Waar is thuis?
If you asked me now where home is, I would most likely say that home is ‘The Netherlands’.
Which has nothing to do with where I was born or where I live at the moment, but more to do with where I feel at home.
Before we left The Netherlands there were a few things that annoyed me a bit; and the missus a lot.
To name a few things; the Dutch can be somewhat oblivious to others existence, so you had to get used to shouldering your way through a crowd. How the taxes are done, how to contact your bank, how to contact the government, etc, can be very time consuming, bureaucratic and slightly backwards compared to other countries; and that can be extremely frustrating. Trying to learn Dutch can be annoying, as the slightest mispronunciation will make all Dutch either not understand you or switch to English instantly. And it seems a bit dirty there at times.
These annoyances makes me feel like a grumpy old man when I think about what I loved and miss about The Netherlands.
One unique thing with The Netherlands is that this country is like a well oiled machine, a machine that only keeps going thanks to the oil, and that oil is called chaos. It is something you might not notice when you visit The Netherlands as a tourist, but when you live there you will. The government, cities, society, companies, etc are in a perfect symbiotic state with each other thanks to chaos; and I love it! It is very difficult to explain, but this chaotic way of life is absolutely wonderful. It makes me feel alive!
Another thing you will notice is that the phrase ‘stranger danger’ do not exist in The Netherlands. You will never feel like a stranger if you live there. It is true that the Dutch are very family orientated and it sometimes can be difficult to be part of a family or a group of Dutch friends, but they are still very friendly towards outsiders. On a Sunday morning you will most likely be greeted by a stranger having a walk, or you might end up having a chat with a stranger on the train like you have known each other for years.
In a strange way you are expected to be part of society if you live there, which is a good thing.
What amazes me is the architecture and strong will and force to protect their old houses, doing all they can to preserve history. I could walk around Haarlem and Amsterdam for hours just to enjoy the old houses. I don’t know why, but I just love the architecture and how everything is so cramped.
A Dutch colleague if mine told me that she always misses how ‘the houses are hugging you’ when she travels. Untill I moved I did not understand the meaning of it. I miss those hugs a lot now.
Even if our neighbour in Haarlem was a complete arsehole, I miss my our apartment. The design, the location and the rent. Everything was perfect.
What also might make me miss The Netherlands this much is because our lives have changed so much. It is of course awesome that the missus is doing what she wants in regards to study, but she is so stressed out about it and even uncertain she will be able to pass the course; which puts a lot of stress on us both. On top of that I am still struggling with finding work, and not to mention trying to find out how to be able to study to become a journalist.
Working at a call centre isn’t always that inspiring, but in The Netherlands we had at least a nice home, an income so we could generally do whatever we wanted and we where actually much more happier there because of that economical freedom.
I can only hope this is just a bit of rough patch for us both and that the outcome will be amazing.
I also know we won’t be moving back to The Netherlands to settle there, but I can only hope we can at least retire there one day.
Ik zal handhaven.
Note: Again I clicked ‘Save Draft’ and was asked to login again, to find out I had lost a whole article. So I am sorry if this is poorly written, but I tried my best to re-write it from memory.
