Bab Tuma

It's the Christmas break and we're taking it easy. The week before the break started, a chain of events led to disaster. First, as I often do, I took the kids to the Gemeentemuseum, a wonderful museum in The Hague where every Sunday there is an atelier where kids can do art workshops. My daughter has been going here for five years, and always has a lot of fun making stuff. It's for kids of five years or older, but there is a space in the basement of the museum, a kind of labyrinth with artworks and interactive multimedia spaces specificaly for kids, so I thought that while my daughter would be enjoying herself making art, Billie Stormzy and I could go downstairs to enjoy the art there. Then my partner decided to join us instead of going shopping for the week's groceries and it turned out the atelier was open for families, not just kids, so we could all go and be creative (although Billie Stormzy soon tired of that and I took him downstairs anyway). Then when we returned, we were slow to do so, and my partner decided to cook and watch the football worldcup finale, then do the groceries afterwards while I brought the kids to bed. 

Except that this only turned out to be the most crazy worldcup of the century, with Argentina leading 2-0 against France up until the 71st minute (which was pretty much around when we started watching), then within less then two minutes, Franc suddenly managed to stage a comeback and it was 2-2 for the remainder of the regular playing time. We all got absorbed by the game - although, it has to be said, Billie Stormzy was mostly absorbed by the digital clock on the top of the screen ticking away the game time - as it moved into its first and second prolongment, then was decided by penalties. Argentina won.

Anyway, all of that led to my partner going to the supermarket when it was already quite late, and we somehow missed the urgent warnings telling people to stay inside, as a sudden temperature drop meant that the roads had become incredibly slippery. I myself had already fallen twice that week while riding my bike, and unfortunately, that happened to my partner too - and she suddenly found herself standing in my daughter's bedroom, where I was reading a story with my daughter, not knowing how she got there, but knowing she had fallen on her  head. One look at her told me this was an emergency - and telling my daughter to wait for a while as I sorted things out, I started to make frantic phone calls to get medical help. Of course, we were not the only ones in an emergency, so it took about 45 minutes - during which, as I was waiting while being put on hold, I also managed to finish my bedtime reading for my daughter, so that at least she went to sleep quietly, without really realising the gravity of the situation - before an ambulance arrived and took my partner to the hospital.  

Fortunately things looked worse than they ended up being, although my partner still suffered a slight concussion and a small skull fracture, meaning she had to take a rest and I had to take care of the household, the kids, and organising an emergency hire for my department at the same time (an emergency hire that was necessary because we were going into the winter break without a lecturer for around one third of our courses, despite the fact I had been warning about this since August, but the tardiness of everyone involved meant we were still left with only four days to organise job interviews and pick our candidate, just before the entire university closed down for Christmas). Oh, and I also had to teach my course in Amsterdam. 

Needless to say I was knackered when the holidays finally started, and not really in the mood for Christmas at all. With lots of work left over, the break wasn't really a real holiday either. However, after New Year's Eve, I am now taking at least a few days off, and am slowly winding down. Before the New Year, I visited a family member in the south of the country with the kids - for the first time in years. It's one of the long tail effects of Covid. Although the Netherlands never was in full lockdown, like in France, Italy or Spain, where people weren't even allowed to leave their houses or visit people, what did happen was that we, like most people, made the circle of people we would visit rather small: immediate family (parents and siblings), that was about it for a few years. And with bigger gatherings, such as family parties also mostly off, in some cases it has been more than three years that I have seen more distant friends and family, people I would normally also only see only once or twice a year, but who have now almost disappeared off my rader. So it was really nice to make a visit again to this dear family member.

In any case, on our way back, we passed by Rotterdam, and when we stopped at its central station, Billie Stormzy asked where we were. "Rotterdam," I told him. "I want to get off here," he announced. I told him we couldn't, but he wouldn't take no for an answer, and as we proceeded towards The Hague, he was first very angry about the fact that we did not get off in Rotterdam, then very sad. And in the days that followed, he kept coming back to the subject of Rotterdam, and how much he wanted to go there. Finally, I gave in and I promised I'd take him to Rotterdam on Tuesday, much to his delight. Although he sometimes got grumpy because he did not want to wait until Tuesday - he knows the days of the week, so he also knew he still had to wait a few days, as I made my promise on Firday - he counted down the days excitedly and this morning, one of the first things he said was: "We're going to Rotterdam!" 

His sister, Rihanna Gaga, was less happy. As my partner was going to work for the first time since her fall, she had to come with us. With her usual sense for drama, she announced this was going to be "THE.WORST.DAY.EVER" and there was much crying and shouting while she got ready to join us for our trip. Then, my partner decided she would rather join us than work, and we all went to take the tram, and then the train, to go to Rotterdam. It was only in the tram that I started to think about what we could actually do in Rotterdam - and I suddenly remembered the Market Hall, a crazy building close to the centre, basically consisting of two apartment blocks bending towards each other to form an enormous tube, creating a giant covered market hall - with the windows of the apartments looking out over the restaurants and stalls below. 

This did mean we had to get out at Rotterdam Blaak, a minor station, and Billie Stormzy got suspicious when I told him we would be getting off at the second Rotterdam station, the one after Rotterdam Central Station. "I want to get off at Rotterdam One!" he demanded. "Yes," I told him, "funnily enough, Rotterdam One comes after Rotterdam Two. So first we pass Rotterdam Two, where we won't get off, then comes Rotterdam One, where we will get off." To my relief, he accepted this mind trick. "Is this Rotterdam Two?" he asked, as we stopped in Rotterdam Central Station. I nodded, "yes, and the next one is Rotterdam One, where we will get off."

And so we did. As we exited the underground station of Rotterdam Blaak, we arrived on the Kolk square, with its famous post-modern houses, a series of tilted cubes on top of massive poles, and a strange tower that looks vaguely like something out of a kid's toy set. On the other side, and right in front of the entrance of the railway station, the Market Hall towered massively over the square, and the open air market in front of it. 

Rihanna Gaga was duly impressed, saying she was glad after all she came with us to Rotterdam. Billie Stormzy, however, remained mostly unfazed. "Is this Rotterdam?" he asked. I assured him it was, and he happily trodded towards the Market Hall. We entered and had a first walk around, taking in the scents, colours and sounds of the busy place, with stalls selling spices, candy, and all kinds of exotic stuff. What engaged Billie Stormzy most, however, was a large screen over a passage leading underground, on which an art animation was showing. A short loop of balls moving through what looked like a brightly coloured abstract representation of a pinball machine. Billie Stormzy was endlessly fascinated and didn't want to move. His sister also seemed to be enjoying herself enough to remain there for several minutes. Finally, I managed to get them moving by saying I wanted to go to the Chinese supermarket behind us. The kids followed me, as I checked the shelves, hoping I could score some good instant noodles, my favourite lunch. Unfortunately, there weren't too many kinds that I liked, although they did had a nice coconut cream version that is hard to come by. As I walked towards the counter, I spotted those typical Asian plastic statues of cats moving their paws and remembered Billie Stormzy had been fascinated by one he saw a few days ago. I picked one up and asked Rihanna Gaga whether she also wanted one, to which she enthusiastically replied she did. Nice, I thought: a souvenir from Rotterdam for both of them. 

Leaving the supermarket, Billie Stormzy spotted a stall selling ramen soups that displayed plastic bottles with fruit juice on their counter. "Is that strawberry? I want one!" he said. I looked around - the place was clearly open, but there was no-one to help us. I remembered, however, that I saw a place called Freshly Chopped, just at the entrance, that sold smoothies. So we all walked back to that one. Arriving there, I ordered a strawberry smoothie, and, suddenly realising I had completely forgotten to have breakfast, a banana-peanutbutter smoothie for myself. As we were waiting for our order, Rihanna Gaga started tugging my sleeve - she'd discovered a place selling bubble tea, something we both love, although we also both seem to love the idea of bubble tea more than the actual thing, most of the time. I walked with her to the place where she'd seen this drink, and ordered the brown sugar soya milk tea I knew she liked best. Unfortunately, they didn't have tapioca balls, which both Rihanna Gaga and I prefer. The tea was made right away, and after I handed it to Rihanna Gaga, we both returned to the smoothie stall, where Billie Stormzy was throwing a hissy fit over the fact that his smoothie was taking its time, with the stall taking its name very seriously - the ingredients were indeed freshly chopped before our eyes. Billie Stormzy, however, would clearly have prepared to just have been handed a plastic bottle with factory-generated strawberry juice, or anything sweet and pink-looking, really, and was throwing one tantrum after the other. Finally, and much to everybody's relieve, the smoothies arrived. 

We sat down at a place that explicitly and on more than one sign stressed that it was solely reserved for customers of a place where we had not bought any of our drinks, and, as these things go, Billie Stormzy was much more interested in Rihanna Gaga's bubble tea, while Rihanna Gaga preferred Billie Stormzy's strawberry smoothie. No one was really into my peanut banana smoothie, which was fine by me, as it did indeed provide me, as I had hoped, with a good breakfast. "And now I want lunch!" Billie Stormzy announced. "How about pizza," I said, and he agreed that that was a good idea. Having already successfully tricked him into accepting Rotterdam Blaak as Rotterdam proper, I thought I could definitely have a go at making him accept the lovely looking Turkish pide I saw somewhere as we were walking around the Market Hall, as a pizza. And indeed, he said he very much would like that pizza, when I pointed it out to him when we had found the place I had seen: Bab Tuma . My partner said she'd share one with him, and my heart sank when I realised that the only vegetarian option was a feta cheese pide - I had my doubts whether the picky Billie Stormzy would like the taste of that. 

In any case, we ordered the pide and sat down, then Billie Stormzy announced he needed to go to the toilet. I took him with me to go and look for one, and much to his delight, it was in the underground passage with the screen featuring the pinball animation. Back at Bab Tuma, my partner and Rihanna Gaga had ordered lekkerbek, the fried fish that I really had had a bit too much already lately - Rihanna Gaga mostly for the fries I had promised I would buy for her in Rotterdam. The pide arrived, and much to my surprise, Billie Stormzy loved it, eagerly eating the little bits I fed him. Rihanna Gaga, meanwhile, was being her usual chaotic self, knocking over things on the table, dipping her hair and her sleeve in the sauces that came with the lekkerbek. When I frowned at her, she said: "I just cannot sit still, that is my problem!" I could only smile at such an apt self-description and gave her a hug, telling her that it certainly wasn't always a problem. Billie Stormzy decided that sitting still was also not for him, at least not today, and he started running up and down the passage alongside Bab Tuma, shouting "tag" whenever he reached the other side and slapped the wall with his hand. Then, he'd run back to where I was sitting to get his next bit of pide, or steal some more of Rihanna Gaga's fries. 

I myself had a few chunks of fried fish, some fries and some bits of pide, not being too hungry after my breakfast smoothie. Somewhat disappointed I would not get to eat at one of the great looking Asian food stalls around here, I accepted that this was Billie Stormzy's day out. Maybe some other time. Next to us, a large Italian family had settled, being very Italian in all the clichéd ways: loud and chatty, clearly enjoying each other's company, with lots of dramatic gestures, they were as entertaining to me as the pinball animation had been to my kids. 

Then, Billie Stormzy announced it was time to go home. This was a bit of a problem, since my partner was taking Rihanna Gaga to a large circus in The Hague, but only had to be there at three, and if we would return now, it would still be much too early. We first decided we could walk to Rotterdam Central Station, a 20 minute walk according to Google Map, but this plan was abondoned after it took us about 5 minutes to walk some twenty meters, and the kids already started whining. Instead, we returned to Rotterdam Blaak station. I had already spotted a stall selling roasted chestnuts next to the entrance, and remembered how I used to eat these a lot when I was staying in Istanbul during the winter of 2010/2011 to work on my PhD thesis while living at the Dutch Institute. I ordered a small container and the chestnuts were roasted in front of our eyes - Rihanna Gaga loved them, and the three of us together finished the container in the train back to The Hague, Billie Stormzy showing no interest.

He was interested, however, in the railway stations we passed, at each stop saying he would like to get out here. At The Hague Moerwijk, I gave in, having checked on my phone that close to this station it would be possible to jump on the tram that would take us back to Scheveningen. My partner and Rihanna Gaga continued to The Hague Central Station instead. Moerwijk turned out to be the most run-down part of the city I had ever seen - the 10 minute walk to the tram stop took us through a dillipidated neighbourhood, with front gardens filled with trash, surrounded by crumbling walls. Everything seemed to either be broken, or about to break. Billie Stormzy, however, enjoyed the walk tremendously, calling out the house numbers as we passed them. 

When we arrived at the tram stop, the first thing we saw was a tram going the other way. The little one loudly exclaimed he wanted to take that one, but it had gone already. Truth be told, I would have been fine with travelling to Vrederust - which is where that tram was going - wherever that was, but he had changed his mind again already. Five minutes later, we were on our way home.