Dutch in Translation

Empress Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great, once said, “ I beg you take courage; the brave soul can mend even disaster. ” This is what Kristina did after moving to the Netherlands: take courage, find her lost self, and begin again. From Saint Petersburg, a city in Russia of more than five million people, our young expat fell in love, packed her bags, moved from Russia to the Netherlands, and began an unexpected journey with a heartening ending. Here’s her story. If we’d like to comprehend what’s behind Kristina’s radical career change, from graduating as a medical engineer and completing a master’s degree in Entrepreneurial Information Technologies to being a resolute and committed physiotherapist student in Eindhoven, it’s fundamental to revisit the culture she comes from and the electrifying life she’d led. It’s only then that perhaps you’ll agree with me: she was meant to pursue a healthcare career and, unexpectedly, she did.   LIFE IN SAINT PETERSBURG  H...

Having never left the place she was born and her only known home, one day Merve packed everything and said goodbye to Turkey. She'd lived in Ankara her whole life, but just as a river's flow takes new bends and bifurcates into streams, so did the life of Merve and her husband. A shared project, they took the leap by moving to the Netherlands in 2017. A year later, our Turkish expat found complete bliss by changing careers: from business administration to horeca medewerker. And you know what? She couldn't be happier!  What's her view on life?  How did she manage to take the jump and reinvent herself?  Here's her story. Back in Turkey: business analyst at an ERP consultancy company Before moving to Eindhoven, Merve lived in Ankara, working for the last five years in the IT industry as a support specialist. A ccording to what was expected from a business administration graduate, or what was expected of her, she had  a nice job, stable and steady. The software comp...

Superficially , Eliana is a lucky expat. A Brazilian woman who was able to find work and open her own hair salon just a year after arriving. In reality, during her first year in Eindhoven, she cried a lot, applied for jobs, took English and Dutch lessons, lost her father, fought cancer, registered as a freelancer, and started a business. To me, the question is not how she did it but, what does it take to have her resilience? Who is this expat woman who fights adversity and refuses to give up? How does one settle down and is happy in a new country? What can we learn from her?   Her first years by Vacaria River, Brazil Eliana grew up in the north southeast of Brazil, a rural region with no name, close to  Vacaria Ri ver. P eople live from their crops.  During prosperous times, they plant and harvest corn, beans, rice, potatoes, and other vegetables. Unfortunately, the land suffers from drought and poor soils, so people have to figure out a different way of making a li...

Eindhoven & Den Haag Fietsenstalling, Piazza, Eindhoven       I wish I'd had more time to show Karen Eindhoven's city center, but unexpected things happened and we ended up hurrying to catch a train to Den Haag. How come? First of all, and as you well know, it wasn't raining so the possibilities were endless! Anyway, after having visited La Piazza's underground bike parking lot, seen Sissy Boy's organic architecture from the inside with its original jungle-style restaurant, eaten a yummy toasted sandwich at Krok Madam  and while hanging out at Van Pierre , she saw a book on Escher and exclaimed, "Escher! Such an incredible mind!" Oh , I thought, should  we go to Den Haag?   Can we? Should we? Do we have enough time?  You might understand how I could not miss catching a train to Den Haag and visit  Escher in Het Paleis .       Before we get to Den Haag, I'll like to share two tips. One, have an extra OV-ch...