You mean English is not the universal language?

As we've traveled just a bit in Europe, we've had a lesson or two in who does and does not speak English as a second or third or fourth language. We've come to immensely appreciate the Belgians who are able and willing to speak it. And speak it well!

Not true everywhere. Now, don't get me wrong. I don't expect it, but it is amazing how difficult - nearly impossible - it is to communicate when you literally don't know a word of . . . say French or German.

Like Steve Martin said . . . "Boy, those French. They have a different word for EVERYTHING!"

While the speaking part has certainly been a challenge for us, just everyday things present their own set of challenges and it goes way beyond the washer/dryer manual too :)

Here's a frozen pizza box. There are 15 different flags, but I'm not sure how many languages. What I do know for sure is that not ONE of them is English!

So just for the record, if you haven't traveled abroad much - or like us, not any 'til now - you will want to make sure you have a handy translator with you because not only the French, but the Germans, the Italians . . . they have a different word for EVERYTHING!

We woke up to . . .

SNOW!

AGAIN!

Did I mention the locals say it's unusual for it to snow here?

Our lucky year, I guess :)

Flenglish

I believe this word has multiple meanings, but for us it means throwing in one of our new Flemish words when it fits into our English sentence.

Flenglish.

It's doubtful we'll ever be fluent in Flemish. Correction. We will never be fluent in Flemish, but we like to keep trying just the same.

I feel kinda silly saying some of these new Flemish words - they have almost an animated feel about them.

For example . . .

Sun, rain, thunderstorm, and sleet . . . clouds, snow, hail, and lightning sound like reindeer in Flemish. You know, like in 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Now zon, now regen, now onweer, en ijzel . . . on wolken on sneeuw, on hagel, en bliksem. Naar de top van de veranda . . .

See what I mean?

Or maybe something out of Dr. Seuss . . .

Sleutels are keys. "Do you have the car sleutels?"

Winkel is store. "I'm headed to the winkel. Need any food?"

Kokosnoot is coconut. "Hey, let's make pina coladas. Get some kokosnoot."

Schoenen is shoes. "Have you seen my unfashionable schoenen?"

Spijkerbroek is jeans. "No, but your spijkerbroeks are really tight. I mean blue."

Broodrooster is toaster. "Want some brood from the winkel? Yeah, I'll toost it in the broodrooster."

Kadootjes is gifts. "Let's open the kadootjes! Okay! What kadootjes?"

Slaapkamer is bedroom. "Okay, time for bed. I'm headed to the slaapkamer.

Goedenacht!"

ding een en ding twee

I'm just sayin' . . .

The new strijkplank

That's an ironing board and we have now purchased our second one. Not the second of our lifetime 'cause who knows how many that might be, but the second one in Belgium!

Our first was a bargain at around 17 Euro (make that $25). However, once the washer/dryer combo washed and dried our clothes, it became evident that our ironing needs were serious and our ironing board was not serious enough. Our clothes come out in a big wad and it's nearly impossible just to spread them out flat!

Anyway . . . we purchased a new one (strijkplank, that is) that should prove to be sturdier and gobs more fun to use. And it was on sale! By that I mean, it was only 59 Euro (aka $88) - marked down from the original price of 75 Euro (aka $112).

No, I'm serious. Here's a picture. Please notice the best part about it is the lovely cover. Not sure what that bird is. . . swan, goose, albatross?

Oh, and by the way, it was the cheapest of the "sturdy" strijkplanks. You may remember a previous post with a strijkplank "system" that cost a mere 899 Euro! Given that, I guess our new purchase was a bargain. And I am looking forward to the gobs more fun I'm planning to have with it!

Praten Parrots

Every week we get to go for Flemish lessons.

I have to admit it's not going quite as well as I had hoped, but we aren't giving up just yet either.

Anyway, the office next to the classroom where our lessons are held has 2 parrots in a large cage. I don't know who works out of this office, but I know for sure they are never there when we are. And I also know for sure they must be there sometimes because when the parrots say a word, it's in a man's voice! It's so funny to hear and to know it's coming out of their mouth (I mean beak).

So here's a picture of them and a video. They get completely quiet if you film while they can see you so I stood to the side for filming. Listen for the man's voice . . . it's them! First they say "hey" and then they say "come in". I wish they would have said "hello". It's really funny to hear it because it sounds just like the office guy answering his phone.

You might say it's just a bit of a distraction during our lesson : /

Witloof and the buren

Kinda has a "children's tale" sorta ring to it. Witloof and the buren.

Well, it's a tale about dinner at our neighbors house. Buren = neighbors and witloof = endive. You know what neighbors are, but you may not know what endive is. So I'll tell you what I know! It's a vegetable that's quite popular here and according to our neighbors, often served in a traditional dish with ham and cheese. So, that's what we had for dinner!

This is a picture of witloof. The leaves are the part that our neighbor cooked in a casserole with a creamy cheese sauce and ham. It's a bit bitter, but her dish was good. The bottom - root part - is chicory. Those of you who drink Community Coffee have definitely heard of chicory. So that's about all I know about witloof.

at the grocery store across the street

So, back to the dinner. Another invited guest was a local doctor. He was an interesting guy who grew up here in Hasselt, studied in Brussels, and now has a family practice here. He lives just around the corner, owns a '68 Ferrari, and is just like our veterinarian - by that I mean . . . he's a one-man-show. I asked lots of questions about this because it is SO different from the States. This doctor is the receptionist, answers the phone, examines the patient, takes up the money, files insurance papers (if necessary), sees patients in the hospital and here's the best part - he visits patients at their house! Or even their office! That's even why he chose not to stay in Brussels and to buy a second car that's tiny. Because of traffic and parking when he goes to see patients at their house!

He certainly feels like this is the best way to practice medicine and he feels like he develops a true relationship with each patient. Of course after working in a hospital and with doctors, I'm not sure it's the BEST way, but I can't help but have an appreciation for it.

Anyway, our neighbors are a nice couple with two nice sons who have been especially welcoming to us. We appreciate their hospitality very much. And now we personally know a doctor and a pharmacist so we may be able to retire the Jim Beam for medical purposes!

There oughta be a law!

Well, there may in fact have been.

Like Wanda Sykes says - the problem with marriage is divorce!

Have you ever asked yourself . . . if the institution of marriage is so important, why is divorce legal?

Weeeeell, it hasn't always been. A no-fault divorce has only been around since 1969.

And what about birth control? Has it always been legal?

Weeeell, no, it hasn't. Birth control has only been legal since 1965!

And furthermore, why is smoking legal? Doesn't this cost an arm and a leg and for some, a lung and a life?

Could it be because it's a significant source of revenue when legal?

And corruption when not?

And even further, why is alcohol legal?

See "smoking" above.

These sure seem (correction: "once seemed") like important social issues, right? After all, most were ILLEGAL at one time!

So finally these aforementioned social issues became nothing more than everyday things. Nobody politics for making divorce illegal! I haven't heard of anybody seriously trying to outlaw birth control! And although smokers have been relegated to the front entry of most businesses, no one seriously thinks of banning it from society. And alcohol! Well, I don't see another prohibition in our near future.

So, have you ever thought about what you would do if you had the power?

I mean, if you REALLY had the power, what would you do?

What would you wish for, pray for . . .

A ban on divorce? a ban on smoking? birth control? alcohol? _______ (you fill in the blank)?

After all, the American public once thought these should be, right?

So, if you REALLY had the power to change the world . . . what was that you would wish for, pray for . . . ?

I'll give you a minute.

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

So, what did you come up with?

Eliminate poverty?

Now that would surely change the world. No more poverty.

Make war obsolete?

Hasn't happened in the history of the world - maybe it's time. Never another war.

Find a cure for AIDS?

What a miracle this would be. Not one more death.

End all violence?

No doubt that would solve a lot of our problems. Peace.

Sure, you don't have the power to do even one of those REAL world-changing things, but . . .

for me, it illustrates the big picture and puts all those other seemingly pressing "social issues" of today into perspective.

Bremen Town

And now for my final post on our visit to Bremen, Germany. . .

The Schnoor in Bremen is a quaint little area with narrow streets and lots of restaurants and stores. You could easily spend a whole day there.

A whimsical look-alike of the famous statue. This one is located in the Schnoor area.

And here we are at the real Bremen Town Musicians statue. I looked all day for this thing and never found it! One of the men Jim had a meeting with is from Bremen and his family history in Bremen goes back to the 1600's! He was nice enough to show us around town and take us to dinner. We really appreciated his time and his knowledge of the area. He may be the only reason I found this statue! It's smaller than I expected : )

There's actually a "Fairy Tale Trail" in Germany. According to the internet you can travel a route linking more than 70 towns and villages, with palaces and castles, all associated with the Brothers Grimm (Jacob & Wilhelm). Maybe another road trip . . .

If you'd like to refresh your memory of the real tales, here's a link to some of them.

CAUTION! Not all fairy tales end "happily ever after" :)

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimmtales.html

In Bremen

The hotel in Bremen was expecting Winslow and he knew just what to do! We have been so surprised and delighted that every hotel we've encountered accepts and even welcomes the dog.

Which reminds me of a quote from Mahatma Gandhi. . .

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

Read that again. . .

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

When we arrived in Bremen it was almost dark. This is a large park right downtown. The canal had a layer of ice and the old large windmill at the end is now a restaurant.

The next day while Jim was busy meeting, I did some shopping. I know this is random, but in one of the stores, I was shocked to see this t-shirt! It even has the official ΣΚ crest. After seeing this one, I went in search of another t-shirt with another Greek organization, but there weren't any! Not sure what's up with that.

As with most cities in Europe, there is a beautiful church in the center of town. This one is no exception and is called St. Peter's Cathedral.

The Town Hall and statue of Roland - known as the city's protector - erected in the 1400's.

More to come on Bremen . . .

On our way to Bremen

Sound familiar? Bremen? Bremen Town?

You're gonna kick yourself when I tell ya.

Rapunzel, Hansel & Gretel, Rumpelstiltskin?

Grimm's Fairy Tales.

Yep, those fairy tales.

Soooooo, anyway, that's where we visited this week.

Bremen, Germany. Pronounced "Bray-mun".

About 4 hours north of Hasselt, it's the sight of one of Grimm's Fairy Tales - The Bremen Town Musicians.

Jim had a business meeting there so Winslow and I got to tag along. More on the town of Bremen in another post . . .

I always thought London had the market on fog. I mean, they even have a coat named for it. I've not been to London, but I wonder if London has anything on the rest of Europe. We encounter fog just about every time we venture out and we even had to pull off and spend an extra night on our way home from our holiday in France due to the dense fog.

Anyway, on our way to Bremen, there was a lot of fog. This is 2 o'clock in the afternoon!

Also, on our way to Bremen, we took the Autobahn. I always thought the Autobahn in Germany was a single highway just for fast-moving cars. It's really just a part of their regular highway system. The speed limit is regulated in many sections due to high traffic, but . . .

along the areas with no posted speed limits, there appears to be no limit. The recommended speed in these areas is about 80 mph, but I assume you can go any speed. Jim got up to about 102 mph and that seemed really fast to us. However, we had cars pass us who were clearly exceeding that!

Here's a photo I took on our way to Bremen. The speedometer is showing over 160 KPH. That's the MPH of 101 in the lower left.

And here's a video I took on our way back from Bremen.

Did you see that were were going over 100 MPH and had to move over for that guy to pass us?!

More Bremen Town to come.

Hindsight is 20/20

My grandmother used to say this, then my mother said it, and now I guess I am too.

Hindsight is 20/20.

We haven't watched television in 6 months.

That's right. None.

In that time, we may have missed a lot of "goings on" in the States and here in Europe for that matter, but I conclude I may be better off because of it. Now, don't get me wrong . . . I keep up with current events, but hopefully any opinions I form have not been too unfairly biased.

Oh, you think yours aren't? Well, it's been scientifically proven that they can be so I won't belabor that. But I do find it interesting just the same.

I don't know where the phrase "hindsight is 20/20" originated, but as I'm sure you know, it refers to perfect vision and means "the inclination to see events that occurred as more predictable than they in fact were before they took place".

How many times have you said or heard somebody else say . . . "I knew that was going to happen."? or "I could have predicted that."?

This is particularly true in games (hence the phrase "Monday morning quarterback"), but it is also true in politics, medicine, and a whole host of other contexts.

Your bias can even go so far as to remember your prediction as having been stronger than it actually was, when it turns out to be correct". It's true!

So, next time you form an opinion . . . think about what really influenced it. It may surprise you if you're willing to admit it!

And BTW, everybody's hindsight is 20/20.

Want to know more? Look up availability heuristic.

België - Belgique - Belgium - Belgien

Did you know that the United States of America isn't pronounced "United States of America" everywhere?

Have you ever thought about how other countries say the name of their own country as well as how they say the names of other countries including the "USA"? Okay, maybe you have, but I hadn't. After all, I still speak only one language!

I guess I just thought Germany was pronounced Germany no matter where you are.

Well, it's definitely not. Here are just a few right near us (and some not so near).

_________________________________________________________________

This first list will be obvious because it's what WE say, but the rest may not be:

Belgium

France

Germany

Spain

Greece

Italy

USA

_________________________________________________________________

These same countries are pronounced like this in Belgium:

België

Frankrijk

Duitsland

Spanje

Greikenland

Italië

&

Verenigde Staten van Amerika

_________________________________________________________________

Now if you're in Germany, these SAME countries are pronounced like this:

Belgien

Frankreich

Deutschland (yep, that's how Germans say the name of their own country)

Spanien

Griechenland

Italien

&

Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika

_________________________________________________________________

The French say them like this:

Belgique

France

Allemagne (and that's really how the French say what we call Germany)

Espagne

Grèce

Italie

&

États-Unis d'Amèrique

_________________________________________________________________

And this list probably looks as familiar as the first one :)

Okay, it's Chinese, but it's the SAME list.

比利時

法國

德國

西班牙

希臘

意大利 (it takes more letters to write Italy than United States of America?)

&

美國

_________________________________________________________________

And finally, the term "it's Greek to me" takes on a whole new meaning :)

Βέλγιο

Γαλλία

Γερμανία

Ισπανία

Ελλάδα

Ιταλία

&

Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες της Αμερικής

Hope you found that interesting. I do.

Martha

Our neighbors have never heard of Martha Stewart.

Yep. Never heard of her.

We invited them over for a glass of champagne to celebrate the new year. I researched on the internet what to serve with champagne and amazingly, just about anything goes - with the exception of really sweet desserts and red meat. Turns out they brought their own food.

Foie gras. I had some. It was good. But not sure it's going to make my top ten favorite foods list. : /

When we were in France, foie gras was on every menu. Foie gras pizza, foie gras and fries, chocolate mousse with foie gras.

Okay, but it was on every menu.

So, anyway, one of their sons (back to the neighbors) was opening the bottle of champagne and I began telling the story about the time I saw Martha open a bottle of champagne.

They get this puzzled look (?)

Did I mention they've never heard of Martha Stewart? That's right. Never heard of her.

So I say, "you know, the woman who is a cook/decorator/crafter/gardener/entrepreneur extraordinaire?"

They say, "like Jamie Oliver?" I say, "uhhhh, yeah, like Jamie Oliver." And we move on.

So, anyway, I continue with my story ----- yeeeeears ago on her TV show, Martha opened a bottle of champagne. Perhaps it was even a demonstration on how to open a bottle of champagne. I don't remember. Well, the champagne immediately began spewing and bubbling out of the bottle!

This happening to Martha AND on TV!

Well, in true Marthanese, she rushes over to the sink, with bubbling bottle in hand, grabs a couple of champagne glasses, and fills them up . . . with what would have gone all over the floor! I mean, the rest of us would have panicked and watched our expensive liquid soak into the carpet. Not Martha. It was a classic and I think of it every time I see someone pop a champagne cork.

Hmmm, I wonder what Jamie Oliver would have done?

Recap + a little Q & A

Remember that milk? Finally expired THIS week! Bought more. Good 'til April.

Remember this control panel? Still not sure about the symbols. I chose 2 suns and a rain cloud. One load = Washing: 1 hr 19 min. Drying: 3 hrs 50 min. (really). Apparently did it right. They smelled okay.

Know what that is? A pan of dressing and I made it myself. THANK YOU, Randi for the cornbread mix! Not even close to Mae Mae's, but not too bad. We ate it. All.

And now for a little Q and A from recent posts:

Q - Jim (A) thought it looked like there was a trap door in the floor of the living room. I don't see it. Let us know who is right. ;)

This refers to a picture of our living room. Here it is again.

I never even noticed the place on the floor that looks like it could be a trap door until I took that picture. It's actually only the way the flooring is finished in that one spot - smoother than the rest. No trap door, but not a bad idea. :)

Q - Ok, what if I stop for coffee on my way to work and it takes a lot more time than I expected. Are the bosses patient as well?

This is from a post on the service here - restaurants, post office, etc. It's hard to believe, but no one here stops to pick up coffee on their way to work. Seriously. Probably because most all cars are standard shift making it difficult to do anything but drive plus all the traffic and bicyclists. And drive-thrus are practically non-existent.

It's taken some getting used to, but drinking coffee is a real event here and always served in a real cup, with a saucer, and a cookie or chocolate. It's really nice, but I would definitely have a hard time adapting to this if I were still driving to work every day. I don't know how these people survive without drinking coffee and applying lipstick while driving! Survive, I guess :)

Q - Speaking of Flemish vloeken...did you figure out how to use the washing machine?

In addition to the recap above . . . I've only done one load so I may have a few choice words before it's all over!

Oh and changing the subject - read my blog quote. It's right under the photo of our backyard at the top of the blog. I randomly chose that quote a week or so ago not having any idea that today the US celebrates his birthday. If my memory serves me, the first time I saw that quote was when we were in Portland, Oregon. It is etched into the stonework of a federal building there. Anyway, thought that was ironic that I had chosen that quote . . .

Found it!