"Like in Europe"

A friend who visited us in Canada kept saying, "this is just like in Europe, you don’t need to travel to Canada for this." Surely the differences are often small, but they are there.

We are back home. No, we are not. But it feels that way. It is cold, it is gloomy, and people think differently. In the restaurant, the food is served at the same time. Without plastic straws. The architecture in the streets gives a sense of familiarity, and the shops feel like they are in Lummerland. But we are in Amsterdam. Since Curacao is equal to the Netherlands in the Kingdom of the Netherlands (and about 75% of tourists in Curacao are from the Netherlands), it is the easiest way to return close to Lummerland.

Mr. Sleeve is feeling a bit weak, and we only have a short stop in Amsterdam. But it’s enough to stroll through the old town, visit some shops, take cliché photos of cheese and tulips (ceramic ones in this season) and go out to eat European food. The pizza would normally be nothing special, but it is pleasantly European – not piled with cheese and drowned in oil. No extra dipping sauce. We feel at home again. And we think that’s silly. We don’t want to feel like Lummerlanders, nor do we want to feel like “Europeans” in a pseudo-cosmopolitan way. We just want to be global citizens. But apparently, our journey has given us a sense of European commonalities – whether we want it or not.

Otherwise, it's a shame to have so little time for Amsterdam – a beautiful city with a cosmopolitan vibe and lovely buildings. The beauty particularly shows at the Amsterdam Central Station – though that also marks the end of cosmopolitanism. Since you need a ticket to get inside the station, the homeless do not find shelter here as they do at other stations.

But let’s not let the Christmas spirit get spoiled. As we upload this article, Christmas has already passed, but here in Amsterdam, we are finally feeling the holiday spirit. What tons of Christmas decorations on palm trees and cacti in Curacao could not achieve, 4° Celsius and darkness do: A feeling of Christmas is spreading. And that always feels a bit like home. We are still in another country, but within us is a strong feeling that we are heading home.

Yet we know, it won’t be long before we can’t wait for the tour to finally start again in April.