Monday 6 September 2010

Spotted in the Netherlands:


It's a small world,  isn't it?

Just about a month ago I spent a day in Almere with Blogger pal Sandra, author of Presépio com Vista para o Canal. We had a fantastic time visiting a special photo exhibition and enjoying lunch together in the city centre which served to prove once more that Sandra is a fantastic host. I will soon post about this particular day in Almere more in detail, but today I wanted to share something that happened to me on my way back home.

After parting with Sandra I had just about enough time to catch my train to Amersfoort where I would take my second train back to my city - Zwolle. I took a bus in one of the new neighbourhoods just outside the Almere centrum hoping that I would make it in time to Almere Centrum, the train station.

Unfortunately, my haste made me get off one stop too soon and I had to run the remainder of the way to the train station. Totally out of breath, I climbed down the stairs to the platforms, looked for the right one, saw the train, double-checked that it was going in the right direction and happy but exhausted from the run, I jumped onto it - and just barely seconds before the conductor whistled and the train started to move.

The car I chose was almost empty so I began to relish the moment I would be able to sit down, cool down a bit and finally take out my book to read and enjoy the rest of the ride to my next destination. I chose a seat on the right-hand side but then I decided that the sun would be bothering me and I changed to the other side. Finally! I was sitting, I was opening my bag, I was taking out my book .... when something that was written on the window caught my eye. My hand froze halfway into my bag, still holding the book and my heart almost skipped a beat when I read the word: ARGENTINA!



All I could think right then was: "what are the odds?!" I took out the book, yes, but not so much to read it anymore as to create the perfect scenario for a photo - I had to share this moment! I took my camera too,  and started clicking away while the train was leaving Almere behind and traversing the polder. I took a few shots of the highway we were just passing, the fields.... until I finally saw the right kind of landscape approaching fast: Argentina (the grafitti) and the Netherlands (the mill in the distance) in one single shot.

 
After the photo session was over, I kept thinking about this other Argentinean person: what had brought him/her here to the Netherlands: love, a holiday, a business trip? I somehow could not picture a serious businessman writing a grafitti on a train window ... so he or she had probably been a student at one of the Dutch universities...? How long ago had this person sat on this very same spot, on this same train?

Anyway, even if I don't condone this kind of creative writing on public transport, finding this grafitti served to keep me musing about being far from home, about being an expat in the Netherlands. When you are living the life of an expat you adapt, you change, you become one of them in many ways, without noticing it.You go through the motions of your new life day in, day out, until things like this silly grafitti makes you stop for a moment and ask yourself, "How did I end up here?", and also realise all of a sudden, "boy, am I far from home!"

If you are an expat too, have you ever had such moments? Or if you have moved from your original city to a new one in your country: do you ever stop to think how you never imagined you would be living in a totally different place at some point in your life? How does it feel for you?

16 comments:

Claudiagibb said...

Fantástica historia, Aledys!!! Ya nos habías contado un poquito, pero escrita así tiene otro sabor...
Yo también fuí expat por un tiempo, y cuando algo me recordaba a mi tierra, me emocionaba. Tal vez por eso intentaba que no me pasara tan seguido, esquivaba ponerme sentimental. No me llevé ni un CD de música argentina, por ejemplo. Ni un libro, ni una fto vieja, nada. Quería empezar de cero en otro lugar... Y claro que extrañaba mi música y mis "cosas"... pero para mí funcionó bien así.
Me encantó la historia completa. Yo creo que por amor se hace todo lo que uno jamás se imaginó que podría llegar a hacer.
Un abrazo y felicitaciones por esta entrada. :o)

Claudia Gibson
(too lazy to write in English, sorry ;o))

Invader_Stu said...

That is a funny coincidence. It's almost like they knew you were going to sit there. Very Twilight Zone.

Aledys Ver said...

Quite right, Alison - we take our life in a foreign country for granted and then at some point we sit sill for a moment and realise how different everything around is, even ourselves!
Thanks for stopping by. :D

Aledys Ver said...

Claudia,
Yo sí traje algunas cosas, y en cada viaje traigo más... pero tenés razón, por ejemplo, hay CDs que prefiero no escuchar, o cosas que prefiero no ver para no "aflojar", como quien dice...
Gracias por pasar!

Aledys Ver said...

Claudia,
Yo sí traje algunas cosas, y en cada viaje traigo más... pero tenés razón, por ejemplo, hay CDs que prefiero no escuchar, o cosas que prefiero no ver para no "aflojar", como quien dice...
Gracias por pasar!

Orangesplaash said...

Beautiful coincidence, I must say. And I just loved your photo..Expat life does offer these kinds of "Aha" moments. I am glad you chose the right seat :)

Aledys Ver said...

Compared to your expat experience, mine jump from Argentina to the NL doesn't seem like a tremendous change, after all! You have to put up with so much more than just new surroundings, I guess.
An elephant? :D That's exotic!
And I know what you mean about corruption. It must be horrible not to be able to trust anyone, not even or least of all the police, when you are in need...
Well, hang in there, OK?

Aledys Ver said...

Thanks Arwa! I'm sure we all have these "aha" moments, as you call them ...

Aledys Ver said...

Oh dear!!! That can be annoying!
206 days till your next break or are you going back to Finland?

Aledys Ver said...

Thanks so much for sharing this! You get what I mean, then! I didn't think for a moment that it was a 'sign" or anything like that... but it was one of those moments that make you look at where you are now and how far, literally in this case, you've come!
Muchas gracias por tu visita!

JaPRA said...

Oh my goodness, that is amazing! I can almost imagine how your heart must have leapt when you saw that. How absolutely lovely :-)

Aledys Ver said...

Gracias, Gaby!! Te mando un beso!

Patricia Sgrignuoli said...

Aledys,
Algo conocía de esto, pero no había visto este post... qué lindo lo has contado y qué sensación la de ver eso en la ventana del tren... Nunca fui una "expat" pero los 50 días que anduve viajando en el exterior me sirvieron para darme cuenta que MI lugar era acá, más allá de todo... es duro estar tan lejos, pero el amor te lo deja sobrellevar (Ademas estás comunicada con tu grupete, que te mantiene al tanto de todo y está cuando aflojás aunque sea por medio de una PC)
Besos!!!

Efrutik said...

I certainly do! You put it very well actually about "how far you've come", I'm going to look at it this way much more.

Porsupuesto de nada, me gusto mucho leer tu blog!

Efrutik said...

Hahahaha Anita just saw your comment here. Thanks and definitely a camera is always a must :)

Apparently my guardian angel wants to give me money...and I gladly accept :)

Bella said...

New to your blog but I had to comment on what a lovely post this is. For me, there have been times when I have been abroad and saw people wearing tshirts with my state's sports team logo or you stop to have coffee and it turns out that the couple at the next table is from a city your know well. It's quite nostalgic!
Bella
http://gypsyroxylee.wordpress.com/