She holds two jobs, has a husband, a child and a dog – that is what life is like for Nenka Rashkova in Germany. Like most Bulgarians living abroad, the young family decided to leave Bulgaria for very prosaic reasons:

“We left four years ago because we didn’t see any prospects, and we were going through a period when we had taken out loans. We decided to go and live in Germany because my husband received a job offer. The difficulties any Bulgarian encounters abroad are not knowing the language, not having any friends, and also - everything looks so unfamiliar, we have to cope with everything all by ourselves,” she says.

For Nenka and her husband Rado it was love at first sight. Nenka found the strength to leave her job in IT in Bulgaria for an extraordinary adventure:

“He was a long-haul driver and would travel abroad, so a long-distance relationship just couldn’t work, so I went along with him. In the space of one year I travelled to 14 countries, I had a lot of interesting experiences, some good, some bad, but the good memories prevail. And at the end of that one year we found out that we had started out as a couple, but now there were three of us coming home.”

In Bulgaria, Nenka Rashkova earned an excellent education. She is an accountant and “Hydrogeology and engineering geology” expert. Yet, in Mariazell, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, she works for a local catering company, and three times a week – at a cleaning company. “I came to Germany to be a cleaner, but I feel great,” she admits.

Here, far from Bulgaria, Nany, as everybody calls her rediscovered her hobby – making amazing pictures out of all kinds of souvenirs and thread.

There are dozens of people who own beautiful works by Nenka in different parts of the world, and says she derives the greatest pleasure out of the support she gets from her family, and the feedback and photos she gets from her clients. “That gives me pleasure and is a stimulus to make more and different items,” she says.

Though far from the country, Nenka Rashkova follows the news from Bulgaria:

“What is happening in Bulgaria at the moment is, to my mind, a tragedy. We, Bulgarians living abroad say that Bulgaria banished us from our country. But it is not Bulgaria actually, it is the people in power that banished us. I’m sorry for Bulgaria, a very beautiful country, but I think all of these people should leave parliament and be replaced by new people who will really care about the future of Bulgarians.”

The young woman admits she is not in contact with any other Bulgarians in Germany.

“There is a saying “Stay as far away from Bulgarians when you are abroad as you can” and we came to understand why. To begin with, when we came here, we kept in touch with many Bulgarians, but somehow our way of thinking when we are abroad changes, we don’t help one another, we don’t stick together, and when someone achieves something, the other person just wants to take advantage, conflicts occur, that is why we decided to be independent.”

Do you miss Bulgaria?

“No,” Nenka Rashkova answers bluntly. “Harsh as it may sound I only miss my relations. Every time we come home for our summer vacation we are disappointed. All of our dreams came true here, in Germany, and the homesickness vanished.”

Photos: Facebook/ thread pictures