With mouth caps the hearing impaired is out of speech
door Mariëtte Spierings, werkzaam met slechthorenden in onderwijs en zorg, Amsterdam
27 May 2021
Will you choose a sunflower, a rose or a peony? That is the question you can expect when entering the Bloom Bar. During the three-day dating event in the courtyard near Singelpark, people are dating with the help of flowers. Rosalie Schilder from Wij Zijn Amsterdam (We Are Amsterdam) is here to find out how it works.
At the Bloom Bar everyone who is open to meeting someone new is welcome. When entering you can choose a flower. People with the same flower choice are given a table together.
Meeting each other is of course wonderful, but how do you start a good conversation? To help you the organisation has provided cards on the table with possible questions. Matchmakers David Boot and Lamin Sawaneh are also walking around to facilitate the conversations.
‘If people have no idea of how to start a conversation, we will help them.’ Lamin has a golden tip. ‘Just ask: when was the last time that you had a good conversation with a random person?’ Lamin says that this often sparks a good conversation.
Many people were forced to reduce the number of meetings during the corona pandemic. Now social life is slowly starting up again, you can see that for a lot of people this is a relief, according to initiator Daan Langstraat.
‘People are craving real contact and this is a bit different to a dating app. We are happy to offer people the opportunity to meet each other spontaneously, now that it’s possible again.’ A visitor agrees: ‘To look someone in the eyes is easier in real life than via an image on an app.’
by AT5