Frightening / Worst / Bad experience in Belgium

Well this blog is to document one of my worst experiences here.

But that may be because I was new to this country and I did not know how things work here.

This incident happened in the month of august. It was just one month since I arrived in Brussels in Belgium. I had quit my job in India for my dream of exploring Europe. I have travelled with my husband. And so I was on a job quest mission here.

I had applied in so many companies and so many websites. I had also sent my CV to so many consultants here. Naturally I was getting calls for so many interviews in and around Brussels. By then I had travelled in metro and Delijn bus in Brussels. On this day it was an interview in a place called Merelbeke in Belgium which is in the Vlanderen region of Belgium and close to Ghent. How can I even forget the names.. Never!! I cant..

So I had done a bit of research as usual before going to the interview place about the train and bus routes and had calculated an average time it might take for me to be present there for the interview. I had started from Brussel Central in a train to Melle as the place was close to Melle station than Merelbeke. I bought a ticket to Merelbeke and alighted at Melle; a station before.

That station was a deserted one. Hard to see any station master or anyone in the station. There were just 4 people who got out of the train. I walked towards the bus stop n realized that the bus had left 2min early. So now you can imagine how important 2 minutes is and the train can ruin your life. It was 9.30am and the interview was at 10am. I had decided to walk the 4.5km stretch. So I called up my sweet husband for the route who in fact supported me in this cause and was on call guiding me with the route and I made it 10min late. In fact I ran a lot to make it up; but in vain :(

You might be wondering that nothing till has been disasterous and how come this lady considers this as the worst experience in her life?????

The actual worst part will start shortly and you will soon realize that in spite of being meticulous and prepared, you should have the courage and self confidence. Read on !!!

After the interview was over, I came to the bus stop and I checked the bus timings at the stop and I was atleast 20 min early or may be 10 min late. I had no ticket!! Mind you. I had no ticket and could buy one in the bus like in Brussels or even India. This is what I thought and sat waiting for the bus. Then the bus actually arrived. I confirmed from the driver if the bus was going to the Melle station and he said yes. All is fine... Now comes the ticket part. He asked me for a ticket. I showed him the money and said "Please give me a ticket to Melle station". Can you imagine what the answer was ?? I dont remember his exact words as it was spoken in Dutch and the driver did not know English. The reply was "If you do not have a ticket, I cannot take you in. Please step out of the bus." What would I do? I was so disheartened. Not just because I did not get into the bus as I was already tired walking/running for the interview but because I had another interview in the noon and I would miss the train if I cant make it to the train which was 30min from then. So I decided to run and with all my efforts, I ran and walked so fast. I could not see the train till I came to the station. When I was climbing the steps, the train flagged off. Now you can visualise how even few seconds matter.

Ok so i thought I shall wait for the next train which was an hour later. I started gazing at the deserted station. To my surprise, I realised that this station had no display or no board or no announcements about which train arrived and which train is departing. And to add to this fact, the trains do not have any board or display abt the train name/no/originating and destination stations. So how can I conclude if that was the train which i missed. Its just by the matter of time. And there was no train till another 45 min and some trains stopped by. But how do I know this is the train I need to take? What if the train I am supposed to take is late by some time? Who will tell that. Nobody except the haunting silence in the place. There will be a TC in every train. But not all of them will get out of the train to flag off. They just bend out of the train and flag off which you might not even notice!!

Ok.. So I took a train which was a min earlier than the departing time of the train which I was "supposed" to take. The TC stamped the return journey time on the ticket. After a few stations, I observed that the train was going in another direction and the stations that were seen were not similar to the ones in the route i came in the morning. The TC arrived after sometime and I asked him "Is this train not going to Brussels?" He opened his eyes wide and said "Brussels? No! Mechelen". Imagine my state at that time. Oh!! destiny had favoured me to this place on earth... hmmm.. Ok. Then I asked him if there is a train to Brussels from there and I heard Yes from him. I was happy and made my way to the train which took me to Brussels. So the TC will not even tell you that you are in the wrong train unless you ask specifically. But in a station where there is no display or announcement or when the trains do not even contain a board/display, I wonder how people get to know abt the right train.. Certainly there must be a way out for this which I may not be aware of!

So "Expect the best and be prepared for the worst!!!"

Wheat flour full of maida?????

Is your wheat flour full of maida?

Very hard to mix?

Does the size of the chapathi/roti shrink before u put it on pan?

Is it very difficult to make roti in electric stoves?

The roti becomes hard and is not edible after sometime?

For most people residing outside India these are common problems as it is difficult to get chakki fresh atta..

So here is an easy solution for those who would want to use the flour; like to have wheat flour dishes instead of rice...

Mix the flour with almost equal quantity of rava/soji .. eg., 2 cups of wheat flour with 1.5 cups of rava/soji..

Add some salt to taste and water to mix. Mix it so that it attains the state of dosa flour.. That means it should be liquid enough to pour on the tava n make dosa.

Pour this mix-flour on tava and make dosa..

So enjoy having soft dosas instead of hard rotis..

Home making in Brussels

Srikanth had taken an unfurnished apartment for rent at Brussels close to his office. By unfurnished I mean it just had an electric gas stove and a refrigerator. Now whats this electric gas stove????? It’s a gas stove which uses electricity for ignition. Simple isn’t it? J
The first night at Brussels was a horrible one for me. We had just one quilt to couch upon or sleep. We slept over that and I found that my leg was numb sometime midnight. I felt it so heavy that I could not lift it either. Slowly by morning it was normal.

In another 2 days, we bought furniture from a showroom called ikea. Here we can see the models kept for display. But they are not for sale. The sold items will be in bits and pieces with holes grilled for screws. Of course screws will be provided but not with a screw driver. You will have a bent metal rod to be used as a screw driver.

We had bought an cupboard, cot, a double mattress (that’s a 180x200 size) and a single mattress (that’s a 80x200) and of course some pillows.

He gave us an estimate and the list which had the section numbers from where we could pick the items from the godown below. Unable to read we got help from store boy who knew English; we picked up the bits and pieces from different sections. Finally we came to the billing counter and got out of it. We paid some 350€ including the transportation cost. We reached home at around 8pm. I started my job at the kitchen meanwhile Srikanth started his fitting job by opening the planks and rods of the cot. After some run around at the showroom, we were able to get a screw driver. We had nothing with us as you know. While I was cooking, he fixed some parts and made almost everything ready for the cot. This is when we realized that we had missed picking up 2 sets of bars for the frame. We had picked only one L. So we could sleep only on the mattress that night after dinner. Next morning we again went there and got another set to fit the cot completely and to put the mattress over it.

So our cot with mattress was ready. Now we had to fit our cupboard. The planks seemed to be heavy and I knew I cannot fix it. Fixing all the parts of the cot using the manual was much simpler as the model and the joins were simple. Here this cupboard was a jumbo.. Completed model would be 6’ tall and 4’ wide. Saturday afternoon after coming back from ikea, as usual Sriki alias Srikanth sat fixing the cupboard parts and I was at the kitchen. I made supposedly delicious lunch. I was supposed to help him after lunch as per the agreement. So I joined hands in making the jumbo model. There were some 60 nails to be nailed to the back of the cupboard according to the model. We did not have anything except that screw driver and the bent metal rod. Fortunately in my kitchen cupboard I found one hammer while cooking which we used to nail the back of the cupboard. So we fixed it all.

For more photos visit http://picasaweb.google.co.in/kusumasharma

Flight to Brussels, Belgium

Me and Srikanth got married on the 18th of May 2008. We were supposed to travel soon to Belgium for a long term as he was posted to a project there.
Fortunately or unfortunately there was a delay in terms of days ( it was 1 month in fact !!).
Finally haan finally he got his visa sooner than mine. Mine was on hold for a silly mistake of his in filling the visa application form L My bad luck. I had to stay back for 3 more days in India. Luckily I got my visa by and traveled 3 days later than him….

So Like all others who traveled to Brussels, I had a flight either from Mumbai or Chennai and I had chosen to depart from Mumbai. All set, I left home with the family members in utter sad mood. I was not sad at all. I was more than happy because I was leaving my hometown to do something different. I was excited about exploring Europe; and all its countries. I had quit my job not for the sake of marriage but for this. I had already seen North America. I didn’t want to go to the same country again. May be you will think about me as an insane who is quitting job for the sake of exploring a different continen€t. May be I am. I honestly don’t know. Anyways I have the dream of traveling round the globe as a tourist at least.

It was a very short journey to Mumbai and there I had a transit time of 4 hours which was good for me as I was new to Mumbai. I have not seen the city even now. Its only that I passed through the city to get to Chatrapathy Shivaji International airport from the domestic terminal. I cleared the immigration and waited for the flight. Everything was on time and I landed at Brussels in the morning at around 8.

My hubby had come to pick me up at the airport and we came home in another hour.

Belgium dependant visa

Here is a brief documentation of the process and the required documents in case you have a dependant to travel with you (assuming you are on work permit).

First of all, please note that the documents required may slightly vary depending on the firm for which you work.

Documents required1. Your’s and your dependant’s Police clearance certificate issued by the Passport Office in India.
2.Your’s and your dependant’s medical certificate issued by a Government Hospital recognized by the Consulate General of Belgium.
3. Your marriage certificate in case you are taking your Wife/Husband.
4. Your’s and your dependant’s certificate of birth issued by the City Corporation or Muncipal Office or Taluk office.

Where do you get these documents?Documents listed in point 1 and 3 are mandatory documents whereas documents mentioned in point 4 may not be asked if you are processing your dependant’s visa outside your company by yourself.

The police clearance certificate should be obtained from the Regional passport office in your state (nearest city or state capital would have a passport office).
The medical certificate will be issued by a Government Hospital recognized by the Consulate General of Belgium. The list of Hospitals may be available with your employer or the Consulate General of Belgium at Mumbai.

In case you are from Bangalore, you can get the medical certificates from St.John’s Hospital at Hosur Road. This will cost Rs.3000 per person for 2 certificates and Rs.2500 for one certificate.

The Marriage certificate will be issued by the Registrar of Marriage at your locality/City.

Lastly and importantly make sure you have birth certificate of you and your dependant’s as some communes in Brussels will ask for it.

What do you do with these documents before submitting your visa application:
Get all your certificates except medical certificate legalized by the state government and the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.

Then submit these documents with visa application form to the VFS (this is the private company that has tie up with Belgium consulate for visa processing). You can check for more information on http://www.vfs-be-in.com/documents-bombay.aspx

Note:After you arrive at Brussels, you need to go to your respective muncipal hall (called as commune as in French and Gemeente in Dutch) and register within 8 days of your arrival. A commune here means a town hall which is similar to the corporation offices at Bangalore.

Some communes might ask for translation of your marriage certificate from English to French. That should be a sworn translation which is an official document that should be notarized and submitted to commune. Translation and notarization can be done at the Palais de Justice, Louise. This is the court of Belgium. The translation would cost you 65-80€. The notarization is free of cost.

Once you appear before the commune and produce all your legalized documents, you will be given an appointment; the date and time at which the police will come to your house for verification. The you will receive your white card in about 2 months(may take more time also).

In case you have your residence card also you need to follow the same procedure as your dependants have to be registered at the town hall.