The hunt for our Belgian home ~ Day 1

 Yesterday was our 3rd day in Belgium. We seem to be adjusting to the time difference without too much difficulty, which is great! 

Just to explain, when I talk about places here, we are stationed at Chievres Air Base, which is approximately 30 minutes from SHAPE Nato base. SHAPE stands for Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. Arturo was initially going to work at SHAPE but has now been transferred to Chievres. Liam will attend the international school at SHAPE. This means we would ideally like to find a home somewhere in between. 

Both bases combined are a quarter the size of where we just moved from. No crowds, no rushing, and super peaceful. Luckily, we love the slow pace! 

Yesterday, we had to drive to the housing office on SHAPE to receive our letter of exception that takes us out of the government-leased housing and gives us the ability to choose any house in any city around us. Each day until you find a home, you need to think of house hunting as your job. 

House #1. 20 minutes from each base.  VERY rural. The cows are your neighbors, and the only sounds you hear are nature. The road is a one-car road where you will pull over if another car is coming. First impressions of the house were good! It had an intercom system, so when in the home, you can see on video who is at the front before opening the motorized gate to allow access to the yard and front door. It was a stone house with big wooden shutters. Gorgeous! We were greeted by the landlord, a woman who spoke only French, so we did a lot of gestures and Google Translate. She lives next door and was very nice! The house had very large rooms for Belgian standards. A wood-burning fireplace in the living room, a kitchen with a huge window overlooking the garden. Lots of cupboard space. The garage was enormous and would fit 4 cars if needed.  It had one bedroom downstairs that would fit a twin bed, but we thought it would make a better office or game room. Upstairs, you had 3 large bedrooms and a full bathroom with a separate tub, shower, and two sinks.  Each room had large floor-to-ceiling windows that opened to the garden. It was the perfect home, except for the fact that you would have to drive 10-15 minutes anytime you needed something from town. 

Later that day, we went to house number 2. This house would be a 30-minute drive for Arturo and a 15-minute drive for Liam's school. It would also require a 10-minute drive to the small town center.

Pulling up to this home, we noted it was attached to a vet clinic. It turns out they would be the landlords. She spoke English, and her husband did not, but she translated for him if we had questions. It was a lovely brick home with a massive backyard that went all around the house. Liam was a bit intimidated by how much mowing would need to be done. (The photo below is only a quarter of the yard.) The yard had apple, plum, and cherry blossom trees and a garden with fresh strawberries, which were so tasty!

Once inside the property, you could see it had not been updated in quite some time. While it had many rooms, all were separated and not very large. The home needed a lot of TLC, both inside and outside. It had only one bathroom, which was on the main floor. The upstairs bedroom areas had only a toilet which would be awkward for showering. The house from moment one, did not feel like home. 

Our wish list for a home would be 3+ bedrooms, 2 toilets (not necessarily bathrooms as that's hard to come by here), and be walking distance to town. 

Today we will see another two homes. One I've had my eye on it for a few months now! I know we will find just the right place to call home soon!