The other side of the Belgian postcard

This is a hard one. I wouldn't say I was rich but I know know a lot of people who are worse off, My husband has a good job and had a lot of savings to help us both along the last few years when he was in Uni. However things are not easy for anyone living in Belgium I have been there 3 years from UK I live around Gent speak English and have been learning dutch the whole time. However I have worked as a Au Pair Nanny Babysitter. However I have been unable to find any sort of stable job and found settling in Belgium at times very difficult. It can be very hard to build up strong meaningful friendships and its something I miss from people in UK. As welcoming as people are in Flanders I can still often feel as a outcast sometimes and there is very little that can be done to change that expect for time. I have been very lucky to have a very amazing family in law as without that (I know many don't have the support) I don't think I would be able to do it.

Advice I can really give is. I see people who come to Belgium or think about it and ask how easy it is to get a job etc. Its not impossible however it is by far not easy. Be faced with a lot of changes. From what I have seen there is no finical help from the Belgium government you can only apply for unemployment after working for a soild year.

Ok ......

Life in Belgium  as an international student and an individual (USA expats) has been alright  .

Doing a social work degree in a French school , when you are used to an American school system can be quiet difficult . My fourteen years of learning French did not prepare me for the language challenge that i am currently facing . French is a difficult language with lots of vocabularies , orthographs , verbs and sentence's structure . It is easier to speak french , than to write it .

I also learned that , unlike the USA , students didn't really have a say or role on the organization of their school or courses schedule . The school pretty much sets up the time for you . You also don't have the option to go to school part time and work full time . It's actually , the other way around , lol . In my case , I pretty much go to school Monday through Friday from 8 am till 5 pm .
Note to one self - not all schools have the same practice  .

Anyways , the other sides of Belgium that I came to know were the following :

1- things tend to be done in slower pace here.
2- The  trains or bus are late most of the time .
3- There are a lot of  strikes happening up here .
4-The stores tend to close their doors pretty early ,the latest time  is 8pm .
5- The local people  tend to be introverted( friendly , but don't approach people and tend to be comfortable in their circle of friends/ even expats here.
6-when you make some Belgium friends , you still feel kind of disconnected.
7-coming from washington dc , where there is always something awesome to do  - Waterloo or Bruxelles can tend to be a lil boring after a while.
7- As a student , you have specific working hours assigned to you  . Which sucks , cause if you want to make lots of money . You may as well wait till the summer . Where as , in the USA , you are a free agent .
8- The fact that you have about three different types of bus companies   in Bruxelles - can be confusing as heck ..... New Or NOT.
9-Beaware of the train ticket 's controllers or the police - people think that American police officers are rude . These ones win the lottery ! Lol
10-EUh..  I should have maybe , put this on my top list . Some people might disagree with me on this and , others NOT . Here we go :
I feel as if in this country ,  Anything that concerns jobs or internship , the belgium citizens /natives ,  have a first priority . People might say that its normal because it is their country after all . But , i feel that its kinds of injust because people should be hired based  on their competances and experiences rather than their place of birth ; . I was suprised to see that , a person actually have to put his or her  age and nationality on his or resume / cv !
I find that to be selective , exclusive , prejudice and words like extreme communitarian / nationalism come to mind .

note - The only jobs that require a USA nationality in the USA in my knowledge are government jobs . Other wise , you are not ask to put those personal informations on your resume!

Except for the things listed above , I love Belgium beer , CHOCOLAT and pommes fried lol . The lights on every streets , vegetation , fresh air , good people , and an awesome life experience .

Ps: this comment is just my personal experience or view on certain places or locations I have been in Belgium .Am sure that Not all of Belgium is like that .

Bye bye

Indeed its good to see personal experincesfor example gent we have one bus companyand that covers the trams yea they are always late but very cheap 250ish euro for a years uunlimited travel is a lot less than in uk. Yes I def agree with what you said about jobs. In ways it is good but this iswhy it can be very hard to find  a job best of luck with your life here. Yes the frenxh in Brussels and woolonia appently isnt what youwill hear in frence same for the dutch in flanders and brussels

Good Things first :
         Safe & peaceful life, Good work life balance, friendly people, clean and beautiful environment,truly the heart of Europe, which means easy access to other parts of europe, great food, beer, chocolate, frites.

Difficulties :
English is not known to everyone, which means french (in Walloon) becomes absolutely important. Having a head start to learning french is better and makes life easier.

As maddy said things can move a little lethargically. Getting used to appointment system could be tedious, especially belgacom wont keep the appointments, poste wont wait for you.Appointment to doctor could be quiet difficult and NEARLY impossible that you will end up with an english speaking doctor (I live in Luxembourg province and may not be same for other parts- but I am not sure).

If you have to do any kind administrative works, either at commune, banks,insurance, almost all, would need you to take a leave from your office, if you are not working close to where you are staying or if your office is not quiet liberal.
Most wont work on week ends, so plumbers, electrician, garage for your car etc. are difficult to find. And may be you need to take appointment or need to take leave from office to complete that work.

Yes, some times, you may feel that the Belgian cities are too quiet for you and boring. May be it is because of the weather.

Yes it is true that the weather is terrible and pack your stuff as soon as the sun is out, because it is not going to stay that way for long.

But having said that all, my life in Belgium so far was really wonderful and awesome.

There are both pros and cons living here in Belgium. I moved to Gent like a year and half ago and immediately started learning Nederlands at the university and doing as much as possible to be integrated in the society.

Negatives:
It is very hard to start friendships here (for me anyways) with local people. I find the social cohesiveness very loose comparing it from where I came (Ethiopia), I feel people are very individualistic. I know that people are nice here, but for some reason I feel there is a pattern in a Belgians way of life and the making friendships. It's not that dynamic!

Life is quite expensive too and It's tricky to find the right infos (rights and benefits) easily, companies and organizations are inconspicuously bureaucratic. For instance: the fact that, you can actually have a public transport pass (bus, tram) like for 30 Euro a year, that one can study for free in Hoger schools . . .  just to get this infos takes quite a lot of energy and it's not easily accessible. I think, as an immigrant Belgian system requires attitude (a lot of push and struggle). 

The weather is quite bad, even though this year's winter is really really good comparing it to last year, my body just don't feel that there is even a sun in this part of the world.

Positives:
On the positive side, I find Belgium as a heaven of  fries, beers and cheese. There are quite a lot of ways to learn the language (so many groups, websites, books . . . ), the social security is very goed here.

The more time I live here, the more I see . . . with all the negatives and positives I am learning to make Belgium my home.

Sincerely to be an expat has never been a piece of cake,
16 years in the Netherlands + 7 years in Belgium, although I have a good
professional position and I have learned alot and I have evolved in several ways of my life.
but everytime i look to the mediterrannee i feel something inside of me that says "home sweet home"

Micco have u tried the expats gent fb page theres 100s of members  might help u

I've lived in Belgium almost ten years and have found learning Dutch to be very difficult.
That's why I am amazed at the multi language skills of Belgians. Most speak English quite well. Many speak fluent French. Perhaps because English is spoken so often has made it easier for me to take the easy way out.
The first thing that struck me about Belgium, Antwerp in particular, was how old many of the buildings are.
Several are 700-1000 years old! All beautiful specimens of architecture. And many many more are at least 400 years old. Seems time - and history -  is measured a bit differently here than in the states, where a buildings over 150 is considered very old. Outside of Antwerp is another story. Some of the worst architecture can be
observed across much of Flanders. Most probably built after WW2. A more depressing cityscape, stretching many kilometers in all directions, can hardly be imagined. Not to say that beautiful homes and other worthy structures do not exist, just that too much of the Flemish "cityscape" is characterized as described. More later...

Hey hannahhadman,

I am a member of expats Belgium group on FB, I am also a member in Ethiobelgium, Ethiogent . . . I met many people, but what I wanted to say previously was it is quite hard to start friendships (not even a close one) with the locals.

There is sun this week, man, that always puts a smile on my face

Yeah they are also a Expats In Gent one which im a admin of ive not seen the expats in Belgium one. The thing with local belgiums is they are closed people you normally have to be introduced to them its unlikely u will strike up a friendship in a bar or on the street

oh yea, I am a member of expats in Gent too, but didn't see event coming out of there that much though, it looks like an online community. You're right about the locals they are quite closed. I am not complaining a lot these days though (I mentioned it as one of Belgium cons). I think I am getting used to the life style here now, trying to take things as they are. I am very lucky that I have an understanding, supporting and motivating girl friend. 

Ok for me the good is a slower more comfortable place in life... After the struggle and hustle of life in the states with the you snooze you lose attitude the slower pace of life here was a refreshing relief... Yes friendships with the Belgian locals can be difficult but as with the slower pace of life they do things slowly here...keep that in mind with everything you see/contemplate doing... Also the term "friend" and "acquaintance" is confused in the English language... Friendships are life long works where as "acquaintances" are close colleagues or people you associate with closely and or regularly. Americans expect too much too quickly... I am American and have been accused of this... As with everything worth having take your time and it will eventually happen...

The beer is great and the chocolate even better. Like one said the architecture is amazing and to an average American beyond belief as there isn't any buildings of the same age for comparison back home... 200 years isn't an old house here... The US is only 240 odd years old as a country...lol

I enjoy my life here more than the one I had back there... I believe the people are genuinely nicer( if not a little abrupt) I am learning that courtesy is an art here and I've been here 4 years and come from a home where being discourteous  was grounds for a never forgotten whoopin'.

Finding a job was a nightmare... I thought with typical American superiority that it would be a simple thing... lol I can look back and laugh now but at the time it wasn't funny. Learning French or Dutch is mandatory depending on location. Be courteous and learn, you are after all in their country. They shouldn't have to speak yours in their country. Yes english is an international language but having enough respect to learn theirs goes a LONG way.

As for salary I was pleasantly surprised to learn you can live well on 2000€ a month... Unheard of in the states. The subsidized health care here rocks. Yes the rest of the stuff you need costs more but the trade off for me is worth it. No worries for health care and they don't break it off in you either to receive it? That was a no-brainer for me.
Sorry for the rant but you see where I'm going I hope...
Peace love and chocolate,
Howie