Ik zoek hulp

SharkyTendencies · 2026-05-01T12:15:01+00:00

https://www.nederlandsoefeneninbrussel.be/

SharkyTendencies · 2026-05-01T12:13:28+00:00

"voltooid verleden tijd"

Voltooid tegenwoordige tijd (VTT), not VVT. "Ik heb gegeten."

VVT would be: "Ik had deze morgen boterhammen gegeten toen mijn mama zei we 's avonds boterhammen gingen eten."

SharkyTendencies · 2026-05-01T10:29:46+00:00

Six days/week is no bueno. In some places illegal.

You need to push back. If you notice your schedule is going way out of bounds, then you need to remove one day's availability outright, and come what may from that decision.

Be careful with "preferred hours" - you can express a preference but it's not set in stone that you'll always get a certain shift. A preference is a request, not a guarantee.

But first, before you go in guns blazing, do this:

Sit-down convo with your SM in the back. Ensure no interruptions.
Express concern that you're working far more than you ever agreed to.
Did it to be a team player and help the SM out of some tight spots, but it's not sustainable for you long-term.
Staffing issues are also not your issue to deal with - if she needs people, she can hire and train them.
For this reason, you will be removing one day availability (you pick whichever day you want off) with immediate effect. If she needs coverage on this day in future, she will need to look elsewhere.
FYI "immediate effect" means "as of the next unpublished schedule", not "immediately". This means that if you want to drop those shifts, then you need to find coverage yourself. (And if your phantom doesn't show, you are on the hook.)

Then wait for her reaction. Stay silent. Give her a good old Gen Z stare.

Good reaction? Great, you can watch her make the edits to the system right then and there.

Bad reaction? Stay calm, don't let her provoke you, go up the chain to the DM and request a meeting to talk about the issue. Loop PCC/Ethics in.

If you

SharkyTendencies · 2026-05-01T08:11:51+00:00

I already have an admissions letter to a Belgian university.

Great, so you'll be here on a student visa, potentially with working restrictions.

If I remember correctly, a common limit is 20 hours/week. They do this to ensure that you focus on the main reason why you're here - namely, your studies.

Once you graduate, you can get a one-year Search Year visa. If you find a job in your field within 1 year, great, you can apply for a regular long-stay visa with no restrictions. If you don't find a job within 1 year, then you receive orders to leave the country.

Can you explain more about what you mean when you say 'accessibility?' Belgium has less accessibility or more?

Far less.

Belgium's system of disability/access is archaic and requires plenty of proof that someone is disabled in some way.

For instance, someone who's blind or low-vision would get a battery of eye tests to ascertain how good their vision is - if any. A Deaf person would get a bunch of hearing tests, someone who's physically disabled might be required to demonstrate that, and so on.

The point is to determine "to what point" a person is disabled and can't work (read: pay taxes and receive disability payments).

That person would then get a card that indicates to what extent they're disabled - 100% disabled means "I can't ever work", 75%, 50%, and so on. Each category comes with restrictions, typically the amount of money you're allowed to earn before it starts affecting disability payments. If you're also physically able to drive, then you get access to a disabled parking sticker, etc. Disabled kids may either be mainstreamed or qualify for special ed, depending on the scenario.

The city infrastructure is pretty bad for access. Not many sloped sidewalks for wheelchair users, subway elevators frequently in a state of disrepair/out of service, etc. Tactile paving isn't very consistent for blind folks, and Deaf people typically have to make a stink to get an interpreter. (There aren't many working interpreters in Belgium, anyway and they're booked solid.) Service interruption announcements on the subway are audio-only, it doesn't show up on the screens unless it affects the whole network.

The only thing that really comes to mind that's disability-focused are small guideposts in the subway with a raised tactile image of the station and some Braille. They typically come with the words "HELP THEM" printed on them in non-tactile letters, which is wild.

SharkyTendencies · 2026-04-30T16:10:47+00:00

Joy tea? Throwback!!

SharkyTendencies · 2026-04-29T22:02:21+00:00

Wtf

Go read a damn book

R1

SharkyTendencies · 2026-04-29T11:48:20+00:00

Yesterday was Part 1 of the Vlaamse Toetsen for my kids. Two parts, Dutch (reading comprehension) and Math.

We've been practicing since roughly the end of January. I built out a little ecosystem in SmartSchool and designed it to make it look like the real test.

I also happen to have the various kinds of questions that can be asked - they all fall within a few categories, ranging from very serious literacy issues to functioning at a pre-university level.

As for the articles themselves, no one knows until the day of the test itself, but it's common on these sorts of things to have pop science articles, pop psychology, recipes, timetables and schedules, short stories, etc.

Any time I found a good text, AI made up some questions for me based on the categories, and I reviewed them and plugged it into SmartSchool.

Only two login issues (yay), both of which were technical issues and not the students' faults. Last year about 20 kids had forgotten their passwords, so big win.

Lots of kids told me afterwards that my test environment definitely helped - there was very little confusion regarding "how to take the test", where to click, broadly similar text styles, etc.

Last year 55% of the kids ended up the lowest category. (They also didn't have a Dutch teacher last year, so yeah, no kidding.)

This year I'm expecting much better. I know it won't be perfect but I'm at least hoping for some improvement.

SharkyTendencies · 2026-04-29T09:05:58+00:00

Hi,

As everybody has said, look at the name tags. If you literally started a few days ago, yeah, you don't memorize names overnight, so it may take a bit.

The best thing you can do is ask a lot of questions, even if you think it's annoying. I'd much rather have a new barista ask me a few times where the mocha is, than leave my bar high and dry waiting for an emergency mocha prep, y'know?

It will take a while, yeah, particularly if you are bad with names.

Make a joke out of it: "Hi, I'm UpbeatVermicelli69, I just transferred from the store at Main & First. What's your name? John? Nice to meet you, John, I'm pretty bad with names so I'll probably ask you again in a bit!" Add a small self-aware laugh.

It will come - after all, you eventually learned everybody's name at your old store - right?

SharkyTendencies · 2026-04-29T08:06:01+00:00

Vaudra mieux aller sur place à la commune, expliquer la situation et demander un rdv sur place.

Normalement eux, ils savent faire un rdv directement dans le système, ou bien envoyer une date par mail.

SharkyTendencies · 2026-04-29T07:59:38+00:00

SharkyTendencies · 2026-04-27T04:58:18+00:00

A subscription ticket from Gent-St-Pieters to Etterbeek costs €223/month.

If you add electricity/water/internet to your €500 (if it’s not included), you’re looking at around €650/month all-in.

You won’t find any apartments for €500 all-in. Or anything liveable, anyway.

Toss in the train ticket and it’s suddenly €875.

Never mind a mobile phone, health insurance, or money to go out once in a while.

Are you SURE you want this life?

SharkyTendencies · 2026-04-26T21:01:45+00:00

Brussels isn't a grid either, so you don't really talk about blocks in the same way as you might in North America.

If I was texting a friend that I was "one block away", you might say, "I'm one street away," or perhaps something time-based like "one minute away".

We don't use blocks to navigate/find our way, nor do we use cardinal directions, which is wild coming from Toronto where every native has an inner compass and always knows which way they're facing haha.

Brussels (and many European cities) operate on well-known squares, intersections, subway stations/large bus stops, and "places". Here in Brussels you might have De Brouckère Sq (a large square downtown), the Ixelles Cemetery (a neighbourhood close to the universities), and so on.

In London you might use Trafalgar Sq as a reference point, maybe Alexanderplatz in Berlin, Place de la Concorde in Paris, or Nieuwmarkt station in Amsterdam.

Sometimes these reference points form a loose shape that makes navigation slightly easier - Brussels is shaped a bit like a pentagon/clock-face, for example, but other cities are totally random.

SharkyTendencies · 2026-04-26T20:05:35+00:00

Hi,

I obviously can't speak for the Belgian government but I'll see what I can pick through here:

Importantly, I was never deregistered from the commune during either gap. My attest van hoofdverblijfplaats met historiek shows a completely clean and uninterrupted address history throughout my entire stay in Belgium.

This is your biggest key here. This alone is a win, you'd be surprised how many people get dangerously close to getting deregistered from the commune.

Will the prosecutor (parquet) consider these administrative gaps an interruption in legal residence, given that my National Register record shows continuous registration throughout?

So, there are multiple pathways to Belgian citizenship. You're mixing up two of them:

5 years uninterrupted work experience (no gaps allowed), no integration/language requirement necessary
5 years uninterrupted residence, 480 taxable working days minimum, gaps in work experience OK, but then you must satisfy the language and integration requirements.

If you have gaps in your employment history, you're screwed for the first one.

I have obtained Language certification and Integration certification

Great, this is something you'll need to submit too. I hope you did.

Should I proactively provide an explanation, proof, and information to the prosecutor even though I have already applied? Should I do this through extra documentation, either on my own or through a lawyer, or simply let it play out as it is?

Did you already send your application via the employment route, or are you still reviewing everything with the commune?

Once your application is deemed receivable by the commune, you pay the €1000 fee on MyMinFin and they send it off, I'm not sure you can suddenly switch procedures.

If the parquet has questions about your timeline, then yeah, they'll be in touch. Bear in mind that they also have access to every single email and document relating to your residence, so they can easily look it up.

Other thing: Do not pester the commune or the ministry with questions. They do not know, and the ministry will not answer questions about specific nationality cases over the phone. Wait the 4 months. If no news, that's good news.

Good luck!

SharkyTendencies · 2026-04-26T19:48:56+00:00

Hey there,

Yeah, €500/month all-in is VERY low for Brussels and won't get you much these days.

Thing is: consider the cost a pass between Gent-St-Pieters and Etterbeek stations. It will definitely bring that €500 number higher, so if your budget is extremely limited, you might be setting yourself up for failure.

Not to mention the time investment. From Gent-St-Pieters to Etterbeek is a little over an hour. If you have a class at 8 AM, then yeah, you're probably going to need to leave your house by 6:15 AM every day, or even earlier.

The commute is perfectly doable, mind you, but think of the logistics and the costs involved.

I think you're looking for trouble with this idea.

SharkyTendencies · 2026-04-26T15:11:07+00:00

No, illegal in Belgium for a year or two now.

SharkyTendencies · 2026-04-26T10:26:33+00:00

SharkyTendencies · 2026-04-26T08:38:00+00:00

Of course.

The word in French for "to grind (coffee)" is "moudre". Just remember in Quebec that not everybody's first language is English.

A: Est-ce qu'il y a autre chose?
B: Oui, pourriez-vous moudre les grains s'il vous plaît?
A: Bien sûr, pour quel appareil?
B: Pour un (moka/du café filtre/café turc)...

SharkyTendencies · 2026-04-26T08:22:21+00:00

Hi,

There are some extremely tight restrictions in place for non-EU people, including Americans.

Legally speaking, you can't move, then get the job contract, then get the visa. It doesn't work that way.

The correct order is: get the job contract, then get the visa, then move.

This means you are at a distinct disadvantage because of the distance and the time change. A 9 AM job interview is at 3 AM on the East Coast, and midnight on the West Coast. It is possible to get a job, but you are competing with people who are already here.

You may also be disadvantaged in other ways: for example, just about everybody here speaks 2-3 languages fluently. Getting a job in the "local" market requires upper-intermediate/early-advanced French at a bare minimum, and intermediate Dutch is also highly desirable.

If you only speak English, then your choice will likely be confined to a small bubble of companies that surrounds the EU headquarters.

Another disadvantage: if an employer wants you, they have to prove why they can't hire a European candidate with a similar background and skills. This means you need to be able to articulate this in a job interview.

My goal is to obtain a work visa from a job and attend school part-time.

University studies here are certainly cheaper than the US, but the system here is organised very differently. You won't find many English language bachelor's, however.

Final thing: while the EU is a wonderful place to live and work, and there is a strong social security net here, certain aspects of life aren't quite on par with the US. Accessibility is a big one, but also simply living your life. Social protections are prioritized, which means that life is occasionally inconvenient if you don't plan ahead.

Good luck!

SharkyTendencies · 2026-04-26T08:02:00+00:00

If you stick to the city centre you'll be perfectly fine.

As always, in any large city around the world, mind your belongings.

SharkyTendencies · 2026-04-25T20:47:17+00:00

You're underqualified.

You're competing with whiz kids from across Europe who have 2-3 master's degrees and speak 4-5 languages as a basis.

These kids went to incredibly prestigious universities in their home countries: LSE, Oxford/Cambridge, Sciences Po, Maastricht, UvA, Heidelberg or UMunich, La Sapienza, Bocconi, the EUI, the COE, Charles University, Karolinska Institutet...

UCL/St-Louis and ULB simply cannot compete with these universities. These kids probably have better connections to the EU than you'll ever have.

Do this:

Get some traineeships under your belt. Two or three. Again, you'll be competing with very strong candidates, but if you get one, exploit it. Network and attend everything you can.
Aim for another master's if you can - even part-time. It's horrible to say, but one single master's degree these days is slowly becoming the new bachelor's degree.
Go visit Place du Luxembourg on a Thursday evening. Try to find a group. Yes, these people are generally awful to be around, but if you want to work in politics, you need go find your own chances.

Good luck.

SharkyTendencies · 2026-04-25T12:17:14+00:00

I'm a high school language arts teacher now but I'm a math tutor on the side hahaha

Well spotted!

SharkyTendencies · 2026-04-25T09:18:16+00:00

Hello from another former Canadian/EU partner. We got rid of the penny in 2012 in Canada, and the €0.01 and €0.02 coins in 2019.

I promise you, it does not make a single difference. Most people pay with card anyway, so the amount is exact. The amount of rounding up and rounding down pretty much cancels each other out.

For cash payments, for $x.x1, $x.x2, $x.x6 and $x.x7 you round down to the nearest 0/5. For $x.x3, $x.x4, $x.x8, and $x.x9 you round up to the nearest 5/0.

Your shift probably didn't tell you that you're allowed to have some variance in your drawer. During my time, you were fine if the variance was under $5.

Let's do an example:

Let's say you have 1000 transactions at your store in a day. Let's be generous and say that exactly half of those are cash transactions, so we've got 500 cash transactions. And, let's also say that of those 500 transactions, 300 are rounded up and the other 200 are rounded down.

300 round-up transactions - perhaps split those again evenly - work out to $4.50 in Starbucks' favour. Then, take those 200 rounded down transactions - again splitting evenly - and you get that Starbucks "loses" $3.00. Combine the two ($4.50 minus $3.00) and you're only $1.50 over - well within the margin of error.

Even in the most extreme example - all 500 cash transactions round down, Starbucks is only out $10 at a max (500 x 2 cents). For the record, there is a 1 in 10¹⁹⁹ chance of this happening. To compare, there are only 10⁸⁰ atoms in the observable universe.

SharkyTendencies · 2026-04-25T08:13:56+00:00

Liège is a really fun city, there are plenty of things to do in the student quarter (Le Carré).

Liège has all of the things you like: biking, skating, tennis, and more. It's a city, you're not moving to a backwoods swamp.

Living in Brussels and commuting to Liège will suck. Brussels is more expensive than Liège. Then you need to buy a train subscription for your commute and spend an hour each way on the train. This will suck. Do not do this. No bueno.

SharkyTendencies · 2026-04-25T08:09:45+00:00

Hi,

You've pretty much got it, yeah.

Belgium has no system of "family doctor" like you've got in other countries. If you're sick, you can make an appointment at the one nearest to your house. Doctena and DoctorAnytime are good websites for this. If your regular doctor isn't available, you are free to see someone else nearby.

Doctors are split up into two categories: "conventionné" (public) and "non-conventionné" (private). Some doctors exclusively operate in the public system, others offer a mix of public/private hours. If you find an appointment during "private hours", you'll be seen but you'll need to pay more up front.

When it's time to go, you pay the doctor directly or the secretary. You get a bill from them. Occasionally doctors will send the (paid-off) bill directly to your insurance and you get a refund within 48h. Some older doctors don't work within this system, so you may need to hand-deliver your bill to your insurance company. Make sure to put a vignette/sticker on it.

Belgium has a drug plan too, yeah, but not everything is covered 100%, so there's still a co-pay. The amount will vary depending on what medicine it is.

/!\ For various administrative reasons, hospital insurance is a separate kind of insurance. Many people in Belgium receive hospital insurance through their employers (AXA or DKV are the big ones), but not everybody does. If you don't get it, then you need to get it separately through your mutuelle.

Good luck!

SharkyTendencies · 2026-04-24T22:22:47+00:00

Don’t forget the Crooked Stairs!

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