And the police came . . . again

One day this past week, at about 10:00 a.m., the bell rang and I go to the door. To my surprise it is a policeman.

To my further surprise he says "You were expecting me?".

Not sure how to answer that other than "Well, actually no, I was not expecting you."

Which begs the question . . . "Should I be?"

I evade that one and invite him in thinking we will converse in the foyer.

Oh no, no talking in the foyer. He asks to follow me in and to sit down.

Okay, now I'm really confused, but not in panic mode. Yet.

Speaking fairly good English (thanks), he explains he is here because we have a new address. How do these people know this stuff? I've had "change of address at City Hall" on my To Do list for 2 months! But it requires Jim accompanying me and their hours are like 9:00 a.m. to 10:20 and 2:15 p.m. to 3:50. Something like that. So we haven't been able to get by there during "business hours".

So back to the police. He asks a couple of questions - like to confirm our name and why we are here. Fortunately I know both those answers. He signs the paper, tears off a copy for me, and says to take this paper and go to City Hall within 8 days. That was it.

Jim comes home that evening and before I can tell this story, he says he just got a phone call at 5:00 pm and someone from the City Administration was at our apartment to verify our address. Our apartment? They verified that address months ago. And furthermore, we don't live there anymore. Since we aren't "home" at the apartment we don't live in anymore, he goes to the office next door and the people in the office say "No, they've gone back to the States". OMG! After all we've done to get all this alien paperwork right?! They've told him we've gone back to the States?!!

Fortunately, like manna from heaven, Jim's cell phone number is available to him. He calls and Jim actually answers. Jim tells the guy we are STILL in Belgium and we've moved to a house. And apparently that's good enough. For now. He says he will come by our house to verify that. So see ya soon, I guess.

Still not sure exactly why, on the very same day - 7 hrs earlier - the police came by for that exact purpose? But at least he (the police) came to the right place.

So "change of address at City Hall" just moved to the top of my To Do list. And hopefully in the next 8 days, Jim can make it home from work during their "business hours".

We keep asking ourselves when we will be able to say "Well, all the alien paperwork's done!" But I have a feeling this is when one year will be up and we can begin again :)