Patriot

The biggest patriots live abroad. Two weeks of living in Slovenia already led me to this conviction. In my homecountry, The Netherlands, you could never spot me wearing anything orange. Queensday, matches of the Dutch soccerteam i experienced it all, dressed in casual anything-but-orange.

I never understood my countrymen abroad celebrating Dutch festivities more vigorously than we did in the Netherlands. If you went abroad why are you then still so hooked up to the Netherlands? But being a Dutchman abroad for two weeks now, i notice that my favorite cycling jersey is now already the Dutch orange. With joy and, above all pride, i wear the national orange on my rides on Slovenian roads. Have i now also become a true patriot or am i trying to be just a little different from the other cyclist here? I think we’ll know the answer for sure on April 30 2013, the next Queensday in the Netherlands.

Twee weken ben ik nu Nederlander in Slovenië en mijn favoriete shirt is nu al het nationale oranje. In Nederland kwam het shirt maar mondjesmaat uit de kast. Hier komt het er amper in. Ben ik nou een ware patriot geworden of wil ik gewoon een beetje anders zijn dan de andere fietsers hier? We zullen het wel zien aan wat ik doe (en draag) op Koninginnedag 2013.