“When I went to play at other friends’ houses, I had to go home at six o’clock when they had dinner. I thought that was crazy,” Jinai laughs. She came to the Netherlands at the age of four. “My father was already working in a Chinese restaurant in the Netherlands so me and my mother came here to live with him.” At home, they spoke Chinese. “My parents thought our culture, i.e. our Chinese heritage, was very important. They couldn’t speak Dutch either.” Nevertheless, she quickly learnt Dutch at school. “That went well. I think as a child you can pick up things quickly. Although I keep having problems with ‘de’ and ‘het’…” she laughs. The restaurant where her father worked no longer exists. But Jinai still lives in Rotterdam. Meanwhile, she even started her own cooking studio, which is now very successful. “I quickly felt at home here,” she says.
Similarities
That’s because Rotterdam shares many similarities with her hometown: Singapore. “Singapore is also very multicultural. It’s so nice to talk to different kinds of people and eat from so many kinds of cuisines.” She therefore has different kinds of friends, from Surinamese to Dutch.
But the similarities don’t end there. “In Singapore, people are also direct, which is not necessarily Asian. But people of different kinds of nationalities also come there. They all have to try their best to make it anyway. And you have to stand up for yourself anyway, otherwise you just don’t achieve it. I think that’s why they give their opinions. Sometimes they also give unsolicited advice; then it can come across as a bit meddlesome. But they mean well.”
She also sees with Rotterdammers that they can sometimes go too far in directness. “Sometimes they even react bluntly. If you do something wrong or something. But they don’t mean it personally. They are actually very social. So once you cross that threshold, a world opens up for you.”
Tourism
Jinai is clearly a fan of Rotterdam, although she does worry that it will become less so. “I see it becoming more and more touristy. It’s kind of nice when other people like your city too. But I hope it doesn’t go towards the mass tourism of Amsterdam.”
Besides Rotterdam, ok Singapore still feels like home. Although now she struggles with the climate when she gets there. “It’s very tropical there. When I get out of the airport, I get hit in the face. Then I really have to recover from that for a few days because I’m used to the bad weather here.”