So for those that followed, I moved to the waffle and chocolate world. I arrived safely Sunday am. I went straight to the hotel. After getting my room organized...which took quite a while given I had taken 3 HUGE suitcases with me! In my roomie's words, as soon as I had "this room is a wreck" sign, then I was at home :)I wanted to make sure my first morning was as smooth as possible!
Well, the stars were NOT aligned for this all to happen! Once I was settled my throat started to scratch a little bit. But I was so happy to be here, I rushed out to have lunch and get myself started - it was sunny out - why stay inside? well, because it was WINDY and about 15C Less than in NYC! It took me 1h30 to eat, but by the time I came back the harm was done. I stayed curled up in my covers all afternoon, certain the flu was imminent. Alas, so much for a smooth first day!!!
Because I have seen this type of "i am so run down, that i get the flu" sickness, I knew all I needed was warmth, hydration and some rest. I hence wanted to stay in to eat (that and I really look like shit when I am sick...). I called the front desk in the hopes I could order room service. But I was met with a "I cannot believe you don't know this but we are in August (hum, so far yes Madame, I am aware we are in august) and that we have summer hours (yes, so? doesn't feel like 15C should warrant to be called summer, but go on), hence the restaurant bar is closed (ah. now that's different! Yikes!)". This hotel being used to some (stress on some) level of service, they propose to help me order in. At this point, i just want a warm soup, take my sleeping pill and be gone until 7am comes around (the hopes of going to the gym to work out my stress are loooonnnng gone!). I am told we can order from the Chinese place and it's easy. Halleluyah! I go back to searching for apartments and come down at 6pm.
At this point my cold is in full swing and I can barely talk very loudly, and if I do try i start caughinh uncontrollably...Well, this "easy" process is not that easy, because it took us 25min to confirm that the first restaurant was indeed the best one to order from this others were either closed or required 50Euro minimum/we pay for the cab for the food to come over/only small pigeons make the trip....
So back to the first option - minimum of 25Euros and to my surprise it takes them 45min to deliver! Well, that was without counting on the rain that started pouring as soon as I reached my room - with that there was NO WAY I was going outside!!! The food actually arrived about an hour and fifteen minutes after my order. The delivery man looked at me like a crazy person when I asked to confirm the silverware was included. Receptionist promised to send some up t me ASAP. ASAP in Brussels means 20 minutes later! Thank god I had bought some plastic ones at the supermarket earlier that day - otherwise EVERYTHING would have been cold - way to stay warm!!!
Bottom line - Brussels and delivery - NOT a match made in heaven. I guess it's just not the same society where service is king, and the customer seeking it God.
And that's all I will report today - tomorrow I will recap my first day at work or how I didn't have anything :(
Cheers!
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