When I worked for Namics, I was sent to Belgrade to set up, develop, manage and manage the nearshore branch. My family and I lived abroad for about three years from 2017 to 2019.
I wrote this blog post after our first year in Belgrade.
My family and I have been in Belgrade for a whole year now. I thought this would be a good opportunity to sum up our experiences of living abroad and give an insight into our life in Belgrade.
Even before we landed in Belgrade, it was clear to my wife and me that our decision to move would be a great adventure. But… If we had known all the details before we moved, I’m not sure what our decision would have been.
But we are still in Belgrade and we love it 🙂
Since the beginning of 2017, I have been spending (a lot) of time in Belgrade. It started with many flights between Switzerland and Belgrade and became even more intense when I started living there from Monday to Thursday (or even Friday). My family finally moved to Belgrade in the summer of 2017. Since we didn’t have anything in our apartment (we had to wait three weeks for our belongings) and it was too hot to do anything outside the apartment, it wasn’t easy to organize our first few days. We had temperatures of over 40 degrees without rain for at least three weeks. Quite unusual for a family from Switzerland.
A warm welcome
In addition to a kind of heat stroke for my family, I also survived the professional shock in the office. Even before I started in Belgrade, I was informed that one of my most important future employees would not be available because of her maternity leave. That was good news for them, but quite a surprise for me.
I can’t imagine how I would be able to cope without my helpful colleagues in our Belgrade office. They made me feel welcome from day one and I’m more than happy to have such a great team.
Despite the fact that I had support, my start in Belgrade was still difficult. I tried to adapt as quickly as possible, but it was a big challenge. The combination of a new job, a new country, new tasks and a new city completely overwhelmed me. After only six months, I just needed a break. That’s why my family and I went to Switzerland to celebrate our Christmas and go on a skiing holiday in Austria.
To make a long story short: The second part of my personal first year was better. I think I adapted to the circumstances and learned a lot.
Challenges in family life
According to an article in the Harvard Business Review, the most frequently cited reasons for abandoning an overseas assignment are “family concerns,” including difficulties in adapting, partner’s career problems, problems with children’s education, quality of life, and lack of practical support.
After a year in Belgrade, we can certainly understand this conclusion. We have experienced several of these reasons. Compared to my situation, this Serbian adventure was even more difficult for my family. Everyone has their own challenges to overcome.
I think it’s easiest for the younger of my two girls (she turned two in June 2018). After all, baby talk is the same all over the world. She really likes the emotional way the teachers deal with the children. The older one (she will be five years old in August 2018) took time to adjust and still needs more time. She couldn’t comprehend what had happened and why no one understood her anymore, and that was a pretty hard lesson she had to learn. She is a very open-minded girl, but still has a lot of catching up to do in terms of languages. She is not only learning Serbian. Since she is part of an international kindergarten, she is learning English and Serbian at the same time. She’s doing well, but it’s still a confusing situation for her.
This whole experience is not easy for my wife either. She quit a good job in Switzerland to make it possible for me to work in Belgrade. Suddenly, she was in a new city, surrounded by unfamiliar faces and new tasks. She does not have a work permit and cannot work here in Serbia, which is very difficult for her. Nevertheless, she has found a way to fill her days meaningfully and has started her own creative business. And she is our family anchor here in Belgrade.
But my wife and I really hope this will be a great experience for us as a family. We want our children to understand life outside the bubble called Switzerland and learn that excluding someone because of their origin or language should never be an option.
In addition, we enjoy life in the big city, although (or because) it is probably the opposite of our life before the move. We lived in the most beautiful Swiss city of St. Gallen. Our hometown is small, always clean, quiet and peaceful. Now we are in this noisy, busy, exciting and rapidly developing city of Belgrade.
Now we feel at home in Belgrade. But we wonder if we can ever be integrated. My wife and I have started teaching Serbian, but apart from a few “Ćao” and “Å ta radiÅ¡”, we don’t speak Serbian at the moment. Believe me, it’s a strange feeling when you don’t have any knowledge of the local language. Fortunately for us, the level of English in Belgrade is very high, and we have never had a situation where we could not communicate with our counterpart.
Belgrade for beginners
If you are from Switzerland or any other Western European country, you know that there are many prejudices about the eastern part of Europe and the Balkans. Soon after our arrival in Belgrade, my family and I realized that most of these prejudices were not true. Belgrade is an international metropolis. Yes, it looks different from Hamburg, Barcelona or Rome, but on the whole, life in Belgrade is not dissimilar. It’s a big European city.
You can find interesting sports everywhere. Or you can visit many cool restaurants, bars and cafes – a very important part of life here in Belgrade. The best thing about the city, however, is its people.
Everywhere we went, we met very hospitable, nice and interesting people. The population is young, and you can feel its charisma in the city – it is alive and constantly changing. We also met a very family-friendly population, which is very important for our family, and I have to say that we have never experienced this in Switzerland.
And of course, there are many differences between Switzerland and Serbia or Belgrade and St. Gallen. We witnessed some funny situations that show some differences: from taxis breaking down (on the highway and the driver’s attempt to fix the taxi with a hammer), contract negotiations conducted mainly in Serbian (without any knowledge of Serbian) to the most important thing in the office: a stamp to stamp everything, usually twice. Belgrade may not be the most beautiful city in the world, but it certainly has its own charm.
I have learned from my own experience that it would be nice if all Swiss people lived here in Belgrade. In my home country, people from the southern part of Europe are known for their relaxed lifestyle. It’s not all as serious as in Switzerland and perfection isn’t that important, but most of the time it works – somehow. Perhaps a mixture of Swiss and Serbian lifestyle would be perfect. Take reliability, punctuality and cleanliness from Switzerland and joie de vivre, family-friendliness and hospitality from Serbia. And for many Swiss, it would be a good experience to get to know the feeling of what it means to be a foreigner. I am sure that our discussion about immigration and integration would be different. Things like restricting immigration (“mass immigration initiative”) would not happen.
I really want to use this blog post to say thank you. First of all, my thanks go to my family. Without the support of Elena, Malea and Noa, I would not be able to live and work here in Belgrade. In our home country of Switzerland, it would be much easier for all of us.
Then: Namics. Thanks to Namics for trusting me. It is unusual to get such a position without any prior knowledge. But it shows how Namics works and what values we live by.
And I would like to thank all my great colleagues here in our Belgrade office. Thank you very much for your support, hospitality and cooperation.
I am looking forward to next year in Belgrade and will keep you posted,
Jan