Cute pupils and teacher looking at globe in library against grey vignette (Wavebreak Media LTD - 123RF.com)
Many of the military kids at SHAPE Middle School in Belgium come from countries other than the United States. While their languages may be different, their experiences are familiar.
Blanka S | Życie Dziecka Wojskowego
Being a Military child is hard, especially when nobody knows what it feels like. A lot of people don’t get it, since they don’t have to start a whole new life every few years. It’s confusing and hard, and I get it. The anxiety that every military kid goes through is so sad. I do like having new friends, learning new languages, new personalities, and new everything but it’s so scary and sad but at the same time so exciting and interesting. I wish everyone would know how it feels to be a military brat. So many questions and so many answers. The curiosity of these people from these different schools/countries is amusing. I look them into their eyes, listening to every word they say. I answer these questions so easily. It’s fascinating that these people don’t know about my country or how it feels like to be a military brat. I’m so grateful for being a military child and that we have our month that people know about, but I feel so much sadness. It’s like I do not have much time left to do the things I want in this country. Time is going too fast, and I hate it. I wish the people that left, never left. I wish that the people I miss were there where I am. I love going to new places and learning about other countries, but It’s still depressing that I have to leave everything behind, but one thing I know. I am a military child from Poland, and I will always love it.
Baiat E | аскер бала болуу кандай сезим
Being a military child is great because you can meet new people and experience great things that are different from the country I am from Kyrgyzstan and different people and places for example in Kyrgyzstan the land is pretty dry and in some places, there is mini desert’s and there are a lot of mountains however in Belgium there are no mountains and it rains too much and also people have different lifestyles and cities have different architecture and you can experience which other people won’t experience.
Bisan A | حياه الطفل العسكري
I am Bisan and I will talk about my experience as a military child. It is my first time coming to a country other than my country. It is a unique experience because I have had many experiences on this journey as a military child. There is also a different language and customs than mine in Belgium. There are different traditions, cultures, schools, teachers, and completely different people from my own country, but there is something completely different: the changeable weather.
Georgios M | Η ζωή μου ως στρατιωτικό παιδί
I like being a military kid.Sure it’s hard to move every 2-3 years,leaving friends behind, but I still can have contact with them.There have been times when I didn’t want to leave my friends and my home, but I had no choice.Funnily enough,my favorite place to live was near the border of Greece and Turkey and it was chaotic.But it was pretty fun, too.Now I am in Belgium and its good here, too.I don’t know very much French or English so it was a bit hard in the start but now its fine. One of the things I really don’t like about being a military kid is that I have to leave my friends every two to three years or vice versa.I have cried sometimes for that but I don’t have a choice. But there are good things too.I visit places that my peers cannot(sadly) and I get a lot of fun and interesting experiences.This is my first time outside my country so it was a bit scary.But I can visit almost all of Europe. Being a military kid can be tough but you will get a lot of unforgettable experiences.
Nerea S | Vida De Un Nino militar
Hello, I’m from Spain, many people ask what happens when you move. People ask that all the time but because they don’t know how difficult it is for you to change your life because your father needs to work. After all, when you are there you don’t know what you are going to find, how people will treat you, or how they will accept you as you are. But when you make friends in Belgium or the United States or all countries is an amazing experience. You are going to move, when your friends need to return to their countries and you will be like when you started because they go and leave, but you are alone without anyone to play with, or with whom to have a good time, with whom to have pajama parties or even go to amusement parks. But anyway, some things are good like you make more friends or you learn more than you know after. I always need to move to another country or city, and all this because I’m a military child.
Sandis | Latvian military childs life.
My life has become a lot more interesting and also hard. My whole life I have lived in Latvia, and then suddenly I moved. Right now I’m living in Belgium and it is harder than in my own home country; everybody speaks a different language than me, and the language is not easy, it’s hard, and there are only 9 or fewer Latvian families where I live. It is not like Italians or Spanish people where they are a lot and they can socialize more. The fact that I had to move away from my friends also is not easy. I’m still not used to the different time zones, I have a trippy feeling about it. The school is much much different than the school in my home, the grading system is a lot different than my home country’s school, like 40% in my country is still passing, the periods are way shorter like 40 minutes and the passing periods are 10-15 minutes long. They also teach everything way faster than in Latvian schools, but the teachers are more strict. Overall the experience is a lot different than in my own home country school.
Simon H | život vojenského dieťaťa zo Slovenska
Being a military child is tough and sometimes makes times rough But in the end, it comes with benefits, gives you the experience with different cultures and friends.
I miss my friends, I miss the times sitting next to my best friend. I might never go to school with them, but in the end, they’re still there.
The experience just gets better and better. It’s really hard at the beginning but later on, you start to get to know people, your teachers, and the environment plus you get to experience American culture as a European student.
So in the end you will realize that it was the best experience, I realized that I had an experience that 90% of students in Slovakia won’t have.
