Class this morning involved a discussion on what we learned from our visit with Mariska at the Prostitution Information Center last night. I reported much of what I immediately picked up on the tour in last night's post, but today's discussion opened my eyes up to a few more things. For example, it costs anywhere from €85-€155 for a sex worker to rent a workspace. There are always substitutes for window prostitutes, these being brothels, private houses, or consensual, premarital, or extramarital sex with wives, girlfriends or other partners.
Last night I reported that the city of Amsterdam is launching a new project to close many of the windows surrounding the Wallen's Old Church. Prostitutes clearly are the ones who stand to lose in this situation with a decrease in business and greater competition for a smaller number of work spaces, but the landlords of buildings with those open windows have much to gain. They can charge higher rent premiums than the established 85-155 range for women seeking to use their rooms for work.
I also learned that prostitutes pay steep taxes. 30-35% of their revenue goes to income taxes, and another 20-25% goes to sales tax. (I assume the sales tax is for use of the workspace, but I'm not certain.) The difference between a stripper and a prostitute is that a stripper gets into her profession to avoid the physical contact that sex entails. A prostitute will sell her body but won't strip because she doesn't want to parade around on a stage.
Other things I learned that aren't related to prostitution are that when visiting restaurants or bars, you shouldn't ask for a bathroom. Ask for a restroom or "toileten" in Dutch. Also, European currency has a penny, but it's not used very often. It's more common for totals to be rounded and for change to be given in the nearest whole cent. In office and apartment buildings, floors start at zero. The 2nd floor is actually the 3rd from the ground and so on. The economy here seems to rely much more on cash and debit rather than credit. Hardly anyone uses a credit card. Lastly, the city of Amsterdam has its own flag:
After class I met some of the guys for pancakes at the Carousel in front of the old Heineken brewery. Dutch pancakes aren't like American pancakes. They're closer to French crepes except they're slightly thicker. The serving is only one pancake, but trust me, that's more than enough. I ordered mine with mixed fruit and whipped cream. Yum!
Afterwards, I rode back to the apartments on the back of my buddy Blake's bicycle. I'm grateful, but trust me it was not as fun as it looks...
Anne Frank House and the Dutch Resistance Museum tomorrow!
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