Expats are good to find

It’s all well and good to go for full immersion in a new culture, but I have found such joy meeting expats in this multinational city. I’ve just come home (slightly tipsy, in fact) from a fantastic dinner with a fellow Canadian I met at a recent book club (held at Waterstone’s: “The source for Books in English” as the ad line has it). It turns out we both did our undergrads in Montreal and trained for Secondary teaching at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Moreover, as the evening wrapped up, we realized we take the same tram (aboveground light rail- excellent system) home; get off at the same stop; and…wait for it…live on the same street. We had first rate conversation and made plans to do more together.

I’ve been reflecting that it stands to reason that the expats who find themselves drawn to living abroad and to this city in particular are likely to be kindred souls on some level. For starters, a measure of adventure is likely to be shared. Perhaps I will resolve to guilt myself less about all the foreign nationals I’ve met in proportion to native Amsterdammers and simply enjoy the fantastic range of individuals I am meeting on a daily basis. They do constitute an entire third culture (or many layers thereof, if you prefer).

As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been spending much of my time sitting in cafés reading and writing poetry etc. I’ve neglected thus far to mention all the varied people I’ve met at these cafes. There’s the Greek man with a Bulgarian/Polish/German/Dutch partner (she speaks all of the above, plus English) who has given me excellent travel advice. There’s an extraordinarily intuitive musician (an artist, really, in the broadest sense) originally from New Zealand with whom I have begun some collaboration, and the sweet Dutch man with his South Carolinian wife who work with the city’s down and out. I have been blessed by these lives and am grateful for the different kinds of light they shine on my life as I engage in my daily navel gazing! If traveling doesn’t change a person in their essence, the mere fact of a broadened perspective must make a person more gracious, more able to love, more aware of areas for growth. Again, I am grateful for all those I’ve met thus far.

More must be said about the café itself in which I find myself so often during the week. But I don’t feel like writing about that right now, as I am sleepy!