25 Differences in Belgium and the US

  • October 28, 2009 1:39 PM
Three Legged Buddha in front of Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie

Three-legged Buddha at the Royal Theater

Today, I was interviewed by some Belgian college students for an assignment where they asked me about being an American living in Belgium.  One of the questions I really liked was how is Belgium different from the US.  Here’s some of my thoughts…

  1. Grocery stores do not give you bags.  You are expected to bring your own, or must purchase one.
  2. Refrigerators are much smaller with barely any freezer space, encouraging multiple trips to the grocery store or market within a single week.
  3. Drink glasses are tiny and drinks are not served with ice.
  4. Tap water is not served at restaurants.
  5. Tables are much closer to your neighbor in restaurants.
  6. One waiter will serve an entire restaurant, and he will not check up on you throughout your meal.  If you want the check, you have to ask him specifically.
  7. Some restaurants, bakeries, etc. will not accept credit cards or bank cards.  Always carry some cash on you.
  8. It is perfectly acceptable to drink a glass of wine or beer at lunch.
  9. Scarves are worn by folding them in half, and then sticking the ends through the loop.  They are worn year round with any outfit.
  10. Men can wear capris pants, white pants, and very tight pants – maybe even a combination of all of those.
  11. Facial piercings, such as a single stud near the lips is common with the young generation.
  12. It is acceptable to bring your dog on trams, in stores, and to restaurants.
  13. Motorcycles are allowed to pass between cars.  The motorcycle drivers will kick out their leg to say thanks if you let them pass.
  14. Traffic from the right has the right-away.  Unless otherwise posted, yield to traffic turning onto your street from the right.
  15. It’s acceptable to bump into another car while you’re parallel parking.  They don’t have alarms that go off with slight touches.
  16. If someone is parked in front of your garage, honk (and disturb the neighbors) until the driver comes out and move his car.
  17. Hole punches have 2 holes; printer paper is 8.3in x 11.6in, and general notebooks contain graph paper.
  18. Speak quietly, especially on the tram/bus or in restaurants.  Your neighbors shouldn’t be able to hear you.  This applies when you’re on a cell phone too.
  19. Shops close around 6:30PM, groceries around 8PM, and none are open on Sundays.
  20. Washer/dryers are smaller and more eco-friendly, but a single load could take several hours to wash and dry.
  21. Most houses have the toilet in a different room from the bathtub.
  22. Many restaurants will charge about 30-cents to use the bathroom.  Pay the woman sitting outside the stalls.
  23. Tipping is not expected in restaurants.
  24. Schools have a half day on Wednesdays for children to go to extracurricular activities.
  25. Only International schools have school buses and they are white vans.

This question was particularly hard because I have to remember to not confuse living in Belgium with living in Brussels.  One of the biggest changes for us is moving from a quiet suburb to a big city, and of course there are lots of differences in that, but they may be there too if we were to live in downtown Atlanta, or New York City.

New French Phrases

  • October 27, 2009 10:19 AM
DSC_1712

Birthday Orchid

The month of October has been very educational, teaching me several new French phrases:

  • Quand mon objectif de la caméra est entièrement zoomée, il ne se concentre pas.
    When my camera lens is fully zoomed, it does not focus.
  • La lentille optique sur mon appareil est débranché.
    The optical lens on my camera is disconnected.
  • L’objectif n’est pas en garantie et doit être réparé.
    The lens is not in warranty and needs to be repaired.
  • Vous avez laissé tomber ma lentille et maintenant elle est brisée.
    You dropped my lens and now it is shattered.
  • Mon vélo a été volé dans mon garage.
    My bicycle was stolen from my garage.
  • Le vélo n’était pas verrouillée.
    The bike was not locked.
  • La nouvelle porte de garage reste ouvert pendant une minute quand quelqu’un entre ou sort.
    The new garage door stays open for one minute when someone enters or leaves.

We’ve had a frustrating time with a broken camera lens (18-200mm), a stolen bicycle, and also a small fender bender (but that’s Thomas’ story to tell).  Luckily, everyone has been very patient with our poor French, but sometimes, it makes things so much harder.  For example, I took my camera lens in to a shop because the full zoom was not focusing and the glass had become unattached.  Though I told this to the man in the store…in French, he did not understand me and had picked up the lens before I could react…the unattached glass shattering on the floor.

I think we’ve got everything sorted out now.  The broken lens has been sent in for repairs.  We bought a new lens so we’d have one for our trip to Morocco (photos coming soon).  If the old lens can be repaired for a reasonable price, we’ll sell it.  We reported the stolen bike to the police and our insurance should be covering it.  And Thomas’ insurance is taking care of the fender bender.

It really hit home this month on how important it is for us to learn French.  In Brussels, you often find people that speak English, but outside the city, it’s less common.  I feel horrible each time I ask someone, “Parlez-vous anglais?” even though, their English is often better than my French.  In the US, even in Spanish-speaking areas, no one ever asked me if I could speak Spanish to them instead of English.  Guess I need to put a little more time into studying for my French class.

Largest Pumpkin Contest

  • October 4, 2009 4:23 PM

Wow, it’s October! The temperatures have dropped, the skies have turned gray, I celebrated another birthday, and pumpkins are ripe.

DSC_1541

You don’t see pumpkins here often, and no jack-o-lanterns since they don’t celebrate Halloween here. Our grocery has a few halved pumpkins in the produce area, but no canned pumpkins for pumpkin pie or casserole. But yesterday, Ali (and her baby, Reagan) and I went to Duisburg, about 30 minutes away, to see the Largest Pumpkin Contest.

DSC_1552

People brought their biggest pumpkins, hauled in trailers, to be weighed at this annual competition. We posed by a few pumpkins and then headed inside. There were tables packed with beer-sipping locals as they waited to hear who had the next heaviest pumpkin. We poked around – tried some pumpkin liqueur, bought some pumpkin butter, and checked out some of the fancy chickens and doves on display.

DSC_1557

By the time we left, the largest pumpkin so far was 303kg (about 660lbs).

DSC_1570

Afterward, we headed back and went to a little cafe near my house for some hot chocolate. I’ve been there before and it seems to be the hangout for the retired crowd. As soon as Ali pulled Reagan out of her carrier, they all gathered around to pat her hands, tickle her chin, and coo at her. It was really funny how gah-gah they went over a random baby, but she is a cutie!
DSC_1624

If you’d like to see more photos from our outing, I’ve posted them on Flickr:

Brussels Roller Parade

  • October 3, 2009 9:23 PM

Every Friday night in Brussels, from June through September, hundreds of rollerbladers gather to skate through the streets of town in the Brussels Roller Parade.  The last Friday of the season, Reid and I joined them.

DSC_7077

We showed up at the starting line, Place Poelaert, around 7:30PM where there were people renting skates and practicing.  I had brought mine with me from the US, but Reid was able to rent a pair for just 10 euros.  There were all levels, from those jumping off steps and skating around lined up bottles to those just hoping to keep their balance on flat ground.  At 8PM, the Roller Parade began.

DSC_7095

Each week, the route changes, but it runs for about 3 hours, about 20-25km.  Our route took us by Chatelain, up Porte de Namur, by Parc Cinquintenaire, down to VUB, near the Bourse, and so on.  It’s very organized with volunteers blocking cars, a bus following with medics, and even police on skates.  People on bicycles followed the skaters and residents peeked out of their homes to cheer us on.  With so many skaters, it’s pretty slow, and we had several breaks where they handed out whistles, glow sticks, water, Red Bull, and candy.

DSC_7113

Reid and I stayed toward the back where she was able to sweet talk one of the volunteers into letting her hold onto him down the hills.  After 13km though, we were getting exhausted, and we knew we still had two big tunnels left, so we stepped out and hopped on the bus to ride the rest of the way.

DSC_7135

Even with our early departure, we had a great time.  I really haven’t rollerbladed since I played roller-hockey in NC almost 6 years ago, but it reminded me how relaxing I find it.  There were some difficult parts – on cobblestones and up hills, but the group energy really keeps you going.  I hope to join in out a few more times next Summer.

For a while at the beginning, Thomas followed along on foot and took photos.  I’ve posted a few of them on Flickr:

Nine Months Later

  • September 8, 2009 8:49 PM

Last Fall, when preparing to move to Belgium, I corresponded with a blogger who was about 6 months ahead of me in the process. (Hi Julie!) She gave me a list of documents I would need and clued me into the red tape of Belgium residency cards. I’ll admit it..I disregarded some of what she said because I was sure our process would be different. We’re an American/EU citizen couple, and we thought we were going to get to skip through the whole process. We were way off..in fact, my American/American friends who arrived at the same time as us got their cards months earlier. Mine took 9 months…

Here’s how it worked… Note: Every commune (neighborhood) seems to have different rules. I live in Ixelles.  If you live in another commune, your process probably has some differences.

1. Collect information in US
There were several documents we had to collect before we moved. Unfortunately, the list varies depending on what commune you live in. We did not know where we were going to live yet, so we collected them all just to be sure. First, I requested a certified copy of my birth certificate and marriage license. Though I could go into the Atlanta office for the marriage license, the birth certificate was on the other side of the country and had to be ordered by registered mail. These documents had to be apostilled, sort of like a notary but by the state department. Next, I got a physical and a notarized medical certificate (preferably by an approved doctor) that I was healthy. Finally, I was fingerprinted at the police station and sent the fingerprints to the FBI for a copy of my official criminal history record. It was also recommended that we get these all translated into French or Dutch, but we didn’t.

2. Moving in
As I mentioned before, your residence card depends on what commune you live in. Therefore, we couldn’t start the process for the first month while we were in temporary housing. Soon after we moved into our permanent apartment, we were visited by the police. No, we weren’t partying too loud – they just wanted to confirm that we really lived there. We weren’t home when they visited us, but they noted our names on the mailbox and left a note with an appointment to come to the station to fill out some forms. Some of our friends have had them come in their homes and request to see their passports.  After filling out the forms, they gave a letter stating that they checked us out.

3. First visit to commune
Though we moved into our permanent apartment February 1st, we were not able to get an appointment at our commune until the end of the month. At our appointment, we took all of our documents from Step 1 and 2, plus 4 passport photos each and filled out more forms requesting our residency cards. They looked only at our birth certificates and marriage license.  At this point, Thomas was very anxious for his residence card so he could buy a motorcycle and get a Belgian driver’s license, but that’s a whole other story. They told us that when everything is ready, they’ll mail us a PIN number to pick up our cards.

4. Thomas gets his card
Four weeks later, we got our PIN and went in for our appointment. Thomas got his permanent residency card, but I was told that I would have to wait 5 months while they investigated that our marriage is legit. Supposedly, if I had gotten a spousal visa before moving, this would not be required, but we did not know. I was given a temporary card and told that I couldn’t leave Belgium for the 5 months. (Shhh! Just ignore the Around the World category on this blog.) Actually, the issue was that I couldn’t get my passport stamped, but there are  25 EU countries (Schengen states) that don’t stamp passports when traveling from Belgium. I just stuck to those, but I did have to cancel my flights to Ireland and the US.

5. Five months pass
I guess I passed the marriage test because at the end of August, I got an invitation in the mail to visit the commune again. I arrived first thing in the morning and it took all of 15 minutes to fill out the paperwork for my card. They took my temporary card and 4 more passport photos and told me to wait for my PIN in the mail.

6. The final appointment
Two weeks later, I got the PIN in the mail and headed back to the commune. Again, I was there first thing in the morning and seen right away. I handed in my letter and my PIN number and they handed me my residency card. It’s a type F (family) card, which means that I’m married to an EU citizen. If Thomas moves away from the country, I’m not allowed to stay, but I am allowed to work here in the meantime.

DSC_6589-Edit-Edit

I'm now a card-carrying permanent resident of Belgium.

Thank goodness we had our relocation company to help us. Our commune was very flexible in speaking English to us, but having help reduced the headaches. This experience helped illustrate to me what this process must be like for people entering the US. It’s not a fun deal.

Note: There were some fees paid at the commune for our residency cards, but our relocation person handled that, so I’m not sure what they were. They weren’t much though.