Exploring Mechelen

This week, I had lots of work at office. We had plans to go to Paris this weekend, but later in the last minute; we had to put it off since we were given assignments at office and we couldn’t take a leave on Friday. We cancelled travel tickets, hotel room bookings and incurred a loss of around 50 Euros :-(. Our weekend was rather relaxing, I shopped a bit in Mechelen Vee Market, Grote Market and at Carrefour. We played cricket on Saturday and visited nearby parks

 

It was raining heavily on Sunday. So, we watched few hindi movies at home, prepared Chapatis and sabjis. Had a nice relaxing weekend, which I definitely was in need of.

Lliving in Mechelen

I did a bit of shopping yesterday. I bought  a SIM card from Lyca Mobile. My mob number is 032493407948. I’ll call all my friends, once I get my mobile number registered ( I am allowed to make only limited calls, till I get my SIM card registered).

 

Beer is cheaper than Mineral water. Beer costs around 2 Euros for pack of 4 tins (33kL) and 500 ml mineral water costs 1 Euro!!..
We get almost all groceries that we get in India, including pickles. I opened my Bank account at Fortis Bank in Mechelen and bought a Buzzy Pass- Thats what you call a bus pass in Belgium.

At workplace,
On my first day, we had a welcome party at an Italian restaurant and I had my first shots of Belgian Tequila shot :)….Grrrrr.r.rr.rr
I’ve gelld well with my Belgian colleagues, everyone seem very friendly. I have been assigned work on a project called Iris, seems to be an interesting one :-)..
My office is also located in Mechelen, its in the northern part of Belgium. 
 

This weekend we had to report at the communal, apply for our White Card and complete a few formalities about our stay here. On Sunday we visited Antwerpen central, we spent some time on a Belgian Battle Ship and roamed around in the city. Weekend was good.

Destination Belgium

I boarded my flight at the Bangalore Hindustan Airport on 5th April at 9.30 PM. I had my transit in Mumbai. A long flight it was (12 Hrs journey it was); I met an Italian businessman on the flight. We had nice conversation.

We reached Brussels airport at 7.40 AM, I had to answer a few questions regarding my stay in Belgium to the Immigration authorities. And I collected my baggage, exchanged 1000 Euros worth Travelers cheque and came out of the airport to get a taxi and woala it was around 2 degree temperature. I felt frozen in no time. We hired a taxi (BMW :-)), and drove towards our new home : Mechelen. 82, TenderStraar, 2800 Belgium.

 

We were welcomed by my 2 colleagues who already stayed at that place. We spent sometime talking, had breakfast and decided to play cricket , [On a turf field which had a WACA like Pitch, which was called MCC- Mechelen Cricket Club ]; later we did a bit of shopping at Carrefore. Both of us decided to stay in the same service apartment and everything got settled here.

Weather here is chilled, around -3 to 8 degrees. Ive never come out of my thermals ever since ive landed here..There was a snowfall on Sunday but only for a few minutes. Sunrises at 6.30AM and sunsets at 9.30 PM here… Yes!! , we have sunlight till 9.30 PM. But if you come out of your place after 8, ull be frozen. We have room-heaters at every corners. We get 24/7 hot water in taps, and have thick blankets on beds. Time difference b/w IST is 4 1/2hours.