i heart NL

great times with the dutchies at cafe gigi

i've never met a people as easy to get along with as the dutch (ok, filipinos are quite easy to get along with too by default but that's a separate entry). friday night was spent with a group of dutchies. some of whom i had only met that night and yet the evening felt as fun and comfortable as though i was with childhood friends. willemijn, whom i met in utrecht in august, was in the city so i promised id take her and her colleagues out for dinner. i invited elvira, another dutchie here in the city, who brought her friend chandra (a swiss) over.

true to form, immediately the newly arrived dutchies were "complaining"—they had found it weird how new york, though the city of great energy, is filled with people with such long faces, having lost their ability to smile, having been too focused on what it is they as an individual would like to achieve. of course, i had already anticipated this sort of negative reaction to the city so i came prepared to show that there are signs of life and living in the city. i had made reservations to cafe gigi, one of my favorite cozy local spots in the east village. i had even brought a nice bottle of red wine (which went perfect with the pizza) but i should've brought another one or 2 more. oops.

the food was good. we ordered 3 salads and 4 pizzas to share. the conversations were great and very lively. never a dull quiet moment. felt great being surrounded by such social creatures again whom i must admit are quite hard to find in this city. it was great having a real sit-down dinner in a nice comfortable place without a server rushing you out of the place.

once dinner was done, i brought them to the luca lounge, another cozy east village favorite to grab a few drinks. the place's ubercomfortable couches (just like in gigi and cafe esperanto) gave you the feeling that you were in someone's living room. very nice cozy comfy atmosphere. with the addition of a few drinks, the conversations were even much livelier—fun debates on whose hometown has the best feasts, games on which celebrity you look like, jokes and observations about new yorkers, lots of shopping tips among the women, and stories, lots and lots of stories. not sure exactly what time we called it a day. but somehow it didnt matter how late or how early we finished coz somehow it was all about the cozy quality of the experience.

the dutch call it gezelligheid which unfortunately is a concept not translatable in any other language. roughly it means "cozy" but the meaning is more intense than the word 'cozy' expresses. to the dutch the word refers to a warm and amicable atmosphere in which everybody is cheerful and happy. wolfing down a bagel while drinking one's starbucks coffee on the way to the subway while on the phone, reading the newspaper and walking 50kph, NOT gezellig. time spent with family/friends enjoying lively conversation over a cup of coffee or glasses of wine/beer, gezellig.

too bad the dutch exchanged this city for suriname ages ago. wouldve been nice surrounded by other smiling new amsterdamers.

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live band at alphabet lounge

saturday was spent in quite a dutch-like fashion. still half asleep and with a bit of a hangover, i biked to the city very early in the morning to head to the nyu sports center. almost hit the deck while struggling to cycle my way up the williamsburg bridge. did some sports—took my first racquetball class and met a few new people. for lunch, headed uptown to a friend's apartment who had invited friends over. amazed at quite the feast richie prepared (but a bit annoyed at how as usual the other filipinos were terribly late, but me being my filipino self again just kept mum about it.) met new filipino faces. very lively conversations over the really good food (although i might had eaten a bit much of the cauliflowers and onions coz i was having some gas attacks later in the day). very gezellig actually. headed down to the nyu area to get some personal projects done and pick up my bike. survived some stupid guy opening the taxi door without looking. met up again with the newfound group of filipinos in the east village. talked the girl at alphabet lounge out of charging us the cover (good job!). enjoyed a few drinks there over live music. afterwards, hopped next door to lava gina for a few more drinks and lots of dancing to world music. got myself a quick slice of pizza next door to sober me up a bit. bid everyone goodbye for a great lunch and a great night out. hopped on my bike and almost like a true dutchie, safely drove myself home back to brooklyn inspite of having had a few drinks (was that downhill on the bridge fun or what?).

celebrating the chinese new year in chinatown

today started with an early morning bike ride again to the nyu sports center. the williamsburg bridge seemed a whole lot easier to climb this time though. took my yoga class in nyu. my first time there and this type of yoga's a bit more strenuous than what im used to. which is good actually especially after a night out coz it keeps the oxygen flowing again (all the balancing poses are 100 times tougher though). after the day's dose of exercise, headed down to the filipino church downtown to catch the latter quarter of the mass and to meet with ivy, a filipino/canadian friend from vancouver. we headed further south to chinatown for dimsum and to see the celebrations of the chinese new year. not a fan of the huge crowds, and the messy streets from all the rain and fireworks debris but it's good to see. all the restaurants were packed but we finally got a seat in one, sharing the table with an american couple and a chinese family. the mother was shouting at her kid the whole time. not gezellig obviously. the food was good. but not the healthiest and sanitary of all. lots of salt, pork and fried things and lots of food touching the servers' sleeves. nothing like authentic chinese dimsum to celebrate the chinese new year. headed back home and chilled in the afternoon. cooked myself a nice healthy tuna with mixed vegetables dinner. finished watching the german film goodbye lenin. here now just about ready to get some sleep. ready to face another week in new york—a bit more energized and with a firm conviction to add a little more gezelligheid to life here in the city, impossible though that may seem.