You know you've accepted life in Belgium when...

Last weekend Kyle and I went to Lille France for Europe's largest flea market.  I need to write a bit more on that but I have a more pressing blog inspiration today.

This fall I will be teaching a couple of beginning jazz classes to students ranging in age from 8 to 18.  In order to do this, there is a bunch of paper work to be completed.  One piece of the paper work is a background check.

In the US this involves filling out a piece of paper, writing a check for the fee and waiting for the report to be mailed (snail or email) to whoever wanted it.  Maybe a ten minute investment of my time - tops.

In Belgium, I had to personally go to my city hall during their very limited business hours, hand over my ID watch them tap at their computer keyboard for 15 minutes and then receive instructions to come back on yet another week day during very limited business hours to pick up my report.

So yesterday I went and began this process.  It wasn't until I was driving home that I realized that I thought nothing of this!  I wasn't moaning and groaning to myself about limited hours, about paying for parking, about how nothing in Belgium is a one step and you are done process.  I simply accepted it as the way life is.  And really, I'm still not really bothered by this, it is just what is done.  In fact, as I was walking out of city hall I was thinking to myself, "well that was easy."

Go back and read my Belgian ID blogs and you'll see how far I've come in accepting how bureaucracy is carried out here.

Finally (or how to get a Belgian ID in 12 easy steps)

After several months and several steps the kids and I now have our Belgian IDs.  Here's how the process worked for us...

1.  On our first full day in Belgium (early August)  we went to the in-processing center at SHAPE and visited the Belgian Police desk to fill in the appropriate paper work and have our photos taken.

2.  We (the kids and I) returned to the police desk the next week to have our photos retaken as the first set was not deemed acceptable.

3.  We began our wait.

4.  We waited until mid-September when our temporary SHAPE IDs were about to expire and went back to the Belgian Police desk.  They called the county ID desk - no answer.  Our SHAPE IDs which allow us access to the base were extended until the end of December.

5.  In theory a letter was sent to our house in October saying we could do the next step of the process.  We did not receive this letter.

6.  In November when Kyle was at the county office he stopped to inquire about the IDs but the office was closed.

7.  In December I went to the Belgian Police desk yet again as our IDs were once again about to expire.  This time upon calling the county office, there was an answer and a response that we needed to go to the county office to sign and pay for the IDs.  The process would not be complete for a few weeks yet, so we had to extend and get new SHAPE IDs yet again.

8.  The county office is only open 2-3 hours mid day on week days.  The kids had to be present for this part of the process.  If it weren't for snow days, we would have had to pull them from school to go sign for their IDs.  On a snow day we drove to the county seat, waited for the clerk to find our paper work, paid our euros and each signed our name to a piece of paper.

9.  Wait again for letters in the mail.

10.  Receive letters.

11.  Go to county office again (kids not necessary this time) within the limited hours of a week day.  Input PINs for cards.  Pick up cards.

12. (still to be completed) return to SHAPE and be issued final SHAPE ID cards good through the length of our stay here.

It only took us five months to complete this process and several trips to SHAPE and/or our county seat.

Before this I was not a fan of the DMV.  I have ended up in the wrong line and more than one line and I have waited for hours.  However, in most cases when you go to the DMV to get a license or ID or whatever, you usually walk out with it the same day.  Not the case here in Belgium.  I am quite glad to finally have this process all but done.

If it isn't one thing, it's another...

For those of you who are wondering - still no Belgian IDs.  Our ID cards that get us admitted to the SHAPE campus have an expiration date of November 1st.  They are temporary IDs until we get our Belgian IDs and then we get issued a SHAPE ID good for the length of our stay.

As our Belgian IDs have yet to materialize, the Belgian police gave us a SHAPE ID extension until December 1st.  So today I went and updated our SHAPE IDs which meant getting new cards issued.  This was fairly painless and didn't require too much waiting.  I was feeling really good about getting something done today, until...

I was paying for my groceries and my debit card was not working.  So now I have gained myself a trip to the bank tomorrow to get that card sorted out.  C'est la vie.

Inefficiencies - A List

1.  Belgian IDs - they are required but take forever to get.  We applied for ours the first week of August, we are still waiting.....  (I did go to the first office where we applied last week - the guy I talked to didn't seem surprised at the length and told me there was nothing I could do to hurry the process.  I was told to just wait for the mail)

2.  Military Veterinarian  - theoretically they have office hours four days a week.  After several phone calls and left messages, I managed to talk to a person.  They might have two days this month when they care for animals, all the others they are closed.

3.  Gas Card - they can be bought at SHAPE all week long, if you have the necessary clearance to get to the window where they are sold.  If you don't have clearance, you can buy them at Chievres (40 minute drive away) but only on Mondays.  On Monday - the Commissary is closed - so you don't get two trips for the price of one, necessitating greater use of the gas card.

4.  Only Kyle can cash checks on base.  The base's dollar/euro exchange rate isn't great.  Kyle writes and cashes check.  Brings home US$ to me.  I go to bank in town to deposit/exchange cash.  I have to go before 12:30 though - no cash transactions after that time.

5.  Houses don't have closets - I understand that Europeans don't have as much stuff as Americans, but still I see them wearing clothing that I presume they would want to hang up when it is not in use.


Some days the inefficiencies are so frustrating they make one want to scream.  More and more I can shrug my shoulders, take a deep breath and keep pushing through the craziness to get something accomplished.

House Cleaning

I love house cleaning.  I like clean shiny surfaces.  I like that picked up look - everything put away and in its place.  I love the order of a clean and picked up house.

I hate to do it.  I don't like being up close with the chemicals.  I don't like the work of scrubbing and wiping.  I hate that so soon after all that work, it is undone.

Today is a good day.  Today is the day our cleaning lady starts.

Finding one has not been easy.  In Belgium there are cleaning services but they work on a complicated voucher system.  In order to purchase this service there is a bunch of paperwork.  To enter into this maze of paperwork one must have a Belgian ID.  I've done two steps of the Belgian ID process.  I started it 5 weeks ago.  I don't have a Belgian ID.

I have been checking bulletin boards around SHAPE to see if a non-Belgian is offering a non-voucher, non- Belgian ID cleaning service.  I have found someone.  She will come today.

When you have someone clean your house, you have to pick up and put away.  Already this makes the house look better than it does on non-cleaning days.

I realize I am not working here in Belgium.  I do have the time to clean.   But did I mention I hate it?  I will point out in my defense, we don't go out to eat.   I figure the money we save from that more than covers house cleaning expenses.

This morning I have a picked up house.  This afternoon I have will have picked up and clean house.  I'll enjoy it for as long as it lasts...