Momentum

I'm starting to feel a bit more settled in here in Brussels.  Maybe even gaining a bit of momentum.  I definitely miss my home and my family and friends.  I still cannot look at my watch or a clock without immediately determining the time at home.  I still can't call this place home - but I do feel like I'm getting more settled, and well, thats progress.


I went to Leuven, Belgium last weekend.  Leuven is a really great University town about 25 minutes east of Brussels.  It is a great little walking city and is also the home to the Stella Artois brewery.  I didn't take the tour yet, waiting to have a visitor to do that.  Here is a great pic of the town hall of Leuven.


This week I successfully purchased a car.  Yeah, no more crazy rentals.  I have yet to take a picture with my actual camera but I will soon.  Its a 4 year old VW Golf.  Basically, the same car I had at home, except this one is 4 door, blue (instead of white) with a smaller engine (when the yearly road tax is based on engine size, better to go small).  Getting a car registered with plates and insured is no simple task, but thanks to some coworker recommendations, I worked with a very nice dealer and a FANTASTIC insurance agent.  The agent, Patrick, came to my work to pick up my passport and then went to the commune (think city town hall and secretary of state all rolled into one) to get my license plates.  Then he came and delivered them to my home for me around 9:30 at night.  He even helped me figure out what buzzer was mine on the outside of the apartment.  Belgium isn't known for its service, but this man is wonderful.  


This weekend, I stayed around town.  It rained most of Saturday, but I did meet up with some new friends for dinner and a movie Saturday night.  I met a couple of girls through the meetup.com group I joined (Helen is from Manchester and Rekha is from Chicago).  Helen and I also met up for an InterNations event on Thursday (InterNations is a group, network based, of people from any and all Nations living in a particular city).  We met some great people there too and I had a couple of new facebook friend requests by the time I went to work on Friday.  It felt really nice to do something "normal" this weekend, meeting friends for a movie.  And yes, the movie was in English.  In Brussels because of so many different languages spoken here, all movies are shown in their original tongue with subtitles for the 2 other languages.  We saw Social Network, the Facebook movie and it was subtitled in both French and Flemish.  


Took a walk today to the Sablon Square (when its sunny in Brussels, one MUST take full advantage).  I checked out an antique market and found a really cool new chocolatier.  Yum!  
Here is a good pic from today.   This is a view looking toward the Grand Place from the Museum of Fine Art.  I also found what appears to be one of the original gates of the city in the Sablon area.  Very cool.

I am very excited that Michelle has decided to come for a visit.  She will be here for the second week of November, arriving on the 6th.  Perfect timing, as we have a holiday on the 10th and 11th.  Not completely sure what we will do yet, but it will be nice to show her where I live.  I'm definitely thinking we will hit that brewery tour in Leuven. :)