“When it was my husband’s birthday, everyone congratulated me. I didn’t understand that, we don’t do that in Sweden,” Lotta says. “Also, in Sweden we always take off our shoes when we enter someone’s house. You often don’t do that here.” Furthermore, Lotta hardly sees any differences between Rotterdam and the city where she was born: Gothenburg, Sweden’s second largest city. Fun fact: the city is also a port city and built by the Dutch. “I think that’s why, and because the Dutch and Swedes share the same values after all, I felt at home very quickly. I also just get along really well with that no-nonsense mentality of Rotterdammers.”
Lotta has been living in Hoek van Holland, where her husband is from, for 30 years now. He worked for the same company, but from the Netherlands. She worked from Germany. “I was actually a bit done with that country, I wanted to go back to Sweden. But then I met my husband for work in London. And then it became the Netherlands after all,” she laughs. She moved to Hoek van Holland. ‘A beautiful village,’ says Lotta. “And Rotterdam is also a vibrant city. It’s alive; it’s always sociable.” She was well taken care of by Dutch people here. “They welcomed me very nicely and were very helpful. I got a lot of support from my in-laws. Especially in finding a job and learning Dutch, which was very important to me.”
Learning Dutch ánd Swedish
She did not take a Dutch language course. “The six months of our relationship I travelled between Germany and the Netherlands. Then I had cassette tapes in the car and listened to Dutch. In the beginning, I talked English with my husband, but I used more and more Dutch words in between. That’s how I learned. My husband also learnt Swedish, so we raised our children bilingually.”
Christmas ánd Sint nicholas
She also divides holidays between the two countries. “In Sweden, we mainly celebrate Christmas very big. I had never heard of St Nicholas before I came to live here. But here, that’s so very big when you have children. So at some point we just celebrated both: first St Nicholas in the Netherlands and then Christmas in Sweden. That was also very important for my boys.”
Sweden
She not only visits her homeland annually, it is also her plan to move back after retirement. At least, whether she will stay is yet to be seen. “We have a house in southern Sweden. In my first year of retirement there, I want to see how it feels to live there. Because I’ve been away for 30 years now, Sweden has changed too.” Other than that, she has little with Sweden. “Except a lot of IKEA furniture,” she laughs.