Going on 3 Weeks!!

Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since I arrived back in Belgium.  I have lived, worked and studied abroad before and was also proud at one point to call myself a Leuvenite, but this time is different.  Life as a student is a temporary thing, some people draw it out as much as is possible compiling papers after papers, but eventually it has to come to an end.

When I graduated my Master's last time, I made a choice to return to Canada and gain work experience.  To my surprise the work I got was exactly what I have strived to do.  It was a very tough decision to leave home, where I had adjusted back to my Canadian lifestyle.

Upon arriving back, I remember just how much of a student life exists here in Leuven, there are students everywhere.  This is a vibrant city of classmates that attend a morning lecture and then venture to the Oude Markt, rain or shine, to enjoy a "pinje" - small pint (250ml).

For international students if you go to Pangaea house, you can get a cold Stella Artois for 1 Euro (I agree this sounds like a trap, for us beer drinkers), so it is imperative in order to be productive to try and stay away from this place, but the atmosphere of international people almost draws you to the action.

I was stunned to find that some of my old friends that I have not seen for around 4 years, were still in Leuven, my Canadian buddy Chris Adrian, American Sicilian Sage Waters and the hilarious Sajjad (who calls himself Savage on Face Book). 

During this time it has been imperative that I try to find some sort of routine in my life.  Hanne is working most days from early morning to late evenings in Ghent, so I need to find a routine that feels comfortable.  I thought walking into Leuven would be like walking into a time machine, but low and behold 3 years does change a lot. 

Every morning, I try to venture to the Sport Kot to go for a run and stay in shape, because believe me with Donor Kebaps, Groot Frites met Mayonnaise and cheap high qaulity Belgian beer it is not hard to become a night owl.  I have met with some old friends, which has been great to catch up.  However, that is the point, it is "catching up", my life has been flipped upside down.

It is a lot of things, need to open a banck account (not done), need to get health insurance (not done), need to get a gym membership (in progress), need to get used to riding a bike next to a bus that appears unfazed that I exist on the road with 20 bikers trailing up my a@$.  I have chosen old places to attempt my work, but most libraries only allow students in if they have a card, as you must scan it to open up the high security, so I am using Hanne's card.

On the job front, it has been a lot of leads.  I have applied to be a bartender at the Irish pub I frequent, won't know till June and even then, I heard there was stiff competition.  I often joke (from Professor to Bartender) - talk about limbo.  I have also been in discussion with a women about teaching English in Brussels, but again an outside lead, then there is a few volunteer opportunities, so the search continues.

However, I did get to lecture to a Anthropology of Law class and am still free lance writing, but the immigration continues.  Belgium is such a great country, but often I feel like I gave up a great opportunity at the University - "The things we do for love".

Till next time - become a member of World Beer Collection!!!!!  (haha)

Roy

Leuven - Weekend (Interesting)

As I sit here in our flat that does not quite feel like "ours" quite yet, I am writing about my first few days back in the memorable country of Belgium.  Arriving Friday morning, tired after the flight and waiting for my bags for over an hour, I arrived at our flat.

Hanne was not kidding, it is a very tiny space (definetly not meant for Canadians), with my life literally tucked into a large backpack, a small suit case and a small backpack, I realize all this travelling and living other places has not allowed me to accumulate anything.  I am a 30 year old who literally owns nothing - well atleast I got an E-reader, IPOD and a Tablet, so catching up technologically.

I quickly unpack and magically we find space for all my stuff, which again is pretty much nothing, but it still fits.  Although small, the apartment is cozy, it has all I need, a bathroom, and a nice kitchen (food mmmm), but the laundry needs to be done at a laundry mat.

The first day after a quick hour power nap, I realize that I should fight the urge to go into full REM sleep, a a way of fighting of jetleg, so I pop up, shake off the grog and get ready.  Last time I was in Leuven, I was a student with friends, I new this city, the places, the streets, the smells, but after a 3 year abscence, this place feels like a friend I have not seen in a longtime and we must get to know eachother again.

This is such a beautiful city, lots of European charm, very small, but with lots to do, but this time I am not here to study, but rather to start a new chapter in my life - the fun world of job searching.  Did I mention that my Dutch sucks, so that is kind of a priority, but what am I going to do, the question I have no answer too.  People who have played it safe their whole life and entered a career and kept it for a long time, might at some opoint crave a new beginning, a kind of open life where the unknown can be seen as an opportunity.

However, the unknown is as scary as the thought of hell to a devout Christian.  What will I do?  Will my experience transfer over? Will I get a job that makes me happy?  Are there good jobs out there for me?  These, plus many questions ring in my head everyday, on the other side, I have moved overseas to live in a great country, great city with a lot of charm and of course to be with Hanne.

However, I get a reality check on Saturday, as I am confronted with an uncomfortable situation of a former team mate on the football team who comes to offer me a job, as we are drinking at the Irish Pub.  The job is moving plants, now I am not going to go into too much detail, it is more of a had to be there scenario, to make things short - he acts arrogant about being my boss at a minimum wage plant moving job (I am thinking I would never work for this guy), then he starts calling me fat (in fact - at one point, as I was going to the bathroom - he grabs his money and in a arrogant manner says here grab us some beers - like I am some kind of poor guy - I refuse naturally, but he repsonds that I need the excercise, so I should get it).

I am thinking, who is this a%$#@$, a guy I use to play football with, wow how things change, the final straw comes when he looks at my cell phone cover, which was hand made by my Metis friend and has the logo (Metis infinity sign) of our culture beaded on a leather case with my initials.  This case means a lot to me.  He looks at it and after about 40 minutes of taking his abuse (because according to others - that is just who he is) - mind you their was obviously other stuff he said that would be brought into question, but he says, what is that gay symbol - have you gone gay now.  That was it, I stood up to leave, as I am asked why I am leaving, it comes out like water breaking through a leak in the titanic...........#$%^&***^%^**(&^^  (I will not repeat because I would have to repent, but I let him know that his behaviour was not acceptable).

However, my friend Nizer gets a hold of me and saves the evening by listening, supporting and understanding the situation.  We share some good beers at some old hangouts Blauwe Kater, Cafe Belgica, Alegria and Cafe Orient.  We also meet Marco and "Mini" (first time I met him), but it makes me realize one A#%$^%$^$% should not ruin my first weekend here, I still have some good friends around.

The job search is just getting underway.............

Till next time soemthing crazy happens......

Pogo

Getting to Leuven

May 15/2012 - 15:10 - Our Flat at Jozef 2 Straat - Leuven

  Finally - the horrible fight process is over and I am getting settled into Leuven, Belgium.  After I finished the last blog post, the travel process got interesting.  Our plane had to fly to Montreal from Toronto and all the passengers continuing on through the flight process had to take all their stuff, get off th eplane, walk around for an hour and re-enter the plane.

  As I was walking to Gate 50 at the airport in Montreal, I get stopped by a wanna be police oficer (aka rent a cop) on a segway, with a helmet and elbow pads on.  For some reason I get targeted and he B-lines it right for me and says in a authoritative voice "Can I see your boarding pass".  I dig through my bag and gather the pass and show it to the guy, but as he focuses on the pass with a dumbfounded look on his face, he asks me where I came from.

  I explain my situation, but he still is confused and says, go to the lady at the boarding gate and make sure that they change it from Montreal to Brussels.  As frustrated as I am at this point and tired, I agree, so I walk to the lady and she says, ignore that guy he does not know what he is talking about.  Hahaha, it must have been the segway that spurred this reaction.

  After re-boarding, I take my seat beside an old man that is crunched in the middle between a young girl and myself.  It is a very uncomfortable situation and for 7 hours in the air, this was going to suck!!  However, a magical thing happened, his friend, another older gentleman comes up and says "Hey, we got a seat in the back for you, these young people don't want some old fart sitting in the middle of them".

  I laugh because it was a very funny comment, and he looks at me and says "am I right or what?".  I shrug my shoulders and the old man exits, could this be possible, perhaps a flight overseas with know one in between us, as good as those snobby private cubical's in first class, or business class (as they call it to take away from creating a class system, but we all know what it really means).

  Then this older lady comes to our seat and gets in, I guess the in-flight attendant made her move, but the old man who was a friend remained back their, so we waited and just as we are getting ready to depart on the long journey, the attendant comes up and says we were able to find you a seat with your friends in the back after all, this is definetly a Hallelujah moment for me, as I have just been given the space that any solo individual travelling overseas hopes and dreams for.

  The flight was long, as I watch Jack and Jill with Adam Sandler (would never pay money for) and some other fairly entertaining stuff (well since I already forget, it was not that great).  However, a miraculous thing happens, the flight attendant this short guy with a goatee, comes to provide a beverage and offers me a Heineken, although I am not the biggest fan of Heineken, a free beer is a free beer and I could use one on this flight.

  Well after that one, he comes and starts dropping off beers at my seat, without being asked, it was amazing, finished one and another free beer awaited, then he started giving me pretzels, I would have to say in all my travelling this was the best flight attendant I have ever came into contact with.  After 6 Heineken's, I am ready for the final phase of the trip, landing in Brussels!!!

  I will get to that later.......

  Roy

Travel/Immigrating Blog!!

May 3, 2012 - 14:22pm (Toronto, Ontartio)

Well the day is finally here.  The moment I have been waiting for and counting down until.  However, I find myself with a lot of mixed emotions.  I have had a lot of time to prepare for this move to Belgium, but it just never seems like there is enough time and as cliche as it sounds, time goes pretty darn fast.

Recently, my fiance and I have just cancelled are wedding, it was a difficult decision that consumed my mind for the better part of April, but the uncertainty of the future, mixed with the fact that we have not seen each other for the past 8 months had something to do with it.  The mission is to re-connect, have a relationship and see how adapting to Belgian lifestyle can occur.

It is not easy to give up a career, family, friends and familiarity for a country that is never your own and no matter how much one tries to integrate, there is always a sense of being a stranger, where the customs, traditions and ways of life of the locals is programmed differently.  Of course, I am heading to Belgium because of LOVE, I love my "girlfriend" and I would do anything to make the relationship work, including hopping on a plane to Belgium.  It has been an amazing 6 years of knowing one of the most strong/concrete people in my life and an opportunity to explore a future together is exciting.

This morning started off okay, but was very sad as I said good-bye to my father, brother and mom.  Especially at a time when one of my Auntie's is losing her battle with cancer, it makes me feel guilty for not being there for my family (most notably Grandma and Mom).

John dropped me off at the airport in his newly purchased 2000 Ford Focus, as I checked in my luggage, I forgot that Air Canada in an attempt to not go bankrupt in the future, makes people going overseas with 2 bags pay for the extra one, which never used to be the case, so immediately good start to the morning as I have to fork over 75 dollars to get one suitcase on the plane.

Next encounter is my cork screw, as I pass through security, I pass through the metal detector gate okay, which always feels like a huge accomplishment, especially as you see the person off to the side getting the more personal metal detector swiped over their body.  Then one of the security people pulled me aside and said they had to find my metal cork screw, therefore, the contents of my bag are thrown out in front of a hurried audience.  GOOD NEWS though, the cork screw is discovered and everyone on the plane can feel safe.

I enter the plane and get my seat 15C, always must sit on the aisle, this serves to important functions: 1.) I can stretch my leg into the aisle, this provides a great relaxed feeling, but when it comes to the one time on this flight to Toronto that they give drinks, then I have to tuck em.  2.) Bathroom access - this is extremely necessary, as I am person that gets pee claustrophobic - meaning if I am sitting in a position with restricted bathroom access, my bladder decides to act up. This creates a very uncomfortable journey as I ask the poor person on the aisle to move like 5 times as I have to awkwardly head to the tiny bathroom (always troublesome during turbulence).

As I am sitting in 15C, I notice that people have stopped filing in and the window seat is open.  Now for the lonely traveler, this is a very exciting moment, it is a possibility that somehow you lucked out and got the two seats to yourself; the anticipation expands as I begin forcing myself not to look at the entrance, sure enough and on cue, a girl runs in carrying two carry ons and naturally her seat is 15A.

Currently, I sit after eating some sushi, watching It's Always Sunny in Philadalphia, enjoying a Stella and working on the WBC site.  The wait in the terminal feels uncomfortable and believe it or not, it is hard to find a plug in..........therefore, I suppose I am forced to enjoy another 10 dollar Stella when I need to charge the Lap Top.  The flight leaves at 5pm with a stop over in Montreal, so we start boarding at 16:25, I always love the battle to get on the plane first, the epic struggle, the weird line formations and those sly travelers that have made budding a real talent.  The competition during boarding time gets fierce, but it is not as bad as boarding a Eurolines bus from Warsaw to Vilnuis (now that was terrible).

Thus I have decided to start writing in my blog about my travels and adjustment to Belgium life; as I struggle to find a job, learn a new language, re-connect in my relationship, play football, drink beer and eat frites.  I hope you will join me on this journey, good way to keep people updated, as I venture into the next chapter in my life (Canadian Immigrant).

Till next Blog,

Roy