Our mission today was to go to the Albert
Cuyp Market and observe the different shops. It was an interesting outing and I
definitely enjoyed it. The whole market was set up down a long street and there
were plenty of tables set up in front of the shop they represented. It was
pretty much like a big garage sale or maybe an estate sale. There were clothes,
shoes, toys, fish (not my favorite of the bunch) and juice stands everywhere.
There were even a few Dutch shops which were interesting.
Once we were done exploring and
observing, we made our way to a falafel restaurant. Our pitas were delicious of
course, and the lady who served us was kind and had a good sense of humor. The
best part of our day was when we unexpectedly started up a conversation with a
lady who was sitting next to us. She said she was from the US and she was
“stuck” in Amsterdam. She went on to explain how much she detested Amsterdam
and Holland in general because there was no, “openness” This at first made me
really uncomfortable because she was so outwardly unsatisfied with Amsterdam.
But, it was actually neat to get someone else’s point of view on Amsterdam. Of
course, as tourists who have never been to Holland, we don’t see it the way the
actual citizens do. My favorite thing she said was, “Don’t mistake sex and
drugs for freedom. Freedom comes from within.” We parted our ways and we
haven’t seen her since but that quote has stuck with me. I think it always
will.
Today was a good day. It was nice to be
able to immerse ourselves in the culture by talking to someone native to
Holland. I hope I will have more experiences like this before I leave.
