1st month in Belgium

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Globe Runner

Its been about over a month now since we left USA. Things started to settle down, and we are finally getting our sea-shipment tomorrow after about 6 weeks. Can’t wait for that.

My daughter started her school last week. I finally started going here and there with the car by myself. I thought it would be hard driving in the narrow streets of this city. But once I started driving, it wasn’t that bad.

In one month I opened and already closed my bank account here. Banking is kind of inconvenient here or just that I am not used to the system. First, you have to make an appointment to open a simple bank account. Then when you go there they won’t explain you all the different types of accounts you can open, moreover different employees will say different things about fees/charges/services. Then you HAVE TO come to bank every 60 days to get your statement, even if you are checking your activities online. Otherwise they will send you a statement after 60 days and you will be charged for that. Another thing is once you open an account you will wait 2 weeks for the bank card to arrive. But oh wait, it doesn’t come to your mailing address. You have to go pick it up from the bank, and there is no guarantee that the card will arrive after 2 weeks. And don’t need to mention the annual fee for a checking account…its HUGE. Yeh, so I’ve decided to close my account and do the financing old ways.

Other than that, I am really happy to get fresh milk, fresh orange juice, fresh oven-baked bread in grocery or in friday market. Food go bad very quickly here, because they don’t use as much as preservatives as they do in America. Which is very good, but you just to make trips to grocery every other day.

The way our first month has gone by, I am sure two years will go by the same way…very fast. Before we know it we will be packing to go back home again. But I think I am getting used to this relaxed lifestyle here very fast….hmmm

Ok, will catch up again later. Salut

Belgium probes billion-dollar diamond fraud: report (huffingtonpost.com)
CEO Of Europe’s Most Troubled Bank Quits As Contagion Tsunami Sweeps Over Belgium (businessinsider.com)
Brits Over-estimating their Bank Account Balance by £70.73 (prweb.com)
Terrorist convicted in Belgium runs Al Qaeda (expatica.com)
“Belgians in Afghanistan are doing a fine job” (expatica.com)
Belgium vs USA Friendly Soccer Live Watch Schedule Scores (footballtransfer.blogspot.com)

Category: An ex-pat in BelgiumTags: Bank, Banks and Institutions, Belgium, Brussels, Business, Europe, Online banking, Tervuren, United States, vossem

4 Comments on “1st month in Belgium”

Teressa Magouliotis
November 1, 2011

Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I’ve truly enjoyed surfing around your blog posts. In any case I will be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again very soon!

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masteringbabel
September 20, 2011

Have you tried ING as a bank? I don’t *think* they are charging me for statements…

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- Globe Runner
  September 20, 2011
  
  We were banking with ING (my husband is still with them), and that’s where they were charging us 0.61 cents per statement (if we dont pick it up from the bank office) and they charged us 30 euros annual fee. I know you don’t pay anything if you have a LION account, which is 100% internet based.
  
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tithi
September 13, 2011

I like how you get fresh foods. Things won’t be the same everywhere. That’s why its so interesting.

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