Suriname is located in South America but I have noticed that most South Americans don’t know it, together with the rest of the world... It’s part of the Caribbean and it is situated in between British and French Guyana and it’s north from Brasil. It’s tropical, which basically means it’s too hot for me. So I have adjusted to Romeo’s and Neirude’s habits: I drink loads, I take showers almost 4 times a day, I sleep with the fan on, I use factor 45 to protect me from the sun and I just go with the flow.
Back to history. Suriname was colonized first by the English but the Dutch traded New York for Suriname. The Dutch stayed for quite a while and Suriname became independent in 1975. It is interesting to see how much influence the Dutch left behind. The historical buildings in Paramaribo still look very Dutch to me, the official language is Dutch but the more widely spoken language is Sranan Tongo which is, of course, very much influenced by English and Dutch as well. Linguist as I am, I try to understand bits and pieces. If Neirude speaks it slowly, I can understand it, if Romeo speaks it rapidly (which is just normal speed of course), I am lost. Suriname uses the school system they have used since 1975 which includes the Dutch HAVO and VWO, but also the MULO which doesn’t exist anymore in the Netherlands. Nowadays they use their own schoolbooks, but before they used Dutch ones. And how can one forget the massive amount of Dutch interns in Paramaribo…It comes down to ‘if you see a white person, it’s an Dutch intern, and if you see that person, they are mostly blond and on a bike’. How stereotypical, but it’s true. So I am not allowed to cycle, because I’m not an intern…;-)
So how do I know Neirude? Neirude is born in Suriname (she is part Dutch, part Surinaams), but her family moved to the Netherlands when she was 6 I think. Neirude and I were in the same class in secondary school and we became very close friends. We are very different though: Neirude loves pink, glitter, glamour, girly stuff and I don’t. Neirude loves shopping, and I don’t. Neirude always studied really hard, I didn’t (take note of the past tense here…!). Neirude always knew she wanted to become a paediatrician (kinderarts) like her dad, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. But all this never stopped us from becoming good friends. We are both a bit nuts (no shocker there…), we like our sports, we love hugs and we both like giving them, we like being active and see and do stuff. And we love teasing each other and guess what, we are both good at it too!
So after secondary school Neirude went to study medicine in Maastricht and I went to Utrecht. When I was abroad, doing what I do best (travel!), Neirude was in the Netherlands. Whenever Neirude was at her second home Suriname, I was in the Netherlands. So we haven’t seen much of each other the last few years, but we always said I should come and visit her in Suriname since we were, well I guess 13. So here I am!
And who is Romeo? Well, Romeo is her lovely boyfriend who I met 2 years ago. But this time I really got to know him. And I think he is even more lovely now. He is a GP (huisarts) and he does great work. He has told me loads of stories about his work and the surroundings where his clinic is. Interesting I might say, so it was very impressive to go to his clinic outside the city. Less important, but definitely relevant: he is an excellent cook. So after these 3,5 weeks we all do what we do best. Neirude saves little children, Romeo saves grown-ups and cooks, and I do the dishes and laundry. Excellent agreement. Mind you, it does feel like I have done a course in ‘medical degree for dummies’ the last few weeks: I’ve learned a lot!
So Neirude and Romeo both had to work during the week, and sometimes evenings or weekends. So I was as free as a bird. Romeo gave me the house keys, I got a mobile so they could ‘check up’ on me and I had to learn how to switch on and off their house alarm…Freaky machines, but I managed…And I got to know Nero and Caesar, their guard dogs. Nero is a massive scary rottweiler, but my theory is that they haven’t been raised properly because both Nero and Caesar just want to play with me. Am I not suppose to be a stranger??? So it happened that only after 2 days I called their home, my home too.
I enjoyed myself by walking around Paramaribo, doing the usual sightseeing, going for coffees, go to the cinema and read my book. As soon as Neirude and Romeo got home we did loads of stuff. I met most of the family, from both sides, I met heaps of friends of Neirude who I knew by name, but now I know how they are: and they are a great laugh! Neirude loves going to the gym, so I went along where Neirude’s best friend Bernadette tortured us with aerobic lessons (seriously, one morning I woke up because of muscle pain…). We went bowling, swimming and of course we went shopping and we ate loads of nice food. So finally a country where I am not loosing weight, but gaining it!
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