Nicola Nikolov

Three years ago, Nicola Nikolov came to the Netherlands. ‘I want to buy my own house in Bulgaria’, Nikola explains. ‘If I have work in Bulgaria, it will take more than 15 years. With my salary in the Netherlands I will have saved up enough money to buy a house in a couple of years.’ Nicola came to the Netherlands with a friend. His friend has found a job in Germany, but Nicola decided to stay. ‘The weather is nice and cold and that is what I like’, Nicola explains. ‘In Bulgaria it can get up to 30-45C degrees. That’s way to hot for me. The people here are friendly and the Netherlands is a beautiful country, what more can you ask for.’ There is one thing that Nicola misses and that is a big BBQ with family and friends. ‘In Bulgaria there is nothing like it. I like a lot of meat and the way it is prepared by my family is delicious. When I think of BBQ, I miss my family and friends a lot, especially my mother, grandfather and my uncle.

Nicola works in a greenery called Kees van der Sande in Biezenmortel. He works with a lot of different nationalities. ‘We get along great, but the language barrier sometimes makes it difficult to communicate. Then we have to use our hands and feet to get our point across’. Before Nicola worked in the greenery, he worked picking strawberries and blue berries. ‘The one thing I want new workers to be aware of in the Netherlands is the bike culture. They bike everywhere. It took some getting used to, to have to bike to work every day. I still don’t like as much as the Dutchies, but I have gotten used to it.’