On arrival training in Flanders

Right now I am at the on arrival training for the Dutch and Flemish volunteers in Dilbeek, Belgium. We, my Flemish colleague Steven and I, have a really nice group of 12 participants, 5 on EVS in Flanders and 7 in The Netherlands. Today they are doing their own specific project in 4 Flemish cities so I have some time to write this. It is a very relaxed group and as a consequence also a very relaxed training. This does not mean they are not learning because they are! ;-) Tonight the people from the midterm and end evaluation will join us and then we will have a full EVS house! Fun garantueed! :-)
It is really strange for me to be a Dutch trainer in a Flemish EVS context! Why? Well first off all I am not Dutch but Flemish so representing the Dutch NA is kind of weird when you are in a Flemish environment. Second I use to work at the Flemish NA in 2006 and 2007 so I somehow (to my own big surprise) still feel connected to the Flemish EVS'ers and really have to remind myself at least 10 times a day that the Dutchies are my primary concern. It's really strange and funny at the same time! So I have now learned that I have a stronger Belgian/Flemish identity than I first thought and that I really like giving training in my own country but that I still need to find an (internal) balance between my personal identity which is clearly linked to Flanders and my professional identity which is primarily linked to and performed in the Netherlands. So a mix of orange and black, red and yellow needs to be found. Interesting! Just to show that not only participants learn something in trainings! Trainers do to! :-)