Saturday 4 July 2009
Saturday 4 July 2009
Stock up on the tastes and smells of home.
A small country with no obvious start or finish.
Sunbeams' guide to the white, blue, green, yellow...
One of the best healthcare systems in the world.
Survive the pitfalls of the city's streets.
Expat women in Belgium and France most satisfied.
A moving piece about a 'school refuser' son.
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Expatica's blogger explores the peculiar European treat of the 'kiss and greet'.I shift awkwardly from one foot to another.
I avoid eye contact. How do you react to the European kiss?
"I had a great time, thank you," I stammer.
I never make the first move.
Suddenly they lean in.
"Oh no, which side are they going for," I ask myself, "and how many times?"
It's the first kiss.
Canadians aren't big kissers, at least not the Canadians I know.
If I meet up with a friend I haven't seen in a while, I'll give them a big hug. When I am introduced to someone new, I shake their hand. When I am leaving their company, I shake hands again.
I wouldn't dream of kissing someone in a work environment situation. In fact, the only people in Canada I kiss, besides my husband, are very close family members.
Europeans seem to kiss everyone. However, there doesn't seem to be a set of 'standard kissing rules'. I am always worried that I am going to be embroiled in a kissing catastrophe.
My first kiss was in Amsterdam. Our patient Dutch friends explained that in the Netherlands, the traditional greeting is three kisses, starting on the right. The right-left-right kiss is repeated when departing company.
By the end of our stay in the Netherlands, I had this down pat. Then we arrived in Brussels …
As I observed the Belgian kissing practice, I couldn't make sense of it. Some people were using the right-left-right, but others were only kissing once or maybe twice. Now what would I do?
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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