Having lived for almost 4 years in Amsterdam, one catches himself of building a routine - also for socializing. So we thought, let´s go somewhere else tonight, just the two of us.
We ended up in the flashiest pub in the East, with golden aluminum foil stuck to the ceiling from where small plastic Christmas trees we hanging upside down, the walls full of photos of smiley World Cup supporters, popular Dutch singers and the like. There we small carpets on the tables and pots of flowers. The beer was reasonable.
In the beginning, we were the outsiders, but then a gentleman sat down with another couple at our table and we started chatting. Initially, he tested out Dutch and stated that this was a homophilian (how do you say that) pub. And that he worked in the building industry. This got me all interested:
- Have you read the Fountainhead?
- No, what is it?
- A great book, about architects. About the ones that build what the public wants and those who are committed to build only what they believe in.
- I build what the public wants.
- What did you build?
- A shop in Colombia.
Ok, I thought this was not leading too far. I took a coaster and wrote down: Ayn Rand: The Fountainhead. The gentleman looked at me, smiled and put it in his pocket. Then he drank his beer bottoms up.
So we went back to awkwardly staring at each other...
After a while, it turned out that he lived 4 years in France. In a prison - he came from Colombia by boat...with some uniquely Colombian gifts on it. After another round of beers we left. I was thinking, how dangerous, we move out of our routine and run into convicts and drug traffickers.
Or...was it true at all? Maybe I was just disappointed by the initial start of the conversation and gave too much importance to my imagination....
Anyways, bottom line is, I think we should do something different every Friday. Or every day, almost, for that matter.
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