Sometimes I describe the Belgian Bloke and I as divorce orphans ...
We were both married long before meeting each other. We divorced, completely unaware of each others existence on opposite sides of the world, and went on to lose almost everything collected over those years we were married to others.
I wandered off to Istanbul, and the Belgian got his own apartment here in the city and started all over again. Later we met and since then we've been putting together a life that makes me smile sometimes.
I love our furniture but it's mostly from our favourite secondhand shop here in the city. We rent the house that we live in but we are so rich in friends who come from all over the world. There's much fun and adventure, mixed in with the more challenging times.
Today a new fridge/freezer arrived and I'm bemused by how happy this makes me. You see we've been making do with a small fridge and a seperate tiny freezer since our beginning. They came courtesy of somebody's caravan. It's been YEARS! I felt no sadness watching them leave the building this morning. No sadness at all.
Meanwhile, that appointment I mentioned ... the one where I might get myself into trouble for not being fluent in Nederlands. It went brilliantly. I had an appointment with Districthuis. Over years these appointments have varied in terms of success. Not all of them ended well.
I wandered along, signed in via their signing-in machine and my number was called. I mentioned, Ik sprek Engels ... but that I could understand Nederlands. And I usually rush on explain that I do things to Nederlands that sometimes make it unrecognisable but no worries, she had already switched over to English.
That's the thing about Antwerp. They're usually fluent in Dutch, French and English ... and other languages too.
Anyway, my new ID card is underway, and this is a good thing. She was lovely.
Above, a glimpse inside the house the divorce orphans are creating :-) An 80euro oak table and 46 euro (total) for that beautiful set of chairs. That secondhand shop is surely one of my favourite things about living in Europe ...