In Italy in November 2011, she produced, with renowned Italian artists such as Clara Brasca, Mario Nava, Silvano Signoreto, Claudio Polles and Luigi Benzoni, an exhibition, sponsored by the Comune di Rho. The prominent art critic Boris Brollo attended this exhibition. More recently, she and Cosimo Mero, professor and managing director of the Antico Oratorio della Passione di Sant’Ambrogio in Milan, have inaugurated a project that aims to establish the woman as a cultural transmitter.
Francesco Le Rose
Francesco Le Rose (Belvedere Marittimo, Italy, 1967) is a management engineer who began his career and his passion for energy sources in the small town of Cetraro in southern Italy. Later, in Rome, he gained work experience as a consultant in an insulation and refrigeration company, before moving to Milan, where he met his wife-to-be and worked at an international oil and gas company. This saw him move to Cairo, where he assumed responsibility in Information Services for north Africa (namely, Egypt, Libya, Algeria and Tunisia) and Iran. He then became involved as CIO in the largest oil and gas industry project in the world in Atyrau, Kazakhstan over the next three years, where he was joined and supported by his wife and two beloved daughters. He now lives in Milan, where he says he is listening to the universe and ready to continue his journey.
Linda van de Sande
Linda van de Sande (Tilburg, the Netherlands, 1986) moved to Belgium to study and attained a Bachelor in Education, majoring in Dutch Language and Art. Thereafter she took some classes to become a certified English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher. After her first overseas experience, she became ever more interested in discovering the world. She is passionate about teaching, children, travelling and other cultures. “I like to discover new cultures and to throw myself into cultural experiences,” she says. During her stay in Kazakhstan, she learned a lot about the Kazakh culture through local friends. When she’s not travelling, you will find her painting, dancing or reading a good book. She hopes her story will inspire readers to visit the vast and interesting land of Kazakhstan.
Tolga Tekiroglu
Tolga Tekiroglu (Ankara, Turkey, 1979) is married to Ozlem, who assisted with writing his story. The couple has two children: daughter Irem (6) and son Erdem (3). Tolga graduated from the Geological Engineering Department at Ankara’s Middle East Technical University, before completing an MBA. He started to work in Kazakhstan in 2010, as a country manager for an emergency spill response company, MEKE Kazakhstan. Tolga speaks Turkish (native), English (advanced) and Kazakh (intermediate). His hobbies are oil painting and playing football. He and Ozlem recently moved to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
Machteld Vrieze
Machteld Vrieze (Deventer, the Netherlands, 1976) has lived in Curacao, Dutch Antilles (1980–1984) and Paris, France (2002–2003). She trained as a lawyer specialising in public and environmental law. In Kazakhstan, where she has lived since 2010, she is mother to three boys and a part-time legal auditor, though she also describes herself as “an idealist, a writer and a singer”. She is married to a Dutchman, who is the director of the Witteveen+Bos branch in Atyrau, Kazakhstan. She spends her free time enjoying her family, as well as the countless peculiarities of the Kazakh culture and the ingenuity of its expats. She has already attended six Kazakh weddings – it was these experiences that inspired her story – and two more are expected this year. Find her blog about Kazakhstan at http://machinkaz.blogsnel.nl.
Drinking Camel's Milk in the Yurt – Expat Stories From Kazakhstan Page 14
