Lilac Colored Glasses

Jovanka is a fellow expat living in Gent. She’s also a stand up comedian, so I’ll have to see if she’s performing in the Gentse Feesten this year. Anyway, I really liked these questions because they are from an expat living in Belgium perspective, so they were sort of unexpected, insomuch as when I am asked about living here, these sorts of questions never really come up.

What is your favorite Dutch word and why?…My first one was “Nachtwinkel” which used to crack me up for some reason.
I’m not sure if I have a favorite word in Dutch. I kind of like the word “waterzooi” I guess. I have to say though, the word I’ll always remember in Dutch is “ongeloofelijk” because it’s the first Dutch word I learned all by myself. From a Pizza Hut commercial actually.

What’s your favorite topping on frietjes?…Mine used to be “Samurai” (before I went vegan).
Hrm, I’d have to say garlic sauce or tartar sauce.  Vol au vent is good too, but I don’t like how it makes the fries mushy towards the end.

The three kiss thing when greeting people: Do you love it or find it invasive and tedious? (Personally I found it charming until I had to kiss everyone like a million times at my wedding).
Crap, I totally didn’t even think about the fact that I’ll have to do this at our reception here. I’ve never seen it as charming…I find it more than tedious if the group I’m greeting is larger than 2 people. I really felt uncomfoartable doing the kiss thing when I first moved here. I enjoy my personal space. I’m not a hugger at all. In fact, there are pictures of me throughout my childhood where you can see me clenching my fists (unconsciously) while I’m being hugged. So kissing was very difficult to get used to and I still feel awkward doing it if I’m meeting a group of people who are more or less strangers.

So, there you have it! Mind you, I’m always open to questions if you have any, so feel free to ask away at any time. Oh and here’s a quick list of terms:
nachtwinkel – night shop
waterzooi – a thin stew made with chicken or fish, vegetables and cream (Gent’s specialty)
ongeloofelijk – unbelievable
frietjes – fries (which are not, nor have they ever been French, fyi)
samurai sauce – a spicy sauce made from sambal and mayonnaise

Luisa, blogger of Novembrance and author of Comfortably Yum (amongst other works)asked me:

Are there any things (food, tools, magazines, etc.) from the States that you absolutely have to have? If so, how do you go about getting them?

And seriously, there really aren’t that many things that I haven’t learned to live without.  I’ve never “cheated” and used American rulers or measuring cups or scales here. I’ve gotten used to knowing about what temperature it is outside or what to set the oven to if I want to bake certain things. I can convert kilometers to miles, grams to ounces or pounds to kilos relatively quickly in my head and if I can’t I just write it down and convert it later. And while I can list a ton of things, especially foods and beverages that I miss, I don’t absolutely have to have them. You’d be amazed how much you can appreciate a gourmet hamburger or a bowl of chili or a peanut butter sandwich when you only get to have it once a year.

There are two, possibly three things that I do have to have from the US, however, and there really is no super easy way of getting it. First, and I’ve mentioned this one before, is my chewing gum. I MUST have my 5 chewing gum from Wrigley’s. I will chew no other gum, especially not the nasty, eucalyptus or menthol flavored, little hard bits they sell here. My mother is kind enough to ship me several packs of gum every couple months, cause I’ve never seen it in Belgium.
Second is shoes. I like shoes with thick, wide rubber soles and lots of support. The shoes here are crap, in my opinion. They’re over priced, fall apart fairly quickly, and usually have very narrow, very thin soles. I bought a pair of shoes here in Gent last year and they were awful. My feet hurt constantly and the soles started coming off within 3 months of buying them. Overpriced, evil foot manglers, those were. So my solution thus far is simply to buy a couple pairs of shoes while in the States. The ones I have now will definitely last me until October, when I visit for a friend’s wedding, and the ones I buy in October should get me through till next May when we’re there for the wedding.
The possible third is a hair stylist. I am very picky about who cuts my hair, only because I’ve had several haircuts that end up in me having a giant fro where my only option is to pull my hair back, lest the monster on my head begin devouring small mammals. The woman who cuts my hair is a friend of the family (my mom’s best friends daughter) and is the only person I know who cuts and layers my hair so that I can wear it down and not look like a big angry poodle. Unfortunately I can’t have my mom ship her here every few months and I’ve been dealing with a haircut once a year for the past two years when I go to the US, but my hair grows fast and I end up going through a lot of conditioner and shampoo because of it. So, I might suck it up and look for someone to cut my hair at the end of the summer. I just have no idea how to find someone good.

But other than that, I really can’t think of anything that I direly need that I can’t find here or compensate for with something else.

Except my family, of course, but I don’t think they’re quite ready to move to Gent.

Yet.

These aren’t exactly the winners of the week, so much as the winners of the day. They’re pictures we took today when we went to try the food at Hof ten bosse, the Belgian wedding reception venue. CB and I both really love the place and the way it combines modern with rustic to create a really unique, cottage-chic atmosphere. So cool.

Reception hall/ Dance floor

Not quite sure what it is but it’s kind of steam punk meets Little Women, no?

This is the coffee buffet. The actual coffee is off to the left in a big urn but see that bowl? Homemade whipped cream. Swoon!

Nekked baby violinist – every wedding has to have one

This is the sort of thing that I really love about this place. It has so much character. Some of the corners of this place are like visiting an old homestead in the countryside.

CB saw Rex make a mad dash into the bathroom last night and this is why

Felix was a little camera shy but Rex didn’t even see me

This past Sunday I asked for people to leave any questions they might have for me in the comments. Well, two inquisitive people did (thanks ladies) and I’m going to start with the first ones from Dallas:

What things do you really love about living in Belgium?  How have you changed?  And if/when you move back to the states, what aspects of Belgian life will you take back and continue with you?

Hrm, ok. What things do I really love about living in Belgium.

• I love the ease of transportation- At first, having driven my own car everywhere from the time I was 16, I was more than wary of taking public transportation. The buses in Pittsburgh aren’t always clean or safe or on time and there is no metro system like in NYC or D.C. or Toronto. So I can’t say I was thrilled at having to take buses, trams and trains to get around. But now? I think it’s fantastic! Depending on the time of day it can get crowded, of course, but the trams and trains especially are a great way to avoid traffic and get to your destination quickly. The buses are usually very reliable and you can go practically anywhere using any combination of buses, trams and trains. Gent doesn’t have a metro, but after taking the one on Brussels on Monday, I was equally as happy with that form too.
• I love the appreciation for food – Belgium is Burgundian and there is value here in the quality and presentation of food. Cheeses, wines, beers, apperetiefs…these are all things I used to see as snooty (except for the beer…that I used to see as sort of low class till I moved here and Belgian beer made me snooty) but now I see them as a part of a nice meal. I have rarely had poorly cooked or low quality food when eating in a Belgian establishment (pita, kebap and late night fry shacks don’t count).
• I love the appreciation of culture and art – It’s relatively easy to find cheap or free art exhibits, at least in Flanders. Right here in Gent we have a museum of modern art (SMAK), a museum of classical art, a museum of “folk art” (het Huis van Alijn), the Vooruit which often hosts small bands or plays, a little museum with random art in the Patershol, the castle museum, and the Gentse Feesten (in July). There are often random sculptures,pieces of art or outdoor exhibits as well.
• I love the “oldness” – I love the twisty, turny cobbled streets and crooked stone trapgevels. I love the open markets in the squares of the towns and the golden dragon on top of the Belfort. I love the secret cloisters and hidden courtyards and quiet forgotten corners covered in moss and crawling with history.
• I LOVE the Kerstmarkt!! - Maybe I love this cause it’s such a new and novel thing to me, but I doubt it because I always loved Christmas time back home too (until they started marketting for it right after Halloween). I love the glühwein and hot chocolate and lights and warm little huts all lit up and full of different wares. It almost strikes me as Dickensian, though I couldn’t tell you why exactly. But I can’t wait for Christmas time this year (we may go to Cologne to see the biggest Kerstmarkt in the world this year).

How have I changed? Well, there’s that whole partially fluent in Dutch thing…and I actually enjoy riding a bike now. I do miss my car when it’s pouring rain or when we need some large groceries that can’t be carried by bike, but for the most part I really enjoy walking or biking for most of my transportation. I’m also much more careful with money, but I think that’s more from being unemployed than being in Belgium. I’m learning not to take certain things for granted. For example, I used to hate it when I’d go to a fast food place or a 7-11 and the person working there spoke really bad English. Now I think back and envy that person because they were able to get a job, even with shaky English. It’s a lot harder to do here. People really want excellent Dutch…or they want you to be an enthusiastic and super thorough cleaner, which I learned the hard way.  Not that I think anyone should half-ass it on learning the language of the country they are in, but I guess I never realized how many of my skills and interests were language based until I moved here.

If/when we move back to the States, what aspects will I take with me. Definitely I’d like to continue to bike and minimize using the car as much as possible. I used to think I’d want to live in the suburbs but I’d like to keep the closeness to town that we have here so that we could be waking distance from shopping and parks and the library. I’d also like to continue the environmentally friendly things we do here like compost and reuse shopping bags and use energy saving light bulbs and water saving toilets. And Dutch, of course. CB and I plan on speaking some Dutch at home if we move to the U.S. so that I don’t forget it and so that our kids can talk with all of their relatives in Belgium.  Sadly, most of the aspects I would want to take back with me are simply bound culturally to Europe and so we can’t bring them with us, but I guess we’ll do our best when/if the time ever comes.