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tita barusan baca artikel dari "DVOICE" (ini majalah tipis, dicetak untuk para english speakers - expats disini. terbitnya tiap bulan dan disebarin gratis). bagi mereka yang ada di sini, mungkin pernah ngeliat majalah ini.

quoted and edited partly (meaning I am not typing the entire part of the article):

we live in a grey and wet country; especially at this time of the year. The sky is low and it's wet and cold all the times. In our part of the world between September and April everything is monochrome, cheerless and dull. And it used to be even worse. Imagine the Batavian tribesman 2000 years ago. Dressed only in scanty fur and flax, hunting and fishing for his meagre livelihood in the cold and dreary marshes thar are now Holland. Mosquito infested mudplains and creeks, and after a wet and cold day back to the grass and mud dwelling only to... ah well, you get the picture.

'Gezelligheid'
Now all this dreariness, cold and mud has led to one of the more curious phenomena of the Dutch existence. Gezelligheid. When you want to look for the meaning of this word, the translation of this term would be difficult. Mostly it is described by what it's not: cosiness, comfort, companionship, cheer, camaraderie, etc, etc.

Gezellig is the feeling a Dutchman gets when he comes home soaked to the bone and finds his wife preparing a hearty meal and having a talk about the day while he slips into his slippers and has an appetizing drink. Or the feeling of old friends meeting after a long separation and telling tales at the fireplace. Gezelligheid has lots to do with atmosphere and warm feelings towards other human beings. It is definitely not something you'll find on your own. It's a social thing, but it's not for large groups of people at the same time.

More and more of us seem to be convinced that gezelligheid can be creted by buying stuff. Candles, pretty decorative knick-knacks and generally loads of useless bits and bobs to furnish the modern version of the Batavian's mud hut. In our quest for the ultimate escape from the cold we've come to believe that the Disney's version of Christmas is the real thing. Sadly, of course, it isn't.

Gezelligheid can't be bought, it has to come from within. It is not unusual to hear older people claim that things were gezelliger in the days of want and scarcity. People were more drawn to each other out of need. The reason of our lack of gezelligheid these days is therefore simple: things are going well for us. We have no real disadvantages anymore, no real problems to overcome. We are creating difficulties for ourselves in extreme sports and work situations, but these are only poor replacements. In fact, being concerned with our artificial problems, we lose track of reality completely and lose our heads when a real problem (or acts of God) turns up. All this can only lead to one inescapable conclusion: in order to truly experience gezeligheid, things must go a lot worse. I therefore wish you a really bad Christmas, so your New Year may be gezellig and warm.

by: JvdM

ga tau napa, tita agak tersenggol sama artikel ini. sometimes in life, shit happens. cuma mungkin itu cara Tuhan manggil kita. mungkin selama ini kita dah lupa. dari salah satu film Julia Roberts, tita inget ada kata2 gini: this too will past. seberat apapun yang lagi kita hadapin, suatu saat, semua pasti baik2 kembali. semua indah pada waktunya.

may God bless us to be able to see.