Frederic Nader, born to Lithuanian-Lebanese parents in Germany, never thought he would end up living in Vilnius. But after finishing a Lithuanian school in Germany, this is exactly what happened – he found himself in the Lithuanian capital.
“Perhaps you could say I got tired of Germany. I really like Lithuania, but I never wanted to live here. However, my plans changed very quickly during my final year at school. I met my fiancée in Lithuania – that was one of the main reasons I moved here. And, in general, life in Lithuania is much better than I expected,” the 22-year-old says.
Frederic’s connection with Lithuania was not new. His mother is Lithuanian, so he spent his holidays here from childhood and heard Lithuanian spoken at home.
“I always spoke Lithuanian with my mother from birth. I also attended the February 16th Gymnasium, where we had additional Lithuanian lessons. We came to Lithuania more than once a year – we would come for Easter and Christmas, and in the summer I would sometimes stay for as long as six weeks,” he says.
Today, F. Nader says he has settled in Vilnius. But he soon realised that university was not the right path for him and dropped out after just one semester.
“I’m not a theoretical person at all. It’s important for me to have something in my hands, to do things and be active. I learn faster that way than by reading books or listening to lectures. That was never my strong point,” he says.
Frederic therefore soon turned to a job that involved more action and less theory. He joined a company that builds wooden houses across Europe, initially working as a customer consultant before becoming a construction coordinator.
“Clients would call and ask how to build the house, what to do if they didn’t understand the instructions or if something broke. Then I became a construction coordinator – I coordinated teams that travelled across Europe building wooden homes,” he says.
Frederic has not yet built a house himself from foundations to roof, but he has gained plenty of practical knowledge over the past two and a half years.
“I really like construction, especially timber-frame and log houses. I’ve learnt a lot in just a year,” he says.
He entered the field entirely by chance, after seeing a job advert in German and deciding to give it a try.
“I thought: ‘Oh, why not?’ I gave it a go, and it turned out that I really liked both the job and the field itself,” he recalls.
Languages have always been a part of his life: he speaks Lithuanian with his mother, German with his father and has recently started learning Arabic. He decided to study Arabic more seriously after moving to Lithuania.
“Over time, I realised that the more languages you speak, the better. One thing I’ve noticed about the Lithuanian job market is that German really opens doors. I think it’s a big advantage to know as many languages as possible, and in Lithuania this is very much undervalued,” Frederic says.
Weekends with his grandmother
At weekends, Frederic often heads away from central Vilnius towards Utena. About an hour away, in Kaliekiai, his grandmother lives, and he tries to visit her almost every weekend.
“It’s a safe, pleasant place where I’d rather spend my free time in nature than in the city. And I get to visit my grandmother,” he says.
Although Frederic holds both Lithuanian and German citizenship, he only began taking a closer interest in Lithuanian politics after moving here. He did not vote in the parliamentary elections, but now admits that it was a mistake.
“When I moved to Lithuania, I wasn’t really interested in Lithuanian politics. I didn’t really know who to vote for. Of course, that’s not good. I think everyone should take an interest in politics and vote. I’ll vote in the next elections,” he says.
Living in Lithuania, he has also watched political developments in Germany from afar, where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has been attracting increasing attention.
“I think it became very popular when, in 2014, [former Chancellor Angela] Merkel allowed a lot of immigrants into the country. These days, most Germans vote, but immigrants don’t – their attitude is that they don’t even try and don’t want to integrate,” he says.
So does he plan to leave Lithuania any time soon? Frederic gives a short answer: “I’m not planning to at the moment, and I don’t think that will happen any time soon.”
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