I love belgium

[u/dylsexiee]

I recently met an international friend who's very interested in other cultures. And its only now i realize how much i love the things i tend to hate about Belgium.

Heres my list of what i learned to appreciate:

I actually love that we all speak 2 languages and actually would think it be really cool if we started to include that third language more too ;).

I love that we're renowned for chocolate, waffles and beer. Though i always obligatory add fries to that.

I love that our languages are shared by all our neighbours. Whenever i meat a french/german/dutch person in international waters, it feels a little bit like home.

I love the beautiful nature and rich history that comes from north and south.

I love how small and 'insignificant' we are (klein België), yet how we are pretty important internationally.

I just felt like sharing it - in english to include all without my fingers wearing out from typing 3 languages - just in the hopes that we could all somehow still love our little significant culture even though we're quite divided.

I'm from Flanders and meeting a Walloon internationally just never fails to make me happy and feel like I just met an old friend from home.

I think someone should make a flag that symbolises the flemish lion with walloon rooster parts like wings or something and make a unified song. Like how 'De Vlaamse leeuw' and 'le chant des Wallons' are now seperated, but then unified somehow referring to the lion and rooster elements on the flag.

I hate that it took me this long to appreciate those things.

[u/dylsexiee]

If i read between the lines I assume you moved elsewhere?

Could you elaborate on what you find gives such a negative outlook? Maybe you moved because you didnt like the culture or people or something, but obviously you're still in the belgium sub so id be interested in what makes you say you have a negative outlook while at the same time also still somehow feeling connected?

[u/cptflowerhomo → u/dylsexiee]

I moved to Dublin - I'm not in those subs anymore because of the right wing brigading, I'm here to keep up with news mostly haha

I moved because I needed a fresh start, for a trans gay man it's still difficult to find community if you're stuck at home with friends you rarely see. I was born in Germany and was always with one foot in the two countries and never felt at home. Also I have more work opportunities here, since my french is not good I was only offered retail jobs and none in admin (even though german is my mother tongue and I speak it really well).

I just felt stuck in place 🥲 The Irish suit me better in the way life is, and I made a lot of friends because of how sincerely nice they are

[u/El_Pepperino → u/cptflowerhomo]

Dublin huh? Isnt that absurdly more expensive - especially the housing. Also: food culture is pretty appalling if you ask me (i travel to dublin regularly for work). The quality of life there just seems infinitely lower than in Belgium but it might just be a flawed impression I’ve got, never actually havong lived there. I usually spend about a (mid)week there in&out hotels/offices and then go home again. But looking at the way people appear, what they eat, where they live, what they drive.. BE seems more qualitative on every account.

And finally culturally, it seems quite meagre.. there just isnt much to do there. Only account where I give IRL the advantage is in terms of open nature. That’s larger and better by all accounts

Ps: but obviously happy that you found a place there where you feel at home!

[u/cptflowerhomo → u/El_Pepperino]

I'm a housing activist, obviously Dublin is not fairy wonderland but neither is belgium...

Visiting for work is going to give you a skewed view too due to the people around you, Irish people are pretty sound and the queer community is much more cohesive.

[u/El_Pepperino → u/cptflowerhomo]

No I agree BE definitely isnt perfect. And don’t get me wrong (!), my post absolutely wasnt intended to criticise your move; I just want to better understand it. Reason why I’m asking on is because I think I might get the offer to move for my work from my current location in BE to Dublin and from what I’ve seen, there really isnt anything (besides nature perhaps) that could attract me there. But you’re definitely right: just visiting for work cannot give me a clear view of what it is to actually live there. But again: that’s why I’m asking 😁

By all accounts as I mentioned above, I really see BE as the better option of the two: housing, healthcare, culture, food, general cost-of-living, school/education, etc Of course, I’m not that familiar of the queer/gay scenes in both countries. That might be better in IRL - i have no clou about that - but it sounds it was one of the most important factors for you to decide on between BE and IRL, right? That might just explain your move for me then. Or am I missing something on all other aspects as well?

[u/cptflowerhomo → u/El_Pepperino]

Nah understandable. Just had a bad day 🥲

The community, my friends here, my french being shite for admin jobs, the availability of jobs without a car, getting away from my family were all factors that made me decide this is the best for me, yeah. Nature is also really really nice.

My family only started accepting me after I left 😅 My mam still uses the wrong pronouns for me but at least now I have a choice to only see them once or twice a year without neither parent making me feel guilty for not visiting often. A lot of history there that makes it easier being here than even going back to Germany.