The Key(s) to a Successful Marriage

Thursday night - 11 pm Location: The sidewalk outside our flat Andrew (looking slightly concerned): Um, you have your keys right…? Me: blank stare…What?… Noooo… Andrew: Shit… Earlier that evening: I look at the tiny, impractical (but very cute) evening bag I recently purchased in San Francisco. This will go perfectly with my...

A Clue! or A Day in the Life of a Belgian Commune

After three years of dealing with Belgian bureaucracy, the uninitiated might think that things would get a little easier. They would be wrong. I made an important discovery during today’s commune visit – workers are only permitted to give you one vital piece of information per visit. You must then continue to visit the...

Parlez Vous? Reading Rental Contracts in French

When I enrolled in French immersion in Junior High school, I never could have predicted that I’d be using skills learned then to translate rental contracts in Brussels at age 31. (For that matter when I took journalism in university I never expected to be writing articles about living in Belgium either.) The past...

Possibilities – Considering Moving to Brussels, Belgium

A few weeks ago, I wrote of the autumn expat migration. Since then, Andrew and I have been contemplating a migration of our own. It was about this time, three years ago, that Andrew and I decided to make our dream of living in Europe a reality. We were scrambling to get paperwork done,...

The Joys of a Low Maintenance Visitor

Monday, an old friend arrived at our house. Andrew and I haven’t seen much of this friend in the past two years. We’ve bumped into each other in hotels and had brief visits when we were back in Canada, but our friend hasn’t ever been in our Belgian home. Now our friend is...

Coming Out of the Shell

This is my Expatica blog from last week in case you missed it. As a footnote, since writing this piece, I've reconnected with a bunch of friends from university on Facebook and it's been really great to see everyone doing so well. We're spread all over Canada and the world,...

Making some Personal Space

Ever since I returned from a visit home to Canada last month, I’ve been thinking a lot about space. Not outer space, but personal space, both physical and emotional. Flying home to Halifax is never a direct flight. Often Andrew and I find ourselves first flying west to fly east, and vice versa....

Making an Art of Health and Safety

Maybe it’s a product of our overly litigious society, (when the coffee shops have to print ‘Caution Hot Beverage’ on their paper cups because some bozo spilled coffee on his crotch, you know we’ve taken it too far), but North Americans can be awfully cautious about health and safety risks. Every now and...

Anyone for Chicken? Driving in Belgium

Two years ago when Andrew and I first moved here, I wrote a blog about why I would not be driving in Belgium. At the time, I thought that once I got used to it here, maybe I would change my mind and, I’m happy to report – I haven’t. My parents...

Articles About Expat Living in Belgium (Page 8)