Thus far, the move has gone about as well as one could hope for in an international relocation. The movers came a week ago Thursday (3/27), packed our shipment, and took it to their warehouse for crating. They loaded it into a 20-foot shipping container with other crates and put it on a train to Houston. Next they will put the container on one of those huge container ships, ship it across the ocean to Antwerp, then truck it down to Brussels from Antwerp. It is supposed to arrive in Antwerp on about May 2nd, but depending on how long customs takes, we should have our stuff by June 1st (maybe earlier).
Because of the shipping time, we took literally a mountain of luggage with us on the plane, thankfully all of which arrived with us! We found a taxi big enough to hold it all, and were at our temporary apartment in Zaventem in no time. Zaventem is one of the outlying little towns that is now part of the Brussels metro area. It is way more Flemish than Brussels (which is largely Francophone), though Brussels is only 10km away. Right now we live on a street called Leuvensesteenweg, and spelling it right is a minor triumph! We 'take possession' of our permanent residence on Rue de Livourne on April 15th, but since we will not have our stuff yet, it is unclear about when we will actually move in.
If all goes well, the police are supposed to visit me sometime in the next two weeks to verify my 'domicile'. Once they file their report, I can get my resident card. Once I have that, I can get my drivers license too! We have been test-driving cars this week (Troy drives, I observe) and have picked out a pretty sweet Volvo. I must confess that I, a pretty aggressive driver by US standards, am still working up my nerve to conquer even the side roads here in Belgium. Our temporary apartment is on car dealership row, with everything from Seat and Citroen to Bentley and Aston-Martin.
Our temporary apartment is well-furnished, we have maid service, the building is new, etc…BUT apparently there are still some kinks -- like the fact that the hot water and the heat just turn themselves off for a couple of hours at a time (sometimes many hours!) at random times of the day and night. And, I have to hold my breath whenever we are in the hallways or the central areas due to the really bad smoke/cement/construction materials & chemicals smell. Those malodorous scents seep into our apartment too, so we have to crack the windows and have recently started putting a rolled up towel at the front door. Thankfully, the weather has been beautiful thus far! Ah well, reminders that this is real life after all...
Compared to the first month he was here, Troy’s job has gotten much busier since he got back. He visited the Amstelveen office (outside Amsterdam) last Thursday, this week he is scheduled to travel to the Nettetal (Germany) office, and next week is the logistics center in Tongeren (Belgium). Plus, he has actual work to do besides all these meetings.
I have been dividing my time between unpacking and organizing, and conquering things like the grocery store, ordering cable and internet service, and the tram system. I went downtown by myself last Wednesday -- took the Metro to the tram down to my new neighborhood. It is located in central Brussels, on the border of the communes of Ixelles and Bruxelles.
There is a market on Wednesdays in the Place du Chatelaine, so I went down to orient myself in our new neighborhood and shop at the market. It was great! A little intimidating at first when I managed to get all turned around and nearly lost in about 3 minutes, but then it got better. We have visited three farmers’/craft markets since we arrived—really fun and beautiful stuff!
We took our first road trip over the weekend – a quick drive east to Leuven, a college town whose university was founded in 1425! It is a super cute town, great architecture and shopping. I nearly took myself out in a freak umbrella accident (yes, umbrella), but luckily the only evidence is a skinned chin. And, there were lovely pastries in which to drown my sorrows.
Though my French is rusty (that's putting it charitably), I have used it a ton already. Interestingly, my Italian has been helpful as well. We have learned a couple of Dutch words too, so we are starting down the road to multi-lingualism (yeah right). Although most people speak at least some English, speaking French will make life much easier, especially in Brussels. We both can't wait to get in a class...
Because of the shipping time, we took literally a mountain of luggage with us on the plane, thankfully all of which arrived with us! We found a taxi big enough to hold it all, and were at our temporary apartment in Zaventem in no time. Zaventem is one of the outlying little towns that is now part of the Brussels metro area. It is way more Flemish than Brussels (which is largely Francophone), though Brussels is only 10km away. Right now we live on a street called Leuvensesteenweg, and spelling it right is a minor triumph! We 'take possession' of our permanent residence on Rue de Livourne on April 15th, but since we will not have our stuff yet, it is unclear about when we will actually move in.
If all goes well, the police are supposed to visit me sometime in the next two weeks to verify my 'domicile'. Once they file their report, I can get my resident card. Once I have that, I can get my drivers license too! We have been test-driving cars this week (Troy drives, I observe) and have picked out a pretty sweet Volvo. I must confess that I, a pretty aggressive driver by US standards, am still working up my nerve to conquer even the side roads here in Belgium. Our temporary apartment is on car dealership row, with everything from Seat and Citroen to Bentley and Aston-Martin.
Our temporary apartment is well-furnished, we have maid service, the building is new, etc…BUT apparently there are still some kinks -- like the fact that the hot water and the heat just turn themselves off for a couple of hours at a time (sometimes many hours!) at random times of the day and night. And, I have to hold my breath whenever we are in the hallways or the central areas due to the really bad smoke/cement/construction materials & chemicals smell. Those malodorous scents seep into our apartment too, so we have to crack the windows and have recently started putting a rolled up towel at the front door. Thankfully, the weather has been beautiful thus far! Ah well, reminders that this is real life after all...
Compared to the first month he was here, Troy’s job has gotten much busier since he got back. He visited the Amstelveen office (outside Amsterdam) last Thursday, this week he is scheduled to travel to the Nettetal (Germany) office, and next week is the logistics center in Tongeren (Belgium). Plus, he has actual work to do besides all these meetings.
I have been dividing my time between unpacking and organizing, and conquering things like the grocery store, ordering cable and internet service, and the tram system. I went downtown by myself last Wednesday -- took the Metro to the tram down to my new neighborhood. It is located in central Brussels, on the border of the communes of Ixelles and Bruxelles.
There is a market on Wednesdays in the Place du Chatelaine, so I went down to orient myself in our new neighborhood and shop at the market. It was great! A little intimidating at first when I managed to get all turned around and nearly lost in about 3 minutes, but then it got better. We have visited three farmers’/craft markets since we arrived—really fun and beautiful stuff!
We took our first road trip over the weekend – a quick drive east to Leuven, a college town whose university was founded in 1425! It is a super cute town, great architecture and shopping. I nearly took myself out in a freak umbrella accident (yes, umbrella), but luckily the only evidence is a skinned chin. And, there were lovely pastries in which to drown my sorrows.
Though my French is rusty (that's putting it charitably), I have used it a ton already. Interestingly, my Italian has been helpful as well. We have learned a couple of Dutch words too, so we are starting down the road to multi-lingualism (yeah right). Although most people speak at least some English, speaking French will make life much easier, especially in Brussels. We both can't wait to get in a class...
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