Archive for November, 2006

Irene + weekend = roadtrip + Niagara Falls, Canada. Wow.

‘Hey, I’ve got nothing to do today but smile’

Simon & Garfunkel.

 

59 years ago today my mother was born. 12 years ago today a doctor in Amsterdam told me there was a good chance I’d never walk again. Today I wore a white suit on a yacht around Manhattan and got the best tourist pictures without taking them. A day from now my mother arrives in New York to once again be in this city together. Five minutes from now I will frantically start cleaning my apartment.

Today was the New York Marathon. I saw friends of Theo running, I saw Irene’s dad running. I saw thousands of people running. Some loving it, some hating it, some happy, some in lots and lots of pain. Yet all had the same simple goal.

When I woke up I felt a bit of a sting for not being able to join them, since I didn’t get through the lottery, which is kind of okay since I tore my ankle ligaments recently. Yet the sting went away as soon as I saw others run. It was a beautiful thing to watch. So many people had an amazing day today, who am I to not join them in it? I’ll get in next year. Or the year after. The point being: I’ll run that marathon one day. And I hope it to be as beautiful as what I saw today.

A year ago today I remember strutting the streets of Manhattan, trying to understand the idiots who were now my fellow-city-people. Wow, I know New Yorkers are known for their crazy fashion sense, and I know I am not the most fashionable guy, but they are pushing it! On Halloween last year, I moved to New York. I’ve realized over the last few weeks after returning that I love this city. No other place is this colorful, this diverse, this friendly, and remarkably tolerant and European for American standards. I remember smiling the first time I realized I feel safer in Brooklyn or Harlem than I do in Amersfoort. One can look any way they feel like. In Holland, if you stick out, people will give you a funny look (my last journey to Amersfoort I cannot even count the amount of times people called me either gay or a bum ), yet here you can walk around with underwear glued to your forehead, and the most you’ll get out of a New Yorker is ‘Nice underwear, man’.

Holland is beautiful too, don’t get me wrong. I am Dutch, born and raised and proud of it. But this city is magical. If only it was closer to my friends and family. Considering the one year anniversary, it might be appropriate to also say that I am moving back to Europe in the very near future. Things are going great there, especially in Paris, hence, it has been decided. Maybe as early as early December I’ll come a lot closer to home. With mixed feelings (all positive, and one extremely negative) I welcome it. In mid-December Holland will be home again for a few weeks, since on December 15th a dear friend is getting married, and I have to see it for myself to believe it

Tomorrow night a man named Theo Eastwind is playing in my neighbor-bar. He has been making his money playing songs and selling his cd’s in the subway for eleven years now. A beautiful combination of a little crazy, full of life and being an Austrian touched me. And his music did too. Tomorrownight will be the first time to hear him in a proper (?) bar. It will be time for me to have a beer, have one or two friends, and shut up.