The Adventures of Molly and Tyler: Week 2 April 20-26

We spent a good part of last Sunday trying to figure out the best criteria for making our apartment selection. We also spent a lot of time trying to remember which of the 15 places was which (we had to come up with nicknames like "pink walls","too much marble","modern cave","the one where she lost her keys"). The crucial factors of location, the amount of natural light, and the size of the kitchen ended up swinging one apartment to the top of the list. It is new construction in an old building that was formerly a "House of Justice." The renovations have preserved the original materials and designs for the street-facing facade and many interior accents. We really enjoy the character of the chevron pattern wood flooring.

Living Room with cool floor

Kitchen (that tiny open cabinet below the oven is our refrigerator AND freezer)

Entrance of apartment building

We are hopeful we will get to move in soon! We say hopeful, because it is quite a process. Just as in the US, you sign a lease, but a typical lease in Belgium is for 9 years! Strangely, 9 year leases carry less financial penalties for breaking the contract early (intuitive right?). Also you have to pay a security deposit. However, instead of paying this amount straight to the landlord and hoping you get it back at the end of your lease, you are required to open a "blocked" escrow account. You may be able to withdraw that blocked amount in the future if the apartment is in good order when you leave. The decision around how much of that amount you get back is dependent upon a certified independent inspector, that you and the landlord mutually agree upon, completing a thorough inspection (including pictures) of the entire apartment when you move in and when you leave and comparing the results for any damages. Of course, there is all the normal applying for renter's insurance, setting up utilities and cable/internet to keep us busy as well.

Back to banking. Our relocation folks setup a local account for us, but in order to complete the process we had to attend an appointment in person to verify the account and receive debit cards. All fairly standard process until we got to setting up online banking. We thought "ok internet banking... we have seen that before.....setup a username and password...and done." Not so fast. Any time you want to log into your account, you have to insert your debit card into a special card reader (gift for opening an account), type in the randomized code from the website, enter your own super secret pin, which generates another randomized code on the card reader, which you enter on the website. It certainly makes our funds back home in the US feel a bit less secure....

Fancy card reader

While all that kept us busy during the week, we relaxed a bit over the weekend by visiting the city of Leuven and attending a beer festival there. The city was beautiful, the beer was great, the chocolate was tasty (there is chocolate at every event in Belgium and this chocolate had beer in it!), and the food was delicious. It turns out beer festivals are pretty much the same the world over, but we will say that Belgians are professionals in this matter. Many families (including kids) looked to have setup shop for the entire day (11am-11pm) with plenty of nuts, crackers, cheese, fruits, and board games to hold them over.

Cheers

Church in Leuven

Leuven Town Hall

First train ride in Belgium!

We couldn't forget to tempt people to visit by talking about our food adventures for the week! We had DELICIOUS pizza at Orso Pizzeria, the wine was good too! We have already tried many waffle shops so Molly ventured into a cupcake shop, supposedly rare in Belgium. She accidentally walked out with 4 and was regretting the impulsive decision until we tried them! Sooo good and we didn't even try any with Belgian chocolate in them!