Page 69 - Thetha Issue 7

ALUMNI FEATURES

Africans live in the Eindhoven. In my who lectured the supply chain and
first week here I was invited to a pub logistics modules. We were excited to
to watch the Springboks playing.” attend his classes, and he cared about
each of us as individuals.”
Friends like family
Almarize has since made friends from From Mercedes-Benz to the
all over. “There are so many people Netherlands
here I now consider family, including Before moving to the Netherlands,
the Dutch landlords of my city centre Almarize worked for Mercedes Benz
apartment, who epitomise ‘Brabantse in East London.
gezelligheid’; Brabant being our After moving to Europe, she
province and ‘gezelligheid’ is a worked for Philips for a year, and on
proudly Dutch word – a mix between 1 August she started a new job at a
Ubuntu and conviviality. And when company called ASML as a business
there is a Springbok rugby game engineer in operational excellence.
or any South African celebration, “They manufacture the micro and
we meet up and celebrate like only semi-conductor chips that go into
Saffas can.” anything electronic and they are huge
On weekends, Almarize and a in the world,” she explains.
group of friends sometimes do city Romance-wise, she says when
trips, either locally or across the friends there asked her how she
border since everything is so close. expected to meet someone, she
She says Ghent in Belgium is one of would reply, “maybe I’ll be in a bakery
the most beautiful cities she has ever and an attractive man will ask me if I
seen and she loves Vondelpark in want to share a croissant!”.
Amsterdam. They told her she needed to
”It’s the most popular park in try dating apps,. “This was most
the Netherlands, with waterfalls, unlike me, but I went through an
restaurants, hang out spots where you online dating phase. It was weird but
can lie in hammocks in the trees and entertaining, and the good thing is
listen to live music.” In Eindhoven she I tried it. I’m trying all sorts of new
visits her local park Stadswandelpark things including drinking beer and
almost every day as she is “obsessed eating cheese! In South Africa I never
with trees, forests and nature.” enjoyed either, but the variety here is
Her first December there was the so incredible, that I’m a convert.”
coldest she has ever been, but she has
since learnt how to dress for European
winters. She still dreams about South
African summers and Eastern Cape
beaches, and fondly remembers
her time at Nelson Mandela
University, which she describes as her
springboard to the world.
“I was a big nerd at university,
completely dedicated to my studies,
but I still enjoyed my time there and
I met some incredible people. One of
them was Mr Abdul Gasiep Jappie,

Left: Vondelpark, Amsterdam
Right: The trees of
Stadswandelpark,
in Eindhoven – a park
Kleu visits almost daily.

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