Hup Holland Hup

For the past month I have been watching a lot of soccer. After Italia returned to the bel paese, (and Belgium not even participating, but we will be back!) I have started to support The Netherlands (also). Who'd have thunk?*. One thing you cannot accuse the Dutch of is that they don't support their country. For the game between Holland and Japan we went to the Bull Dog Inn. When Holland is playing, this pub fills up with Dutch tifosi dressed up in orange. It was really nice to -although my Italian is decent- actually understand EVERYTHING people say ;).
So here's a little video clip (I picked the one from 2008, cause I just like it more, but there's also a 2010 version), which shows those crazy dutchies in all their glory. (Belgians :can learn something from this!)
For this evening :HUP HOLLAND HUP!!!! GOOOOOOO HOLLAND!!!!


PS : Yes I did start supporting Holland in this World Cup, but this still doesn't mean I like Heineken. ;)


* for those not aware : there's some sort of love-hate thing between Belgium and Holland.

Belgium, here we come....

The Italian and I will be going to Belgium for the holidays and we both couldn't be happier about it. First of all because we haven't seen my family in a long time and second of all because we both need a break from Italy and Rome.
Belgium is currently covered in snow and we have a pretty big chance of having that White Christmas after all. Apart from one big suitcase filled with clothes, we are also dragging another big suitcase with us filled with cakes, torrone and other Italian holiday goodies. Today when buying the torrone, the Italian candidly pointed out that I always said that there was only 1 kind of chocolate in the world. Well his exact words were more like : " You always made me two ***** like this about how chocolate had to be Belgian." Yes, Belgian chocolate is still the best chocolate in the world, but I'm still also buying the torrone. (You can never have too much chocolate imo)
I will surely return to Italy with an extra five kilos on my body, but I'm not holding back this time. Homemade fries, belgian beer, cream tomato soup and endless christmas markets with glühwein, jenever and other bodywarming drinks.
Now if only the airport won't be closed for the snow....
Happy holidays to all! Have a lovely Christmas!

The highs and the lows

It's been months since I last blogged. The past months were filled with highs and lows and for some reason I didn't feel like blogging about it at the time.
This is what's been going on :

The highs :
* In July the Italian and I went to Belgium. We stayed there a couple of days and then drove my car (full with stuff) back to Italy. We stopped at Lago di Garda and San Benedetto del Tronto and then drove to Rome.
* In August my mom and sister came to visit us in Rome, which was great.
* In September my cousin and her boyfriend came to Rome, we had a blast.

The lows :
* For some reason I'm still not getting used to Rome. I have pretty much always lived in a small village in a small country. I never thought this would be an issue, but the big city chaos is sometimes just too much. I then dream of a house with a big garden in which I grow my own vegetables. I guess there is a farmer inside of me somewhere that I didn't know about.
* The househunting is not going fast enough for me. We have seen it all by now. Houses with water in the walls, bad roofs, houses in the midst of about 20 electrical poles, near the river that floods, agency people who don't give you any information except for : 'this is the kitchen, this is the bathroom...' (why would I pay you thousands of euros for that?!)
* The jobhunting is -to say the least- horrible. Nobody cares apparently that I speak all these languages and have a degree. When I came here I was willing to earn less than what I earned back home, but some of the salaries I have seen here are just ridiculous.
* Making new friends has also proven itself to be harder than it is.

Solution :
* I need to step up my game. Easier said than done, but not impossible. And when I wonder if I want to step up my game, I need to slap myself in the face and realise that the only thing I can change is me. Not this country or its jobmarket or its obvious chaos. I need to stop comparing Belgium to Italy, cause in the end it just makes me unhappier.

Now I know what to do, but how do I do it?

Brilliant

The probably 'stole' this from the T-Mobile commercial, but this just made my day. I couldn't stop smiling watching it. If you are having a crappy day or just want to feel good check this out.


PS : Is it normal that this made me a little home sick?

Kim Kong Clijsters is back!

After many rumours, it was finally confirmed a few minutes ago at a press conference : Our Kim is back. She will be playing Cincinatti, Toronto and the US Open. Well, we were kinda planning on going to New York... so this might be the perfect timing. The most important thing is that she is having fun again in playing the game of tennis. She said she doesn't have to win every game anymore and that's fine. It's understandable her family comes first. But after all our leading ladies in sports seemed to be quitting, it's good to have one back. Ever since Justine Henin stopped playing I just didn't watch women's tennis anymore. But for Kim I'll be setting my alarm clock again in the middle of the night to watch her play and I will be dusting off my Belgian flag. Welcome back Kim. Welcome back.

You know you are integrating in Italy when....

Except for feeling like a total foreigner when standing in the metro while towering over everyone including the men, I'm starting to feel more at home here in Italy.

Ten reasons you know you are integrating well in Italy - in no particular order :

1. When crossing the street and a crazy driver shows you the 'areyououtofyourmindwomansign' - you know the one with the hand in front of the face - and instead of yelling something at him, you gesture back saying it all.

2. When you become fussy about your pizza. Nonono I don't want the thick crusted 'Napoli' pizza, only the very thin one and make it ben cotta.

3. When you -while speaking Italian- throw in a lot of 'però's' for no apparent reason.

4. When you walk in the center and whine about the many tourists.

5. When you don't get offended while getting 'Ciao Bella' , ' Amore', ... yelled at you from across the street

6. When you want to cross the street and you are the only one who dares to go out there and raise your hand at the driver so you can actually cross the street and all the flocks of tourists follow you.

7. When you understand there is a lot of traffic, because two drops of rain fell out of the sky.

8. When you are in Panorama and people come to ask you where the salt is or when you are at the metro people ask you if it goes to ''Piramide''. (I must add I absolutely don't look Italian)

9. When you actually defend Italy and put down Belgium in a discussion about politics - I can't believe I actually did this, seems a bit stupid in retrospect.

10. When yesterday you spotted a tourist in a t-shirt and flip flops while you were wearing your winter jacket and thought they were the ones who were crazy.

More than a suitcase full of food...

Last weekend I made a little trip back to Belgium to see my family and to bring over some more stuff. My first weeks in Italy weren't always easy as you could read in my previous posts and I started to create a bit of an unrealistic image of what Belgium respresented. For example I began to worship Belgian food and could not believe my eyes when in Italy you can't even buy brown sugar. Which by the way is needed to make one of my grandfather's famous dishes and therefore Belgium rules over Italy. You know that kinda of thing. I am ashamed to say I got a bit carried away. Because - let's face it- although Belgium's very nice (uhum), Italy isn't so bad. And I realized this when I came back from my little trip back.
When I was in Belgium last weekend, I couldn't sleep from the cold. And although I loved seeing my family again and eat Belgium food again (sorry Italy but making fries is not something you are good at), I also realised that being with The Italian makes me happy. For years we only saw each other a couple of days a month, and now being apart for 4 days, I started to miss him.

I had a lot of fun though. I went to the hairdresser. (I still have to find one in Rome and I'm very picky about my hair and therefore my hairdresser) I went shopping with my sis and my mom, went out for drinks and food, etc.
I left Belgium to return to Italy with a suitcase full of items I cannot find here and more importantly with a more positive attitude. I am sure there will be more moments in which I will find myself whining about not being able to eat Belgian fries or chips or speculoospasta.
But for now I'll take that ride on the positive attitude-train because it does make life brighter after all.

From Snow to Rain

With a delay of more than 3 hours I arrived in Italy 2 days ago. I left the cold and the snow in Beautiful Belgium behind, to find less cold and rain in Beautiful Rome. Although I really love to be in Rome, the first signs of homesickness have kicked in. But it was time to make a change and I'm happy I did it. It's just that I have the most awesomest family in Belgium...

Ryanair vs Easy Jet

I had quite the weekend. Last Friday I flew to Rome (with Ryanair) thinking my last hours on planet earth had presented themselves. There was so much turbulence that the plane didn't stop shaking and it took about 50 minutes to actually put the plane down. Another five minutes and I would have had to search for one of those cute little paper bags. Felt sick all evening but still couldn't pass up on my future mother-in-law's home made pizza. Last weekend was the last weekend I flew to Rome before moving in January. The Italian will be spending the holidays Belgian style and then we will go back together. Writing this I get kinda nervous. Not so much for the move, but for all the things I still need to do. I'm the master procrastinator.

On Monday I flew from Rome to Milan for a job interview. I think it went alright. I had a talk with the Italian H&R manager from the company I work for now. He told me, what I already knew, that they didn't have a job opening in the company we have near Rome, but that he was going to see if he could do something for me anyway. It was a very long day, but I figure that it's never a bad thing to know people like him (read : with his connections).

The flight from Rome to Milan was the first time I flew with Easy Jet. I had made sure I took the smallest trolley I had so I didn't have to check in any baggage. The (young) girl behind the check in desk then decided to show me what kind of power she had. She asked me to please check if it would fit in one of those iron baggage size things. It didn't ofcourse. The little wheels must have stuck out for about half a centimeter. I had woken up at 6 and had a headache from hell, so I wasn't particularly very amused by this. She got very rude in telling me I couldn't take the baggage with me. Ofcourse when checking in for my Milan-Brussels flight (again with Easy Jet) about twelve hours (!) later, the nice (older) lady at the check in didn't see the problem and let me take the trolley as hand luggage.

I blame the Italian. He was with me checking in in Rome, and the rude girl was obviously struck with the 'Foreign Girl Has An Italian Boyfriend and Therefore Is Taking Down My Chance Of Happiness By 1' -fever.

I say to her : go find yourself a Belgian guy and we'll call it even.

And then the bubble burst...apparently people are not equal after all.

Just when you think people are doing the right thing, just when you think we are moving ahead in this world... that's when you read an article about Prop8. Prop8 wanted to overturn a state Supreme Court decision that granted gay couples the right to wed in California. And they did it.

Also in other states in the US people voted YES on the ban for gay marriage.

Unbelievable. In the first place this is not about marriage, this is not even about gay people, this is about equality! Apparently there are a lot of people out there who feel that straight people should have more rights than gay people. I got quite sad and angry when I read this and most of all disappointed. Hopefully they can turn this around again.

Someone explain to me why people get bothered by two people getting married because they love eachother, cause I don't understand. According to me this is just plain discrimination.

I'm inviting all the gay people who did get married or want to get married to Belgium. Yes we have gay marriage and adoption. Here it doesn't matter if you are gay or straight and for that I'm proud to be Belgian.

US Open - I just couldn't watch it

Over the past years I absolutely loved to watch Women's tennis. I would watch all the Grand Slams and major tournaments, so it might seem strange that this year I didn't watch any game of the US Open. I just can't.. after the departure of our number one player last year, Kim Clijsters, we were so happy to still have Justine Henin left to defend our national colours. Kim was more about the fun, Justine was all about the competition. With Kim quitting last year, I watched more Justine games and became an even bigger fan, then came May 2008.. Justine announced her retirement.

The player with the most beautiful backhand in Women's tennis decided it was time to do something else. I tried to still follow the US Open this year, but I just can't root for the Williams sisters or the Russian girls. I don't think Women's tennis is what it was and secretely hope Justine will make a come back, but I guess that won't be happening. Let's hope some other champ will stand up to bring some great tennis back to Women's tennis .... I miss The Backhand.

The one with the moving...

Finally we have a date set for my big move to Rome. My boss knows, my parents know, my friends know.. pretty much everyone knows now that The Belgian will still be celebrating Christmas in Belgium, but will be celebrating La Befana* in Rome. I have worked out some issues with my boss and we came to this agreement. She and all my collegues are really excited for me ( I think!) and my friends are already planning trips to Rome expecting to be able to crash on my not-yet-existing Roman couch.

I do get a bit emotional sometimes but I was surprised by how easy it is to let go of material things like my car/furniture which I won't be taking probably. And yes it is hard to not see your friends and family, but Belgium and Italy is not THAT far away so I expect to be going back for a quick visit quite often.

I wonder how other people went through this process and if it was easy/difficult to let go...

* La Befana : 6th of January!

Today Is A Great Day For...

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, the grass is making my nose itch..today is a good day for some nice catchy rocky/poppy/indie songs. Partially inspired by StuBru playing on the radio at work, these are the songs that will make today a good day, heck even a great day.

In no particular order :

The BlackBox Revelation - Gravity Blues : Belgian band. Young guys, Runner's up at Humo's Rock Rally* in 2006. They have even played in the US and will be playing in Belgium/ The Netherlands and Germany in sept/august. I also love the video for this song.

The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name : Ok, this song has been out a while, but I still love listening to this song driving in my car with the sun on my face. It makes my head bob even in the morning, and that's a rare thing.

Freaky Age - Where Do We Go Now : This is a Belgian band of guys who are only like 16 years old, but this is one catchy song. They are playing a whole bunch of dates this summer/autumn, so maybe I'll go check them out.

Air Traffic - Time Goes By : Not necessarily a band that has come up with something that's totally new, but I can't help really liking their album Fractured Life and Time Goes By is perfect for singing along in your car (or at your job, depending on your collegues) while banging your head.

A Brand : Time. I really liked their first single,Riding your Ghost in 2004, but Time shows that they have grown as a band. Great song.

If you haven't heard about some of the songs, you should definately check them out and let me know what you think!

* Humo's Rock Rally is an important contest in Belgium for rock bands who are starting out

Belgian Pride - sort of

Last Monday was the National Day of Belgium. Now, I'm not a very 'nationalistic' person and I don't remember ever watching any parades on the national day. The only moments I feel some sort of Belgian pride is when for example the Belgian soccer team wins, which in the past years has pretty much not happened at all.

For many things Belgium is not an inspiring country :

* it rains here most of the time (even when the weatherman says it won't);

* politics have been kinda crazy the past year.

I'm not actually sure if we currently have a government or not;

* the quality of the roads could definately be better;

* the fact that we are so small that most people have no clue where it is.

I still regularly see American journalists on tv referring to Belgium as the capital of Brussels.

I don't blame them, the Belgian government does just not do enough to promote the country correctly.

Having said that, I do think journalists should do their job and do some research.
* Belgian soaps, tv shows are mostly really boring

But on the national day I did think about all the things that do rock Belgium :

* Belgian Chocolate : THE best in the whole world, no competition.

* Belgian Beer : Again, the best in the world.

* Belgian Waffles : ditto

In general Belgian food is just really good.

* Sports : Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters ( tennis), Kim Gevaert ( Running), Tia Hellebaut ( High

Jump), ...

* Art : Victor Horta, James Ensor, Henry van de Velde, Rene Magritte, ...

* Music : K's Choice, Deus, Ozark Henry, Jacques Brel, Arid, Hooverphonic, Toots Tielemans,..

* Some political decisions: Euthanasia law, gay marriage/adoption law, anti-discrimination law,

first country in the world to ban clusterbombs, ...

* Social Security, facilities, education are all quite good and of a high level

* There's no dubbing movies/sitcoms in Belgium, we have subtitles.

* Some beautiful cities: Ghent, Antwerp, Bruges,...

* ...

So when I make the comparison between the good, the bad and the ugly, I must admit that Belgium is not such a bad country to live in after all. I still want to move though...