Marloes...

Sometimes you meet people who stick to you and you cannot get rid off. After my year in Ireland I played soccer at university again and I met Marloes. We were both in the first team: We got on, we weren't the best friends, just nice and casual.

After working a year at CINOP, I asked Marloes to do some work as a freelancer for one of my projects. She was good, she loved the work and the company so she decided to do an internship there. She applied for a position at a different team and she got in. Good stuff.
We got to know each other much better then. We had the odd trainride together, we biked together, we gossiped about certain people (oh what's his name again, my biggest allergy?), we giggled and eventually we even did this massive new project together at this very religuous school where we had to wear skirts. For those who don't know Marloes (or me for that matter)...Marloes and I don't do skirts....we are soccer girls, we do a lot, but not skirts...The first time we had to wear skirts I think we were both very shy and afraid to come across people we knew...

Anyhow, all this makes Marloes great, but there is another thing that makes Marloes special. During my final year at CINOP we did a course together about competencies and skills (we mainly did that course so we could teach it ourselves later on). As a final assignment we had to think about our own workfuture and what we would like to change and of course how. I did my presentation about my struggle with balance between work and life. At the end of that presentation Marloes got emotional and upset because although I was quite honest about me not having a balance, Marloes reckoned I was not honest enough. I can still see her pointing at me and saying that getting home at 8 or 9PM and switching on my computer to do some more work is not normal...

It sounds rediculous now, but I needed Marloes to say that and I am absolutely grateful that she did. Time has passed and I have noticed while I was travelling last year that Marloes was getting busier and busier at work and I was starting to get worried that she would do the same as me (which I think she was doing a bit...)Needless to say that I am damn proud of her that she quit her job too, to become a VSO volunteer in Nigeria. Check out her blog if you are curious.

Marloes rocks!