Rivers & Roads

This past weekend Simon and I did not have any big plans and we had a nice relaxing weekend in Gent. On Saturday we went the book release event of a local, but becoming very well known, street artists Bue the Warrior or just Bue for short. I am sure some of you will recognize his work from other instagram posts I have put up of his work, Gent is covered in his wonderful little characters. We got to the event pretty early so we got to see him create one of his famous birds right in front of us which was really impressive. He makes it look so easy and effortless, he does not use any stencil or drawing before hand and his lines and use of color are really amazing. I got him to sign by book as well! I was pretty nervous to talk to him, Simon had to come stand next to me and talk to him while I just stood there silently of course. He ended up spelling my name wrong, but it is still pretty neat and maybe someday I'll sneak a little "e" in there. Another exciting part is that we got on the Belgian news! There was a news crew there shooting Bue at work and interviewing various people at the event and at 0:55 you can see Simon and me sitting at a table behind the woman who is being interviewed and then at 1:10 the camera zooms in on my iPhone taking pictures of Bue! I included the link below!

In other news, the police officer FINALLY came to our apartment on Sunday! She told us she would come anytime after 1:30 and of course did not show up until 6 and proceeded to stay a maximum of 10 minutes. But we are one step farther along now at least and now we have to wait for the paper she filled out to get sent back to the immigration office so that we can go in and sign it. After that we will be officially living together! We will then start the process of me becoming a resident, getting an i.d. card and everything which could take a long time, but once we sign the paper saying we are living together I should be able to apply for an extension on my visa so that I can stay until I find out whether I will be a belgian resident or not. Still a long way to go in the process but we least we art moving forward!

As for my class, we are winding down to the end now. I got a 19.75/20 on my last test which is promising and today we have the writing, reading, listening part of our final test! Then we have a week off from class, and the on the 4th of November I will go in for 10 minutes to do the oral part of the exam. The next day we will all come in and get our results and if I pass I will sign up for level two!

Dutch word of the day: Smakelijk! = which means, enjoy your meal! Everyone says it here right before you eat!

Link to the news video:
http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/videozone/programmas/journaal/EP_141018_jo7?video=1.2122497