Top 3 beefs with Brussels and how to get over them

Any time you move to a new country there will be things about your new home that needle you as you struggle to understand the whys and hows of the way things work. And Belgium is certainly no different — why do the metros stop at midnight? Do I really have to sign a three-, six- or NINE-year lease?

If the veritable Babel of administrative red tape doesn’t get to you, then the supermarkets closing by 19.00 surely will.

Here are three common complaints about life in Belgium, along with practical solutions for getting over, or at least used to, them.

1. A lack of IQueue
Belgium doesn’t have much of a queuing culture, a fact that shocks many new arrivals when they first fight to step out of their metro carriage as a horde of suited office workers attempts to trample them in their efforts to board during rush hour.

If you come from a queuing culture – such as in the UK or the US, where they line up for everything from entering an elevator to buying an ice cream – then watching mobs of people push and shove their way to the front can feel almost barbaric.

Solution: Relax and learn the system. Often, while you might not see any rules or reason, they are there. For instance, if you are waiting for the post office to open one morning along with a small group of others, no queue may form, but there will be a silent agreement to allow those who were there when you arrived to enter and take their numbers first.

And for the rest: if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Unless you always want to be at the back of the line, you’ll have to learn how to assert yourself in these situations. No need to be rude, and certainly not aggressive. But if you’re worried about not getting your turn, speak up, explaining sweetly but firmly that you were there first.

Or better yet practise non-attachment. Tell yourself: there will always be another lift; standing on the train is healthier. Learning how to stay calm in the absence of a queue is a life skill.

2. Priority to the right
The second beef with Belgium is one that leaves many a newcomer feeling baffled and bullied when they first take to the Belgian roads.

You may be driving along blissfully on a main road when all of a sudden a car from the right zips out in front of you, and you slam on your brakes, honking and fist-shaking. But truth is, they had the right of way.

This is the famous “priority to the right” rule  (priorité à droite / voorrang van rechts), gone or limited in most countries but still reigning in Belgium. This rule says that traffic coming from the right has priority unless some prior traffic sign or other signal tells you otherwise.

Because it’s unfamiliar to most non-Belgians, this rule leads to a number of accidents every year. Foreigners drive along main roads assuming priority  over all the small roads feeding into it. This combined with a Belgian tendency to assert one’s rights when possible (see queuing above) can make for some scary driving experiences.

Solution: Learn the system. It’s not that difficult once you get used to it. Learn the rules and train yourself to automatically look for cues about who has right of way. A sign with an orange diamond on it tells you that you are on a "priority road", and all intersecting traffic must yield to you.

This same sign with a diagonal black stripe through it indicates the end of priority: after this sign, you must yield to all traffic on the right.

Also, when an intersecting road is coming up on the right, look to see if they have a string of white triangles painted on the pavement. If so, then you have the right of way.

Finally, if you see a small, triangular red and white sign with a black “X” in it (pictured), watch out. This warns you that at the next intersection you must yield to traffic from the right. The same red and white triangle with an upward pointing black arrow with a horizontal line running through it indicates the opposite: you have right of way, so carry on as you were.

3. Disappearing friends
Finally, an emotional gripe. Brussels is filled with people from all over the world. At any given party it’s not unusual to find yourself talking to people from countries you didn’t know existed in languages you didn’t know you spoke.

But the downside of living somewhere where so many people come from somewhere else is that they tend to disappear as quickly as they came. Jobs end, people return to their home country, and goodbye parties become part of a normal week for many expatriates.

Solution: “You win some, lose some” should be your Brussels mantra. Sure, your friends leave, but new people are always arriving who are eager to meet people and who have interesting stories to share.

Get involved in groups or activities that interest you – volunteer, do yoga, learn the art of public speaking. Getting involved in the things you care about means that, even if there’s a high turnover, at least you’ll have an easy way of meeting like-minded folks.

Plus, look on the bright side: friends moving away means you’ll have friends to visit all over the world.