Essential French phrases

Your commune's administration, and the counter where registration, the eID and the driving licence all happen. In Wallonia the administrative language is French — there is no bilingual right here as there is in Brussels.

The paper slip proving your registration is under way. Not an identity card, but for a few weeks it is your only proof of lawful presence in the country.

The neighbourhood police officer who calls at your address, unannounced, to confirm you really live there. Nothing else moves until that report comes back positive.

The health insurance fund you must choose and join yourself. Membership is compulsory but enrolment is not automatic — nobody signs you up.

The licence a Walloon landlord must hold before letting a small individual dwelling of 28 m² or less, or any collective housing including student rooms. Ask to see it — there is no Flemish equivalent, and it is the strongest lever a tenant here has.

Flood hazard. The Walloon Government's map grades every parcel from très faible to élevée, it is public, and after July 2021 nobody in this valley treats it as a technicality.

Seventy and ninety in Belgian French — not soixante-dix and quatre-vingt-dix. Prices, phone numbers and appointment times all use them, so learn them before your first bank visit.

Wallonia's compulsory integration pathway for non-EU newcomers: a welcome module, at least 400 hours of French, at least 60 hours of citizenship training and career orientation. It is free, and it is run by a regional integration centre, not by the commune.

The juniper spirit of the Principality, drunk cold and fast, and poured in enormous quantities during the August festivities. Ordering it is the fastest way to stop being treated as a visitor.

The puppet who is Liège's national character: born between two paving stones in Outremeuse, insubordinate, and permanently unimpressed by authority. He is the city's self-portrait and he has his own museum.

Liège was a prince-bishopric — an independent state inside the Holy Roman Empire — until 1795, never part of the Burgundian or Spanish Netherlands. That thousand years of separateness is why the city insists it is not simply a Walloon town.

112 for ambulance or fire, 101 for urgent police, 1733 for the on-call GP in the evenings and at weekends. All free from any phone. 1722 is the separate non-urgent fire brigade line, which in this valley means flood and storm damage.