A Belgian Year...or More!!

Wedding season

2009-06-16T22:11:00.004+02:00

Oooooookay, once again it's been a month (actually a bit more) since my last post...yikes! I've been keeping busy though, working, finishing up the spring French class, running a few more races, hosting the visit of our friends Jim and Grace, and traveling for a few weddings! That's the subject of this post in fact, the weddings of two sets of friends that we've attended in the past month or so.

First, Tom & Jen got hitched on May 9th at a gorgeous chateau in Ciney, Belgium. It's about an hour south of Brussels, and the chateau itself is outside the town and on some beautiful grounds. They rented the whole place for the week and stayed there with their out of town family and friends, and we came down for an overnight to attend the ceremony and reception. The pictures hopefully convey just how beautiful the setting of this place is...it's gorgeous, and everyone had a great time! (Photo credit to Inez Summers for the group shot of all the BSIS "gang")

Next up was the wedding of our friends Volker & Johanna, which was held last Thursday in their hometown of Tübingen, Germany. It's in the state of Baden-Württemburg, about 40 minutes south of Stuttgart. If you're a regular reader you'll recall that we spent this past Christmas with them as well, so we were very excited to go back and see their families again, and enjoy the warmer weather this time around! The ceremony was held in the Alstadt (Old Town), in the castle complex at the top of the hill with a beautiful view over the city. Later, the reception was held in a hotel/restaurant complex the nearby city of Reutlingen, in another beautiful setting overlooking the town from high above. The day after the wedding we headed over to Munich for a few days...more on that in the next post!

Congratulations to all of you, and thank you for including us in your special days!!

Alsace & Lorraine

2009-05-06T20:17:00.004+02:00

Wow, has it been a month? It seems there's nothing like the re-starting of full-time work to slow down the pace of blogging! April was a busy month, but there wasn't much to report on up until our trip last weekend to the Alsace and Lorraine regions of France, in the northeast of the country. This place had been on my must-see list for some time, so when the same professors who led the trip to Normandy last year announced they would also do this trip, we had to sign up! Like last year, several of our friends from Carl's school went along as well, so we had a nice little group to enjoy the trip with.

Alsace/Lorraine have at different times been part of both France and Germany, so both regions offers visitors a really interesting mix of the two cultures. Rolling hills, low mountains and several rivers also make it a very scenic area, so all around it's a very appealing place. In Alsace, we visited the cities of Strasbourg and Colmar, as well as the town of Riquewihr along the wine road where we got to sample some Alsatian wine. Also in this region was the World War II concentration camp of Natzweiler-Struthof, which was in a beautiful setting on a hilltop with amazing views, but despite that was obviously a rather depressing place.

In Lorraine, we visited the city of Metz, which I was a bit surprised to find was incredibly beautiful and had a very Roman feel to it. I'd never really heard much about the city before going there but I have to say it was probably my personal favorite of the places we visited, with Strasbourg a close second. Finally, also in Lorraine we visited Fort Hackenberg, an underground post along the Maginot Line, which was a network of fortifications built by France during the period between the first and second World Wars to defend against a German attack (obviously it did not succeed). It was another place that was in a beautiful setting but with a not so beautiful story behind it.

Photos:
#1 Strasbourg
#2 Natzweiler-Struthof
#3 Metz cathedral
#4 The University of Kent "gang" along with our trip leaders Dr. Palo and Madame Delsemme
#5 View from outside one of the installations at Fort Hackenberg

Finished, and Still Among the Living!

2009-04-05T17:37:00.002+02:00

So we both finished today, and all is well. I had a great run, was on track to meet my goal of 4:15 up through the 30th kilometer, but at that point it became clear that I just couldn't keep up that pace all the way until the end. So in the end I finished with a time of 4:23:36, but I'm not disappointed in the least because it's still 11:33 better than I did last year! :-)

Carl sadly didn't have it so easy - the poor guy (AGAIN!) came into this race with an injury that wasn't healed, and this time it was even worse for him than last year. I'm pretty sure he was in significant pain for the entire race, but he perservered and didn't give up when I'm sure most people (I include myself here as well) surely would have done so. He finished with a time of 5:23:26, and I'm very proud and impressed that he managed that under the circumstances. He did great, and I REALLY hope he'll be healthy for his next race and be able to run the kind of time he deserves to have!

Okay well I'm completely exhausted so will sign off now, in the hopes of perhaps squeezing in a nap before dinner. Thanks everyone for all of the encouragement, kind words and positive thoughts you've sent our way!

Paris Marathon, 33rd Edition

2009-04-04T20:17:00.004+02:00

While sitting on a rather long metro ride to get back to the hotel after the expo this evening, I was reading the small guide they printed with information about this year's marathon. In it was a page of statistics, some of which I found pretty interesting and thought I'd share with you.

This year there are 37,000 runners registered, which is 2,000 more than last year. A whopping 82.5% of them are male, leaving only 17.5% women! I have no idea why that is; I think the distribution is much closer to even in the US, but here I think that percentage breakdown is about the norm. Perhaps European women just aren't into distance running as much as their American counterparts, but who knows for sure?!?
Of this year's registrants, 69% are from France and 31% other countries.
The country with the biggest representation besides France is the UK with 5,078 runners registered. Belgium is #4 with 716 and the US is right behind at #5 with 708. And in case you're wondering, Carl and I were classified based on our residence, so we're counted as representatives of Belgium. Allez, Belgique!! :-) **FOLLOW-UP: It turns out I was wrong on this point. Since we paid with a US account it turns out we were actually counted in the tally of Americans.
When the first Paris marathon was run in 1977, there were just 87 finishers - last year there were 28,844!
The fastest times ever run on this course were 2:06:33 for the men, 2:23:05 for the women. If all goes perfectly I hope to be able to reach the halfway mark around the time the male record holder crossed the finish line. Kind of puts that in perspective doesn't it?

As I write this I'm sitting in the lobby of our hotel, because the wi-fi connection doesn't reach into the rooms. I've seen a number of runners pass through, either going for light jogs or carrying the little "goodie bags" they give out when you pick up your race bib and t-shirt. I struck up a conversation with one of them, a guy from Denmark named Claes, who extended us an invitation to stay with he and his family if we ever want to visit Copenhagen - seriously! Marathoners are a friendly bunch, and there's definitely a "fraternity" of sorts shared among those who have conquered this distance. If all goes well, tomorrow I'll join the "extra special" group of crazies who have willingly subjected themselves to this torture more than once!! Kidding of course. ;-)

Look for the post-race update tomorrow afternoon!

Paris - Part Deux

2009-04-02T08:58:00.003+02:00

In two more days we're off to Paris to run the marathon for the second time. We're both excited and nervous, although having an idea of what to expect certainly takes the edge off the nerves a bit. For me this is also going to be the last marathon, at least for a while. The training is just so time consuming and hard on the body that I've decided to stick to the (comparatively) shorter distances of half-marathon and below.

I'm feeling good going into the race, except for the fact that I'm just now getting over a moderate case of food poisoning. I should be totally fine by Sunday though, so I'm not too worried about any negative effects from it. Carl, on the other hand, has been battling a calf strain for almost 3 weeks, and is just getting back near 100% now, so we'll have to wait and see how it holds up. Send some healing thoughts his way, I know he'll appreciate it!

We're off to Paris early Saturday afternoon and will return Monday, so it's a short trip compared to last year. That was a necessity though, because Carl has to get back to work and I have my new job starting next Tuesday as well! We should have wifi access at our hotel so I will do a blog update on Sunday afternoon (like last year, by 4 PM CET, which is 10 AM Eastern) to let everyone know how it turned out. Hopefully it will be all good news!!

Belgian Culinary Delights

2009-03-21T09:29:00.005+01:00

"A country with distinct Flemish (Dutch) and French influences, including language, it is sometimes said that Belgium serves food with the quantity of Germany and the quality of France."

--The Global Gourmet

We've been living in Belgium for a little over a year and a half now, and it's occurred to me that although I enjoy the cuisine very much, I really haven't learned how to make any of the traditional Belgian dishes myself. When it comes to cooking at home I've largely stuck to things I already know how to do, but I think now it's time to "branch out" a bit! I have a few more weeks remaining before I start my new job (on April 7th), so between now and then I'm going to try making a few well-known Belgian recipes at home, and will let everyone know via the blog how things turn out! But first, a little introduction to some of the best Belgian dishes (besides mussels and fries) is in order.

From the Flanders region, one recipe I've really been wanting to try is for Flemish Carbonnade, or "Vlaamse Stoverij" in Dutch. It's a Flemish version of the French beef stew, using (of course!) beer instead of wine as a base. It's very hearty, flavorful and one of my favorites! Another dish which I actually have yet to try is "Waterzooi", which hails from my favorite Flemish city of Ghent and means "watery mess" (the Flemish have a terrific sense of humor!). It's another stew, cream-based and usually made with either fish or chicken. It sounds tasty so I think I might give it a try sometime!

The Wallonian cuisine is heavily French-influenced so you see a lot of French recipes, but the Wallonians have also created their own niche, including many ways of serving game (think duck or rabbit) and some really terrific cheeses. I haven't found any really well-known "signature" recipes, perhaps because of the sheer variety of ways in which different items are prepared. I can say though, that some of the best meals I've had in Belgium were in Wallonia, so I'll look up a few recipes, give them a try and see if I can do them any justice!

Have any comments or recipe suggestions to add? By all means post them under the "Comments" section if you do!

Chocolate!!

2009-03-04T20:48:00.002+01:00

While trying to overcome my blogger's block and make good on my promise to write more often, I received a suggestion to do a post about the fabulous chocolate of Belgium (thanks Mom!). I frankly can't believe I never thought to do this before, especially considering that I've written individual posts about beer and fries already! So let's add chocolate to the list - then I can say that I've covered what I think most people would agree are the three greatest edible/drinkable claims to fame of this fascinating little country!

I've perhaps mentioned it in passing, but let me state it clearly: the quality and variety of tasty chocolate confections available here is world famous, and justifiably so! The main reason for this is the strict quality standards that Belgium has had in place for many years and has continued to uphold, even as the EU has relaxed its requirements (yes, the EU has passed regulations addressing the content of chocolates produced within its borders!). The tradition of Belgian chocolate making goes back several hundred years, and in many cases chocolatier families have been in business for generations, passing down their closely guarded recipes from one family member to the next.

Most of the chocolates sold in shops are pralines, which are essentially a thin chocolate coating filled with almost anything you can imagine (for example fruit, coffee, hazelnut or more chocolate), in a nougat or creme form. They come in many shapes, and are often beautifully decorated to the point where you almost feel badly about eating them...almost! ;-)

Since most of my readers are American, I'll also briefly touch upon how Belgian chocolate differs from what is typically produced in the US. The most notable difference is the sugar content; Belgian chocolates are a lot less sweet than their American counterparts, which also means they are not as high in calories - a nice bonus indeed! That lack of extreme sweetness, combined with the quality of the ingredients, allows the flavors of the chocolate and fillings to really take center stage, with truly amazing results!!

Mmm...tomorrow sounds like a great day to pay a little visit to my neighborhood chocolate shop! :-)

Blogger's Block and BIG NEWS!!

2009-02-22T09:54:00.004+01:00

I've been suffering from a pretty severe case of blogger's block lately, probably because things have been relatively quiet up until this past week. We haven't done any traveling, and my mind just wasn't coming up with any interesting ideas to write about. So the blog has been neglected a bit; my apologies to my faithful readers who keep checking, and with the apology is a promise that I will get back into the swing of it and start writing a bit more often!

Now, on to the second half of my post title. On Friday afternoon I received some excellent news that both Carl and I have been waiting for months to hear. I've been offered a job here in Brussels!! It's with a company called ARC Europe, which is both an umbrella organization for automobile clubs around Europe and a seller of roadside assistance services to automobile manufacturers, who in turn provide those services to their customers under warranty. I'll be working in the second area, in their reporting and analysis group. It's a combination of IT/database work and statistical/financial analysis, which is right up my alley as a data and finance "geek". I'm also really excited about the company, because it's a very international work environment (about 16 nationalities represented among only 40 employees!) and I really like the atmosphere and all of the people I've met there. The process of getting the work permit will begin this coming week, and we've set a tentative start time of the first or second week of April. Exciting times, and although I'm sure there will be a period of re-adjustment to the "working world", I am thrilled to get back in the action!!

The Trappist Tradition

2009-01-24T14:26:00.004+01:00

I know I've mentioned the impressive array of truly excellent beer available in Belgium before, and the country's reputation for brewing is certainly known worldwide. There is however, a small category of beers for which Belgium is particularly famous, and that is the Trappist brews.

The Trappists are a branch of the Cisterian order of monks, and they live in about 170 monasteries around the world. They support themselves primarily through manual labor and the sale of goods produced at the monastery. For seven of the Trappist monasteries, that includes beer brewed by the monks themselves, and six of these are located in Belgium (the 7th is in the Netherlands). To be called a Trappist beer, there are strict rules surrounding the brewing process, and laws exist to prevent the misuse of the title by non-Trappist operations.

The seven Trappist abbey-breweries are:
Achel
Chimay
Koningshoeven (Netherlands)
Orval
Rochefort
Westmalle
Westvleteren

Having tasted five of these seven beers (all except Koningshoeven and Westvleteren), I can tell you that they are among the best you'll find anywhere. Chimay is my personal favorite, my favorite beer in the world in fact! Carl's favorite is Westmalle, and we both recently cemented our "fan" status by purchasing the official glasses of both beers so we can enjoy the full Trappist beer experience at home!

Cheers!!

Beautiful Baden-Württemburg!

2009-01-03T22:57:00.005+01:00

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a safe, happy and healthy holiday! As I mentioned in a previous post, we spent Christmas with our friends Volker and Johanna in Tübingen, in Baden-Württemburg state in Germany, and then returned to Brussels for New Year's Eve. We had a wonderful time in Germany, and as always I have some photos and commentary to share!

First up of course, is Tübingen. It's a university town of about 88,000, located approximately 30 minutes drive south of Stuttgart, and it's absolutely beautiful...think cozy riverfront Alstadt (old town) complete with half-timbered buildings, cathedral and hilltop castle. The best part was that it's the hometown of our good friends, so we had very knowledgeable guides and the unbelievably warm hospitality of their families. We were made to feel so welcome, almost like we were part of the family! It was truly a memorable holiday and we can't wait to go back in June to attend their wedding!

While we were there we also had some time for daytrips, one to the small town of Gosbach (SE of Stuttgart), where our friends from Portland, Andreas and Lyndsay, were visiting his family for the holidays. Andreas' parents fed us a terrific traditional Swabian lunch (one of several spectacular meals we enjoyed); afterwards we hiked to the top of one of the small mountains above town, then back down into the neighboring town to warm up in the hot spring pools located there. We followed that with dinner at a local restaurant and board games back at the house, topping off a great day. Thanks guys!!

Finally, on our last day in Germany we drove about 90 minutes southwest to Freiburg, a city of just over 200,000 people on the western edge of the Black Forest, close to the French border. The drive crossed over some beautiful mountain terrain before dropping back down into the valley where the city is located. We enjoyed the old town for a few hours, had lunch in a great brewery and visited the big cathedral called the Münster, located on a very picturesque square in the center of the old town. One of the original city gates also remains, but sadly any photos of it are ruined by a huge McDonald's sign prominently featured on the adjoining building...they did at least avoid using the bright yellow and red colors but still, couldn't they have found somewhere ELSE to put that??

On the 28th we returned to Brussels, and spent New Year's Eve with friends at a party that was conveniently located only 3 blocks away...which came in quite handy when we stayed there until 4:30 AM!! :-)

Photo #1: Riverfront of Tübingen, with the Alstadt to the right
Photo #2: the Christmas tree at Johanna's mother's house - with REAL CANDLES!!
Photo #3: side of the Münster cathedral, Freiburg
Photo #4: Happy New Year!

A Very Merry European Christmas

2008-12-22T18:02:00.002+01:00

The holidays have really crept up on me this year, mostly because I was sick for the last week of November and the first two weeks of December. I'm finally back to 100% just this past week, but now there's so much to do in so little time that it's been a little crazy! Anyway, I doubt you want to hear all the details, so I'll move on to the fun stuff...

We had hoped to fly home to the USA this Christmas, but Carl's work schedule and our budgetary restraints made that impossible. We won't be alone however...thanks to the kindness and generosity of our friends Volker and Johanna and their families, we have been invited to spend the holidays in Tübingen, Germany! It's a pretty university town in the state of Baden-Württemberg in the southwest of the country, and we've never been there before so we're very excited to see the area and experience a real German Christmas. We leave tomorrow afternoon and return the evening of the 28th, so we will have plenty of time to enjoy the surroundings and partake in the holiday celebrations!

So to all our friends and family near and far, have a very Merry Christmas, and I will write again soon!

I'm Dreaming of a White...Birthday?

2008-12-09T22:07:00.002+01:00

Truth be told, I'd have most preferred an unseasonably warm and sunny day today, but I suppose the white stuff would be the second choice! It didn't accumulate on the ground, but late this morning I looked out the window and saw some big, fluffy white flakes falling, and it made me smile!

Sorry to have neglected the blog a bit, but it's been an uneventful few weeks aside from the nasty and persistent colds that Carl and I both picked up in England. This one has been particularly hard to shake for some reason, and I'm not even sure whether I'm feeling better or just getting used to not feeling well. Regardless, I'm ready to be over it already!

In other news, a month or two ago we signed up to run the Paris marathon a second time, so training for that has begun - though the illness has thus far hindered my efforts to get back into running condition. The date is April 5th if anyone was thinking of coming to watch! Finally, I had another job interview which went very well, and with any luck I may have some employment news to report soon. I don't want to say any more than that because I don't want to jinx anything, but I think my chances are pretty good, so fingers crossed!

That's all for now - I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the holiday season thus far!!

Canterbury Tales

2008-11-26T21:33:00.004+01:00

Last weekend was our big trip to England to attend Carl's graduation ceremonies, something we'd both been looking forward to for a good while. First, we were excited about seeing a number of our friends who have left Brussels and moved on to other places during the past several months. Second, Carl was excited to finally get his degree "in hand"; and third, we were visiting the UK for the first time in nearly seven years!

We took the Eurostar train over on Thursday evening, spending Thursday and Friday nights in the town of Canterbury in Kent, where the graduation ceremony was held in the Canterbury cathedral on Friday night. That was very exciting, and Canterbury is a really attractive, quaint and historic town. We had a great time catching up with friends and doing the graduation thing, but sadly didn't have the chance to check out the cathedral as tourists, because it was closed all day Friday for the graduation ceremonies (there were three of them held that day). Oh well, I guess we'll have to go back sometime!

On Saturday we drove south to see the famous white cliffs of Dover, and fortunately the sun came out for a while and we were able to see just how white they are! We later stopped in the medieval port city of Rye, where we spent the night in a nice bed & breakfast just outside of town. Finally, on Sunday we drove into East Sussex to visit the town of Battle, the aptly named site of the Norman invasion of 1066, commonly known as the Battle of Hastings (the larger town of Hastings is nearby). That was a really interesting place to see; the battlefield itself is still there, as well as what's left of the huge abbey complex built by William the Conqueror to honor/commemorate the lives lost in the battle. Unfortunately the weather didn't contribute to our enjoyment of the almost completely outdoor site - it was cold, rainy and windy for most of the time we were there, and by the end of the visit we were completely soaked and thoroughly chilled!! We did manage to warm up on the car ride back to the Eurostar terminal on Sunday evening though, and we got back to Brussels around 9PM Sunday night. A short visit, but well worth it and fun!

Pictures:
#1 - the graduate and yours truly
#2 - the BSIS gang, or some of them at least!
#3 - the Canterbury cathedral just before the ceremony
#4 - the White Cliffs of Dover
#5 - Carl attempting to stay dry during our visit to the Battle of Hastings sight - the battlefield itself is behind him

Le Quartier Thieffry

2008-11-14T16:37:00.004+01:00

I'm not sure if I've stated it clearly in any previous posts or not, but our neighborhood continues to be one of the things we've enjoyed most about our time in Belgium thus far. For that reason I thought I'd take a little time to properly introduce it to those of you who haven't yet made it here to visit us.

Our commune (municipality) is called Etterbeek, but the specific neighborhood is called Thieffry, named after the decorated World War I aviator Edmond Thieffry, who was born in this area. It's in the southeast part of the city, and is along one of the metro lines and several tram lines, making it an extremely convenient place to live. Despite that, it's a pretty quiet area (meaning no noisy bars or people on the street at all hours) that definitely has a "neighborhood" feel to it.

One of the things we really love about it is the amount of shops and restaurants available within a 5 minute walk. We have two good-sized supermarkets and one smaller convenience market (open on Sundays too - not typical here!), as well as several other shops like a home improvement store, interior décor shop, drugstore, beauty shop, bookstore, travel agency, jeweler, flower shop, electronics store, etc...you get the idea. What really makes it special though, is the great little food shops that are literally all within 3 blocks of our front door. I went out this afternoon and photographed some of them to show you what's on offer:

there's the butcher;

the baker;

and while there's no candlestick maker, we do have a terrific chocolate shop! I've gotten to know the lady who runs it with her husband, and she was nice enough to let me photograph her inside.

Finally, to round it all out we have a cheese shop and a wine shop.

There are more of course, including an Italian specialty foods store and another gourmet shop that sells lots of prepared foods. Then there's the restaurants, pubs and cafés, which are a whole other category I didn't have room for in this post. Perhaps I'll get to that one later!

So now perhaps you see why we like being in this neighborhood so much, and why we're so glad that upon our arrival, knowing practically nothing about the city, we managed to be so lucky to find such a great community! Now, if we could just manage to upgrade a few things about the apartment...

Europe's Love Affair with Obama

2008-11-06T18:56:00.002+01:00

Okay, so I don't want to spark a big political debate here, because the election is over and we have a new President-elect...but I feel I have to spend a few lines of my blog describing the mood in Brussels following the US Presidential Election.

It has received lots of coverage so I'm sure everyone is well aware that most Europeans strongly favored Barack Obama and are thrilled at the results. The cover of the French version of today's Metro (a local daily "commuter" paper) translates to "Obama's American Dream" and is covered with a huge photo of a smiling, waving Obama as well as photos of numerous teary-eyed, ecstatic Obama supporters...subtle, eh? When Carl went to work yesterday he was also asked about the election from practically everyone he encountered. He's the only American working on his floor and it seems everyone was particularly interested in talking to him about it. To put it quite simply, people here are both happy and excited, to say the least!

I've heard it said that Obama has some pretty massive expectations to live up to, and I think that couldn't be more true, particularly when it comes to transatlantic relations. Time will tell if he is able to meet such high expectations, but the enthusiasm and positive reaction to a US election from this side of the pond is certainly something that hasn't been seen for a while. And if that enthusiasm translates into better cooperation and understanding between the US and the EU, that's got to be a good thing, right?

'Nuff said!!

Het Boekenfestijn is Fantastisch!!

2008-10-29T19:58:00.003+01:00

A few weeks ago Brussels hosted a huge traveling book fair, called "Het Boekenfestijn". It's operated by a Dutch company called De Centrale Boekhandel, and throughout the year it travels throughout the Netherlands and Flemish-speaking parts of Belgium. A friend of mine who has lived here for several years told me you could get some amazing deals on books (in English too!), greeting cards, wrapping paper, etc., so despite it being on the other side of town, Carl and I decided to check it out.

Boy, am I glad we did! We got a total of 9 books (a mix of hardcover and paperback), a box of holiday greeting cards and some fancy holiday ribbon, all for about €39! What a steal!! These weren't obscure titles that no one wants to read either - there were lots of newer books from best-selling authors available, along with cookbooks, reference books, travel books, you name it! Sometimes the books are what they called "slightly damaged", but when we found that to be the case the damage was so minor that it was a complete non-issue. They said some can be previous editions as well, though I perused the travel section and never noticed anything out-of-date.

Anyway, we are now huge fans of Het Boekenfestijn, and can't wait to visit it again when it comes to town! They won't be back in Brussels for a while, but they'll be in Ghent in December and Leuven in February, so we might just have to hop a train and make a day of it!!

We Have Finally Arrived!

2008-10-25T19:45:00.002+02:00

After approximately 14 months, I believe that we can finally declare ourselves legitimate residents of Belgium, and for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we are now contributing to the tax revenue of the State (and generously I might add - Belgium has one of the highest income tax rates in the world!). Secondly, thanks to the friendliness - hopefully out of sincerity and not pity - of a couple of Carl's new colleagues, we can now count two born-and-raised, bonafide Belgians among our circle of friends! I know for sure that one of them reads this blog - yes, I mean you, Marc - so feel free to comment here if you wish, either to make fun of me or to say something witty, whatever you choose! :-)

Anyway, after a bit of a lull in my blogging activity I also wanted to let everyone know that we're doing well. Carl's job is going great, my job search is, well, going, and we've been enjoying the visit of our friend Erica along with her travel companion Riya, who has stopped off to visit us here in the midst of her 3 month European travel adventure. We're enjoying Belgium as much as ever, and on almost a daily basis we feel both thrilled and thankful to have had the opportunity to continue on this adventure...hopefully there's much more to come!

Loaded Interview Questions

2008-10-12T10:45:00.003+02:00

Since I've been looking for a job here I've had a few interviews, one of which was about 10 days ago. In general I'd say interviews aren't that much different here than they are in the US, though Europeans aren't much into asking those classic "behavioral" types of questions - you know the ones - "Tell me about a time when...". I'm glad for that too, because I never cared for those types of questions anyway!

There is however, definitely one BIG difference, and my recent interview highlights it perfectly. Here was how the interview started:
Question 1: "So we have your date of birth as XX/XX/XXXX - is that correct?"
Question 2: "Are you married?"
Question 3: "Any children?"

So while my American readers pick their jaws up off the floor, let me explain to any European readers that all three of those questions are simply not allowed to be asked at any stage of the interview process in the US - it's meant to protect job seekers from discrimination. Right now, as a married but childless woman in my early-mid 30's I'm not likely to face much discrimination, but what if I had three young children and was going through a divorce? If an employer knew that because they were allowed to ask it in an interview, isn't it possible that they might think twice about hiring me out of concern that I might be unstable or unreliable? From my understanding they're not supposed to consider things like that (out of concern for discrimination), but let's face it, in reality I think there's a good chance that they might, regardless of what they're supposed to do.

I'd love to hear the insight of one of my non-American readers on this topic. Do you think I and my fellow Americans are being overly concerned about nothing, or do you agree that asking these questions in an interview is unnecessary at best, and potentially discriminatory at worst?

A Weighty Issue

2008-10-08T12:28:00.005+02:00

My recent trip back to the US highlighted one of the big differences between Americans and Europeans - waistlines. Though it upsets me a bit to say it, I have to admit that both Carl and I noticed it almost immediately. It's a difficult and sensitive subject to address, and up until now I've mostly avoided it because I didn't want to sound rude or preachy. I'm going to try to address it now though, because after living here a year and then visiting the States I believe I've gained some new perspective on the topic. It's also a serious issue facing not just the US but the whole world, so while my readers are few I thought it couldn't hurt to bring a little extra attention to the subject.

The Statistics
They're pretty startling, and confirm that the difference I noted wasn't just a matter of skewed perception on my part. As of 2004 (the last year for which data from both countries was available here from the World Health Organization), 44.1% of Belgians and 66.3% of Americans had a body mass index (BMI) over 25, which is categorized as overweight. Additionally, 12.7% of Belgians and 32.2% of Americans had a BMI of over 30 and were considered obese. For more information about BMI from the US Centers for Disease Control click here, and to calculate yours click here for English units and here for metric units.

The Reasons
Here's where things get more difficult. The prevalence of weight problems is rising just about everywhere, but given the cultural similarities, why is it so much worse in the US as compared to Europe, and specifically Belgium? There's no one simple answer, but from the articles and discussion I've reviewed it generally seems to come down to food choices (what we eat), portion sizes (how much we eat) and activity levels, and all three likely contribute to the disparity.

My Two Cents
Okay, before I start throwing my opinion around, let me state the obvious: I am no scientist or health expert, and my opinion on this subject is just that - one person's opinion. That said, here are my thoughts...

Food Choices - the US is really into offering low-fat/fat-free/low-carb/low-calorie options of just about everything, but to state it quite simply, Belgium is not. You can get reduced fat (but not fat-free) milk, yogurt and sometimes cheese in grocery stores, but that's about it. Other observations: the famous American creation of the processed, frozen "TV dinner" (low cal or otherwise) is nonexistent in grocery stores here, and fast food restaurants (while present) are nowhere near as numerous as they are in the States. Produce is also a bit cheaper and meat a bit more expensive here, even after accounting for currency differences, so that makes it easier to buy healthy foods on a budget. Last point: soft drinks are VERY expensive to buy either in the store or restaurants - easily twice the cost of the US - so people tend to drink less of it.

Portion Sizes - I notice some differences here, again particularly when it comes to sodas/soft drinks. From my experience, the concept of large glasses of fountain drinks with free refills is nonexistent in Belgium, and I was completely overwhelmed when I went to the US and felt like I was constantly being asked if I wanted a refill of my huge, 20-oz soda that I'd barely half finished...I never wanted a refill but almost said 'yes' a few times just to make the servers leave me alone! When it comes to restaurant meals I wouldn't say there's a huge difference in portion size...but every meal in Belgium, even the pub burger & fries, comes with a small salad. As a result the portion of fries may be a bit smaller than what you'd get in the US, but I wouldn't say the difference is striking.

Activity Levels - Belgium wins pretty clearly when it comes to incorporating physical activity into daily life, at least from my perspective. To put it simply, Belgians walk more and drive less on average than Americans. Some people say that Americans are 'lazy' and reluctant to get up and move or walk instead of drive, but I think that conclusion is a bit oversimplified and certainly unfair. I think it has more to do with the design of American neighborhoods, especially in the suburbs. I recently tried to explain to a friend from France who has not been to the US before, that even if your suburban US home is less than a mile from stores and restaurants, walking to these places often involves busy multi-lane roads with few or no sidewalks or crosswalks - a decidedly unpleasant experience. In return I got a shocked stare and a response that was something along the lines of "are you serious?". Even in the more suburban Belgian neighborhoods, the design of the streets is more walker-friendly and public transit is much more convenient, encouraging people to walk instead of drive...and in my humble opinion, that makes all the difference.

Conclusion
So unfortunately I think us Americans, while hard-working and deserving of credit for building a prosperous country, could learn a thing or two from Europeans about taking care of our health. Awareness of the problem is growing however, and design movements such as New Urbanism are catching on, so perhaps change is underway. What do you think? Feel free to agree, disagree or share your perspective in the Comments section!

Home Again

2008-09-30T23:00:00.003+02:00

Well it's been a very busy three weeks or so, but we're now settled back into our apartment in Brussels, and Carl starts his new job tomorrow!! We had a blast seeing everyone, shopping and indulging in our favorite foods, but we're also glad to be back. We're also looking forward to getting back into more of a routine, after a very fun but hectic summer of visitors, travel, job hunting, English teaching and dissertation writing!

My job search continues as well...one job I interviewed for didn't come through (which was okay because I wasn't sure I wanted it anyway), but I have a meeting with a recruiter this Friday so hopefully something will materialize soon. In the meantime I'm doing great, Carl is excited to start his new job and we're both very happy that we've been so fortunate to be able to stay here!!

Quick summary of our visit to the USA:
US states visited: 4 (CA, OR, MD, VA) + Washington DC
Stores shopped: at least a dozen!
Furniture moved: all of it (from one storage unit to another, and some of it sold - whew!)
Sushi meals eaten: 3
Burritos consumed: 4 each
Microbrews consumed: I lost count
Runs completed: only one - yikes!
Pounds/kilos gained: I ain't tellin'!!

Pic: me and the Ervin's (Tosh, Bree, yours truly, Carl, Bill - didn't I marry into a nice looking bunch??)

Dreaming of burritos and sushi

2008-09-10T12:41:00.002+02:00

An odd combination I know, but those are the two things I'm most looking forward to eating when we land in the US later this week. Burritos are pretty hard to find here, and when you can find them they're either not very good, or decent but EXPENSIVE!! See last fall's post titled "Pablo the Belgian Mexican" for more on the $27 chicken burritos of Brussels. After a year of living on our own homemade versions of it, I'm thrilled at the idea of savoring one of my favorites, the big honkin' $6 burritos from Chipotle!!

Sushi, while not hard to find here and of generally good quality, is also quite expensive, so I've only had it three times in the past year...once just the other day actually, courtesy of Yoko and Nanako, the greatest English students ever! :-) I can hardly wait to visit Mio, my favorite sushi haunt in Portland, and also the fabulous lunch buffet at a place in Herndon, VA - the name of which escapes me at the moment, but we know where to find it!!

Apart from burritos and sushi, I'm also looking forward to enjoying my mother-in-law's fabulous cooking (I'm told she's already bought huge quantities of sukiyaki meat - YUM!!), and lots of other places that serve some of our favorite things. Geez, with all this eating we'd better schedule a few runs into our visit, or I'll come back here with some unwanted extra baggage!! :-)

So in case it isn't obvious, I'm very excited for this trip, and can't wait to see family and friends, do some shopping and enjoy a bit of Americana!!

The elusive Belgian friend

2008-09-06T01:49:00.002+02:00

Before we came to Belgium I remember reading that the Belgians were rather reserved (maybe not the perfect term, but the best I can come up with), and hard to befriend if you are an outsider/foreigner. Well after over a year here in Brussels I think I can say with some sense of authority that that statement is VERY TRUE!! Just last night an English friend and I were discussing just how hard it is to get to know a real 'local' here. We agreed that we aren't sure what it is exactly, but it seems that there's something that gives the Belgians this 'elusive' quality when it comes to forming friendships.

I'm not terribly bothered by it because we have plenty of friends here from lots of different countries, and I know in part it's because we've mostly been associating with expats connected with the University of Kent...but when I stop to think about it, it does seem a bit odd that I can't count a single Belgian citizen among my circle of friends, even after living here for over a year. So I guess when we finally do form our first bonafide Belgian friendship, we'll really feel like we belong!! :-)

The "B" towns of the Belgian Ardennes

2008-08-28T22:04:00.005+02:00

While my Dad and his wife Cathryn were in town, we made a few excursions to places Carl and I hadn't been before, particularly in the southern regions of Belgium, referred to as the Ardennes. We spent most of our time in two particular towns, Bastogne and Bouillon - hence the post title.

Bastogne was our first stop. This town is famous among World War II buffs as being the center of the December 1944-January 1945 "Battle of the Bulge". Here's the gist of the story: the Nazis, in a last ditch effort to turn the tide of the war in Europe, began a large offensive into SE Belgium and Luxembourg, in an attempt to reach Antwerp and split the Allied forces. This incursion created a "bulge" of German forces on the war map, which is where the common name of the battle came from. The battle covered a large region, but much of what has made it famous happened around the town of Bastogne, where the American 101st Airborne found themselves surrounded. Outnumbered, undersupplied and in freezing, snowy conditions, the 101st held off the Nazi assault on the town until the weather cleared and the Allied air forces could attack and drop critical supplies and ammunition. They continued to defend the town, never allowing the Nazis to capture it and take control of the important roads leading through the town into the rest of the region. Elsewhere along the battle lines, fighting raged for nearly a month before the Nazis were finally forced to withdraw. Before that happened however, more than 85,000 troops on each side were either killed, wounded, captured or missing.

The people of Bastogne were incredibly grateful to the American soldiers who protected the town from recapture by the Nazis, and as a result they built the Mardasson Memorial (inaugurated 1950) and later the Bastogne Historical Center (a museum) next to it in 1976. The museum and memorial were both very well done, and it's interesting to walk around the town and see streets, cafés and even menu items named after American commanders. Aside from the history it's also an attractive town in a very pretty area of rolling hills, trees and farmland, as you'll see in one of the photos taken from atop the memorial.

Picture #1: Looking up at the Mardasson Memorial
Picture #2: The view from the Memorial, looking towards the town.

Bouillon was the second town we visited, and it is medieval to the core. It's set is a picturesque valley at a sharp bend in the Semois River very close to the French border, and it's topped by the castle of Godfrey of Bouillon, a medieval knight and a leader of the first Crusade. Interestingly, he actually put the castle into hock in order to finance the Crusade! The first mention of a castle on that spot was in 988, but it is known to have existed much longer than that. We did a self-guided tour of the castle, and it was all you'd expect - old, dark, and creepy, but also beautiful and with some gorgeous views! The town itself is also really charming, though it was definitely crowded on this summer weekend. I'd like to go back another time and perhaps enjoy some of the outdoor attractions of the area, such as hiking and kayaking on the Semois. Anyone interested? :-)

Picture #3: view over the town from the castle
Picture #4: another view of the town, looking in a different direction

It's been a YEAR!

2008-08-23T16:45:00.003+02:00

Today is the one year anniversary of our arrival in Brussels - WOW!! It's amazing to think of how the time has flown - it really doesn't seem like it was an entire year ago that we were arriving here and getting settled. It's also hard to believe that we've known all of our friends here for only about 11 months or so. Many of those in Carl's program talk about how unusual it is that so many close friendships have been formed during this short period. It's true too; Carl and I have both moved around a lot in the last 10 years or so of our lives, and the friendships we've made here are definitely among the closest we've ever formed in such a short period of time. I guess the shared experience of being far away from home and in an unfamiliar place is a unique one, so we all tend to stick together and support one another more than usual. We still love and miss our friends and family in Portland and elsewhere (of course!), but we've definitely formed some great, hopefully lifelong friendships in our time here so far.

In other news, we've definitely been busy lately. Carl turned in his dissertation on the 11th so that's a big weight off of his shoulders (and mine to a point as well, as I was his Editor-in-Chief!). My dad and stepmother arrived the very next day and were here until just this morning. We had a great time showing them around Belgium, including some new places in southern Belgium that we'd never visited...so look for a trip report on Bouillon and Bastogne in the next few days!

On the employment front, Carl will be signing his contract with Proximus/Belgacom on Monday. I also have a few prospects, one resulting from my meeting with the Proximus recruiter that I mentioned before. There aren't any specific opportunities with them yet, but I am in their database and several hiring managers have seen my CV (résumé) and have said I would be a strong candidate should a position open up. The other prospect involves a US company that will at the moment remain unnamed; I applied for a position there this week, and got a phone message about it the very next day! Thus far I've only traded voicemails with them, but the fact that they called so quickly HAS to be good! So there is definitely some activity happening on the job front, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that something will happen before we fly to the US.

Travel plans

2008-08-18T13:07:00.003+02:00

Carl recently confirmed that the start date for his job will be October 1st, so we are taking advantage of the opportunity to travel back to the States now, before it involves using vacation time. We also got a great deal on a three-city sequence of flights, so it just made sense to do it now. So for family and friends in San Diego, Portland and Maryland/Virginia, here is our itinerary:
San Diego: 12-18 September
Portland: 19-22 September
MD/VA: 23-28 September

For those in Florida, I'm sorry that we won't be making it there on this trip. For some reason going to FL inflated the airfare beyond affordability, so we'll have to do that at a later date - perhaps in winter, when it's cold and dark here, but still warm and sunny there!

We're really excited to see everyone, visit favorite restaurants and stock up on clothing and other items that are either unavailable or more expensive here. We will also be sure to bring as much good beer and chocolate as we can safely transport! See you soon!

Drum roll please...

2008-08-08T21:08:00.006+02:00

So it's been almost two weeks since my last post...I had decided that I would wait to write again until we received some word about our status here in Belgium, but that took much longer than expected. So what should have been a break of about six days turned into much longer; sorry about that! Anyway, there is finally news to report, so here goes...
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WE'RE STAYING!!!!
Last month I said we needed a miracle - I guess miracles do happen after all!!

Carl was just offered a position today with Belgacom, which is the main telecom/cable service provider here in Belgium - they're actually the largest private employer in the country, so it's a very established company, and from what we've heard it also has a very good reputation. He'll be working in the Marketing department for their mobile service division, which is called Proximus. He's very excited! There's even a little bit of extra good news to go with it - evidently Belgacom likes to hire couples, even entire families, and the recruiter who first contacted Carl about his job also wants to talk to me! So I now have an interview on Monday, and it's therefore possible that both of us could end up working there!

So there you have it - our heads are completely spinning right now, from both this news and the stress of finishing Carl's dissertation - as I write this he's typing madly, making last minute edits and additions, hoping to have it finished by lunchtime tomorrow so we can print it, get it bound, and just relax for the rest of the weekend!! Not that there's really time for that - my Dad & Cathryn arrive Monday morning, and we have lots to do to get ready for their visit - not to mention the things we need to take care of now that we know we're staying, like hopefully securing our apartment for another year. More on all that later though, for now we're just enjoying the news that our year overseas won't be just ONE year, but perhaps many!!

Provence et Le Côte d'Azur - ç'est magnifique!

2008-07-26T00:10:00.008+02:00

In case the translation of my title isn't apparent, I'll state in English that our first visit to the south of France was wonderful, and I wasn't ready to leave!! It's a big region with so much to offer, and the five days we spent there barely felt like enough to scratch the surface. I'll try to sum it up by day so I don't forget anything, because we really did see a lot.

Day 1: We arrived in Nîmes late Thursday night, so Friday was our first day in the region, and that was the day the Tour de France passed through town. I'll post some stuff about the tour tomorrow, but before the tour events we had the first part of the day to explore the city. Nîmes was an important city in ancient Rome, and as a result it has some very old and well-preserved Roman ruins. We visited two of the three big sites (Maison Carée and Tour Magne, pictured), but unfortunately we ran out of time and didn't get to go into the Arena. It was quite a hike to the Tour Magne, but the view over the town, and the gardens we saw on the way there were well worth the effort!

Day 2: We picked up the car first thing in the morning and drove to Pont du Gard (pictured), the site of one of the largest and best preserved Roman aqueduct bridges in the world. It's a popular site (translation: touristy!) and gets crowded during the day, but we arrived just before 10 AM and left just as the crowds were arriving - smart move!
After that we headed towards Antibes/Juan-les-Pins, twin coastal towns a few miles west of Nice and our home base for the next three nights. We arrived in mid-afternoon, got settled into our lodging and headed for the beach in Juan-les-Pins, followed by a leisurely evening in town. It's a nice beach town with good dining and nightlife, but the beach left a little bit to be desired - it was sandy and attractive, but also narrow and crowded.

Day 3: This day we walked over the hill to Antibes, and checked out its cool Old Town, Picasso Museum (we had no idea at the time, but it was the first day it reopened after being closed for well over a year for renovations - as a result we got in free!), and a great little uncrowded beach tucked into a corner of the Old Town. The weather wasn't ideal this day, with clouds and a few showers, but we still got some sun and enjoyed a bit of R&R. (Pictures: beach in Old Town, looking into Old Town from the beach)

Provence et Le Côte d'Azur - ç'est magnifique! (Part 2)

2008-07-25T16:54:00.010+02:00

Day 4: "Drive the coast day". In a single day, we visited Nice, Monaco, Ventimiglia (Italy) and Cannes, and drove every stretch of coast in between! I don't know whether I'd recommend doing this to others or not - for us it was okay because we had a limited amount of time and didn't mind spending a decent part of the day driving. However, the amount of distance we covered meant that we only got to spend about 1 1/2 hours in each place (except for Cannes, where we went for dinner followed by a fireworks display that was part of a competition - it was cool!), and it was a long day. Still, it was a great way to get a small flavor of each place, so that if we go back we'll know which places we'll really want to linger and spend some time (more on my thoughts there in a moment). (Pictures: rocky beach in Nice, view from the drive from Nice to Monaco, Cannes sunset view)

Day 5: We checked out of our lodging in Juan-les-Pins and spent the day driving back to Nîmes. We headed west, past Cannes and into the smaller beach communities that lie between Cannes and Saint Tropez. The drive along the coast is slow going, with windy roads that go through the center of towns with their accompanying pedestrians and local traffic, so we only made it part of the way to Saint Tropez before we headed inland and caught the Autoroute (highway) so we could get back to Nîmes in time to return the car. We stopped in a great little town called Anthéor (pictured), a beautiful spot with red cliffs, sandy beach and low-key atmosphere, where we spent our last few hours on the beach and had a nice lunch. We arrived back in Nîmes around 6:30 PM, and our train back to Brussels was the next morning. (Pictures: two views of Anthéor)

Observations:
-The French Riviera has a little bit of everthing; beaches (sandy and rocky), hills, modern cities, old towns, high fashion and a lot of seriously rich people!
-As a general rule, most of the beaches east of Antibes (Nice to the Italian border) are rocky, so if you're looking for fine sand, look to the west!
-The well-known towns/cities in the region (meaning practically every inch of land in between Cannes and the Italian border) are CROWDED!! If you know that going in you'll enjoy all the different flavors of each city, but if you go there expecting an idyllic, relaxing beach vacation you'll probably be disappointed.
-If you ARE looking for said idyllic, relaxing beach vacation, head for one of the small, lesser-known communities west of Cannes. After all the hustle and bustle of Nice, Monaco, etc., this part of the coast was refreshing, and was a surprise favorite for me. The air and water are clearer too, as a result of less people and traffic!
-Ventimiglia (just across the Italian border) was unfortunately a dissapointment. The town wasn't terribly attractive, the beach was super rocky (killed our feet to go in the water!) and absolutely crawling with hawkers trying to sell you stuff. Seriously, we were on the beach for maybe 30 minutes, and we had at least six different people trying to sell us hats, jewelry, sunglasses, you name it...really annoying. The water also got deep REALLY fast, with relatively strong currents to go with it. Ayzsha had some gelato which she said was great, but other than that it was not worth the drive.
-Off the beach, the inland towns and cities of the region have a lot to offer as well. We only had time to visit Nîmes and the Pont du Gard aqueduct, but there are innumerable cities, hill towns and natural sites, enough that I'm not even sure a few months would allow time to see it all!
-If you like good food and wine, you will LOVE it here! We had some awesome meals, and I tried some of the local wines, which were very good as well. The inland area around the city of Grasse (just north of Antibes) is also famous for fragrances and perfumes.

We need a miracle!!!

2008-07-24T17:04:00.003+02:00

We got back from the south of France yesterday (which was GREAT by the way - more on that tomorrow, including pictures - I promise!), and Carl's niece Ayzsha flew home this morning, so we are at home and by ourselves again, with the due date for Carl's dissertation quickly approaching. Seventeen days and counting!!

I haven't mentioned much lately about our status here in Belgium, partly because I didn't have anything definitive to report, but also because I didn't want to jinx an opportunity that had recently presented itself. Carl had a job interview a few weeks ago, with a trade association here in Brussels, much like the one he worked for in his internship. We just found out today that he he did not get the position (their loss!), and although both of us have applied for a number of other jobs, we don't currently have any other imminent prospects. That means that we must now begin making preparations to return to the United States in a little over a month's time. We can legally remain in Belgium until the end of October, but our dwindling resources make it rather imprudent to do so. We're disappointed for sure, but by no means does that mean we're giving up on our hopes of remaining in (or perhaps coming back to) Europe. We're continuing to think positively, but we're also prepared to accept that perhaps it just wasn't meant to be...and if that's the case, that'll be okay. Still, keep your fingers crossed, pray, think happy thoughts - whatever you do to bring good things, maybe send a little bit of it our way!

The Latest Happenings

2008-07-16T22:27:00.004+02:00

I gave my first "on my own" English lessons today - three of them to be exact. They went very well; teaching is actually easier than I thought it would be! Obviously I know the subject matter, but knowing something and knowing how to teach it to someone are two different things. I'll admit that I was a bit nervous about whether I'd be able to explain things clearly, come up with good examples to practice with the students, and generally think on my feet. I feel pretty confident now though, and I think I'm going to enjoy the experience.

It's interesting, the perspective you gain on your own language when you teach it to someone else. You start to notice all the idiosyncratic, non-intuitive things in English that you've never really thought about, because you just take them for granted as obvious...for instance, why is the plural form of knife 'knives' and not just 'knifes'? Anyway, its interesting to see the things that people find difficult about learning English as a second language, and did I mention the money's not bad either?

So on to other happenings...Carl's niece has been with us since Saturday, and we've been having a great time showing her around the country (we even took her into Germany a bit on Sunday!) and introducing to some of our friends here. Tomorrow evening we're off to France, first to Nîmes and then Antibes/Nice. I couldn't be more excited to get some warm weather and water, and also just to get back to France! We'll be there until next Wednesday, so look for a trip report by next Thursday at the latest. Au revoir!

Bad News for Belgium

2008-07-15T19:29:00.005+02:00

Hi everyone! I'll write more tomorrow about what's going on with us, but for now I wanted to tell you about some big (and unfortunately not good) political news out of Belgium today. I copied the following article from the BBC website...

Belgian PM offers his resignation

Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme has tendered his government's resignation to the king after failing to carry out political reforms. Mr Leterme had set a 15 July deadline to push through measures to devolve more power to the regions. He took office in March - after nine months of political deadlock - as the head of a coalition of Dutch and French-speaking parties.
King Albert II has yet to decide whether to accept the resignation. The government coalition includes Mr Leterme's Flemish Christian Democrats from the north as well as Socialists from the French-speaking region of Wallonia in the south.

The prime minister was due to present a state reform deal in a speech to parliament on Tuesday. Before last June's general election, Mr Leterme had promised his supporters even more devolved powers for regional governments in a country that is already Europe's most decentralised state. In French-speaking Wallonia - where unemployment is higher and the economy sluggish - there are fears this would leave their region worse off. "It appears that the communities' conflicting visions of how to give a new equilibrium to our state have become incompatible," Mr Leterme said in a statement. He added that "state reform remains essential".

His French-speaking coalition partners said they hoped the government could be kept together. "I think we still have time to find a solution in the hours and next few days within the framework of what we already have," said Deputy Prime Minister Didier Reynders. "Otherwise we'll have to look for something else." "The king now has to be given time to consult a number of people. It's far too early to say what will happen next." The newspapers reflected the atmosphere under headlines like "Total Chaos". "No one can predict what is going to happen now," said the centre-left daily De Morgen.

Belgium's Dutch and French-speaking communities seem to exist side-by-side, but with little interaction, says the BBC's Dominic Hughes in Brussels. No single party bridges the linguistic and geographic gulf between Belgium's two regions. Traditionally, the prime minister comes from one of the majority Flemish parties.

DIVIDED BELGIUM
-Three federal regions: Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north; French-speaking Wallonia in the south (which has a German-speaking minority); Brussels, the capital, officially bilingual
-Federal state has national responsibility for justice, defence, federal police, social security, nuclear energy, monetary policy
-Regional governments oversee education, employment, agriculture, transport, environment

Summer Runnin'...

2008-07-09T20:48:00.005+02:00

had us a blast!! :-)

We did have a good time actually, as the pictures kinda show. We went to Bruges/Brugge on Sunday afternoon, to run in the "Guldensporen 10 Mijl van Vlaanderen" (sorry but the link is in French and Dutch only). The race was at 3:00 PM, which was nice because it's an hour long train ride to get there, so we fortunately didn't have to get up really early! Our friend Margaret ran as well, and we did pretty well - all three of us finished in the 95-97 minute range, which means we ran between 9:30 and 9:45 per mile. Not very fast, but respectable, and we're pretty happy with it!

Our running "calendar" is now empty as we wait to figure out where we're going to be come September. If we stay here we have our eyes on an early November marathon that runs along the coast from Nice to Cannes in France...I know, another one already?!?! I was a little reluctant to do another so soon, but the opportunity to run in such a beautiful place isn't one I can turn down easily!

Oh, and a follow-up on the 4th of July party last Friday. It went well, we had a group of about 20 turn out and there was lots of food, beer and Wii Guitar Hero (yes, thanks to the generosity of Carl's sister we now have a Wii - more on that in a later post). I was a total lame-o of course and took only a couple of photos, none of which really turned out. Sorry to have fallen down on the job there!!

We're having a...

2008-07-03T12:32:00.003+02:00

PARTY!!!!

(you didn't think I was going to say "baby", did ya??) :-)

In honor of American Independence Day tomorrow we are hosting our first party here in Brussels! It seemed appropriate since we've attended quite a few get-togethers hosted by others...we figured it's our turn to host! Our place isn't large but I think it'll be fine for the 18-25 people we're expecting. Everyone is bringing something so I don't have to do too much cooking, and we also have a good-sized balcony on which we'll be able to cook with a borrowed hibachi grill. Should be fun!!

So between prepping the apartment, buying all the stuff we need and going to our three-hour French class tomorrow morning, the next 24 hours are going to be VERY busy! We're also attending a birthday picnic on Saturday afternoon, and running in a 10-mile race in Bruges on Sunday afternoon...what were we thinking when we scheduled that?!?!

Other upcoming events: Carl's niece Ayzsha arrives next Saturday! She'll be here in Brussels with us until Thursday, when the three of us board a train to Nîmes, in the south of France. We'll be there two nights, then we're off to Antibes (just west of Nice) for three nights, then one more night in Nîmes before taking the train back here on the 23rd. We're so excited, especially because one of the nights we're in Nîmes the Tour de France will be stopping there! So if you watch the coverage, look for us in the crowd at the end of the stage on July 18th!!

Carl's internship ends on the 17th (the day we head to France), so when we get back and Ayzsha departs, it'll be time for him to focus, FOCUS, FOCUS on finishing his dissertation! It's due August 11th and he's got a decent start on it already, so it shouldn't be a problem...it's still a lot of work though! During that time I'll have several students going with my English teaching as well, so it will be a busy month. My dad and his wife Cathryn arrive the same day that Carl's dissertation is due too, so it'll be nice to celebrate this milestone with them!

Needless to say we've got a busy two months ahead of us...it's exciting though, and we're enjoying every minute of it!!

Spain wins

2008-06-29T23:32:00.004+02:00

Well we've just finished enjoying our first Euro football (soccer) tournament - it came down to Germany and Spain in the end, but much to the sadness of our German friends, Spain managed to win the Final. It was fun to get involved and get caught up in the excitement - and believe me, despite the fact that all the matches were held in Austria and Switzerland there was plenty of excitement here! This tournament only happens once every four years, staggered vs. the World Cup so that Europe has a major international football tournament every two years.

This was also the first time I've worn another country's flag on my face - we joined our German friends at the pub to watch two of the games, and both times I ended up with the German flag painted on my cheeks! I figured what the heck, I like Germany, and Belgium didn't qualify so why not support Deutschland? There is photographic evidence but it's not on my camera, so I'll have to see if I can get a copy to post here later.

Happy (slightly belated) Solstice!

2008-06-22T22:07:00.004+02:00

We've never lived this far north before, so the extremely pronounced differences in daylight between summer and winter have been very noticeable here! We're at approximately 50°50' N, which is about the same latitude as Calgary, Alberta. So when the summer solstice came around yesterday, we marveled at the over 17 hours (!) between sunrise and sunset.

Unfortunately yesterday was overcast so I couldn't get a good picture of the sunset, but tonight I got a pretty decent photo of it from our bedroom window. I couldn't figure out how to get the time to display on the photo so you'll just have to trust me when I say that I took it at exactly 9:55 PM, about five minutes BEFORE sunset! You can't see the sun because it had already passed behind the church down the street, but from the color of the sky you can definitely tell that the sun is still around! It's 10:27 PM as I write this, and there's still light enough to see. It's really nice in summertime, but after experiencing the flip side in winter I can tell you that that end of the pendulum isn't nearly as pleasant!

Anyway, we're very much enjoying summertime here in northwestern Europe, and we hope all of you are having a great summer as well! Happy barbecuing!

Working for a living

2008-06-21T10:57:00.003+02:00

Recently I met the wife of one of the PhD students at Carl's school, and she asked me if I would be interested in helping her out with some of her English students. She's taught English for years and has a thriving "practice" of teaching to individuals here in Brussels, generally on a one-on-one basis. I think she's getting a little burned out and wanted to reduce her schedule for the Summer, and since it pays €25 per hour I am happy to help!

I met the first student yesterday afternoon, a six-year-old Japanese boy who does quite well with English considering how young he is. I'm taking over a half-dozen or so students of hers, but only a couple of them are kids - ALL of them are Japanese however! I guess she started out with a couple of Japanese students in the beginning, and her name quickly circulated through the Japanese community here, to the point where she had all the students she could handle!

Anyway, she's going with me the first time I visit each of the students, to make the introductions and fill me in with regards to where they are in terms of ability, what materials they're using, etc. They all have their own books and other materials, so basically all I'm there to do is to make sure they understand the concepts being introduced in their books and help them conversationally - basically just talk to them, ask questions, stuff like that. I was a little nervous at first at the idea of doing this because I don't have a teaching background, but I think one-on-one instruction is a great way to start out, and I'm definitely excited at the prospect of having a little money coming in! I start teaching in earnest in early July, so I'll let you know how it goes!

The fun and fabulous pub quiz!

2008-06-15T22:47:00.002+02:00

I've been meaning to mention this for a long time, but somehow I keep forgetting! Since late last Fall we've been taking part in a weekly pub quiz, every Monday night. It's mainly a British phenomenon and has been around for some time, but while I'm told it's catching on in the U.S., I don't recall seeing it there before we left last year.

So for those of you who aren't familiar with the concept, here's a quick overview: it's a team game, with teams of up to five permitted. There are eight rounds in total. The first is a "picture" round, with photos, drawings or cartoons that must be identified. In this category we've seen everything from celebrity mugshots to album covers to serial killers to cartoon ducks! Rounds 2-6 and round 8 are standard trivia questions (general knowledge), while round 7 is music. Generally this means that a short clip of a song is played, and teams must identify the artist and song title (though there are sometimes variations on this, such as identifying movie theme songs or guitar soloists). Each participant pays €2.50 to play, and the top three teams win prizes. In the case of our venue (De Valera's Irish Pub) that means free dinner for the winners, a bottle of champagne for 2nd place, and a free drink for 3rd. I am proud to say that we have assembled a formidable team, and in addition to a number of 2nd and 3rd place finishes, we have also won 3 times!

The reason I finally remembered to write about pub quiz is because we've been missing it lately - with the Euro 2008 football (soccer) tournament in full swing, the pub is packed every night with football fans. As a result the pub quiz was cancelled last week, and will be cancelled again tomorrow. Strangely enough though, we will be at the same pub tomorrow night, watching the Germany-Austria match with our German friends - Geh Deutschland!!

Protests at the Commission

2008-06-08T12:35:00.006+02:00

Carl spent a good part of this past week at the European Commission, working an exhibit booth for his employer at the "Green Week" event. It was a good experience for him as he got to meet a number of interesting people, but there was some unanticipated excitement when on Wednesday a protest outside the Commission building (a number of European fishermen were protesting high fuel prices that threaten to put many of them out of business) turned a bit violent. You may have even seen news coverage of the protests - I'm not sure if it was mentioned in the US or not, but our CNN International edition here covered it quite a bit.

He and the other event attendees were safe inside so there was never any danger, but as you can see from the photos he was very close to the "action" and could see everything. Fortunately he arrived before the bulk of the protests began and didn't need to leave until after things calmed down. Even if he had been planning to leave he couldn't have, because they had the building secured and the transit routes in and out of the area were shut down completely! Brussels definitely has its share of demonstrations; we're on the US Embassy's e-mail list so we get a message from them alerting us whenever a protest is planned, and there's usually one every week or so, particularly now that we're getting into the Summer months. We usually steer clear of them for safety reasons, so this was something unusual that we thought we'd share with you. Democracy at work!

Sidenote: the first picture is of Carl and his boss at their Green Week booth. Also, the banner being held up in one of the pictures translates to: "0.40 at the pump and nothing else" - referring to the maximum price the fishermen are willing to pay

Origins of the French/Belgian? fried potato

2008-06-03T12:22:00.005+02:00

In one of my earlier posts I mentioned the famous "pomme frites" of Belgium, and how despite the English using the word "french" to describe them, they were actually invented here. The Belgians in fact cringe whenever they hear their claim to fame food associated with the French, but as I've learned more on the subject I've discovered that there is some debate as to the origin of the famous fry. It's a pretty interesting story actually, so I thought I'd share a bit of the history of the potato and the famous fry.

The potato was originally discovered growing wild by the Incas of South America, and they have eaten them for centuries. The Spanish Conquistadors were the first Europeans to come into contact with the spud, and they brought some back to Spain with them in the 1500's. The Spaniards didn't take to them however (they called them "edible stones"), and neither did successive groups of English colonialists, who also brought back samples on their ships. In fact, only the Irish, who were going through a difficult period of famine and discovered that the potato grew beautifully in their climate, were actually willing to eat them. Others thought they were suitable only for livestock and prisoners, and some even thought they were poisonous.

It wasn't until Frenchman Antoine August Parmentier came along that the potato began to gain some acceptance in Europe. He was held prisoner in Germany during the Seven Years War, and during that time was fed only potatoes. Upon his return to France he evidently hadn't had enough spuds, and so made it his mission to convince the French of the potato's usefuleness. Through some rather sly tactics he finally convinced the French that he was right, and by 1813 the potato had been accepted as edible, even appealing by many Europeans.

Soon after this acceptance, someone who to this day remains unknown decided to slice up a potato and drop the pieces into a boiling pot of fat, and the fry was born. The French and the Belgians both strongly insist it was one of their countrymen, and historians who have studied the subject remain divided as well. Whoever it was, the creation became wildly popular in both countries as early as the 1830's, but it took another hundred years before Ray Kroc perfected his own version for McDonalds and made it a staple of American fast food. That means that while the Americans perhaps get some credit for helping the fry gain worldwide popularity and acceptance, we don't get any credit at all for its existence.

So there you have it! As for me, I'm inclined to give credit to the Belgians for the creation of the frite, because the French already get credit for so much in the culinary world, and the fry seems just, well, a little too un-refined to be theirs! So Belgium it is - that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!! :-)

In case you haven't had enough of the frites story, click here to read more. This article served as my source, but I definitely ommitted some interesting stories involving Thomas Jefferson's love of the potato and Marie Antoinette's love of potato flowers (yes, really).

Burning questions

2008-05-28T12:03:00.003+02:00

People are naturally very curious about our decision to leave our jobs, sell our townhome and come to Belgium this past year. I can't blame them, because it's a rather unusual and bold thing for two established individuals in their 30's to do! For the most part I have been asked the same handful of questions by everyone, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to address some of them here, for those of you who are curious but haven't asked!

"How did you come up with the idea of going to Belgium in the first place?"
It started with a web search for graduate schools overseas. We didn't know much about Belgium so it was really the University of Kent program that attracted Carl to come here. We were both thrilled at the idea of living in another country, so it came down to which school offered the best program for the money. Kent had the right program at an attractive price, so Belgium it was!

"How can you afford to do this?"
Well we certainly aren't independently wealthy (unfortunately!), so this move has come at a sacrifice. Our funding comes from various sources, but generally speaking it's a combination of (non-retirement) savings, profits from the sale of our property in the U.S., student loans and small amounts of income earned here. We've put ourselves on a tight budget, but we're still having a great time and will have some cash left over at the end to re-establish ourselves once this is all over.

"What do you do with your time (directed more at me than Carl)?"
This is by far the question I've been asked the most. I think perhaps it's because we all wonder at least a little bit what we would do with ourselves and our time if we didn't have full-time jobs and/or family responsibilities. As for me, I've kept reasonably busy, but I'm not the type-A personality who always has to be doing something. As a result, some days I've been content to simply curl up with a good book or read up on a topic I don't know much about. My knowledge of the news and current events has improved dramatically, and I've become quite good at our weekly "pub quiz" trivia tournaments! I've also spent time studying both French and Dutch, editing papers for Carl and his classmates, training for and running a marathon, as well as planning several trips on a rather tight budget (planning independent budget travel is really quite time-consuming!). I am reaching the point where I look forward to "working" again, but I am very grateful to have had this time to take a step back from my career, explore new interests and get to know myself better! Such a hiatus obviously comes at a risk, but for me it has been more than worth it!

"Where are you heading next?"
We're really hoping to stay here in Europe, whether in Brussels or elsewhere. We've both applied for jobs in Paris, and Carl also has applied at an organization in Switzerland. We're focusing mainly on French-speaking regions because that's the language we're both most comfortable with (with Spanish being a close second for me), but for the right opportunity we would consider going anywhere. If nothing comes through job-wise here in Europe we will be returning to the USA around early September, most likely to San Diego (Carl's family lives there), to continue our job search from there. After that I have no idea where we'll end up, but I'll be sure to let you know as the situation develops!

"Do you miss the USA?", "Do you want to come back?" and various other iterations of the homesickness question.
Well, not really. Sometimes I think longingly of Chipotle burritos and the ease of being able to communicate in my native language, but I've adjusted pretty well to the European lifestyle and I think if we go back I will miss just as many things about here as I do about the States. I'll be a little bit sad if we can't stay here, but the USA is still my home country, and of course I wouldn't be upset to return there.

Got any other questions? Add them as a comment to this post and I'll do my best to answer them!

Whirlwind tour of Eastern Germany

2008-05-24T16:15:00.003+02:00

The former East Germany is a really interesting place, and in just five days we managed to cram in visits to Berlin, Potsdam, Dresden, Meissen, Leipzig and Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Needless to say we took full advantage of the time we had!

Berlin is a big city, and because of its having been separated into East and West for so long, it's very spread out. We only had one day there, so to see as much as we could in a limited time we decided to do one of those hop-on, hop-off tour buses. Carl and I have never done one of those before, and I'll confess that in the past we've made fun of them and swore that we'd never set foot on one! :-) Oh well, I guess there's a first time for everything, and in fact I think it ended up being a good choice that enabled us to get around quickly and at least get a glimpse of the major sights. As for Berlin itself, it's an interesting blend of old and new, it's "cool", and it's actually quite affordable for a city its size. It must be a great place to live!

Potsdam is kind of a suburb of Berlin, and is a very pretty town. Unfortunately we didn't have time to see one of its main attractions, the Sanssouci palace and gardens; we were there to take a cruise among one of the many lakes (many of which are linked by rivers and canals) in the area. At this point I'll also mention that with the exception of one day we had really beautiful weather, which made some of these outdoor excursions even more enjoyable. Europe's been having some nice late Spring weather, and we've really been enjoying it!

Dresden and Leipzig are the two big cities in the former East Germany (besides East Berlin). Both were heavily damaged in World War II, but both have also been completely rebuilt and are quite attractive. It was really sobering to see some of the pictures of what these places looked like after the war, as compared to now. We also didn't know what to expect in terms of aesthetics, given the former East German government's penchant for building Soviet-style apartment blocks, but we were pleasantly surprised to find some beautiful places along the way. The infrastructure is very good as well, and we had no problem managing on our extremely limited German. The people in both cities were friendly, the prices very affordable, and there's quite a bit to see! If any of you are looking to stretch your dollars when it comes to European travel, I would really recommend checking out this part of Germany.

Meissen and Lutherstadt Wittenberg are two towns you've probably never heard of, and neither had we! Lutherstadt Wittenberg was just a quick stopover on our way to the airport, to check out the church where Martin Luther reportedly nailed his 95 theses in 1517, starting the Protestant reformation. The church where the first Protestant services were held is there as well, so we stopped to pay a quick visit to both of those. Meissen, on the other hand, is known mainly for its fine (and very expensive!) porcelain. Meissen is where we based ourselves for the last three nights of our stay, and this town was a surprise favorite for all of us! It's in a stunning setting right along the Elbe River, topped by a cathedral and castle that are perched on the top of a steep hill. It was absolutely beautiful, the people were very warm and friendly, and the food we had there was great! It's only a matter of time before word gets out about this charming town, and I only hope that greater notoriety won't ruin its charms.

One last word on this trip - we had some excellent meals in this area, particularly in Meissen and Dresden. There's a lot more to German food than sausage and sauerkraut, and even though I'd been to Germany before, I found the cuisine here to be about the best German food I've had anywhere.

Photos:
#1: Carl and I at the Brandenburg Gate
#2: One of the many old castles and palaces we saw on our cruise from Potsdam
#3: The view from our dinner table one evening in Meissen - it was even better in person!
#4: Central square of Dresden; the Residenzschloss is on the left, the Hofkirche on the right
#5: The church in Leipzig where Bach was cantor (the guy in charge of singing and music) from 1723 to 1750

I'm still here!

2008-05-21T22:18:00.003+02:00

It's been a REALLY long time since my last post - my apologies for the lull, but I've been busy showing my Mom and stepdad around Belgium and also traveling to Eastern Germany with them (they return to the U.S. tomorrow). We've had a great time visiting with them and seeing some new places, but after three trips in the past 3 1/2 weeks I'm looking forward to some time at home!

Be on the lookout for a report on the Germany trip - I also have a few non travel-related posts planned, so be sure to check back for more over the next few days!

The Grand Tour of Normandy

2008-05-08T22:30:00.007+02:00

It's taken me a few days to get this post published because we've been quite busy since we got back, but last weekend we took part in a group bus trip to Normandy, France. We left early Thursday morning and returned Sunday night, and despite the long drive we had time to see a lot of different aspects of the region. We aren't normally big fans of the bus tour concept, but it was being led by our French teacher, who is Belgian and also a professor of Art History, and her husband who is American and a professor at Carl's school, so we had very knowledgeable guides. At only €190 per person (all inclusive!), it was also the deal of the century, so we just couldn't turn it down!

We visited many of the sights associated with D-day of course, such as Omaha Beach and the American cemetary, the German cemetary at La Cambe, Pointe du Hoc, Arromanches and the Memorial Museum at Caen. To walk along the very same places I've read about, studied and seen in movies was really moving, and the near perfect weather we had every day except Thursday made the setting beautiful as well. The Normandy landscape is scenic to say the least - rolling hills, wide sandy beaches, jagged cliffs, and postcard perfect countryside complete with cow pastures, apple orchards and fields of yellow rapeseed flowers (it's used to make canola oil).

This region is also full of history from other time periods, particularly the 1100's to the 1400's. The Norman invasion of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror was launched from here, and is commemorated in pictures in the Bayeux tapestry, which we saw in Bayeux. We also visited the square in Rouen where Joan of Arc was burned in 1431. Additionally, we saw several impressive cathedrals in Beauvais, Bayeux and Caen, and the ruins of the Château Gaillard near Rouen.

No trip to the region can be considered complete without seeing the massive and beautiful Mont St. Michel, topped by a beautiful abbey and surrounded by tidal sand/mud flats that can be walked on during low tide, but flood quickly at high tide and over the centuries have claimed the lives of many unwary visitors. The rock formation upon which the abbey is built just seems to rise up out of nowhere, making the place that much more striking against the relatively flat landscape that surrounds it. It's a very popular place to visit so it was very crowded and more than a little bit touristy, but even that couldn't take away from its appeal. It's a definite must-see if you visit Normandy!

Finally, our historical and architectural tour was broken up by visits to a cheese making factory and an apple orchard. The cheese factory, Isigny-Sainte-Mère, makes some fabulous Camembert and Pont l'Evêque cheeses for which Normandy is famous, and which we were able to sample and buy. Beverages made from apples, including alcoholic cidre, calvados (apple brandy), and pommeau (a blend of the cidre and calvados) are also famous in this region, and visiting the orchard was a real treat. The place we visited was a very small production, family-run business, and their products were just amazing - we brought home several bottles of cidre, pommeau and also regular apple juice, in additional to a fabulous jar of confit (very sweet, honey-like consistency spread often used as a marinade).

In case it isn't apparent already, Normandy was just AMAZING, and we had a really wonderful time. If you ever have the chance to visit there, definitely do so!

Picture #1: Looking off the cliff above Arromanches, towards Pont du Hoc. The large objects you see on the beach and out in the water are the remnants of the artificial harbor built by the Allies after the D-day invasion
Picture #2: Looking up the hill from Omaha Beach. This is what the soldiers who came ashore that morning had to climb - under heavy fire, of course.
Picture #3: The remains of the German defense post at Pointe du Hoc. An elite group of 225 Army Rangers, with fire support from ships offshore, had to destroy the powerful guns and concrete fortifications that were here in order to disable the strongest German coastal defense and allow the invasion to go forward. They succeeded, but upon completing their mission less than half of them were alive and unhurt.
Picture #4: view of Mont St. Michel.
Picture #5: The Abbaye aux Hommes (Abbey of Men) at Caen, built by William the Conqueror in the 11th century; 80% of this city was destroyed during the war, but this church was spared because the Allies learned that residents were holed up inside for protection.

Lausanne, Fribourg and Geneva, oh my!

2008-04-30T23:29:00.004+02:00

This post is a few days late in coming, but I've been incredibly busy this week trying to help Carl finish his essays for school, along with editing the essays of two other students. We leave for Normandy first thing tomorrow morning, but before doing that I wanted to tell you about our time spent in Switzerland last weekend. Here goes!

First of all, Switzerland is just as beautiful as the pictures and postcards make it look! We spent three nights there, one each in Lausanne, Fribourg and Geneva, and we lucked out by having beautiful weather in all three places. The lake setting of both Lausanne and Geneva, with the French Alps as a backdrop (the other side of the lake is France, after all!), was absolutely stunning, but Lausanne was definitely our favorite of the two. It's smaller, quieter and is perched on a hillside, so you can get great views of the lake from almost anywhere! The hills also mean lots of huffing and puffing, but it was worth it for the view - and as an overnight visitor you get a free transit pass, so you can also take a tram or bus if you get tired. We visited the Olympic Museum in Lausanne too, which was really a treat!

Fribourg is a little off the tourist trail, and so is less crowded and touristy, but no less beautiful. We had a blast there getting to know my blog buddy Miz K and her hubby - who else? - Mr K! They were excellent hosts, and showed us Fribourg's beautiful Old Town in the afternoon, followed by an authentic Swiss raclette for dinner - yum!! Thank you both for your hospitality, we had a wonderful time and can't wait to show you around Brussels!

Pictures:
#1 - Lake Geneva and ferry, viewed from the Olympic Museum in Lausanne
#2 - Another view of Lake Geneva, from the lakefront in Lausanne
#3 - Geneva at night - the giant soccer ball (or football if you hail from this side of the pond) is in anticipation of Euro 2008, the European Football Championship being held in Switzerland and Austria in June
#4 - The Old Town riverfront in Fribourg
#5 - Another view of the Old Town, Fribourg

Gearing up

2008-04-21T16:07:00.003+02:00

Spring has finally come to Belgium, in the form of warmer weather and leaves on the trees. Today is by far the nicest day we have had all year; mostly sunny and a high of 17C (63F). It's just beautiful!

We also have a busy month coming up...Carl is working and writing the essays for his second term courses; they're due on May 5th but since we're traveling both this weekend and next, he doesn't have a whole lot of time left to get them finished! I'm also keeping busy helping him review and edit his writing, editing papers for a few of his classmates who aren't native English speakers, planning our upcoming travels and getting ready for our next visitors (my Mom and stepdad Joe), who arrive on May 7th.

This weekend we're headed to Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg, Switzerland, next weekend to Normandy, France, and a few weeks after that we're taking Mom & Joe to Berlin and Dresden, Germany. It's all a bit overwhelming, but we felt we ought to take full advantage of the opportunity we have, and see as much as we can while we're here! As always, check back for more trip reports!

As far as the future is concerned, the job hunting has begun! We are really hoping to be able to remain here in Europe, so we are both searching for work here. Prospects are limited due to our US citizenship however, so if necessary we will begin preparations to return Stateside around late August. This year is going by so fast, it's almost unbelievable!

Photo finish

2008-04-14T13:26:00.006+02:00

I finally received the picture I ordered of me finishing the marathon. The photographers took several but this one was definitely the best, and since they charge a fortune for them (15 euros each!), I only ordered the one. I knew I was being photographed of course, so the huge smile and the arms in the air was a little bit for the camera, but the emotion was the real thing! The feeling of crossing the finish line was awesome, and I'm so glad I lucked out to have a photo that conveys it so well!

The second photo is of all 35,000 of us at the starting line - they provided us with a small electronic version of that one for free at least! Just to give you an idea, Carl and I were near the back of the pack, on the left side as you look at the picture.

Paris and marathon stories

2008-04-11T22:40:00.008+02:00

We returned from Paris yesterday, and we had an absolutely wonderful time - and finally our legs feel normal again! I now also have an idea of how the French - or the Parisians, at least - are able to eat and drink like they do and not (generally speaking) get fat - it's all the freaking stairs they go up and down on a daily basis! I don't think I would have realized it had I not been as sore as I was, but geez they have a lot of stairs there, especially in the metro system! I must have elicited some laughs those first few days, gingerly hoisting myself down the stairs with lots of grunting and grimacing!

Still, we couldn't let sore legs stop us from enjoying our first visit to the city of lights. There was just too much to see, and too little time to spend there! We did manage to make it to the big sights, places like the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe (both of which we climbed via stairs too!) Versailles, Notre Dame Cathedral, Sainte Chappelle, the Louvre, and the Musée d'Orsay. We missed out on Montmartre, the Sacré Couer, the Catacombs and several other sights though, and in general we didn't feel like we had enough time to just soak in the culture and enjoy the café and dining scene. I guess that means we'll have to go back! :-)

Before we went to Paris we had heard for years about the famous Parisian "attitude", and had prepared ourselves for the occasional rude individual. Well, maybe we over-prepared for that, or maybe we've adjusted a bit to the French attitudes since we live in a heavily French influenced city, but I must say that we didn't have even one bad experience. Everyone we encountered was polite and patient with our far-from-perfect French, and a few people were so friendly that it frankly caught us a little off guard! Regardless, the charm of both the city and its people definitely makes us want to return, and soon!

Now for some marathon stories...I'm not going to give the usual run-down of how my knees hurt at mile or kilometer such-and-such, but rather focus on my impressions and things I saw and heard during the race, because that's the stuff I think you'll enjoy reading about, and it's definitely the stuff I really want to remember!

First up is all the trash. The race had approximately 35,000 people participating, and that adds up to A LOT of trash! Just trying to get to the starting line was a challenge, stepping over all the discarded junk from the 30,000 or so who had already run over that space. We started pretty much at the back of the pack - it took us nearly fifteen minutes just to get to the actual starting line! - and I guess a lot of people decided early on not to wear the plastic bag "rain jackets" the organizers had been handing out (it hardly rained at all). Anyway, all along the course there were discarded water bottles, banana and orange peels, various empty sports gel packs and who knows what else. It was amazing though, by the time we finished the race and made our way back to the start at the top of the Champs Elysées, it was entirely cleaned up! I don't know whether it was volunteers or the city workers who did it, but they did an incredible job!

Next up is the scenery - I'm embarrassed to say that after a while, and particularly towards the end, I kind of stopped noticing it. This is pretty funny - at our celebratory dinner I mentioned to Dan, one of the other people from Carl's program who ran (we all finished by the way!), that I had somehow missed seeing the Eiffel Tower during the run; Carl nodded with me, because he hadn't seen it either. Well Dan looked at me like I was nuts and said "It was kinda hard to miss - we practically ran right past it!" To my blank look he says "Uh, it was to your left around kilometer 30?" Yeah, oops, missed that one! I guess in the latter stages of the race I was too focused on getting to the next kilometer mark to pay attention to what was beyond the street I was on.

Now what I did notice was all the people cheering us on, the bands who came out to entertain us, and also the other people running with me. First the spectators: our race bibs had our first names on them, so throughout the race I had people cheering me by name - that was great! I'll never forget the first person who cheered for me - a little girl about 10 years old who yelled "Allez, Jennifer!", pronouncing my name with the cutest French accent...totally made me smile! There were easily tens of thousands of people out there, and it was everybody; little kids holding signs to encourage their mom or dad, elderly residents of the city, families of the runners, tourists taking a break from sightseeing, and firefighters from at least a half-dozen different fire houses. Oh, and for you single ladies out there - the Parisian firemen do NOT disappoint! :-)

Now for the entertainment - we heard a pretty good variety of music, including steel drums, disco and a mini-orchestra, but the one thing that really sticks in my mind is the thought that every brass band in Paris must have been out there! Some were better than others - I remember thinking that the small band of horns playing around kilometer 38 sounded about like I felt at the time - but the fact that they all came out there to entertain and motivate us was awesome.

Last up, the other runners. Although I ran the race pretty much alone and only briefly conversed with a few people, because of the sheer number of people participating I was still surrounded by fellow runners the entire time. As a result I saw and heard a few things that were memorable in one way or another. One was a young woman towards the end of the race who ran past me, repeating out loud to herself over and over, "There IS no wall, there IS no wall". I imagine you've probably heard of the infamous "wall", but in case you haven't, it's basically the point at which the body runs out of its stores of glycogen ("instant energy") and has to begin burning its own stores of fat in order to continue. The fat stores don't provide energy as well as glycogen does, so when that switch happens it can produce a pretty severe fatigue - "the wall". As for me, I kinda bumped my head into the wall a bit, but fortunately I didn't hit it too severely!

The second "fellow runner" story is a little gross, but too funny to not share with you. Somewhere around kilometer 30 I came up behind a guy I hadn't seen yet in the race, with long, graying hair down to about his shoulders. I was directly behind him when all of a sudden I started hearing noises. At first I didn't pay much attention, but it continued, and after a few more seconds I was pretty sure the guy was farting! I looked around at the people to my left and right to see if they'd noticed, but if they had their expressions didn't give it away. Well as if I needed further confirmation, I then started to SMELL it! Meanwhile he's STILL letting 'em rip - it was unbelievable!! Needless to say I was pretty grossed out and managed to find the energy for a little burst of speed that got me past the guy...and thankfully I didn't see or smell him again!

Okay so there you have it, an extremely long post of Paris and marathon stories. Hopefully I haven't bored you, but I really wanted to get some of these memories written down before I forgot them! Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!

Pictures:
#1 - Catherine, Dan, Carl and I under the Arc de Triomphe just before the start of the race.
#2 - The Eiffel Tower at night, viewed from the top of the Arc de Triomphe - it's lit up like you see here for the first fifteen minutes of every hour, and it's beautiful!
#3 - Unusual but pretty view, looking up at the Eiffel Tower
#4 - The south side of the Notre Dame cathedral - the circular stained glass window is absolutely stunning from the inside!
#5 - Napoleon's casket - now I fully understand where the term "Napoleon complex" came from!

The Results

2008-04-06T15:45:00.004+02:00

Okay this is going to be short because we're both exhausted and want to squeeze in a nap before our celebratory dinner this evening, but I promised I would let you know how we did. Well, WE DID IT!!! We both finished successfully, and while we're a little worse for the wear and hobbling around like we're 90 years old, we're okay.

We're still waiting for the official chip timer results, but based on the time we kept on our watches, I finished in just over 4:35, and Carl in 4:39. I am ecstatic because I was aiming for under 5:00, and the pie-in-the-sky goal was 4:30, so I almost made it! Carl is a little disappointed with his time, but he had a really painful problem in the arch of one of his feet that came up around kilometer 28 (the marathon is 42.2 km), so by the time he neared the end of the race the pain was just too much and he had to slow down. Still, sheer determination helped him finish despite the constant pain, so without a doubt we are both happy with the results - especially considering that neither of us had ever done something like this before!

I'll post more once we get some rest, and hopefully we'll get some good photos from the race photographer that I can share with you as well. Till then, nighty night! :-)

The Final Countdown

2008-04-05T20:37:00.002+02:00

Wasn't that an 80's hair band song??? Well it's also the thought on our minds at the moment, as we sit in our apartment here in Paris (we rented a small studio apt. rather than stay in a hotel so we could make our own breakfast and have a little more privacy).

The start of the race is just under twelve hours away, and to say that we're nervous would be a bit of an understatement! We just got back from the Marathon Expo where we checked in, picked up all our stuff and had a pasta dinner. While eating our pasta we were watching a video of last year's race, and I think that's when it truly sank in for me - I am actually going to attempt to complete a MARATHON! Will I be able to finish? I think my body would have to completely give out in order for me to give up and not finish after all this training, but everyone has a point where they just can't continue, and I just hope I don't reach mine!

No matter how exhausted I am tomorrow, I promise to update this blog by 4 PM Paris time (that's GMT +1) to let you all know that we finished (we will!), and what our times were. It will probably be a short post, but I'll be sure to log in and at least tell you that much! Keep your fingers crossed and think happy thoughts for us! :-)

Atomium pictures

2008-04-02T22:19:00.004+02:00

I've been a bit slow in getting these added, but here are some pictures from Saturday, when Chuck, Sue, Carl and I went to the Atomium. I mentioned it in a previous post about things to do in Brussels, but basically it's a HUGE model of an Iron crystal that was built for the 1958 Expo, or World's Fair. It's magnified 165 billion times, and it really is big. The neat part about it is that the whole thing is accessible inside (though at €9 the admission isn't cheap), and it has some nice views of the northern part of the city. The "tunnels" that go between the large circular areas leave you feeling a bit "off balance" because you're moving at an angle, but that kind of adds to its futuristic feel. If the Atomium were to be built today it might not be considered spectacular, but in 1958 this must have been an incredible sight; even the elevator was the fastest in Europe at the time it was built!

Anyway, it's another item we can check off our list of things to see, and we can now tell our visitors about it and let them decide for themselves whether they want to go in, or just admire from the outside! Thanks Chuck & Sue, for helping us add to our tour guide qualifications!

More snow

2008-03-25T14:04:00.003+01:00

I mentioned in the last post that I took a picture from our back window after last night's snow. Well here it is!!

Dinant, Namur and Let It Snow!!!

2008-03-25T12:18:00.004+01:00

Yesterday was a holiday here in Belgium (Easter Monday), so Carl had the day off from work. Chuck and Sue are in Wallonia right now, so we decided to take a train south to Namur, where the four of us met up and together went to Dinant for the day.

Dinant is a small town in the southern Ardennes region of Belgium. It's in a beautiful setting, nestled between the Meuse River and the surrounding cliffs and hills - this is the hilly part of Belgium! At the top of one of the cliffs is the Citadel, a large fortress originally built in the 11th century that overlooks the town. We climbed the 408 steps to the top (there's also a cable car, but we decided we could use the exercise), where there are incredible views of the valley and guided tours of the Citadel grounds. It was a really interesting place, and has been the setting for some pretty brutal battles stretching all the way from the 1400's up to World War I.

After the tour and a "beer break" in the Citadel's café, we took the cable car back down the cliffside, where we went to one of the brasseries in town for a late lunch. The food was GREAT, one of the better meals we've had in Belgium in fact. While we were eating it also started to snow, and it has been snowing off and on from then until now, in Dinant, Namur and Brussels! In fact, it's snowing even as I write this! Last night we got about 1 1/2 inches (close to 4 cm) after we got home, and it was one of those really pretty snows that coats everything. I took a picture of the view out our back window this morning - so pretty! This is the first (and probably will be the only) time we've had accumulating snow this winter, so even though I'm ready for Spring, I'm glad we got one good snow before the warmer weather arrives.

Anyway, after lunch we returned to Namur and walked around a bit, and of course took one more beer break. With all these beer breaks you might think that we were getting a bit saucy, but we were definitely pacing ourselves and savoring the excellent beer! In each region of Belgium there are distinctive beers that are often available only locally, and since all four of us are amateur beer connoisseurs, we really enjoyed sampling the local offerings and sharing them amongst ourselves.

After our final beer break we walked back to the train station - in heavy snow of course! - and took the train back to Brussels and home. Chuck and Sue have one more day in Wallonia, but tomorrow they'll be here in Brussels until they fly home Sunday morning. I think they're having a really good time despite the weather, and we hope it will continue here in Brussels!

Pictures:
#1: The town center from across the river, with the Tower of Notre Dame (the big church) and the Citadel in the background)
#2: No, Carl and Sue aren't performing an acrobatic feat here - this is one of the bunkers in the Citadel that was bombed during World War I, and as a result was shifted a good 23-30° off center. It's a very odd feeling to stand in there, throws off your balance entirely!
#3 and #4: Views from the Citadel, overlooking the town and Meuse River
#5: Chuck, Carl and I playing in the snow in Namur!

Brrrr!!!

2008-03-23T16:42:00.003+01:00

We're having a bit of a cold snap here in Belgium, and over the past several days we've seen our share of rain, small hail and even snow, interspersed with short "teases" of sunshine - sometimes all in the same hour. The weather here can be STRANGE!!

Unfortunately the lousy weather coincides with the visit of our friends Chuck and Sue. We had hoped that the warmer temps and occasional sunshine that we'd had for several weeks would continue while they were here, but no such luck! They're taking it in stride though, and we enjoyed an overnight visit with them in Bruges on Friday/Saturday. Today they headed south to the Wallonia region, and tomorrow we will meet them in Dinant to spend the day with them and visit that town - for more on Dinant, read my post from January 31st. We're excited as this will be our first visit to Wallonia, and hopefully we'll be able to take some good pictures despite the weather! On Wednesday they return to Brussels to spend four nights here before heading home. They are our first guests and we are excited to show them our new (if temporary) home!

In other news, we have booked a trip to Switzerland in late April. We'll visit Geneva and Lausanne, and will also take a train to Fribourg to finally meet my "blog buddies" MizK and Kasia (you'll find links to their blogs on the right of my page). The three of us met online through our blogs and I can't wait to finally meet them in person, along with their spouses!

Well that's all for now - I hope to have some photos and commentary on Dinant for you tomorrow night or Tuesday though, so stay tuned! Oh, and Happy Easter!

We did it!!

2008-03-16T20:09:00.003+01:00

Today was the big day as far as our marathon training is concerned. It's the longest training run we do to get ready for the race, and it's 32 km (20 miles), so it's a big deal and the date has been looming on our training calendar for some time. Well we did it - YEAH!! Although it wasn't easy and our leg muscles are pretty sore - you'd laugh if you saw me try to get up after sitting down for a while - we feel great overall and are thrilled to still be injury-free! We now head into the final 3-week "taper down" phase of the training, with about as much confidence as two first-time marathoners can have of their ability to finish.

Race day is Sunday, April 6th, so keep an eye out for a celebratory blog post and hopefully some pictures (if I'm able to get someone from our University of Kent group who isn't running to take some with my camera). In the meantime, I've got a couple of amusing "after" photos from today. Carl finished before me and I told him to take his own picture before showering, so that's why his pic is just a head shot - he looks tired, doesn't he? As for mine, they were taken about 30 minutes after I finished, and I was just acting goofy...I might not look tired but believe me, I was (and still am)! Safe to say we'll both sleep REALLY well tonight!

Beautiful Barcelona!

2008-03-10T16:52:00.005+01:00

We returned from our weekend trip to Barcelona yesterday, and the word that best describes our stay there is "WOW!" What a lovely, modern, clean, and friendly city! It truly surpassed our expectations, and I would dare say that it is now one of our favorite cities anywhere. I had long desired to go there and had built it up somewhat in my mind, so I was worried that I might be a little disappointed. I was worried for no reason though, because it was just beautiful!

Here's some of the highlights:

A must-do, even if it is touristy, is to walk along Las Ramblas, a almost mile-long pedestrian promenade full of tourist shops, restaurants, street performers, flower vendors and caricature artists. It is a bit of a haven for scam artists and pickpockets because of its popularity with tourists, but we experienced no problems whatsoever. Just east of Las Ramblas is the Barri Gòtic, the oldest part of the city with narrow, alley-like streets that open onto quaint little squares. It's the perfect place to wander and "get lost" for a few hours!

The famous Sagrada Familia cathedral is another stop on the tourist trail. The outside is much more impressive than the inside, at least at this point. Even though the project began way back in 1882, it is still under construction , and from what I read it won't be finished until at least 2026 - yikes! It was designed by the famous Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, and it has an incredibly unique style as far as religious buildings are concerned. One façade is very ornate, while the other has a much more modern, geometric look. There's supposed to eventually be a third façade as well, but it hasn't been started yet. When you go inside you have the option of taking an elevator to the upper level for another 2 Euro, but the line was so long that we didn't think it would be worth the time.

We visited one of the most incredible indoor/outdoor markets I've ever seen, located just off Las Ramblas. There we purchased the ingredients to assemble a picnic lunch, which we enjoyed on the patio of the guesthouse we stayed in with our friends Carl and Margaret (Margaret is a fellow student at the University of Kent, and they were visiting the city at the same time).

The Parc Güell, perched high on a hill overlooking the city, was well worth a visit despite the uphill walk to get there. It was also designed by Gaudí, and combines interesting architecture, sculpture, decorative tilework, gardens and sweeping views of the city and the Mediterranean. The whole place has a rather whimsical feel to it, making it about the most unique park I've visited. We hiked even higher above the park, to the top of the hill where there is an overlook about 267 meters (800 ft.) above sea level. Gorgeous views!

There is a long waterfront promenade that straddles the city and the beach, and it's a great place to wander, people-watch and admire the scenery. There's also a good choice of restaurants and a large shopping mall.

One might not expect this from Spain, but it's obvious that this city is run very efficiently. On Friday evening around 7PM, in one 45-minute stretch I saw three city workers cleaning the sidewalks - that's three of them working individually in different places, not all together! The metro service is also about the most efficient I've seen anywhere. Not once did we have to wait more than 4 1/2 minutes for a train, and we rode it at all hours, and on Saturday.

The food, the wine - both were terrific! The restaurant prices were also very reasonable - much more reasonable than here in Brussels, in fact!

To sum it up, I would highly recommend this city as a destination for just about anyone. It's not quite as full of history as London or Rome, but what it lacks there it makes up for in atmosphere, cuisine and natural beauty.

Picture #1: The four of us out for the evening
Picture #2: View down a narrow street in the Barri Gòtic
Picture #3: The entrance to Parc Güell
Picture #4: View over the city from the top of the hill, above Parc Güell - this is the center one of three panoramic shots I took
Picture #5: Part of one of the façades of the Sagrada Familia

BIG NEWS!!

2008-03-05T15:48:00.002+01:00

We got some really great news yesterday - Carl has been offered a four-month paid internship! It's with an organization called Post Europ, which represents the interests of postal organizations throughout Europe. The position is called Web Communications Assistant, and it will give him a chance to gain some valuable experience in a new field. He'll also be able to meet a lot of people, make some good connections and (who knows?) perhaps even secure a full-time job afterwards!!

He starts next Thursday, and will typically be working 7 hours a day, four days a week. Fortunately his new boss is a very understanding lady, who is willing to be flexible regarding our scheduled trips to Paris and Normandy. That's a relief, because we have already made non-refundable payments towards both of them, not to mention all the marathon training!

So needless to say, Carl is very excited about this new development - and we're both excited to have a little money coming IN as opposed to all of it going OUT!! :-) Perhaps we'll have a nice dinner in Barcelona this weekend to celebrate!

Odds-n-ends

2008-03-03T10:50:00.006+01:00

Wow, has it really been over a week since my last post?? Sorry for the lull, but I guess it's been a quiet week as far as news and events are concerned. I do have some things to mention now though, so here they are!

The marathon training continues. I completed a GRUELING 18 miles (29km) yesterday, and OH MY!! I don't think I've ever felt my legs hurt so much! My calves in particular were painful towards the end. I guess it was cramping but it basically felt like someone was grabbing them and squeezing as hard as they could - not a pleasant feeling! I suppose this is how the marathon will feel towards the end, but I hope that all the excitement and adrenaline of the event will help distract me from it. Anyway, I'm feeling much better today and still have no injuries to speak of other than general soreness, a few small blisters and some chafing where my sports bra has been rubbing against my skin. Nothing serious, so I'm plugging away with less than five weeks to go now! Carl is doing fine as well, but unfortunately some nasty stomach issues interrupted his run yesterday. He's feeling better now though, and is still on track and looking forward to the big day. The biggest training run of all is Sunday the 16th, after that it tapers down as we lead up to race day. It's the home stretch, thank goodness!!

We're off to Barcelona this weekend, so keep an eye out for a report and pictures - we've never been to Spain before and we actually have some friends going there with us, so we're very excited!! We also have another trip planned that I don't believe I've mentioned yet, to Normandy the first weekend of May. It's a group trip being coordinated by our French instructor, and it was such a good deal that we couldn't pass it up! It's a three night trip and will take us to Beauvais, Rouen, Bayeux, Mont St. Michel and of course the D-day beaches.

Spring is on its way here in northwest Europe, a few trees are showing the first sign of leaves, and a small (I think maybe cherry?) tree in one of the yards behind our apartment has some lovely pink blossoms, which I've photographed and added here. The days are getting longer, a major improvement over the 8-hour days of December, and the first signs of Spring are all around! With that, it looks like the visitors are beginning to arrive as well. Our friends Chuck and Sue from Portland will be here in less than two weeks, my mom and stepdad are coming for two weeks in May, and it looks like my dad & stepmom will arrive just after that. So if any of you reading want to come and see us while we're here, better plan it soon! You can come whenever you like of course, but as far as our ability to be tour guides May is pretty full, but the second half of April, all of June and the first part of July are still open - so let us know! :-)

An Anniversary of Sorts

2008-02-23T09:59:00.004+01:00

Today marks a small milestone for Carl and I; it was exactly six months ago that we first arrived in Brussels! We've definitely enjoyed our time here so far, but in some respects it doesn't seem like it's been that long. For instance, we don't really feel like we've discovered all of the city yet (that was obvious to me after writing my last post!), and we know for sure that we haven't yet learned enough French!! We are definitely making progress in both areas though, and having a great time in the process!

I'm sure the questions on everyone's minds are how much longer will we be staying here, and where are we headed next? Well the short answer is we haven't got the foggiest idea!!! :-) Now for the long answser: I think it's safe to say that we will be here until at least early to mid-June, but after that it's pretty up in the air. Carl doesn't really need to be here after his classes finish in April, so technically we could leave anytime after that. However, we plan to stay until either a job opportunity comes up or until our financial cushion begins to wear down, whichever happens first. We're both starting the process of looking for jobs, and we're willing to go pretty much anywhere for a good opportunity, so we'll have to wait and see what happens in the coming months. To sum it all up, this is an uncertain but very exciting time for us!

Things to do and see in Brussels

2008-02-20T21:53:00.002+01:00

It occurred to me the other day that other than some pictures I took the week we arrived and a description of our "Car Free Sunday" outing, I haven't really described what kinds of things there are to attract visitors to Brussels. We've been living here as "locals" and haven't had any visitors of our own yet, so I'm embarrassed to admit that there are quite a few attractions we have yet to see. Despite that, I'm going to give a run-down of what's on offer for visitors.

The obvious attractions which most people are familiar with are the Grand Place and the Mannekin Pis, both of which I've photographed and put onto the blog. Beyond that however, the attractions aren't quite as familiar. So to give you an idea, here's a little list:

1-The Atomium is a gigantic space-age looking structure that was built for the 1958 World's Fair, and replicates the atomic structure of an iron crystal, magnified 165 billion times! This is one of the things I have to admit I haven't seen yet, but I'll try to get there soon and get some pictures for you!

2-Museums: there are quite a few of course, but the best-known are the Royal Museum of Central Africa (the Belgians have a rather brutal colonial legacy in the Congo) and the Royal Museum of Fine Arts. There are also a few non-traditional museums of course - one is the Belgian Center for Comic Strip Art. That's not it of course; all told, there are more than 75 museums in the city according to Arthur Frommer's website. Oh, and of course we've been to NONE of these places!

3-The European Quarter and Parliament: there aren't any museums or beautiful old buildings here (although the huge Triumphal Arch is nearby with some great views), just modern skyscrapers erected to house the various offices of the European Parliament and related organizations. It is kind of neat to walk through this area though, and as one might expect the neighborhood is also home to a few excellent Irish pubs - remember how much we like those! :-)

4-Bars and beer...I've commented on this one before, but I have to reiterate that Belgium is truly a beer country! With names like "A la Morte Subite" ("Sudden Death"), and "Le Bier Circus" (I assume that needs no translation?), the pub culture in Brussels is unique, fun and most of all VARIED! There is also a museum dedicated to beer, the Belgian Brewers Museum. Their website is www.beerparadise.be - gotta love that!

5-Dining: again I have a confession for you - we haven't been to very many "Belgian" restaurants, but I can tell you that whatever the cuisine, Belgians know how to do good food! Thank goodness we do a lot of walking and have been busy training for the marathon, because otherwise I would think that we might have gained instead of lost weight since arriving here!

6-Shopping: given our current employment status we of course have been unable to indulge in this visitor's pastime, but believe me when I say that a shopaholic of just about any kind would have a field day in this city! The Avenue Louise shopping district just south of the city center has a plethora of designer stores (if you have to ask how much, you can't afford it!), and the city center has an interesting mix of kitschy souvenir stores, elegant boutiques, shops selling traditional Belgian goods such as lace, and of course dozens of CHOCOLATE shops! You can spend a fortune or a pittance (well maybe not exactly thanks to the belaguered US dollar), but spend you can!!

Well there you have it, a brief introduction to the city we've called home for the past several months. Overall I would sum it up by saying that it may not be full of famous sites like Paris or Rome, but Brussels has its own distinctive charm, and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to explore and discover its treasures!

Happy Valentine's and Travel update

2008-02-14T18:08:00.005+01:00

So it turns out that the ubiquitous "holiday of love", Valentine's Day, is celebrated in Europe as well. However, it doesn't seem to be quite as big of a deal over here, and we are happy to not be constantly bombarded with jewelry, flower and chocolate advertisements. We're spending a quiet evening and dinner at home, but we've got a busy weekend coming up, with friends hosting a party Friday night, dinner plans with another couple on Saturday, and - what else? - a 16 mile training run on Sunday. This one is definitely going to be a challenge, but we're feeling great so far (no injuries, knock on wood!), and if we can both successfully finish this run it will do a lot for our confidence going into the last few weeks of training.

I also have an update on our travel plans. We've booked another mini-trip, this time to Barcelona, Spain. We'll fly there the morning of March 6th, and will return the 9th, so it's only for a long weekend. Still, that should be a perfect amount of time to see the city, and enjoy the warm weather (fingers crossed!), good food and good wine for which Spain is famous! I will of course take pictures and write a trip report, as always!

Ghent - Round Two

2008-02-10T10:54:00.000+01:00

The past few days have produced some of the nicest weather we've had in months, so yesterday we decided on a whim to take a daytrip to Ghent. I went there last Fall with our friend Johanna while Carl was back in the U.S., so this was my second visit, his first. The weather was absolutely gorgeous all day long - in the low to mid 50's F, no wind and not a cloud in the sky! It made for some really nice photos compared to what I got last Fall, so I decided to post a few despite the fact that you've already seen some pictures of Ghent.

Ghent is quickly becoming my favorite place in Belgium...it's attractive, historical and friendly, but not too touristy. One thing that did disappoint this time: the canal cruise. When Johanna and I did one last September it was in a small, open-air boat and was excellent, but probably because it's winter now they weren't running those boats (even though the weather was MUCH nicer than it was in September!). The one we ended up on was enclosed and had about three times as many people on it. At times it was so loud that we could barely hear the captain's commentary, and it's hard to take good pictures through glass. Based on the three canal cruises I've now taken (two in Ghent, one in Amsterdam), I would HIGHLY recommend the smaller, open boats over the larger enclosed ones if you have the choice!

Photo #1: canal view in the old city. Right in the center you can see the canal cruise boat we took - to be avoided if possible!
Photo #2: a kayaker and his trusty companion paddling one of the canals - too cute!
Photo #3: a great little pub that I've now enjoyed on both of my visits. This is also the spot where the "good" canal cruises depart when they're running - note the covered open-air boat at the bottom of the frame.

Le Super Bowl - en français bien sûr!

2008-02-04T00:44:00.000+01:00

We've stayed up late tonight to watch the Super Bowl - it got underway at about 12:30 AM here. We actually do get a broadcast of it at our apartment, via one of the French stations. It's entirely in French of course, and we see none of the commercials (geez, why else would you watch??), so given that and the fact that it's late, we're going to have a hard time staying awake till the end! It is pretty funny to listen to commentary of this most American of sports in another language, so I decided to record a short clip of it to share with you. Sorry it's not of the highest quality, but you should be able to clearly hear one of the commentators say "C'est magnifique!" right at the end when the Giants complete a pass. Too funny!!!

There's more to Belgium than just... (Part Two)

2008-01-31T22:01:00.000+01:00

Today the overview of "unknown" destinations in Belgium continues with Wallonia, the southern French-speaking part of the country. This is the lesser-known region as far as international tourism is concerned, so there were lots of places to choose from! Here are a few highlights:

Bouillon: in the far south of the country, along the French border, this small town is in a beautiful setting along the River Semois. It is known both for its natural environment (lots of hiking and kayaking nearby) and for its Chateau de Bouillon, once owned by Godfry of Bouillon, the leader of the First Crusade to Jerusalem. Parts of it are over 1000 years old, and it is widely considered to be Belgium's finest feudal castle. (See picture #1, courtesy of Wikipedia - you can see some of the Chateau on the hill in the background)

Dinant: this is another town with a beautiful setting, this time located along the River Meuse in central Wallonia. As you'll see from the photos, the town center is sandwiched between the river and a 100-meter cliff, topped by a fortress called the Citadel. Its skyline is also dominated by the large Notre Dame Cathedral. Boat cruises and kayaking are both available along the river from Spring through Fall. From what I've read it can get pretty crowded in Summer, but based on the photos I can certainly see why! (See pictures #2 and #3, courtesy of Wikipedia and Trabel)

Spa: as its name betrays, this was Europe's original "health resort", and the name spa has been used to describe such places ever since. Its hot springs have been well known since the 14th century, and in its 18th and 19th century heyday it was the place to be among the wealthy and influential people of the day. It's a pretty town set in the hills of the Ardenne in the east of Wallonia, and in addition to the hot springs and spas, it also hosts the annual Formula One Belgian Grand Prix. (See picture #4 courtesy of Trabel)

So there you have it, a little 15 minute tour of some places in Belgium you probably haven't heard of before. Hope you enjoyed reading - who knew such a little country could pack so much variety?!

There's more to Belgium than just... (Part One)

2008-01-30T15:33:00.000+01:00

If you're like I was a year ago, you probably know of a few places in Belgium such as Brussels, Antwerp and maybe Bruges or Ghent, but not much else. Belgium is a small country and isn't as well known as some of its neighbors, but since we've been here we've learned that there are a lot of really neat places in this country that we'd never even heard of. So far we haven't traveled too widely, and so we only know some of these places based on reading about them or seeing them on a map. We do hope to do a little more in-country traveling as Spring arrives and we finish the marathon training (it's time consuming!), so hopefully we'll soon be able to provide firsthand trip reports on some of these destinations. In the meantime I'll give you a preview, today focusing on the lesser-known parts of Flanders (in the north), and tomorrow on Wallonia (the south).

Most of the Belgian cities you've probably heard of are in Flanders, so there aren't as many "undiscovered" places in this region as you'll find in the south. Still, there are some places that are decidedly off the beaten path. Here's a few:

Mechelen: it's about halfway between Brussels and Antwerp, and despite significant damage during both World Wars, its cathedral, palace and other architectural gems were largely preserved. It's also in the heart of the asparagus growing region, and many gourmets consider its "fat white" variety to be the best anywhere. (See picture #1, courtesy of Wikipedia)

Belgian coastal villages: we've been to De Haan, one of the quaint seaside villages, but there are numerous towns of varying size and atmosphere. There's a tram that runs almost the entire 65km of coastline and stops in nearly every town. This is a great way of getting around, and I've heard that riding the tram and hopping on and off along the way can be a nice daytrip. (See my post from October 9th, 2007 for pictures of De Haan)

Ypres: this city is unfortunately best known for being utterly destroyed in World War I. Over 300,000 Allied soldiers died here as well, so it's a somber place, as illustrated by the numerous monuments, cemetaries and the famous poem In Flanders Fields (there is also a museum of the same name). The town was rebuilt in accordance with its original design, so despite being relatively "new", it has managed to recreate much of its original charm. (See pictures #2 and #3, courtesy of Trabel and Wikipedia, of the rebuilt old town and the Menin Gate memorial)

Ik kan een beetje Nederlands spreken!!

2008-01-25T19:06:00.000+01:00

Sorry it's been so long since my last post...we've settled back into our usual routine and there just hasn't been too much happening lately. Oh, but there is one exception! I finally finished my first Dutch course and passed the exam with no problems, but for now I've decided to put my Dutch learning on hold. It was a tough decision because I really enjoy the language and was doing well with it, but I think it's for the best as it will allow me to focus more of my efforts on learning French. I may pick it up again in a month or two depending on how things go, but we'll see!

In the meantime, French studies have picked up again, Carl's classes are in full swing, marathon training is continuing to progress (there's a 13 mile run on the agenda this weekend - yikes!), and we are doing great over here in the the "Old World"!

Burrito night at Casa de Ervin

2008-01-16T18:27:00.000+01:00

A lot of people said they enjoyed the post about our $27 burritos at Pablo's last Fall, and I think pretty much everyone agreed with my statement that from then on we'd stick to making our own Tex-Mex at home. Well, I've decided to show you what a typical dinner at our own personal "burrito joint" looks like, as well as what it costs.

The picture shows you what it looks like - it's a lot of food, but good stuff! We each had two small fajita burritos with rice, beans and cheese, and tonight the choice of meat was beef. It was marinated in a tomato and jalapeno salsa that our friends sent us (thanks a bunch Tim & Erica!), and the cheese is cheddar that we grated ourselves (no Monterey Jack to be found here). The rice, believe it or not, is Uncle Ben's 2-minute microwaveable Mexican rice, and it's really pretty good! Finally, we sometime splurge for the refried beans they sell in the international section of our grocery store, but they're absurdely expensive - close to €4 for one can! Instead, we usually settle for dark kidney beans - a little odd, but we haven't found any black or pinto beans, and they actually aren't too bad with it. Here's what it all costs...

Beef: €3.50 - $5.25

Beans: €.64 - $.96

Rice: €1.68 - $2.52

Tortillas: €1.73 - $2.59

Cheese: €1.33 - $1.99

Pepper & onion: €.50 - $.75

Salsa: free!

Grand total for the whole meal: €9.37, or $14.06. Not as cheap as it would be in the States of course, because the rice, cheese and tortillas are all imported, but way better than Pablo could ever manage. Boy, they must be RAKING in the profits at that place!!

Amsterdam trip report

2008-01-15T12:03:00.000+01:00

Well our holiday season travel itinerary is finally completed, and we're kind of glad! It's great to be able to travel so easily throughout Europe and we're making the most of the opportunity to see as much as possible, but it does get tiring, and I must say we're happy to spend the rest of January right here at home in Brussels!

We had a nice time in Amsterdam - it's a very cozy, attractive city with canals, gabled buildings and people everywhere riding bicycles. Even in the rainy weather we had for the first half of our visit, there were still a number of hard-core residents riding around on their bikes, hoods pulled tight and eyes half-closed against the raindrops...impressive!

As far as sights, we visited the Anne Frank museum, which was very well done and quite moving. How a young, vibrant teenager like herself (plus seven others) managed to cope with being cooped up in such a small place for more than two years is beyond me. The fact that they were only months away from surviving the war in hiding, and when she died she was only about a month away from liberation, was just so sad. Anyway, it was a place I'd wanted to visit for a long time, so despite it being a bit sobering I was glad we made it there.

We also took the obligatory canal cruise which was nice, though I found the one in Ghent to be both prettier and more personalized (meaning a smaller boat and the guide speaking directly to you, where here it was a recording and the captain hardly spoke to us at all). Most of the canals in Amsterdam also have cars parked along the edge, and some had sunken boats in them, so I just found them to be a bit less "photogenic" than the canals in Ghent, where pedestrian walkways or the edges of buildings line the canals. The water was clean though, and the canal cruise is still a great way to see the city from a different vantage point. As I mentioned a while back, we haven't done the canal cruise in Bruges yet, but we'll have to get back there and take one this Spring and see what we think of that.

Finally, the infamous Red Light district. Even if sex, drugs and booze aren't your thing, it's a sight to behold. It's seedy, raunchy, and a "sinner's paradise", but you have to see it for yourself...oh, and the people-watching is serious entertainment in and of itself! I've heard that Brussels, Antwerp and other cities have their own smaller districts, but this is the grandaddy of them all, and if you're in Amsterdam, you've got to at least wander the streets for an hour or two and see what all the fuss is about!

One last comment on Amsterdam: we were impressed by the variety of cuisine available there, particularly in the dining district known as Liedseplein, which was conveniently right around the corner from our hotel. On just one block of this street you can find restaurants featuring the cuisine of places as diverse as Spain, Uruguay, Indonesia, Japan and India. The choices were dizzying, but we were in the mood for tapas, so we ended up at a the Spanish restaurant (it was good by the way, and unlike some tapas places, a lot of food for the money). We also had a really tasty "pancake" breakfast, which I would definitely recommend! I used quotes when I said pancakes because the Dutch version is different; thinner, less "cakey" and with a seriously wide variety of available toppings! One thing is for sure, we definitely had no problem eating and drinking well in this city!

Picture #1: Carl in front of the Royal Palace in Dam Square (pronounced "dahm")

Pictures #2-3: Shots taken from the canal cruise; note the substantial "lean" of a few of the buildings in #3; that's a result of settling of the very soft ground the city is built upon

Picture #4: Canal shot taken from a bridge

Picture #5: the Prinsengracht canal - our hotel was along the right side of the picture, about 2/3 of the way down

Another trip - whew!!

2008-01-10T16:10:00.000+01:00

I forgot to mention this previously, but before we departed for Rome we decided to plan another short trip ahead of the start of Carl's second school term, and to celebrate our seventh wedding anniversary (wow, has it been that long?), which is on Monday. So tomorrow morning we board a train for Amsterdam for a two night stay, returning Sunday morning. Not a long trip, but it should be a nice introduction to the city and a last hurrah before we settle back into the routine of classes, marathon training, etc. So have a great weekend, and look out for another trip report Sunday night or Monday! :-)

Oh, and unfortunately due to the time I've been spending helping Carl review the final drafts of his papers and preparing for my Dutch class exam (yes, I actually have to pass an exam), I haven't had time to get the Rome photos on the internet yet. Looks like it'll be next week now before that happens - sorry!

Rome trip report and photo preview

2008-01-08T14:08:00.000+01:00

**Note: if you've already read this post, have another look at the description of photo #1. To keep things interesting, I decided to make an actual competition out of "Where in Rome were Carl & Jen on New Year's Eve?". I'm not looking for the exact name of the place, just an accurate general description of it. Post your guesses as comments in the post, and whoever guesses it right first is the winner. Here's one hint to get things started: we were NOT at an ancient site.

We're baaaack!! Okay, so I know I promised that I was going to do some posts and upload photos while we were in Rome (really I WAS!), but it didn't quite work out as I'd planned. First, I forgot the adapter I need to connect my camera and computer, so there was no way to upload the photos...duh (making a big "L" symbol on my head)!! Second, our B&B host didn't have wifi, just a hardline internet connection, and although he was willing to let us disconnect his PC and connect our laptops, we couldn't get the connection to work. I was going to do a quick post using his computer, but without any photos I just didn't think it would be all that entertaining for anyone. Anyway, enough excuses, let's get to the good stuff!

The trip was great, and it was the perfect amount of time to see all that we wanted to see in Rome, while still leaving time to relax and also take a few daytrips. The weather was not as warm as we had hoped for, but several times I considered how miserable it would be to hike through so many outdoor sights in the summer heat and humidity - that thought alone quelled most of the complaints! We had two rainy days, but out of eight days total that's not too bad either. The one unfortunate thing was that I came down with a cold partway through the trip, and a day later got either a stomach bug or mild food poisoning. Neither one knocked me down too severely, but sadly our worst day health- and weather-wise was the day we went to Pompei, which I had really been looking forward to! Still, we did have a really good time, so let me tell you more about it!

Rome
Rome is an incredible city, absolutely crammed with things to see almost everywhere you look. We're both history buffs, so this place was an absolute treasure trove! It's also a bit noisy and run down, but after several days we came to the realization that that's a big part of its charm. Anyway, here's a quick summary of what we saw:

Ancient Rome Sights
Colosseum
Forum
Palatine Hill
Trajan's Forum
Pantheon
Churches
St. Peter's Basilica
Sistine Chapel
Santa Maria Sopra Minverva
St. Peter-in-Chains
Santa Maria della Vittoria
Museums
National Museum of Rome
Vatican Museum
Other Sights
Trevi Fountain
Spanish Steps
Piazza Navona
too many other Piazza's and neat neighborhoods to mention!

Our top highlights were the Colosseum and Forum, dinner in Trastevere (the best dinner we had in Rome by far!), St. Peter's Basilica (I'd recommend seeing it last so the other churches don't disappoint!), and the Scavi (Excavations) tour below St. Peter's. This tour was pretty amazing; you have to book it well in advance as they strictly limit the number of visitors allowed, but it's well worth the trouble. It takes you directly underneath the basilica, where you can see excavated mausoleums belonging to Roman families that pre-date both the basilica and Christianity, along with the tomb of St. Peter and the various memorial structures built over it in the last 19 centuries. The progression of history that you can see in such a small (and important) space is really quite incredible.

Orvieto
Orvieto is a small hill town at the southern edge of the Umbria region. It has a gorgeous cathedral and medieval center, and stunning views into the surrounding valley about 1,000 feet below. The train drops you off in the modern town at the base of the hill, and you then take a funicular (hillside train) straight up the hill into the old town. In addition to the cathedral and view, it's also known for ceramics and its clasico wine variety, both of which we were able to partake in - meaning we bought a piece of pottery and tasted the wine! It was quite chilly the day we were there, but despite that we really enjoyed our visit and the chance to see a bit of Italy's wine country.

Pompei
This place needs no introduction - it's simply incredible. I may be a bit biased because I've been wanting to go there since I first read about it as a child, but I think anyone would agree that it is THE place to go if you want to see the best preserved evidence that exists of daily life in an Ancient Roman town. Not even lousy weather, a cold and an upset stomach could ruin it for me!
A sidenote about this trip: some of you may have seen the recent coverage of riots in Naples over the tons of trash that have accumulated in the streets. Well it's not exaggerated! We took a train to Naples and then switched to the local commuter train "Circumvesuviana" to get to Pompei. Even from the train windows we could see piles of it in many of the residential streets. It's a very sad situation that I frankly have trouble understanding, but I guess inefficiency, corruption and the mafia have such an influence there that this has been an ongoing issue for some time.

Anyway, we're tired and ready to spend some quiet days and nights at home, but we had a lot of fun and we really feel that we can now confidently say we've "done" Rome!

Here's a few photos to "whet your appetite", but due to the sheer number that I took I plan to upload them onto a photosharing website and will add the link to a subsequent post. That will take me a few days since I'll need to add captions (so you know what you're looking at), so in the meantime you'll see:

1- Two "happy" Americans in Rome on New Year's Eve - the first person who can guess where we were wins a box of Belgian chocolates! Oh, but Carl's sister and my brother are ineligible, because they already know! :-)
2- Two "cold" Americans in the Colosseum on a rather chilly day!
3- St. Peter's Square with the basilica in the background
4- The Duomo in Orvieto
5- The theatre in Pompei, with the gladiator barracks and courtyard in the background

And we're off!!!

2007-12-30T16:56:00.000+01:00

After much anticipation, we head out VERY EARLY tomorrow morning to catch our flight to Rome, and we should be on the ground in the Eternal City by about 8:30 CET. I've done a lot of research and have things pretty well planned out, but I've also been sure to leave time for just wandering and doing whatever comes to mind. We'll take two daytrips, one to Pompeii (and Sorrento if time allows) a few hours south, and the other to Orvieto, about 90 minutes north - we figured it would be nice to get out of the city for a few days and see a little bit of the rest of the country.

We will have internet access while we're there, so I'm taking my laptop and plan to upload some photos along the way...so be sure to keep your eyes out for more blogging and pictures!

Oh, and I almost forgot...

Happy Holidays and Aachen photos

2007-12-25T11:32:00.000+01:00

Merry Christmas!

Happy Hanukkah!

Happy Kwaanza!

Happy Festivus?!?

Oh geez, Happy/Merry whatever I guess!!

One never knows what to say on one of these blogs, when the reader could be celebrating anything (or nothing) really! :-) Anyway, we're having a nice quiet Christmas morning here in Belgium, me organizing photos and writing blogs and virtual Christmas cards, and Carl working on his papers (of course). We may head over to a friend's place later, but otherwise we plan on a quiet day at home.

Last night we got back from Aachen, Germany so here's a little "trip report" from there:
Aachen is a very pretty city of about 250,000 people in extreme western Germany, right at the border of both Belgium and the Netherlands. It's best known for being the home to Charlemagne, as well as the crowning place of most of the kings and queens of the Holy Roman empire from the 900's to the 1500's. The Aachen Cathedral, parts of it dating from about 800 AD, is the biggest attraction, and I've included some photos of the outside and inside here. The large gold box in one of the photos is the shrine of Charlemagne, and is said to contain his remains. Charlemagne's throne, where the coronations took place, is unfortunately not on display to the public. Pictures never really do it justice, but particularly the inside of the cathedral was beautiful.

Our main reason for visiting Aachen when we did was the huge Christmas market they hold there every year. The 23rd was the last night for it, so we were happy to make it there in time to enjoy it for a few hours before it closed. It was a lot like the one in Brussels, but a little bigger and obviously with a German flair. After wandering around the market and the medieval center for a while we had a yummy German dinner followed by a visit to an Irish pub. It's become a bit of a joke between us that somehow, no matter where we go, we always seem to end up in an Irish pub! :-) Anyway, Aachen is a lovely city, and we look forward to going back again soon!

Update on Belgium's political crisis

2007-12-19T14:28:00.000+01:00

There have been some recent developments in the situation facing the Belgian government, so I thought I'd take a moment to catch everyone up since I'd talked about it previously. The following BBC article (again, I don't see any mention of it on CNN, MSNBC or FOX news) gives a pretty good and concise update, so here's the text:

Belgium gets emergency government

Rival parties representing Belgium's Dutch and French-speaking populations have formed an emergency government, ending six month of deadlock. The government of caretaker Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt (who lost elections in June but stayed on as caretaker) will stay in office for no more than three months. It is then set to hand over power to Christian Democrats and Liberals - the winners of elections in June.

The two parties have so far failed to reach a deal, prompting fears Belgium could split along linguistic lines. The Liberals and Christian Democrats won 81 of the 150 seats in June's elections. But their efforts to form a government have floundered in a dispute over greater regional autonomy - broadly favoured by the Dutch-speaking Flanders region but opposed by the French-speaking south.

Belgium's King Albert II earlier this week asked Mr Verhofstadt to form an interim government. "The prime minister has unblocked the situation," a spokesman for Mr Verhofstadt said of the decision by the Christian Democratic party to join an interim government. The interim government now faces a parliamentary vote of confidence on Sunday. Assuming it passes the vote, it will remain in office until no later than 23 March next year.

On Saturday, thousands of trade unionists took to the streets in Brussels, complaining about the political stalemate and rising food and fuel prices. Last week, the European Commission warned that the political paralysis was beginning to affect Belgium's economy.

Holiday "break"??

2007-12-16T10:08:00.003+01:00

Carl's winter break has officially begun, but there's a catch: he has three major essays of 15+ pages each due when his classes start up again on January 14th! I guess that's how it goes with a condensed, one year MA program - even your "breaks" aren't really breaks. That's okay though, he's making some good headway and is on track to have two of the three essays completed (and the third researched) by the time we leave for Rome on New Year's Eve. That way he'll only have one of them to finish after we return. That's the plan at least, we'll see how it goes!

On tap for this coming week: a 10 mile run today (should be fun in the current freezing temperatures!), our last French class tomorrow, my last two Dutch classes of the year on Tuesday and Thursday, and an overnight trip to Aachen, Germany next Sunday! Believe it or not this will be my first time leaving Belgium since we arrived here (not counting the U.S. trip to get my visa), and I'm excited! Thalys, one of the inter-city European train companies, has a train that takes you there in only 90 minutes. Aachen is not only the closest German city to Brussels, but it also has a Christmas market that's supposed to be nice to visit. I paid another visit to the Brussels one yesterday, but I'm looking forward to seeing a German version of it. Keep an eye out for a trip report with photos next Monday! After we return from there we'll stay close to home in order to allow Carl to get his work done, then it's off to Rome!

Birthday report

2007-12-11T13:09:00.000+01:00

So as I said before my birthday was Sunday, and overall it was a very nice day. The run to Waterloo went well, although we ended up taking a slightly different route that was a little shorter than the planned 9 miles - what a bummer! :-) The weather held for us though, and while we didn't see the giant commemorative battle statue (it's evidently well south of the town), Waterloo itself is very pretty. We'll have to add it to the list to go back and see on a nice day. The view from the top of the statue is supposed to be great on clear days, so we'll try to time that one.

Later in the evening we headed downtown, where a friend took this nice shot of us at dinner. Lately for some reason I don't tend to like very many photos of myself, but this one turned out pretty well so I thought I'd post it. After dinner we wandered around the Christmas market and ran into a few other friends. It was fun, but once again the rain returned and made it not very pleasant to be outdoors, so we called it a night and went home. I hadn't really thought of this before, but this was the first birthday I've celebrated outside of the United States. All in all it was a nice one!

B-day Run to Waterloo

2007-12-07T23:54:00.000+01:00

So my birthday is this Sunday, another year gone by - my how time flies! What am I doing to celebrate, you ask? Gee, I figured why not take a little jog to...oh, I don't know, maybe Waterloo? I'd love to say I'm just kidding, but unfortunately I'm not! Our marathon training group usually does our runs on Sundays, and this week is a 9-miler, just about the distance to the town that was the scene of Napoloen's famous defeat.

I shouldn't complain actually, because despite the weather predictions not looking so great, it should be a good time. After we finish the run we plan to meet at a pub/cafe for lunch and refreshments before hopping a bus/train back to Brussels, so I'll have a nice group to celebrate with. Plus, it'll be cool to see the place and the huge statue that commemorates the battle - which of course is set high on a hill with 226 stairs to the top (that info. courtesy of Wikipedia). That ought to be fun after running nine miles! Not sure if we'll do that trek or not, but regardless it'll be neat to see. Too bad I can't bring my camera (no WAY am I running 9 miles with that thing around my neck!). Anyway, I hope everyone has a great weekend - I'm sure mine will be both enjoyable and memorable! :-)

Plaisirs d'hiver/Winter Pret

2007-12-02T20:52:00.000+01:00

Both of the above phrases mean "Winter Wonders" which is the name of the Brussels Christmas market and festival. We checked it out for a few hours last night, the first of what I'm sure will be several visits this month (it runs through the New Year). It's a huge event, taking up a big portion of the city center with temporary shops, food stalls, an ice skating rink, ferris wheel and merry-go-rounds. The Grand Place is also lit up in appropriately grand form, with an amazing display of constantly changing lights set to music. I got a decent shot of it which I have uploaded, but photos don't really do it justice - it was just beautiful!

Hopefully we'll be able to pay a visit to at least one other Christmas market this month. Just about every city of any size has one, and each city usually gives it its own local flair. It's such a neat concept - I wonder why the U.S. doesn't have these??

Oh, and Lyndsay, if you're reading, I finally got to try some glühwein...it was tasty, and just perfect for warming us up on a cold, damp evening!

A Tale of Two Lanuages

2007-11-28T13:15:00.000+01:00

I've been simultaneously studying both French and Flemish (Dutch) for a full 8 weeks now - whew! Balancing the two has been challenging at times, but so far it's gone pretty well, and I plan to continue studying both of them for at least two more months.

Observations so far: Dutch is pretty cool, kind of a cross between English and German. Some of the pronunciations are challenging - for instance, "G" and "CH" are pronounced somewhat like the sound of a hissing cat...an easy sound to make on its own, but not so easy to incorporate into your regular speech pattern. It shares a lot of similarities with English that make it somewhat easy for me to learn, but I have a feeling that it's going to get more complicated as time goes on, particularly when it comes to grammar (that's where the German influence comes in). Oh, and this is kind of funny; one of our German friends described Dutch as sounding "cute" to him, because it resembles a softer, simpler version of German. However one wishes to describe it, I like it!

French - now here's an interesting language. I've finally begun to master the pronunciation, to where I can usually determine how to correctly say a word upon reading it. Learning the grammatical rules is another matter, because while it's not that complicated on the surface, French grammar seems to have even more exceptions than English! There is a huge emphasis on aesthetics, making it a very melodic, pretty language to listen to and speak...on the other hand, that means it tends to favor beauty over consistency, making it a bear to learn! I do like it though, it's just been a little harder than I had expected at the beginning.

I doubt that just one year here will make me fluent in either language, but I'm sure gonna try! That brings me to the internal debate I've been having...I think that I definitely need to continue with French, because it's by far the most spoken language in Brussels and a good one to know for life in general. Should I continue with Dutch however, or focus more on trying to perfect one language rather than becoming a mediocre speaker of both? Another thing to throw into the mix - there are also cheap Spanish courses available through one of the universities here, which would help me refresh some of my rusty knowledge of that language. For those who don't know, I studied Spanish for years in high school and college, but to my regret fell just short of becoming fluent. I've always felt like I left Spanish sort of "unfinished", so this may be a great opportunity to finally reach a level of fluency in that language.

So that's my dilemma, and I really am undecided about what to do! Any opinions or suggestions out there?

Happy (slightly belated) Thanksgiving!

2007-11-23T12:17:00.000+01:00

I'm a day late, but Happy Turkey day everybody! It feels different being overseas where it's "business as usual" on Thanksgiving day, but we did celebrate with a large gathering last night with a bunch of students from Carl's program. Most of us were American, but there was also representation from Canada, the UK, Australia, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic - so it was Thanksgiving with an international flair! We enjoyed a potluck style dinner with turkey and all the fixings, and it was excellent. I'm definitely hitting the gym today to work off all that food I ate! Silly me forgot to take my camera, but several people were taking photos so if I receive any I'll be sure to post them.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday, and I hope you all have a great weekend!

Pablo the Belgian Mexican

2007-11-20T22:24:00.000+01:00

This past weekend we finally got around to trying the most popular Mexican restaurant in Brussels, Pablo's. The restaurant's website proclaims: "Our food is so authentic that many ex-pats from the United States keep coming back, as well as others who appreciate this level of quality and authenticity."

Generally speaking, we agree - sort of. As you can see in the photo, they've definitely got the decor right, and while it wasn't the best Tex-Mex food we've ever had, it was good. The only problem - it's freakin' expensive!! I ordered a basic chicken burrito with rice and beans, and it was €18. At the current (all-time low, ouch!!) exchange rate of about $1.48, that works out to $26.64...for a BURRITO!! The total bill for our two dishes, two beers and tip came to a whopping €48, or about $71! Unbelievable - and it goes without saying that no matter how much we're craving it, we cannot afford to "keep coming back" like the website says. We'll just have to settle for the Mexican meals I put together at home, which will taste even better now knowing how much cheaper they are than the alternative! :-)

Rome-ward Bound

2007-11-18T09:27:00.000+01:00

Exciting news: we've just booked the plane tickets for our first big trip since arriving in Europe, to Rome for New Year's! Our flight leaves early in the morning on New Year's Eve, and we come back on the morning of January 8th, so the trip will be just over a week. We plan to take our time, soaking in everything Rome has to offer for the first five nights, then we'll probably head down to the Naples/Sorrento area to visit Pompeii and see some other sights in the area before coming back to Rome to catch our return flight.

We chose to go to Rome for a few reasons - first, it's one of the great cities in Europe and we didn't want to miss it. Second, it's the low season there and once New Year's is over the crowds (and prices) should be quite a bit lower than at other times. Finally, it's far enough south that it shouldn't be too cold to enjoy things. It won't be beach weather by any means, but as long as we don't get a cold snap we should see temperatures in the mid-50's, or higher if we're lucky...and after the past few downright chilly weeks in Brussels, that sounds wonderful! :-)

I know some of our family and friends have been to Rome before, so if any of you "veterans" have any suggestions for places to visit (or avoid), areas to stay in, etc...by all means do share them! I'm just starting the work of finding our lodging and planning our activities, so there's definitely time for me to incorporate your recommendations into our plan.

The things we miss - and the things we don't!

2007-11-14T19:01:00.000+01:00

Despite the relatively easy time we've had adjusting to life in Belgium, there are undoubtedly some things that we do miss about "home". On the other hand, there are nearly as many things that we really don't miss at all. Here's a rundown...

Miss
-Family & friends (of course!)
-Good, inexpensive Mexican restaurants
-Gatorade, especially as our marathon training ramps up
-Having more spending money (as long as we're being honest...)
-Dishwasher/washing machine/dryer (again, just being honest!)
-A couple of American TV shows, but not too many
-Twizzlers in the movie theatre (it's the little things...)

Don't Miss
-Driving (we've surprised ourselves with this one)
-Strip malls and parking lots (goes along with driving I guess)
-Fast food joints in every neighborhood (except maybe Chipotle - see Mexican restaurant reference above)
-Tipping - it's so much easier here because you really only tip for a few things
-The "rush rush" way of life - slowing down a bit has been great for our health!
-Americans; don't take this the wrong way, it's just that it's been great to meet people with backgrounds and perspectives that are different from our own

The Belgian divide

2007-11-10T20:23:00.000+01:00

I apologize that it's taken me this long to get this post published, after promising it more than ten days ago. It's a complex subject, so composing my thoughts into a post that wouldn't turn into a long and boring lecture was quite a challenge. Let's hope I've succeeded - here goes!

As one might expect, since moving here we've learned a lot of things about Belgium that we didn't know before, and the politics of the country have been particularly interesting. Although I've known for some time that Belgium was a multilingual country, I truly had no idea that the divisions ran so much deeper than that.

The country is composed of two main cultural groups: the Flemish in the north, who are Dutch speaking and comprise about 59% of the citizen population, and the Walloons in the south, French speaking and about 40% of the population. A small number of German speakers live in the eastern part of the country, and Brussels is officially bilingual and also has a large number of non-citizen residents who speak a myriad of mother tongues. The country was only established in 1831, and so while the two groups have lived side by side for centuries, they have only shared a government for the past 175 years or so - not very long when you consider the length of European history!

On the surface the two groups have a lot in common; the majority share the same religion (Roman Catholicism) and a similar history of domination by other groups (Romans, Hapsburgs, etc.). They also share credit for many of the things for which Belgium is known - chocolate, great beer, and of course Belgian waffles (though the way they're prepared differs between the regions). It really is a place where north meets south in terms of western European culture, and the result is quite intriguing.

However, in a lot of ways they live completely separate lives; within Brussels, for instance, the comunities operate separate schools, so even Flemish and Wallonian children living in the same neighborhood do not go to school together. The political parties also operate completely separately according to language, adding even further to the divide and making political progress slow and painful. The Flemish economy has also been significantly stronger than Wallonia's in recent decades, and many Flemish are increasingly frustrated at what they see as forced subsidization of the Walloons on their part. Lastly, the Flemish tend to be more free-market oriented, while generally speaking the Walloons have stronger socialist leanings. The result is a host of political differences and few areas of agreement.

So what does this mean for the future of Belgium? At several points in recent history (including now) these divisions, and smaller political arguments resulting from the underlying resentment and separatism, have threatened the existence of the country. The latest crisis (which has essentially shut down the national government entirely) has been going on for over 150 days since the June 2007 elections. Thus far there are few signs of progress towards a resolution, and I'm seeing more and more news articles begin to consider the split-up of the country as a real possibility. On the other hand, since we arrived here we've seen an impressive number of Belgian flags flying from windows and balconies throughout the city in a show of citizen solidarity, so it's really hard to say what's going to happen. An 11th hour compromise is a possibility, but from what I can see it certainly won't come easily.

One final observation: I'm quite surprised at the complete lack of coverage of this situation by the U.S. media. On my recent visit to the States I watched a lot of news programs, and I constantly monitor several American news websites from here...and I have yet to see even a single mention of it! It's rather disappointing that I can get multiple daily updates on the Britney Spears trainwreck, but not one word about a major political crisis affecting the country that hosts not only the EU government, but the NATO headquarters, of which the United States is a key member. It makes me wonder what else goes on in the world that we don't hear about? Sorry to go off on that tangent - I don't intend to turn this blog into a political soapbox, but I find it a little embarrassing that I was completely ignorant of this situation when we arrived here, and would likely still know nothing about it if I weren't living here. Kinda sad!

Here it is!

2007-11-07T19:02:00.000+01:00

The picture is a little fuzzy, but here's what all the hassle has been for - a sticker small enough to fit inside one page of my passport! It's an important sticker though, because it allows me to remain here legally and to obtain my identity card...though that'll take another 6-8 weeks, thanks to the slow progression of the Belgian bureaucracy. That's one thing we've learned for sure - NOTHING happens quickly here when it comes to the government or services like utilities, cable and internet. For instance, we were lucky to have our internet and cable up and running within 10 days; others we know have had to wait 4 to 6 weeks!!

Anyway, let's just say that we're both thrilled to have finally completed this part of the process, and to be able to focus on other things, like figuring out the French language! :-)

It's on its way!!

2007-11-01T00:33:00.000+01:00

Happy Halloween!!

Just a few hours ago I received word that my passport, with the visa sticker inside, is on its way to me via UPS overnight!! After months of waiting and worrying, and waaay to much expense and hassle, this saga is FINALLY coming to an end! Unfortunately I don't think I'm going to be able to upload a photo until I get back to Belgium next Monday, but I'll be sure to put one up on the site then, so everyone can see what the big deal was all about!

Also on tap for next week, a little history/current events information about Belgium's political and cultural divisions. It doesn't get much coverage at all here in the States, but Belgium has had (and continues to have) its share of disagreements between the Flemish and Walloon communities, and it's been interesting for us to learn more about what's going on. More on that later!

Headed Stateside for a spell, and update on the CA fires

2007-10-23T20:59:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow I fly from Brussels to Dulles airport, just west of Washington DC, for the purpose of (finally!) getting my Belgian visa. I decided to fly there instead of the Los Angeles consulate because my family is mostly on the Eastern seaboard, and since I have the option of getting the visa by mail anywhere in the States, I figured why not at least get the benefit of a visit out of it? So I arrive tomorrow afternoon Eastern US time, then Thursday morning I'll overnight my passport along with some paperwork off to our favorite Belgian diplomatic staff member (yes, I am being sarcastic). She'll do her thing on the Los Angeles end and then will overnight my passport with the visa inside back to me. All of this SHOULD be completed by the 30th or 31st, but we've learned from painful experience to leave plenty of time for "delays", so I'm not scheduled to fly back to Belgium until Sunday the 4th of November. I should have internet access most of the time I'm there, so I will post a celebratory message when I finally get that ridiculous piece of paper in my grubby little hands! Maybe I'll even upload a photo!! :-)

Second topic, and unfortunately not such a positive one: many of you probably know that my hubby Carl is from the San Diego area, and the majority of his family still lives there. It's been a rough few days for the millions who call Southern California home, but everyone in the family is doing okay so far. Carl's sister had to evacuate her home in Poway yesterday, but I just read online that her neighborhood is being re-opened for people to return, and I haven't seen reports of any homes burned in her immediate area...GREAT NEWS!! His mom's and brother's homes are still okay, and I believe his cousin is in the clear for the moment as well. Until the Santa Ana winds subside it's still a dangerous situation though, so if you guys are reading, please take care and stay safe!! We love you!

We've officially lost our minds!!

2007-10-20T19:31:00.000+02:00

There must be something in the water here that affects the brain a bit, because we've both just signed ourselves up to run the Paris Marathon next Spring! I guess maybe some of you won't find it too out of character since we've both done some running in the past and have talked about attempting a marathon, but neither of us has actually undertaken one before! It was kind of a random thing, and Carl signed up first. I of course, sat there for a while and pondered the insanity of it before agreeing to it myself, babbling about just how crazy it is the whole time that Carl was signing me up...yep, couldn't even do it myself, I was so nervous and giddy!
Anyway, it's April 6th, so we have almost six months to train (I'm gonna need it!). Any of you out there who have done one before, if you have any words of wisdom or training secrets, we're all ears! We're going to be looking up training plans of course, but the personal wisdom of someone who's been there is always welcome.
I guess there's just something about Paris in the Springtime!!

Living WAAAY far away overseas ain't what it used to be!

2007-10-20T09:55:00.000+02:00

After a couple of months here I can unequivocally say that living overseas is a lot less of a "hardship" than it used to be in terms of keeping in touch with home. With e-mail, the internet, and Skype phone service, the time difference is really the only constant reminder that I'm not nearly as close as I used to be to family and friends! Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to have all these luxuries, but it really gives me a new admiration for people who spent long periods of time "away" in the days before the communications boom and internet age. How isolating that must have felt, and how much harder the adjustment must have been compared to what it is now!

Fun facts 'n random thoughts

2007-10-17T16:47:00.000+02:00

There are lots of things we've noticed or learned about living in Belgium since we arrived, but not all of them are significant enough to warrant a post of their very own. I mean how much time can I really spend telling you about grocery store bags before you get bored and stop reading? So I've decided to put together a post with a bunch of random little things you might find interesting...here goes!

The Belgians are known for their "frites" or fries (despite "French" being part of the name, they were invented here), and they are indeed popular with the locals. There are food stands all over town that focus on fries almost exclusively, and you'll also see fries used in unusual ways - anyone for some frites in their gyro? <--by the way, it's really good!
Speaking of frites, at our grocery store there is an entire row of the frozen section (about 20 feet long) dedicated to nothing BUT frites - and I'm not kidding or exaggerating!
Coffee is enjoyed by many and the quality is excellent, but the concept of the American-style coffee shop (like Starbucks) simply doesn't exist. If you want to stop for coffee, you visit a café and you sit down and drink coffee from a real cup, with saucer and spoon...all of which is brought to you. There's no such thing as carry-out coffee, and I'm guessing that they'd find the concept of drive-thru coffee utterly ridiculous. It's quite a change from the java-crazed Pacific Northwest!
I'm not sure whether this was mandatory or voluntary, but for environmental reasons grocery stores will not provide you with paper or plastic bags for free. They charge 3 cents per plastic bag, and I haven't seen the paper ones at all. What most people (ourselves included) have done is purchase sturdy, reusable bags for €1 each from the store. It was frustrating at first because we always seemed to forget them, but now that it's a habit we kind of like it!
Restaurant service is much more "hands off" here than in the U.S. For instance, we have yet to have anyone come to our table after we receive our food and ask us if everything is to our liking. It's usually not hard to find someone to ask if you need something, but it's expected that you'll let them know if something is unsatisfactory, so I guess they see no need to ask!
The use of credit cards (and establishments accepting them) is not typical - in the tourist areas it's common, but in neighborhoods like ours a lot of places accept only cash or Bankcontact, which is the equivalent of a debit card that comes straight out of your checking account. There's also something called Proton - it allows you to "load" a cash balance onto your debit card that you can use without having to enter your PIN code, making the transaction quicker. It's popular for small purchases in stores or snack shops.
Grocery stores do not sell medication of any kind - only pharmacies can sell those items, and they are identifiable by a big green cross (just like the Red Cross' logo, but green) over the door.
I don't think I've mentioned this before, but you may have noticed from photos that virtually every Belgian beer has its own special glass, and that beer (and only that beer) is always supposed to be served in it. This applies to bottled beers too, not just the ones on tap! Adds a whole new complexity to bartending, doesn't it?

More apartment pics

2007-10-13T21:17:00.000+02:00

Be sure to read the full post below...

#1 - The view down the street from our front window
#2 - The view from our back patio/balcony
#3 - Our living room - the TV looks really small in such a big room, doesn't it?
#4 - The dining area and computer desk - sorry for the bit of clutter!
#5 - The bathroom - the toilet is in a separate WC (water closet)

#6 - Looking out our bedroom windows - they get lots of sun in the afternoon!
#7 - Looking back into our bedroom - didn't realize Monty got in that shot while licking himself - oops!
#8 - Kitchen - plenty of cabinets!
#9 - Refrigerator/freezer
#10 - Our miniature kitchen sink and antique water heater!

Apartment pictures, finally!

2007-10-13T19:46:00.000+02:00

I've been promising them for weeks so here they are, some pictures of our apartment here in Brussels. I kept putting off this post, hoping to get the place more fixed up, furnished, decorated, etc...but enough people have asked now that I felt I needed to go ahead and post some photos, ready or not! As you can see it's obviously still a work in progress, and given our tight budget and the limited items we were able to ship over here, the decorating department still needs a lot of work! :-) We do have a pretty nice view from our many windows though, which is great!

There's a few items I want to point out about the kitchen, since it seems people are pretty curious about it. First, you may notice that there's no oven below the stovetop like there normally is in the States. Here it isn't a given that an apartment, even the size of ours, will have an oven. So in addition to a microwave, we ended up buying a countertop convection oven, which we LOVE!! It bakes, grills, and does rotisserie, and in general just does a terrific job of cooking things! Second, we've got a pretty large refrigerator/freezer, at least by Belgian standards. I took a close-up of it with the doors open so you can see. It does get full when we return from a big trip to the store, though what's considered a "big" trip for us is probably a lot smaller than you're thinking, since we have to carry everything home by hand! Third and final point on the kitchen: we do not have a dishwasher, and our kitchen sink is pretty small. The lack of a dishwasher isn't bothering us too much, as we knew ahead of time that it was a luxury that we probably couldn't afford. The little sink is a challenge however, as is our only semi-functioning hot water heater (which is probably almost as old as I am and is about to be replaced). At the moment that means that we have to get hot water from the bathtub and wash our dishes in "waves", since the sink fills up so fast. We're managing though, and it's interesting how quickly we've adjusted to not having some of the modern conveniences, even after having them for most or all of our lives.

So this is our home for the next year - questions or comments anyone? Is it bigger/smaller, nicer/uglier than you had imagined it would be? I'm really curious to hear what you think!

More Brugge pictures

2007-10-09T13:17:00.000+02:00

Blogspot only lets me upload five pictures per post, so I had to split them up into two in order to upload all the pictures I wanted to. Here are the descriptions:

#1 - View of the beach and North Sea at De Haan

#2 - Looking southwest down the "boardwalk" at De Haan

#3 - A hotel with of the "Belle Époque" architecture, typical in De Haan

#4 - Canal view on the way back to Brugge

#5 - Me enjoying a St. Bernardus beer in the Brugge old town

#6 (next post) - one of the Brugge city gates at night

#7 - The Belfort in Brugge

#8 - The "Markt" square, Brugge

#9 - Carl chowing down on some tasty mussels!

#10 - View of canal and city gate, Brugge

Be sure to read the post below for a full trip report!

Brugge/Bruges trip report and pictures

2007-10-09T11:39:00.000+02:00

We had a terrific weekend in Brugge, and I can definitely see why it's such a popular place to visit. The entire old city, encircled by a canal/moat, has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and four of the nine original city gates are still standing (I've included two pictures of one of them). It is pretty touristy, and I'd imagine it gets quite crowded in summer, but the appeal of the place is undeniable.

We arrived around lunchtime on Saturday and spent the afternoon wandering a few of the major shopping streets and enjoying the beautiful weather (and of course a few good beers, as you can see by the picture!). We really lucked out too, because not only was it a warm, sunny day, but it also happened to be one of two weekends each year when they close down the old city to car traffic and stores/restaurants set up outdoor stands all along the streets. It's called the Braderie, and it's not mentioned in any of the tourist guides I looked at so I think it's done more for the locals.

This also happened to be a big weekend for World Cup Rugby, with quarterfinal matches involving England vs. Australia and France vs. New Zealand being played on Saturday afternoon/evening. Carl has taken a liking to the sport, so in late afternoon we found a pub that was showing the matches and sat down to watch England and the Aussies...it was quite a battle! I was rooting for the Aussies, but England ultimately won the match. Afterwards we headed back to our B&B to relax for a little while and get ready for dinner.

We decided to enjoy the luxury of dinner at a real restaurant that night - not something we do often anymore on our tight budget. We hadn't yet tried the signature Belgian dish of mussels & fries, so we both decided to order that. We were not disappointed! As you can see by the picture, we got a huge steaming pot full of mussels in the provençale style, and they were tasty and quite filling. After that we returned to the pub to watch France play New Zealand - France won that match, so again I found myself cheering for the losing team! Both the afternoon and evening matches brought a very fun-loving crowd though, and as a result we now have invitations to visit new friends in both Paris and Leicester (in central England)!

Sunday we thought it would be nice to see a little of the surrounding area, so we rented bikes for the afternoon. We picked up a map and decided that since it was shaping up to be another nice day, we'd head for the coast. There is a huge network of bike paths throughout Flanders, making it really easy to cycle to just about anywhere! We were pedaling against the breeze on the way out so it took us a few hours to get there, but it was a nice ride through the flat Flemish countryside with a lot of farms along the way. We headed to De Haan, a small city along the coast that reminded me a little bit of a coastal New England village, but with different architecture (a little research has taught me that the style is called "Belle Époque" for any architecture buffs out there). We enjoyed a mid-afternoon meal on an outdoor terrace and visited the beach for a few minutes, but unfortunately we couldn't linger very long because we had to return the bikes by 5:00PM. The ride back was also nice, though we pushed ourselves to go a little faster this time so we wouldn't be late. I did stop briefly to snap a photo of one of the canals we crossed on the return ride - it was beautiful!

When we got back we were a little tired - okay, I won't lie, we were exhausted! The ride was about 45km roundtrip (about 28 miles), but our bikes weren't all that sophisticated or fast, so it was quite a workout! We had a great time though, and I would recommend the trip to anyone who wants to get a little exercise while enjoying the quiet countryside and taking in some great scenery.

Sunday was a low-key evening of a casual dinner followed by one more rugby match (Argentina vs. Scotland, and finally the team I rooted for, the Argentines, won!), and Monday morning we took the train back to Brussels. It was a memorable weekend, and we definitely hope to return at some point because we really didn't do any of the stuff that first-time visitors would do...things like a canal cruise and climbing the Belfort for a view of the city. That's okay though, I have a feeling we'll end up bringing some visitors here at some point, and we'll get to do it for the first time then. Any takers?? :-)

Sound off!! What would you like to hear about?

2007-10-05T10:19:00.000+02:00

Okay, here's everyone's chance to tell me what topics they'd like to see addressed on the blog. I know I need to add some pictures of our apartment and neighborhood, but what else would you like to see or hear about? Just add a comment at the bottom of this post - funny, serious, reflective, philosophical...I don't care what category it falls under, I just want to know what you want to hear!

Is it really October already?

2007-10-03T19:07:00.000+02:00

I was amazed to look at the calendar today and realize that tomorrow it will have been six weeks since we arrived in Brussels. In some ways it seems like we've been here much longer, but in others - acquiring language skills for instance - it's hard to believe it's been that long. I'm not sure what kind of miracle I was expecting, but I guess I'd hoped we would be a little further along than we are when it comes to French in particular. We've just finished the first week of our French course though, so I'm sure soon we'll feel more capable with the language.

As for culture shock, after discussing it briefly together we really can't say that we've felt all that much of a shock. There is enough that is familiar or at least similar to the States to lessen the impact, and I think we're both pretty good at adjusting to new surroundings quickly. Perhaps once the "honeymoon" phase wears off completely we'll feel differently? My friend Lyndsay (hi if you're reading!) said it took several months for it to wear off when she moved to Germany, so I guess we'll have to wait and see!

The final update: we have a trip planned this weekend, to Bruges/Brugge in northwest Belgium. Bruges is probably the most visited place in the country, and we can't wait to find out why! We're taking the train there early Saturday morning and plan to return late Monday morning. I promise to post a trip report and some photos, probably on Tuesday!

What things cost

2007-09-29T15:55:00.000+02:00

Now that we've made several trips to our local grocery store (the Super GB, which looks much like a small to medium-sized store in the U.S.), I've compiled a list of what some common items cost here. It's been interesting to see how some things such as bread, wine and coffee are cheaper, while other items like chicken and batteries are quite a bit more expensive. I used a conversion rate of $1.45=€1, which is abysmal but sadly is about what you'd actually pay nowadays if you were to pay by credit card or withdrawal the money from an ATM. Also, these prices include tax, so if you happen to not live in a sales tax-free state you'd need to add that to make a good comparison.

So here's the list:
Bananas, 6 medium $1.77
Granny smith apples, 6 medium $3.28
Broccoli, 500g (one small head) $2.16
Small yellow onion $0.20
Vine-ripened tomatoes, 3 medium $1.33
One liter lowfat milk $1.64
One loaf sliced wheat bread (the cheapest one they sell, but still good!) $.85
Edam sliced cheese, 9 slices $2.16
Ground beef, .38 kg (.84 lb) $4.32
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, .89kg (1.95 lb) $11.05
One jar (500 ml/16.9 oz.) Bertolli tomato & basil pasta sauce $2.81
Coffee, 250g (.55 lb) - gourmet, from Colombia, Java, etc. $3.16
Coke zero, six pack of 1.5 L bottles $12.89
Leffe blonde beer, six pack of 330ml (11.16 oz) bottles $6.71
One bottle Penfolds Rawson's Retreat Shiraz/Cabernet, 2006 $7.24
One bottle JeanJean Vin de Pays d'Oc Chardonnay, 2006 $5.39
4-pack Duracell AA batteries $13.04 (ouch! good thing we stocked up in the States)

There are also a few things we haven't been able to find here yet, perhaps because they just aren't used in this country. Non-stick cooking spray (like Pam) is one of them - we definitely miss it when it comes time to do the dishes! We also haven't found any black beans or sliced cheddar or American cheese. We've tried a few things we've never had before though, including voul au vent - it's similar to chicken pot pie, but there's no crust, it's just sold in a jar or plastic container and eaten with bread. The jar we bought cost $3.90 and was 500ml.

Anyway, I thought you might find it interesting to see what things cost here. If there's a specific item you're curious about let me know and I'll be happy to report back!

Site redesign and surveys

2007-09-28T12:15:00.000+02:00

I've received a few negative comments about the colors I was using for the blog background and text, so I decided to redesign it in the hopes of making it more reader-friendly. I'm still trying to stick with the same general color scheme (which was chosen to mimic the Belgian flag, as you can see by its prescence on the site now!), but hopefully this will be easier on everyone's eyes. I'm open for feedback, so be sure to vote in the surveys along the right side of the page or leave your comments on the post itself. Thanks!

Can an almost middle-aged dog learn two BIG new tricks at once??

2007-09-26T19:31:00.000+02:00

I guess we'll find out, because I've just signed myself up to take courses in two very dissimilar languages at once! Carl and I together are signed up for a 3 hr./week French course through his school, and I have also signed up for a 6 hr./week course in Dutch! The Dutch course is actually free (all you pay is €30 for the course materials) so there was no way I could turn down the opportunity! The Flemish community subsidises the classes for residents of the city in an effort to encourage more people to learn Dutch. I can understand why they're doing that, because it didn't take much time here for us to realize that even though Brussels is officially bilingual, French is pretty much all you hear!

Anyway, I'll be sure keep you all posted on my progress and how confusing it is (or perhaps isn't?) to begin learning two new languages at the same time. Fingers crossed!! :-)

La Roue de la Fortune

2007-09-25T20:34:00.000+02:00

In our efforts to learn French, we've begun tuning in to a few gameshows on one of the French networks. They're a great way to practice listening and learning in a new language! The two we've been watching will both be familiar to our American readers - "La Roue de la Fortune" ("Wheel of Fortune") and "Un Contre 100" ("One vs. 100"). The formats of both are easily recognizable when you watch them, but there are a few differences that we've found pretty fun and amusing.

Take Wheel of Fortune for instance - picture the American studio, but add disco lights, a much more animated host, a lot more glitz, and a dog on the set (yes, a dog!). He just sits there or sleeps most of the time, but periodically they'll pan the camera over to him or include him in a little interlude with the host.

One vs. 100 is also pretty much the same concept, but in addition to the disco lights and glitz, they also play a lot of sing-along type music, and people get so into it that when you close your eyes you think you're listening to the fans chanting at a World Cup Soccer match!! Seriously, the French get into their game shows, and I can only guess that when they watch ours, they must think to themselves "Boy are those Americans BORING"!!

A Perfect Afternoon

2007-09-23T20:23:00.000+02:00

Today was a special day in Brussels - in French it's called "Dimanche Sans Voiture", in Dutch "Autoloze Zondag", and it means "Car Free Sunday" in English. It happens once a year (this is the sixth year now), and it's evidently done in a lot of cities throughout the EU. The idea is that everyone gets to experience what the city is like without so many cars on the streets. Emergency vehicles, taxis and buses are the only motorized vehicles allowed on the roads, and mass transit is free to everyone for the day. There are also events planned in almost every neighborhood to mark the occasion and get people to come out and enjoy the city "sans voiture".

Today also happened to be one of the most beautiful days we've had since we arrived here, so we decided to take advantage of the opportunity to get out and enjoy the weather and the lack of traffic. We hopped on the metro and took it a few stops in towards the city center, getting off near the Parc du Cinquantenaire and walking under the Brussels version of the Arc de Triomphe. Interestingly, this arch was planned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Belgian independence in 1880, but was not completed in time and had to be topped off with wood panels for the celebration. It then sat unfinished for years due to disagreements over funding, and wasn't completed until 1905, when it was finally finished using private funding.

Anyway, we continued along towards the city center, walking part of the way (stopping at an outdoor festival) and taking the metro a few more stops as well. We've briefly visited a few of the key sights in the center, but today we were happy to just "get lost" along the carless streets and see what we could find. We walked past St. Michaels cathedral (built between 1450 and 1490), where I snapped the attached photo - notice the cute guy in the Red Sox shirt??

Just down the road from the cathedral we stopped at a Brasilian restaurant/bar, where they were playing live Brasilian music on the terrace outside. These guys were good, and it was so nice out that we relaxed there for a good 90 minutes over beers and an afternoon snack. Then we wandered through the Rue de Bouchere, which I would describe as a very narrow and cozy "restaurant row". Depending on who you ask this area is either a tourist trap that's best avoided or a fabulous place to enjoy a good meal - guess we'll have to try it out one evening and formulate our own opinion!

After that we headed home, but we enjoyed a really terrific afternoon of discovering some areas of Brussels we hadn't yet seen. The no car thing was pretty awesome too, a little eerie for the busier streets that are usually choked with traffic, but once you get used to the lack of car noise and the increased number of bikes, it's really nice - too bad it's only one day a year!

The requested evidence

2007-09-23T19:51:00.000+02:00

I had a couple of blog readers say that they found it unbelievable (and more than a little nasty) that there's so much dog poop to be found on city sidewalks...I even had someone request photographic evidence of it (ahem...Chuck!). So here it is, a few photo samples of the landmines that can be found - or if you're REALLY lucky, stepped in! - around the city.

We actually witnessed the "deposit" of the first one the other day along a busy shopping street - it belongs to a Yorkshire terrier whose young female owner looked pretty bored, and I think scooping was about the LAST thing she would think of doing! The second one I found this morning in our neighborhood - notice the fresh produce in crates stacked on the ground across the street. Anyway, to spare everyone from having to see these pictures right at the top of my blog, I'm going to follow up immediately with another post. I figure it's the least I can do!