Daily encounters

Why is it so difficult for the Flemish people to smile and say hello?!

Someone please help me solve out this mysterie!

Too icy!

At last we got some real winter weather with snow and temperatures way below zero.
Unfortunately the snow was too icy to build a snowman. Perhaps, therefore Maarten searched for an alternative amusement: such as removing the cover from the water meter!



That frosty Saturday morning we woke up with no tap water.
We had to call the water company. The plumber had to remove the water meter and advised us to wait till the weather gets warmer or try unfreezing the exposed pipes with a hair dryer.
We didn't want to wait and risk bursting the pipes so Rob bought the hair dryer and spent his afternoon in the water meter pit.

Hope next time the snow will be wet enough for a snowman!

The more languages you know ...

Spending another winter in this cursed old hovel with single glazing and no insulation is quite a punishment. It’s freezing cold!

As we were forced to delay our departure again there are more downsides to cope with, a. o. the distance learning Dutch we’ve already started at the beginning of this semester. We’ve supposed to be gone well before the end of 2011 therefore we enrolled Maarten for the Dutch primary education program. In Luanda he is going to attend an international school taught in English. So we thought it would be a shame to lose the Dutch language which he has already started here in Belgium.

The program is developed for Dutch children that live temporary abroad so they can (re-) enter the Dutch education system again. I should point out that at this time I don’t even consider returning to the Netherlands (and definitely not to Belgium!) which might sound rather paradoxical and yes, we had our doubts before enrolling him. But one is never sure about what the future may bring and as we Czechs say Kolik jazyků znáš, tolikrát jsi člověkem, meaning The more languages you know, the broader is your mentality.
Well, our intention was good but! and here we go again, since we are still in Belgium Maarten gets already enough Dutch at school and above that he also has to complete the additional distance education assignments.
And even though his spoken English is still quite good it’s obvious that instead of getting double Dutch he should already practice reading and spelling in English.
What a mess!

Trips into the countryside

That's what keeps me going!

Congratulation on obtaining MINPET approval!

Congratulations on securing MINPET approval! This is a great milestone on your journey to secure your Angolan working visa. You are now a few weeks to relocate to Angola.

Nice start of the day with this long awaited message from HRM.

After 7 months of bureaucratic snag if was difficult to believe and it even brought me to tears.
Hard to believe indeed!
I could feel that something isn’t quite right and unfortunately my guts were correct again.
The evening same day we received a message from our visa agent who just visited the Angolan consulate informing us about the processing time for the work permit.
From now on it’s going to take 1 - 3 months, another period of time-wasting bureaucracy!
Of course, we were still hoping it’s only an unfortunate typo. Weeks instead of months this is what the message should have said!
Sorry, no typo.

And what about the process flow chart we were sent months ago? Accordingly, it should take 10 - 15 business days to stamp the work permit visa in passport.

Surprise, surprise!
This flow chart is not applicable for expats outside the States.

Still in Belgium

Not a really post but rather a shout out of despair:
We are still in Belgium!
3 months after our planned (and desired) departure date!
Unfortunately some documents provided by the Angolan Ministério dos Petróleos were returned as Rob's name was misspelled. Now we have to wait until they reissue it again before he can finally apply for his working visa in the Netherlands.

One ice cold day at the beach

Why does it always have to end like this?
And don't you even think that Maarten was uncomfortable in his completely wet clothes!
We poured water out of his boots and hurried him back to the car despite his consistent protest and effort trying to convice us that he is absolutely fine, that he is rather sweating than cold!

Wildflowers in January?!

Not only the plants go crazy!

Ježíšek umřel a pak přišel Santa

"Ale ty to nevis?
Jezisek uz davno neexistuje!
Vsechny deti ve skole to rikaly a i Juffrouw! On existoval, ale hroozne davno.
Kdyz lidi jeste bydleli v tech malejch chaloupkach, no v takovejch tech domeckach, nebo v jeskynkach, tak pak existoval.
Jezisek, ten se dokonce narodil v takovej barn, ehmmm... a jo, stodola! Taky tam byla maminka a tata a stali tam ovecka, krava a osel, ty tam stali!
A maminka a tata, ty meli neco zluteho na hlave. A vsichni lidi se sli podivat na Jeziska...

Lidi Jeziska postavili na krizek a pockali az von umrel a pak ho dali pod kameny.
A pak takhle umreli ty páni a pak Jezisek taky umrel a pak prisel Santa.
Nejdriv byl malej a pak si ucil a ucil, az kdyz byl dospelej Santa. Ten ma takovy ty srnky a ty umi litat.
Akorat by me zajimalo, jak se dostane dovnitr. Mozna, ze von jde taky skrz komin..."

Po Mikuláši

Sice uz jsme meli nekolik dychanku na rozloucenou, ale vypada to, ze tu budeme strasit jeste o vanocich. Takze bohuzel. Nic naplat.
Ani nemam chut se o tom dal rozepisovat...

Jeste ze se Mikulas postaral o prijemne rozptyleni. A vubec musime byt vdecni, ze mame takove stastne dite. Vsechno je pro nej fajn, at uz je to v Belgii nebo v Africe. Mikulasovi vysvetlil, jak uz se nemuze dockat, jak ho budou v Africe provazet ze skoly opicky, bude se s nima houpat na stromech, bude jezdit na zebrach, na mori bude chytat zraloky a se Skautikama zachranovat malinke zelvicky na plazi.
Mikulas i Cerni Petri udelali opet velky dojem, i kdyz se Maarten pozastavil nad tim, jak to ze Mikulas na hudebce, ve skole i na podnikove oslave mel pokazde uplne jinou knihu hrichu a jinou berlu! Hmmm...

Dneska rano, kdyz Maarten odesel do skoly, zbyl tady po nem cerstvy obrazek vanocniho stromku.
Je to tak, uz se zase pro zmenu tesime na Jeeežíška.