Meet Diana
I’m nervously shaking my leg under the table, it’s soon my turn in the introduction round.
And yes, there it comes:
How about you? Where are you from? they ask.
Me? Oh, that’s a good question! I reply in my corporate voice to buy me some time to think about the question. Really, where am I from? Seemingly a simple question. I was born and raised in Slovakia, so I guess I could say I’m from there. But I’m a native Hungarian, and I spent my last years in Budapest. I still consider the city my home, so probably I have to go with this option. Yet, last minute I decide for:
I’m from here. I live here. In Kuala Lumpur.
It was my childhood dream to move to Asia. Growing up in a small Eastern European town, I was often picturing myself walking on the busy streets under the skyscrapers; crossing the road with my fellow citizens while hurrying to work with a fancy to-go latte in my hand. Back then, it really seemed beyond my reach. Later, after I started earning my own money, I spent every spare penny on travelling.
Fast-forward to March 2020. As the world was about to fall apart, I was mentally preparing for my new job. My first day at Roche was Monday, 16 March. You might remember the date as the first day of “the two weeks of preventive quarantine”. Online onboarding, countless Zoom calls, remote team building activities going on for months and months. With the weeks turning to months and then years, I started to miss travelling, but this time it was different. I no longer wanted just to go somewhere and see the surface. I wanted to discover new places and cultures in depth. To have the whole experience. I was flirting with the idea of moving abroad more and more often, so I tried, I succeeded, and got a job within the Malaysian affiliate of the company. Since May, I live in Kuala Lumpur (and also since May I know nobody calls the city by its full name, we just call it KL. Casually.)
For a first-time expat, Malaysia is the perfect place. It’s just as different as familiar. You can have the best of both worlds. You don’t even have to step outside your comfort zone if you don’t want to, you can go on with your western lifestyle. (But honestly, is it what you moved to the other side of the world for? I don’t think so.)