'Cause I'm a gypsy

So I'm back in Brussels from San Sebastian and life is getting more and more normal by the day. Brussels is really starting to feel like home. I'm meeting more and more really cool people by the day and have a few really good friends already. My list of places I have to travel to is also growing by the day with the more people I meet from all over Europe. We're now up to Hannover, Berlin, Bremen, Munich, Antwerp, San Sebastian, Paris, London, and Ireland. Quite possibly all before the end of 2010. I love living here. I already have plans to go to Paris to visit Alison with Olivia and Julija the 10th to 12th of September, and to go to Hannover with Julija to party together for our birthdays and see Vera the second weekend in October. Coming back to Brussels is also nice. I find that every time I have to show someone around and show off the city and the touristy places I find something new to love about the city and living here in Europe. I just feel so fortunate for being able to live here and have all these experiences. I also feel very fortunate and thank the universe for the amazing people I have met; you know who you are ;)

I really think the trip to San Sebastian did me a world of good. It was definitely the right choice; just meant to be I guess. Looking at the pictures, it already feels very surreal that I was in such a beautiful WARM place with such great company just earlier this week. However because of Spain, I'm noticing more and more the latin influence around me here. Just earlier tonight we were at a Latina Festival on the Street. Pulled out the Spanish again, drank some Sangria and Corona, had an empanada... I really do miss Spanish, and I want to re-learn/brush up my Spanish. Maybe after all the company leaves my apartment, in my spare time before school starts I'll track down a cheap textbook. I have a friend actually who speaks Spanish and wants to brush up on her French, maybe we can come to an arrangement ;) There's just so many other cultures and people out there, and language is basically the key to the gate. I mean, I might as well take advantage of all the opportunities here to learn another language and be able to practice it every day if I wanted!

I have also had Shakira stuck in my head ever since hearing her everywhere in San Sebastian, and the Brazilian girl we met reminding me of her when she said she must be a gypsy.

"Not the homecoming kind
Take the top off and who knows what you might find
Won't confess all my sins
You can bet I'll try it but you can't always win

Cause I'm a gypsy
Are you coming with me?
I might steal your clothes
And wear them if they fit me
Never made agreements
Just like a gypsy
And I won't back down
Cause life's already bit me
And I won't cry
I'm too young to die
If you're gonna quit me
Cause I'm a gypsy"

I think it's fitting :)

La vida es bella

Im writing this in the morning as I sit here alone on the pier with a croissant, some orange juice and tea, enjoying the beautiful view of the ocean, the bay, the mounts, the hills, the buildings and the people of San Sebastian one more time before we leave. As beautiful and warm as it is, and as much as I could lay on the beach and explore for another week, I'm ready to go home. That's right, I called Brussels home. :) I miss it. I miss being able to order, talk to people and ask questions without any problems. I miss being able to walk down the street and get an amazing 2€ sandwhich. I miss being able to go out for Indian, Chinese or Pad Thai. I miss being able to go see a movie that I recognize in a language I understand. I also kind of miss the large diversity of people and languages in Brussels. Surprisingly enough, I also had a moment where I missed the fries from Belgium. Which to all you that know me, know that is a true testament to how good they are. I will definitely miss the Sangria, the sun, the beaches, and the Spanish here though. But I now have a friend here, so I can come back to visit whenever :). Kaelyn is also coming back to Brussels with Alison and I, and I'll show her around there for a week before her classes start here. Ah life, it is impossible not to love it here. :)

Sent from my iPod

Espagna

Yesterday will probably go in the books as one of the best days I've ever had. It's not often that you have a day that is truly great start to finish.

Well the day started off with Alison, Kaelyn and I going for breakfast at a place called Regatta. Here they have this thing called Pinxtos, which is essentially a buffet of appetizer like things that you pick what you want and pay for individually. They have them at pretty much every bar, lounge and cafe. They're originally meant for people to have one or 2 with a drink to stave off hunger, or then move on to the next place and repeat. Either way, I don't have a clue what most of the things are, but they were delicious. We sat on the terrace and had a few different pieces of breakfast pinxtos each, had some tea and enjoyed the beautiful morning.

After that, we stopped at Fnac and I helped Kaelyn, who is from the States and just moved here to San Sebastian, get a cellphone, and we did a bit of shopping and browsing in some local shops. Found a beautiful scarf for 4,50. After this, Alison and I took a walk on one of the piers, stopped for a smoothie and met this awesome girl from Brazil, browsed the shops and bought myself a bracelet and Alison got a Chinese fan, and finally made it to the hiking trail at the base of Mount Urgull. We then went on a couple hour hike to the top of the Mount to where the statue is. It was amazing, so beautiful and so much history. On the way up we met a French family, stopped at the bar halfway up, met an Aussie working in the Middle East on vacation here, and found a tiny blue car that had somehow gotten to near the top.

After this, and a little siesta for Alison, we headed to La Concha beach, one of the 3 beautiful beaches just minutes away from our Hostel in Parte Vieja (Old Part) of San Sebastian. Amazing. Not only is it so beautiful and warm outside here, not only can you drink absolutely anywhere (and people do), but you are free to go completely topless on the beach if you want (and people also do). Probably about half the women on the beach were laying, walking around, and swimming topless. So I joined in too :)

After many hours of sunbathing topless, swimming in the ocean, catching waves, people watching, and enjoying the scenery, Alison, Kaelyn and I headed back to the hostels to get ready for supper. Alison and I found this Paellas Restaurant, and we were so hungry that we each finished an entire dish of the most amazing Paellas Valenciena I've ever had; along with a 10 euro pitcher of Sangria of course.

After a long and very interesting supper conversation we finally finished our pitcher and headed out to wander the streets. Parte Vieja is filled with bars, clubs, cafes, lounges, and terraces. We talked to a couple people handing out flyers, a few locals, and were eventually led to our first bar of the night. After a few rounds of free shots from the bartender and the man sitting next to me, we met a local who was going to Bilbao today to check out the festivals that are going on this week. Now, Alison had really wanted to go to Bilbao for these festivals, but hostels and transportation there were way too expensive, so we came to San Sebastian instead. So she was naturally overjoyed when he offered to bring us along to Bilbao today (we shall still see what comes of this).

At the next bar I met Simon from Munich, home of Oktoberfest, and we partied with him for a while, met and danced with a TON of people, talked to a group of French guys from Lille who were here for the night, and eventually I headed home "early" at about 3:30am. Apparently people here do not stop partying until at least 6am.

All in all, it was an amazing day. I love Spain. The Spanish I remember from 3 years ago is serving me well. And the best part is? This entire trip, start to finish, everything included, is costing me less than 300 euro :)

From laying bored on my floor in Brussels to sipping Sangria in Spain

So before posting about my trip in Spain, I figured I should probably at least sum up how it came to be. So where to start with the events of the last week that has led me to be here in Spain...

Well first of all, Tom left for India for an international conference on Thursday and will be gone until September 3rd. So to avoid spending 2 weeks alone in our apartment, I had thought about taking a trip somewhere. Because Tom works for an organization that deals with internships, coming and going, we end up having a lot of people stay at our place. One of the girls, Christina, invited me to go with her and a few friends to Morocco. This looked like the plan for a while, until I got more details and realized it would be costing upwards of 800 euro. So after canceling on that plan I started browsing internet sites for a travel buddy to go somewhere. Tuesday evening I ended up finding travelbuddy.com where Alison, currently living in London, and I ended up finding each other. By Thursday night she was on my couch in Brussels and we were looking for plane/train/bus tickets to Spain. Friday morning we found a cheap bus ticket and a good deal on a hostel in San Sebastian and planned to head out Saturday.

Alison is one of those people who are really truly remarkable. We both believe that we were clearly meant to meet and were sent to each other. She is so easy-going, fun, loving, free-spirit that believes in Karma and positive energy. She is exactly what I needed.

So having the day in Brussels, Friday Julija and I showed Alison the city and did some shopping. I finally took my camera with me and got some pictures of Brussels that I will post soon :) Then, Saturday at 1pm Alison and I headed to Gare du Nord to catch our Euroline bus for the 14 hour bus ride to Spain. Now, a 14 hour bus ride does sound daunting, but it actually went by really quickly and was fairly good; up until about 1am when we tried to fall asleep.

To make a long story short, the bus driver was incompetent and we lost 2 hours at the start when he had to go back to Brussels because he forgot people. Then in Paris, we almost didn't get let back on the bus by a new Spanish driver who didn't speak a word of English of French. THEN Alison almost got left behind because she ran in to get things she forgot on the counter in the terminal. Literally, I had to run up and plead with the bus driver to stop and let her in as he was backing out and she was running up to the bus. Seriously, I'm starting to think that the Universe just does not want me in Paris. Every experience has been a head-ache.

After this it was pretty good. Got many pictures of the French country-side, which looks astonishingly like Saskatchewan but with more trees and windmills. Then after 5 hours of very uncomfortable and restless not sleeping, we finally arrived at San Sebastian about 5:30am. After making the 20 minute walk to our Hostel, we discovered that it was actually 5:30 in the morning on a Saturday night (Sunday morning), the last Saturday night of a week long festival. So the streets near our hostel were jam packed with people. Sooo many drunk people. To make things even better, our room wouldn't be ready until noon, not the 7am we expected. However, the extremely nice Front Desk guy let us crash on this loveseat on the top floor until our room was ready. However, it was extremely humid and hot and stuffy, so we had to open the doors to the terrace. But, the terrace overlooked the street, which was packed with people partying. AND we were 2 people on a tiny loveseat. Needless to say, after hours of laying there listing to people outside, and then listening to the huge loud cleaning truck, our room was finally ready at about 11am.

After all of this however, we were finally in Spain, with a room and beds to sleep on :). So we made the most of our day by wandering the streets, seeing monuments, trying out some food, pastries and teas at local restaurants, planning the next few days, meeting people, and relaxing on a terrace by one of the beaches with a pitcher of Sangria.

Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate.

One thing about moving to a foreign country, is that you underestimate the convenience of being able to simply go out and buy the things you need when you run out. For example, just today, August 16th, I finally managed to find Listerine. Without any Walmarts or Shoppers Drugmarts available, or any Pharmacy's or grocery stores carrying it, where do you go? Sure the local European version of Dollarstore carried some foreign liquid that resembled mouthwash (with no seal on the cap), and the Turquish cheap street, Bourbonne carried some similar mouthwash resembling liquid with no seal, but no actual mouthwash.

One of the main problems is that in North America, we've gotten used to being able to go to these superstore chains that carry everything we need. We simply have to drive to the nearest one (you can Google it, use Directory Assistance, or even use the map on your cell phone), and buy everything you need. Here it is quite different. There is a particular store for everything you need. And most of the time, it isn't a chain store, but rather a locally owned business. If it is a chain store, its most likely the only one in your area of the city, or in the country even. For instance, on the block around my apartment, there is a printer ink cartridge store, a butcher shop, a baker, a produce shop, a key cutter, a stationary store, a bookstore, a Pharmacy (that only caters to medical needs), etc. So for someone new to the area, setting out to find something simple that you need can be quite the adventure. Most of the time, you end up stumbling across the store that carries what you need by total accident and just have to go in and buy it right then, like today.

If you go to a mall or the city center you can usually manage to find some department stores like we have in North America. The biggest (and to my knowledge the only) mall in Brussels is City 2, which takes up 2 blocks and 4 levels. In this mall today (which is the 3rd time that I'Ve been to it) I managed to find the European equivalent to Futureshop (Fnac)(hidden on a floor I didn't know existed), the European equilvalent to The Bay (Gallerie Inno), and the European equivalent of a mini Shoppers (minus many things, obviously including the grocery, household and drug sections)(Di).

Grocery shopping is a whole other story. There are no Sobeys, Safeway, or Superstore sized grocery stores anywhere in all of Belgium (probably even Europe). To my knowledge, there are 2 superstore sized grocery stores in Brussels (which are actually probably close to the size of Sobeys in Saskatoon), and they are at opposite ends of the city, near the extremities. There are a handful of medium sized grocers, which are about the size of the Co-op Foods in Redvers, and a bunch of little stores, which are about the size of your average 7Eleven. I actually came across a medium sized store today (also in the giant mall), and yes it is much bigger than the small stores, but it has a few isles that we don't have in Canada. For example, every single Belgian grocery store, even the smallest one, has a Chocolates section. This medium sized store had an entire isle devoted to Chocolates. Every grocery store, including the tiny one near-ish our place, also has a fair sized liquor, beer and wine section. This grocery store also had an entire isle devoted to wine. Finding a breakfast cereal here was also different. Unlike in Canada where the giant cereal isle is split into 2 sections, healthy and sugary, here there is only one. Healthy with chocolate. That's right, almost every single cereal comes with chocolate in it. Chocolate is an integral part of breakfast here.

I'm back!

Well I've been back in Brussels for 10 days now, and it feels like I never left. (except I'm not dying of heat anymore) This place, despite our total lack of furniture, is starting to feel more like home now. A Canadian friend of Tom's that has been here for a year already is moving back to Canada, and for helping her move and giving her a place to stay for a few weeks before she leaves, she is giving us a few odds and ends. Notably, 2 small tables or end tables, some kitchen stuff, and a foldable ikea closet thing! So after setting that up I could finally get my room organized and make it look and feel more like a room, rather than a sad space with a horrible air mattress and suitcases. We also went up shopping on Bourbonne Street, which is a very cheap Turkish street where you pay in cash and get no receipt, and got some curtains, pillows, a few blankets and such. So I now have a curtain, a mattress (queen at that!) sheets, and a tiny closet! Haha, living the life. Tomorrow (hopefully) we will pick up a table and chairs we bought off a BSISer that is moving out, and we will finally go to Ikea and get some more things (hopefully a couch) and actually have things to sit on! Finding time to go to Ikea has been extremely difficult, as Tom's schedule right now, is like mine during my last 3 months of school (so any one that knows me, will know exactly how much spare time he has). On top of that, Ikea, as is the same with almost all other stores in this city, closes at 8pm during the week, and 9pm on the weekend. Also because it is huge (but actually very very small by North American standards), it is almost outside the city, so it takes a half hour to get there. Anyway, Tom finally had to book time in his schedule to go to Ikea, and the day has finally gotten here! The big question now, is how to get things home.

That is the one major issue here: lack of vehicle. This is a huge pro and con for many reasons. Good, mostly for the lack of expenses on gas, parking, insurance, license, accidents, etc. The public transit system is amazing, so you can get anywhere you want quicker than driving anyways. You never need to find parking. No need to worry about who is driving, and you never ever need to find a DD. However, when it comes to moving things, you are shit out of luck. My mattress we had to fold in half (thank you ikea) and bring on the Metro. Suitcases were also brought this way. But for the table and chairs we had to tap Tom's list of connections for someone with a car we could borrow. Or I guess the other alternative people use here is a taxi-van. For about 15 euro they can load it up and take it back home. This is probably what we will end up doing from Ikea. They have a whole fleet of taxi-vans eagerly waiting to take people home right outside the store.

As far as Brussels itself goes, it is amazing. Sure there are many European quirks that we have to get used to (sitting shower, no food delivery, very consistent weather), but we are in Europe after all. Everyone I have met (the list goes on to include people from Poland, Czech Republic, Brazil, Germany, Russia, Romania, Holland, Greece, Ireland, France, Turkey, strangely not Belgium, and other countries I'm sure I've forgotten) all speak 3-5 languages. The Germans in particular that I've met, all speak 5 languages. It's amazing to be in the metro or any other public place, and hear at least 3 different languages being spoken around you. The Belgians apparently, while being very friendly, are very reserved. So while I have obviously spoken to many of them that are in the service industry, I haven't actually met one.

Speaking of the Germans, they literally did not believe me when I told them how much a pack of cigarettes cost in Canada. They were actually complaining about the price of a pack here in Brussels, 4,70 euro. They said where they are from they can get a pack for 3 euro. They almost fell on the floor when I assured them the Canadian prices were real. AND that in winter they could not smoke inside, but rather had to go outside, 10m from the door, and freeze to smoke. They both agreed they'd rather quit.

Also, no Europeans so far have heard of marshmallows or gravy! Gravy especially! I can also see why no one eats burgers here; they're disgusting. They're all fried in this big pot together and look very orange and rubbery. Belgian fries on the other hand, are reputed to be the best in the world, and I believe them. They also make the best waffles, which you can buy on any street corner for 2 euro, and chocolat, which you can also buy on almost any street corner. I know what everyone is getting for Christmas ;)!