Looking for a Silver Lining

Being here has been tougher than I expected.  I knew that I would miss my family and friends tremendously.  And man, do I!  I thought that the one constant in this time of transition (besides the love I feel from so many people back at home) would be my job.  Sure, my position and my colleagues are different, but its still BASF and after almost 13 years, I kinda thought I had a handle on working for this company.  The transition work-wise has been much harder than I had planned.  I feel really stupid most of the time (and no, this isn't a shameless plug for you to tell me that "No Denise, you're not dumb").  The work here requires a different way of thinking and I'm struggling with seeing real value in many of my tasks.  Anyway, I feel like I've been focusing too much of how tough it is... that I've been neglecting some positives things that this experience has presented.

So, here's a quick list of my Silver Lining:
- Some fun new friends, especially my two new partners in crime Tania and Helen
- Meeting people from countries that I didn't even know existed (to my credit, many country names have changed since middle school and world geography)
- Not having to walk into a public bathroom and immediately bend at the waist to see which stalls have feet and are therefore occupied - Very simple concept, USofA... bathroom doors in Europe have an indicator (red/green) to notify if a stall is in use.  Novel idea!
- Above mentioned bathrooms also have full doors, no side cracks that show your cra... well, you know what I mean!
- Grocery stores not being filled with aisles of "diet" foods... there are also few convenience foods, but the quality of food really can't be beat even if it takes longer to prepare.
- Walking distance to the gym, walking more in general, and higher quality foods has resulted in a 14 lbs weight loss since relocating (I'm nearly swim suit season ready... and its still ski season!)
- I've been to some beautiful cities and have seen some amazing sites (with more to come)
- And of course the obvious - Great Beer, Great Chocolate, Great Fries and Great Waffles

Cause No Matter How Far Away You Roam....

...For the Holidays, You can't beat HOME SWEET HOME!

I had a really great holiday this year.  It meant so much to be able to be at home with all those I love.  Even having my wisdom teeth extracted didn't damper the 2 weeks home (I'm quite tough though!).

Cara Jasiolek and Dave Klaer - saying "I do"

I was SO fortunate to fly out when I did.  Had it even been one day later, good chance that I wouldn't have made it home for Christmas and definitely not for Cara and Dave's wedding.  I have learned very quickly that Europe does not handle snow well at all.  Between a major lack of snow plows and deicing machines, most airports come to a screeching halt with any real snow fall.  Couple that with tariff issues moving deicing fluid between countries and well, if you don't get out of here before the first few snowflakes - best hunker down and drown your homesick sorrows in trappist beers, because you're not leaving anytime soon.

Ice Skating at Campus Martius, downtown Detroit with
Erin, Tyler and Melissa

The 2 weeks I was home was jammed packed with the wedding, Christmas (and fast Christmas prep), seeing as many people as possible (SO sorry to those I missed on this trip, boo), having my teeth pulled, and New Years Eve.  Before I knew it, I was packing my things to head back to Brussels.  When I left Belgium before the holiday, I told myself that returning was going to be okay.  I have friends here now and I am much more comfortable living here than I was only 4 months ago.  In my head, all of these things should have made it much easier to leave Detroit and return to Brussels.  In my heart, it still hurt... a lot.  Its always so hard to say goodbye.  As crazy as this may sound, I always cry the hardest saying goodbye to Benson.  Maybe because I can't talk to him or email with him or skype with him.... maybe because he can't come visit.  Maybe its just because he lets me cry on him without response.

Can't wait til the next visit.
Happy 2011 everyone!

Playing with Ben's new frisbee (thanks Emmy and Ella)

New Years Eve - Joe Louis Arena!  Go Wings!

I'amsterdam

I visited Amsterdam last month to meet Carrie Hanshaw and her daughter Nicole, visiting their extended family currently living in Bonn Germany.  When friends from home are anywhere near Brussels, I promise to come find you - or you are welcome to come visit me.  Its so nice to see friendly faces... and enjoy being a tourist with others.  I drove up to Amsterdam (only a 2 hour drive from Brussels) and met up with Carrie and Nicole and did a quick tour of the city.  In just the short time I was there, I am already super excited to go back.  What a charming city!  All the bikes and the canals and houseboats and row houses.  Just awesome.  The bikes however - quite aggressive... definitely stay OUT of the bike path or get run down.  No apologies.

We visited the Anne Frank House on Sunday morning.  It was absolutely incredible.  Seeing the actual hidden attic, climbing the stairs behind the moveable book shelf - well, it was intense.  I cried seeing the photo of Otto Frank, back in the secret attic after his release from Auschwitz.  The despair and grief displayed was unlike anything I've ever seen.  I've known loss in my life, but his hallowed eyes were just haunting.  It may sound silly, but I feel truly honored to have experienced this place.  No pictures are allowed inside so I bought a great photo book of the attic.

On the way back to Brussels, we stopped in The Hague, the judicial capital of the United Nations.  While there, we visited the M.C. Escher museum.  Very cool to see the actual works of the artist I admired so much growing up.  The museum is actually in the Queen's Palace so not only are the works incredible, but the building itself is something to see.  Each room had the most unique chandelier.  From bugs, umbrellas, to a skull and crossbones.  Very cool.

Catching up!

Sorry its been so long since really posting.  Part of the excuse if a broken personal computer, the other - well just laziness, I suppose.  Although I have been more busy outside of work than I was when I originally arrived - a very good thing!

Michelle came and visited the week of November 5th.  As I wrote in the previous post, it rained the ENTIRE time she was here.  Fortunately, we made the best of it and still had a great time.  The funniest part was how often Michelle took pictures of her food!

We visited the Butte du Lion, the mound constructed on the battlefield in Waterloo, Belgium where Napolean surrendered.  We climbed the many steps up to the top!  Of course, while we were there, it rained!  :)  I work in Waterloo and the battlefield is only a few kilometers from my new office.  Its touristy stuff like this that I wish I could share with my Dad.  He would have loved it.

During the week, I took Michelle to Brugge, the Mannekin Pis museum (to see a few of the 800 costumes gifted to the "Pride" of Brussels), the Atomium (built for the World's Fair in 1958) and many of the fine food and drink establishments of Brussels. We met some traveling Americans in Delrium (the famous bar boasting a minimum of 2010 beers available, in January, they will guarantee 2011!) and I introduced her to a few of the new friends I have made.  We did TRY to go the Stella Artois factory - but in typical Belgian fashion, service is lacking and tours are randomly canceled without notice at whim).  Guess we will save that for another visit.

It was great having her visit and showing her where I'm living these days.  Most of all it was nice to have someone to eat with - eating alone is... well... lonely.  We feel in love with the moules et frites at Chez Lion in the tourist area... good thing we found that on her last day or we may have gone back every night.

10 Year Storm

I know its been a while since I last blogged.  I visited Hong Kong for business and then Michelle was in town for a weeks visit.  Additionally, my MAC crashed and so I had to take it into Apple for repair.  Hopefully will get it back soon and then will blog with photos from the past couple of weeks.

Had a nice visit with Michelle - although, after a VERY nice Fall... wouldn't you know it, but it rains for 8 STRAIGHT days the entire time she is here.  It stopped raining the day she left (about 6 hours later) and the weather is reporting that it was a 10 year rain storm.  Of course!  It was beautifully sunny yesterday with a nice forecast for the rest of the week.  Ugh!   We had fun though and now at least Michelle knows the "worst" weather she will see on any visit.  I mean, it won't be like that again for another 10 years!  And I plan to be LONG GONE by then!

Momentum

I'm starting to feel a bit more settled in here in Brussels.  Maybe even gaining a bit of momentum.  I definitely miss my home and my family and friends.  I still cannot look at my watch or a clock without immediately determining the time at home.  I still can't call this place home - but I do feel like I'm getting more settled, and well, thats progress.


I went to Leuven, Belgium last weekend.  Leuven is a really great University town about 25 minutes east of Brussels.  It is a great little walking city and is also the home to the Stella Artois brewery.  I didn't take the tour yet, waiting to have a visitor to do that.  Here is a great pic of the town hall of Leuven.


This week I successfully purchased a car.  Yeah, no more crazy rentals.  I have yet to take a picture with my actual camera but I will soon.  Its a 4 year old VW Golf.  Basically, the same car I had at home, except this one is 4 door, blue (instead of white) with a smaller engine (when the yearly road tax is based on engine size, better to go small).  Getting a car registered with plates and insured is no simple task, but thanks to some coworker recommendations, I worked with a very nice dealer and a FANTASTIC insurance agent.  The agent, Patrick, came to my work to pick up my passport and then went to the commune (think city town hall and secretary of state all rolled into one) to get my license plates.  Then he came and delivered them to my home for me around 9:30 at night.  He even helped me figure out what buzzer was mine on the outside of the apartment.  Belgium isn't known for its service, but this man is wonderful.  


This weekend, I stayed around town.  It rained most of Saturday, but I did meet up with some new friends for dinner and a movie Saturday night.  I met a couple of girls through the meetup.com group I joined (Helen is from Manchester and Rekha is from Chicago).  Helen and I also met up for an InterNations event on Thursday (InterNations is a group, network based, of people from any and all Nations living in a particular city).  We met some great people there too and I had a couple of new facebook friend requests by the time I went to work on Friday.  It felt really nice to do something "normal" this weekend, meeting friends for a movie.  And yes, the movie was in English.  In Brussels because of so many different languages spoken here, all movies are shown in their original tongue with subtitles for the 2 other languages.  We saw Social Network, the Facebook movie and it was subtitled in both French and Flemish.  


Took a walk today to the Sablon Square (when its sunny in Brussels, one MUST take full advantage).  I checked out an antique market and found a really cool new chocolatier.  Yum!  
Here is a good pic from today.   This is a view looking toward the Grand Place from the Museum of Fine Art.  I also found what appears to be one of the original gates of the city in the Sablon area.  Very cool.

I am very excited that Michelle has decided to come for a visit.  She will be here for the second week of November, arriving on the 6th.  Perfect timing, as we have a holiday on the 10th and 11th.  Not completely sure what we will do yet, but it will be nice to show her where I live.  I'm definitely thinking we will hit that brewery tour in Leuven. :)

Sightseeing Solo

Last Saturday was beautiful here in Brussels, so I decided to jump on a train (a short 5 min walk from my apartment is Central Station) and head to Bruges.  Bruges is a magnificent city about an hour west of Brussels.  It is quite touristy, but is a wonderful walking city with surprises around nearly every corner.


Here are some of my favorite photos from the day.

A beautiful courtyard - postcard perfect.

The only Michelangelo statue outside of Italy- this is Madonna and Child located inside the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk (Church of our Lady).  

In the central Market - the busiest Square in Bruges is the site of the Belfort.  You can climb the 366 steps to the top to see amazing views of the city.  I didn't go up on this visit, wanted to save that when I had a visitor. :)

Simply beautiful!  I could have sat and starred across the water all afternoon.
















*** I will post my other pictures on facebook - there are many beautiful pictures  ***  


Oh wait, just one more - Mr. Crum, this one is for you! :)