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Expats of Brussels - #37 Sarah (30), from the Uni Expats of Brussels - #37

Sarah (30), from the United States, in Brussels since 2020

“Teaching secondary school is interesting – especially since I can compare it with my experiences in Japan. There is a lot of anxiety around speaking English in Japan, so it is important teachers are especially sensitive to making their students comfortable and able to coax them into participating.

At The European School it is a much different energy, which can be refreshing and sometimes challenging. I must say, I have enjoyed both of these teaching opportunities very much.

I love how diverse society is here, how accepting people are of different lifestyles and cultures, much like my home in Southern California. It is cool to see how valued language learning is here, I wish we had as many language choices in my high school.

Brussels is a beautiful place, and I am lucky to live here. It is so special to be able to sit on Grand Place on a sunny day and just look around. I do miss Japan, but there is enough beauty and kind people here to make up for that.

It finally starts to feel like home.”

(part 2)

📸 @cem.pictures 

#expatsofbrussels book out now
📖 livinginbrussels.eu/book
Expats of Brussels - #37 Sarah (30), from the Uni Expats of Brussels - #37

Sarah (30), from the United States, in Brussels since 2020

“My career started in Japan. That is where I met my Belgian husband, in a little beach town called Chigasaki. When the pandemic started, we had to make a choice. He needed to return to Belgium, and I decided to join him.

After having lived in Japan for six years, this was a big life change. I loved my teaching job and had great friends. Coming here at the start of the pandemic, when everything was closed, was not an easy start. 

I did not speak any French, we were stuck inside, and it was raining all the time. But I loved seeing where my husband grew up, meeting his friends and family one by one, due to the strict lockdown rules. 

Later on, I found a teaching job here, at The European School in Uccle. It is such a fun work environment with so many kind colleagues, it is easy to feel like a part of the community here. 

Thanks to the people in my husband’s life and at school, it does feel like my world opened up and I am discovering how wonderful Brussels is."

(part 1)

📸 @cem.pictures 

#expatsofbrussels book out now
📖 livinginbrussels.eu/book
This week, we got to know Santiago 🤩 Want to r This week, we got to know Santiago 🤩

Want to read more stories?

The book #expatsofbrussels is out now!

Portraits of 50 different expats in images and text. Some of them have lived here for ages, some just arrived and some are on the way out. They are between 8 and 51 years old and come from every continent and corner of the world.

Get the book now ➡️ livinginbrussels.eu/book
Expats of Brussels - #36 Santiago (34), from Spai Expats of Brussels - #36

Santiago (34), from Spain, in Brussels since 2011

“I started cooking school in the evenings and switched to working at restaurants. Along the way, I discovered that my passion for baking was way bigger than my love for cooking – so I switched to become a pastry chef.

Right now, I work in a pastry shop two days a week and have my own baking business which takes up all of my other time. The busiest time is January, when the Spanish in Brussels find me for their ‘roscon de reyes’, a traditional Three Wise Men Day pastry. I cannot go to Spain for Christmas, because there is so much to prepare for that period.

My biggest dream is to open a baking atelier in my neighbourhood. It is quite expensive to rent commercial real estate around here, but I am working on that dream and hope to turn it into reality soon. I am patient, do not want to rush things and get everything right. But you can count on seeing a Big Beard Baker atelier soon in the streets of Brussels.

Little by little, I got attached to the city, to my friends, my chosen family that I have built here. I am so comfortable in Brussels, I really made it my home. I will always introduce myself as Spanish, from Sevilla – but Brussels is a close second, in the same sentence.”

(part 2)

📸 @cem.pictures 

#expatsofbrussels book out now
📖 livinginbrussels.eu/book
Expats of Brussels - #36 Santiago (34), from Spai Expats of Brussels - #36

Santiago (34), from Spain, in Brussels since 2011

“After my Erasmus exchange at the VUB, I loved the city so much that I moved here permanently. I felt like I needed to live in a charismatic city, with people from all over the world – which exactly describes Brussels.

Even though I studied languages, I started working in the hospitality industry. First as a hotel receptionist, then in a coffee bar in Leuven. I never lived in Leuven but commuted there – a very Flemish thing to do. Public transport connections are so good that it was under half an hour to get there. In Madrid, commutes easily run over an hour.

Those four years in Leuven helped me learn Dutch, which is particularly useful since I live in the Dansaert quarter, where a large Flemish community dominates. 

Once you get the know the Flemish, you discover they are really warm and adopt you into their group. Learning Dutch was not easy but living in a foreign country it is extremely important to speak the language and adapt to the way of living."

(part 1)

📸 @cem.pictures 

#expatsofbrussels book out now
📖 livinginbrussels.eu/book
This week, we got to know Anna 🤩 Want to read This week, we got to know Anna 🤩

Want to read more stories?

The book #expatsofbrussels is out now!

Portraits of 50 different expats in images and text. Some of them have lived here for ages, some just arrived and some are on the way out. They are between 8 and 51 years old and come from every continent and corner of the world.

Get the book now ➡️ livinginbrussels.eu/book
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