Hello! My name is Brenda. I was born and raised in a small town next to Maastricht. For my studies and jobs I have lived in Wageningen and Utrecht for some years. But honestly... nothing can beat the beauty of Maastricht! I love living here with my two cats (Poemel & Pieke). The most important 5-letter word you need to know when living in Limburg is definitely: vlaai. It will probably be the first word I will teach you ;)

I fell in love with language via writing haikus (short Japanese poems) as I was inspired by one of my primary school teachers. For a couple of years now I have my own website (www.wholeheartedly.nl) where I post columns as well as daily written haikus. To me, language is a way to express and connect. I am always curious to learn about the story behind a new person I meet!

And you might say I am a busy bee, because besides teaching Dutch, I have several (completely different!) other jobs: teaching a creative language programme at primary schools, working as a project leader at the pediatrics department at the hospital and teaching about nutrition science at the tourism department of VISTA college. The thing I enjoy most in my work is being creative, working wíth people and being able to inspire to learn and grow!

In my free time I love going for (spontaneous) coffees in the city, having philosophical conversations with friends, hiking in nature (preferably in England), writing postcards, buying flowers and last but not least: making breakfast. Banana pancakes with blueberries are my favourites to make!