Indische Buurt

Today I walked up to the Indische Buurt, which sort of means Indian neighbourhood, just north of the center of Groningen. While it does seem to be home to at least a small Asian community (some Asian grocery stores, Surinamese restaurants) it doesn't really 'live up' to its name in that way....no Samosa stands on every corner or anything...which would have been delicious. It's very quiet, with a lot of nice big parks with big ponds in them, and rows and rows of residential flats, one main street going through that had a lot of sports specialty stores for some reason.











two blokes I met on the street who really wanted me to take their picture. the one on the left is from Suriname and the one on the right is Nigerian.




swingin'


people had really nice little gardens and shrubbery outside their homes....


digging up the road


peeked into the hospital...looks like an airport! didn't feel like a hospital at all.

tobacco

Every so often, in the evenings, there is a strong smell of tobacco throughout the entire city, or at least the city center. I guess it's when the wind is blowing in a certain direction.

The reason for this, apparently, is:

...the Tobacco Museum (Tabacologisch Museum) of the Niemeyer company, with a unique collection of material on the history of tobacco-smoking ranging from 3,000- year-old American Indian pipes to the present day, illustrating the manufacture of pipes and displaying pipes, snuff-boxes, spittoons and tobacco jars of porcelain, silver, meerschaum, crystal and ivory....

Treasure Hunting

Every time there is a market (Tuesday, Friday and Saturday) boxes of produce that is deemed unsellable is left in the square. I found out about it one my way home from class one day. It was about 6PM (the market closes at around 5) and I saw an older gentleman rummaging through what looked like trash. Slowing my bike to investiate, he handed me an avocado, in perfect condition, and I was hooked. Since then, I have been going after almost every market. You would think that the students would pounce on this stuff, but they don't seem to care. They pass by on their bikes, often looking judgmentally at the people who are doing it, who tend to be young hippie couples, older anti-establishment types, and other intelligent people in general. My grocery bill has been cut substantially since I discovered this ritual.

Here's some of the loot I've picked up:

6 red peppers, 1 Canteloupe, 2 Avocados, 1 apple, 1 tomato, 1 mango


1 cucumber, a box of cherry tomatoes, 1 tomato, 2 potatoes, 1 orange, 1 red pepper, 2 chilis, 3 canteloupes, 2 papayas, 3 peaches, 1 apple, 1 kiwi


2 boxes of blueberries, 1 box of rasberries, 2 bundles of white asparagus (there were crates and crates of these!1), 3 heads of lettuce, 4 tomatoes, 2 onions, 1 box of mushrooms, 2 potatoes, half a zuchinni, 1 banana, 1 mango

Amsterdam.

Spent a glorious weekend in Amsterdam. A reunification of sorts of several different characters I've known throughout my life, Chrissy of course being among them. Gotta love Amsterdam, though, walking along the canals at dusk, the rows upon rows of warmly lit curtain-less windows, where every so often you see someone going about their evening, reading a book, cooking; they must be so used to being watched by the people walking by.

Two museums (and a purchase of a Dutch museum card, 22 Euros and good for one year for entry to almost any museum in the country): Anne Frank and Van Gogh, two prominent figures of Dutch history, but forewent the zoo (it was too near closing time) to instead hang out in a park of geese and ducks. Sore calves and knees from all the walking (next time will bring bike!) and quiet evenings in playing chess in Jamie's 2-floor flat, conveniently equipped with 4 single beds.

Bike Ride to the Lake

There are two lakes just 20-30 minutes South of the town. I believe you can swim in them come summer. I biked out there to check it out.









Also visited a houseboat for the very first time the other night. Sometimes they are rented out to students. The bedrooms are very very small but the living spaces are quite large.






This is the tiny toilet which you have to pump by hand to flush.


This is house from outside...


In other news, I finally saw No Country for Old men here:


Kind of what I expected, a slick, violent, good vs. evil thriller, about crime, revenge, heroism, and doing the right thing, from three perspectives: the 'law', the conscienceless criminal, and the guy who accidentally gets caught up in it all. With western tones, thoughtful performances (Javier Barden, Tommy Lee Jones), and the usual Coen brothers sharp wit, it is thoroughly entertaining and suspenseful...out of the (somewhat bizarre) nominations for Best Picture this year, it definitely stands a chance and probably deserves to be there.

Also, I discovered last.fm, a 'radio' station where you type in an artist and it will play similar artists for you until you type in something new! Fun.

Past the one week mark...

I have now been here for 9 full days. I did end up participating in the Introduction week and while most of the activities were not really my...style...there were a few interesting things, like today we did some mini workshops: model united nations, debating, and film basics (didn't really learn much except where the best video store in Groningen is). It's funny that I chose this town to come to. It's really a student town, and I'm not really the type to appreciate that aspect of it. It's probably like Kingston or London, Ontario, but in Holland. But I do like it, and I'm sure that in time I will discover the finer things it has to offer. I liked the idea of a small town, but just wasn't prepared for all this student madness. I am, however, a great fan of Dutch society. They seem to be a liberal, tolerant people and I have so far only had positive encounters with native Hollanders.

Not much in a writing mood, so this one will be mostly photos:

this guy was just hanging out in the middle of the sidewalk

my bike!

this beer was given to me in a bank...as a refreshment when i opened an account. they wouldn't let me take a picture of the bank but i'm not lying!

this is the main clock tower here, useful for finding your way, and also the biggest one...in holland...or something

the synagogue in Groningen, very old. There are bronze moons and stars in the cobblestone leading up to it.

the Groningen red light district. there are prostitutes here too, i just found out.

a terrible 'Japanese' restaurant where there was a dinner for all the International kids.

this is the biggest bar in Holland, Drie Gezusters, which means Three Sisters. 4 buildings, 3 floors, and revolving bars apparently.

I think this guy might be on a South American soap opera. this girl is from France and is really sweet.

@ the museum


played a few games of pool with this American guy, Greg.

the organ grinder. he's there every market day (Tuesday, Friday, Saturday)

here is a couple of Internationals...from L to R: Julien from France, Mia from Finland, Massimo from Italy