I’m Ashlee, a Malaysian of Chinese descend who was born in George Town, Penang, (a state in NorthWest of Malaysia). The city of George Town, although being constantly overshadowed by the capital of Kuala Lumpur, it is also inscribed as UNESCO world heritage site since 2008. I completed my degree in banking in Malaysia and I had over 4 years of experience working in banking industry since my graduation. I have always been nomadic in my own country since my early 20s, for reason of studies and career but never really exposed to the culture other than what I’ve been familiar to.
The reason for the move to Netherlands, to Eindhoven is really for love. My spouse and I decided that we had enough of the Long Distance Relationship with each other for his three years time in France for PhD and my in Malaysia. We wanted to be able to be by each other’s side after the three years ordeal. But even after his return to the country, things didn’t work out as we wished as we lived 300km apart in different states in Malaysia for our career. It has really been quite a journey for both of us. Then we decided, if he gets an opportunity in a much forgiving place and an English speaking country, we’ll live together as a unit. So here I am, for almost 2 months in Eindhoven, Netherlands as an accompanying spouse.
GiT first came to me from the newsletter shared by Carola on the Valentine’s Day. I was not really sure that the programme was actually called GiT as far as I remembered; I have attended the TuE introduction day which talked about other programme Expat Spouse Initiative, a larger scale and initiative done to expat spouses in the region. I gave Carola my email contact during this session. I was a bit unsure if both of the programmes are actually relevant/inter-related to each other, but I suppose the outcome remains positive as I could get myself out from my apartment at minimum. Then, I talked to Carola during the Lantern Making Workshop by YiTing, and I realised that GiT is actually a programme planned and co-hosted by TuE for spouses.
I personally did not expect myself to be able to get involve so quickly in GiT, but I am really looking forward for more activities to come. But wait.. am I already considered a part of the group? Hahaha. Thank you Carola and team for being so inclusive despite my first appearance to many. I have only attended my first outing with GiT spouses so far, which is during the Lantern Making Workshop and that is already a special moment together as it was really a beautiful handicraft and worthy to be insta-storied. I can teach that to my kids in future.
To GiT: Thank you for the opportunity and effort for making everyone inclusive.
To the spouses: GiT is a really nice effort and initiative to really promote an opportunity for people of different cultural background to exchange view and knowledge. As social health is being observed, GiT also enables people to connect with each other so nobody felt alone in foreign land away from home.
