Violently happy

Violently also because my noble behind is very hurt, after the 20 km bicycle ride today. And I am expecting some muscle pains tomorrow.
It all happened in Zeeland, Netherlands and it was a really nice week-end. With camping, sun, sea, bicycles. No photos unfortunately cause I had my hands busy.
Some facts:
- if you arrive in the wrong camping, a night can cost you 50 euros. Common, I bring my own bed! We paid 15 in a so called mini camping. The mini campings are the ones owned by farmers on their lands. Very decent and clean.
- cycling in Netherlands is a bliss. Cycling routes are everywhere: near the road, in the middle of the crop fields, in the forest, near the sea. So it was worth the pain I feel now.
- being a Romanian can make people suspicious. The camping lady said an "oops" when hearing our nationality and then gave us not a very good camping spot. The guy renting the bikes was very concerned whether we'll bring back the bikes and he expressed his relief and surprise when we returned: "Wow, you're back". Then he became very friendly. It is unpleasant to see these kind of reactions, but what a hell, maybe we'll change their opinion. One by one.

My window garden

One by one, small pots have appeared on my window sill: mint, basil, persil, orange, tomato. They were mostly bought to be freshly used for cooking. But after using them they continued growing new leaves, so apparentely they liked it here. The basil has nice smelly white flowers, the orange has oranges, the mint has become wild and the tomato is three times taller than when I bought it. Jack and his beanstalk can be really jealous. And the tomato has recently made flowers and small fruits. Soon I will be able to make a window grown tomato and basil salad.
It's not bad to have a garden, even if it's only on your window.

Tulips, tulips, tulips

After working with flowers day by day you don't expect to be impressed anymore. But the tulips at Keukenhof, Netherlands are a real spectacle for the eye. And exhaustion also, as after 2 hours of watching thousands of tulips, the eye got tired of so much beauty and color and was desperately searching for green to rest on.
Keukenhof is a big park where tulips show off every spring. Thousands of tulips of different colors and shapes were competing to make it in the top of our preferences. Really impressing.
But even more impressing are the real tulip fields outside the park, where tulips come out every spring. It's very nice to drive and from time to time to spot some colorful stripes on the fields.
And as this tulip wonderland is very close to Amsterdam, we ended this wonderful day with a short walk in the never resting city.

max and mary are very very cute

I have to sing in french, don't I?

at least to wash away the gummy bears :))

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.

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

My picky xmas tree

you can also create your own greeting card here: http://www.ing.ro/ing/felicitare.html

Roses turn me on

it's not even my title, it has been suggested by google when starting writing. only managed to write an innocent r :))
but how this title fits what I wanted to say!
our small apartment is now full of vases with roses of all colors and it's amazing. they are about 150 and beautiful. or should I say sexy?

The other monkeys

did I forget to brag about seeing them in concert on 3rd nov?

bad photo of nice photo

taken in Place Sablon.

The small nothings

Or in its original name, Les Petits Riens.
Nice name, nice second hand shop and nice concept behind - people give away everything they don't need anymore, the shop sells it at very good prices and the money goes to people in need. So you shop cheap while also knowing that you're doing a good deed.
Apart from the social implications, the shop itself is a great experience. It's like a compressed visit in a lot of people's houses, long live the voyeurism. And you can find really anything you'd be dreaming of: furniture, crockery, pictures, clothes, picnic objects, old cassettes, toys just to mention a few.
A large warehouse of people's lives and history.