It's this ...
You arrive and you're not really welcome, a foreigner under a dark cloud of suspicion, that one of wanting into Europe like so many others probably and cluttering up this country already over-flowing with people. So it is that you run the gaunlet of District House and if you weren't grumpy before you're furious afterwards.
And it might be that you initially went angrily into the new world you found yourself in but slowly, over time you began falling a little in love with this country not your own and one day, quite suddenly, you turn a corner and voila, there's an alleyway and it's beautiful and this stad feels like home.
I left New Zealand mid-2003, bound for Istanbul and a new lif. After two years, a Belgian guy lured me into his world, deep in the heart of Europe. For a long time I was an in-process immigrant. One day we married. These days it's about photography, a little red wine and wandering ... and so the journey goes.
see i feel like that often here and that's ok. being an outsider or an alien does have it's advantages sometimes.
ReplyDeleteThat just gave me goosebumps - such a beautiful observation!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know you were an outsider, Van. You seem like you fit there perfectly but then again, maybe you're one of those people who fit anywhere :)
ReplyDeleteDank u wel Inge, that was a lovely compliment :)