Reckless Belgian Drivers

I think that Belgium is a very dangerous country to live in.  The reason that I say this is that my life has been threatened in Belgium.  Who threatens my life?  Belgians!  In particular, Belgian drivers keep threatening my life.  I usually commute between my house and workplace, taking trams.  In order to reach the tram station where I should take a tram, I should walk approximately 10 minutes and cross two crosswalks: one crosswalk does not have a traffic light, whereas the other crosswalk does have it.

I am really scared of crossing the crosswalk "with a traffic light" because Belgian drivers simply ignore the traffic light.  They just pass through the crosswalk regardless of whether pedestrians cross the crosswalk.  Almost every day, I am nearly hit by Belgian drivers while crossing the crosswalk.  Thus, when I pointed out the traffic light with my hand, ALL Belgian drivers that violated the traffic signal made a rude gesture implying "so what?".

However, I can safely cross the crosswalk without a traffic light.  That is because the road with the crosswalk is always crowded with cars and Belgian drivers cannot simply pass through the crosswalk.

I think that for Belgian drivers, traffic lights are just decoration stands along streets.  I don't think that this is only my experience.

Slow country: Belgium

When it was decided that I have to come to Brussels with my family members, I asked my predecessor working in Brussels what I should bring in Brussels.  I anticipated that he would tell me to bring something that is difficult to obtain in Belgium.  However, surprisingly, he told me the only thing that I should carry with me was patience.  I did not understand it at that time.

However, after I arrive in Brussels, I realized what he wanted to tell me was.  It took more than two weeks to bring a line of Internet at home.  It took more than a month to get issued IDs.  It took more than a month to simply exchange my home country driving license with a Belgium driving license at a commune.

Recently, one of my colleagues came to Belgium to study European laws.  I don't know why she chose Belgium to study European laws.  The European Commission located in Brussels might influence her decision.  She is now regretting her decision of choosing Belgium for her study.  She came to Brussels two months ago but has not gotten her ID issued yet.  So, she cannot make a contract to rent an apartment yet.  She is still living in a small tourist apartment.

I don't know why all Belgian systems are slow in operation.  However, there is one thing faster in Belgium than in other European countries.  That is driving.  Belgian drivers are crazy.  They simply ignore traffic signals.  Be careful whenever you cross pedestrian crosswalks, unless you want to die here.

Marvelous Thai noodle soup: two NOIs in the Brussels area

A bowl of noodle soup at a Thai restaurant must be a great lunch menu for every one.  I like a Thai noodle soup more than an Italian spaghetti.  Of course, what I most like in terms of a noodle dish is a Japanese Ramen.  Today, what I would like to say is the most delicious Thai noodle soup that I have ever experienced the Brussels area.

I have recently tasted two same kind of Thai noodle soups.  Several months ago, I went to a Thai restaurant named "Noi" at Wavre with my colleagues.  When I heard from one of them that we can have Thai noodle soups as long as we can at a noodle soup price, I guessed that the noodle soup would be a unsavory dish for hungry people who do not care about taste.  We drove from Brussels to Wavre about 30 minutes.  When we entered the restaurant, we were surprised at the scene that people were lined up at a noodle cart to get noodle soups.  It looked like that homeless people were in line to get free food from a relief organization.  Despite the bizarre scene, we joined the line to taste the noodle soups.  For each person, the dispensing chef put a small chunk of noodles, toppings, and soup in a bowl.  Each person could add seasons on the noodle soup.  We returned to our table and tasted.  It was marvelous.  We gulped the noodle soups without a word.  We went back to the noodle soup cart to get another bowl.  We again gulped them.  We went back to the cart to get another bowl.  It was an unbelievable experience.  

http://www.noicomptoirdury.be/

I told my wife and kids about the noodle.  They asked me to take them to the restaurant too.  But, the magic noodles were served only during lunch hours.  I could not take my family to the restaurant.  While I pondered over how I let my family taste the magic noodle, I heard from one of my colleagues that there is another Noi at Linkebeek to which my house is close.  This Friday, one of the Easter holidays, I went to Noi at Linkebeek with my family.  Noi at Linkebeek was equipped with the exactly same concept with Noi at Wavre.  However, Noi at Linkebeek was run by Thais, whereas Noi at Wavre was operated by Belgians.  In addition, Noi at Linkebeek provided more noodles and toppings for bowl than did Noi at Wavre.  Thus, we did not need to go back to the noodle soup cart three times.  This time two rounds of noodle soups were enough.  And, Thais at Linkebeek were more friendly and nicer than Belgians at Wavre.  My family and I were satisfied with the magic noodles at Linkebeek.  While coming back to my house, my kids urged me to take them to Noi at Linkebeek next week again.

http://www.noi.be/

Routeyou

I have enjoyed riding a bike especially with my kids.  It is known that Belgium has a number of good place for riding bikes.  Actually, a lot of Belgians seem to enjoy biking.  However, as an expat, I have difficulty in locating good places for biking with my kids.  Today, I have found a great website containing many great biking routes.

www.routeyou.com

However, this website seems to only have biking and hiking routes.  Actually, I have looked for kayaking routes around Brussels.  If someone knows a great route for kayaking, please let me know.  Thanks in advance.

Children's toy: Elenco's Snap Circuits

Recently my son, the fourth grader, seemed to briefly learn from his school about electricity and basic circuits.  He wanted to re-conduct the same experiment that he did at school at home and asked me to buy basic electronic circuit kits.  I could not deny his request for the electronic circuits because the circuits can lead him to the career of scientists or engineers in the near future.  So, I googled to find out electronic circuits that I can buy.  Some goofy stuff was available at Amazon.co.uk, which seem to look down on modern kids' intelligence.

My ever-googling electronic circuits turned me on Elenco's Snap Circuits (http://www.snapcircuits.net/).  I purchased "Snap Circuits Extreme® Educational 750 Exp" from an European distributor of Elenco.  This circuit kit was simply awesome.  This was not too complicated for kids to handle but was quite challenging.  My kids loved it.  They built some circuits to fly a flying saucer, listening a FM radio channel, make annoying noises and record their voices, by simply following instructions of the manual.

They noticed another kind of electronic toy at Elenco's website - Circuit Rover - and pestered me to buy it.  I purchased two sets of Circuit Rover for them.  My kids could control the rover with the remote controllers, shoot some small dishes, and record their voices in them.  Of course, they loved it.  But, the rover made some noise which annoyed me.

While playing with the electric circuits and the rovers, my kids noticed that something was wrong.  My daughter's rover did not move and some parts of the circuits did not work.  I emailed Elenco, asking how to fix the problems.  Elenco simply sent new parts for the rover and the circuits from the US to Belgium, without asking what happened to the parts.  It was a really amazing after service.
   

DHL Redelivery Request in Belgium

This year my wife wanted to buy some clothes for our kids as Christmas gifts.  She postponed the purchase until the Christmas sale.  However, the clothes that she wanted to buy had been being sold away even before the start of the Christmas sale.  She inevitably decided to buy them even before the sale.  However, the problem was that we had to go to Austria to ski during the Christmas holidays and the clothes that she purchased online was likely to arrive at the house when we would be absent.

Her worry came true: DHL attempted to deliver the parcel when we were not at home.  She came to have another worry that the parcel would return to the seller and wanted to ask DHL to redeliver the parcel on a certain day that she wanted.  We could not find any information about redelivery on Belgium DHL website.  Thus, we googled several times with such key words as "reschedule" and "redelivery" and discovered a website.  Whereas UK DHL website provided redelivery request on its website, Belgium DHL had a separate website for redelivery request (http://dhlredelivery.be).  We typed in the reference number for our parcel on the website and requested redelivery a few days later.

When we returned to home, we found a notice that DHL left for us that we would need to pick up the parcel at a DHL station.  However, next day the parcel was delivered to us.  We realized that if we did not requested for the redelivery, we had to go to a DHL station to pick up our parcel.

Skiing in Alpbach

This is the third year of visiting Alpbach to ski.  I guess that now I am a little bit familiar with Alpbach and can say something about Alpbach (www.alpbach.at).

Alpbach is a small village of Tyrol, Austria.  From Brussels to Alpbach, it took more than 11 hours, although Google Map says that it takes 8.5 hours.  There were several road construction areas in Southern Germany through which we had to pass and there were heavy traffic jams around the border between Germany and Austria.

It seems that Alpbach ski resort named after the name of village Alpbach.  However, there is no decent ski slope except a nursery / practice slope in Alpbach village.  Two Gondola lanes that take skiers to ski slopes start from Wiederbergerhorn, a bus stop on the road to Alpbach village and from Inneralpbach.  Of course, there are several lifts in the middle of the mountain.

Alpbach ski resort seems to include not only Alpbach village and Inneralpbach but also Reith im Alpachital and Kramsach.  However, main ski slopes can be accessed from Wiederbergenhorn and Inneralpbach.  By car, it takes 20 minutes from Reith im Alpachital and 30 minutes from Kramsach to Inneralpbach.

In Kramsach, there is no decent ski slope.  Although Alpbach ski slopes map says that there are ski slopes in Kramsach, the slopes are barely operative.  In Reith im Alpachital, there is a gondola lane and a good nursery slope.

Last two years, my family stayed in Kramsach.  This time we rent a holiday apartment in Reith im Alpachital.  Kramsach is smaller and less developed than Reith im Alpachital.  Reith im Alpachital looked smaller than Alpbach but cozier and more beautiful than the other nearby villages.  However, it is not easy to get an accommodation in Reith im Alpachital.

Many Austrian people in Alpbach, Inneralpbach, and Reith im Alpachital can speak English. Although most visitors are German skiers, Dutch and English skiers were also noticed.  

I put my kids into a ski school named "Ski school Alpbach-Inneralpbach (http://en.skischule-alpbach.at)," whenever I came to Alpbach ski resort.  The ski school provides several programs according to skiers' skills.  The programs usually begin on Sunday.  Joining on Monday seems to be acceptable.  On Friday, the ski school has its students attend races.  Regardless of their records, they can get certificates and medals.  These certificates and medals are a good gift for kids.