Singing the Expat Blues | Flashback

Expat life can leave you feeling lost.

Recently I’ve been getting quite a few comments and emails from new expats in Belgium who are struggling with adjusting to life here. Expats in Belgium tend to be pretty transient; with terms of 2-3 years before moving on to a new posting. I wanted to find a way to answer some of these common issues and also demonstrate how we all go through rough patches in the beginning.

For that reason, I’ve decided to repost some of my older CheeseWeb posts as a Flashback series. Because there are over 500 posts on CheeseWeb now (wow! Did I really write all of that?) many of the old posts get buried and lost to the internet ether. I’ll be re-posting these with the original comments section, but adding my updated thoughts.

Thermae Boetfort Belgian Spa near Brussels

Chilling at the spa – image by duchessa

It’s been blistering hot in Brussels for the past week or so. Although I love to see the sun, after melting in my 30+ degree living-room, I was ready to cool off. Fighting for a square inch of sand on the Belgian coast didn’t appeal and we’ve decided not to renew our gym membership, so the pool was out. Wondering where I could escape the heat on Saturday, I realised we hadn’t been to a Belgian spa in over a year.

Top 20 Signs You’ve Been an Expat in Brussels Too Long

Belgium is a quirky little country. After five years of living here I’ve come to love, or at least accept, its eccentricities.

Lately I’ve noticed I now take for granted many things I found strange when I first landed here. Maybe you’ve had a few of these experiences too. The following is a list of signs that you may be ‘going native’ in Belgium.

Kasteeltuinen Arcen Gardens

This spring I discovered a new gorgeous garden in the Netherlands called Kasteeltuinen Arcen (The Castle Gardens of Arcen). Although my visit was a bit early in the season to see the gardens at their best, Arcen has quickly become my new favourite garden destination.

A few months ago I ordered a book called The Garden Lover’s Guide to the Netherlands and Belgium (Buy on Amazon US, UK). While flipping through, I was blown away by the illustration of Kasteeltuinen Arcen. Andrew and I decided we would visit Arcen gardens the day after our Keukenhof tour.

Expatriating with Pets

Don’t leave me behind

People are always surprised when we tell them our cats are Canadian.

“You brought three cats to Belgium, all the way from Canada,” they exclaim. Well, actually it was four cats and our Saint Bernard joined us three months later, but yes. Our pets are all from Canada.

It surprises me that they are surprised. We wouldn’t dream of moving without our pets. They are an important part of our family. When we adopted them it was for life.

Visiting Kew Gardens – London, England

Although I’ve made several trips across the channel to London, England, Friday was the first time I visited Kew Gardens. Although I had been looking forward to it, Kew was even better than I expected.

For starters, it’s enormous; 132 hectares to be exact. There was no way I’d be able to see everything in the few hours I had to spend, so I decided to focus on several attractions and take the time to enjoy exploring and photographing them.

Sardinia – Lago Baratz and Porto Ferro

This entry is part 5 of 5 in the series Sardinia, Italy

Searching for wildlife in Sardinia

Our final day in Sardinia, we wanted to escape to nature. The sun was shining, but it was cool and windy, so it wasn’t a day for lying on the beach.

Instead, we headed to Lago di Baratz, a lake and nature preserve north of Alghero. It looked perfect in our guidebook – hiking trails through the woods, a peaceful lake and plenty of birds and wildlife to photograph.

Sardinia – Necropoli Anghelu Ruju and Sunset in Alghero

This entry is part 4 of 5 in the series Sardinia, Italy

Worth waiting for the rain to stop

Onto every parade a little rain must fall and, on day four, our Sardinian adventure got soggy.

Normally I don’t mind a bit of rain when I’m travelling. I just head inside to a museum, gallery or shop and wait out the weather. This was a bit of a problem for us however, as it was Easter Sunday and absolutely everything was closed.

Sardinia – Bosa and Pottu Codinu

This entry is part 3 of 5 in the series Sardinia, Italy

Bosa Beach

The sun smiled on us again on day three of our Sardinian adventure. We decided to head south and check out the city and beaches of Bosa. As often happens when travelling, the journey was even more beautiful than the destination.

Alison Cornford-Matheson