Things have begun to progress with our registration process. The police came to our apartment, as expected, but since we were not home they left a notice saying that we need to visit their station. (Now, explain this to me - the police make a visit to our apartment to make sure we are indeed living where we said we were and that we are not housing 20 illegal immigrants. But, if I am not home, rather than the police coming back to the apartment, we just have to go to the station. So my husband and I can go to the station and leave the other 20 individuals back at the apartment!?... I digress...) Upon arrival, we found out the town hall had only sent a form for Tonico's residency and not mine...so there may be another police visit coming in the near future! This was a pretty painless 30 minute venture and the man was strangely friendly! A positive note on this long journey!
Previously we made our second trip to the town hall. We live in the most disorganized section of Brussels! It's crazy because it is the capital of Belgium and they just cannot seem to get themselves together. There are security guards at the doors because things tend to get heated very often. We got to witness it first hand! Basically, when you visit the town hall you either have an appointment (by calling them and calling them for days or weeks!) or you can show up and take a number. Thankfully we had an appointment time, but the line for people just taking a number was super long! Well, we learned very quickly that just because you have an appointment for 11:30 am does not mean you will be seen at 11:30. We waited until about 12:30 before we were seen (to me, after seeing the number of people in that building, one hour was pretty good!). It was verrrry interesting though because as the clock inched closer to noon, one by one you could hear the individual windows slam shut. Once the first one closed the volume in the building soared! People were so upset and shouting at the woman behind the window who, in turn, shouted back! (we've really got to learn French!) All those people that were in line, who took numbers, were told they needed to leave because they were done seeing people for the day. They were going to lunch and would be back only to work on paper work and not to see any more people. Come back tomorrow! Things really started to heat up, lots of shouting and anger all around. Thankfully our person said she would stay until all of us with appointments were seen! VERY thankfully because Tonico's passport expired that day! You are only allowed to be in the country for 90 days before you need to leave. He had actually been in Belgium for 91 days. THANKFULLY they said they would backlog it seeing as the day before, they were on strike, so we wouldn't have even been able to visit the hall.
SO, after that meeting, we've been running around getting copies of this and that and making sure all our ducks are in a row before our next visit. Our next visit, as I've been told, is when we will actually register and apply for our residency cards. This cannot happen until the police documents have been sent back to the town hall. So we are hopeful this process is nearing the end. We should have one final visit to the town hall then and that will simply be to pick up our residency cards. It seems to me, that if you go through all the trouble of sending the police to my apartment to make sure I live there, couldn't you just mail me the residency card!? :o) alas...there are many things here that just do not seem too logical...
On a lighter note, we have been rain-free for almost 3 weeks! However now it's getting dreadfully hot! Just like in the midwest, not many people have air conditioning because it is only hot a few days of each year. Well, living in basically the attic of this old building is getting a bit unbearable! But we are loving the freedom to go outside and enjoy the sights rather than being cooped up inside because of the constant rain.
We are counting down the days until our next visitors! My best friend Jessica and her fiancee Matt will be joining us at the end of August! Hard to believe that's only about a month away! Tonico and I have been endlessly saying, "Oh we need to take Jessica & Matt here", "I think Jessica would love to do this", "Oh yea, Matt would love that"! So get ready you two because we are going to keep you busy the whole time you are here!!! We cannot wait to see you!!! (and Jessica I swear, we are taking a MILLION pictures together when you are here considering the last one we have is from my wedding almost 2 years ago!!!)
The beautiful couple! So excited to spend some much needed time together before you two make the leap to say "I do"
And last but not least, I must wish a slightly early birthday to my big sister Betsy! She's going to be the big 3-0 this year! I had this wonderful plan to send her a big box of Belgian chocolates, shipped directly from here to her front door. The chocolate shop proceeded to crush my dreams by saying I was crazy for wanting to send chocolate in the middle of summer. So I thought, I will call her house and talk to her husband and see if he had any suggestions. Instead I spoke to her 10 year old...which is never a boring conversation! Aydin said he'd probably just give his mom a big hug. Since I can't do that, he said "I don't know, maybe some wine?" He knows his mother too well :o) I'm still stumped, and only have a day to figure it out! In the mean time, I just wanted to let her know how much I love and miss her! We have had our ups and downs throughout life (what 2 sisters haven't!?) but these past few years, we have gotten older and realized the importance of having each other in our lives. Being so far away now has made it even more clear. So, happy birthday big sister! To 30+ more years! And I can only hope I look as good at 30 as you! Are you sure you're not turning 20!? Love you!!!
(again, haven't had a photo together since my wedding!)
