About me
From web-usability in Mumbai to life coach for Indian Expats
India? Really? Ok!
I left the Netherlands to work in India in November 2004. It felt adventurous, but it seemed to feel a lot more adventurous to others then to me. I just went. To me this was just another new thing, and it had the potential of a lot of novelty and learning.
Maybe I had been a little adventurous, because shortly I was to discover what it really meant to be so far from home.
The learning curve was high, and in the first few months things were mostly just really new. A few difficulties in the beginning were to be expected, I thought nothing of it.
But there was more. 2 years later, I noticed my body relaxing when seeing a regular dress in a shop window. 2 years, and I was still not used to being here??
And there was more to come. The struggle with paper work, with not being able to work for a while, and finding a place where I could feel at ease at work. And I finally did… And then I became a mother. Parenting is extremely personal, and once more there was so much to figure out. How do I position myself, my views, and what I choose to do, between the new culture and the old one?
After 15 years I can say I did figure that out, but then, I know there is always a next.
In the mean time I became a life coach and therapist in India, working with Indian clients. And naturally flowing, it became Indian people abroad. Because this international journey is unique, and it takes one to know one. Positively then of course!
If you would know me you would know that…
- I cared for street cats my area (in Mumbai), and my most favorite animal I ever looked after was a flying fox (the large fruit-eating bat).
- I used to want to be an acrobat in a circus (and even now, I sometimes take a leap of faith and try adventurous things).
- I have a bit of a fetish for compost—it really needs to smell like forest soil and feel cool to the touch on a warm day.
- I can get terribly distracted by burning questions, like why the Latvian language resembles Sanskrit, how you could get an alternative currency system running, or how an algorithm actually works.
- I struggle with ADHD symptoms, which means I often end up being just a little too late with everything.