Belgium bureaucracy rules

Last year we got a letter from Brussels bureaucrats to invite our son to school test since they assumed he was in home school.Apparently for them internationally recognized school that has been operating for over 50 is not enough...

Well, we informed the school and since we were not the only ones, the school took over and settled it with the authorities. Or so we thought.

Few days ago we got a letter stating that there has been different inturpitations of the law and now we are obliged to take our son to a test, again due to being at "home school". The funny thing is that the letter was sent to us after we had moved out of the country.

What can make Brussels city not to recognize an international school as an official learning method? Can it be language battle?

...this reminds me of Overijse commune, a Brussels suburb with loads of expats;

An American friend of ours got a letter that she should take Flemish (=Dutch, another official language in Belgium) language lessions or otherwise she would get a fine. Well, this lady damn sure didn´t take any lessions and didn´t get the fine either. Another example of Belgium rules that are there but at the end you don´t need to pay too much attention to them...

I love Finnish archipelago!

Finnish archipelago is beautiful, even if the summer doesn´t last long. Part of the beauty is the dark colors and the wind in the fall. Not to talk about the walks on ice when the sea is frozen in winter.However, if you have a chance to enjoy the sea you should do it. I have posted here some tasters from our day at sea short while ago.

It is great to be back in a country with 4 seasons. In Belgium we had only two seasons, summer and fall. Good thing vs Finland was that the summer is two months longer, but the downside is that the fall lasts from September to March/April. Luckily now and then you have days that it feels like spring.

Now that the summer is ending, I am happy to welcome winter. Sadly we have the boring season in between. Can´t wait the days when it´s raining sideways and feels like the sun is not coming up at all...

Brrrrrr, yesterday morning it was +8 C when I left to the office. Today it was quite warm in the sun but otherwise about 13 C... Well, the summer will come back next year!

A place to wash carpets. I have done it here and ended up in evening news and on many Japanese tourist pics and videos...

Headquarters of Nokia and Kone

Home of "Mrs Marimekko"

Our lunch place with THE view

Getting towards one of the Helsinki marinas

The Captain

The border control

The customs

The police

I love the sea!

Firemen are your friends - just like police!

We had a little incident today, but it was managed by positive approach by involved parties and support by ...firemen!

In the morning our daughter cycled about 6 km to a track & field stadium where she had her physical education in the morning. While she after the class was about to take off to the school, she broke the key in the lock.

Bike to the storage room, lady to borrow bus ticket from a friend (yes she had money but was too puzzled in the heat of the moment) and quickly to the scool. And of course call Mom in tears.

I decided to minimize the damage and headed to the stadium, got the bike from the storage and loaded it in our people mover. Options were to keep it in and take a saw tocut it open - or head to a local fire station to ask for help.

In I go and after explaining the story we both were wondering how could I prove that I have not stolen the bike. This fireman decides to call his supervisor and after hearing my story we head towards the bike in my car. The fireman takes out from their truck a 1 meter long power tool and asks
"was the key for the bike like this..."?

Few seconds later the lock is open, I get a new lock from my wife's bike and drop the bike to the school so the after school activities go smoothly.

What was needed to solve the incident smoothly?

Flexible moment at work to step out for a moment, mother with an extra bike lock, large people-mover and skilled, friendly firemen!

Kiitos Niittykummun palolaitokselle!!!

We have had a saying in Finland that "the police is your friend", "poliisi on ystävä". We even have a junk food chain that sells a burger called "Police Special" and hence they have a banderoll with the saying - next door from the fire station. I think I will set up on the fire station wall a banderoll "Firemen are you friends - and they can break anything"!

PS Lonkero on fantastinen janojuoma. Harmi että löysin Brysselistä kohtuuhintaisen ostopaikan vasta loppuhetkillä...

I miss Belgium...

...at least with this one;

We have now had at the kids' schools welcome nights and I gotta say I prefer the ISB welcome BBQ a LOT more. Where in Finland we get in a crowded class to see power point presentation (with pretty good info about school teaching method development though), the Belgium way is to have open barbeque that you can flush down with a cold beer!

Yes, alcohol served at the school permises and for free. Not a bad way to start the school year and get the newcomers to meet people. Luckily it is always on Sunday, make it a Saturday and you can´t get the Finns out from there...

Culture shocks have started

Oh man, the culture shocks are coming piece by piece. Yesterday and today I had some.

As I am on holiday I had a great morning with my son, who's school day started only at 10:00 am; we went for a haircut together. When it was time to pay, I realized I miss our family barber/hairdresser Sandra in Brussels.

To Sandra I would have paid for my cut 20 Euros and 14 Euros  for K's cut. In Espoo, Finland I paid for basic treatment 30 + 25 Euros. Worst of all, in Brussels that price includes a lotion with a proper head massage!

--- Sandra at Salon de coiffure Mirage, rue de L'escadron 32, 1040 BRU/Etterbeek.

Tel 0478-239 103

She speaks also good English, tell her my regards!

...I will definetely go to Anski next time, this week she was busy...

Then the beer;

Last Night on a way home I stopped at a local pub to award myself after a 4 hour volunteer job at a big basketball tournament (N plays there this weekend). The pub has got a great selection of beers but I felt like having a Duvel. All good, but the price was 6,30 Eur while in BRU I think price could have been max 3 Eur.

Well, I also got a nice reminder of what kind of people we will bump into. A red-neck woman from a not-so-highly-appreciated-place-on-the-other-side-of-the-city was giving very smart comments during the b-ball game without any chance to think she might not be right. I find it hard to keep my mouth shut when I feel I have a valuable opinion to share, so I guess she won't send me a Christmas card.

Don't worry, I was polite but I think her ego got a little stain.

I am looking forward to the next shocks!

What´s the point in running around the track?

I am watching from TV the track & field Golden League races from Zurich.

Men´s 3000 meters run with the water bunker etc was going on and I was wondering what is this competition about... There is one French guy who´s background seem to be from North Africa or Middle East, loads of guys from Africa and - one blond guy from Finland!

Say what you want, but I have been wondering where are the Finns, Swedes, Norwegians etc in top of runs in sprints, mid distances, or long distances. Today the Finn Jukka Keskisalo was not even close to the winners, but still he ran a Finnish national record time. Extremely well done, but am I truly interested?

No I am not.

Well, there is always women´s pole vault and high jump...

What´s crazy about this?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8211639.stm

Well, I guess it shows quite well what one can come up with after a brainstorming session with a bottle of vodka, sauna and swim in a freezing lake with a bunch of guys.

Shame on Finnish Media!

Yesterday a tabloid paper (one of the 2 in Finland) structured their sports pages as follows;
--- 12 pages in total
--- 7 pages about track & field World Championships
--- 2.5 pages of ads
--- 2 pages about a retired Finnish nordic combined (ski jump + cross country skiing) athlete
--- in the rest only result and best Finnish scorers of a European Basketball Championships qualification game, where Finnish team won one of the best teams in Europe Italy.

Morning TV has had in their sports news at a channel we all pay for literally ONLY the track & field World Championships.

Today the main morning newspaper had in total about 3 pages of sports (excluding ads). Half of it was again the same topic...

I know what the nation sports editors are like traditionally, but I was hoping that it would be history to award people like Päivi Alafrantti for one lucky javelin throw shot with a Sportswoman of the Year.

Shame on you!!!

PS While moving from one country to another it has been too hectic to note down what goes in my mind but I will try to catch up again! Let´s see if I get to note something about today at the sea...

I found a rival for a 30 cent toilet lady in Belgium

As you might know in most public toilets in Belgium you have an older lady who guards the entry and asks normally 30 cent payment for the visit. This applies also in many restaurants even if you are dining there – not all of them though. I found a rival to these ladies;

A short while ago I was visitng NK department store in Stockholm, Sweden. To enter the toilet, I needed to pay 5 Swedish Crowns which equals to somewhat 50 cents. In Belgium the lady lets you go to the toilet and expects you to drop the coins on a plate on the way out, but obviously in Sweden the culture is not that far yet.

The young lady almost shouted me “YOU MUST PAY 5 CROWNS”, so obviously the money is needed for customer service training…

I guess a good compromise is from German highway stops;

You have an automated entry with 50 cent coin, but you get a ticket that gives you 50 cent discount at any of the highway restaurants.

Want to snorkel? Don't go to Finland...

Moving can keep you too busy to write a blog, particularly if you are without a proper online connection. I will try to keep up posting once a week.
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Some years ago we had in Thailand some great snorkeling. We spent a week at Koh Samui, which was quite an enjoyable place even if they have Pizza Hut and McDonalds on the island.

One day we made a trip to Koh Tao, assumingly a paradise island for diving and snorkeling. Which it was, even if too many people know about it and hence it has got some touristic influences.

What a fantastic place, one of the few chances to feed fish from the hand.

When we came back we went to a lake house in central Finland. I of course took my snorkel with me and I gotta say I was surprised. Negatively. In Finland most lakes are muddy and the water is too cold to snorkel. When you try to breath through a tube, the fresh=cold water takes a breath away so you can't get enough air.

...so if you can´t have proper snorkeling, at least you should choose a proper company to snorkel with! One day in the office we had a lunch table discussion about this and smart colleagues suggested ice snorkeling with vodka spirit. If it feels too cold, you use the tube as a straw for the vodka...

Another suggestion was to spend a day with your mother-in-law: Go snorkeling or diving!
Why?
Well, it's easy to avoid unpleasant topics while you can't talk. My naughty colleagues also suggested to offer a weight belt to mother-in-law for snorkeling, together with a cork for the pipe.

Shame on them!!!

Hölökynkölökyn...