We have arrived

Since my first visit to the Netherlands as a bright-eyed youngster backpacking the world, I wanted to live here. Every face looked like someone from “back home”. The food was not wildly foreign and every so often, something would trigger a memory of home. Even the language just required a “tweak of the ear”.

This time around, landing in Amsterdam did not feel like a holiday. It felt like coming home. All the familiar sights, sounds and smells of many years ago are again filling my senses again and I still have to pinch myself when I walk along the side of the canal on my way to the metro after work. This time I’m not the tourist in the glass-walled boat, watching people go about their daily tasks. I’m now part of the décor making someone’s holiday magical just by making my way home.

Blessed!

• Liels Wienand, Infra Engineer