light District. It's really unfortunate that we did not have time to explore the "postcard beauty" of Holland, as Rashid Uncle recommended to me. Next time, insha Allah!
Hesselbein
Friend
– Our trip ended with dinner with my friend, Nauman Janjua. He is of Pakistani
origin, but has been living in Amsterdam for almost all his life. I met him in
July 2013 at the Hesselbein Global Academy conference at the University of
Pittsburgh. He was so kind to pick us up from our hostel and drive us to a
restaurant near our bus station. I wasn’t feeling too well, so I had tomatoes
soup and bread while Alex and Casey both enjoyed a burger and Nauman had salmon
fish. The four of us enjoyed great conversation. Towards the end, Nauman
excused himself for the bathroom; little did we know that he would got to the
cashier and pick up the tab. Turks often use this strategy as well, when they
want to be sneaky about their hospitality. We accepted Nauman’s kind gesture
and promised to show him American hospitality whenever he was back on the
stateside. Connections like these are worth nurturing. 