Great Friends

We had a wonderful weekend with our great friends Nate and Amy Chan. It is so nice (and rare) to have really good couple friends--where the girls get along as well as the guys and then everyone has a great time together as a group too. Nate and Amy live in Brugge (an hour away), so we don't get to see them as often as we would like, but we always have a great time when we are together. As Nate pointed out this weekend--sometimes it feels like we are all just looking in a mirror because Amy and I are so similar, Kyle and Nate are similar, and our marriages are very similar. Between Amy and I talking without any type of filter on our minds, and Kyle and Nate being funny guys (who have lots of material with both of their wives' crazy comments) we are all constantly laughing when we are together.

To see a few more pictures from the weekend, click here:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=121a73ha.5b4te2ga&x=0&y=-nlyr4s

Zzzzzzzz........

All I want to do is catch some Zzzzz, but I can't. I have decided to label this kind of tired as "crying tired" because I am so tired that I feel like I could cry at the drop of a hat. I think this feeling is also in combination with the bad Belgian winter weather.

For being someone that doesn't work, I have been incredibly busy this last week. I am not always this busy, but my two biggest committments happen to fall at the same two times each year. January and September are the most common times for expats to move, and so that is when we hold the Hints class that I am on the committee for. Since people are already at the Club, they are also signing up for Membership, so I am busy there too. Keep in mind that when I am at the Women's Club there are usually about 40 other women there too, so it is non-stop talking. All this to say, my head is spinning and I still have a week more of Hints and January signups.

A recap of my week: (By the way--I know I bring half of this on myself because I am so social, but I just can't stop!!! Maybe I need to go to SA--Sociaholics Anonymous)

Monday
8:30-10am -- work out with Kyle at our new gym (part of our New Year's Resolution)
10-1pm -- catch up on e-mails and blogs
1-2pm -- catch the train out to Zaventem to babysit
2-5:00pm -- babysit for 2 good kids and 2 sick kids, watch Dora the Explorer
5-6:00pm -- take train back into town and then to the grocery store
6-7:00pm --go grocery shopping and haul everything home on my back, and then up four flights of stairs.
7-9pm -- cook appetizers for Tuesday night

Tuesday
7:30-1:00pm -- take bus to Women's Club, help with Hints class, take bus home
1-2:00pm -- finishing touches for appetizers for church members that are coming over for a meeting
3-5:30pm -- babysit, watch Dora the Explorer
5:30-6pm -- run back to apartment to do last minute cleaning before church people arrive
7-9:30pm -- meet up with friend and go to my Girls Night Out dinner that we have once a month for women (around 25-30 years old) without children -- 14 women attend. Of course I am talking my head off b/c I want to get to catch up with everyone, but I leave there exhausted because I have talked so much!
9:30-11pm -- leave Girls Night Out dinner early to make it home for church meeting that Kyle and I by accident double booked.
11-2am -- stay up talking with my friend Amy Chan who came in town from Brugge for dinner and then spent the night

Wednesday
9-1pm-- shopping and lunch with Amy
1-2pm -- take train to babysit
2-5pm -- babysit, watch Dora the Explorer (yet again), I am so proud of myself because I declined the request to organize all aspects of dinner for church, but somehow I am still making food for 10 people.
5-6:30pm --take train to Leuven (a city outside of Brussels) for Women's Club bookclub -- have a great time with friends talking about The Secret Life of Bees

Thursday
7:30-1pm -- take bus to Women's Club, help with Hints class, take bus home
2-5pm -- babysit, watch Dora the Explorer (I could now recite the entire DVD)
5-7pm -- drive home, grocery shop, cook dinner
7-8pm -- blog, check e-mails, talk to family

Friday
10-11am -- have meeting with web designer about AWCB website
11-1pm -- try to figure out how to roast two chickens for this dinner I am making for tonight. I feel like Amelia Bedelia in the kitchen because I have never cooked an entire chicken and the whole stuffing things under the skin and in the cavity is really grossing me out.
1-2pm -- take train to babysit
2-5pm -- babysit, watch Dora (the I hate her) Explorer
5-6pm -- take train home
6-7pm -- get dinner together for church group and take tram to meet Kyle
7-11pm -- church dinner

Saturday
Amy and Nate are coming in town and we all plan on going antique shopping and to a jazz concert Saturday night.

Bloggies

If you want to look at some really neat blogs, check out the Bloggie Nominees for 2006. Scroll down on the page to see a variety of categories for best blogs.

A quick quiz...

Which is a European country?
A. Belarus
B. Skopje
C. Riga

With the amount of changes that have happened in Europe in the recent years, and the small amount of time I spend reading about those changes, sometimes Kyle will mention a place and I don't know if it is a city, country or type of food. This link is a good map to help me learn all the new countries and their capitals. Click on the link to find the answer!

What a Ball

We had a great time at the American Club of Brussels 85th Anniversary Party last night. Deloitte & Touche bought a table at the event and they needed a few extra people to fill it, so we were invited by our friends who work there. I love being filler! The event was held in King Leopold's old summer palace. Basically, when he lived in Brussels he wanted a place to escape to (and be able to hunt) so he built this palace about 20 minutes from downtown Brussels.

We started off with an hour long champagne reception and then moved into the ballroom. There we had lobster bisque, risotto with mushrooms and scampi, and poulet a la bresse with spinach (basically a spinach stuffed chicken breast). All of this was accompanied with great white and red wine. They had a bluegrass band playing during dinner and then a 22 piece big band play for dancing. Kyle and I are a little rusty on our moves, but we still had a great time dancing. What a great life!

Here's a hint

I have mentioned it before, but there is a Hints for Living in Brussels class that the American Women's Club puts on twice a year. I took the class last January and it was invaluable. For 100 euros, I got a total of 18 hours of class time learning about Belgium (there were 6 classes), a huge notebook filled with lots of great tips for getting adjusted, great snacks every day, and I met lots of friends who helped me with my transition and who I still keep up with a year later. Obviously, I can't say enough good things about this class. In fact, I enjoyed the class so much that I volunteered to help on the committee and even teach the Public Transportation section.

Working in membership, I meet lots of women who are new to Belgium. I also seem to just be a magnet to new expats even outside of the Women's Club. I definitely remember how hard it is to adjust and how many things you have going on, but it amazes me the amount of times I just rave about the Hints class and a woman says, "Well, maybe, but I just don't know. I think I have caught on to everything I need to know here. I don't think I'll go." The most frustrating part is that just two minutes before the same woman was probably complaining to me about how hard it is to meet people, and how she couldn't believe you had to bag your own groceries here.

I was recently telling Kyle about how I can't believe that a newcomer can hear from five different people how great the class is and how much it helped them to adjust, and yet they still don't go because they think they don't need it. But then Kyle and I came to the conclusion--how many things have we been encouraged to do in life, but we didn't? Why is it that it takes doing it yourself to believe something is worthwhile, but hearing the same recommendation from five people doesn't persuade you? So next time any of you have a really, really strong recommendation about it and I just shrug you off, just say, "Emily, you remember your blog about Hints???"

What a gas!!!

There are 19 different communes in Brussels, and each is basically like a borough in New York. Our commune (Ixelles) is near the center of town and is very urban. Through the American Women's Club we have a neighborhood group made up of members who live in Ixelles that meet throughout the year for coffee, lunch, and parties. Since Ixelles is an urban area, most of us live in apartments. And since apartments aren't as conducive to large families, our neighborhood group is a unique mix of a few newlyweds and mostly empty nesters. For instance, Kyle and I recently went to our neighborhood Christmas party and decided we were the youngest there by 25 years. The most common comment I get as these lunches is, "Oh my goodness, you are my daughter's age!"

I just received an invitation (below) to a potluck luncheon. Although I think the idea is a little lost on me because of my age, I loved the idea of it and will take any suggestions on a good dish to share.

Do you remember Brownies’ awards ceremonies, 4H meetings, church evenings etc from your youth that included potluck meals? Tables groaning with casseroles made from lots of noodles and canned mushroom soup or spaghetti with the sauce all mixed in? Three bean salad, Jello with fruit cocktail, and home made potato salad? Desserts like ambrosia, Texas sheet cake, cherry crisp and lemon meringue pie?

Well! Here is the chance to relive your past and bring one of your mother’s or grandmother’s favorite dishes to a Retro Potluck on Friday, 10 February 2006 at 1200 at my home. If you need any inspiration, please call your mother, if she’s still around. Or I have all my mother’s recipes and would be happy to loan you one. In keeping with the retro theme, think comfort food. If your mother wasn’t much of a cook, you can always bring bread, drinks, or chips and dip. See you then!

And I need a volunteer...

I recently heard a woman say that when one returns to the States (after not working while abroad) they want to get a job, just so they don't keep having to volunteer. I think I am starting to understand her point. Don't get me wrong, I definitely have had a fair amount of free time, but it seems that once people realize you don't work, they find LOTS of ways to help you fill your time.

Today for instance, I was up by 7:00am, at the American Women's Club by 8:30, helping set up for our Hints for Living in Brussels class, greeting the attendees, signing up new members, giving tours of the club, and answering lots of questions. Immediately afterwards, I headed to my next volunteer gig of babysitting for some children of missionaries who are in Belgium for a Cultural Awarness training before heading to their mission location. Both of these volunteer things will keep me very busy for the next few weeks.

The amount of volunteering I was doing only struck me when I realized that I left the house at 8am and returned home at 6pm--it was just like a full time job!

Home again, home again

I just got back from Prague and Kyle will be there until Wednesday morning. Kyle and I have now decided that we don't want anyone to visit us in Brussels--just go to Prague and we will come and visit you there. It was pretty depressing to come back to Brussels tonight. The man who was sitting across from me on the train home from the airport was only in Brussels for a few days and this was his first visit here. When he asked me what he should do with his time and where the cool places to go are, I felt horrible when I replied, "Ummm, well, there is the Grand Place, and, umm, the Sablon area. Brussels also has a really big forest. But past that, Brussels has a pretty slow pace of life and I can't think of too many things for you to do."

I enjoy my time in Brussels, but that is mainly because of the friends I have made, not the city. The most common thing you hear about Brussels is that it is a good place to live because it is so convient to get to other places from. If your selling point is how easy it is to leave the place, that is not really saying much about the city. Tonight it was hard to come from a city that has done things so well-- ie: beautiful buildings, clean streets, tourist attractions, a large and varied array of shopping (especially considering they are recovering from Communism) and return to Brussels with its gray, drab buildings, rain, dog poop all over every sidewalk, people constantly cutting you off in line, and lack of any store open after 6pm. At least I'll have the memories of Prague!

We took tons of pictures so it will take awhile to sort through them, but in the meantime, here are just a few...

It was about 28°F the whole time, so we stayed really bundled up!

Just a fraction of the beautiful architecture that covers the city.

Heaven

I think I am in heaven. Kyle has a conference in Prague this week and at the last minute we found a good airfare so that I could join him. We flew out of Brussels Saturday morning and were checked into our hotel by noon. After a quick lunch we hit the streets and have been having a blast ever since. The city is just incredible. Every building is more beautiful than the one before and we can't stop oohing and aahing. We have spent our time strolling through the cobblestone streets and admiring everything we see.

The icing on the cake is our hotel. Because we are here in the slow season (and Kyle had to have Wi-Fi for work), we got an incredible hotel room for a great price. It has turndown service (with chocolates on the pillows!), robes, heated bathroom floors, and a jacuzzi tub. There is a Lush store here, and thanks to Aunt Missy's inspiration of pampering yourself in hotel bathrooms (that you then don't have to turn around and clean), I have taken a bubble bath each night. Considering that our bathroom in Brussels still doesn't have heat, I feel like I have died and gone to heaven!

More to come tomorrow...

Lost....and Found!

Considering that 6 out of 7 winter days in Brussels are cloudy and gray, life can get you pretty down here. This is why I have found that watching a TV series (on DVD) can really help lift your spirits (and help to forget that it is dark from 5pm-8am). Last winter I watched the entire 6 seasons of Sex in the City, and the first season of 24. This winter, Kyle and I watched both seasons of The Office (the European version). Over Christmas, our friends Amy and Nate lent us the first season of Lost and now we are addicted. Unfortunately, we didn't realize our addiction until the first nine episodes of the second season had already been shown in the U.S. However, we have read the episode recaps and are planning to record the other espisodes, thanks to our Slingbox.

Being an American in Brussels is sometimes like living in the Soviet Union in that a lot of things are done on the black market. We have some friends here who have the first 7 episodes of the second season of Lost on DVD. Apparently the recordings are not very focused and might have a little static in them, but we will take them at any cost. Now we are really trying to kiss up to these people because the 7 episodes have already been lent to someone else and we want to be the next ones in line to get them. Regardless, we have recorderd most recent two episodes of Lost and can't wait to watch them!

I think I especially love Lost because I get to hear a Southern accent when Sawyer speaks. And it turns out he is from Georgia and even went to UGA for a year!!!

To everything turn, turn, turn

So a friend of a friend was having a garage sale today. Since it is in my blood to go to any garage/yard sale around, I went in honor of my late grandmother Barbie. While there, I asked the woman holding the sale if she was was moving (since that is usually the reason for these sales). Instead, the woman said that her husband had unexpectedly passed away in March. The two of them (along with their children) had lived in this house for 28 years, so she needed to do a lot of cleaning out in hopes of selling the house and moving back to the States to be closer to her children. Her pain was palpable, especially when she said she never thought she would be a widow at 54. It struck a little too close to home that she is close to the age of both my parents and Kyle's too.

After the garage sale I went to the Women's Club and encountered women of all ages. Most of them were close to my age toting along a variety of little babies, toddlers, and school aged children. This evening I went to a friend's house for Bunco who has a 13, 14, and 16 year old. The entire day has seemed so heavy to me after seeing all of the things we accumulate in life through babies, children, teenagers, and young adults, and then seeing is all have to be downsized as we get older. I guess this is just the cycle of life, but it was a little too much for me to all see in one day.

Just call me Martha

Any one of you that has seen my handwriting or heard my singing knows that I do not have a creative nor artistic bone in my body. I have always said that my talents lie in people, not art. However, in the year that I have been here I have started to dabble in a few artistic ventures. First, I took up knitting, however I am still only at the level of making scarves. Next, I did a few counted cross stitch patterns. Most recently I have begun making necklaces. Thank goodness long beaded necklaces are popular!
But my biggest/craziest project yet has been to re-weave the seat of a stool. My friend Kelly and I came across this old stool and she encouraged me to take it on as a new project. Who knows how the finished product will look, but it is coming along pretty well so far...

One of Kyle's co-workers took photos at the office party, so click below if you want to see some of the great costumes from Planet Brazil!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=121a73ha.44sfxxm2&x=0&y=-2flt3t

Antes so' do que mal acompanhado *

All I can say about Planet Brazil is WOW, it is quite an experience. We were there, along with 70 of Kyle's co-workers and spouses, for The Wall Street Journal's holiday party. Maybe the organizer thought the WSJ was too uptight and wanted to loosen everyone up a bit. After having a buffet dinner of Brazilian food, waiters came around with meat on skewers for everyone. And then the show got under way...

The announcer welcomed us to Brazil and then the fun started. Three men with very muscular bodies (and only little shorts on) came out carrying three duffel bags. The men unzipped the bags and three girls in barely any clothes popped out and started dancing with the guys. The girls were wearing flimsy sports bra-type tops and short shorts (like these.) I think the main talent all the dancers shared was the abililty to shake their butts at a speed of 50 times per second. They were all quite proud of this talent and showed it to us over and over again, from all different angles. Through several costume changes, we experienced Carmen Miranda dancing and lip synching while gyrating on all the men in the audience, excerpts from the Lion King, and even a bit of swing dancing.

There were three black male dancers, three skinny black female dancers and two somewhat less skinny white female dancers. If you ever need proof that black people have more rhythm than white people, just watch this show. It was almost embarrassing how bad the white girls were. The worst/funniest part of the show was during the swing dance part. One guy had to lift a white girl onto his shoulder and then turn in circles. Basically her arms and legs were all stretched out (supposedly) parallel to the ground and her stomach was resting on his shoulder. First, she wasn't strong enough to hold her legs flat, so they were kind of sagging down. When the guy lifted the girl onto this shoulder, her skirt got stuck, so we just kept seeing a big white butt with a little black thong twirling round and round. As if that wasn't enough, the couple then attempted (but did not succeed in) some type of lift. I think the girl was supposed to straddle the guys waist and then he lifts her up, but since she was too heavy for him, she just ended up straddling his waist/hips and he would lift her two inches up, succumb under the weight and she would slam right back into his hips. This graceful move was attempted a few times and then they just finally just gave up. It was painful to watch.

All in all, it was an unforgettable night, but one that probably never needs to be repeated again!

*A popular Brazilian saying that when translated means, "Better alone than in bad company."

Grab your passport...

...we're going to Rio! Actually, we are just going to Planet Brazil for Kyle's office holiday party tonight, but the tag line that is included in each e-mail referencing the event is, "A direct flight to Rio, a dream journey to a world full of dance, rhythm and spectacle." Definitely check out the Web site here. From the looks of it, the place is half Fogo de Chao (a Brazilian restaurant in Atlanta) and half strip club. On the Web site there were many pictures of barechested men, and my favorite line from the intro is, "Musicians, singers, superb dancers, dressed (sort of speak) in costumes." I wonder what one wears to this type of event...

Check please

I am definitely no Julia Child. The longer I have been in Brussels, and the colder it gets, the more and more I cook. Some nights things go ok. Tuesday night for instance, Kyle and I made steak with a red wine bernaise sauce, garlic mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts with bacon. But then there are other nights (like tonight) where I tell Kyle we will only be eating out from now on.

Last night I got a craving for the fish tacos they serve at Taqueria del Sol (in Atlanta). It usually isn't too long after screwing up a recipe that my memory fades, my confidence soars and I decide to attempt a new dish. Tonight I was in the midst of my fish taco recipe when all of the sudden I was in a black hole with no turning back. I had fish crumbling in beer batter, hot oil splattering all over the kitchen and a white sauce that had absolutely no taste to it--and I couldn't stop the madness!

After tonight, I was reminded (yet again) that there are just some things you should eat only at a restaurant. So far my list includes:
sushi
pad thai
fish tacos
risotto
pizza
onion rings

To soothe my wounded ego, we will definitely be eating out tomorrow night!

You can't spell Sugar without UGA!!!

Kyle and I have been preparing for the big game for weeks now. (For those of you that don't bleed Red and Black, the University of Georgia is playing West Virginia in the Sugar Bowl tonight at 8:30p.m. EST). Not only has Kyle made sure the Slingbox is in prime working condition, but he has scheduled one of his remaining days off to be tomorrow so that he can start watching the game live at 2:30am our time and stay up until the wee hours cheering the Dawgs to victory. Talk about a true Dawg fan! I am not as tough as Kyle, so I think I'll just watch the highlights tomorrow morning. For my part though, I figured out how to get Domino's pizza delivered, so we will be having pizza, beer, and football ALL NIGHT LONG!!!

Time for a Good Read

You might have noticed that I have been adding a few things to this site. Along with including a few more of my favorite links, I have added a spot to show what I am currently reading. Right now it is Inside the Gestapo. It is a good book and an easy read, but I would most especially recommend it to anyone that is living (or has lived) in Brussels. The book is a real life account of a Jewish girl living in Brussels that posed as a German and worked for the Gestapo during the Holocaust. During the day she typed up death lists and after work she would hurry to warn the soon-to-be victims.

Kyle has just started Shadow of the Wind for our couples book club and hopefully he will finish it in enough time for me to read it too. For my 'focus more on the fun and not as much on the book' (all womans) book club, I just recently finished The Secret Life of Bees. These women are so creative, they even came up with a name and logo for the bookclub!

Snow Days and New Year's!!!

It has been snowing lots here in Brussels, but it has been the best kind of snow--light, fluffy and only sticking for a day or two. Thursday I went into the forest to enjoy the snow with Kelly, Sonny and Poppy. Poppy was quite a looker in her outfit!
Kyle had Friday off so we went to the park with our friends Andrew and Emily Lodge and their four boys--George (7), Oscar (5), Abe (2 1/2), and Charlie (1). I don't know who had more fun horsing around and playing with new Christmas toys--Kyle or Oscar.After two days of snow, it all melted away just in time to ring in the New Year. Our friends Kate and Ryan came over for some good Mexican food and we had a great time playing Trivial Pursuit--1990s version.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!