Gettin' gezellig with it

So the Dutch have this word gezellig. It's an adjective derived from the abstract noun gezelligheid, and a word considered completely intranslatable yet able to encompass the very heart of Dutch culture.

NB. If I claim to be able to translate it to you the Dutchies will only moan and label me undutchable, however I'm going to give it my best shot, so shield your eyes Nederlands.

The closest description I can come up with is a kind of content comfortableness; feeling familiar; at home; snug; smiling. A place can be gezellig, a person can be gezellig, a stituation can be gezellig, hell, even childbirth can be gezellig. It can be that feeling when you're curled up in your freshly washed bed sheets watching a great movie but also that feeling as you slowly edge to the very top of a rollercoaster, when your stomach leaps into your mouth and your heart flutters at thrice its speed as you plummet into a descent. It can be looking through classic photos of high school with old friends but also discovering new faces, forming new bonds. And it's the feeling I got whilst getting a hair cut during my brief festive trip to Glasgow last week when the hairdresser asked me what it was like living in Amsterdam.

After our brief rough patch, the Netherlands and I are most certainly back in the can't-keep-our-hands-off-each-other stage of our relationship. I got a job! Those red lit windows no longer need hover in the back of my mind as I check my bank balance. And so far, it's proving to be an increasingly gezellig job. Bike number four has outlasted each of it's predecessors -  however, it does remain nameless in order to prevent any form of fondness or attachment growing. I can confidently complete a whole supermarket transaction in Dutch. I have the whole of January off university. Plus, I haven't seen any of my psychotic floormates for days.

There are things which are ongezellig however, and a bunch of my friendlies leaving at the end of January is certainly one of them. Although it means making the most of the city by scoring off their bucket lists during their final weeks, the thought of having huge chunks of my Dutch family replaced by new, incoming exchange students does not feel so gezellig right now. Another thing which is feeling pretty ongezellig at the minute is Dutch food. After a festive splurge on roast dinners, fish suppers and steak pies; croquettes and raw herring have never seemed less appealing. The idea of deep frying everything is beginning to feel pretty futile if it's not going to available to buy after 3am, and slap my wrist and call me an expat but I'm already done with mayonnaise. However, now that the Netherlands and I have learnt the art of compromise, it's imperfections are gradually becoming the things I know I'll miss like a lovesick fool if I ever leave.

So, as Wet Wet Wet oh-so-famously once said, "gezelligheid is all around me, and so the feeling grows..."

Gelukkig Nieuwjaar, kids!