7 months,12 working hours,four pics,more than 20 signatures,and 29 eur.

It took me 7 months, 5 physical visits to "La Commune" during working time, 12 working hours, four pictures, more than 20 papers signed by hand, and approximately 29 euros cost.

I am an expat, and unfortunately or not, I do not work for EU institutions or NATO. And I say this because I heard they have special treatment for this.....Anyway, just to let you know, I work for a private company, and as any other individual from other EU country I had to go trhough the nasty and loooong process of getting the Belgian residence card in my "Commune", Schaerbeek.

This below is "La Commune de Schaerbeek". Beautiful Art Nouveau arquitecture.

First thing I did was to call "La Commune", told them what I needed and ask them opening hours. Well the lady gave me the opening hours.....but SHE DID NO TELL ME that inside the building, there is a little glass box where people queue for a number.....and the guy who works there, gives numbers only early in the morning. So there is no chance for you if you go there after 11am....

Can you imagine your life in a glass and wood box???? just go to "La Commune" in Schaerbeek. It is specially interesting to see how happy the guy replies to questions of citizens.

Once you have the number, they you have to wait....there might be 20, 30, 40 or 50 persons in front of you.....who knows. When I went there the second time, at was at the front door at 8am and there were already about 30 people wating. When the door opened at 8am, evertybody started to run like crazy to queue for the glass-wood-box-man.........it was even worse than those scenes you see on TV the first day of sales.

I was taking pictures while wating.....looking around so many people who seemed to have better things to do.

If you live in Schaerbeek....you are very familiar with these picture I am sure. The thing is that I followed an strict timesheet in the whole process of getting my card. I lost 12 hours of my working hour time!!!!!!! multiply that for every worker that followed the same procedure than me and the numbers go crazy. Besides, I had to manage without the card for 7 months.

Finally I was so happy I wanted to cry.

My next challenge will be: Change of address.

May the force be with you.

» Belgium is expensive for heavy GSM users

Mobile commnications in Belgium can be expensive or cheap, depending on your use, and the country you are comming from!!!!

Look at this interesting data:

Brussels Blogger » Blog Archive » Belgium is expensive for heavy GSM users

Brussels Blogger » Blog Archive » Sending a letter in Brussels? Good luck with the Belgian Post.

Well, I did not have time yet to write about my experiences with LA POSTE.

I promise I will. In the meantime, you can read what others say about it...

Brussels Blogger » Blog Archive » Sending a letter in Brussels? Good luck with the Belgian Post.

CAMPAIGN FOR CONSUMER CHOICE

Since I live in Belgium I buy more and more things onlince, and not because of price, but mainly because good service, quality of products and confort. It is my choice.

Consumer choice is being restricted by certain brands that are blocking the sale of legitimate products online. I would like to introduce you the campaign for consumer choice, supported by eBay, to stop unfair anti-internet trade practices.

Why should YOU get involved

Outdated laws are unfairly restricting your right to buy and sell goods freely. Even if you are reselling something you have already bought you could be targeted by brand owners for alleged illegal behaviour. This also impacts small businesses and can result in higher prices for consumers.

Take 60 seconds to watch this video about why you should support this campaign for consumer choice.

http://consumerchoice.eu

Typical welcome in a Brussels bar

In my last four years in Belgium, I think only once the waiter came to me and ask me what I would like to drink in less than a minute!!!!!

Last halloween I went with some friends (yes despite my looks I have friends) to a well-known beer bar at the centre. The room for non-smokers was almost empty, so we sat in two tables.

The owner came after 10 minutes to take the order. We were not fully ready since our discussion was very intentse, so we asked for 5 more minutes. Do you know what he replied??

"Please I need you to make your order now, I have to make business here!!!!"

We were then, completely speechless after such warm welcoming.

Welcome to Service in Brussels I said!

Changing banks is now easier....Can you believe it?

Sun 01/11/2009 - 14:50 www.flandernews.be From now on it is easier to change banks than it was before. All the customer has to do is go to the new bank and it will arrange everything for the client. One signature is all it takes from now on

Changing banks is now easy in Belgium. The customer just has to ask the new bank they want to use to arrange everything for him or her. The bank accounts will be transferred and payment facilities set up. The new bank also arranges the fixed payments that go out.

The new bank will also arrange the activation of new bank cards, and the deactivation of the former bank's cards.

The entire administrative operation takes a bit of time at the moment. From next year the entire operation should be able to be completed in 8 working days.

quoted from http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/news/091101_changing%2Bbanks

VENDETTA FOR BELGACOM

This is so hilarious I let you read the article....

How bad has the Belgacom service must be, that someone goes to that extreme?????

How do you eat that Belgacom?

Oct 20, 2009 -- An American hacker using the name Vendetta claims to have access to all the user names of Belgacom's internet susbcribers, reports Userbase.be.

The hacker claims to have exploited a hole in the BBOX modems provided by Belgacom and Dommel for VDSL2 lines. Even if external access to the modems is disabled, the user's password can still be read. The hacker has published some of the user details and has threatened to publish thousands more if Belgacom does not end its restrictions on bandwidth.

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Userbase.be reports that the security problem has been confirmed by another visitor to the site.

Source: http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2009/10/20/4432784.htm

More info in French here