Taming the city

Speaker for immigrants

 After the first couple of weeks, after we have found a roof over head, when it's no longer needed to look in a map for the main streets, it's time to get closer acquainted with the city. This doesn't mean tourist maps and city attractions, this means getting to know small things you would have never thought about.


Mission No. 1 | | Or where to dispose off the garbage?
From time to time the streets get full of yellow, white and blue bags, which later in the same mysterious way disappear from there. Where to put the trash, why and when? It took us three days to find out - starting with a search for the special bags in stores and google research about the times of garbage collection in our street. By the way, garbage sorting in Belgium is compulsory!

Mission No. 2 | | E-ticket
To match the locals a little bit more so that when we board a bus, we could just beep our electronic ticket instead of using the paper ones, we needed a lot of patience - to find the special bootik, to wait in queues, get a photograph..until at last we got our Mobibs.

Shopping time
What is definitely a mission impossible here is understanding the shops working time. For example our nearest ALDI supermarket on Tuesday closes at 17:25, having different opening and closing hours every day. If in front of a locked door, should not be surprised either. That's why it's always good to be friends with a neighbor from Bangladesh, owning a shop on the corner, where you can get pasta, milk and wine anytime!

Street

Sunday promenade 
Since most shops are closed on Sundays, everybody should head to the bazaar at Gare du Midi, full of people even in the rain, with the atmosphere reminding of Gariunai (big market in Lithuania) and Saint Casimir's Fair (a fair every spring in LT) mixture. We loved the sweet melons directly from Spain, olives from Kalamata and Moroccan spices we found there! 

Find your bank
 One of the most unpleasant procedures, or  perhaps that's just a bank we've chosen, is to prove to the clerk in the bank that you are a reputable citizen, paying taxes and earning money. Showing an employment contract (forged or real) makes the attitude of clerks more submissive and suddenly things start rolling.

 Outside our window

Uncle Policeman 
Upon arrival in Belgium for a longer time, we have to apply for a residency at the local municipality. Would never think that this is something more than just a paper work - a week later a policeman was at our door, checking if we really live here and if the conditions are liveable.

Outside our window

Africa
Brussels is the capital city of eurocrats, but not only. We live just a few minutes walk to the European Parliament, but this is where the Congolese district starts - every second door is a hairdressers' or hair accessories' shop, the most people in the streets don't look Europeans. So Brussels is actually the capital of cultures.

Drawing in a street

Find your park!
We have found ours - it's small but cozy, just a street away, with a large pond and ducks. In spring, we'll be having lunch on the grass!