First of Advent Weekend

Just some random photos from the past weekend…

Saturday morning we woke up to a thin layer of snow on the terrace

Later on in the day there was nothing left of the snow but it was a beautiful sunny winter day. This photo is from when I waited for the tram – which was completely packed when it arrived.

Fika at L’Ultime Atome with a French friend after some shopping – I first ordered a Kriek (Belgian cherry beer) but then quickly changed my mind to a “chocolate chaud”

My grandmother sent me the little angel cut out (hanging from the orchid) last week when it was my “name day” (Cecilia is my 2nd name). She makes them for the local church Christmas market. The religious icon is from Cyprus.

First of Advent breakfast with a new Christmas kitchen towel as a table cloth

Our white bed linen is still in storage but I bought these two Christmas pillow cases in Sweden last January and left them there, so my parents brought them to Brussels last month

Time to be domestic…

I wanted to take advantage of the sunshine and paint this chest of drawers outside, until I realised that the paint was not to be used in temperatures of under 10 degrees. After sandpapering outdoors on the terrace I therefore had to move inside again (and only did one coat of primer)

White Brussels

The first snow of the season is always special. I almost said “Il neige” to the girl next to me when getting off the bus but as it was quite obvious I kept quiet. Then I walked home with a smile on my face not minding at all that my newly coloured (and blow-dried) hair got a little wet…

And I want to apologise, I am not ignoring all your comments, and I am still planning to tell you more about my two “blind dates” last Sunday and Monday but it’s been a busy week and I need some dinner now!

By the way, my friend M, who used to blog under the name “Bryssling” when living as a Swedish expat in Brussels, has re-started her blog back in Stockholm. She is planning to focus on renovation and interior design as she and her family are busy fixing up their pink house from the 1950′s. New name of the blog is “Rosa funkisdrommar” – check it out! (the blog is in Swedish but hopefully she will show some photos as well)

Top shelf in yellow

I just realised the other day that the top shelf in our tiny kitchen is colour coordinated and representing “our” four countries. Maybe not all of them are brands originating in the different countries but we have bought them in: Sweden (soft “pepparkakor” from Skane* and a bag of Swedish dry yeast that is almost not visible leaning against the vanilla sugar), Belgium (Imperial vanilla sugar and baking powder), Spain (Royal baking powder) and Puerto Rico (coffee). Also interesting that the baking powder is either Imperial or Royal!?

*) I loved these cookies when I was a child but my mother refused to buy them as they were not “healthy” but nowadays she always brings them… for O! Same thing with the so-called shrimp cheese sold in a tube – I was never allowed to eat that as a child but when we lived in Puerto Rico my parents would pack their suitcases full of the stuff – for O!!

A Detour to Church in Brussels

I love the yellow leaves on these trees – does anybody know what kind of trees they might be?

Two weeks ago, just after All Saints’ O decided that he wanted to go to church. He was actually in such a hurry that he didn’t have time to wait for me to finish my morning business… I told him I would take the tram and meet him at the church (half hoping that mass would be over by the time I got there – church services in Spanish are not my favourite thing ).

Waiting for the tram…

When I arrived to the church it was packed with worshipers, but not Spaniards but Polish ones!? I called O and he told me that he was in front of the church… I walked around the corner and did not see him? After some discussion we realised that I was at the wrong church! I walked [slowly] to the other church, while window-shopping, and then crossed the square filled with Sunday flea market stands and then eventually entered the right church. Not even half as full as the one with the Poles – apparently the Hispanic expats are not as devoted! And what surprised me as well was that there is one service on Sundays in Spanish but FOUR five in Polish!!

Palais de Justice – bigger than St Peter’s in Rome and has been under renovation as long as I have lived in Brussels

Speaking of church, we are going to church again tomorrow but the Swedish one for the traditional Christmas bazar! It will be our first time in the new Swedish church by Merode. We went a few times* to the old one that used to be in Waterloo, but it was not so central and more difficult to get to. And two years ago we went to the Swedish church Christmas market in New York with some blog friends!**

On a clear day you can see Atomium from here. The church to the right was the one I thought I was meeting O at, Notre Dame de la Chapelle…

I found this cheerfully painted alley on my way down to the [wrong] church on Place de la Chapelle

The omnipresent Palais de Justice, it can be seen from almost anywhere in this area called Les Marolles. When it was built under King Leopold’s reign (you know the BAD King Leopold) a lot of houses belonging to poor people were torn down in the area and apparently ever since “Architect” is an insult in Les Marolles!

Opposite the [Polish] church there is this interesting looking shop. The whole of Les Marolles district is full of antique shops and so-called brocantes (more like flea-market shops) as well as expensive design shops. Everything is open on Sundays which is nice for a change in a city where almost everything is closed on Sundays!

Trying to get a good shot of the shadows the chandeliers are making in the ceiling

Somebody fancy a couple of dozens of life buoys?

I loved these kindergarten chairs but O would probably tell me that we don’t have the space nor any children for the moment

Street sign in French, Flemish and the local Brussels dialect which is a mix of the first two languages

I was inspired by this collage of Brussels photos and was thinking that I should do something similar with all our photos from Puerto Rico

Place Jeu de Balle Sunday flea market!

I have never actually bought anything at this flea market but I have a piece of furniture (a sideboard with the top missing) that I found left behind when all the stands had been packed away. O hates it but I am hoping to find a place for it (and a top – a white marble top is my dream) in our future home

What do you think the man in the hat has set his eyes on?

Finally, the right church, right in front of the flea market – Notre Dame Immaculee (accent missing but I can’t change the keyboard for some reason since O upgraded to Windows 7, which also means no Swedish characters ).

Have a great Sunday, whether or not you are going to church!

All the church services and which languages they are held in. Very practical that there are photos of the churches, I didn’t have a clue of the official names of most of these churches!

*) To the Christmas market and summer concerts.
**) And more than 25 years ago I visited the Christmas market at the Swedish church in London…

Three blind dates

I don’t think that I have ever been on a real blind date but it almost felt like one on Tuesday when I was waiting outside the Quick (Belgian burger chain) at Porte de Namur for my old classmate J. We saw each once at a Xmas party 11 years ago but except for that I don’t think we have met since we were in school together (1981* – 1990)! In other words, I was standing there wondering if 1) I would recognise him? 2) would we get along? 3) would there be lots of awkward silences during dinner?

My father’s photos of the Brussels parrots!

Fortunately the evening was great – we had lots to talk about, both old memories and sharing new experiences of living in Brussels! It is funny, we haven’t really met in 20 years but just like J had told his wife - it still felt like we knew each other! Probably because we shared some of the most formative years together in school, while at the same time we didn’t know each other as adults. And we probably have more in common now than then…

Hopefully we will soon meet up again, with our respective partners who might not be as interested in old memories from Veberöd but I am sure that we will find some other topics to talk about  ;-)

I have another two “blind dates” to look forward to during the next few days. With persons who I haven’t actually met yet but whose current lives I know more about… because I read their blogs!

*) We started school in 1982 but also went to pre-school together for one year.

Professional European Brussels

Some of you asked this spring how it felt to be working again, and I wanted to write a post about it on the 10th June – exactly 8 years after I had my first working day in Brussels. However, motivation was lacking and all of a sudden I wasn’t working anymore…

Then I started working again in September, in the same place as in May-June, and ever since I have been meaning to finish this post that I started drafting back in June. I think that it is high time to explain how it all started!

When, in June 2002, I moved to Brussels from Geneva, I had no idea where I was going or what I was getting myself into. I had never been to Brussels before, Belgium yes* but the Belgian capital never. But I moved with the conviction that I wouldn’t leave for a long time! Since September 2000 I had lived in Venice, Padova, Skåne, Stockholm and Geneva so in June 2002 I was definitely ready to settle down.

A woman tried to give me a leaflet from the “No to the EU”-campaign in Stockholm during the election weekend back in September – “Lady, you are talking to the wrong person!”

My first working days in Brussels were so confusing. Everything was in French - my boss was Spanish and didn’t speak English. My three closest colleagues were French, Spanish and Greek and all the rest were other French-speaking people (except for one Flemish guy). Some of them, French girls S, C and C and Spanish guy M, are now my best friends in Brussels. 

However, at the time I was just intimidated by all the French (language, people, culture)! And then trying to navigate the actual work tasks; it was a blur of EU acronyms and strange legal French words like “mise en demeure” (formal notice). I had just spent 5 months in Geneva where I was “fluent” in UN-lingo (in English) and it was quite frustrating to land in the EU administration.

That first Friday in Brussels, my French colleague with whom I shared the office, asked me if I had been yet to the centre of the city. No, I answered and she decided that it was time for me to see the Grand’ Place, the main square in Brussels which is absolutely stunning and Place St Gèry, an area full of bars and restaurants.

Just like this summer, eight years ago it was the World Cup and when we arrived to the centre it was jam-packed with cars beeping, people cheering and holding Turkish flags… Turkey had won a football game!

During those first weeks in the office there would be a TV in the Press lounge cafeteria where we used to have coffee every morning. When there was an important game people would gather around to watch it – all the different nationalities cheering for different teams. I loved that international feeling and even though I didn’t care about football, I realised that I had found my place in Europe!

*) Passing on the motorway to France, and once, in June 2000 attending the big music festival in Werchter outside Leuven

Friday cosy time

Or as it is called in Swedish: fredagsmys (sorry Sporty-Petra, jag vet att du kräks på det uttrycket ). This is my first blog post in a really long time, it was a good decision to take a blog break but I have missed the blog world and I hope that I will keep up the motivation now to continue blogging.

November is usually, together with February, the months people dislike the most (at least in northern Europe) and maybe it is just the novelty of not having spent the month of November in Europe for 3 years, but I wore a smile when leaving the office this afternoon…

Despite:

• the rain
• the pitch darkness so typical of November
• that O is in Spain (and will head to Puerto Rico on Sunday for a week*)
• and that I had to change metro line twice and then take a tram but it was voluntary** because:

I went to one of the two Scandinavian shops in Brussels to buy some Swedish interior design magazines for my “fredagsmys” at home, which also included a nice plate of pasta, some dark Côte d’Or chocolate with marzipan, left-over Gato Negro (2005) from O’s and my dinner together before his departure, lit candles and soft Swedish music (Cajsa-Stina Åkerström).  

My soundtrack while crossing town was determined by my iPod – I always have the “shuffle songs”-function on and it sounded something like this:

• Karenina – Joakim Thåström
• My Sharona – The Knack
• She’s in fashion – Suede
• Insane in the brain – Cypress Hill
• Dangerous – Roxette
• Candela – Buena Vista Social Club
• Beautiful Girl – INXS
• Creep – Radiohead
• La femme d’Argent – Air
• Somewhere I belong – Linkin Park
• Parklife – Blur
• Je marche à l’envers – Ophélie Winter

As you might have noticed my iPod music selection is very diverse but not very updated… I like nostalgic music, it makes me smile!

Maybe the smile on my face was also thanks to:

• appreciative colleagues and my boss who told me today that she doesn’t know what she will do without me in January… (contract cannot be prolonged after Christmas)
• being wished Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year twice today (!!)
• a message on Facebook from an old primary school friend who told me that he also lives in Brussels and that we should meet up (last time was at least 10 years ago)!
• a demonstration in front of the European Council building (Justus Lipsius) – I didn’t recognise the flag and could only make out “EU” from protesters’ chanting but it was just such a Brussels scene…
• steamy windows on the tram
• wet leaves on the ground (making the cobbled stoned pavement very slippery though)
• two giggling Danish girls on the tram
• an invitation by friends to go to the Netherlands tomorrow to eat moules (mussles – I will skip them and eat something else)
• another invitation for Sunday brunch from the Swedish-Cypriot couple whose wedding we attended in Cyprus last month
• another Facebook message from a Finnish friend who practised his Swedish (Hej min älskling / Hur står det till? / Var är mitt grammatikhäfte? / Jag vill ha mellanöl***)
•  And the thought of writing my first blog post since September!

 I wish that I could illustrate this post with some cosy photos but as I am using the old, slow laptop from 2003 that doesn’t have a camera-memory-slot and I have misplaced the adapter, you will just have to make do with this song that I have been listening to tonight:

PS Two recommendations for the expat Swedes: Våra Vänners liv on svtplay.se and Så mycket bättre on tv4play.se. Så bra! Om ni skyndar er innan imorgon (?) hinner ni se Lill-Babs, Tomas Di Leva, Christer Sandelin, Plura, Lasse Berghagen och September sjunga Petters raplåtar – helt underbara versioner! (eller kolla på youtube)

*) Before you ask: Yes for business - I got the question from a friend a few days ago and I told her that there would be no way I let O go to Puerto Rico on holidays without me!
**) My usual way home is with a direct tram line…
***) Random Swedish phrases that go something like “Hello my darling / How are you / Where is my grammar book / I would like some medium strength beer… Doesn’t really make sense but I guess that’s what he learnt in school, ha ha!