Big expats beget little expats, or so says Jan Derck van Karnebeek, who was born in The Hague but has lived in seven countries over the course of his life. He and his wife and their four children have been in Bulgaria since 2004, before which they were in Hong Kong and Slovakia.

As a child of expats himself, Van Karnebeek lived with his parents in three countries (including the Netherlands) and also spent a year studying business in France.

“We have an adventurous family, and decided that we would like to see a bit of the world, and when my company offered me the opportunity to work in Bulgaria, my wife and I came to check it out, and we said yes,” he says over the phone to The Sofia Echo. “It’s not clear how long we will stay, but we would not mind staying longer.”

He says that such a decision to pick up and go had three dimensions: “If you have a young family, it is always a great experience to move, because you tend to be much closer together than in your native country. Also, Bulgaria is a pleasant place to live. Culturally, it’s not very far away from where we come in Holland.” His wife is from the southern part of the Netherlands, where Van Karnebeek says that there is good food and people enjoy going out with friends.

The third thing is that Bulgaria is much freer, much less over-regulated, over-structured and over-managed than the Netherlands.

Here in Sofia, Van Karnebeek is working for Heineken, as he did in Hong Kong and in Slovakia. When asked why, exactly, he decided to work with a beer company, he says: “I personally like working with people, and I like working with tangible products. Beer qualifies in both aspects – you can hold it in a bottle, better yet, you can drink it, and it is something that people do together.”

Heineken, which now owns the labels Ariana, Stolichno and Zagorka, entered Bulgaria in 1994, bringing with it an investment in Bulgaria’s brewing industry, which, as Van Karnebeek says, was not in a position to improve itself. Thus, Heineken came alongside Bulgarian breweries and aided them in increasing accessibility to and outlets for their products, consistent supply and not-questionable quality.

As for Dutch knowledge in making it more unique, artisan beers being brought to Bulgaria for a sort of master class on creativity, he said that “the Bulgarian market is not in dire need of artisan beers yet. It is currently wanting international products, big international names to be sold, so that is what we respond to”.

Like the natives of his country, Van Karnebeek finds Bulgarians to be quite open, particularly if comparing with China and Slovakia, he says. People here also do what they say – another important quality. In addition, here, as in the Netherlands, people are action-orientated; “they’re not interested in sitting in endless meetings; they prefer to see results and do stuff to make things happen,” he says.

Things like this, and the fact that the two countries are both clearly Europe, have made for a relatively smooth settling-in.

Other similarities are that both peoples tend to be extroverted and social. “If you look at the number of restaurants per capita (in Bulgaria), it’s impressive,” he says. “In Holland, too, there are a lot of restaurants and caf?s, places to go out and meet friends.”

One thing did stand out, though: the two-litre bottles of beer that are sold in grocery stores here. He says: “I was amazed when I first came here, seeing these big bottles – ‘two litres, wow!’ People here have a good habit of sharing stuff. In Holland, they have their bottles of 33cl that they hold and drink by themselves.”

The divergences come more in the phases of development in which both nations find themselves, and not so much the people.

“Holland has known close to 400 years of stability, whereas Bulgaria has seen a lot in the past 15 years,” Van Karnebeek says. “These are differences due to history, and in that sense, they are big differences. Holland is a bit over-regulated, over-settled and over-managed; Bulgaria could do with a bit more regulation, a bit more management and a bit more respect for the law. An ideal country is somewhere in the middle.”

In his free time (and this is something that he makes sure to have), he enjoys spending time with his family. And given the country’s enviable geographic diversity in such a small area, and the relatively short distances between Sofia and most sites, they are keen on travelling together. Recent trips include Belogradchik and the nearby caves, Vidin, and Stara Planina.

It is not like the Netherlands is that far away, either – it is only a two-and-a-half hour flight. Because of increased competition, fares are becoming more affordable as well. Van Karnebeek describes it as an ideal distance: “Close enough to take part in things you want to be a part of, and far enough away to have the perfect excuse for things you don’t want to be part of,” he says, a smile in his voice.

That he has not learnt Bulgarian is a “severe point of embarrassment” for him, though he credits this, in part, to the people at Heineken speaking “excellent English”.

He misses his friends the most of all the things in the Netherlands, and says that though he and his wife have a nice little house in the Dutch country, “it’s a little hard to get there on the weekend”.

Despite the similarities as regards cultural aspects, he says that his family remains “quite Dutch” in how they look at life, and how they live and celebrate special events, like holidays. “But we take on the good Bulgarian customs as well,” he says. “If you’re from a small country, it’s better to be adaptable.”