The one with the GPS

Did I have the chance to tell you about the fuck Garmin episode? I take the fuck back now, we're friends again.
So here we are on a very early Saturday morning in our car, with some addresses we had to get to. And our Garmin friend apparently hates morning, so it has just shut down. Completely. Nada. Ok, we weren't born with a GPS, we can read a normal map. So we got to one address by our own, but the next one was not on our map (it left out a part of the southern Brussels). And we had to get there by 10 and it was in the other part of the city.
You can't imagine how Rue Neuve (the biggest shopping street in Brussels) looks at 8 in the morning. So freakishly empty. And yes, the shops only open at 10, so no new GPS for us. Last resort: wake up Diana and Lucian and borrow their GPS.
Anyway, now that I tell the story it sounds boring, but the GPS really made our morning miserable.
Around noon, when he have already finished everything, he decided to wake up. Did you know they have a reset button? We didn't.

Piss off!

No, I'm not learning new swearing words (as if I hadn't known enough). I just wanted to say a few words about Manneken Pis, the oh so famous Brussels attraction, as I've been wanting to for a long time. Some have an Eiffel Tower, others a Big Ben, not to mention the skylines if you leave the continent. Not to mention.
And Brussels has a statue of a little boy (believe me, he's very small) peeing. But why why why, you ask yourself. Why do so many tourists gather everyday and take photos of the little boy? Why? What's his secret?

Search google, wikipedia and here it is. Apparently there are more legends around the boy with an early prostate problem. The oldest is from 1142, where some troops hung the infant (so he was an infant) in a tree for encouragement (I have to make kids, apparently they bring good luck). And not only did the boy had good vibe, but he even started fighting in the battle. With his only weapon: his penis. Because he peed on the heads of enemy troops and made them lose the battle. His pee was acid or what?

The next legend goes in the 14th century where the boy saved the city from explosion. How? Of course, he peed on the explosive charges some evil men put around the city. He must have drunk a lot of beers.

The last one is my favorite cause it happens in modern times. Apparently a woman was shopping with her boy (and she was sales brainwashed). (While getting out of H&M loaded with cheap but useful clothes) she realized she lost something: her boy. Bla bla panic and the child was found. Of course, he was just peeing on the corner of a small street. Look what the shortage of public toilets in Brussels does (really, it's hard to find a peeing place).

I forgot, there are 2 others, one similar to the modern one, with a merchant losing his boy and finding him peeing in a garden (is it safe for a little boy to pee alone in a garden in Belgium?). And one in which the boy put out a fire saving an entire castle from burning down!! No further comment.

Anyway, I won't even start with Manneken Piss' costumes, as he wears all kind of costumes according to the occasion. He has 600 costumes!!

Well, if you come to Brussels, you know what not to miss.

p.s. there are 2 things I appreciate about the statue:
- he offers a great deal of opportunity for sarcasm
- it is a peeing proof that you can make your city interesting if you want to. even if you don't have much to show. there is no tourist who has been in Belgium who hasn't heard of Manneken Piss, there is no shop in the center not selling a souvenir with the boy.
- ok, 3 things. 258,000 search results on google (that is if you manage to spell it right)

sometimes it's shitty

and now I sounded like a teenager

before and after

in 2006

in 2009


any changes?

Leftovers

one of the advantages of working with flowers - sometimes there are some left, so perfect to put around the house.

F...CK ICECREAM

made by me myself and moi.
sewing has never been my thing, but I really enjoyed the process which took place at Diana's, with her materials, so I owe her a real ice cream. anyway not bad for a beginner. And for an ex-copywriter :)

p.s. I like ice cream, so no offense.

Sun at last!

both weather related and metaphorically. the first one you know how it is...in fact if you live in Belgium you might sometimes forget. we were in Antwerp when the miracle happened and it made our day.
the second sun refers to our bank account, which starts having pluses, not only minuses. yes, we started delivering (more than we expected) and it feels great. and not only because of the money, but also because people act very happily when receiving flowers and their happiness comes back to us.

Happy birthday

to me
na na na
na na
na na
happy birthday to me
na na na
na na

It's not on the moon, it's at the seaside

Random - warning! long post*

over 2 months since we moved here. it starts feeling familiar. very much enjoyed the visit from mother and sister, it was hard to see them go back to Ro. I liked showing them around, too bad the weather was not very suited for sightseeing, but we managed to find the shops :) in Brussels you can hardly see snow, I was told. Myth. It was snowing like Canada. Now it got back to normal: gray, rainy. I can't wait for spring. Brussels is very nice in spring, I was also told. We'll see if myth or not.
Nice Xmas and NY celebrations. First with extended family, second with core family :). Nothing much, but exactly how they should have been. Xmas: dinner, small xmas tree, making fun of xmas spirit, mother not enjoying it :)), practical presents, watching xmas movies. Togetherness. NYE: fireworks, a lot of people, drinking a beer in a bar, then too much champagne and stuff, getting sick, throwing up, going to bed. the usual. Missed some friends from far away though.
We received the date for the appointment at the commune (for resident ID) - it's in February! Wow things are slow here.
Our kitchen sink is broken. Hope to fix it soon.
2010 already. Big hopes for it. We're starting the business, some small details left to fix, but in mid January we'll be operational. Can't wait to see which flowers will be sold first. I have my bets...
It's very exciting. It feels like we can do anything. It's great to have control of your life. But I have to bring more discipline in it - wake up earlier, exercise more, take some French lessons at least three times a week, making things happen, having new ideas. And then have fun, of course.
A lot of trips scheduled for this year. The surroundings: Berlin, London, Paris (and other parts of France in summer), Antwerp, Amsterdam again and so on and so on. The big one: Thailand at end of year.
And explore Brussels more. The touristic part has been covered. There is a lot of hidden Brussels, I'm sure. What I like about Brussels: the narrow streets, the short buildings (most of them are 3-5 floors tall - so used to them already that I had a shock when seeing a tall block of flats), the nice shops and shop windows, the very good smelling boulangeries, the feeling that you're not a stranger (so many nationalities, that nobody cares anymore), Diana's food, Mama Roma (best pizza ever), H&M :)), the parks, the beer, the bars with happy happy bartenders, the smile on people's faces on the streets, their relaxation (sometimes too much of it), our apartment, the toy shop in Sablon, the chocolate shops, the frites, the churches (there are a lot of them, very big and impressive), the goat cheese, the getaway trips to anywhere (in 2 hours you can get to london, paris, amsterdam and in much less to bruges, antwerp, seaside), the sky and the clouds when it's sunnyt. What I don't like: the garbage on the streets (it's a dirty city), some very Arab neighborhoods where everything looks fallen apart - poverty? culture?, the parking spaces (very small, hard to find), their socialism, the fact that they don't clean the streets after it snowed, the lack of dancing spots (or not easy to find), the schizo weather.
That's it for now. I'll come back more organized. And in French :)


*and boring

2009 - a good year for wines

At least it'd better be, as for me it worked out very well.
I usually hate this kind of retrospectives, as it's good to look forward and not back, but 2009 is worth mentioning. So let's review:

1. The best thing: I got married and I'm very happy.

2. I went to China, an amazing trip, which just opened my appetite to explore Asia more. Thailand, here we come! (just wait a few more months, please)

3. I started a whole new life - by moving to Belgium, by quitting my job, by choosing a different one, by drinking more beer...the usual stuff


So I'll drink for 2009 and I hope it was a good year for wines as it was for me.
Looking forward to what's next. Hooray.

p.s. and I also hate those people who brag on their blogs about how good their life is (and myabe it's awful), but just look above - can you blame me for writing this post?