Bevrijdingsday Festival - Liberation Day Festival or with its new adopts of a more generic theme about FREEDOM, you can say it is Freedom Day Festival =)

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Sunday 8:00 am

Harry style once said "You wake up to the sound of the birds chirping on a beautiful Sunday morning. It is going to be a good day, jump out of bed and step on a plug." Trust me, it happened to me that day. I woke up to the sound of birds chirping instead of cars honking, jumped out of bed, and stepped on my mobile charger plug. It was the best turned to worst experience, to begin the day with.

It's time for religious service, today! Before I went to bed, I was told that I need to be ready before 8, have to breakfast, and leave home by 8:20. We all got ready on time and left home. I've never had a proper service experience, I was excited and nervous for nothing at the same time. We parked the car and we went in. Once, I entered inside, I noticed that the people greeting, shaking hands, - all of them - had huge smiles on their faces and looked genuinely happy. I thought that was really awesome. I, Yusef, Lewis, and his host family went to the same church. I became really happy when I saw them. As soon as my mom met Tim's family, she said "You can attend the session with them". I got excited and sat with both my host family and friends. It was really nice to meet Tim's family back.

Everything was preached in Dutch and all three of us understood nothing from the beginning. Everyone was busy listening to the preach and I found my brother Michiel asking Juliette to help me with what's happening. He was thoughtful at the right time and it really helped me. There was a lady who tried to convey her message by an act of Ventriloquism(which is an act of stage in which a person creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere), she was fabulous right from the start. The choir crew sang songs and that is when I met my Host-mom's niece and nephew. They were on the stage and part of the crew.

And once the service got over, we spoke for a little while and departed. Later, we went to my host mom's niece's house. Only then, I was introduced to them and they had a bike at home. We checked if I would fit it, unfortunately, It was bigger than what we expected. My host-mom loves gardening and she would even sit and contemplate in her garden. So, my niece did some garden tour for us and my mom suggested a few more ideas to her which I understood nothing because they spoke in Dutch. I looked around and felt, I wish I live in a place like that.

We went back home, had our lunch, and mom decided to go to her parent's place. So, I decided to accompany her. The climate kept changing. It was bright when we left home and when we reached the destination, the sun went down and darkness fell, the melody of the wind chimed as they tinkled in the breeze, and it smelled of rain filling the atmosphere with a mild perfume. Yes, it started raining again. We both rushed inside and there I met my host-grandparents. It was calm and quiet. They were really very nice to me and they have had a gift for making people comfortable, I felt that from the inside of me. They kept smiling, and both looked so great together.

We both returned home and Juliette finished studying while we were out. I and Juliette left for the festival. The festival took place in Park de(of) Wezenlanden in Zwolle. Usually, the festival starts at 11 a.m. and ends at midnight. There I met Zerina, Yusef, and Lewis with Tim and Marian. All four of us were always connected and there was not even a time we slept without doing facetime at night. So we were not really surprised when we met but instead, we felt excited. The funniest part was that we decided to speak in our native language if there was something that needed to communicate only within ourselves.

It was when Spring was just around the corner (especially with the nice weather of the last few days). THIS FESTIVAL WAS FREE TO ENTER. There was a crowd everywhere and I do even remember hitting a lady from the back with my bike. I know more than I did, people around me struggled a lot!

I really loved its theme. "Eat the most delicious, healthy snacks, enjoy the concert, and experience what it is like to live in freedom". Singer Maan had the honor and performed on liberation day. We first went around to find a proper place to watch them perform but the crowd went wild and wilder. So I, Zerina, and Marian decided and went into the crowd. Finally, we were able to see something from that distance. While kept mumbling and tried to lift ourselves slightly in the air to see better, we met an old strong lady offering to carry me on her back. She was so kind and not to disappoint her and her son, I agreed!

She really tried to carry me, I saw better than before for a few seconds and left me down slowly because she became tired. She felt really happy for lifting me and she was still able to do that. It was something great to me, honestly! Imagine, a 60-70-year-old lady trying to carry me on her back.

We spent some time in the crowd and came out to take a few pictures. There we met the others again. Zerina was worried that she still had not taken any pictures together. So, she spoke in our native language saying "Namma mellama pinnadiye nadandhu pora valilaye photo edukalam"(which means Let us walk slowly behind them and take pictures on our way). But never did we expect that Tim would hear the word "photo" and find out our plan and he suddenly replied to us saying "I will give you time to take pictures but not now, don't you worry!". We were terribly shocked at the moment and decided not to use even a single English word when trying to communicate in our native language. I know he's smart, lol!

They took us to a place to sit and told us to click how many ever pictures, we wanted. It was an ideal spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white clouds drifting from left to right, the sun was shining and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, and it smelled like the flowers that bloomed in the hope of joy. A good day to spend outside! We almost sat there for half an hour and wondered why were we sitting there for such a long time. Tim was not around us. Suddenly, there came a surprise. Yusef's host mom and dad joined us out of nowhere. Yusef was definitely surprised too! It was his first time meeting them. He became really happy to see them finally. All three of us felt happy for him. His longing had come to an end!

We took a few group selfies and decided to go to the chocolate company. It is not a company but a Chocolate cafe. We went there walking while our eyes were touched and we were grasped by what we cannot grasp. We reached and it smelled of chocolate. They had the best hot chocolate you can dream of, of course, delicious chocolates and coffees too. It is heaven to every chocolate lover, I assure you!

It's time to go back home and finally for the first time, all four of us departed in different directions with our host! I went back home and discussed what had all happened there while having our dinner. The whole city was tranquil but we kept hearing the concert happening in the park, it was really booming and we felt it badly.

We went back to our rooms for sleep and out of the blue, I received a FaceTime call from Zerina, Lewis and, Yusef. We were all not tired but excited!

About what?

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Keep thinking! I will tell you about that in the next chapter, hehe!

Thank you to those who read every chapter and asked for more. You gave me the courage and the belief that I could really do this. I am sorry that I was not able to upload this chapter on time due to my personal stuff. Hooray! We've now crossed 800+ reads and 300 votes.

Your votes and comments really help me to diminish my fear.

Much love ❤