If you speak Dutch you can get a decent paying job in Eastern-Central European cities in customer service no time. Live a better than average living standard locally and have a relatively good start to your career.
Newly they have Afrikaans openings as well from time to time in these shared service centres.
Check careerjet and other sites. Good luck! 👍
I completely understand you and I feel with you wanting to let it off your chest.
I grew up on the great plains of Hungary. I didn’t realize it until lately that the climate and light-conditions I grew up in is rare Westwards and to the North from the country.
There is no “grey season” or “typically overcast period” during the year. It usually goes down to minus 10, minus 15 degrees in January and it’s pitch dark by around four pm. But the previous 8 hours of daylight is actual sunshine. So, you get filled up with proper sunlight during the day.
Hungarians living in the UK or the Netherlands admit sometimes that they get depressed of the phenomena of not seeing the sun for weeks, paired up with rain and wind. This is not something we are used to.
I have been living in Northern Europe myself for more than 6 years now, I have done years of therapy and the healthier I am the more confidently I feel that this climate is making me unhappy. You somehow phrased it much better than me, that’s what I feel too.
I don’t dare talking about it anymore because my old friends back in Hungary have never been here and have no real clue what’s it like. The country where I live is the home of introverts and mentioning how I feel they start thinking about some other extreme, some tropical climate and start preaching how they wouldn’t like that, I get no understanding.
I don’t like any of the extremes, I am a typical temperate climate person, enjoying a balanced proportion of the elements and light-conditions. My boyfriend is from a very similar climate too originally so we understood each other. Other than him though, I can rarely talk about it to anyone.
I understand you, and do the move if you feel suits you better. Life is short indeed and there is almost never a “perfect opportunity” for anything. You need to make the opportunities for yourself sometimes.
Decent job, decent salary, in a long-term relationship, in a decent country.
Never regretted for a day I changed. I wasn’t happy.
Estonia, Finland and at least Latvia:
Half year long Winters are a choice to endure on the long term while the phenomena of sunshine with snow cover is really rare. “Starry nights” have a touch of exotiqueness to it in Estonian literature, it is so not a given thing up here due to the extreme light-conditions throughout the year.
The extremities are a thing to consider up here.
Otherwise Helsinki is really nice and resembles any other big city in Europe. Tallinn already has a feeling of remoteness in comparison. Visiting home will be more expensive with the transfers from Tallinn airport. The city is really nice though. Riga is a notch warmer both in climate and in mentality, but Vilnius is even more.
Others will tell all the pros. The Baltic capitals are really chill in comparison to other European capitals and Summers can be lovely. Estonia has famously little bureaucracy and an e-state.