Turning Lemons into Lemonade

Jannik, Sandra, Erfana, Rob, and me at the Conrad party.
The ice skating rink. Up and to the right was the outdoor patio (for the summer) and the party, which was also in the hotel's restaurant.
Me ice skating at the party. This is the third year they've made this ice skating rink and the last time because the party needs to become the next posh thing.

My last weekend abroad was supposed to be spent in France ... until the French decided to go on strike.

I spent the day at work, chatting with my officemate, Erfana. I had to run around a get a paper signed to check out so around 3 pm I went up to the IT department and as I'm walking out the elevator I run into someone holding a beer. I was like ... what?? Evidently they start their happy hour a bit early as they were all just sitting around the chips and dip drinking their beers. Only in Europe could Americans do that at work.

Then Erfana and I head down to the first floor (second floor here, people) where they're having a party for two women whose birthdays were that month - Jannik and Sandra. So at 3:30 we have a glass of champagne, eat some nuts, and then I head out for the train station.

Strutting in my heels, suitcase in tow, I get to the train station at the perfect time only to not be able to find my train on the schedule. I CANNOT figure out what platform I'm supposed to be on. I head to the information booth and wait behind this guy who's probably about my age who is showing CLASSIC signs of being in a rush - checking his watch, sighing dramatically, etc. I start a conversation and turns out we're on the same train.

In the end - there were no trains going to Lyon Friday night, Saturday, and probably most of Sunday. Another line was running but it was going to be more expensive, much more difficult, etc.

I finally tracked down a phone area (because I left mine at home, of course) and tried to call Erfana because I was cranky and wanted to do something fun if I was going to stay in Brussels. She didn't answer ... didn't answer. Finally I make plans with Paul to meet him like usual and go home with him.

I take the metro back to the Embassy stop (close to Paul) and decide to just go up to the office and see if Erfana is there - it's about 5:30 by this time. All the lights are off, I have to wait and wait to get the doors unlocked for me, but I finally make it upstairs. No Erfana but her coat, etc. are all there so I called Paul and said - I'm not coming home tonight.

Turns out there were still three people (Jannik, Sandra, and one of my bosses, Rob) down at first floor's happy hour (5 bottles of champagne later). For a HOST of reasons that led to my crabbiness, I went down and joined them for a glass. We chat for awhile and Sandra says that she and Jannik are going to this party at Conrad (a posh hotel that was just bought by Hilton) - would I want to come? YES!

The five of us leave around 7:30 and go to the Conrad. They've turned the inner courtyard into a skating rink. All of the ice skates are brand new, even. There was raclette (which I LOVE) and the BEST waffle I've had thus far during my time here.

Afterwards, Erfana and I went back to her place, talked for awhile, and crashed.

"American" Cuisine

A DAY OFF. (Veteran's Day)

I thought that maybe I should use this time to go into Brussels and see any last minute treasures I haven't had a chance to experience and then I realized - no thanks. I've been working since before the day I graduated (minus four days with the fam at the lake - and one of those days it rained). All of my weekends and free time while in Brussels have been spent traveling and sight-seeing.

So I slept in until almost nine o'clock (which was a TERRIBLE performance for any 23 year old) and lounged on the couch for an hour flipping between the Italian and French TV stations, with a little BBC news thrown in there.

The day before I had been talking with Nicole about ingredients that I would need for the american cuisine I would be preparing that night. She took me out in the garden and showed me where the carrots, celery, parsley, and thyme could be found. So I picked me some veggies and walked 20 minutes to meet Mamie (Julia - Nicole's mom) for lunch.

We went to the Brasserie du Chateau and were going to "eat light" because I was making dinner so we went with the plate of the day: roti something or other. Turns out it was basically turkey in a bechamel sauce covered in cheese served with salad, croquettes (another fried food) and bread - not to mention the wine and apple tarts. But it was great, of course.

Mamie and I walked to the supermarket to buy some other ingredients. This "tiny" supermarket had one full aisle for wine, another for beer, and another for cheese. It was ridiculous. (And at least half an aisle for chocolate - but that wasn't ridiculous.) Of course by the time we checked out the beautiful day had turned rainy and cold.

Mamie and I went back to her apartment for tea and a chat before I headed back home - once again in the beautiful sunshine.

The meal of chicken pot pie, homemade applesauce, and puppy chow was quite the success, if I do say so myself. They have similar meals (like vol au vent or bouchee a la reine, which we had the next night for dinner). It was interesting to cook without any real grasp of measurement. It was all done by estimation because their system is one of weight, not volume.

In the end, I figure you can cover up any cooking flaw with some sugar, chocolate, and peanut butter. Puppy chow is always a win-win.

In a Nutshell: Last Belgian Weekend

In a nutshell, here's how I've been passing the last few moments of time in Brussels:

Friday night Paul, Nicole, and I had dinner in Nivelles, a town near Braine-le-Chateau, for their typical food of "tarte a l'djote." Imagine the crust of a quiche with cheese and more cheese inside. The kind I got had one half of cheese and the other half of cheese and vegetables (but mostly cheese). When it arrives, you take a slab of butter and spread it all around while the tarte is still hot. Wash it down with a little Saint-Jacques beer and it's a true Nivellois meal.

Saturday I took the train to Cologne, Germany where I met my friend Eike. Eike studied at Ames High during my last year in high school. We wandered around Cologne, went in the cathedral, did some shopping, and grabbed a bite (or three). Eike had me try "berlinas," which are the german equivalent of a jelly filled donut with sugar on the outside. My train took an hour longer than it was supposed to because of a reroute so the travel time ended up almost doubled by the time I got home.

Sunday Nicole and I picked up Oceane from school (they had a special thing for Armistice Day - November 11) and then went on an unsuccessful hunt for an open grocery store. Afterward we picked up Mamie and went to lunch at a restaurant in the forest. I ate carbonnade - the same meal I had my very first day in Brussels.

Afterward we drove into Brussels to the Koekelberg Basilica (Basilica of the Sacred Heart and the fourth largest in the world)- there was a Leonardo da Vinci exhibit there that looked really interesting. We waited in line for about a half an hour and got to the doorway where we thought we would go in only to find that the line wound around about ten more times. So we left and went to Kasteel van Gassbeek.

It was a beautiful castle with vast grounds - ponds, trails, gardens, etc. On our way back we stopped for crepes and tea (or Kriek beer in Mamie and Nicole's case) before heading back to the house.

That night I tried MORE different kinds of cheese. It just never ends ...

Crunch Time

I head back to the States one week from Tuesday. It's so hard to believe that time has flown by so quickly.

Yesterday Paul had to work late so I headed over to the Parliament Building for a quick tour. It was BEAUTIFUL. There are busts of former Prime Ministers in all the hallways, Belgian tapestries lining the walls, and salles with real gold decor.

The entrance to the building has one door for the Senate and one door for the House. They have two totally separate staircases and the decor is different for each. (The Senate is red, the House is green.) It was all very neat and I'm glad that I got the inside tour (thanks, Paul!). I got to stand where the Speaker of the House stands, sit in the Prime Minister's chair, and watch the proceedings of the Senate (although that's not usually allowed). Not bad.

Afterwards I wandered down and did a bit of shopping, although stores here close SO early, at a gauffre, and eventually wandered my way back up to the Parliament in order to go home. It was drizzling which turned into rain on the way home and hasn't stopped since. So THIS is the weather they've been talking about.

November, November, the Fifth of November

i.e. MY BIRTHDAY!!!

Thank you all for the warm wishes and birthday gifts! They helped me celebrate in true Shannon fashion - I just don't stop celebrating.

The day didn't start out the greatest - I was tired from our weekend adventure and it was Monday morning. I put on my thigh highs (and other clothes) and headed off to work. It wasn't long before I realized that they weren't going to stay thigh high for very long.

Let's just say that about every 50 feet someone got a nice shot of my legs as I yanked those puppies up and kept walking. By now Victoria had completely lied to me as to her product - I also had a run. I made it to work, threw the thigh highs in the trash, and gave in to spending 4 euros on a new pair.

Some of my co-workers and I had lunch together to celebrate the b-day (one even got me Tostitos with a hint of lime and salsa - thanks!). That afternoon I worked out a bit and game home to a special meal of smoked salmon from Ireland, foie gras (which I had never had before), and a sugar tart complete with a candle that played "Happy Birthday."

Tuesday I got to celebrate even more as those with Facebook caught up with the time difference.

THANKS AGAIN to all of you who made my birthday so great! We'll celebrate Iowa style once I get back - just because I can. It's my birthday after all.

Belgium in a Day

James and I went to Waterloo (where Napoleon was finally defeated) on Sunday but were too cheap (as usual) to actually purchase the ticket to climb to the top. (It's something like two hundred steps - we didn't have time for that.) So, we walked around and took lots of pictures before heading back to the Van Ausbrech/Denayer household for lunch.

It was a grand affair with Julia (Nicole's mother), James, and Paul's mom and step-father. We spent a couple of hours at the table and then James and I rushed off to downtown Brussels.

After a huge hassle of dropping off the car and then taking the tram (not the metro) to downtown Brussels, James finally saw the Manneken Pis and the Grand Place (see picture above). Then we grabbed a waffle and some chocolate to eat on our way back to the train station.

We spent at LEAST half an hour searching for the stupid bus that would take James to the airport and finally found it. Then I caught my train, had dinner with the fam, and went to bed after a long weekend ...

Five in the Focus

Shelly, James, and I went to the market in Heilbronn on Saturday morning. It takes place just in front of the town hall which boasts an astronomical clock by Isaak Habrecht (1580). We bought pastries and wandered around a bit before picking up the boys, piling in the car, and heading out in the direction of the Black Forest (which is in the area of Schwarzwald).



We stopped at TRIBERG, which is known for the largest cuckoo clock and a beautiful waterfall. We walked up to go to the waterfall but would have had to pay to go all the way up so we toured around some cuckoo shops and walked the town a bit. We never saw the largest cuckoo clock either. Triburg was a bit of a bust.



But, we got a recommendation from a guy to go to a nearby town for some true German food and it was actually VERY good. Shelly and Peter got "small" schnitzels (they were fried pieces of pork, in essence, that completely filled their plates) while the rest of us got spatzle - a german pasta.



We went on to COLMAR, France which is on the southern part of the wine route that goes through Alsace-Lorraine. There was a great little market going on with less food stuffs and more clothes and other goods. We all stopped for treats before continuing on our separate shopping ways for about an hour.

The town is very quaint as many of the buildings are painting in bright colors. James bought some "marrons" or chestnuts from a street vendor. They were terrible but for some reason I know that we all had more than one.

When we recongregated at the car, Thomas and Peter proposed that we head back to Brussels so we dropped Shelly off at the train station and headed back north with hip hop, Dane Cook, and Cake filling the car. We stopped at a rest station in Luxembourg so James could say that he'd actually BEEN in Luxembourg.

Most of the rest of the countryside was blurred because: 1) it was dark out, and 2) Peter was driving WELL over any speed limit as he was determined to get us back to Brussels by 10 pm. As we were driving we saw a huge FLASH all of the sudden and realized that a picture had been taken of our car in order for us to get a speeding ticket later. Funny thing is that the same thing happened less than a half an hour later.

Nicole and Paul said that I'll be hunted down even though it's a rental car. Meh, I'll be gone by then.

Thomas tried his hand at throwing fruit at passing signs going over 100 mph. On Thursday Thomas had dared Peter to stick his head out the window if we went 110 mph. I thought that was funny but Thomas wearing a bright neon vest, tangerine in hand, cheeks flapping in the wind was rather entertaining as well. (The "driving uniform" came about because every car in Belgium must have this neon vest in it in case a driver/passenger needs to stand on the side of the road because of an accident, for example.)

We got to Brussels just fine albeit not by 10 pm. James and I stayed at Thomas' house again and played some board games with the Scherbels before heading to bed.

Where are we, anyway?

Friday morning we hit up Cinnabon and high-tailed it out of town. We stopped in Trier, Germany's oldest town to check out the sights and do some shopping. We saw Porta Nigra and the Cathedral of Trier (Trierer Dom). After wandering around the cloisters and the chapel we left town in the direction of Frankfurt-Hahn Airport.

James was flying in at 6 pm that night. With Peter at the healm we got there ... at 3 pm. So we turned around and went from one little town to the next, not really finding anything of note, until we made our way back to the airport. I will say that Evelyn was the best 12 euros per day that I've ever spent. She treated us right for most of the trip and this was no exception.

The only time we had some troubles was Thursday night when we were at the base and she showed our car as an arrow in an entirely black space. We figured out later that it was less because of Evelyn and more because of the fact that we were in restricted space. Sorry for the taunting language, swearing, and mean jests, Evelyn.

It was great to see James! We hugged for probably five minutes as neither one of us had hugged anyone in a very long time. (I know that might shock some of you who are aware of my anti-touching campaign.) Then we all piled in the car and headed to Heilbronn to stay with Shelly. James gorged himself on hint of lime Tostitos - apparently you can't get American chips in Britain. The benefits of working for the government.

Shelly showed us around Heilbronn a bit and we ate a restaurant where I ordered a completely unknown dish - it was like spaghetti noodles, veggies, and a cream sauce with cheese and sort of egg concoction that was baked. Not bad actually.

We walked back along the river and passed a giant fallen log that's carved in the shape of something it shouldn't look like and went back to Shelly's to crash.

Take a Penny, Leave a Penny

A little anecdote from lunch a few weeks ago:

Thomas and Peter were tired of the food at the D.G. so we walked down to the Tasty Corner and ordered some paninis. I ordered for Thomas and myself (due to the French skillz). The total came to something and 10 cents. There was a small plate on the counter that had little change in it. Thinking that others adopted the "Take a Penny, Leave a Penny" system, I grabbed 10 centimes and handed it all over to the lady.

She sort of looked at me funny and took my money. After conferring with Thomas and Peter, I realized that I had definitely taken straight from her tips.

It was really awkward because we had paid but were waiting for our paninis (WHY do they have to cook so long?!?). We tried to ameliorate the situation by putting WAY more than 10 cents back on the plate but every time we put more down, the lady wasn't looking. In the end, I would venture to guess that we multiplied her tips by ten.

My suggestions:

1) Get a tip JAR - a customer's hand will get stuck if they try to reach in for 10 cents and therefore there would be no confusion.
2) If you want more tips, get a bigger plate. I don't see how that small thing helps pay the bills.

On the Road

After a great breakfast of champions at the Scherbel household, Peter, Thomas, and I took off to the Commissary in Chievres. By this time I had no less than 8 kills on my record. (That would be eight times that I killed the car.) We loaded up on groceries for Shelly and food for the trip and took off towards Luxembourg.

The scenery was BEAUTIFUL, especially set to a wonderful soundtrack of hip hop. Our best detour of the entire weekend was when we saw a sign for the Euro Space Center. Let's just say that there was a playground and a GIANT ROCKET. We climbed up, took lots of pictures, and said adieu to Belgium.

Later we stopped in the Mullerthal region of Luxembourg, particularly in the town of Beaufort where there was a beautiful chateau. Of course it cost 2 euros to actually go in it so we didn't. Instead we headed back out of town and up some winding roads where, when I again killed the car and almost got us killed, Thomas took over driving and put the E-Brake to good use.

We backroaded it - Evelyn didn't have any idea where we were - and eventually wound our way to Spangdahlem Air Force Base.

Our "room" was $48 (not Euros, DOLLARS) for the night. It included three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room, living room, and TVs not to mention everything else that was on the Base: movie rental, Commissary/PX, Burger King, Taco Bell, Cinnabon, bowling alley ... the list goes on. Cha-ching!

We rented and watched Syriana, hit up some pretty good Mexican food in a nearby town, and se couch'ed for the night.

Working hard ... Monday through Wednesday

Thursday was the first of November, a holiday here in Belgium. So - I took Friday off, like most people did, and spent the first three days of the week working to ensure that my birthday weekend celebration was going to be a BLAST.

It went a little like this:

Monday I worked like usual. It was interspersed with emails, phone calls, IMs, and visits with Thomas and Peter in particular, as well as my friends Shelly (who lives in Germany now), and James (who goes to Cambridge).

Tuesday we realized that we were under the wire to make last minute arrangements for our weekend trip to Germany, Luxembourg, and France. Previously we had tried to get a card (which we found out later is the IACS card) - this card gets you on to any base. Because we're interns, however, we were told we couldn't get the card.

Shelly had put in her order of American food that she wanted me to buy. The usual for expats includes chocolate chips and, for a holiday such as Thanksgiving, all of the makings for pumpkin pie. Thomas said that we should go out to the Commissary at the Military Base in Chievres (just outside of Brussels) in order to get the food because they import it all from the States and charge American prices (plus, it's all in dollars, not euros, which means it's CHEAPER).

Thomas had heard of another intern who had the card you need in order to buy at the Commissary or the PX (the military version of a mini-Wal-Mart) which meant that she also must have had the IACS card to get on the base. Peter, Thomas, and I went back down to Human Resources with this new info. Some time and some luck later, we had the card to buy at the PX and the form to get the IACS card.

One of the women that works in Thomas and Peter's office said that there was this GREAT Air Force Base, Spangdahlem, in Germany, about an hour from Luxembourg. She had stayed there for SUPER cheap and was very impressed with it. So ... Thomas made reservations.

Peter, Thomas, and I also had lunch at Deputy Chief of Mission Wayne Bush's house. DCM Bush is the second-in-command at the Bi-Lateral Embassy (just under the Ambassador) and is a career Foreign Service Officer. He was incredibly generous to donate two hours of his time and his personal chef's services for the three of us. His home actually used to be an Ambassadors' residence so it was beautiful and it was an honor to be able to speak with him about the life of an FSO.

Wednesday rolled around. That morning I had a meeting I had forgotten about and things blew up in the Bi-Lat building. The problem was that we had made appointments out at USAG (US Army Garrison) to get our IACS cards but that required a twenty or thirty minute shuttle ride, etc. I ended up being the only one that could go (although one IACS card gets you plus four people onto a base).

Again, after some finagling, we all finished our work a bit early and headed out to Hertz where we picked up our light blue Ford Focus that would probably hate us after the weekend and our GPS Magellan that I later named Evelyn. The Focus had a scratch and ding in the left front panel so the Hertz woman said she could switch our car. We said NO as we figured it gave us more room to get a bit liberal with our driving.

We went back to the office to pick up Anneke in order to head to the PX. That got a bit detained and by the time we were finally out of the city we just turned around because we were meeting a bunch of other people for dinner on Kabob Row and a movie. We found a parking place relatively close to where we needed to be but the guy behind us had a ticket. So, we did like any other intern would do, we took the ticket off his car, put it on ours, and walked away.

Fries and pitas on Kabob Row, The Kingdom at this amazing movie theater, and back to Thomas' house so we could all hit the road the next morning.

Taming the Lion

I spent last weekend in Lyon, France. Flew in Friday night and went with Fred, Gilles, Victoire, and Alex to L'EST - a restaurant of one of the Grand Chefs of France: Paul Bocuse. Of course I didn't know how big of a name "Paul Bocuse" is so I just acted like I was uber impressed and later was actually impressed (once I read about him).

It was a typically French meal in that it didn't start until 10 pm and involved all sorts of sauces, wine, and cheese. Thanks, Bocuse.

Saturday I went to a store called "Decathlon" - the French version of Scheels. Later Victoire, Fred, and I went to the market in Craponne, which is probably one of my favorite things to do in Lyon. It's this AWESOME market that has everything from food (lots and lots of vegetables, fruits, bread, meat, cheese, etc.) to clothes and shoes. It goes year round. That, combined with the fact that Fred bought 4 kilos of apples for 5 euros, makes me wish that we had something that was even a token of the same.

We had a big lunch after the market. Fred always cooks up the best meals. Saturday afternoon (after my nap, of course - we'd stayed up late the night before!) the kids, Gille, and I went to Alex's rugby game. They won and he even scored their only touchdown. (Do they even have touchdowns in rugby?)

Saturday night was very ... interesting. Fred and Gilles were going to a friend's place for dinner (like usual - I also love the fact that they do that almost every weekend and stay out until 2 or 3 in the morning. I don't do that and I'm only 23. Lame.) So ... I drove Fred's prized VW Crosspolo. I say prized because she had to wait 5 months for the color she wanted (orange) to become available. Now she prides herself on the fact that almost no one else has a similar car.

Victoire and I were going to Tassin to a movie and were dropping Alex off in the process. Needless to say that evening was the beginning of my difficulties with the clutch (more to come on that later). Victoire and Alex thought they were going to die - I was even unsure there for a moment but all worked out just fine.

We saw "Le Secret," which turned out to be: 1) incredibly sad and depressing, 2) truly a French film with lots of silence, etc., and 3) mostly for older couples. It was a great chance to spend some time with Victoire, however.

Sunday we bummed around all morning before Gilles, Fred, and I went to Beaujolais for Fred's sister's 50th birthday party. Most of Fred's family was there - it was great to meet them and spend the afternoon with them. We had a HUGE catered meal in a beautiful home.

After lunch (at 3 pm), cheese, dessert, and coffee everyone dispersed but then I heard quite a few voices coming from the back of the house. I was almost the only person not in this bedroom but I didn't really want to go back there because I thought it was a bit odd to go into someone else's bedroom.

Finally Gilles comes out and says, "Did you see it?" See what? I walked back there and Fred's sister and brother-in-law were showing off their hot tub. Apparently they're very rare in France because they're so expensive. Just when I think that most people are the same, it's the little things that remind me that I am in a foreign land.