Monday, April 5, 2004
Invisible Man
I am now officially signed out of the Belgian registers. I'm not really sure what the consequences are, but the lady at the town hall told me that my ID is no longer valid. I did get a nice-looking document in exchange, though, which will allow me to register with the Belgian embassy in Russia.
I also got my last stamp for unemployment benefits today.
Yesterday and the day before we had relatives and some of my closest friends over for a drink, to give them (and me) a chance to say goodbye.
I guess that in Russia they would have had a huge feast with a richly-laden table, but that's not the way we do things around here.
I thought it was nice, though, and I hope our guests did too. Oddly enough, not many tears were shed, by me nor them.
So far, the hardest of all has been saying goodbye to my grandparents, probably because, partly, they are the ones I'll be in touch with the least, seeing as they don't have internet or e-mail, which is the standard way of communicating these days and partly because there is a chance that I may never see them again. If there is a God, I hope he WILL let me see them all again, alive and well.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure the worst is yet to come: saying goodbye to my parents at the airport.
So far, the following people are coming to see me off at the airport: Katrien, my ex girlfriend, and BOTH my parent pairs, which is quite an event in itself and only happens at rare occasions. My brother and his wife wanted to come too, but they can't make it, since he has to work. Not to worry, though, because I'll see them the night before.
I also got my last stamp for unemployment benefits today.
Yesterday and the day before we had relatives and some of my closest friends over for a drink, to give them (and me) a chance to say goodbye.
I guess that in Russia they would have had a huge feast with a richly-laden table, but that's not the way we do things around here.
I thought it was nice, though, and I hope our guests did too. Oddly enough, not many tears were shed, by me nor them.
So far, the hardest of all has been saying goodbye to my grandparents, probably because, partly, they are the ones I'll be in touch with the least, seeing as they don't have internet or e-mail, which is the standard way of communicating these days and partly because there is a chance that I may never see them again. If there is a God, I hope he WILL let me see them all again, alive and well.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure the worst is yet to come: saying goodbye to my parents at the airport.
So far, the following people are coming to see me off at the airport: Katrien, my ex girlfriend, and BOTH my parent pairs, which is quite an event in itself and only happens at rare occasions. My brother and his wife wanted to come too, but they can't make it, since he has to work. Not to worry, though, because I'll see them the night before.
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