Trashing the trash

Saturday, January 29, 2004

Kyle and I just had a romantic Saturday evening. After a delightful meal of frozen paella -- not nearly as good as the kind Kyle makes, but much quicker and easier to prepare -- we took a lovely stroll, trash bags in hand.

Yes, trash bags. In Brussels, we sort our trash into color-coded bags -- blue for glass, plastic and metal; yellow for cardboard and paper; green for lawn refuse; and white for everything else (the city requires us to use specific bags, which the city just happens to sell as a sort of hidden tax). The garbage and recycling men are supposed to pick the bags up on Friday nights, but after living here almost three months we still aren't quite sure what time they come around. Apparently we were too late in taking ours out last night, because it was still on the curb Saturday morning (while everyone else's was gone.) We knew we couldn't just leave the trash out until the garbage men come again Tuesday, since they are rumored to look through your trash for some piece of paper with your name on it, so they can ticket you for leaving it out. So after dinner we took a romantic walk carrying our trash, and looking for a street whose day it was to take out their trash.

I swore that I heard Sam and Brian say that they took out their trash on Saturday nights, but alas I was wrong. So, Kyle and I were left to hunt down a street whose trash day it was. On our return home from the Carney's (with the trash still in hand) we walked by the Brussels version of the Salvation Army. There is the equivalent of a doggie door at chest height at the main entrance. As we walked by we noticed a lot of things that were being thrown away (an old TV, microwave, random boxes) and a man standing outside the door watching another man with his body halfway in doggie door. We paused to watch and we both wondered aloud if we were watching a robbery take place. Just as we were wondering this, the "look-out" turned to us and pointed to our trash bag. We said that we were looking for a place to dump it and he motioned to all of the junk lining the street. We took the wave of his hand to mean that we could leave our trash there and then be on our way. Kyle and I were so confused that we really did not register what was going on, only that we had finally gotten rid of our trash. When we talked about it later, we kept wondering if we saw a burgulary, but then we gave the guys the benefit of the doubt and just figured that they must have forgotten something.

On Monday I told Sam everything that had happened, and she said, "Yep, you definitely saw a robbery taking place. And you even left your trash with the guys!"

Leisurely Sunday

We had a great Sunday morning having brunch at the Carneys' house to celebrate Corinna's birthday, along with her daughter Lara. Corinna, Bret (works for the WSJ) and Lara are about to head back to NYC, since all of Corinna's visa issues have been settled. We will definitely miss them! Bret was just in Switzerland participating in a world peace conference for the past week. The highlight of his trip was that he got to pee next to Bono! We were all quite impressed!

I have to brag on the wonderful job Kyle has done in setting up our apartment. In the past week, he has set up the computer, the internet, the printer, two phone lines, the washer, dryer, and stacking unit they required, the TV, DVD, and VCR, among so many other little things. I never knew what joy all these things could bring to your life until you go without them for 3 months! Needless to say, all of this has taken a lot of patience, careful thought, and concentration on Kyle's part. He definitely has one happy wife now!

Brian hanging out with Aletheia on a leisurly Sunday morning. 

Kyle was attempting to calm down Luke and James by reading to them. (it didn't work.) 

Emily holding Aletheia (2 1/2 months) 

We had a great Sunday morning having brunch with the Carneys and Corinna and Lara (1year old). Kyle was a great playmate for Luke and James.  

Rachel and Sabine are on the right. Rachel's husband Rick works for the WSJ also. We hung out at Rachel's house for awhile on Friday with all of the kids.

Sam is holding Aletheia, and Sabine wanted to hold her 'baby doll' too. 

Sabine (2 years old, Rachel's daughter) holding Aletheia (2 1/2 months)

Let it go

I have learned many things here in Brussels, but the most valuable trait I have learned it to just, "Let it go." Thank goodness I am not a controlling person, because I would be miserable here. I am constantly surprised by things, because they are never as they seem. Rather than getting down about it, I just try to look at everything as a surprise! A perfect example was yesterdays lunch.

I met Kyle at work and we went to a little cafe for lunch. I asked what the soup dejour was and she said 'tomato.' Since I had been craving that, I ordered it, and then I ordered a diet coke. After ordering the soup, the waitress said, "xyz yelksy slkjds tkllkjw?" (I typed it like that because that is about as much sense as it made to me.) Since I didn't know what she was saying, I just responded, "oui." Then I pointed to the word 'mozzarella.' I had no clue what I was ordering, whether it will be a sandwich or just cheese on a plate or what, but at least I knew I liked mozzarella. Just another surprise for the day. Then Kyle ordered and the waitress asks him a similar question. He didn't know what she was saying either, so he just said yes too. She asks one more thing, and since we still have no clue, we just say yes. We comment to each other that we have no idea what we will be getting for lunch and the guy next to us (who obviously understands English and French just starts laughing to himself). So after all of this the waitress brings over a real Coke and Vegetable soup. Since I don't feel like putting out the effort to correct her and then not being understood, I just eat what is there. It turns out that I ordered a mozzarella and tomato sandwich, which makes me happy.

So after not being understood throughout most of lunch by the waitress, Kyle makes me wonder if Belgium is rubbing off on him a little too much. I had been trying to grow out my hair, but then decided to get it cut in the States right before I came back. Kyle was already in Brussels, so he didn't know this had happened. During lunch Kyle says, "Wow, your hair is really getting long!" to which I reply, "Kyle, I just got 1 1/2 inches cut off" and he says, "Well, at least I noticed something was different." Just another opportunity to let it go.

Our building is the second from the left with the tan bricks. Our apartment is the one on the third floor with the vertical wood in the windows. 

My new friend Moonith's Corner Store that is just 4 doors down from us. 

The 81 tram Kyle takes to work everyday. 

James, Kyle, Emily and Luke on New Years Eve at Corinna's house. 

Luke (5) and James (4), the two cutest boys in Brussels. 

What we do a lot of in Brussels! 

A day in the life of Emily...

I decided that if I am trying to share my life with you in this blog, then I should share what happens in a regular day with you…

Wednesday
January 12, 2004

9:15am—Kyle wakes me up after he has taken a shower. I leisurely get up and have breakfast with him before he leaves for work at 10am. Normally I would read for about an hour, but today is a special day…we finally have our DVD installed and ready to run! I have not seen a DVD in 3 months, so I am really excited to watch Notting Hill. I watch the movie until noon and then make myself some pasta. I look on the back of the package and within the French words, I see the number 4, so I assume that means to cook it for 4 minutes. Regardless if that is the correct translation or not, the pasta tastes pretty good.

Noon—It is time to get ready for the day. Surprisingly, it is sunny outside, although I know enough to not get too excited over this. I stick my hand out the window to get a feel for the temperature. The weather usually gets gloomy pretty quickly and although I love the sun, that means that it will be much colder than if there was some cloud cover. I seriously debate what to wear today, not because of fashion, but because of warmth and rain. I decided on jeans with rain-proof sneakers and a long john top under a sweater. I then debate about the coat (I have 4 different strengths to choose from) and decide on my long “puffy” one. It has a hood and goes down to my shins. Although you can barely tell if I am a girl or a guy in it, it keeps me warm and by having the hood and pockets, it reduces all the extra junk of hat, scarf and gloves that I would normally need to carry. I am finally ready for the day and decided to venture out to Carrefour. This is as close of an equivalent as you can get to Wal-Mart, although not quite as big. Due to how much I expect to buy there, I then debate about what bags to bring that I can schlep everything home in. I decide on a canvas bag that fits over my shoulder and my ‘old woman cart’ that reminds me of my grandmother Barbie. As Kyle has said, “You would look like a dork in the States if you used that cart, but since everyone over here uses one, you look pretty normal.”

1pm—I am finally dressed and ready so I walk downstairs and wait for the bus. After 5 minutes the 81 comes around the corner and I take it for a 20 minute ride to the metro stop. From there I take the metro 15 minutes to the final station. From there I take a bus two stops to the Carrefour. Throughout this whole time I can not understand one word anyone is saying around me (because they are all speaking in either French, Flemish, German, or something else). I basically am in my own world and just have to zone out into my own thoughts.

2pm—Arrive at Carrefour. In Brussels, you have to ‘rent’ your shopping carts. I am already a little tired from the long trip out here, and then I have to fish through my wallet looking for a .50 piece so that I can unlock a cart. You get the money back when you return it, but it is just a pain if you don’t have any change. I finally find the right change and enter the store. Since I don’t have anywhere to rush to after this, I am leisurely in my strolling through the store. I walk through the grocery department and look for anything I need or recognize. I thought this trip would be a nice little retreat, but instead I find myself getting quite down while I am there. I finally realize that the reason I am down is because I can’t understand the words on any product around or anything anyone is saying to me. I guess this is what a blind/deaf person must feel like sometimes.

3pm—I finally check out and head home. An hour later I arrive at our apartment and drag the cart and bag up 4 flights of stairs. I have broken a sweat and have to sit on the couch just to catch my breath.

4:15pm—I am still so excited about the DVD player working that I head down to the local video store (about the size of the inside of a gas station) and look into checking out a movie. Unfortunately, the clerk does not speak any English so I can’t talk to him about getting a card or checking out a movie. I leave disappointed. (PS—We have American DVDs, but our DVD player is French and will only play European movies. There is a code you can get on the Internet to make your player multi-zone, but we have not found it yet. )

4:45pm—I head to my local internet place. The keyboard has the keys in different places, so it takes me much longer to type things. I finally get so frustrated that I leave after 30 min.

5:30pm—I am still so excited over the DVD player that I watch all of the ‘extras’ that are included on the Notting Hill DVD. A new friend from America that lives in Brugge calls and we talk for awhile. It is so nice to talk to someone from the States that knows about tailgating and sour cream (I still can’t find that stuff here). I hang up the phone really happy to have spoken with her.

6:30pm—I come in here to type about my day; however, I am now so adjusted to typing on French keyboards that I am really having trouble adjusting back the English computers. I am hoping Kyle gets off work ‘early’ today (before 8pm) but I doubt that is likely.

9pm--Kyle gets home. We eat a late dinner and I catch him up on my day. Since I have basically only spoken to one person today, I am very excited to have someone to talk to and I think he gets a little overwhelmed.

11:30pm--Head to bed and think about what exciting thing I will do tomorrow!

Emily...the Belgian Socialite

Wow, what a week I have had! I am happy to say that my social calendar has been packed this week! Since many of you might have been worried how this Southerner might fare here, I am writing to assure you that all of the skills of eating, drinking, and chatting that I worked on so diligently at UGA have finally paid off! Just in case anyone was confused as to where I stand on this topic--I think the ability to socialize with any person you meet is the most important skill a person can have!

On Monday I met my new friend Alison for a 3 hour lunch and shopping spree. We got each others info from our dads randomly meeting in Atlanta, and it turns out she grew up about 5 blocks from my parents house in Atlanta! She 23, just graduated from Davidson and is over here working for YoungLife.

On Tuesday I rode to work with Kyle and then took another tram out to visit my friend Corinna and her 1 year old daugther Lara. Corinna's husband works for the WSJ in NYC, but she is from Brussels and is here getting her paperwork/visa straight. We had a lovely lunch and then a nice playtime with Lara. I took the tram back, did a little shopping for more household things, and then met my friend Christine for a movie. Christine is from Memphis and is over here woring for Deloitte. We share a love of Hollywood gossip and so we trade gossip magazines whenever we see each other.

With all of this wild socializing, I had to take a break on Wednesday and take an adventure to Carrefour (the French equivalent to Wal-Mart.) I will tell you about this experience in my next blog. I got home from the store and talked to a new friend Amy for an hour on the phone. I have not met Amy yet, but my aunt Carol knows her and we are hoping to get together soon. She lives in Brugge, which is an hour away, so I will need to take a train there.

I had a good reason to clean the apartment on Thursday because my friend Kelly came over with her 8 month old daughter Poppy. Since I have never actually made coffee for myself, she had to show me how! Now, before you are shocked by this, keep in mind that the various kinds of coffee are all in another language and they do not have regular coffee makers over here. I have to heat the water and then soak the grinds for 4 min. in this glass things and then press them down or something. Luckily I did not have to do any of this because I bought the wrong kind of coffee, so we just had instant instead! Oops!
We took a nice walk and then picked her other daughter up from school. I said goodbye to them and then met Sam and her family for lunch (they are in town for a visit).

A recent UGA college graduate has just flown in to Brussels today to start an internship with the Associated Press. The same professor that got Kyle the job with the AP helped this guy out with this job, so he put everyone in touch. We are hoping to take Josh to dinner tonight and then I might walk him around town tomorrow to get situated.

On Friday I am going to take the tram out to the American Womens Club. They have a 'Hints on How to Live in Brussels' class that I am going to sign up for and also look into membership there; although I have heard that the membership is mainly middle aged women with older children (which I already know plenty of!)

On Saturday we have been invited to dinner with a friend of a friend who is married to a Belgian guy. She has been living here for a few years and was really kind to invite us over.

Whew! I am exhausted just reliving all of this! I have thoroughly enjoyed having so many things to do, and especially so many people to talk to!

The craziest part of all of this is how briefly I have known each of these people, but yet I feel so comfortable and close to each of them! Just to give you a feel for how well I know them...
Alison--just met that day
Corinna--have met a total of 5 times
Christine--3rd time seeing her
Amy--never met her, but have talked to her on the phone for an hour
Kelly--met once over a month ago
Sam's family--just met today
Josh--never met
Natalie--will meet her on Saturday

A mother's logic

I will admit this is a forward, but it made me laugh so much, I thought that some of you might enjoy it too. It was sent to me by a very southern friend who has a mother that I could hear saying every single one of these things in her extremely southern accent!

I OWE MY MOTHER
1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE. "If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning."
2. My mother taught me RELIGION. "You better pray that will come out of the carpet."
3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL. "If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"
4. My mother taught me LOGIC. " Because I said so, that's why."
5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC. "If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."
6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT. "Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident." 7. My mother taught me IRONY. "Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."
8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS. "Shut your mouth and eat your supper."
9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM. "Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"
10. My mother taught me about STAMINA. "You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."
11. My mother taught me about WEATHER. "This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it."
12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY. "If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!"
13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE. "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."
14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION. "Stop acting like your father!"
15. My mother taught me about ENVY. "There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."
16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION. "Just wait until we get home."
17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING. "You are going to get it when you get home!"
18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE. "If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way."
19. My mother taught me ESP. "Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?"
20. My mother taught me HUMOR. "When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me." 21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT. "If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up."
22. My mother taught me GENETICS. "You're just like your father."
23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS. "Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?"
24. My mother taught me WISDOM. "When you get to be my age, you'll understand."
25. And my favorite: My mother taught me about JUSTICE. "One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you."

A Perfect European Day

I wanted to share what a wonderfully European day I have just had. I was saved from the drugery of doing laundry in an all French laundromat by a call from a friend for a last minute lunch. Because I was finally not hanging out with kids all day, I was able to wear my new (and very clean winter white) sweater, so I finally felt like a real woman, dressed up with a nice place to go. I took the tram up to meet her and we had a lovely lunch of caesar salad and a glass of white wine at a little French cafe. From there we did a little shopping and then parted ways. She shares my obsession with American gossip magazines and so before we said goodbye we traded the few magazines had brought back from our trip to the States. I felt as if the magazines were items we had picked up off the black market or something!
Afterwards I walked around the neighborhood market that is held on Wednesdays just down the street from our apartment. There I bought fresh vegetables, some chicken, and a homemade cake with homemade jelly preserves. I went home and made dinner with all of my fresh goodies and felt like a true European!

Different Keyboards

It took me coming to Brussels to ever know that there are a variety of keyboard setups out there. Since I assume most of you probably did not know that either, I figured I would share. The reason I have not been adding much to this site recently is because I returned from Christmas break to find that my favorite computer lab that seems to have the only American keyboard in Brussels has replaced that one keyboard in favor of a French one. The difference between a French and American keyboard is that a large number of keys are in different places to accommodate those that want to type in French, and therefore use different letters more frequently. So after taking typing in highshcool and finally mastering typing without looking at the keys, I have been reduced to the hunt and peck method yet again.

Just as an example of what this previous paragraph would have looked like if I had just left my hands in the proper American typing position, I will retype it that way.

It took ,e co,ing to Brussels to ever knoz thqt there are q vqriety of keyboqrd setups out there: Since I qssu,e ,ost of you probqbly did not knoz thqt either; I figured I zould shqre; The reason I hqve not been qdding ,uch to theis site recently is becquse I returned fro, Christ,qs breqt to find thqt ,y fqvorite co,puter lqb thqt see,s to hqve the only Q,ericqn keyboqrd in Brussels hqs replqce thqt one keybqord in fqvor of q French one: The difference betzeen q French qnd Q,ericqn keyboqrd is thqt q lqrge nu,ber of keys qre in differenc plqces to qcco,,odqte those thqt zqnt to typein French; qnd therefore use different letters ,ore freauently: So qfter tqking typing in highschool qnd finqlly ,qstering typing zithout lookqt qt thekeys; I hqve been reducet to the hunt qnd peck ,ethond yet qgqin: