Sun, 22 November 2009
A guide to doing gaffe-free business here.
Includes geography, people, government, economy and transnational issues.
Find an affordable roof over her head.
Heroic Gauls celebrate their half century.
Kimberley uncovers the sacred rituals of Frite Almighty.
Tips for managing a successful relocation back home.
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British expat John Miller has lived in Belgium twice, first in Brussels and now in Bruges. He tells Expatica about his ongoing relationship with the country and why he now prefers to live beyond the nation's capital. |
UK expat John Miller |
With three hours before the train left for Switzerland, we wandered round Oostende. To kids who'd hardly ever left Scotland before, it seemed impossibly exotic: cars zooming down the wrong side of the streets, cafés festooned with adverts for strange-sounding beers, frites with mayonnaise. I loved the place immediately.
Next visit, I was a student trying to hitch a lift south. I and my equally hirsute companion looked like we'd just come straight from Woodstock and the locals weren't impressed: lifts were few — even buses wouldn't stop for long-haired weirdos! Eventually, we staggered into a bar, called for a taxi to the nearest station and arrived in the Ardennes by train.
It was an interesting holiday all round and not just for us: the friend we visited was working as a summer waitress in a hotel across the border in Luxembourg.
Unfortunately for her, she shared a bedroom with another waitress supplementing her wages by entertaining a constant procession of local lads who would climb in the window and then sit at the bottom of our friend's bed waiting patiently for their turn with her roommate. For different reasons, neither of them got much sleep that summer …
Belgium from within the EU
I first worked in Belgium for the EU Commission, transferring to Brussels after becoming fed up with working for a boss in Luxembourg who slept on top of his desk when he wasn't off selling life insurance to colleagues around the office. Brussels seemed very much the 'big apple' compared to sleepy Luxembourg back in the early '80s.
This handy guide from Expertise in Labour Mobility includes how to write a CV, application procedure, interview dos and don'ts, Belgian management culture.
Belgium’s first alternative directory assistance services - available through the shortcode 14-14 - can now be accessed on the internet.
Moving to Belgium presents a host of challenges to expats, not least of all finding the right home.
The psychological effects of global mobility can be physically painful.
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