Apartment update

It's been a while I haven't posted pictures on the apartment. Just been to busy emptying boxes and figuring out where to put everything I guess.
We're operationnal :) that is how I call a state where the most important is in place so you can sleep, shower, dress, eat and even whatch a DVD. The rest will come little by little.
This said, here you go:



Ilona will be our first guest next Friday. That's good motivation to clear up all the mess.

Garbage bags

Fair enough, I already talked about the container park not so long ago, but I realized in the past 2 weeks how lucky I was until now.
In Meise, when your register to the town, you receive an envelop with 3 garbage bags and a calendar. On the calendar you can see on which days they will come pick up the trash:
- once a week for the white bag (with all food leftovers) together with the brown bag (with everything else)
- every other week for the blue bag (with all the plastic bottles) and paper/cartons
I can imagine that you cannot care less about our trash schedule, but we do. Because in a move you generate quite some trash and having such a tight schedule is not always easy to manage.
On top, the brown bags are hugely expensive (1.60 euros a bag!!!!) to encourage you to sort as much as possible. Makes sense, but also transform your apartment in a mini container park with 1 box for the paper, 1 for the plastic bottles, 1 for the glass (which they don't pick up), 1 for the food leftover and another one for the rest.
I have to say, all those years that I had in the building the containers and I could bring everything down, directly, anytime, any day, I clearly never realized how lucky I was.

Snowy morning

It started to snow last night around 8pm and this morning everything was white. I have to say it's quite nice to open your eyes and see this:

Gruyere

Gruyere is a cheese full of holes (in case you don't know).
The reason I'm mentioning it is not because I started to eat cheese (I know, some people still hope it will happen) but because it describes very well the state of the roads these days in Belgium.
It's been quite freezing cold in Belgium for the last month and a half more or less. Last week was a bit warmer, finally the snow had melted, and we had positive temperature. The relief lasted only for a week as it's snowing again as I write those lines.
So very cold weather, negative temperature for days, lot's of snow and ice everywhere... as a consequence the material they used to make the road started to break apart. More exactly it's like a small "explosion" here and there creating big holes on the surface. It has become nearly dangerous to drive on some roads because they are so damaged.
I recall telling my cousin Ramzi that in Belgium, especially in the city area, you don't need a 4-wheel car, given the roads are in very good conditions. The past few days I've been reconsidering my position :)

Once again they did not show up

As my apartment is to rent I have the obligation to host visits from interested people. My landlord put two real estate agents on the job.
Every other day they call me to set up a visit.
Tonight once again I was there and nobody showed up. Not even a phone call to let me know it's cancelled. I really wonder in what world we're living :(

Avatar

Avatar is the movie you have to see these days. Everybody is talking about it. Millions of people have seen it already. Movie theaters were (and are still) packed. Finally tonight we managed to find the time and tickets.
I won't write much about it. Just the following:
Pictures and aesthetics absolutely amazing. They managed to create a world you would want to live in. It's a pity they couldn't find a good writer to come up with a decent story. Let's face it after 30-40min it gets boring to know what comes next.

Almost there

My apartment is as good as finished. After a trip to the container park by my place, we've removed everything yesterday and only the things I want to donate are left. Quite some things actually: a convertible sofa, many book shelves, tons of plates and glasses, a fan, 3 chairs, and more. Scary how much you accumulate over the years. Well moving in also forces to make a selection as obviously we cannot have everything in double :)
As I get ready to give back my apartment, I can't help feeling a knot in my stomach. After all, I've spent many years in it and have many memories linked to it... Time to move on :)
Today, we've made significant progress at Wolfram's place. All what was to trash is gone, all what is to donate is collected in one room, kitchen is packed (bringing the inevitable question of which plate or glass we will keep). We're getting there.
If everything works fine we will be done with moving out by the end of the coming week. Then we focus fully on the new apartment.

I wonder

Depending where you live, you might have to pay when you go to the container park. Basically the more you bring the more you pay. This came as a surprise to me, especially because so far container park was always for free. The idea being to encourage you to bring it there vs. dumping trash in the woods or streets.
Apparently Flanders think differently and make you pay.
Another difference between the 2 parts of Belgium I guess.

Don't lock Muffin in a room

Or he will make sure you will never do it again.
This morning around 7am the cats started to make noise and waking us up. Their usual routine :)
To spare Wolfram's sleep I locked each cat in a room to get some peace.
This turned out to be a bad idea.
Muffin really didn't like it and peed on the blanket, on my clothes lying there. Once I discovered the damage i quickly removed everything and started washing.
What I had missed was that he had done far worse in the box containing Wolfram's clothes. Oups that was not a good thing to do, Muffin.
Conclusion of this story don't lock Muffin or he will make sure your clothes remind you everyday how evil you've been.

20 euros

For 20 euros the Belgian post will not only forward your mail to your new address during 4 months, but also contact all utility suppliers to inform them of your move. Thus you don't need to do it yourself.
Isn't that cool?
That's shooting many birds with one stone and many items removed from my moving to do list :)

1 kg

That's how much black pepper Wolfram brought with his kitchen supply.
He did explain to me that he used to go grocery shopping in Colruyt where sometimes he could not find everything he needed, therefore he would buy many of each just to be sure. Still I don't get why he couldn't go to the next supermarket to get that item or wait the following week if not that urgent. It seems I can't quite understand the logic. After all we're not living in a country with food shortage. I believe abundance would be a better descriptor. So why 1kg of pepper?
It will take more than 1 year to use 1 kg of black pepper in a normal kitchen. If we had a restaurant that would be another story...

Moving in update

Today I picked up Anamaria, my cleaning lady, so she could see the new apartment and have a first round of cleaning.
Before starting we had to buy all the cleaning products / tools for tiles because you need the right equipment to clean properly, so I was explained.
In 5 hours, the 2 of us reduced significantly the chaos and dust in the place. Kitchen and bathroom are fully operating. It's a pity that the oven doesn't ring when it's done or maybe we've missed it and should read the manual.
Coach, TV, DVD player and Wii are set up. DVDs are nicely organized on the shelves (well at least mine ;)).
Wardrobe is full again, but still need to sort out extra hanging space and shoes storage.
Guest room is ready. Anyone interested?.
One big item is pending: where do we put all those books? let's face it between the 2 of us, we have nearly a library aisle on hand.
Still no phone or Internet, but that will come only in a month from now.

PS: In case you have experience with tiles, here is a question for you: how do you remove marks of paint, plaster and "mastic" (I believe filler or putty dixit Google translation) left by the workers? standard products with sponge didn't work so we could use some advise. Thanks in advance.

Dream Factory

Aurelie and I joined the organizing team of our yearly event back in November. This year we wanted to do things differently and give a bit back to those less privileged than us. Over the past 3 months we've worked hard to design and organize this event. The idea was simple. We've organized a collection of food, clothes, toys, books and had people sort them out during the event. On top we managed to get tons of products that we could give to charity organizations: male grooming kits for homeless shelters, 1-year cleaning products for families in need, games for children, assembling Ikea furniture for an association taking care of handicapped people, etc.
Putting up this event has been a challenge especially when you want to get things for free or cheaper so you could save money on logistics and maximize the amount of products you will give. But we made it. Thursday we've spent the whole day (and evening) setting things up. Friday was the D day.
I believe the event was successful. We've donated in total more than 50 pallets of kits, products, etc. and the feed backs I received from the people was very positive.
Now I can go to bed and rest. Today I've done something to help others and it feels very good.

The day I fell asleep at a traffic light

Tonight on my way home after an exhausting day, I briefly closed my eyes at a traffic light and suddenly woke up when I heard honking. Seems like I fell asleep for 30 seconds maybe 1 minute, the time of the red light.
Gee, I need some serious sleep.

Stress peaks

I know cats always fall back on their legs. It's common knowledge.
In the new apartment we have quite some stairs and actually if you look at it from the top you can see the bottom floor. Meaning, if you fall you could make it all the way down in one go.
Mokka and Muffin have naturally discovered the stairs taking them to 2 different levels. Of course they love to sit on one of the steps so they can watch us.

Now, this passion of them is very stressful because
1) when you see part of them hanging in the void, you fear the worse. What if they fall from the top floor???? especially when they jump from one side to the other.
2) you have to pay attention where you put your own feet. Because if cats always get back on their feet, I'm pretty sure it's not true for human beings... well at least not for me.

Welcome home

Somewhere, somehow, at some point, this mess will become our living room, dining room and kitchen.
Until then, we're camping and playing the game of "have you seen the box with..." :)

The movers team

THANKS A LOT for helping us move!

My move: 90% complete

8am: no snow, there is hope the weather forecast was wrong.
9am: forget what I just said. It's snowing and walking to the bakery was quite a challenge. No one had cleared pavement yet :(
10am: snowing still. What shall we do? We waited a bit.
11am: let's drive to the new place and check the roads. If we can't make it with the car we won't move today. Luckily roads were pretty much clear and ok to drive (seems priority was given to clean the roads vs. the pavement). We checked with our helpers that they were still ok to help and drove to Dockx to rent a van. You can read the full description about the van and driving it on Wolfram's blog. All I can tell you is that it is big. They don't call it "mega van" for nothing with 10m3 volume for transport inside.
12:30pm: we were at my place. We managed to get the van in the garage and with the help of Ioana, Nadia, Andreas and Jeroen we loaded all my belongings in there. Well almost all of it as I still need to pack the kitchen. I have to admit I felt quite guilty throughout the process as I can't carry much because of my back so I was mostly directing and finalizing packing while the others were doing the hard work.
4:30pm: my whole life or so is in the van and everybody's cars. We took off for the new place.
5pm: I'm standing in front of the new house and see people parking a smaller van. Seems we're not the only one moving today. I asked them to park a bit more to the side (or less in the middle) so we could fit our van and the unloading started.
6:30pm: van was empty, apartment filled with my belongings. Those guys were fantastic and managed to get everything up even the tricky buffet or large bed frame. We left for a well deserved diner.
9:30pm: I'm back home to pick up the cats. Nadia and Andreas came back to pick up 2 armchairs (yes that's the ones the whole family sat on for the last 30 years and I'm happy they will have a new home at friends' place).
11pm: Mokka and Muffin are doing their first steps in their new house. Exploration started while I'm setting up the bed for our first night in the new apartment.

Fingers crossed

Weather forecast is announcing snow for tomorrow and maybe Sunday as well.
We've planned to rent a van and move the furniture this week-end.
So fingers crossed that forecast is wrong (or not as bad as what they say). We should get lucky as I don't recall weather forecasting to be exact science :)

Hard working man

Taking a rest after disassembling furniture

Chaos

That's what's around me. Everywhere I look I see boxes and bags. What used to be nicely laying out is now wrapped in paper and packed in a box.
The scary part is that it looks like it will never end... Gosh I have so many things. At least the kittens enjoy the carton boxes edifice :)
Break is over, time to get back to packing.

New year, new home, new car?

Since I've been back in Belgium my life is around the move. Packing, moving boxes, cleaning the new house, getting all the utilities set, and many more. It's called "moving house" and it's a bigger challenge when we're talking about merging 2 houses in 1.
The positive point though is the exercise you get. 21 steps about 40 times a day, that's a full fitness session, no?
This afternoon we needed a break (and lunch) so we drove on the A12, the nearby highway and seized the opportunity to see what shops are in the area.
I spotted a Midas and thought we could stop by so I could get my back light fixed (why do those things always break down when you have millions of other things to do...). I know Midas from France as they are famous for fixing your car without appointment. You just show up and they take care of it. Of course this means you might have to wait if it's a big reparation, but changing my light bulb should only take 5min to a mechanics.
Except, the man was really unfriendly and told me I had to make an appointment. Quote: "do you think you are the only one on this planet?"
From all the answers possible he picked the aggressive one. Unbelievable. Still can't believe it, such rudeness.
Of course we left right away.
Luckily for me, there was a Nissan dealer further down the road and we gave it a try. "yes we can change it right away. of course." all smiles and polite... that's how service should be :)
5min later, with my brand new light bulb, ready to pay, Wolfram is looking at the Quashqai behind me. Of course I took a look as well. One thing led to the other and there we going for a test drive. Really nice I have to say. I enjoyed very much driving a big car, being higher than the others and extremely comfortable seats. Price is somehow reasonable, and car dealers are desperate to sell so there is the hope for good price. I have to say I'm tempted.
I wonder: new year, new house and new car as well?

Mission accomplished

The mission: bring back from Lebanon 2 carpets, one for my parents and one for us from my grand-mother. In case you wonder, it seems she has quite some of them folded in a wardrobe than nobody is using.
Easy you would say.
Not quite.
First challenge, the one for my parents is a big one and even folded it's still a block of 70cm x 50cm x 25cm which weighs 17kg. Ours is smaller and lighter. Total weight: 26 kg.
So how do we bring them back?
By paying a visit to the Armenians in Zahle and buy the largest cheapest suitcase possible. It's one of those suitcases in which you can fit someone for sure. Never had such a big one.
By splitting the carpets: one with me, one with Wolfram.
By watching the weight of each suitcase closely. This meant limited shopping :(
By travelling as light as possible. Both of us brought the minimum clothes and things needed. Many of my things had to go in Wolfram's suitcase so I would not exceed my luggage allowance.
Results: mission accomplished. Both carpets reached their new homes!
I'm looking forward to place it in our new apartment.

Curious to see ours, just come over :)

Premium economy

My ticket to go back to Paris indicated "Premium Economy". Quid?
Air France has launched a while ago a new class called Premium Economy. It's between Economy and Business, claiming 40% more space than in Economy. Offered on flights to/from Beirut as of December 28th 2009. Seems I'll be one of the first to benefit from it.
Indeed, there was more space and better food (even champagne) and the little toilet bag you usually get in Business. I have to say it was quite nice to have extra space.
I'll remember to consider Premium Economy in the future.

Bye bye :(

After 5 days in Lebanon and 3 with my family, it's time to say good bye, unfortunately.
These few days have been really great and I will miss all of them.


I want to say a big THANK YOU for taking such good care of us. I felt like home.
I promise, I'll come back soon (at least sooner than vs. my previous visit).

PS: in case you wonder, all of us cried at the airport. That's a family trademark :)

This only happens in Lebanon

On the way to the airport we hit a traffic jam. Apparently there was an accident and all we can do is wait.
Ramzi tried to re-assure us:
"when I took Zahi's wife to the airport, there was also an accident and we got stuck for 3 hours. She missed the plane. It was a real mess"
... not sure it helped much.
Anyway after 15min or so, we saw the cars involved and some people pushing them away. Seemed like we would not spend 3 hours there :)
There were some policemen standing there, I believe to help fix the situation and handle the traffic.
When we passed by, one of the policemen asked to stop. Gee, what now?!?
He asked a few questions to my cousin and then waved us to go away. You would never guess what he asked. He liked the Jeep of my family so much, that right, in the middle of a traffic jam, with hundreds of car waiting behind, he took the opportunity to ask the price of the car and the options included.
Still can't believe it.

Sometimes I forget how privileged I am

My visit to Lebanon made me aware, once again, how privileged I am.
I had a similar feeling when I was travelling around Asia, but it seems to be good to be reminded every now and then, how privileged we are in Western Europe.

Let's face it, for me electricity is a given. In Lebanon, there is not enough electricity supply and therefore the power is cut several hours each day. Most people have generators using fuel to compensate, but still twice a day, it's black-out for a few seconds until the generator kicks in. It made me realize how much I rely on electricity. Do you have any idea of how many electrical devices we carry around and use trough out the day? Even my toothbrush is using electricity.
4-wheel jeep is a must in Lebanon. When you look at the roads and all the bumps and holes, there is no way my little Micra could make it. While people in Europe buy 4-wheel jeep because it's fashionable, people in Lebanon really need one. I have to say that my cousin Ramzi did an amazing job at driving us around. Not one time did I feel unsafe despite the crazy driving over there.
Safety. In many places you can see the ruins from the war: buildings have marks of gun shots, some are half way down, some areas are brand new because just been re-built, etc. Every now and then on the road there is a military check point where soldiers have a look at you and decide whether you can pass or not. It's been a while in Europe since we had to worry that our house would be bombed, hasn't it?

Never thought of it, but we're very healthy

First we don't smoke. Not at all, really nothing. Which is almost not conceivable for the young people in Lebanon. At minimum you would smoke when going out. The fact that smoking is now "out / bad" has not reached them yet. Smoking is still cool, like it was 10-15 years ago in Europe. So clearly, we were "out" :(
We are not big fans of drinking Whiskey over food, which is the habit in Lebanon for party lunch / dinner. We prefer wine - how boring...
Not to mention we have drinks to enjoy them not just to drink as much as we possibly can, like our dear English friends would do.On top we drink diet soda. You can imagine how lame that is.
According to Lebanese standards, we're very very healthy people. That's a good thought to start the year. Even if after all it's all a matter of perspectives!

Happy New Year!!!!