Market

Finally managed to get some (school) work I had been planning to do done today. Already one week of the vacation down, and most of it I've spent in bed, still trying to recover from this cough and cold that doesn't want to go away. And not that the temperature has dropped to below zero, it seems like they're here to stay.

Also managed to go to the market to pick up 'some' (ok, a LOT) of groceries. Seems like I'm the only one at home who cares about having a balanced diet of veggies and fruits, so whenever I go I buy a lot. And I enjoy it at the market, not because it's a lot cheaper, but also it's much more 'human', in terms of the direct personal experience when you shop. Haven't been a few weeks, and a few of the vendors friendily asked where and how I've been. You don't get that at the supermarket.

The Haagse Markt happens to be (or claims to be) the biggest open air market in Europe, and is in a very diverse neighbourhood, where a lot of people with different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. It's one of these places I go and can see and feel how the much aclaimed multicultural society is in full progress right before me. People of all religions and cultures come together, to shop and talk, to mingle and exchange and sample different foods and goods from all parts of the world. And everyone is the same, regardless of our visible and invisible differences, regardless of where we came from, or what we grow up believing. Nothing like the negative stigma and smir campaigns against so-called 'allochthons' you read in the news.

For this country is our home, and we speak the same language. We respect and understand each other, we let others dress and believe in what they want. It is the world in one small place, one little moment, united as one.