Sturmfrei (adj.)
Origin: Germany
Lit. “stormfree”; the freedom of not being watched by a parent or superior; being alone at a place and having the ability to do what you want.
(credit:http://www.geckosadventures.com/tales/24-inspiring-travel-words-youve-never-heard-of/)
The ability to make decisions for oneself and to become autonomous is one of the joys of growing up, and from a young age travelling has been at the top of my list of ways to grow up and become independent.
This being said, when my parents left me in Paris over two months ago, their independent 20 year old daughter felt like a 5 year old being dropped off on her first day of school – tearful. That same day I caught 5 trains from Paris to get to Lievelde in The Netherlands, the village where my grandparents grew up and where most of my Dad’s extended family live.
Lievelde is a very small village with a population of about 1,600 people. The closest towns/villages are Lichtenvoorde, Groenlo and Winterswijk, and a 30 minute drive and you can be in the west of Germany. My Opa’s (grandfather’s) family, the Donderwinkels, were mainly based in Lievelde, and my Oma’s (grandmother’s) family were on the Groenlo side. My grandparents moved to New Zealand in the 1950s to farm. They married in Morrinsville and bought a farm near Matamata, where they lived until 2013 when they moved into the Matamata township.
Although my Dad’s cousins would argue that Lievelde/Lichtenvoorde are raging villages, I would say that they are quiet, pleasant and quite clearly old villages that have seen a lot of history. However, while I was staying here I was able to attend the 20th annual ‘Zwarte Cross’ held in the area.
The ‘Zwarte Cross’ orignally started as a race for motor vehicles that could no longer legally be driven on the roads. Over the past 20 years it has evolved into a vehicle race/music concert/generally liberal festival. I was lucky enough to get hold of a ticket and join 220,000 other zwarte-cross-goers that braved the heat and crowds to get a Grolsch beer… or 12. I was lucky enough to go with my lovely second cousin, Suzanne, and two of her friends, and despite my lack of spoken Dutch, her English was great and we managed to get on well.
Also while in The Netherlands I had the chance to explore the biggest National Park in the country by bike, going to an underground museum that explores the underground wildlife of the park, as well as an outdoor contemporary art park and a collection of artwork at the Kröller-Müller Museum, featuring Van Gogh’s ‘Cafe Terrace at Night.’
These are just a couple of highlights of my time in The Netherlands, and I do hope to return soon. Probably the most poignant moment of my trip was a really unexpected moment I had in a graveyard close to my Tante Marietje’s house. I was walking along until my Great Aunt pointed out the graves of both of my great Omas and Opas from both the Donderwinkels and the Harbers. There they were, their graves right opposite each other. It’s hard to put into words how I felt in that moment, but if it did anything, it made me appreciate how far my grandparents had come to start a new life in New Zealand. It was an inexplicably big moment for me, and after speaking with my grandparents about it, they seemed rather touched about how moved I was.
So although I came into this experience of being overseas by myself feeling shaky, stressed and with the feeling of sturmfrei (in an even bigger melting pot of emotions), it was all put into perspective by the thoughts of my ancestors and family abroad. Well, they’ve done it before, so I can too. For me, the word Sturmfrei reflects emotions that are not only filled with potential and excitement for what is to come, but it encompasses a certain bewilderment, an anxious notion of not knowing what lies in the future. But also the sense that it will be enticing nonetheless.