This video almost made me move back to Dallas. This is a very brief clip of my very dear friend Tamara's little girl (born almost exactly a month after Joshua), Callie. Looks like she's still thinking of her boyfriend from afar....
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Rue Charles Degroux, 53
Golly it's been 3 weeks since we last posted. We have continued to battle with Belgian bureaucracy around form filling, following orders and questioning the logic of almost every single process. Our first trip to the commune of Etterbeek was a bit of a mare. Everyone who lives in Belgium has to register at their local commune. Each commune has its own set of rules and regulations (and required paperwork) so it was a bit difficult to know in advance how our appointment would go. SIRVA (our relocation specialists) forgot to show up ('ooops sorry we double booked') so we struggled through the appointment on our own. The lady who dealt with us was thoroughly confused by the array of passports we presented to her (Canadian for Joel, British for Katie and US for Joshua) coupled with the fact that there is new legislation/forms to fill as of June 1st of this year. She wasn't sure what to do with our situation but ultimately shoved forms in our face, took photocopies and advised us that I would have a temporary piece of paper for about 3-5 months at which point an electronic card (rather like a credit card) would be issued to me. Joel was given a different piece of paper and was told he would get an appointment slip in the mail which he should ensure he keeps and brings with him to the commune. He will then get an orange piece of paper which will be valid for either one or 3 months (she kept changing her mind) at which point we have to return and he'll get a white piece of paper (or was it the other way around??!). Talk about over complicating the whole process.
Joshua's birth certificate wasn't deemed 'valid' - after all, who can trust something signed and stamped by an American state department?? I was a little baffled by this as I would have thought that documents from certain countries would be held to a higher level of scrutiny but I guess I had assumed that the US would be a 'safe' country. We have returned the birth certificate to Austin, TX to be apostilled and returned to us.
The next step is that sometime in the next month (or up to the next 5!!) the police will pop by to check that the Scharlach family really does live here and that we're not actually harbouring illegal immigrants from our apartment.... At that point, the police will notify the commune that we are 'legit' and this, together with the submission of the authenticated birth certificate, will finally mean that Etterbeek commune recognises us as a legal family unit. Unfortunately, until that time, Joel and Joshua will not be covered under 'Euromut' (every time I see that word I think of Penelope Pitstop) which is the health care insurance we have. This doesn't mean that we will be bankrupt if either of them get sick (for the Americans reading this, you may have wondered.....) because it's pretty much socialized. The cost is really small in the first place and Euromut refunds about 90%. Deloitte have offered to reimburse any costs until such time that we are fully registered as a family unit with Euromut.
The biggest news to date is that we are finally IN our apartment! We spent our first night here on Thursday and it's all still a bit of a mess (putting it mildly). We are surrounded by boxes - just hundreds of them everywhere. Until we can get them out of the apartment it's difficult to know what else we need to buy. They are being collected on Monday, the same day that the internet is being connected. I am, right now, using an unsecure wireless connection of one of my unsuspecting neighbours!! On Tuesday we have our new sectional couch being delivered along with a sofa bed for our office/guest room. Wednesday is the day that Joel is most looking forward to as we are having the TV connected to a service called 'TV from home'. It will enable us to watch all the British channels - BBC, ITV, Channel 4, E4, etc. And talking of TVs......you should see the monstrosity we have in our living room. Joel assures me it looked a lot smaller in the huge warehouse of the store he bought it from. Put it this way, our lovely living room (or lovely as it will be!) has gone from being a serene room to entertain guests with a TV in the corner to a room that is all about the TV.....
Joshua's birth certificate wasn't deemed 'valid' - after all, who can trust something signed and stamped by an American state department?? I was a little baffled by this as I would have thought that documents from certain countries would be held to a higher level of scrutiny but I guess I had assumed that the US would be a 'safe' country. We have returned the birth certificate to Austin, TX to be apostilled and returned to us.
The next step is that sometime in the next month (or up to the next 5!!) the police will pop by to check that the Scharlach family really does live here and that we're not actually harbouring illegal immigrants from our apartment.... At that point, the police will notify the commune that we are 'legit' and this, together with the submission of the authenticated birth certificate, will finally mean that Etterbeek commune recognises us as a legal family unit. Unfortunately, until that time, Joel and Joshua will not be covered under 'Euromut' (every time I see that word I think of Penelope Pitstop) which is the health care insurance we have. This doesn't mean that we will be bankrupt if either of them get sick (for the Americans reading this, you may have wondered.....) because it's pretty much socialized. The cost is really small in the first place and Euromut refunds about 90%. Deloitte have offered to reimburse any costs until such time that we are fully registered as a family unit with Euromut.
The biggest news to date is that we are finally IN our apartment! We spent our first night here on Thursday and it's all still a bit of a mess (putting it mildly). We are surrounded by boxes - just hundreds of them everywhere. Until we can get them out of the apartment it's difficult to know what else we need to buy. They are being collected on Monday, the same day that the internet is being connected. I am, right now, using an unsecure wireless connection of one of my unsuspecting neighbours!! On Tuesday we have our new sectional couch being delivered along with a sofa bed for our office/guest room. Wednesday is the day that Joel is most looking forward to as we are having the TV connected to a service called 'TV from home'. It will enable us to watch all the British channels - BBC, ITV, Channel 4, E4, etc. And talking of TVs......you should see the monstrosity we have in our living room. Joel assures me it looked a lot smaller in the huge warehouse of the store he bought it from. Put it this way, our lovely living room (or lovely as it will be!) has gone from being a serene room to entertain guests with a TV in the corner to a room that is all about the TV.....
As you can in our pictures, we have MUCH to do before this place feels like home!
Our first visitor is currently with us. Bless him for putting up with no curtains on the windows (currently being made and due to arrive on August 2nd) and no lights apart from the sconced lights already on the walls. He is sleeping on a mattress on the floor in the guest room with an old sheet up at the window as makeshift curtains! We met him at Church in Dallas and by coincidence he also worked at Deloitte (totally different department from me so I would never have known). He is working in Paris for the next 2 weeks so decided to come via Brussels. Joshua is most taken with him - most likely because the poor little chap is so bored by Ma & Pa by now!
We're off to the UK on Thursday for my friend Sarah's wedding which we're very excited about. Let's hope it doesn't rain......
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)