Hundred Days of Happiness - Week Ten
the warmth of community
Winter continues here in the Netherlands. It’s not as cold as it could be, but it has gotten down to “feels like -5C” which is quite cold and our long-johns and hats and gloves have gotten quite the workout. The “Wolf Moon” made an appearance before the dense fog settled in for a longish visit. Throughout the chilliness, we have visited with friends and reconnected with others via text and even some video calls. It has been lovely to catch up more “in person” than just status updates online which tell a very curated picture of life. Thank you to everyone who has checked in. It’s great to connect.
Monday Jan 13 - Day 65. After school drop off in the dark, I rode my bike around MaximaPark and saw the Wolf Moonset and the Sunrise. The ground was frozen and the steam was rising over the canals but the views were still stunning and it was a beautiful morning to start the day.
Tuesday Jan 14 - Day 66. Santi made some beautiful sourdough bread for the week. We gave one loaf and some salt to friends as they recently bought a house in the neighborhood and will be moving soon. Luckily, not too far away, so we will still see them. It’s a very very longstanding tradition that we were lucky enough to learn about when we bought our house in 2021 and German friends brought us homemade bread and salt in a beautiful container we still use to this day. We understand salt to represent prosperity and the wish that your life will always have flavor and bread to represent nourishment and the wish that you will always have enough food.
Wednesday Jan 15 - Day 67 The fog arrived and stuck around for a long time. It was incredibly thick, but it did lift the daily temperature a bit. I rode my bike to a friend’s house for her monthly Dutch Conversation meetup and us five immigrant women practiced speaking Dutch for a couple of hours. I really like this meetup as we all learn something and we catch up on each other’s lives and improve our Dutch.
Thursday Jan 16 - Day 68. I printed this poster and stuck it in our window. An artist from Utrecht has been offering this poster for years now and I finally found the link after seeing the posters in people’s windows all around the Netherlands. She’s offering a flag as well for a donation of €45 or more to her fundraising effort to distribute the posters around the country. The ceasefire deal between Israel and Gaza was announced and I truly hope it sticks. It was the exact same offer for the last 15 months. “Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir claimed that he had repeatedly blocked ceasefire deals over the last 15 months.” ALJAZEERA
Friday Jan 17 - Day 69. I rode my bike once more in and through MaximPark, but this time I was able to go swimming. I failed on Tuesday as I showed up too late (they closed earlier than I expected). I normally swim for 30 mins, and on Friday, I thought, how about I swim for 1km? And it took me 40 mins. Not bad, I just want to ensure that I show up early enough to make it out on time. I stopped along the way to the pool because of the beautiful scenes. The fog was thick over the canal, the vines along the “honeycomb” of the park reminded me of the thorny vines in Sleeping Beauty and the Statue of Liberty… well. It was a nice idea.
Saturday Jan 18 - Day 70. We had a dinner party with neighbors and I managed to keep the place clean after they left after DH and I spent the day cleaning together. Our friends are moving house and no longer can use the bar chairs so I tidied up the island and it can now be used as a snack bar by a certain little someone. It makes me so happy to have a clean house, I just wish I could keep it that way. Luckily, I have a great partner and we tackle the mess together, but still.
Sunday Jan 19 - Day 71. We started off the morning with an English breakfast. I had visited Kelly’s Expat shop when I rode my bike through Utrecht the previous weekend and bought Yorkshire Blend Black Tea, a pack of rashers, and a pack of crumpets. We held on to the bacon and the crumpets till Sunday breakfast. Santa put a jar of Seville Marmalade into Santi’s stocking this past Christmas. This marmalade is a long-standing family tradition my mother just wrote about. Have a read/listen, but have your hankies at the ready, it’s quite touching. So, in honor of her writing and my family, we opened the jar.
Once breakfast was finished, I went to a friend’s house to take photographs for her online presence and we had a good time talking about what she wanted and needed to convey over some yerba mate. It felt good to once again be taking photographs for others.
We had a nice family day - our son spent all day in his PJs/Onesie. DH remarked - “he is definitely your son” and I answered “true but he’s also definitely his grandfather’s grandson!!” IFKYK. We finished off the day with homemade sushi dinner and a board game of “El Dorado”. I asked our son, who will win “I will!” and he did - barely, but he did and was a happy camper.
These words by Ms Crockett resonated and so I continue to share the quiet moments of our lives in an almost desperate attempt to keep some sense of normalcy.
After all the travels and the holidays, I think to myself that my life is “too boring to share” and that is almost the point. Life should be boring in the sense that we don’t necessarily want to live in “interesting times” or “historic times”.
I wrote this in our holiday cards: “The earth continues to turn and the sun continues to rise and shine, even if sometimes behind the clouds. Goodness and light are ever present. Thank you for your friendship and community.” I mean it. We can continue to be good to each other and have each others backs even in stormy times ahead. Godspeed and good luck to everyone. Let’s keep in touch.
Music for the week and the next however long it takes…..
My last comment went away when I subscribed to the posts for a year. So it goes. I really enjoyed the pics of the sunrise. Keep swimming. Great custom to welcome new neighbors with homemade bread and salt. Jasmine Crockett email with words to live by when a dark cloud hovers between us and the sunshine beauty that is ever present waiting to cheer us up. Nice touch with Depeche Mode video. Looking forward to next week.
Lovely post Bea. Thank you for writing it out.
MXM