Christmas Carols

The weather has turned cold here and the sky was actually spitting some flurries earlier. It made me smile. I'm working from my favorite coffee shop today and I've been getting a lot of work done, which is always nice. When it rains, it pours seems to be the name of the work game right now. I leave for the states on Friday so I'm trying to get things lined up before I go like packing all of my clothes for three weeks, remembering Christmas presents and trying not to forget my drivers license or passports. Tonight, G et G et moi are going to a holiday concert in an old abbeye/church. Check it out here. It's going to be Christmas carols performed by a choir. Nothing like getting into the holiday spirit. I have heard a lot about the abbeye - we walked around the grounds a couple of weeks ago - and the sound in the church is supposed to be, well, heavenly. 

Chasing Alain

Running just as fast as we can...

Yesterday I did an 11k race with my uncle, Alain. He's quite the runner and I try to hang whenever I can. The race was a trail run through the forest. It was really pretty but I was mostly focused on not tripping over tree stumps, horse poop and other runners. In a few areas we ran over cobblestone, which is much harder than running on sand. I was surprised. The forest was beautiful and the weather was chilly but clear. It felt great to run though the forest though I miss my mountains a whole lot. The trail is used for people, bikes and horses. At one point there was a girl on horse riding through the run course - not smart. The horse got spook right in front of me and started bucking with its hooves right at eye level. I pushed the guy next to me off of the trail and we ran as fast as we could away from the horse. Seriously, I saw my life flash before my eyes! I also had a chance to scope out all of the running clubs in Brussels. My goal for Jan 2010 is to join a running or tri club. Now that I feel a little more settled and comfortable with my French (I still get easily flustered when I can't explain things), I want to join a club to meet people. Here are the ever-so flattering race photos. Enjoy.

Pastries!

When I was in Paris, I took a pastry class with www.cooknwithclass.com - the class had 6 people and was all in English so I didn't miss out on anything. I have always wanted to learn the process of baking some of my most favorite bakery items and I figured why not do it in Paris. I learned how to make croissants, pain au chocolates, cinnamon rolls (french style), foccacia and a delicious cheese and onion bread. I never knew how labor intensive croissants were but I quickly found out what an art it was to make them. It takes about two days from start to finished to make croissants. You make the dough, then let it rest for 24 hours. Then you take that dough add in more ingredients (heaps of butter), fold the dough over and over again to give it layers (I never knew that's how the flaky layers were achieved) and then let that rest for another 24 hours. Then it's time to shape the dough and roll it into your favorite treats. Here's a couple pics of yours truly and some of our creations. 

The dough after we put in layers of butter and folded the dough over and over again.

Some of our creations ready for the oven.

Moi with cinnamon rolls ready for the oven.

Moi with the finished product. 

These didn't last very long! Delicious.

Mais oui, Paris!

Thanksgiving Feast French-style: Turkey, Stuffing and Frites!

View from roof at Galleries Lafayette

View from Jardin de Tuileries

Thanksgiving in Paris - so great! I took the train to Paris on Thanksgiving morning and in an hour and a half I was in Paris. I know, can we talk about how close it is?! I stayed in a little guest house in the Montmartre area. Perfect for just one person: http://www.paris-oasis.com. I met up with family at Chez L'Ami Louis for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a blast to be among family and to get to know everyone a little better.

Dinner was delicious. We started off with oysters and snails, then turkey and the most amazing stuffing I have ever had, and finished off with fruit and heaps of delicious delicacies. Never thought I'd say this but the French definitely know how to do Thanksgiving! After we were completely stuffed we went for a long walk. That's the great thing about Paris - walking. It's always fun to explore the little side streets and to see all parts of the city. We went to see Inglorious Bastards that evening before tucking in for a well deserved slumber.

I'm back!

I know it's been a little while since I last blogged - not good. Happy Thanksgiving! The quick update is that I just got back from four amazing days in Paris for Thanksgiving. I met up with family and had such a wonderful time with them. Seriously it was so much fun! More on the Paris trip later, but just wanted to insert a little entry. Here are some photos from the last couple of weeks in Brussels. Photos and entry from Paris coming soon.

L'Atomonium

Snack time!

Cathedrale Saint-Michel

Me on Grandpapa's bike

Born into Brothels

Last night I went to a screening of Born into Brothels put on by UNICEF, UNRIC and the European Commission to raise awareness of children's rights. The 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child is coming up so they decided to show this movie and then talk about children's rights after the movie. I'd always wanted to see the movie and I figured since the event was going to be in English with a room full of English speaking people, I should go. So glad I did. Synopsis: a photographer gives a handful of cameras to kids from the brothels and tells them to take pictures of their daily lives and the story unfolds from there. It's an unbelievably powerful movie - tough to watch at times, but so eye-opening. Check out the site to learn more: http://kids-with-cameras.org/

Party Time Excellent!

On Friday I went to a surprise 30th birthday party for one of Coralie's (my cousin) friends. Anyone else turning 30 this year because this was the third 30th I've been to in the last month? The dinner was held at the birthday girl's sister-in-law's farmhouse and it was an absolute blast. We started off with delicious fruit drinks (all I heard was vodka, triple sec and mangos and I was sold), appetizers galore and a five course meal with a palette cleansing sorbet between courses. We had our first courses and then went into the garage to play a game called "Nails". Since this was a farmhouse there were huge logs in the garage, we decided to see who could hammer their nail into the wood in the fastest. Apparently when you are drinking and hammering away at nails, it's the funniest thing in the world and it seriously was a hoot and a holler. We were having so much fun that we didn't even start the main course until midnight. Shrimp drenched in garlic butter, homemade tater tots (got tots Quinn?) with prosciutto wrapped greenbeans...and two lasagna sized pans of tiramisu (one normal and the other made with speculoos). Seriously I'm getting the recipe and we're having speculoos tiramisu for Christmas. The menu rivaled that of Cat's and I'd love to see these two ladies do an Iron Chef face off because it would be great - and I'd love to eat it too. I didn't take any pictures of the food, but I can say that I'm still happily full from Friday :)

Fall in the City

The other day I took the wrong tram so I had to pass through Parc Josaphat to get to my destination. I thought it was so pretty with the leaves changing.

                                                                       

One Month Anniversary

I've officially been here one month! Yippee. I'm starting to feel settled in and my French is coming along. I'm still getting lost everyday, no matter where I'm going. I take the wrong metros, I think I'm walking down the right street only realize I've passed my destination, I still don't know street names and driving is so chaotic. Apparently when driving and riding a bike here the more aggressive you are the better. I'm working on it. It's so fun and great though. I'm off to explore the city on this rainy windy day. Maybe work on my wardrobe a little bit. Chloe's birthday party is this week so I know I have to get an outfit! I'm going to stop by a cooking school this afternoon to learn how to make jam (I've gotta start somewhere) and then I'm off to the theatre tonight. I tried to post pics this morning but can't get them off my GSM. Love!

Fat Lip

Yesterday I went to my first spinning class en francais not knowing what to expect. Besides this being an hour long class, I was the only one who showed up in cycling shorts (clearly I'm not in Boulder anymore) - everyone else was in running shorts or yoga pants (hoo-ha, I don't get that!). The music was that horrible euro-techno with incredibly meaningful lyrics in English such as: 'after the rain...sun.' As class started I realized instantly that I couldn't keep a straight face. Our instructor proceeded to cycle with his legs but moved his shoulders around just like Pat(ricia) would on the dance floor for 70's night. That's when I had to keep my laughter in check because he kept looking over at me with his ridiculous shoulder dancing and I was laughing so hard inside. I literally bit my lip the whole time. My absolute favorite part was when he decided to motivate the class by standing up on his bike and proceeded to gyrate and wave one arm around in the air just like cheesy Chippendale dancers do when they rip off their shirts. Man alive, you just can't make this stuff up.

Beer

This weekend there was the public viewing of  beer brewing at Cantillon in Brussels. It's a brewery that holds public viewings twice a year and I didn't want to miss it - mostly so that I could brag to Brian, my beer loving, home-brewing brother-in-law, about how cool it was. And really it was pretty cool. The brewery opened at 6:30am, but there was no way we were going to be there for the opening. Although Granny and I were out the door at 7am to take the first tour of the day at 8:30am, which was a tour in French and English. We started the tour by double fisting with coffee and croissants and finished the tour with cheers and beers. By 10am we had finished our first beers and were on to round two. Granny was such a trooper and I was going to make the most of my beer drinking before noon. What I learned:

Cantillon is the only brewery in the world that uses spontaneous fermentation for their beers.

Lambic tastes really bad, but Kriek is the way to go.

French speaking people get really annoyed when the tour guide switches to English so that the American girl can understand at least part of the tour.

Cycle Chic

One of my favorite blogs is: http://www.cyclechic.be It's all about cycling with style in Belgium. I love it because it shows candid shots of people on their bikes looking fabulous. It's a goal of mine to somehow get on the blog with a picture of me on a bike. First, I need to start riding a bike more often in stylish clothes. The weather has turned rainy and cold today so I'll hold off on my master cyclechic plan for one more day.

Weekend

Here are some pics from this past weekend. On Friday we went to Charleroi to take care of some business. Here are my grandparents in front of the town hall where they got married over 63 years ago. Aren't they super adorable?! I know, I can't imagine living 63 years nonetheless with the same person for that long!

        

I didn't do anything for Halloween, but my grandparents and I ran around the city, walked the huge market downtown and practiced my French. Saturday morning we went downtown and visited the touristy area. We picked up some goodies along the way and drooled over some of the yummy treats in the shop windows. Enjoy!

    

Pilates en francais

I joined a gym this week. An old hospital, where my dad actually worked while he was studying over here, was converted into this enormous really cool modern gym. It makes my gym in Boulder look like a run-down playground. It has everything that I need - classes, pool, sauna, hot boys. I took a pilates class there yesterday and even though I didn't understand everything the instructor was saying I did my best to follow along and not be too much of a delinquent student. Kind of funny though when the instructor says 'arm' and I lift my leg - I should probably pay more attention in class. Luckily the gym is only a couple miles each way from the house so I have been running or biking to get there. In the rain/cold/laziness I can even take the tram :)  You can find me here. I'm slowly starting to build my life and feel a little more settled. Next week I'll test out working from coffee shops now that I have received a few recommendations - new adventures to come - yeah! Happy Friday & Happy Halloween!

Block party

My grandparents have lived in the same house for 63 years. My grandmother moved into this house before she was married and lived here with her mother for a few years. It's a gorgeous row-house that has four stories and a little garden in the back. I love this house. On Saturday the street celebrated its 100th birthday. There was a big block party and my grandparents were a large part of the planning committee. For weeks they planned, got permits, held meetings, wrote speeches and my grandfather even did a couple interviews and photo-shoots with local newspapers. We're hoping the fame won't go to his head. Here's one of the interviews about him. The party was a huge success and everyone had a great time. I met a lot of the neighbors (many of whom work for the EU/NATO/etc) and had fun sipping wine and eating cheese on the street. Grandpapa gave a speech about the history of the street and his 60+ years living here. G et G were so excited and did an amazing job at planning the block party of the century! This is one of the pics from Grandpapa's big photo shoot at the end of our street (our house is one of the white ones on the left).

The Makeover!

Happy Monday! Last week I had my little Euro wardrobe makeover. Chloe (my Belgian older sister - not blood related, but pretty darn close) gave me a crash course in Euro fashion and life in Brussels. She is just the greatest and was really patient with me when I said things like, "Do you really think this looks ok?" I learned how to properly shop; how to make the most of the huge yearly sales; how to dress and of course the best places to meet people. Here are some of my favorite Chloe-isms from the day: "We're not even going to go into that store because I can tell by the window display that we aren't going to like it." "I just can't decide on the color you should get. If it were me I'd get both!" "You never wear jeans out at night - you dress up!" "You HAVE to buy that!" I now have a couple statement pieces in my wardrobe and a list of a few must-haves to be bought for winter.  I also got my hair cut: same length but a lot of layers and new bangs. I wasn't ready to chop it all off just yet, but I have to say I'm loving my new haircut. Photos to follow!

City Cycling

Today I went for my first bike ride in Brussels. I rode from G et G's to my aunt's house a couple kilometers away (yeah that's right I'm using the metric system now!). I used Grandpapa's bike so I was a little awkward on it to begin with. What an adventure! At one point I was cornered between a parked car and a moving car; then I got stuck between two buses and couldn't see the traffic behind or in front of me and then I kept getting lost because all street names (if they are actually marked, which is a whole other issue) are written in both French and Flemish. Of course I was only looking for the French names so I got lost numerous times, but luckily a couple friendly strangers came to my rescue. It's a blast though! I can't wait to ride around town more so that I get used to the cars and city cycling. Here's a pic of the flowers I have in my room now overlooking my little balcony. 

In Brussels

Yeah blog! So here I am in Brussels. I made it safely as did my very large bags (still waiting on my Cervelo and a couple boxes), but I'm finally here. It took a while to get here as I drove cross country first, hung out in MD for a couple days, rolled up to NYC and then finally flew to Brussels. It's been amazing here so far and I'm loving every second - or at least every second that I actually understand what's being said to me in French. I've been told that my French will come along once I've spent more time here. Fingers crossed. Life with Granny et Grandpapa (G et G) is great and they are so amazingly loving and patient it's unbelievable. I've spent a lot of time with family these last fews days so I'm extremely lucky that I'm not totally on my own over here. It's quite the change from Boulder, but it's just what I needed. More posts to follow and maybe even some photos, but just wanted to say hi!