I never thought I would watch more than a few minutes of any televised sport, never mind cheering and shouting. I never thought I would voluntarily put myself in the middle of hundreds and thousands of people to watch a huge tv. I never thought I would be wearing the same color as nearly a whole country on purpose. This chapter of moving to the Netherlands revealed a part of me that was surprising... and I had fun! Moreover, I am so impressed, once again, with the collective behavior of the crowds here. Aside from the excessive littering (which there is an argument to made for the safety and efficiency of not having more garbage bins) the crowds that assemble in Amsterdam or the Netherlands are just so peaceful and gezellig. A man standing in front of me turned to me several times to make sure I could see (I qualify as short here) and the wobbly drunk man who kept making his way over and over past our section of the crowd was gently guided back out of the crowd time and again by caring hands. People connect before, during and after the game with smiles, cheers and singing. Upon losing, the disheartened crowd quietly left the event, with murmurings of "Yammer" shared as consolation. A mess of garbage was left behind but no outbreaks of emotion or vandalization except for perhaps a few broken flower pots that accidentally got toppled in the crowds.
My humble opinion is that something like this would probably never happen without incident in NYC... much as I love the Big Apple. I just do not see crowds there behaving in the same way without heavy rules and heavier police presence.
I know I passed through my honeymoon stage of relocating here months and months ago...
but the World Cup experience has just made me fall in love even more
with my new home and the people here.
I am off to ride my bike on this gorgeous day! Dag!
