Dachau Concentration Camp, Germany

It was only 65 years ago that the torture, persecution and murder of millions of Jews and gypsies, homosexuals and disabled people came to an end.  Not too long ago, 42 years to be exact, that humankind realized its ignorance and ended racial discrimination and segregation in America.  And 35 years since Saigon fell, leaving thousands orphaned and millions dead.

And we are not perfect yet.  Let us not ignore nor forget the lessons from our past.

We live in an age where we have access to vast amounts of information archived from the annals of history.  So that we can look back and learn and not make the mistakes our previous generations have.

We’ve come a long way as human beings to invent the latest gadgets and state of the art technology.  How about if we also upgrade our thoughts and feelings and adapt them into the present circumstances?  Let’s not get stuck in past erroneous ideologies. Do not let the struggles and marches for freedom from our previous generations be for nothing.

We’ve come a long way in educating ourselves and learning about decency to know that wars are useless, that terror only sows more pain and anger and that there are no virgins waiting in heaven.  Heaven is here and now and it is what you make of it.

We have advanced too much in our quest for knowledge to assume too easily that all Muslims are terrorists.  To think that there are groups of people inferior or superior to us. Let us wake up and not be confronted by fears on our differences.

We are mature and intelligent enough to understand that we are all not alike.  And that’s how it should be.  We grasp the concept of different religions and faiths and we can practice all of them in a respectful manner that is not hurtful, insulting or destructive to others.

Holocaust Memorial Dachau

We have become so advanced in travel and migration.  Progressive countries have opened their borders so that if we choose to integrate into a society or a country different from ours, then we are willing to adapt to their system.  That we will have a decent understanding of the culture we are trying to be a part of, have respect for the land’s norms and values and that we can find a healthy middle ground where we can all agree. Without imposing on each other or wiping out each other’s identities.

We’ve progressed far enough that we can find love across the continents, miles away from home.  That we can marry into different races, Asians or Russians with Americans or Europeans because of love, and not for money.

We’ve travelled this far and learned this much to acquire a healthy amount of self-respect not to take advantage of social welfare programs or encourage dependency on anyone when we could actually go out and get a job. And we are responsible enough to know that we cannot keep on reproducing children without the means to support them.

We’ve come a long way.  Don’t let the sacrifices of our previous generations go to waste. Nor their follies be forgotten.

We know it is our responsibility to help one another; to build a community and take care of our children and raise them well.  These are some of the core truths of our existence. To be of service and to have compassion for those who need it.  To push forward those who are left behind.   It does take a village to raise a child. It was never meant to be every man for himself; nor make our homes so self-sufficient, self-contained and wired to the maximum that we disregard actual physical human contact. Face to face conversations.

We’ve come a long way to teach ourselves civility. And we can communicate and conduct dialogues and keep them well within the bounds of human decency.  And if one will argue that some of us just don’t know what it means to be decent, then lets work alongside each other until we all learn.  For what good will it accomplish if we keep bashing one another?

The earth we tread on, the land we build our houses upon, the acres of farms we have, none of these will remain with us.  We are all passers-by.  We stay for a while and we leave our footprints.   We all die.  And all this fighting for land and wealth are useless. But we already know that.  And still we do it.  And all the heartaches we have caused will only be passed from our children to the next generations until they are resolved.  So let’s resolve this now, lest we pass on these paranoia to our children.

When someone dies, we, the living come together for a couple of days and nights and grieve.  Then we all go on with our lives, the dead, buried and forgotten.  So the only thing we can do while we’re alive is to do good and leave a good mark. One that unites.  A remembrance that embraces and celebrates our differences.  A legacy that opens our hearts and makes for a meaningful existence.  The one that our sons and daughters will be proud to recall and retell someday when we have all passed away.

We’ve come a long way.  Let not our fears, prejudices and paranoia get in the way of basic human decency.

Image Courtesy of Syborgh ❘ Panoramio

I wish for the train to be delayed.  I wish for time to stand still.  I wish to stay here forever. To take stock of every memory I ever had riding horses.  And the different places and emotions it has taken me.  Perhaps, this will explain why its one of the most beautiful things to do in one’s lifetime.

Up on a horse, I am in the present and the world is a beautiful place.

I start with a walk for warming up. It is a leisurely pace. I feel a gentle side-to-side motion in the horse’s hips. I am in a quiet place, calm, serene, tranquil.  In these moments, we, the horse and I, find a rhythm and we start moving as one.  As we settle comfortably with each other, the horse speeds up his gait and his walk turns into a trot.  A hopeful anticipation of something exciting; the jolt from what is sometimes a mundane existence, the awareness that things are about to change.  I rise up and down on the horse’s back and when we’re both ready, I give him a gentle squeeze with my leg and ask for a canter.

A canter can either take you to two places.  It is a sunny day in autumn, the sound of birds chirping when you wake up to a crisp cool morning or a pancake covered thick in maple syrup at breakfast. It is a lover whispering sweet nothings in your ear or a child showering feathery kisses on your cheeks.  A horse cantering on a bad day can also take you to the opposite end.  It is the slamming of a door when someone walks out on you, or the sound of emptiness ringing through your ears.  It is the broken promises, of being unseen or unheard, of being insignificant.  Or the day the tragic news came.

A gallop is where you flee from it all.  It’s the explosion of built up anger.   The tides of emotions rushing through at heightened moments. Rage, torment, fury and sadness combined.  It is the full force of the wind on your face and those leaps and bounds take you airborne, into the places where your soul wants to be.  It is flight.  There is no clock, no time.  No one bothers you. No one and nothing to expect.  Up on a horse, the world is watching and time stands still.  And once you reach that state, the horse slows down, for a gallop doesn’t last long.  And then you are peaceful once again.

Some of life’s most beautiful moments are here and now.  Not the distant future of someday when.  It’s a pity we don’t notice that. We realize it in retrospect.  And that’s why we always yearn for the past, back to that place of a happy memory you never quite enjoyed while it was unfolding right before your very eyes.

The train comes and I snap back to reality. Everyone from this sleepy little village gets on board.  The train rolls along to sights of green pastures and miles of grass fields and meadows.  Sheep and cows are grazing outside.  I feel sorry as it approaches the city where an industrial skyline and a network of traffic on the freeways replace the sights.   People are grabbing their bags and belongings and queuing up to alight as the train pulls into the Utrecht station.  They all look in a rush to get off, go to work; or probably catch another train.

I stay seated for the onward trip to The Hague. This unfolding scene is both poignant and amusing. How many times have I seen myself in this situation?  Always rushing, always heading off somewhere, always chasing the hours ahead.  Never fully present.

Why are we always in a hurry? Why do we push ourselves so much? What if we just sit back once in awhile, let the world roll by and not worry about a single deadline.  What if we don’t run through next day’s agenda as we settle down for the night? Nothing catastrophic, that which is under our control, is going to happen.

My thoughts start running off again, chasing tomorrow’s to-do list.  I stop and look at the hustle and bustle around me.  And I whisper to the wind.

Oh, please take me back to Klarenbeek.

CC Image Courtesy of Library of Congress | Flickr

It starts with the little insignificant stuff. Like looking away when your friend screams at a waiter.  For the simple reason that she’s upset, and he’s a waiter, and she thinks he’s beneath her in social status, so she can scream.  Or the business owner who shouts out on a social media platform that he is stressed out at how stupid his employees are.  Some people click the like button for it.

Just because you get to pay a group of people their wages doesn’t mean you get to trample on their dignity.  It doesn’t mean you own them. It doesn’t mean you get the right to insult them, screw them or call them stupid to their faces.

At what point in a human’s brain does one begin to convince himself that because he has more money and there are people who are dependent on him for their salaries and basic survival — that he begins to believe he can treat them any way they want?

And this question enters my head because I am becoming increasingly incensed at the small injustices around me everyday.

Sometimes it’s the small stuff like people who think that throwing their empty Coke cans on the pavement before they step into the car are the most normal thing to do. And before you know it, everywhere around us is litter.  People who let their dogs poop and not clean up after them.  And yesterday, something happened that made me question myself, and the courage I thought I have that makes me stand up for the things I believe in.

CC Image S.Ali-Al Mosawi | Flickr

Yesterday, a guy got on the tram smoking a cigarette.  He reeked of alcohol, and if I didn’t know any better, he might as well have been stoned.  He settled directly opposite my seat, in front of another guy.  The guy turned around and looked at him, then turned back just as quickly. I looked around the tram and no one said anything. I glared at him disgustingly. He looked right back at me. I stood up and moved two cars to the front.

As I got off the tram at my stop later, I was very upset with myself. There was clearly an internal struggle going on with me.  Why didn’t I say something?

I recounted the incident to my husband when I got home and he was equally surprised why I didn’t say anything. It just seems so out of my character.  I told him I was angry, but I was also afraid.  I was scared that maybe he will hit me. He looked quite capable.  And I said anyone daring to go on a tram with a lighted cigarette must be prepared for trouble.  I asked him what would he have done if he were in my place?

My husband said he would just tell him calmly. And if anyone can get away calmly telling a guy it is not allowed to smoke on a tram that person would be my husband.  I said there was no way I could be calm at that moment, so I walked away…  I was disappointed with myself.

And as I opened the news, I am more incensed and aware and confronted with all the injustices happening all over the world: Men beating their wives to a pulp and not getting convicted for it.  People jumping on trains from Guatemala to Mexico to become illegal immigrants, to fulfil the American dream.  Bigger houses, better food, better education, breaking up families and leaving sons and daughters behind. In exchange for material goods.  People dying from hunger. In this day and age.  These are big injustices.

CC Image Courtesy of DarkB4Dawn | Flickr

And yet we don’t do anything about it.

And somewhere in The Hague, in another tram, in another ride that guy will step on and defiantly smoke again.  But at least I know now that my next time with him is going to be different.  I cannot wait to meet him again.

If we choose to buy goods from far off tropical lands (such as snow peas or roses grown in Kenya), whether we buy goods from countries whose ideologies we disagree with, we make, like it or not, a moral choice.

I have become extremely “mindful” of late that my choices bring with them a responsibility. However, the use of my credit card or debit card involves such a huge quagmire  of choices, dilemmas and judgments that it can leave you gasping.

What are the carbon footprint, the human rights implications, and the ethical and philosophical nuances?  The path of production is complex and convoluted. Who benefits and who loses? Who gains and who most decidedly does not?

There are hidden surprises at every turn. Some of you may know that organic food, cooking and gardening are my particular passions so I tune into debates about the nutritional (or lack of) value of school lunches in the US. Amazingly, it is UK-based company Compass who is responsible for supplying a huge amount of school lunches in the US.

Are they responsible for such breakfast abominations as pop tarts and breakfast pizzas I wonder?  And can they be deemed to be responsible for the escalating childhood obesity problem? Or is it the school’s responsibility to stop kids eating this over processed food? Or are the parents who allow their schools to continue selling such conglomerations of sugar, salt and fat? Or is the government? These are questions, which we can debate endlessly but I think I might know who is making the money!

Or another example: You may remember that little black dress made by Primark and sold for the pauper sum of £9 British pounds or some such ridiculously cheap price. It was indeed a very pretty dress with hundreds of sequins on it. The dress was a huge success and every teenager from Leeds to Edinburgh wanted it. But Primark at the time was being investigated for non-ethical practices.

Naturally, a television crew just happened to chance in on a small dwelling in Bangladesh where very young children were sewing on glittering discs on little black dresses, day, after night in the dull lamp or candlelight.

So, is purchasing such a little black dress ethical? No you might say! Yet from another viewpoint if these children were not gainfully employed and bringing in that extra rupee, then maybe the whole family’s health would suffer. Maybe that extra money will allow one of the family members to go to school, thereby increasing the life chances of all the family?

So, these daily dilemmas are incredibly complex. And then we have to face our own avaricious personalities, for we all like a bargain. Even when we have the cash to spare, we are dead keen on expounding to any willing passerby as to how little we paid for this or that. I hear myself constantly saying “And I only paid this for that! Didn’t I do well”!

Therefore my question to you, readers is a simple question of the future. Our western economies are built around a model of continual growth and consumerism. Can this be sustainable given our planet’s finite resources? I think not but maybe you think otherwise?

And now some good news: We can all do our bit to save our planet (just a bit) by buying mindfully, please check my blog, http://thelunchbox.blog.com to do your bit by buying low impact or organic food and enjoy cooking from scratch!

See also Sir Paul McCartney’s Meat Free Monday campaign – naturally he has written a song about it!

Kathy Voyles is the lady behind the Lunch Box Blog. She also founded the initiative Kids in the City, an organisation that aims to clean up The Hague’s public places from dog poop.  I admire her for her passionate approach to issues of social responsibility, food and health. As one of the writers in our writing circle, aptly called, The Hague Spelt Muffin Literary Society, her writing, aside from the topics covered above, is smart, witty and colorful.  She has this amazing gift of transporting her listeners to the places and scenarios she describes whenever she does one of her readings.

How aware are we about the choices we make everyday?  It is an interesting and thought-provoking topic indeed in these times of digital sharing, what with Twitter and Facebook on stand-by all the time and the World Cup just over.

So here’s the raw version that came out in those ten minutes:

Spontaneous:  Is that unconscious?  Impulsive: Is that unconscious?

To feel versus to think.  To give in to something without much thought.  To act on impulse. Follow your body before the mind tells you STOP! NO! That is crazy, silly and unreasonable!

Would you go back on the impulsive choices you’ve made?  Don’t you think they were the funniest, craziest and happiest moments in your life?

To dance with wild abandon, to squeal in utter delight, to scream from so much excitement: over a goal score, the sweet taste of victory, the triumphant feeling for something you have been rooting for!

And yet, there are moments when I’m standing in the shower and I realize I am done and then I stand still.

“Wait a minute! Did I shampoo my hair already?  I can’t quite remember… where was I when I was standing here?”

Mindful and mindless, to live in the moment and be aware of what is happening, right here, right now.  It doesn’t necessarily mean giving a careful thought and consideration to everything… only when it matters.

And who else is going to be the best judge of our fleeting moments… but ourselves.

CC Image Courtesy of mrshawnliu | Flickr

It is human nature to seek out others’ opinions and approval, however, we should be choosy about who we ask feedback from.  Picking out random people to give us honest, helpful feedback on our work might create the adverse effect of making us feel insecure about what we have done.  This often leads to weeks of writer’s block, inability to produce any art, insecurity or self-doubt.

People have a tendency to compartmentalize people. Put everyone in a box and put labels on each one. Some are especially quick to point out what one should or shouldn’t do so that everyone will be just like them.

It isn’t uncommon therefore to hear one being labelled a party girl; therefore, it is a shock if she cooks.  Gasp! Or if she paints, double gasp!  That’s such a solitary activity.  Or consider the new arrival to the expat scene, the wife of a hotel general manager who sees it unnecessary to be part of the ladies expat wives who have long lunches most of the time because she chooses to do volunteer work instead.  Comments like “oh she’s weird!” or “she thinks she’s better than everyone else” start flying around in circles — just because she’s trying to do something she has put her heart in.

The thing is, we may share common interests with some people, but we are all different, and we should celebrate these differences, not smother them.

While there is indeed a general code of conduct that everyone should adhere to in order for society to remain civilised, like being polite to each other; there is absolutely no need to listen to the critics who are quick to comment discouragingly on your choices, your actions, your work or tweet, just because it doesn’t fit into their expectations of what or how things “should be”.

The people who truly know you are the ones who love you the most, and they don’t have any labels for you. They know when you’re being crazy, or when you’re being philosophical.  They know when you’re passionate about that which you do, and they know when you’re goofing around.  They know all the colourful sides to your personality.  And they accept you for your multiple personalities.

And it’s okay to polarize people too.  Some will agree with your actions, others will hate it.  Some will love your work, others won’t.  Some will find your products exquisite, and others will say it’s plain (f)ugly!

At day’s end, you will have to live with yourself.  And if you choose to go against the tide, it’s all right.

So do the work that makes your heart sing.  Write the piece or create the art that makes you look up to the skies with that big great smile, that lights up your face and makes you look at the world with conviction and say:  “Today, I have been most faithful to myself.”

CC Image Courtesy of State Library of Queensland, Australia

I’ve had one of the most memorable conversations in my life recently.  It happened at a party while I was talking to a kindly 76-year old gentleman in a charcoal gray suit.  He was of average height by Dutch standards, with strong shoulders, white hair and a gentle face.  I remember he had a firm but soft voice and he exuded an air of authority about him.

I found out he was once a manager in a large fast moving consumer goods company.  I asked him how it felt like to be in his age, pensioned off and retired. In my thoughts, I had presumed that he must miss running a huge corporation and making important decisions.  After all, I’ve heard of a number of people who find it quite difficult transitioning to retirement.

With a glowing smile he replied, “these are the happiest times in my life!”

I was taken aback by his answer and so I asked him why.  He told me the story of how he grew up in wartime so there was never any time to ponder about his situation or his life.  Normalcy was to keep moving, keep going and get the work done.  He never had time to be a child; his younger years were all about surviving.  The painful memory of the war haunted him most of his life.

And now, with the past behind him, he can finally relax, without a care in the world.  Just living each day doing what he wants to do, being who he is.  No need to seek anyone’s approval and not scared anymore to say he’s a Jew.  To him, it is the sweetest thing in the world.

I asked him, if there was one advice he would give to a young woman like me who is still trying to make something of herself and find her place under the sun, what would that be?

He looked far away and pensive.  Speaking slowly, as if he were in a trance he said, “Listen to your thoughts, but above all to your heart.  And listen to the truths that it whispers, who you are and what you really want to be, what you really want to do.  And do that. Because you are lucky you never have to hide your identity.  So speak your highest truth, be your highest self. You will know when you’ve found that which you are trying to seek, your body will be in sync and you will find the peace and oneness with the universe within your soul.  There lies the fulfilment of happiness.”

And then he looked me in the eye and gave me the sweetest smile I haven’t seen for the longest time, a glimpse of an aching memory in a distant past in my life I didn’t know I was missing until that moment.  Like a grandpa smiling down at his grandchild, he held my hand and said, “Listen to that one”, and made a tapping gesture at my heart.

“And just be yourself, my child.”

Will you marry the one who has the perfect manners, Ivy League education and offers financial stability or the one who is a bit on the goofy side, fires up your imagination, supports your ideals and makes you feel silly and adventurous?

When deciding on a job offer, would you choose a well-established company, a leader in the industry which promises a big paycheck and a career path that ensures your place until retirement or would you join a promising start-up with no proven track record but a bunch of highly skilled, dedicated and knowledgeable entrepreneurs?

The thing about choosing stability over other possibilities is that while it provides you, well, stability, it hasn’t got much room for excitement.  It’s a day in and day out thing.  And while it probably guarantees a monthly paycheck and perhaps a bit of cash for the little other extras, it does little to encourage one’s highest potential to soar.

It’s pretty much like what we all do.  Go to school, get a university degree, get a job in an old reliable company, get married, have kids and retire.  All well within the bounds of our comfort zone.

If we’re lucky, we get to travel and see the world a little bit, widen our circle, step a little bit out of our comfort zone safe in the knowledge that it is just temporary, therefore bearable.

Or we could decide the world is our playground, we are going to go out and play! And have fun, and meet lots of people from different backgrounds and really live! Maybe get to know a different culture, learn another religion, join a choir group that travels and sings in far away places.  Dare to do something out of the ordinary.

And we don’t even have to go far to do this.  Everyday presents an opportunity to stretch ourselves just a little bit more.

The next time you go to a barbecue networking event or a social gathering, try talking to an unfamiliar face.  Approach someone from an industry different than yours and who knows, maybe, you might walk away learning something new that will take your fancy.

Or cook a dish from a country you’ve never been to.  Something you’ve never tried before and get to know what Tunisian keftagi or tagine are.  And never mind if it doesn’t turn out well.  The important thing is you tried.

Everyday we have the chance to set the bar just a little bit higher.   To do things just a little more different from what we’re used to.

How about faith in ourselves?  How about letting go and letting be?  How about daring to discover a completely unknown territory?

If you don’t take that leap of faith, you will always look back and wonder what if.

Someday we’ll look back at all this haste, these confusion, uncertainty and fear.  And then we’ll bow and shake our heads for all the fuss we made.

For now these are the times we live by – so let us just live these moments. Without judgment, neither hate nor love.  Just with the grace to accept that as certain as there will be good days, there will be bad.  And we will consciously live them, one by one.  Till the days catch up with our mature hearts.  And we will welcome the days with open arms.  Not hating nor loving them.  Just living them as they come.

Someday we’ll look back at all these questions and turmoil and the flights all around.  To live in Asia or Europe or America and in which conditions?  And extract as much certainty in an uncertain life.  To live not knowing which direction to take, confused with all the choices right before us. And be frozen for a moment and in doubt.  Giving in to fear or indecision.

Is it possible to get the most answers and assurances out of this life?

Someday we’ll look back and understand all these friction. We’ll shake our heads in the realization: it was not so much of knowing what we had to do or knowing which path we had to follow.

Someday we’ll come to an understanding that all these are part of a brilliant design: how far can we go without giving in or selling out on life?  That all these make up that rich, albeit, difficult journey which leads us to discover the triumphs of our spirits, the steeliness of our wills and the strengths of our character.

And right now we thrash, we question, we cry.  Not enough time to do all these things: to run a business, to raise our children, to work, to write, to cook, to clean.  We embrace everything, spread ourselves thin and then second-guess ourselves that we haven’t done enough.  We are too unkind.

Someday we’ll look back. See the wisdom. Is our world ever kind?

And perhaps, like all the previous generations before us, we will smile that knowing smile.

Scenes from a Flea Market

April 30 in the Netherlands is a national holiday called Queen’s Day, in honor of the queen’s birthday.  The reigning Queen Beatrix’s birthday is actually on January 31, but since it is too cold to be out with the folks and celebrate on the streets in January, the queen holds the celebration on April 30, which is her late mother’s birthday.

It could also have been called the national Flea Market Day.  People set up booths and stalls on streets all over the country to sell items they no longer need like children’s clothes, toys, gadgets, books and the like.

Since we live on a major shopping street where we have one of the biggest flea markets this side of town, we decided to join and turn it into a family event with the in-laws this year.

As I walked up and down checking and browsing through what everyone else was selling and getting rid of, one can glean a lot of insights from observing things and people in this activity.  Here are my seven takes on it:

1)   We really buy more than we ever need.

How is it possible to have twenty or fifty handbags in our closet when in reality, we really only use two or three alternately?  And yet when we see something that catches our fancy, we can’t help but buy it.  And what is it with women and shoes?  Fifty pairs are never enough.  I think all women are born with the same compulsion Imelda Marcos had when it comes to shoes.  The only difference is that she has so much more stolen money and probably lesser self-control.

2)   Much of one’s character can be discovered by how one deals with a child.

A woman was selling Barbie dolls with a Barbie Volvo car for €5.00.  A little girl, about four years of age, was negotiating with her if she could have it for €3.00.  The woman countered with €3.50. The little girl said all she had was €3.00.  The woman folded her arms and rudely said, “Oh well, if you’re short fifty cents you can’t have it!”  The little girl dropped her head and looked devastated.

What kind of person would rather have fifty cents more of an item she doesn’t need anymore in exchange for the chance to make another child happy and see that priceless look of delight on her face?

3)   Flea markets are good for the environment.

We should do flea markets more often.  We get to recycle a lot of stuff!  It is a good venue for us to get rid of things we don’t need anymore, and it is a good chance for other people to acquire things they want or need at a lesser price.  Books, toys, gadgets, small furniture and plenty of other items were bought and sold on this day.

No production costs, no labor costs, no waste of new resources and raw materials – and lesser trash.

4)   There is cash lying around in your unused stuff in storage.

That old china tea service set you inherited from your grandmother which you don’t use because its so old fashioned and want to get rid of could be actually worth lots of money to an antique buyer!

5)   Companies should re-think their Christmas giveaways policy.

It is a common practice among companies to give their employees Christmas gifts.  These come in an assortment of items packed in a Christmas box or basket and distributed to each employee.  The other option is that each employee receives a log-in code and password to an online shop chosen by the company.  The choices however are limited and mostly crappy and useless.

70% of what we and other members in our stall were trying to get rid of were things we received or had to choose from the Christmas online shop! If I were a company’s purchasing department, I would pay attention.

6)   Don’t fall for all that hype to have the latest tech gadget on the market.

Think twice before you buy that extra keyboard for your computer, or the latest portable multi-charger, multi-purpose, multimedia gadget.  You can be certain that a year from now, that will be considered obsolete.  So stick with whatever you have that works.  It’s kind of like not buying the latest Blackberry because all you really use your mobile phone for is calling and the occasional texting.

7)   Flea markets are a great way to socialize and get to know your neighbors.

How well do you know your neighbors?  How often have you invited them into your house for coffee or the other way around in the number of years you’ve lived in your neighborhood?

This year, because we had a stall in front of our house and they also had one in front of theirs, they came around and introduced themselves and made some chit chat.  And we did the same.

We also got to talk to the other sellers coming from all over The Hague and surrounding areas.

It felt like a community.