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!