The Madness!

I guess it's been quite a while since I last posted but it seems that life in Brussels ends up just as mundane as life anywhere else in the world. The newness starts to wear off, things become familiar and your routine is set. And just when it seems that life is starting to mellow out, life throws another curve ball your way. My curve ball comes in the form of the commune/town hall. 

Yesterday I got an email from our relocation agent saying she had finally gotten an 'invitation' from the commune for us to visit....uh, tomorrow (as in TODAY). Could we be there at 11:30!? Well of course we could any other week, but Tonico is in France for work until Thursday night. So, I ask if it's possible for just me to attend. She was unsure but said it was better than nothing to just arrive at the time, meet another of the relocation agents, Elfie, at the commune and hope for the best! 

The meeting was so stressful and I am not really even sure what happened! Elfie asked if it was possible that I begin the registration process given that my husband is out of town. He says no, then later maybe, then no and by the time we left he said he would work with his boss to get Tonico's paperwork moving as he only has a week and a half left before his passport runs out. (You are only allowed to be in Brussels for 3 months without being registered. If he does not get registered in 3 months he will have to go back to the US and then return). Elfie assured me that as long as the paperwork gets started before the three month mark, we would be fine. 

So now Tonico and I both need to go back to the commune on Monday. They gave me another list of documents I need to provide them with and Tonico has a few things to sign. I need to go to another office this week to get our lease 'registered'....they sure like having you 'register/apostille/verify' every document you've ever been given! Now, this may not seem like that stressful of a situation, but when everyone is speaking French, and you are just being told bits and pieces, it's stressful! And our Monday appointment, at this point, is not guaranteed. Hopefully Monday will prove to be just a 'successful' (again, Elfie's words) as today was!

Here's a little glimpse at the amount of paperwork involved

In other news:

I have been taking French classes every Monday/Wednesday evening for 2 hours. I only have 3 classes left and feel like I have SO far to go! The language is tough! I cannot decide if knowing Spanish is helping or hurting my progress in the class. A lot of words are spelt the same or are similar but are pronounced COMPLETELY different! I find myself speaking Franish (French/Spanish) often in class! But, for starting at zero, I am starting to recognize a lot of phrases and words when I hear people talking around me, and that is a success in my book!

Tonico and I had the luck of being able to do some traveling last weekend to the Alsace wine region of France. It was about a 4 hour drive from Brussels and truthfully, for all my NC peeps, it felt like driving up I-77 with rolling hills and lush, beautiful foliage all around us. It was a very nostalgic drive for us and really made me miss our other home! 

We decided to stay in Strasbourg, France and then do day trips up and down the "Rue du Vin" or "Wine Route". But sometimes the best laid plans....you know...do not always go as planned! Friday night we checked in to our 'no frills hostel' (as we were trying to do our trip on a budget). The place was a mess! I am not one that needs to stay in a 5 star hotel but when you walk in to a building that smells and a room that makes you start to itch uncontrollably as soon as you walk in, you know it won't be good! We somehow toughed it out Friday night, but decided to cut our losses and change to another hotel for Saturday night. Also, Friday night we went to a restaurant and wouldn't you know, our waitress was from Minnesota! She said she studied abroad in Strausbourg in college and loved it so much she came back to stay! Well, Tonico and I are not sure what she loved so much, it's just a sleepy little town, but it sure was nice to share something in common! 

Saturday we hit the road to find some wine! We drove to the end of the "Rue du Vin" to a little village called Colmar. We parked and walked in to what I can only describe as a little dream village. All the houses and buildings were the same style and it just seemed like something out of a movie, not a real life place where people lived and worked! 

It was an absolutely beautiful day (which does not happen EVER in Brussels) so we took advantage by pulling up a chair outside at the local restaurant, got a couple glasses of wine, and just enjoyed our surroundings!

 Well, I thought we were getting glasses, until Tonico said he ordered half liters instead!

Just a picture in front of a canal in Colmar

After Colmar, we drove to a cute little town called Riquewihr. This town was even more picturesque with beautiful flowers everywhere! Even the drive to the town was beautiful with vineyards all around!

Tonico got a lot of good pictures on our big camera, but I haven't downloaded those yet! Here we stopped in to several different shops that offer wine tastings from their local vineyards. This wine region is known for their white grapes that make Riesling, Gewurtztraminer and Pinot Gris. The first place we went to was Hugel & Fils. We got to taste as much as we wanted and even got to taste some verrry expensive bottles! It's amazing the difference in taste! I certainly would not say that the more expensive the bottle, the better the wine, but there is just a very different taste after the grapes have aged. After the first tasting they all started to blend together...so we had to buy some bottles so we could really remember and enjoy!

We are ready for our visitors!