It's not goodbye but see you later

Saying goodbye is never easy. But I didn’t imagined that it will be so hard. I was so emotional during my last week in Belgium. I was crying when I had to pack my suitcase and I was crying when I had to write my evaluation. It was so hard to realize that this incredible experience has come to an end. This year passed so fast, now I feel like it was just a blink of an eye and yet I met so many great people and I collected so many wonderful memories.

When I came here I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know anything about mentally disabled people or their life. But I was open-minded and open-hearted if I can say so. They were fond of me from the beginning and it didn’t take much time for me neither to get attached to them. After spending the whole year together, I didn’t know how could I ever thank these amazing people for giving me the best time of my life and treating me like their family member. I was so grateful and my heart was overwhelmed with emotions.

Monday night we went to a restaurant to celebrate one last time before my departure. I am not good at improvising, especially not in French. So I wrote this letter as a sign of my gratitude. I wanted to at least try telling them how much they meant to me. I only made it half way without starting to cry. I would like to share this with you too:

“First of all please excuse me in advanced for my terrible grammar and pronunciation mistakes. But I know you will understand what I want to say, like you always did during all this time of the year even if I said nonsense.

I had so many things to do during my last week that I didn’t even know where to start. I had to pack my luggage which I hate doing in general, but this time it was even worse because I couldn’t stop thinking that I don’t want to leave. Also I had to write my evaluation, which is just a piece of paper for the people who will read it. When I tried answering the question where I had to describe my EVS I realized that it is impossible. No matter how hard I will try, nobody will ever understand what I did here during this year. Except me and maybe you.

I hope you all know that for me this was much more than just a job. So this is why it’s so hard to put it into words. I shared this year of my life with all of you and you became my Belgian family.

I want to thank Benoit and Bernard for everything. Benoit you have a beautiful family and I think that you are a great father. I like your creativity and your motivation, I think you learned a lot since you are here in the house and I wish you to continue like this with the residents. Bernard I don’t know how to thank you for everything you did for me. You are the super boss I never had before and also the first friend I made in Belgium. I am very grateful and I wish you all the best in your life, because you deserve it.

But most of all I want to thank the residents, all of you for sharing this year with me. It was the most incredible experience of my life which I will never forget. I could say “Thank you” for a thousand times, but nothing I say would be enough to thank you for all the laughters, hugs, kisses and love you gave me. I hope you know that you are wonderful people and I love you all dearly. I will miss all of you very-very much. But I want to say, this is not goodbye but see you soon.”