In the summer of 2023, I packed my entire life into two suitcases, books I couldn’t leave behind, clothes for a climate I didn’t yet understand, and a lot of uncertainty, and left my home country behind. I was also leaving a seven-year career, familiar streets, and everything that had once felt certain. My destination was Astana, Kazakhstan — a city I knew very little about, in a country that was almost entirely new to me. I had no clear plan, plan, no network, and little information about what awaited me. What I did have was one strong motivation: love, and the courage to start over.

After arriving and settling in, reality quickly set in. Finding a job with minimal knowledge of the local language was far more difficult than I had imagined. Like many newcomers, I took the first opportunity I could find. It did not turn out to be the right fit, and I soon realized that hope alone was not enough. If I wanted to build a future, I needed to keep moving — literally and figuratively.

In the spring of 2024, I bought a bicycle in installments — one of the biggest investments I could afford at the time and began working in food delivery. It was not just a job; it became a classroom. The streets of Astana taught me the city. The people taught me about the culture. Everyday interactions taught me the language. Most importantly, the experience taught me respect for every form of work, for every person behind it, and for the effort it takes to build a life from the ground up.