She runs two beautiful Etsy shops, Karen's Loom where she sells beautiful hand-woven, knitted and felted creations. She opened FeltNatural to sell her gorgeous bridal wear.
Karen was kind enough to take some time to tell my a little about herself.
I am from a small village in East Yorkshire, UK but have been living in Buenos Aires for more than 20 years now. I learnt to knit when I was about 9 years old and although I have an advanced certificate in Education and have taught English for more than 20 years, I spend all my time working with natural fibers. I weave, knit, crochet, do macrame and felt.
Why did you move?
When I was about 18 years old I lived in London and around New Year I met my now husband, an Argentine, who was travelling around Europe with some friends. We kept in touch via letters for around a year and then lost contact for 5 years. We met up again in London and 6 months later I moved to Buenos Aires and have been here ever since.
Biggest challenge in being an expat?
My biggest challenge was the language, I was very shy at that time and totally afraid of speaking the language in case people laughed at my mistakes or pronunciation so I kept quiet for a couple of years (my husband often says he wishes I had never learnt the language) Although I have been here for many years and my Spanish is pretty fluent I still get into problems sometimes due to misunderstandings.
Biggest Joy in being an expat?
It is really hard to choose just one:I love the warmth of Buenos Aires as I found the cold and rain in England very depressing. I believe I am sensitive to the climate and the weather here in BA really suits me!
I also love the food here (I remember eating tinned ravioles).
The Etsy Expat Team is another of my joys, I think we all have a need to fit in and be understood, and this team of incredible ladies gave me that space. It is not easy living in a country that has a different culture and language to yours or living far away from your family and friends and each of us on this team understands that. We can use our experiences to help each other out and give support as we all have experienced many of the same things.
Etsy Shops
Thank you for taking the time to tell us about yourself.
Are you a soon-to-be, been-there-done-that or currently an expat? If you sell on Etsy come and join our team.
Post by: Jacqueline Fouche (Tangentine)
Wonderful to read about you Karen! I especially enjoyed the story of you and your husband... very romantic :)
ReplyDeleteThis is lovely! Thanks for sharing! :D
ReplyDeleteReally nice to read about Karen. I came to Canada in just about the same way!
ReplyDeleteHello Karen!
ReplyDeleteLovely to read all about you. The way you met your husband is so romantic - you were obviously meant to be.