King's Day is a pretty important day in the Netherlands. It falls on the 27th of April and mark's the celebrations of the birth of the king. Little did I know the celebrations are this fancy or else I'd have prepared mentally a day ahead.
I do not get free train tickets like the other refugees, so I couldn't join my friends who went to Amsterdam to celebrate the holiday. Believe it or not, any celebration is pretty important to all of us. Gives us an excuse to refresh our moods.
There are a lot of pictures to share from the day. This is something I haven't ever seen before so almost everything was very new and very exciting to me. I couldn't help but get very intrigued by all that was happening around me. If you are reading this on peakd, you can scroll through the pictures on the image carousel.
The atmosphere in Almere and Amsterdam were VERY different. Come at dinner time, the others and I sat together sharing our experiences. Apparently, the people in Amsterdam go hard! But what stood out the most to us Ukrainians was the general friendliness and positive attitude.
In Amsterdam it was more of a party. I was told that the center was packed with people dancing, drinking, laughing, smoking and what not. All the Ukrainians who went Amsterdam found themselves celebrating with the locals - language barrier or not. A fellow refugee who also comes from Kharkiv told me he was completely shocked when he bumped against a drunk person and instead of a fight they ended up dancing together. Outsiders won't understand why is it so strange to us, but Kharkivians might.
Another lady told me that it was totally worth going to Amsterdam because her mood was completely upbeat and for a few hours she felt alive again. I think as much a celebration it was for the Dutch people, it also was an incredible experience for the Ukrainians.
Compared to Amsterdam, Almere center was very tame. The biggest surprise was the astounding number of people. Mind you, this is the center with all the shopping centers and restaurants and so on. But even on weekends it is pretty empty. When I first saw all these people I thought I was in a different city completely. No clue where all these people popped up from.
I was with another Ukrainian refugee and she had to take many breaks throughout our walk. The crowd was a terrifying reminder of the crowd she faced in the border while leaving Ukraine. Understandably, it is a terrifying experience. But all the laughter and positive attitude really helped her push through.
We walked around the crowded places because we thought that is where the fun will be. And it was. Actually, I have never seen an open market like this before. I think it has something to do with the event. There were locals who had opened up pop-up shops like a bazaar and were selling many things for very very cheap. I also found a few people giving away free books. Very interesting stuff right here.
There were stalls selling all kind of things. From belts to vintage electronics to patches to children's toys. Among the most common items were water with oranges in them. They pour out glasses of water from a jug where oranges are let to rest in. I do not know if those were free or you had to buy them.
On one occasion we came across a band. There were drummers and trumpets and probably a few instruments that I do not know the name of. It was very entertaining. They played energetic and lively music as they rallied through the area. People stopped to take pictures and videos and some people followed the band dancing to the music.
The common theme was very obviously the color orange. Lots and lots of people had orange outfits. Some wore an orange T shirt, some wore orange caps. A lot of people wore really cool costumes. Like a furry orange hat, or an orange wig, and even really huge orange glasses resting on their face.
We stumbled across two other Ukrainian refugees that we did not recognize. Turns out they had come to the city earlier and now are placed in a separate apartment. We actually heard them speaking in Ukrainian and thats how the conversation started. We walked around for a little bit and they ended buying a shoe rack for just 1 euro.
Just like that there were plenty of useful things for very cheap. Granted, not everything was squeaky new or in need for some refurbishment. Among the coolest things for sale were books for as little as 1 euro, winter clothes, shoes, mirrors, computer parts and so many other things.
We circled towards the open part of the center where we spotted a stage many days back. On the way we found a small gathering of children dancing to cute and funky music being played by a DJ. On the bigger stage not too far away there was a live band playing classic rock music.
We stood there for not too long and enjoyed the music. It was soon going to be dinner time and as much as we liked the entire celebration none of us really had the mindset of staying there for too long. It was a shock to me personally because I always loved such celebratioins - and still I did not want to stick around for too long.
Come dinner time we were all together looking through pictures and telling each other what we liked and what we experienced. The King's Day is pretty special in the Netherlands and it gave us a unique chance to feel a little relaxed and a new topic of conversation where we ended up learning a little more about the country that welcomed us to safety.
