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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(To mark the one-year anniversary of our arrival in Belgium,
I've written a series of entries. The first was on how we
became expats, the second detailed mishaps on our first day.
Today's entry is the third and final installment in the series.)
As we were preparing to move to Belgium, an American working for my husband's organization here in Brussels volunteered to help us with the transition. He gathered information for us, made contacts and set up appointments for us to handle administrative tasks, checked out the apartment we were considering renting to let us know if it was OK, stocked it with some groceries before we arrived, met us at the airport and showed us around. We arrived just a few days before he and his family left for a vacation in Russia, and he generously offered to let us use his car while he was gone. 
Ah, freedom! A chance to buy groceries and not have to carry them home. The opportunity to look for a house and to venture outside our neighborhood. A way to attend events at the children's school. We were excited.
Our first outing with the borrowed car occurred five days after our arrival. With a mix of anticipation and trepidation, we all buckled up, ready for E to tackle driving and navigating in Brussels.
The car starts up, we all smile, we're on our way! E brings it around to the exit of the parking garage underneath our apartment building and confidently points and clicks the garage door opener — and nothing happens.
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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