The plan and why it didn’t happen that way
Before leaving for Europe, we inquired about possibilities of work for me once there. Aasha would have her hands full with her work at the university, our daughter would go to school, and I didn’t plan on sitting at home doing nothing. But things didn’t turn out quite as we had planned.Although I was told that my dependent spouse visa would allow me to work in Belgium, the reality here was that my Master’s degree suddenly became my own little prison, limiting my options to work in my current career field. In addition, since a lot of HR companies in Belgium work across the country, most of job openings required fluent Dutch and French, which I didn’t have upon arrival.
Belgium is famous as a country of many rules that nobody really masters, so it should not have come as a surprise when different officials I spoke to about my status and opportunities gave me different answers. I felt like I was being given different pieces of a puzzle but without the picture on the box, it was tedious work putting them into the right place. It quickly became clear that getting a job here was not happening any time soon.
While I was exploring the Belgian system, I kept my sanity by caring for my family in my favourite way - cooking!
Before leaving for Europe, we inquired about possibilities of work for me once there. Aasha would have her hands full with her work at the university, our daughter would go to school, and I didn’t plan on sitting at home doing nothing. But things didn’t turn out quite as we had planned.Although I was told that my dependent spouse visa would allow me to work in Belgium, the reality here was that my Master’s degree suddenly became my own little prison, limiting my options to work in my current career field. In addition, since a lot of HR companies in Belgium work across the country, most of job openings required fluent Dutch and French, which I didn’t have upon arrival.
Belgium is famous as a country of many rules that nobody really masters, so it should not have come as a surprise when different officials I spoke to about my status and opportunities gave me different answers. I felt like I was being given different pieces of a puzzle but without the picture on the box, it was tedious work putting them into the right place. It quickly became clear that getting a job here was not happening any time soon.
While I was exploring the Belgian system, I kept my sanity by caring for my family in my favourite way - cooking!
That's when I words of a senior colleague struck who said, “If you turn your hobby into a profession, you’ll never work a single day.” This was my Aha!-moment and I decided - this is what I should do! I want to become a chef and provide excellent Indian food to Belgians!
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