'I am originally from the Philippines. There I met Albert at aikido, a martial art sport we both practice. Albert was on vacation for several weeks and it immediately clicked between us. Soon we got into a relationship. The distance was difficult, but after knowing each other for several years, we decided to try it together in the Netherlands. So love brought me here and I really enjoy it here. I am teaching myself the language through self-study and that is going pretty well. I think Holland is a beautiful country, only the weather and the food I like a lot less. I find it hard to get used to the rain and the cold. And licorice and herring ... how can you eat that! Besides the food of the Philippines, of course I miss my family. Although working at Van der Valk also feels like family.

It is hard work as a housekeeper, but fortunately I have many nice colleagues. During the break we tell each other the funniest stories. We also eat together with a number of colleagues. I sometimes bring a Filipino dish, Chicken Adobo - chicken with soy sauce, onion, garlic and vinegar. I share this with my Thai colleague, who brings a Thai dish. In this way we both eat deliciously Asian food, which we like better than a cheese sandwich anyway.'

'When a guest has a birthday, we get to decorate the room!'

'We laugh a lot here together. The housekeepers experience a lot of crazy things that we like to share with each other. For example, we have the greatest fun together when one of the cleaners has cleaned the bathroom a little too enthusiastically and comes out of the room soaking wet. He then accidentally gave himself a shower. It is also always funny to guess what kind of guests are staying in the rooms. We then make up our own story. Of course we sometimes hear funny noises coming from the rooms when we walk through the corridors, which then make us chuckle. We have a good time as a close team and it keeps the work varied. No day is ever the same here. In addition to all the fun we have together, the appreciation of our guests is also something that makes us happy. The other day, some Belgian guests were so happy with the room cleaning that they gave the entire housekeeping team five euros for each tip. Isn't that great? We also regularly find written cards on the rooms saying that guests were very happy with the room and with the cleaning, so sweet. What I really like is that we, as housekeeping, get to decorate the rooms when guests check in, for example, for their birthday or their wedding night. We make a balloon arch or decorate the rooms romantically with rose petals and swans folded from towels. Although sometimes it's quite difficult to make those towels actually look like swans.'

'Every time I arrive at work, my colleagues start singing "Maria, Maria, Maria." That always makes me laugh. It also says a lot about the nice atmosphere we have among ourselves. They also call me the "cappuccino lady" because I drink it once or twice a day. I love it and it gives me good energy for the day.

In September 2016, I moved to the Netherlands with my two daughters from Portugal, while my son moved to the UK with his wife. My husband had been in the Netherlands for a while for work, so it was very nice to be together again. In November of the same year, my daughter and I went for a job interview at Hotel Zaltbommel. Because my daughter spoke English, she was immediately hired. I only spoke Portuguese and was advised to learn Dutch first and then apply again. After a few months, my daughter's supervisor asked if I was still interested in working at the hotel. This was great news, of course I wanted to do that! So I started as a chambermaid. In the beginning I was insecure and did not talk much with my colleagues, because I did not understand the language well. Fortunately, everyone was very nice and always tried to help me. When I worked here for a few months, I was asked if I wanted to clean the kettle. But I only understood the word "water" and thought, what do they mean anyway? "Something with water" gave me the idea to clean all the windows extra well and I left the kettle untouched. We had a good laugh about that afterwards. Fortunately, we now work with Google Translate more often, which helps enormously.'

No day is the same.