For the last few weeks things have been really tight here financially. With our trip to Canada and our end of year bills, we were so broke we squeaked. Thankfully things turned around the other day when money we were waiting for had come in. I’ve been on a huge cross stitching kick lately and wanted some new new threads, so I looked online for somewhere that I could get a deal on them. In the shops they are approximately 1,25 euros but I found someone online who had them for 35 cents each! Woot, I love a bargain!
I emailed the guy ahead of time and told him what colors I needed, then we made arrangements for us to go pick them up in the evening.
We drove for ages trying to find the place where he lived. I thought since it was near the Euromast that it would probably be a nice neighbourhood. Shows what I know!
We went by an area that was really beautiful (Delftshaven), but like most places in Rotterdam, you can be in a really nice area one minute, cross a street and you are in the slums.
When we found the place, it was absolutely horrid. Garbage everywhere, dodgy looking people walking around… and oh lord was their house a dump. I don’t mean like don’t have a lot of money so they can’t afford a snazzy flat kind of dump, I mean dirty dishes, laptop covered in ashes, stinky, messy, filthy dump. It quickly became apparent how I was getting these things so cheap… god knows how these people got their hands on it!
As I stood in the little ghetto house passing the toothless man money while he handed me a plastic baggy containing the goods, I felt like I was doing a drug deal. The surroundings just didn’t suit something as innocent as cross stitch floss.
After we returned to the car and locked ourselves in, we looked at each other and knew we were both thinking the same thing. Lets get the hell out of here! With a few words from The King … in the ghettoooo, and discussing if the discount was worth it (we decided it was), we made for home as quickly as possible.
I honestly felt like I was about to have my own little real life version of Judgement Night. Anyone who has seen that movie should know what I am talking about. It was like one of those scenarios where you go somewhere for an innocent purpose and end up taking a wrong turn into a bad area where the locals can see you coming a mile away. Then you spend the entire evening running and hiding in abandoned buildings, praying for sunrise, while scary looking men with knives and guns are hunting you down like a pack of wild dogs.
I’ve decided that the next time I buy from this dude, I’m totally going to have him mail it to me. No way I’ll risk ending up floating face down in the Maas just for a bit of string.
Tammy,
That sounds like it made for an interesting night. I am glad to read that your night ended better though then the ending in Judgement Night…That was a good movie.