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              University of Groningen students stage sit in for social safety

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              Construction of badger tunnel underway in Molkwerum

              Pride and passion: football in the northern Netherlands

              Police detain underage fan after FC Groningen player is punched in Eredivisie game

              Watch: The New Energy Coalition is on a mission to improve our world

              Watch: The New Energy Coalition is on a mission to improve our world

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              voting_ballot

              Unofficial election results are in, and it could be a nightmare come true for ruling coalition

              Groningen filmmaker wins Noordsterren prize at IFA 2023 with “Jäger”

              Groningen filmmaker wins Noordsterren prize at IFA 2023 with “Jäger”

              The Northern Times working together with TopDutch

              The Northern Times working together with TopDutch

              E Thomassen a Theussinklaan

              Drenthe makes it official — you can’t smoke or vape at bus stops

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                Groningen welcomes Qatar 2022 with cheer and criticism

                Groningen welcomes Qatar 2022 with cheer and criticism

                The anti Zwarte Piet protest in Emmen

                Emmen: Four people still detained after anti Zwarte Piet protest

                The inside of Forum Groningen

                “Let’s Gro” opens a discussion on the future of Groningen

                What about food in student city Groningen?

                Where to get knockout fries in the northern provinces

                Ukraine Food opens in Groningen

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                Buses will no longer travel through the Grote Markt in Groningen

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                “Tall Ships” Race coming to Friesland this week

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                Noorderzon festival returning to Groningen in August

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                Plans for extensive Kardinge residential expansion revealed

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                  Luna: Leeuwarden light festival and young artists’ exhibition winding down this weekend

                  Luna: Leeuwarden light festival and young artists’ exhibition winding down this weekend

                  Groningen cultural center Usva

                  Groningen makes international headlines for all the wrong reasons

                  International Welcome Centre North

                  International Welcome Centre North

                  A woman.

                  Groninger photographer Courtney Bonneau launches new exhibition in Lebanon

                  Eurosonic Noorderslag

                  Eurosonic Noorderslag

                  Ending the Year with a Bang!

                  Ending the Year with a Bang!

                  It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

                  It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

                  A devastating defeat; an unexpected victory

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                    The cold of the North is compensated by the warmth of its people – Ocean Grazer engineer

                    The cold of the North is compensated by the warmth of its people – Ocean Grazer engineer

                    Watch: A workplace that sells itself – CTO on working at Ocean Grazer

                    Watch: A workplace that sells itself – CTO on working at Ocean Grazer

                    It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

                    It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

                    People protesting on a street in Groningen.

                    Former Sugar Homes residents protest for return of withheld deposit

                    I’m not Black; I’m African

                    I’m not Black; I’m African

                    A letter from the Editor – Internationals from 120 countries: Welcome to Groningen, Leeuwarden, Assen and Emmen!

                    MPs call for cap on foreign student numbers in order to ensure ‘accessibility’

                    Watch: I’m 100% positive about my Groningen internship – Hanze international student

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                      Watch: A workplace that sells itself – CTO on working at Ocean Grazer

                      Watch: We’re hiring internationals to help us with foreign clients – ACS Buildings CEO

                      Watch: We’re hiring internationals to help us with foreign clients – ACS Buildings CEO

                      Small but mighty: TECNED is looking for internationals to help it grow

                      Small but mighty: TECNED is looking for internationals to help it grow

                      Talk on International Growth by local founders to take place on the 21st of June

                      Talk on International Growth by local founders to take place on the 21st of June

                      Groningen to host its first sustainable business day

                      Groningen to host its first sustainable business day

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                      Companies in Dutch energy sector seek next cohort of young leaders

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                      The people behind the “dirty jobs” in Groningen’s restaurant and cafe kitchens

                      Evi Kiorri by Evi Kiorri
                      May 15, 2019
                      in People
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                      The people behind the “dirty jobs” in Groningen’s restaurant and cafe kitchens
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                      Finding a job in Groningen as an international is more challenging than it sounds, especially if you don’t speak Dutch. The language barrier can mean more limited options, which often means doing the “dirty” work for restaurants, cafes, and bars to support yourself economically.

                      A restaurant’s ecosystem has many components: a charming front-of-house team, managers and a crew of people who prepare your food and do the dishes. Unless you have worked in a kitchen yourself, you may not notice the people at the very bottom of a restaurant, café or bar hierarchy. Who are the people who prepare your food and wash the dishes in Groningen’s dining establishments?

                      Often, they are international students. Karlis Putans came from Latvia to study in Groningen. Trying to find a job to cover his expenses and to be more independent economically, he decided to turn to more internationally-oriented eateries, such as Het Concerthuis.

                      Since speaking Dutch is not a prerequisite, “In the kitchen, the ratio of internationals is higher”, he says. Unlike many internationals, Putans preferred to work as a dishwasher over doing deliveries due to his personality. “I’m too shy for direct service and inexperienced with scooters”, he admits. He has been working at Het Concerthuis for two and a half years, and he says that he prefers cooking to doing the dishes at this point: it’s not a hard job, but he says that it’s more mentally demanding for him.

                      The work itself is manageable, but the real problem starts when he has to combine working, studying and having free time to enjoy student life. When he first started working, he decided to shorten his study time in favour of having free time. “Until recently, my study quality has been suffering massively”, he says. It took some time for him to figure out a way to balance everything successfully, and the new reality of his life has taught him a valuable lesson: to put real effort into his goals.

                      “Dishwashing chose me more than I chose it”

                      Ilinca Niculescu from Romania can relate better than anyone else to Putans’ struggles: she is also a student and works as a dishwasher, but she says she would rather not say which restaurant. When she moved to Groningen, she thought that “finding a job would be a piece of cake because of the many restaurants, bars, and cafes.” In practice, it was proven to be a struggle. Although she had previously worked as a waitress, she was told that her experience was “useless” because of her lack of Dutch.

                      She decided to take any job she could get, as money has always been an issue. “Life in Groningen is expensive, especially for students that come from countries like my own”, she says. Niculescu started her job a couple of months ago: “I think dishwashing chose me more than I chose it,” she says. Having to do the “dirty” job and cleaning someone else’s mess is never pleasant, which is why Niculescu thinks that Dutch people prefer to do other jobs instead.

                      “Being a dishwasher is not easy. I have to show you my hands after work, and you’ll see why I’m complaining”, she says. “At the end of the day, I’ll be exhausted physically, but not mentally”, she explains. To combine working and studying, she has discovered that you have to be prepared to make sacrifices. “Sleep is one of the things I miss the most”, she says. But maybe not for long: Niculescu has started learning Dutch in the hopes of being able to “move from the kitchen and find something better”.

                      The “heroes” in the kitchens

                      Yung Te Hao, moved to Groningen from London two years ago to study and works in the kitchen of a Chinese restaurant in town. Yung, who has five years of kitchen experience, started working in the kitchen as a dishwasher, but he quickly moved on to food prep as well.

                      With his experience behind the scenes, Yung says that he now recognises that the most crucial component of a restaurant is the kitchen and “the heroes” that do the jobs no one else wants. “I don’t understand why doing the dishes sounds so appalling”, he says, explaining that even now he will clean the pots at the restaurant he’s working for. “I enjoy what I’m doing. It’s not that bad”, he says. The only annoying part of Yung’s job is the fact that cooks and dishwashers “do not get tipped out and we do the hard work”.

                      Now that he has acquired his degree, he is planning his next step in life. Having spent years in the kitchen himself, he has nothing but respect for how demanding the work can be. “I studied economics, but if that doesn’t work out, I’ll just open my own restaurant”, he jokes.

                      Tags: dishesGroningeninternationalsjobsrestaurants
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