If you don’t bump into Carolina enjoying the tranquil streets of Delft, you might just see her enjoying her day in Café de Bonte Haas in Wateringen, as she lists the area around Den Hoorn as one of her favorites. She has felt the same way every since she first visited the Netherlands after she started dating a Dutch man who was working with a temporary contract in her hometown of Córdoba, Argentina.
“At first it [dating] was nothing serious as he was going to go back after his contract was up. But as time passed, we grew closer and I went with him for a two-month-period to see how I liked Holland and if I could see myself living here. Against my expectations I ended up falling in love with the Netherlands. When I got back to Córdoba I found a job in Holland, sold my belongings and said goodbye to whom I love the most: my family and friends. I’ve been here ever since April 2013.”
Carolina became a mother around Valentine’s Day last year to little, sweet, hilarious Marco who without a doubt makes his parents very proud. Both, the fresh motherhood and the expat life, clearly made profound impressions on Carolina, who a couple of months ago decided to abandon her 10-year-long career as a software developer and concentrate on dedicating her time to her passion: administration.
“I’ve always been a very organized and precise person and with a knack for numbers. I always ended up doing other people’s administration, but from now on I’ll be doing this as a professional, potentially combining this with my I.T. skills. In one year from now I see myself living in or near Den Hoorn because it’s my favorite place apart from Delft, and with my office where I take care of my own administration company targeted at expats.”
When Marco was only a few months old, Carolina heard about Delft MaMa’s Facebook group through a friend and after a while started attending the playgroup. She tries to be present whenever she has the chance, as Carolina feels the DMM community has served as a very helpful outlet with information, advice and as a place to blow off some steam. During the last few years of living in the Netherlands, some things have definitely not been easy to get used to: the language and the weather, the familiar obstacles a lot of internationals share.
“In my hometown it’s almost always sunny and we have the most spectacular thunderstorms. Winter here is truly boring with almost exclusively grey days, which really drains my energy. When I feel homesick, I look for support in my better half who is very understanding and super supporting. Sometimes I call my parents or my old group of friends through Skype. They’re always available to hear me out and help me through my dark moment.” But the silver lining to all these hardships is evident: “Luckily I haven’t had many of those moments. Besides that, I had little trouble adapting to anything in particular. The Netherlands is very accessible for expats.”
Next Mom of the Week will be published July 29th.
Great piece Tarja. So nice to get to know Carolina a bit better through this blog
Thank you Rachelle. It’s a real treat to be able to get to know you wonderful women so much better through these interviews. 🙂
Thanks for sharing. It’s amazing how many of us think about a career change after becoming a mom. Somehow working in somitting you don’t love becomes impossible when there’s a little one in between.
Sandra, this is a subject I have been discussing quite a lot lately with moms. It’s an interesting phenomenon. I think it calls for its own blog post at one point!
That’s so funny, I was thinking exactly the same! I guess it’s a natural ‘break’, a point where one has a little time to reflect what one wants to spend their precious time with. Time well spent is everything.