Working abroad often sounds beautiful. I sometimes dream of it too. In the past, that was unrealistic, and I wanted to start a sports café in Croatia. Nowadays, my wife and I are considering emigrating to Nice. Whether this is realistic will have to be determined in the coming years.Back to the woman in question. She has chosen not to take the job. Despite her love for Spain and her willingness to live there, she feels she will miss the Netherlands after a few months. She posed the question to her LinkedIn followers about what they would do. Below are my pros and cons.
It's November there too. Secretly, November is one of my favorite months, but I remain Dutch. Dutch people are married to the weather, and the marriage is difficult. Especially in November. If I look purely at Southern Europe, there are few places where the weather is really nice in winter. My brother lives near Lake Garda. You wouldn't want to go there in November either. Keep in mind that the beautiful pictures of summer aren't so beautiful all year round.
I admit I'm not a cheering Dutchman. They may abolish the Royal Family immediately, and despite being a big sports fan, I've never understood why I should be happy when a Dutch athlete wins. As if all Dutch athletes speak to me. Indeed, I'm a grumbler. And that's exactly what makes me Dutch. If I were to leave this country, I wouldn't miss the eternal complaining (from others) at all.
But well, we don't have it bad here. It's fine to live in the Netherlands, the facilities are good, and in terms of healthcare and insurance, it's excellently arranged here. When I compare it to my brother's life in Italy, I see a lot of differences. He recently bought a house. Let's just say not everything went exactly according to the rules. You can live with that, but healthcare is less well arranged in many countries than in the Netherlands. With an eye on the future, that's a reason for me to stay in the Netherlands.
How many what-if moments do you have? Those moments where you still wonder what would have happened if you had done it. I have two. One in terms of love (not that she's reading this, but sorry Marlies) and one in terms of work. Despite being too cowardly to take the plunge back then, I didn't take the job. In hindsight, the best choice, but with the knowledge back then, the wrong one. In any case, the offer of my business acquaintance on LinkedIn is one of those that only comes by once. And then I see myself at 80 in the nursing home, with all the nagging Dutch people around me cheering when Max Verstappen's son wins a Grand Prix. Impressive when only 20 are competing, 18 of whom have a worse car. And then it's raining too.
So I don't understand my business acquaintance's decision at all. She loves Spain, wants to live and work there, and has a home situation that facilitates it. Come back for a month in the summer, and you have the work and life of your dreams. Because these kinds of opportunities really only come by once.
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