“I’d expected to see white people in Rotterdam, but all these different nationalities are cool,” says Sara from the Maldives. She came to Rotterdam for love. “I was working in Sri Lanka when I met a Dutch man from Rotterdam, and we fell in love. Then we had to plan how and where we would live together. We really wanted to travel around and live somewhere else for a longer period. So we spent eight years travelling; we lived in Australia and Taiwan.” But in the end, they chose Rotterdam. “Because he’s an aircraft engineer, so he has few options for working abroad. And now I’ve got a job in Rotterdam too, so this turned out to be the best option for both of us.”
She arrived in Rotterdam in June. “Luckily, it was summer, so the weather wasn’t too much of a shock. It felt as if I was on holiday. I thought I’d be here for a few months and then move on again because of his work. But we decided to stay.” They haven’t left Rotterdam since the pandemic began. Sara moved in with him at first, but they now share a flat. “We’re even looking at a house with a garden to move into. But it does feel a bit boring for us at times now, because we met whilst we were travelling,” she laughs.
Many nationalities but no clear water
Fortunately, all the different residents of our city keep things exciting for Sara and her boyfriend. “I expected to see white people, but here I saw so many different nationalities… all sorts of people. “That’s really cool! People say Amsterdam is international, but it’s actually Rotterdam.”
At first, Sara found it hard to feel at home. “Because I didn’t have the sea or the beach, and I had to wear shoes…” she laughs. “I’m spoilt, of course, by the crystal-clear waters you find in the Maldives. Although I didn’t actually live on those private islands you see in the photos. I lived in the capital, Malé, where I didn’t have much space to live. Rotterdam is a really lovely city when I compare it to Malé. And the water here is perfectly fine in the summer, when it’s clearer. Then I’ll go swimming again.”
Discrimination
She tried to find a job in the city, but that proved difficult. “My name is Sara Mohammed. When I started applying for jobs, I received a lot of rejections. My boyfriend’s uncle said it might be down to my surname.” When she changed her surname to her partner’s, she received fewer rejections. “The same thing happened with my GP. When I rang and mentioned my surname, I didn’t get an appointment. When my partner rang, I did get an appointment. It’s absolutely ridiculous.” Later, she changed both her photo and her surname on her CV, and even the surname on her Dutch passport. “That makes things tricky again when I go to the Maldives, because there they see a different surname in my Maldivian passport than in my Dutch one.”
Making friends
Once she’d landed her first job, she also tried to make friends. That turned out to be trickier than she’d thought. “I remember when I had my first job at the Hilton Hotel and my colleagues invited me to join them for lunch. However, they all kept speaking Dutch, so I couldn’t follow the conversation.”
She also found the Dutch directness difficult to cope with. “When people said things, I often found them rude. But I’ve come to appreciate it more and more, and I’ve started doing it a bit more myself.”
By now, Sara feels at home in Rotterdam. ‘Our travels have been printed out, so our house is full of memories from our trips — including plenty from the Maldives too. That’s how I still feel at home.'”
Fish lovers wanted
If you want to feel at home in a new country, it can help to follow traditions from your own country. Unfortunately, she can’t enjoy the traditions from the Maldives here in Rotterdam. “We always eat fish – for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But my partner doesn’t like fish. I do try to cook something with fish in it sometimes, but I don’t eat it very often. Because I prefer to share. When my boyfriend was away on business, I invited my neighbour round for dinner. Even he said he didn’t eat fish. So we went out for a bite to eat. I do sometimes bring meals from home, but then I often end up eating them on my own. People don’t usually like the fish in the meal or the smell that goes with it – it’s very strong. It’s a shame that I can’t share my meals.”