Moving to Brussels with a Preschooler and a Toddler

[shellybr]

Hey, I know you have proberly covered this topic loads but just a couple of questions if you guys don't mind. We are moving in May with a just 4yr DS and a 1yr DS. My husband has been there for the last few months but now they have extended his contract for a year so we are all going. Just from reading the other treads I am a little worried about getting DS into a local school. A few mentioned it might be hard to find a place. At the moment we are looking at WSP. Can you get around with having to buy a car? Also we are going to be there over the summer and I don't suppose we will have been able to get him into school before September so is there anything we could go to so he could get to know some other kids his own age?

Thanks and Happy Paddy's day

With regards to the deposit, when we opened an account with ING, they "lent" us a virtual deposit. So we handed over no cash - we have an "account" with the bank that we pay an annual fee for - about 50 euros. Agree with natation that you will have to give the place back exactly as you found it. They do entry and exit surveys - that you have to pay for- and will note down the tiniest scratch. When we moved from our apartment, I had to pay for a lightbulb that had gone in the bathroom. We have rented both our places from management companies - it seems much more professional and takes the human element of the greedy landlord out of the equation.

shellybr, I've just realised that to anyone who doesn't know me it may have appeared that ds2 was actually born yesterday, an hour before I wrote that post. What I actually meant was that he was born at 10h30 (the post was at 10h25 but that's UK time) on 23 March but he's actually 20!!!!! So I really don't deserve your kind wishes and am feeling a bit of a fraud. Sorry about that. It was sad at the time (two weeks in special care) but apart from being a bit short and suffering from asthma (which may have happened even if he hadn't been early), he's fine :) .

(Well, I say fine but he told us yesterday he's lost his passport and we were supposed to be going over to England to pick him up on Saturday. He's gone down to my mum's to get his application form for a new one countersigned by a civil servant friend and will head up to London to give the forms in tomorrow. He will have to wait a week for an express passport so he'll have to wait a week longer before he comes home. Boys honestly! They get worse the older they get!!!)

I'm sure you'll be able to get a year lease as there are quite a few people who come for less than three years.

Children's clothes are not necessarily expensive. I just bought dd some t-shirts for ?5 in Carrefour. We often buy in H & M or C & A for her. There are some very expensive boutiques but we avoid those. The sales are great - genuine sale items rather than stuff brought in for the sales.

Can second (or 3rd even) H&M. Though Next and M&S deliver to Belgium now.