Bayse Kasimlarli says that she started working at school the day after receiving her teaching diploma. She taught for 19 years in her native region in Northeastern Bulgaria – near the town of Tutrakan. For seven years, she was also the principal of an elementary school in the region.

In 2008, Bayse Kasimlarli decided to make a radical change. She quit her favorite job, left her friends behind, and emigrated to Belgium with her family. She knew that without knowing the language, she would not be able to continue teaching abroad. Therefore, upon arriving in Brussels, she immediately enrolled in a language course and, while learning French, to support herself, started working in a cleaning company.

"Yes, I started from scratch. I came with the clear idea that I would work in cleaning. On the eleventh day, I found a job thanks to my driver's license. I was a driver - I transported workers and at the same time cleaned offices and schools with them. It was a very difficult period for me. I worked during the day, and in the evening I went to a French course. My idea was to improve my French so that I could work in Bulgaria as a primary school teacher and teach French. But circumstances decided for me and I have been here for 16 years now."

After the initial trials and difficulties, fate nevertheless turned out to be kind. And in Belgium, Bayse Kasimlarli began to do what she was called to do – to work with children. Before returning to teach at school, she worked as a nanny for several years.

"I worked at three families, I raised six children. During this time, I expanded my circle of acquaintances. I met people who directed me, recommended me and I started working at the Bulgarian Sunday School at the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria. I have been teaching there for seven years now. In the summer I went for an interview and in the autumn I started working at the European School, in the Bulgarian section. I am very happy that I returned to this field, because for me teaching is not just a profession. I am very happy with the fact that I work with children. They give me strength, energy. I learn from them. I continue to learn, because it is a challenge to work with modern children - very informed, very knowledgeable, but at the same time impatient, with weaker concentration and the teacher must be a master in teaching and keeping their attention.."

Bayse Kasimlarli is one of those teachers you can never forget.

"At Sofia University, my thesis was teaching bilingual children with alternative textbooks. And my work in Tutrakan was also related to bilingual children – who speak Turkish at home, and at school they have to speak Bulgarian", says Bayse and continues to compare her work in Bulgaria and Belgium: "Here, too, the children speak several languages. Usually, when I teach, I explain the word in both French and Flemish. And then they react like this – "ah, we have already learned it, we already know it". So I don't see any difficulties."

Although she is happy with her work at school, Bayse Kasimlarli dreams of returning to Bulgaria soon, to be closer to the land and to her roots.

"Nostalgia is present and my desire is to return to my native land as soon as possible. I dream of working as a teacher again, but also with the land. I recently bought a house in the countryside. My idea is to turn it into "Grandma's house" - rural tourism for children. In the summer, I would like to gather children and let them see, feel life in the countryside - activities with plants, with animals. To have contact with this part of life, because even now I see that there are adult men and women who never had grandparents in the countryside. They had no contact with the land. I want to return to my roots, because there I feel at home. There I feel strong. I want to return to Bulgaria for the peace, the air, the water, the nature and my loved ones," says Bayse Kasimlarli in conclusion.