My visa has finally arrived. We are officially leaving! The visa is really cool looking - an opalescent silver stamp and lots of official writing underneath (all in dutch). I feel so relieved that this piece of red tape is finished. Even more exciting is that we found an apartment in Brussels right next to the Parc Cinquantenaire (Jubelpark), about 2.5km from the Grande Place (basically the center of Brussels). I will probably take a tram or the metro to school, about 15 minutes, or walk 30 minutes if its not raining. Rich will most defintely be taking the train to wherever his brewery job ends up being. The apartment is on the ground floor of a three-story, refurbished c. 1900 townhouse or "maison de maitre." At one time it was a single house, but has since been divided into five apartments. It has wood floors, high ceilings, the walls are painted white and all the old mouldings and light fixtures are in tact. There is a small courtyard off of the bedroom, too, so we can have plants outside. I am still in the process of finalizing the details and wiring the deposit money (two months' rent!) to Ingrid, the landlord. We have already signed and faxed the contract to her, as well as copies of our passports. The bank transfer will take 2-3 days, then this loose end will be tied up. The cool thing about this apartment is that it is completely furnished, including a TV, kitchen stuff, linens, etc. and utilities are included. I really didn't want to have to deal with the Belgian power company or try to figure out how to get a phone! We will be the first occupants since the refurbishment of the building, so everything is shiny and new. Yay!!
~K