“My first Christmas overseas” – Romario Hastings spends festive season in The Netherlands

By Alva Solomon

For many Guyanese, Christmastime has its unique feeling of joy mixed with fond memories, a variety of foods and visiting relatives and friends within the community. But this year, the experience for Romario Hastings will be totally different and although he misses the Land of Many Waters, he is making the best of the Yuletide season in The Netherlands.

A few weeks ago, Hastings took up residence in the city of Delft, which sits in the western part of The Netherlands, closer to the more famous city of Rotterdam. He is currently pursuing post-graduate studies in water and sustainable development and for him, the experience thus far has been enlightening. Of course, adjusting to the cold weather has been a major challenge since the temperature has been hovering between 2 degrees and 7 degrees Celsius. It has also been raining a lot in Delft.

Food and the city
Hastings described Delft as a “quaint” city; one that is not so busy and which has a huge student population. At the moment, he said it is quite rainy and according to him, it is easy to move around once one has a bicycle. “So traffic here is a not a problem,” he said.
In terms of the food, Hastings said it is different and may not be his favourite but he noted that there are varieties of foods available, especially from middle Eastern places which make Caribbean food. “So that’s good,” he said, of the food.

Not alone
Luckily for Hastings, there are a few other Guyanese students studying at the university where he is enrolled, and there are a few who started with him. He said too that there are several other Caribbean students studying there. “It helps with the studying,” he said.

He said the group has been bonding and he noted that sometimes they would gather on an evening and relax “and gyaff.” According to him, the Caribbean students welcomed him and his colleagues with open arms when they first arrived in The Netherlands. “So, the transition was quite smooth,” he added. In addition, he said there is an active Small Island Developing States (SIDS) community and this also assisted with him and other first-timers settling in.

Christmas Day
For Christmas, he said some of his colleagues have travelled home but many have remained. He said the Jamaicans are organising a dinner for Christmas Day while a Guyanese colleague has volunteered to make some Pepperpot. “Other cultures will prepare stuff according to their traditions too,” he added, making it a unique blend for the special day.
Hastings said he is looking forward to the day since it will give each person an opportunity to exchange their own way of observing Christmas. He said some persons are celebrating their birthdays this week, including Christmas Day and that is likely to make the experience more special.
He said he went shopping a few times this week as there are a number of year-end discounts, and according to him, the residents are very warm; some have been asking if he ensured he got everything for Christmas.
He said he enjoyed witnessing groups of people carolling on the roadside and that he had a chat with an Indonesian man who invited him to church on Christmas Eve and also on Christmas Day. He said he will surely turn up for a few year-end blessings.

New Year’s
Hastings said he and his colleagues plan to travel around the country during the end of the month but he noted that the weather has not been favourable to “us tropical folks”. He said they may find alternatives to usher in the new year. For young Hastings, it has been a rollercoaster experience, one which he said he relishes, although he dearly misses his folks, including his hundreds of friends back in Guyana. There is a famous bar in Kitty which Hastings made famous this year, simply by postings his experiences from visits there. His friends have noted that although he is not around for them to celebrate the festive season, he will surely enjoy their company when he returns.