ABSTRACT
A Belgian expat and his partner in the Netherlands – “We have created a friendship”
Antoine and Marie are a cosmopolitan couple, originally from Belgium, in their forties and with three kids, two of which who are grown up and moved out. They have lived for 2-3 years each time in many countries around the world for Antoine’s job at a French multinational corporation, and arrived in the Netherlands for a stay of three years. In 2008, they enthusiastically signed up for my PhD project, in which I put them in touch with Johan and Annelies, a Dutch host family that was 20 years older than them, also with two grown up kids, and having lived abroad in two different countries for a total of 5 years. When I contacted them again in 2023, they had continued the friendship, and had met several times in Belgium and also in Uganda and Singapore when Antoine and Marie were posted there.
