We rented a car today after I got home from work. After picking it up, we drove directly to IKEA to buy an mattress pad for our bed (the most uncomfortable bed we've ever slept in). Also got a rug for the bathroom and some Swedish food: meatballs, herring, caviar, cookies, and a princess torta.
The whole idea of getting the car is to see a little of Belgium this weekend and also get a little practice driving in Brussels so that we can effectively navigate when Kristen's Mom, Aunt, and Grandmother come for a visit. I'd also like to visit a brewery or two.
However, we found out that tomorrow is Belgium's Labor Day, so pretty much everything will be closed. Plus, there will be events all over the city to celebrate the new countries joining the EU. Maybe not the best weekend for renting the car, but we're going to make the best of it.
-RP-
Friday, April 30
Saturday, April 24
Belgium
Belgium is not one of those countries that people around the world know about. It's not really high on the list of most popular tourist destinations. In fact, it is right along with countries like Luxembourg, Denmark, and Estonia on the list of overlooked countries that no one really knows much about. However, there are several things that Belgium is famous for that most people HAVE heard of (in no particular order):
-Waffles-
Nothing like the pitiful excuses that you find at places like "The Waffle House" or "Denny's" all across the US. Over here they are eaten as a quick snack, any time of day. They are about the size of a normal slice of bread, but quite thick. The square divots are large and widely spaced. Usually, a waffle vendor will have several stacks of them that have already been cooked. When you order one "chaude" (hot), they will place it back on the griddle for a minute or two before serving it to you with a piece of wax paper folded around it.
These beauties are sold from carts on the sidewalk, restaurant windows, or small booths in the metro stations. The heavenly smell in the air anywhere they are being made is enough to make you weak in the knees and can be smelled for miles and miles. When the waffle seller at our metro station, Merode, is open, you can smell it before you even get close to the steps leading from the sidewalk and down into the station. It is the smell of vanilla pancakes, candied almonds, and fresh-baked doughy/yeasty bread.
They are golden brown with caramelized gobs of sugar on the surface. The texture is slightly crunchy on the outside and soft and sometimes gooey on the inside with flecks of crystallized sugar throughout. They taste like a cross between freshly baked, sweet bread and some kind of bready, sugary pancake. Sometimes you can even get the hint of marzipan and cinnamon, though we're not sure there is either in the recipe.
Best served plain without toppings, though most places offer anything from a chocolate coating to ice cream or strawberries and whipped cream. Seems to be mostly tourists that order them decked out like that.
-Chocolate-
In Belgium, chocolate is food, not simply candy or a once-in-awhile treat. After the Swiss, Belgians eat more of it than anyone else in the world and having eaten several kilos of it in the last few months, its easy to understand why. In our opinion, Belgian chocolate is much better than Swiss and miles better than any other country's version of "high quality" chocolate. There is an actual law that requires anything labeled as "Belgian chocolate" to have a minimum of 43% cocoa butter and no added vegetable fats. The sugar and any fillings also have minimum standards that ensure the best possible product. Belgium produces 172,000 tons of perfection every year!
Chocolate comes in various forms and varieties, of course, and all of these can be found in the grocery stores. From what we've seen on the shelves, dark chocolate seems to be the most favored kind. Our most frequent purchase is a large dark chocolate bar with either hazelnuts or almonds in it. A square or two of this after dinner and sweet teeth are satisfied. When we are up for a more expensive treat, we go to Godiva or Neuhaus (or any of the country's 2130 other shops) and choose our own assortment.
Belgian chocolate is so well-known, there's not much more that needs to be said. Living in a country that values chocolate above all other foods is like being in chocolate-dipped heaven.
-Beer-
This is Belgian chocolate's strongest competitor for THE most famous thing from Belgium. It may actually be the crowned champion in that race, but that's rather subjective (and up for argument in our house). Well, since beer has been written about extensively in a previous entry, we're not going to go into too much detail. Instead, we refer you to the entry from 7.13.2003 in the archives (on the right of this page).
But, in a nutshell... Belgium has a very diverse brewing tradition which, in our opinion, stems not only from the average Belgian's individualistic demeanor but also from the fact that there was never a strict set of laws put in place like Germany did with the Reinheitsgebot of 1516. This set of laws severely hampered the creativity that could be used in making a beer. Since Belgium was (and still pretty much is) free from that, this country is the originator of at least 6 distinct styles of beer: Trappist/abbey ales, wit bier, saison, lambic (and it's derivatives), Flanders red and brown ales, and the "Strong Golden Ale". There are other sub-groups and other categories, but they seem to be off-shoots from these six, rather than being distinctly different. The unifying aspect of these beers is that most of them are between 6% - 10% alcohol by volume. Potent brews! At the moment, there are roughly 500 beers being brewed in Belgium by about 130 breweries. That's pretty impressive for a country the size of Maryland!
A quick little synopsis of the history: Click here
-Frites-
The US has all of it's fast-food establishments to satisfy people's craving for a fatty meal. While most of Europe is free from being littered with these franchises, in Belgium there is a smattering of "friteries" (both franchised and independent) that churn out tons of "french" fries and other deep-fried goodies.
Though another big point of argument, "french fries" were invented in Belgium. The story goes that the US soldiers dubbed them "French" fries because during WWII they ate them in the French-speaking region of Brussels. The Dutch-speaking Belgians claim that frites were invented in Flanders. Who knows what is the truth? The bottom line is that most people agree that Belgian fries are addictively delicious. They are served everywhere from high class restaurants to a vendor on the street. In the restaurants, many traditional Belgian dishes (like Vlaamse Carbonnade, Filet Americaine, mussels, or steak) are served with frites. On the street, frites are served in big paper cones brimming with deep-fried potatoes and "Frite-sauce". Most of the frite sauces are mayonnaise based. Our favorites are samourai (spicy), andalouse (pungent and flavorful), and curry ketchup.
The "secret" behind Belgian frites is that they are fried twice. First they are fried until the potato is cooked through. At this point, they are removed from the oil and will wait for anywhere from 10 minutes to half a day. Just before they are served, they are fried a second time. This makes them crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. After the second frying, they are tossed in the air with a wide, cone-shaped utensil (like a collander without holes) and salted. The other secret is that the fries should be able to "swim" when they are cooking. That is, they need room to move around. To that end, the friers are usually like large round sinks that the raw fries are dumped into and fished out by large, meshed spoons.
Friteries shill out tons of fries every day, but also other things like chicken fingers, sausages, brochettes, meatballs, etc. All of which are cooked to order in the fryers. Trying to pick something from a menu at a friterie can be daunting. They are usually just a long list of foods by name. So, you almost have to have "local knowledge" to order anything other than the frites. Needless to say, this is a treat that any health-conscious person only indulges in on a rare occasion. However, eating frites as part of a meal in a restaurant, seems a lot more common and can be almost a daily occurence for some people. Despite this, you rarely see a "fat" person here!
-Mussels-
One of the most ubiquitous dishes at Belgian restaurants is "moules et frites". However, this seems to be something more regularly consumed by tourists than by citizens. For example, we have had them at least once on our first trip to Belgium as tourists. However, we have yet to go for "mussels in Brussels" since we moved here.
They are steamed in their shells and served in a bucket with some kind of broth poured over them. The broth is anything from white wine and leeks to geuze (beer) or butter. Along side this is a heaping bowl of frites. They are well worth a try at least once if you suss out a place that is known for using really high quality fresh mussels.
-Lace & Diamonds-
We lumped these together because not only do we not know much about them, but they aren't at all present in our daily lives. We've yet to browse through a shop selling either of the two. But they are famous here, so we felt compelled to at least mention them. Antwerp is the center of the world's diamond trade and home of a few diamond-cutting schools. And the lace... well, what can you really say about lace? If you really want to know, try this:
click here.
-RP- and ~K
Belgium is not one of those countries that people around the world know about. It's not really high on the list of most popular tourist destinations. In fact, it is right along with countries like Luxembourg, Denmark, and Estonia on the list of overlooked countries that no one really knows much about. However, there are several things that Belgium is famous for that most people HAVE heard of (in no particular order):
-Waffles-
Nothing like the pitiful excuses that you find at places like "The Waffle House" or "Denny's" all across the US. Over here they are eaten as a quick snack, any time of day. They are about the size of a normal slice of bread, but quite thick. The square divots are large and widely spaced. Usually, a waffle vendor will have several stacks of them that have already been cooked. When you order one "chaude" (hot), they will place it back on the griddle for a minute or two before serving it to you with a piece of wax paper folded around it.
These beauties are sold from carts on the sidewalk, restaurant windows, or small booths in the metro stations. The heavenly smell in the air anywhere they are being made is enough to make you weak in the knees and can be smelled for miles and miles. When the waffle seller at our metro station, Merode, is open, you can smell it before you even get close to the steps leading from the sidewalk and down into the station. It is the smell of vanilla pancakes, candied almonds, and fresh-baked doughy/yeasty bread.
They are golden brown with caramelized gobs of sugar on the surface. The texture is slightly crunchy on the outside and soft and sometimes gooey on the inside with flecks of crystallized sugar throughout. They taste like a cross between freshly baked, sweet bread and some kind of bready, sugary pancake. Sometimes you can even get the hint of marzipan and cinnamon, though we're not sure there is either in the recipe.
Best served plain without toppings, though most places offer anything from a chocolate coating to ice cream or strawberries and whipped cream. Seems to be mostly tourists that order them decked out like that.
-Chocolate-
In Belgium, chocolate is food, not simply candy or a once-in-awhile treat. After the Swiss, Belgians eat more of it than anyone else in the world and having eaten several kilos of it in the last few months, its easy to understand why. In our opinion, Belgian chocolate is much better than Swiss and miles better than any other country's version of "high quality" chocolate. There is an actual law that requires anything labeled as "Belgian chocolate" to have a minimum of 43% cocoa butter and no added vegetable fats. The sugar and any fillings also have minimum standards that ensure the best possible product. Belgium produces 172,000 tons of perfection every year!
Chocolate comes in various forms and varieties, of course, and all of these can be found in the grocery stores. From what we've seen on the shelves, dark chocolate seems to be the most favored kind. Our most frequent purchase is a large dark chocolate bar with either hazelnuts or almonds in it. A square or two of this after dinner and sweet teeth are satisfied. When we are up for a more expensive treat, we go to Godiva or Neuhaus (or any of the country's 2130 other shops) and choose our own assortment.
Belgian chocolate is so well-known, there's not much more that needs to be said. Living in a country that values chocolate above all other foods is like being in chocolate-dipped heaven.
-Beer-
This is Belgian chocolate's strongest competitor for THE most famous thing from Belgium. It may actually be the crowned champion in that race, but that's rather subjective (and up for argument in our house). Well, since beer has been written about extensively in a previous entry, we're not going to go into too much detail. Instead, we refer you to the entry from 7.13.2003 in the archives (on the right of this page).
But, in a nutshell... Belgium has a very diverse brewing tradition which, in our opinion, stems not only from the average Belgian's individualistic demeanor but also from the fact that there was never a strict set of laws put in place like Germany did with the Reinheitsgebot of 1516. This set of laws severely hampered the creativity that could be used in making a beer. Since Belgium was (and still pretty much is) free from that, this country is the originator of at least 6 distinct styles of beer: Trappist/abbey ales, wit bier, saison, lambic (and it's derivatives), Flanders red and brown ales, and the "Strong Golden Ale". There are other sub-groups and other categories, but they seem to be off-shoots from these six, rather than being distinctly different. The unifying aspect of these beers is that most of them are between 6% - 10% alcohol by volume. Potent brews! At the moment, there are roughly 500 beers being brewed in Belgium by about 130 breweries. That's pretty impressive for a country the size of Maryland!
A quick little synopsis of the history: Click here
-Frites-
The US has all of it's fast-food establishments to satisfy people's craving for a fatty meal. While most of Europe is free from being littered with these franchises, in Belgium there is a smattering of "friteries" (both franchised and independent) that churn out tons of "french" fries and other deep-fried goodies.
Though another big point of argument, "french fries" were invented in Belgium. The story goes that the US soldiers dubbed them "French" fries because during WWII they ate them in the French-speaking region of Brussels. The Dutch-speaking Belgians claim that frites were invented in Flanders. Who knows what is the truth? The bottom line is that most people agree that Belgian fries are addictively delicious. They are served everywhere from high class restaurants to a vendor on the street. In the restaurants, many traditional Belgian dishes (like Vlaamse Carbonnade, Filet Americaine, mussels, or steak) are served with frites. On the street, frites are served in big paper cones brimming with deep-fried potatoes and "Frite-sauce". Most of the frite sauces are mayonnaise based. Our favorites are samourai (spicy), andalouse (pungent and flavorful), and curry ketchup.
The "secret" behind Belgian frites is that they are fried twice. First they are fried until the potato is cooked through. At this point, they are removed from the oil and will wait for anywhere from 10 minutes to half a day. Just before they are served, they are fried a second time. This makes them crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. After the second frying, they are tossed in the air with a wide, cone-shaped utensil (like a collander without holes) and salted. The other secret is that the fries should be able to "swim" when they are cooking. That is, they need room to move around. To that end, the friers are usually like large round sinks that the raw fries are dumped into and fished out by large, meshed spoons.
Friteries shill out tons of fries every day, but also other things like chicken fingers, sausages, brochettes, meatballs, etc. All of which are cooked to order in the fryers. Trying to pick something from a menu at a friterie can be daunting. They are usually just a long list of foods by name. So, you almost have to have "local knowledge" to order anything other than the frites. Needless to say, this is a treat that any health-conscious person only indulges in on a rare occasion. However, eating frites as part of a meal in a restaurant, seems a lot more common and can be almost a daily occurence for some people. Despite this, you rarely see a "fat" person here!
-Mussels-
One of the most ubiquitous dishes at Belgian restaurants is "moules et frites". However, this seems to be something more regularly consumed by tourists than by citizens. For example, we have had them at least once on our first trip to Belgium as tourists. However, we have yet to go for "mussels in Brussels" since we moved here.
They are steamed in their shells and served in a bucket with some kind of broth poured over them. The broth is anything from white wine and leeks to geuze (beer) or butter. Along side this is a heaping bowl of frites. They are well worth a try at least once if you suss out a place that is known for using really high quality fresh mussels.
-Lace & Diamonds-
We lumped these together because not only do we not know much about them, but they aren't at all present in our daily lives. We've yet to browse through a shop selling either of the two. But they are famous here, so we felt compelled to at least mention them. Antwerp is the center of the world's diamond trade and home of a few diamond-cutting schools. And the lace... well, what can you really say about lace? If you really want to know, try this:
click here.
-RP- and ~K
Saturday, April 17
Work
Not sure if I mentioned this back in February, but I met with the HR Manager to ask for a raise. One of my recently departed Swedish colleagues at that time had put the idea in my head. He had negotiated his pay higher when he was in the process of being hired. Anyway, my reason for requesting a raise was that I didn't feel like my effort was being fairly rewarded. It was a good meeting and a great idea to let my feelings be known. However, it was made clear at that point that there was nothing that could be done. Salary reviews are given very sparingly and only under specific circumstances (after having been with the company for a certain period of time and when you meet the minimum requirements of performance, punctuality, etc.). She asked if I would like to go on contract with Bo-ny. I told her that I did not because it would effectively mean less money up front in each paycheck because the holiday pay is put away, rather than paid out. She said I shouldn't be spending that money anyway. I replied that I had no choice. So, we were at a stalemate. At that point, I left the meeting, still feeling not fairly rewarded, but empowered by having spoken my mind.
About a month and a half later, the HR Manager was passing by my desk on other business. She stopped and quickly told me that they were working on my request, but then I didn't hear anything else for quite some time. The day before I was leaving for Florida, one of the Team Leaders came to my desk to ask for a copy of my passport and Belgian ID card. Apparently reacting to my look of confusion, he explained that it was for my permanent contract. He thought I knew about this already and was even more surprised when I explained why I did not want to sign a contract. Later that day, he said that apparently they had found a solution to the problem and they would speak to me about it when I returned.
So, this week almost went by without "incident" until Thursday afternoon. I received an e-mail from the office assistant asking me to contact the HR Manager regarding my contract which I subsequently did with my heart pounding in my chest. It was time to face the music. My stance on accepting a contract was the same, but I also had a piece of information in my pocket that they were not aware of yet: my plans to go to University in September.
I met with her towards the end of the workday and looked over the offer they had put on the table: a permanent contract with all it's benefits and a salary raise that affectively gave me the same amount of money "net" as I was netting already. Even though the holiday pay was being saved, I would end up with almost the same net per month as I was getting when the holiday pay was not withheld. I thanked them for the offer and then asked how they would feel about offering this when they knew that I "might" be leaving in August/September. I told her I had applied to two schools in the UK, but was still waiting to hear if I had been accepted. If I also told her that if I was accepted, I would most likely go. She asked when I would find out. I told her "in about a month". She passed this info by the guy who makes all the decisions and came back to me with the offer still standing. I told her I would take all the documents and think it over that night. We agreed on a meeting at noon the next day, Friday (yesterday).
Another good meeting that I left feeling pretty good about. At that point, I was 80% sure that I would go ahead and take the contract because when I left I'd get most of the withheld holiday pay issued to me. So I wasn't really losing much. However, when I got home I thought of another plainly obvious question I should have asked: is the raise contingent upon signing the contract? Suddenly, the choice wasn't so clear. From my standpoint, the up-front gratification of a 145 euro per month raise was a lot more appealing than the "security and benefits" of a permanent contract. With only 3-4 months left in Belgium, I was much more interested in being able to live a little more "richly" for that period of time. Either way, it wasn't a raise that would allow putting money away in savings or paying off big bills. However, if we can go out to dinner a couple of times per month or take a day trip here and there, we would be able to enjoy the rest of our time here more.
The next day I e-mailed her and asked about this. I didn't hear from her before our scheduled meeting at noon. So, I went up there with all of my contract papers with an open mind. I would make the decision then and there, based on the answers I got. She was actually surprised to see me. She said that after reading my e-mail, she was sure I wasn't going to sign and wasn't going to come up for the meeting. They had already cancelled my interim contract for next week and she had to try to make sure that they could put me back on, if needed. We agreed to meet that afternoon because she was really busy with other things she had moved on to when she thought I wasn't coming.
Meeting #3. By this point, I wasn't sure at all what I wanted to do. And I also felt like a schmuck for being so wishy-washy and questioning. Here they are offering me a raise and a contract. Then me taking a good hard look in the gift-horse's mouth. This meeting was productive however. She confirmed that I would get the raise either way and also explained the very complicated Belgian holiday-pay system. My stance crystallized and I was able to lay it on the table without hesitation: the reason I came to her in the first place was because I didn't think I was being fairly rewarded. While I was very grateful and thankful for their offer, it would still amount to me having the same size paycheck each month. I told her that there was a VERY strong chance that I would in fact leave in August, so it made more sense to me to accept the raise, but stay on interim contract. If I was less sure about getting into one of the schools, there would be no contest. Accepting the stability of the contract would be the obvious choice. My decision was made: I stay on interim. I asked her what she thought about the decision. She agreed with it and thought it was a wise decision. The good thing about the HR Manager is that she is very approachable and easy to talk to. A bit eccentric. She likes to get deep into the psychology of the job. After the business was settled, we talked for a while about behavioral psychology theories. She mentioned something called "Transactional Analysis" which I'm going to have to look into. Sounded very interesting.
Anyway, it's official. I have a raise. It starts on my contract for next week. Just goes to show... honesty is the best policy. Or at least, "near-honesty" is the best policy. After all, I don't want to tell them so soon that I'll definitely be leaving. I need this job and I'd rather not be replaced before I'm ready to be. The interim contract allows me to quit with three days notice. But I'm not going to do that to them. I'll let them know in mid to late May. That gives them a little over two months to recruit and train another Swede or two. They're very hard to find, so I think they'll need at least that long!
-RP-
Not sure if I mentioned this back in February, but I met with the HR Manager to ask for a raise. One of my recently departed Swedish colleagues at that time had put the idea in my head. He had negotiated his pay higher when he was in the process of being hired. Anyway, my reason for requesting a raise was that I didn't feel like my effort was being fairly rewarded. It was a good meeting and a great idea to let my feelings be known. However, it was made clear at that point that there was nothing that could be done. Salary reviews are given very sparingly and only under specific circumstances (after having been with the company for a certain period of time and when you meet the minimum requirements of performance, punctuality, etc.). She asked if I would like to go on contract with Bo-ny. I told her that I did not because it would effectively mean less money up front in each paycheck because the holiday pay is put away, rather than paid out. She said I shouldn't be spending that money anyway. I replied that I had no choice. So, we were at a stalemate. At that point, I left the meeting, still feeling not fairly rewarded, but empowered by having spoken my mind.
About a month and a half later, the HR Manager was passing by my desk on other business. She stopped and quickly told me that they were working on my request, but then I didn't hear anything else for quite some time. The day before I was leaving for Florida, one of the Team Leaders came to my desk to ask for a copy of my passport and Belgian ID card. Apparently reacting to my look of confusion, he explained that it was for my permanent contract. He thought I knew about this already and was even more surprised when I explained why I did not want to sign a contract. Later that day, he said that apparently they had found a solution to the problem and they would speak to me about it when I returned.
So, this week almost went by without "incident" until Thursday afternoon. I received an e-mail from the office assistant asking me to contact the HR Manager regarding my contract which I subsequently did with my heart pounding in my chest. It was time to face the music. My stance on accepting a contract was the same, but I also had a piece of information in my pocket that they were not aware of yet: my plans to go to University in September.
I met with her towards the end of the workday and looked over the offer they had put on the table: a permanent contract with all it's benefits and a salary raise that affectively gave me the same amount of money "net" as I was netting already. Even though the holiday pay was being saved, I would end up with almost the same net per month as I was getting when the holiday pay was not withheld. I thanked them for the offer and then asked how they would feel about offering this when they knew that I "might" be leaving in August/September. I told her I had applied to two schools in the UK, but was still waiting to hear if I had been accepted. If I also told her that if I was accepted, I would most likely go. She asked when I would find out. I told her "in about a month". She passed this info by the guy who makes all the decisions and came back to me with the offer still standing. I told her I would take all the documents and think it over that night. We agreed on a meeting at noon the next day, Friday (yesterday).
Another good meeting that I left feeling pretty good about. At that point, I was 80% sure that I would go ahead and take the contract because when I left I'd get most of the withheld holiday pay issued to me. So I wasn't really losing much. However, when I got home I thought of another plainly obvious question I should have asked: is the raise contingent upon signing the contract? Suddenly, the choice wasn't so clear. From my standpoint, the up-front gratification of a 145 euro per month raise was a lot more appealing than the "security and benefits" of a permanent contract. With only 3-4 months left in Belgium, I was much more interested in being able to live a little more "richly" for that period of time. Either way, it wasn't a raise that would allow putting money away in savings or paying off big bills. However, if we can go out to dinner a couple of times per month or take a day trip here and there, we would be able to enjoy the rest of our time here more.
The next day I e-mailed her and asked about this. I didn't hear from her before our scheduled meeting at noon. So, I went up there with all of my contract papers with an open mind. I would make the decision then and there, based on the answers I got. She was actually surprised to see me. She said that after reading my e-mail, she was sure I wasn't going to sign and wasn't going to come up for the meeting. They had already cancelled my interim contract for next week and she had to try to make sure that they could put me back on, if needed. We agreed to meet that afternoon because she was really busy with other things she had moved on to when she thought I wasn't coming.
Meeting #3. By this point, I wasn't sure at all what I wanted to do. And I also felt like a schmuck for being so wishy-washy and questioning. Here they are offering me a raise and a contract. Then me taking a good hard look in the gift-horse's mouth. This meeting was productive however. She confirmed that I would get the raise either way and also explained the very complicated Belgian holiday-pay system. My stance crystallized and I was able to lay it on the table without hesitation: the reason I came to her in the first place was because I didn't think I was being fairly rewarded. While I was very grateful and thankful for their offer, it would still amount to me having the same size paycheck each month. I told her that there was a VERY strong chance that I would in fact leave in August, so it made more sense to me to accept the raise, but stay on interim contract. If I was less sure about getting into one of the schools, there would be no contest. Accepting the stability of the contract would be the obvious choice. My decision was made: I stay on interim. I asked her what she thought about the decision. She agreed with it and thought it was a wise decision. The good thing about the HR Manager is that she is very approachable and easy to talk to. A bit eccentric. She likes to get deep into the psychology of the job. After the business was settled, we talked for a while about behavioral psychology theories. She mentioned something called "Transactional Analysis" which I'm going to have to look into. Sounded very interesting.
Anyway, it's official. I have a raise. It starts on my contract for next week. Just goes to show... honesty is the best policy. Or at least, "near-honesty" is the best policy. After all, I don't want to tell them so soon that I'll definitely be leaving. I need this job and I'd rather not be replaced before I'm ready to be. The interim contract allows me to quit with three days notice. But I'm not going to do that to them. I'll let them know in mid to late May. That gives them a little over two months to recruit and train another Swede or two. They're very hard to find, so I think they'll need at least that long!
-RP-
Tuesday, April 13
University Non-News
As you can see from the blog entry below, it is official: we are moving to Norwich in August. There's only one small wrinkle. For the past few months I've been assuming that I would apply to the PhD program in Norwich and both Rich and I would be in school at the same time. Well, that most likely would still happen if I could force myself to choose a PhD topic and write the proposal. Unfortunately, it has finally become apparent to me that I don't want to go back to school next fall. Maybe never. All these weeks I've tried and tried to settle on a research topic and while lots of things are interesting to me, I just can't force myself to do it. At first I thought I was just having trouble making a decision and kept getting off track with different ideas, but that is not the real problem. When I finally got honest with myself and admitted that maybe I might not want to go back, I felt so relieved and about ten pounds lighter. Even after realizing this, I tried to talk myself back into it over and over, badgering myself with questions (Am I a quitter again? Quitting school before it even starts? If I don't go back to school, what kind of career will I have? Do I want a career? Going back to school was my plan and if I don't go, what's the new plan? Would anyone in the U.K. hire me? Will I be happy working while Rich is in school? Etc.). I still don't know the answers to these questions - along with about a hundred more - but beginning a PhD this fall is not the right road for me.
The logistics of moving to England are slowly being worked out and we are starting to look forward to a new adventure. There are still four months of Belgian time left, so we're busy making plans for that too. And I've decided to not make a new plan. I've never not had a plan, so this is completely new territory. We know we're moving, we know Rich will be in school and that's all we know.
~K
As you can see from the blog entry below, it is official: we are moving to Norwich in August. There's only one small wrinkle. For the past few months I've been assuming that I would apply to the PhD program in Norwich and both Rich and I would be in school at the same time. Well, that most likely would still happen if I could force myself to choose a PhD topic and write the proposal. Unfortunately, it has finally become apparent to me that I don't want to go back to school next fall. Maybe never. All these weeks I've tried and tried to settle on a research topic and while lots of things are interesting to me, I just can't force myself to do it. At first I thought I was just having trouble making a decision and kept getting off track with different ideas, but that is not the real problem. When I finally got honest with myself and admitted that maybe I might not want to go back, I felt so relieved and about ten pounds lighter. Even after realizing this, I tried to talk myself back into it over and over, badgering myself with questions (Am I a quitter again? Quitting school before it even starts? If I don't go back to school, what kind of career will I have? Do I want a career? Going back to school was my plan and if I don't go, what's the new plan? Would anyone in the U.K. hire me? Will I be happy working while Rich is in school? Etc.). I still don't know the answers to these questions - along with about a hundred more - but beginning a PhD this fall is not the right road for me.
The logistics of moving to England are slowly being worked out and we are starting to look forward to a new adventure. There are still four months of Belgian time left, so we're busy making plans for that too. And I've decided to not make a new plan. I've never not had a plan, so this is completely new territory. We know we're moving, we know Rich will be in school and that's all we know.
~K
Monday, April 12
University News
As of about two weeks ago, I have officially accepted University of East Anglia's offer of a place on the Film Studies/Archiving program. We will be moving to Norwich at the end of August. It's for sure. Plans are being made on a daily basis for this new adventure.
I just e-mailed my two contacts at the U. of Exeter to let them know that I will not be attending. Tomorrow I will mail them the official notice of declining their offer. It was not an easy decision to make because Exeter was very appealling to both of us. In the end, it came down to the programs themselves. An MA and PhD from UEA just offers more opportunity in terms of a career. And that's the whole reason for going back to school in the first place!
-RP-
As of about two weeks ago, I have officially accepted University of East Anglia's offer of a place on the Film Studies/Archiving program. We will be moving to Norwich at the end of August. It's for sure. Plans are being made on a daily basis for this new adventure.
I just e-mailed my two contacts at the U. of Exeter to let them know that I will not be attending. Tomorrow I will mail them the official notice of declining their offer. It was not an easy decision to make because Exeter was very appealling to both of us. In the end, it came down to the programs themselves. An MA and PhD from UEA just offers more opportunity in terms of a career. And that's the whole reason for going back to school in the first place!
-RP-
Saturday, April 10
Back from the Sunshine State
Arrived back from the US yesterday morning at about 8:30. Unfortunately, I had to go straight to work, so instead of hopping on Bus 12 to go home, I hopped on the shuttle to the "Corporate Village" with my luggage. I even got to work on time! One hell of a commute!
I had agreed to come in because there was a scheduling conflict with the Finnish guy (who was the only other person covering the Swedish market). He wanted to have Friday off to go to Finland for the weekend and would not accept taking the following Monday instead. Dismayed at having to provide customer service while in the stupor of jet-lag, I plopped down at my desk reluctantly. Fortunately, since it was "Good Friday", it was very quiet. And even more fortunately, one of the Team Leaders told me I could go home if I wanted to since the Norwegian guy had "gone live" earlier this week. This was very welcome news, but I decided to stay as long as I could stay at least somewhat mentally alert. This ended up being until about 1pm. What a relief to walk out of that building so much earlier than I had anticipated! So, I got home about an hour later and stumbled into our apartment, to Kristen's utter surprise. Great to be home!
Of course, I couldn't help but to start unpacking all the goodies I had brought from the New World. Some things from an "acquisitions list" that I had brought with me and some that I thought of while I was there. Kristen had ordered some clothing from Old Navy and Urban Outfitters, which was delivered to my mother's house. Between that and the other things I had bought, I had to borrow a bag from her to get everything to Brussels. It was worth it! Clothes, chapstick, chai tea from Starbucks, Mojo Criollo marinade, Sour Patch Kids, American peanut butter, beer, eye-drops, lotion, and on and on.
Aside from acquiring a lot of stuff to bring to Belgium, the trip was good. It was great to get a decent amount of time off from work and, of course, great to see my mom and sister again (it had been almost a year). We went to a few of my favorite eating establishments like Pollo Tropical and Fernanda's Market for their mouth-watering sandwiches which are STUFFED with meat (unlike the one-slice-of-meat-is-enough sandwiches they make in all of Europe). Then there's my mom's great cooking. It's super-delicous and plentiful, so it's impossible not to gain a few pounds if you spend any length of time there. My stomach has shrunken quite a bit from our eating habits over here, so there was rarely a meal on this trip where I wasn't absolutely stuffed afterwards.
I wasn't only eating while I was home, there was a lot of time spent lazing around the house and also doing some good ol' chores. I fixed the weed-whacker, did some yard-work, pressure-washed the driveway, repaired some fixtures, troubleshot two computers, got rid of old junk in my room, and started scraping off the wallpaper in my bathroom. That sounds like a lot, but I really should have done more because it barely scratched the surface of everything that needs to be taken care of at the house. So, it's a shame that I couldn't stay a little longer.
Other things I indulged in: watching television (American Idol, Food Network, sensationalist evening news, a few minutes of scary tele-evangelists, etc.), driving gas-guzzling cars, listening to National Public Radio (really miss that!), staying up late, tormenting my cat, walking around bare-foot, going to a mall (and having an Orange Julius), getting coffee at Starbucks, having some fast-food (Taco Bell), grocery shopping with a shopping cart and not thinking about having to carry it home, visiting some friends from high-school, and sweating.
-RP-
Some other pictures from the trip:
The beach
Kristen's old apartment
Christina with her stroller
Christina & Harry's newborn son, Alex
Jessie, the sleepy-head
Arrived back from the US yesterday morning at about 8:30. Unfortunately, I had to go straight to work, so instead of hopping on Bus 12 to go home, I hopped on the shuttle to the "Corporate Village" with my luggage. I even got to work on time! One hell of a commute!
I had agreed to come in because there was a scheduling conflict with the Finnish guy (who was the only other person covering the Swedish market). He wanted to have Friday off to go to Finland for the weekend and would not accept taking the following Monday instead. Dismayed at having to provide customer service while in the stupor of jet-lag, I plopped down at my desk reluctantly. Fortunately, since it was "Good Friday", it was very quiet. And even more fortunately, one of the Team Leaders told me I could go home if I wanted to since the Norwegian guy had "gone live" earlier this week. This was very welcome news, but I decided to stay as long as I could stay at least somewhat mentally alert. This ended up being until about 1pm. What a relief to walk out of that building so much earlier than I had anticipated! So, I got home about an hour later and stumbled into our apartment, to Kristen's utter surprise. Great to be home!
Of course, I couldn't help but to start unpacking all the goodies I had brought from the New World. Some things from an "acquisitions list" that I had brought with me and some that I thought of while I was there. Kristen had ordered some clothing from Old Navy and Urban Outfitters, which was delivered to my mother's house. Between that and the other things I had bought, I had to borrow a bag from her to get everything to Brussels. It was worth it! Clothes, chapstick, chai tea from Starbucks, Mojo Criollo marinade, Sour Patch Kids, American peanut butter, beer, eye-drops, lotion, and on and on.
Aside from acquiring a lot of stuff to bring to Belgium, the trip was good. It was great to get a decent amount of time off from work and, of course, great to see my mom and sister again (it had been almost a year). We went to a few of my favorite eating establishments like Pollo Tropical and Fernanda's Market for their mouth-watering sandwiches which are STUFFED with meat (unlike the one-slice-of-meat-is-enough sandwiches they make in all of Europe). Then there's my mom's great cooking. It's super-delicous and plentiful, so it's impossible not to gain a few pounds if you spend any length of time there. My stomach has shrunken quite a bit from our eating habits over here, so there was rarely a meal on this trip where I wasn't absolutely stuffed afterwards.
I wasn't only eating while I was home, there was a lot of time spent lazing around the house and also doing some good ol' chores. I fixed the weed-whacker, did some yard-work, pressure-washed the driveway, repaired some fixtures, troubleshot two computers, got rid of old junk in my room, and started scraping off the wallpaper in my bathroom. That sounds like a lot, but I really should have done more because it barely scratched the surface of everything that needs to be taken care of at the house. So, it's a shame that I couldn't stay a little longer.
Other things I indulged in: watching television (American Idol, Food Network, sensationalist evening news, a few minutes of scary tele-evangelists, etc.), driving gas-guzzling cars, listening to National Public Radio (really miss that!), staying up late, tormenting my cat, walking around bare-foot, going to a mall (and having an Orange Julius), getting coffee at Starbucks, having some fast-food (Taco Bell), grocery shopping with a shopping cart and not thinking about having to carry it home, visiting some friends from high-school, and sweating.
-RP-
Some other pictures from the trip:
The beach
Kristen's old apartment
Christina with her stroller
Christina & Harry's newborn son, Alex
Jessie, the sleepy-head
Friday, April 9
The unsuper supermarket
Walking home from the grocery store this morning, it occurred to me that in Belgium businesses are run with concern focused on the employee rather than the customer. A good thing if you happen to be the employee, but not so great if you are the customer. Let me explain...
Our nearest major grocery store, Del Haize, is very similar to Safeway or any other grocery store in the U.S. The aisles are a little more narrow and the store itself is smaller than what we are all used to, but basically its the same. It is open from 8:30am to 7:30pm Monday thru Saturday and closed on Sundays. Employees do not work outside of these hours so all of the restocking of shelves happens during the time the store is open. There is constant congestion in the aisles caused by pallets of products sitting and waiting to be unpacked by workers who are already unpacking stuff in other places. The aisles are narrow to begin with and shoppers have to swerve around each other, the store employees who are putting out the new stuff and all the full, semi-full, and empty pallets. I never really thought about how truly wonderful the system in the U.S. is, for us customers at least, to have shelves stocked overnight. This seems pretty trivial, considering all the other things I could be writing about, but after dealing with it on a weekly basis, it is getting a little annoying. Its even worse this week because in addition to it being Easter holidays, the store is undergoing renovations, so there is the regular obstacle course, plus construction workers, ladders, tools and plastic draped everywhere. They have completely removed the bakery section, half of the frozen food freezers and half of the dairy section, squished other aisles together and created complete chaos in the entire store. I don't understand why the store owner would decide it was a good idea to do construction during the day with customers running all over the place. I also can't understand why the store doesn't have people work after the store is closed or even on Sundays to do all the restocking.
Actually, I do understand why - and I like the philosophy - Sundays and evening hours are for family, not work. There are laws that regulate working hours and days to keep employers from exploiting workers. If the store closed while the renovations are happening, a lot of people would be without paychecks for who knows how long. All of these are good reasons and I understand the tradition behind them. But sometimes the claustrophobia and frustration take over and I mentally whimper for a huge, brightly lit, gleaming American supermarket with wide open, empty aisles that never run out of milk.
~K
Walking home from the grocery store this morning, it occurred to me that in Belgium businesses are run with concern focused on the employee rather than the customer. A good thing if you happen to be the employee, but not so great if you are the customer. Let me explain...
Our nearest major grocery store, Del Haize, is very similar to Safeway or any other grocery store in the U.S. The aisles are a little more narrow and the store itself is smaller than what we are all used to, but basically its the same. It is open from 8:30am to 7:30pm Monday thru Saturday and closed on Sundays. Employees do not work outside of these hours so all of the restocking of shelves happens during the time the store is open. There is constant congestion in the aisles caused by pallets of products sitting and waiting to be unpacked by workers who are already unpacking stuff in other places. The aisles are narrow to begin with and shoppers have to swerve around each other, the store employees who are putting out the new stuff and all the full, semi-full, and empty pallets. I never really thought about how truly wonderful the system in the U.S. is, for us customers at least, to have shelves stocked overnight. This seems pretty trivial, considering all the other things I could be writing about, but after dealing with it on a weekly basis, it is getting a little annoying. Its even worse this week because in addition to it being Easter holidays, the store is undergoing renovations, so there is the regular obstacle course, plus construction workers, ladders, tools and plastic draped everywhere. They have completely removed the bakery section, half of the frozen food freezers and half of the dairy section, squished other aisles together and created complete chaos in the entire store. I don't understand why the store owner would decide it was a good idea to do construction during the day with customers running all over the place. I also can't understand why the store doesn't have people work after the store is closed or even on Sundays to do all the restocking.
Actually, I do understand why - and I like the philosophy - Sundays and evening hours are for family, not work. There are laws that regulate working hours and days to keep employers from exploiting workers. If the store closed while the renovations are happening, a lot of people would be without paychecks for who knows how long. All of these are good reasons and I understand the tradition behind them. But sometimes the claustrophobia and frustration take over and I mentally whimper for a huge, brightly lit, gleaming American supermarket with wide open, empty aisles that never run out of milk.
~K
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