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