For The Journey Not just the destination…

Bois de la Cambre in Ixelles

A big goal when I moved here was to meet people and keep active so I wouldn’t get homesick. Luckily, there are a lot of other expats in my situation – who don’t speak the language, had to leave behind a career, and are trying to figure out the basics of living in a new country. These people have been a wonderful resource, sharing little tips and understanding the experience we’re going through.

I’ve recently been contacted by a few folks who asked me about the groups I’ve discovered, so I’m posting them here, and hopefully, this may help others too.

Let’s just hop right into it…

• Google Blog Search – The first thing I did when I found out I was moving was do an online search for blogs that wrote, “We’re moving to Belgium.”  Through this, I found several women who I have connected with once I got here.  I’ve also explored the link lists on the expat blogs I read to find even more expat blogs.
• American Women’s Club of Brussels - This group has a clubhouse in Waterloo where they hold fun courses, have an English-language library (including travel books!), DVD library, cafe, giftshop, and creche (daycare).  My favorite part is the Freespirits fieldtrip group.  The club has a membership fee and is open to women with American connections (nationality, spouse, company, or school).  
• Hints Course – This course is held at the American Women’s Club and teaches basic information about living here – how the trash system works, where to get car insurance, how to find an English-speaking doctor, etc.  I met some great ladies in my class that I still continue to get together with.  
• Meetup.com – Meetup is a website that helps organize local groups of people to meet.  We ‘ve gone to a couple monthly gatherings (trying new restaurants and a party) for the New to Brussels group and the Brussels Brunch Club.  There is no membership fee – these are just people who want to meet others.  The groups we went to are very international, but the common language is English.
• A-Club Brussels – Members of this group use an email listserv to send out spontaneous events.  We’ve gone to a couple of the bar trivia nights, hiking, and dinner at a restaurant.  This group is also free and international but with English as a common language.

There’s a few things I’ve found because they’re just my hobbies.  

• French class – There are a bunch of schools in the area that I learned about through other expats.  I really liked the other girls in my class and we’ve had lunch a couple times after class.
• Birding Club – We’ve found a local birding club (Natagora and Aves) and have gone on a walk with them.  It’s a little challenging because it’s all in French, but we’ll still check out more of their activities.
• Craft Night – When I lived in Atlanta, my friends and I would gather for craft nights, where we would work on our own projects while sitting around and chatting.  I’ve found a few crafty friends here and hope to get a group like this started soon.  Let me know if you’re interested too.
• Photography – Viewfinders sounds like a great group for photography hobbiests. They’re even English-speaking. Unfortunately, they meet in the suburbs, but I hope to go to one of their meetings soon. Flickr also has some groups that go on local photo walks, but they’re not in English, so I haven’t tried them yet.

So that’s it…  If you have any other groups/activities to add to this list, please leave a comment.  Or if you have any other questions, please let me know.  I am so thankful for the people that helped me learn my way around and even though I’m still learning, I’d be happy to share what I know.

Last Friday, we had our first guests, Kirk and Reid, over to our house. They brought their two-year old daughter who slept in our spare room while we dined.  I was impressed at how easily she went down – not a fuss.  Dinner went well; I went with this recipe – Cajun Chicken Pasta - which I will gladly make again sometime.

After they left, while the house was still clean, I snapped a couple of shots of our living and dining room.  It works for us, but we did have to store some of the furniture that we brought in our cellar.  We bought the couch and TV stand at Ikea here, and everything else came over on the ship.  

The couch pulls out into a two person bed for overnight guests.  We had a hard time picking out what color to get, but decided this neutral would help open up the room.  Now I need to make some bright patchwork pillows for it.  The picture over the fireplace – one of my favorite photos Thomas has taken – used to hang over our bed.  The map has been a good reference, though I would love to find one of just Europe. 

In this photo, we had already folded up our table, but it unfolds to double in size for bigger meals.  The dining room is a weird place for a bookcase, but it was the only free wall we had.  The bottom shelf has baskets holding our boardgames.

It’s a cozy space, but we’ve tried to keep it simple to not look too crowded.  These photos were taken at night; the wall with the windows and glass doors provide lots of light during the day.