WELCOME TO GENK,
I arrive to genk on 6 of November 2017,
Was very nice for me meet with Ibtissem in Zaventem Airport, I remember myself lost trying to find the train and Asking to the airport employees about it.
Ibtissem called me a lot of times but I was in the airplane, my plane arrived one hour late, and her plane exactly one hour before, so she was inside waiting for me and I din’t know.
Finally, we meet and take the trains ( 2 trains) to Genk. There Wendy ( our coordinator) was waiting for us. She was very friendly and took us a home, Stalenstraat 15.
This moment I remember like nice now, but also I felt no confortable because I can not speak in English, and I felt that people speaked so fast and I did not understand nothing.
In the next days, Wendy was with us all the time, showed the city, maked bureaucratic procedures, showed my work place and my colleagues, buyed grosseries with us, learned a bit of Nederlands, etc.
In the house there was 2 Evs one from Spain, and other from Slovaquia, so was really easy the arrival for me, and asked them about any doubt I was.
Also the house is nice, we have a room for each one, the badroom, the kitchen (where we spend a lot of time) and the living room ( here in the beginning we meet every night to see “vampires diares” ). In our walls you can see memories about the others volunteers, this gives the house a special beauty.
My place of work is Genk- Zuid, and I felt well there since the beginning, they are nice with me and the work environment is great! That was really important for me, because I could show myself and feel comfortable with them.
Sometimes when I feel a bit homesick or nostalgic, speak with Wendy and also with my tutor help me to takes again the positive vibes and see the things with a different point of view.
Now, I am here 4 months and I feel that was yesterday that I arrived, really, I can’t believe that the time flies. I can say that I am happy for this experience, and exited for the future, because all people tell me that the summer will be great here, that I have not seen the best.