Yeah for free wireless!

It's about time! The cafe across the street from my hostel has free unsecured wireless. Ah... Feels so nice. :) So I posted new food entries over here. Hopefully, I'll get more up before I go to stay with my cousin.

And now I'm going to go off on aggressive men who have tried to pick me up. I hate to say this, but they have all been of Middle Eastern descent. They usually call me baby and assume that I need some sort of help. The last time I was here in Amsterdam, I was 18 and didn't know how to handle a man (that I didn't know) trying to dominate me. This Moroccan guy with mummy skin, missing teeth, and Michael Bolton hair hung out at the coffee shop my cousin's friends were based out of. One day he followed me from there to a pizza place on the Damrak and insisted that I come with him in his car to "see the country." I was terrified, but I didn't know how to make him go away, other than to make lame excuses about why I couldn't go to the country. Finally, the girl behind the counter screamed at him to leave me alone and he left. I was so scared that I stayed in my hotel room for a day afterwards.

So this morning I was in the Gare du Nord in Paris and this Middle Eastern guy was talking insistently to this northern European girl (in English). I overheard only bits and pieces, but enough to figure out that she wasn't sure she wanted to leave with someone she had just met to stay at his place. I asked her if he was a problem and he immediately answered that he was her friend and that he's trying to help her and that I should mind my own business. I looked at her and said, "You're okay?" She looked at me, a little confused, but not upset and nodded. So I figured, all right that's her choice. Then the guy went and told his friend what I'd done, so this other Middle Eastern guy launches into me about how I should mind my own business and not interfere with others, etc. I said that there was nothing wrong with helping someone if they needed it and that she said she was okay so the situation was over so stop talking to me. He said, "You shut up first." Then I told him to go away several times and went back to reading my magazine.

What I should have said to guy number one is: "It doesn't matter if you're upset. I asked her." And then I should have talked to the girl more, maybe. What I should have said to guy number two is: "What business is it of yours if I asked her if she was okay? That's between me and her."

Rarrrrrr....This bothered me all the way to Amsterdam.

Anyway, Amsterdam is like I remember it, only warmer and livelier. My cousin is thinner and only a little grayer. And I am so looking forward to relaxing! I've been here before (this is time number 4) so it isn't like I have to cram everything in in a short amount of time. There's tons of time to lay in the park or watch people pass my sidewalk bench. Or write all of the food blog posts I've got backlogged. :) *sigh*