10 things I love about living in Belgium ❤️

It's actually more than 10 😊 I have a lot more ideas for this list, so maybe I will make a part 2 for this video. Let me know what you think! Do you agree? Do you disagree? Did I miss anything? Is there anything that you really loved about Belgium that you don't have in your home country? What are the things that YOU love about Belgium? Let me know in the comments 😊
0:00 Intro
1:22 The architecture & history
3:46 Antwerp & its cultural diversity
5:08 Different landscapes within small distances
7:46 The art & creativity
10:30 The bread and pastries
11:12 Healthy food options
12:52 Belgian beer
13:54 The canals
14:42 Lots of green everywhere
15:50 The kringwinkels
17:22 The ecocheques
*Image credits:
The Son of Man, 1964 - Rene Magritte via WikiArt.org
Rubens self portrait.jpg - Todd-White Art Photography, Royal Collection Trust via Wikimedia Commons CC-BY-SA 3.0
Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Hunters in the Snow (Winter) - Google Art Project.jpg via Wikimedia Commons CC-BY-SA 3.0
Jan van Eyck - Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife - WGA7689.jpg via Wikimedia Commons
#belgium #belgiumlife #expatlife #expat #expats #movingtobelgium #movingabroad #lifeinbelgium #immigrantlife #ghent #brussels #antwerp #dinant #immigration #immigrants #expatriate

[@AbhishekMishra-oo2gs]

Except for weather it's a gem. Love from anIndian in Belgium ❤

[@ContreRiposte]

Born in Belgium 46 years ago and i still love it here... I have traveled to many countries that have fantastic things to offer that Belgium doesn't have. What we do have though is an ubeatable sum of many small parts that makes the quality of life very high. I wish the many fellow Belgians who are complaining all the time would realize that and appreciate and help sustain it more... Thanks for sharing your positive perspective!

[@TheTruthAboutMigration]

I completely agree, love the quality of life here and indeed, people here should appreciate what they have, because it really is great here ❤️

[@MrKhushrenada]

As a Belgian that travelled quite a bit and loves to learn about other cultures, I know that we don't have it that bad compared to a lot of other countries. But I do think people should speak up on where we can still improve as it can still be better and if people keep their mouth shut nothing changes and nothing will get better. So I am actually happy when I see people getting in the streets to make demands to change things to make things better.

[@flitsertheo]

14:59 besides green everywhere there is also good food everywhere. Such as this icecream van in the middle of a park. During colder days they probably switch to waffles.

[@theohendrikx]

Nice to hear positive things about Belgium. There are a lot of things that can be better here but it is refreshing to here the "good" points. I was born here 63 years ago and we sometimes seem to forget what a great country Belgium is. Thanks !

[@TheTruthAboutMigration]

Thanks for the kind words! I truly love your country and I'm happy to be living here ☺ You have some real gems here like the beautiful Lier, Dinant, of course Brugge and Ghent, and the list goes on and on!

[@davidcollier6520]

Thanks for posting this, it is full of the reasons why we would love to live in Belgium but thanks to Brexit that is now very difficult😢! I did like your reference to Belgium not having extreme poverty and wealth ... unlike another country🤫 ... spot on! All ten reasons seem great to me and I'd add an 11th ... excellent cycling infrastructure.

[@timotheusvanesch3959]

Lóve it!

[@TheTruthAboutMigration]

Ghent is my favourite city as well! ❤️ So glad you love it here 😊 Is it a lot different from the Netherlands?

[@timotheusvanesch3959]

​@@TheTruthAboutMigration Like day and night. It really is a different culture. The main thing they share is their language. And even then; Flemish is quite different from Dutch. The Netherlands still has this kind of parochialism. Belgium has much more of a subdivision mentality. Dutch love to follow the rules. Since Belgium has só many governments, they are mainly reliant upon themselves, breaking the rules when they deem it fit for purpose, without upsetting the neighbours (because then the rules might get applied). On the other hand; The Netherlands is wáy more progressive than Belgium, in many things. Also, the preservation of architecture. Belgium is full of wonderful churches, buildings & castles. Much less so in the Netherlands. etc. etc. 😀

[@dennisengelen2517]

@@timotheusvanesch3959 As a Belgian from the province of Limburg, I must say that Maastricht is my favorite city! Nothing like it in Belgium, so much nice stores in a close proximity with very friendly and social people in a beautiful pitoresque city, I love it there! And Valkenburg is my favorite city around the Christmas period, the city center has all these nice old yellow buildings and gates with beautiful scenery from the Geul river flowing under the bridges and everything is decorated in Christmas theme around the entire area with Europe's biggest and most beautiful underground Christmas market in marl cave and again everywhere you shop, eat or drink there's very nice and happy radiant people up for a small or a long talk (depending on how busy it is with other customers). Went to Amsterdam aswell a few times but didn't like it that much, friendly people aswell though but the city isn't my cup of tea.

[@timotheusvanesch3959]

@@TheTruthAboutMigration It is! The Netherlands is way more straight-forward. "rechtlijnig" in Dutch. For me, Belgium and the Netherlands are completely different cultures. The only thing they share, is the language (well, half of Belgium at least). The architecture, the mentality, the "I don't care" mentality: Belgium is kind of the "I don't want to be best in class, I just want to live" part of the ex-17 provinces.

[@TheTruthAboutMigration]

@@timotheusvanesch3959 thanks for sharing; that is very interesting to hear! I do wonder about what you say regarding mentality. I sometimes feel like there are lots of missed (business) opportunities that Belgium could have grabbed but didn't. E-commerce is one of them, when I moved here, there was no Amazon Belgium, and instead of starting something up, we use the Dutch Bol.com. Not sure if that has to do anything with mentality or if it's hard to push through a good initiative here?

[@davestevens2981]

I wouldn’t even have thought about Belgium as a destination to visit, but your video has me intrigued. Nice work!

[@TheTruthAboutMigration]

Happy to hear that! Belgium really is a beautiful country 😊

[@adrian78917]

This channel deserves more subs❤

[@muhammadmeraj4069]

Hi, nice information

[@kasperdusauchoit2881]

Check out all our festivals... I think basicly every town has one

[@TheTruthAboutMigration]

Thanks! I've been to some pretty great ones, but I'm always happy to receive suggestions ☺

[@jme104]

And the Dardenne brothers, thanks .

[@lievenvanwesemael9333]

Thank you very much for the very beautiful words.

[@TheTruthAboutMigration]

My pleasure, and thank you for the lovely comment!

[@andreydavydov6417]

Dank u wel, mevrouw :)

[@TheTruthAboutMigration]

Graag gedaan ☺

[@guyvandurme7228]

You forgot the most famous belgian singer : Jacques Brel; even Terry Jacks made a cover of the song "le moribond" called "seasons in the sun"

[@TheTruthAboutMigration]

So true, he is a legend!

[@stefanobosman3467]

You can buy anything you like with the ecocheques, you just have to buy something ecological with it. For example a LED lightbulb😅😁

[@lukkask]

Sorry, we have a mountain in Antwerp: de Wezenberg... (wezen means orphans and berg means mountain!!)

[@mpokameame6377]

16:05 Kringloop Winkel 😊 The money goes to the municipality where it stands. The workers are volunteers.

[@TheTruthAboutMigration]

Ah that's great, I had no idea! Now I love them even more 😊 Thanks for sharing this info!

[@lukkask]

Before my retirement i worked for more than 20 years in Kringwinkel Antwerpen, and workers there are no volunteers. I was well payed for my IT job there . The money they make goes to pay the workers and to get the show running.

[@TheTruthAboutMigration]

@@lukkask I see! Still, we are grateful for your and your ex-colleagues' work, I think I speak on behalf of all immigrants when I say we found kringwinkels extremely helpful! ☺

[@amotherscry6872]

Is it hard to get a job in Belgium?

[@daihard007]

If you can speak the language, it's easy to find a job. The northern parts wants you to speak Flemish, the southern part speaks French. If you don't speak the local language, but only English, people will probably not hire you, since you will have to be able to communicate with clients or collegues to understand the orders.

[@johanvanoppen1627]

If you are willing to learn the language there's no problem, they even pay for lessons where I work. English is tolerated in between.

[@user-lz2gh9ev9u]

maybe do again research about those taxes , they are high but mostley for the working class , not for the riches , and i schould know , living here for 52 years now raised and born , but for the rest it's true it's a good country

[@BambinoAmericano]

Luxembourg is even worse 😂 public servants are king. Not my thing. Entrepreneurial dynamic enthusiasts have to move out. Gonna escape soon. But thanks for the report 😊

[@TheTruthAboutMigration]

Haha all the best with your escape! I heard a lot of bad things about Luxembourg from expats, but according to surveys it has been improving in the past year

[@anndevries8267]

How to say I don’t want to pay taxes without saying I don’t want to pay tax.

[@dennisengelen2517]

All this greenery i nice untill a storm makes a tree hit your car, block the road or when during fal/autumn the roads, sidesteps and front yards are covered in leaves and then it rains and it's all messy and gutters get cluttered. Not very pleasant at all.

[@ricktellon3755]

🥱

[@user-pk9fm4zh1g]

I live in Belgium for 20 years. SHIT HOLE OK. IS BAD. I MOVE TO THAILAND. BEAUTIFUL LIFE.

[@NeesyPlaysGuitar]

Belgian history *in* Belgium is very whitewashed. Ask a few people about the Congo and see the mood change.

[@ContreRiposte]

One of the most sold and read history books in Belgium ever is a very elaborate, well written and critical study of Belgium's colonial past in Congo and of Zaïre / DRC after the independance. The main museum on Belgian colonial history in Tervuren has over the past couple of years been completely overhauled and reinstated to better explaining the realiteit of our colonial history. People do know. But as in everything other country there are people who will deny the light of the sun. Generalisation leads to easily avoidable misunderstanding and mistrust, it fuels division rather than solve anything, no matter who does it...

[@TheTruthAboutMigration]

I do feel it is discussed a lot more than other countries do, for example how schools in Britain teach about the former colonies... I guess there is always room for improvement.

[@bartcoudenys5926]

Where are you from MalusGaming?

[@metalpetrol3315]

Nah man not at all. We talk about it and know what happened there… we teach about it. I as a teacher teach my pupils about it in a non whitewashed way. They need to know the dark part of my country… don’t be obnoxious

[@SL-mj2eq]

Yes thats our whole history especially since all 12 million Belgians went to the Congo to chop of hands. Its still our national sport to this day chopping off african people their hands. We do it every saturday morning while having a waffle and sipping beer... Ah we should write a book about it: "The Belgian peasant with the cleaver of justice". Maybe we should legalise this then the prisons wouldnt be full cos its hard to be a criminal without hands. So mainly peoples mood change when u ask about the Congo is becos only the few had their hands in that cookie jar. Ow yes u saw what i did there. So yeah very whitewashed Leopold has his private colony where very few Belgians actually profitted from it and he used it to build Brussels a place that we avoid cos its now called new Africa and the title of the movie: "Brussels the failure of multiculturalism". Ah the peasant life for me...