Gezellig it is the first word you must learn when you live here. It doesn't have one specific definition. It represents many good things combined. It means cozy, easy, friendly, relaxed. It represents every adjective which has positive connotation. Everything that makes you feel good, happy, positive, comfortable. And it works, i am telling you it does. Plus the fact that Netherlands is a small, well organized country plays a big role.
For a Mediterranean women like me gezellig is not always easy, i can't lie. Frustration, exaggeration, light conflicts are an everyday thing in my country, it is our normality, so being cool and calm in every situation its something that i have to learn! And i do try hard, most of the time!
There are so many times that i am ready to get stressed about something and then i pause and think " I am in The Netherlands, things will be ok!"
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| There is a reason that Groningen is know as the "World cycling city" |
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| Tulips everywhere, on my way to Amsterdam |
- You always get a smile and a hello from people you meet on the street and you don't know.
- The bike culture and the way bikes makes every little town alive until late at night.
- The calming and reassuring reaction of the others when i feel stressed.
- The fact that everybody will try to help me and speak English to me.
- The doctors, but only for their patience to hear your story and your pain, and, i say only because usually when it comes to diagnosis and therapy is another not gezellig chapter especially for the expats!
- The nature and the water that you see everywhere you go.
- The freedom, respect, and, trust that parents show to the kids, the Greek mum in me is working on the freedom part!
- How easy is to go to places, from the super market to a doctors office, and, how easy is to travel inside and outside the country.
So what is gezellig?
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