I realized that after my return to Brussels last summer I only managed to write in total 4 entries to this blog. Not exactly a breathtaking amount, so I’ve decided to make another effort in this new year. I can still manage to squeeze in one on this last day of January.
Coming back to Brussels after 3 weeks in China was quite tough. As already experienced in a previous entry 2 years ago (here). I actually read this the other day and realized that I went through exactly the same emotions this time round. So things don’t change too much, although I had toally forgotten about the previous experience during this experience. Guess that is a good thing? Like the 10 second Bob, who always forgets and gets excited all over again and over again…
After the tough first week, which was mildy subdued by some good African food, we went off to the UK. Back to Warwick for Kenneth’s graduation and then London for some catching up with good friends and singing. That was a lot of fun, and very busy. I had never felt so tired in my life taking the Eurostar at 06:20am and arriving straight at work on Monday for a intense most-of-your-colleagues-are-ill-so-you-have-double-the-amount-to-do kind of day.
However, the week improved and now we’ve spent a relaxing weekend. Went on a flathunting mission in St. Gilles. Friday evening visited a lovely flat, but there 2 before us in line. Saturday morning we saw a place which we did not see on picture beforehand. It was HUGE, and old and dirty and we had to pretend it was nice and say politely to the old lady who forgot about our visit and had to drive half-way across town that “eh, nous cherchons quelque chose plus petit..” Funny enough afterwards we walked past a building with a orang “A Louer” sign. The front door was open so we gave the number a call. French woman directed me to José Manuel in the restaurant next door. We met José, who took us to the 1st floor. Knocked hard. And guess what? Albanian Guy with Albanian Baby in his arms opens the door. He welcome us in and we walk straight into the living room. There sits the Albanian Grandma, knitting. She stares at us and smiles. We felt so awkard and out of place, treading around in their living space. But they tell us to feel free and look around. In the kitchen we found the Albanian Grandpa cutting cheese… It was like a scene from ONCE. A very interesting experience on a Saturday morning, but unfortunately the flat was too expensive for the two of us. If a whole Albanian family can live there, it would be a bit too greedy of us to take that much space. We played with the little kid and then politely left.
Flat visits are always interesting experiences, but I’m glad it’s going to be over for now. We’re next in line for the Friday flat, and if all goes well with the contract signing this week, then we’ll be moving very very soon to St. Gilles. Oh yes.
