A Vietnamese Woman's View of Latvia: Her Move and First Impressions

Cecilia (Ngo Thi Kim Hien), who is originally from Vietnam, has lived in Latvia for seven years. She came to the country with her family and now works at the fish processing company Karavela SIA. She told the news portal Delfi how she ended up in Latvia and what life is like here. The headline notes that she appreciates that people in Latvia do not shout at children and that there is good road traffic culture.

Work and language

In Latvia, Cecilia first worked as a kitchen assistant in a restaurant. When it went bankrupt, she found a job at Karavela, where she has held various positions for four years. Joking about the smell at work, she said that if she and her colleagues washed too much and did not smell of fish, nobody would believe they had been at work.

She recently earned an A2-level Latvian language certificate and keeps learning as her circumstances allow. She is learning Latvian songs, such as "Nekur nav tik labi kā mājās" ("Nowhere is as good as home"), has become fond of rasols (a traditional Latvian potato salad) and plans to attend events during the week of Latvia's Proclamation Day celebrations.

Life in Vietnam and the decision to move

Cecilia was born and raised in Daklak province. In 1995 she moved to Ho Chi Minh City, also known as Saigon, where she earned a master's degree in literature. She worked in offices for about 20 years, five of them as a self-employed education consultant helping parents with their children's learning.

One of her clients became her best friend and invited her to a conference on options for living abroad. Cecilia had never heard of Latvia before. Learning that it is in the European Union, she assumed the level of education was higher and that her children would study better there. Then an opportunity arose to invest in a company in Latvia. Her husband left his job at a local newspaper, and she gave up work on creating her own business.