Because to Share is to Care

36 degrees outside in Brussels

2010-07-02T19:59:00.002+03:00

Yeah... I went today to shopping and the weather sign said that it is 36 degrees near to the Bourse. Wow - it has been a long time since I saw soo high temperatures. The worst part about it is, that it will not cool down until evening. I will have to sleep probably in a room where average temperature will be 30 degrees.... I really dont know how to manage it.

But this kind of weather is quite extraordinary for Brussels :)

Get your bucket and splash it on the street!

2010-06-21T22:29:00.002+03:00

I just couldnt ignore it anymore. Because it was so weird to me, and it happens all the time here in Schaerbeek.

You walk on the street. Then suddenly an moslem woman gets out of the house with a plastic bucket full on soapy dirty water and splashes it along the street. We live on the hill - so that water happily runs down the hill taking some extra dirt with it...

This situation just reminds me more of a medieval town then about the Capital of Europe. I bet if it would be allowed they would also raise chickens in their backyards (like one lady actually did in the city center of Amsterdam!!)

In other words - I like the diversity of the world and I believe they also have a good reason why they do so. Probably they believe that they clean their part of the street by doing so and they dont think that the dirt will then end up at their neighbors door.

Leadership

2010-06-21T22:01:00.000+03:00

If your personality and assurance can bring out the best qualities in other people, make them to feel good, know about their strong sides and make them want to learn more, develop themselves and their weak sides - then you are a leader.

Energy

2010-06-20T19:51:00.003+03:00

I always want to believe that I have unlimited amount of energy. So I find myself doing everything really intensively. But (un)fortunately - Im just a human. And I think I just run out of battery... Its an horrible feeling, feeling that your body is not happy with you anymore and as I havent taken time for me before then it forces me to do it right now.

Referrals from Internet

2010-06-20T19:46:00.002+03:00

Just a short post without any special meanings.

Couple of years ago I wrote a blog post about how to become a millionaire. It was inspired by a book that I read. Today 2-3 years later people still insert into google the same question from time to time "How to become a millionaire" and they find my post. I personally really hope that it is useful for them :D

Probably this is one of the posts that is most referred to. The second one probably is "How to get good interest rate from the bank".

Which brings me to idea - maybe I should from time to time write also sth generally useful stuff :)

Belgian Standard of Service

2010-06-18T16:45:00.002+03:00

They screw up. I mean - all the time!! But at least they are friendly while doing that.

1st experience - Commune

When you go to the Brussels commune then the first thing you see is a huge line. Huuuuge - like 50-60 ppl in the line. The first time I went there I dared to go a little after 9pm. I waited for half an hour in that little line only to find out that the numbers for today to register in the commune had already ended!!! I just can not believe it - but this is the case in the Capital of Europe. They give only out limited amount of numbers per day, creating so a deficit for the numbers.

Second time I went there a bit earlier. Again, I waited for 45 minutes to get to the registration window and the only thing I did was registering an appointment time. The first time was available next moth.

Third time (next month) when I went there was meant to be the actual registration procedure. I got time at 10am, so I decided that if I go there around 9.30 (half an hour before my time) it will be ok. So but I didnt know that even if you have your number and time registered at the commune I still have to stand in that line to get a ticket/number for that day. And that time the line was for some reason really massive and didint move at all! So my half an hour passed quickly... and my actual commune registration meeting time came really close. I decided to leave the line and convinced one gril who was close to the tickets window that I have a meeting, so she let me to go first.

I think I got my number for the day around 10.10...

And then the fun started. I expected that I can fast do the registration (cause I had subscribed up for a number, yes?!), but instead of that I found myself sitting in that commune building for hours and hours. Nothing - my number is not coming up in the tabloo. Finally around 2pm it was my turn. And you can imagine how frustrated I felt.

And this all was only for getting a piece of paper that im registered (to claim back VAT from government, otherwise you even dont need to register yourself as EU person)

2nd Experience

The Battle of Waterloo tickets organisation. In the beginning of June I bought for myself and for my friends via Beneficioclub (a lunch vouchers company) the tickets to the battle recreation. I mean - everybody of us has studied the battle and I found it interesting to go actually through the feeling of being part of it. So I ordered for me and my 11 friends tickets via the internet.

And... I waited... for a week... and then for a second week... for the tickets that never arrived. Finally I took contact with them and let them know that I never received the tickets. No answer. I write for a second time and more firmly. So sfter waiting for another 4 days I got an answer that the tickets were sent to my old address, not to the address I actually specified in my request.

But in the meantime I was so afraid that I never will get the tickets, because most of the Belgian companies are very clever - they never produce their contact details (phone numbers) in their e-mails, some companies even never produce phone numbers on their web-sites. So you have to play always kind of detective if you want to get really into contact with them.... and... they never speak English! Sadly enough my French is not very good at all... so if you try to write them sth in English they usually just ignore it.

But the problem was not solved after receiveing the tickets. Because for some reason they had sent me the wrong - cheaper tickets. So I found out their telephone number, asked my friend to call. What she heard from them was amazing. At first they told to her that I never paid for the more expensive tickets. When I digged out my e-mail conversation and bank statement then they agreed - that yes I paid and admitted that they just had forgotten to send me the correct ones :) Amazing.

Anyways - I still have to chase those tickets on the coming Sunday and I hope that everything will turn out well. But in Belgium - nothing suprises me anymore. Really - if you order a big coffe and get small one - this is just a regular mistake, if you have to wait for half an hour to be served - nothing special in that or for example our butcher downstairs. He had a great fire in the butcherie, but two days after the fire he was open again. I dont believe that he throuw all that meat away, and actually he still has floors out of the mud because of the fire in butcherie.

Roofparty on a Tuesday in April

2010-06-11T00:11:00.003+03:00

It was one nice April day when my German friend sent us an e-mail with invitation to have a surprise birthday party for one of my Peruvian friends. So we planned it out carefully. Me and another Peruvian girl went to the city to get the present, an Indian guy invited him to his place for a dinner (but didnt mention that anybody else will join).

We arrived a bit earlier, decorated the rooms with balloons and all the glittery stuff you usually have for birthdays. I brought cakes and we wrapped the present.

The following happened as usual - he came in, was suprised of course, but a bit suspecting that sth was going on... We had good time with good indian homemade food.

Until some moment the guys let us know that there is actually a possibility to continue our evening at the roof. Actually it was quite a crazy idea - cause the roof the Indian guy is having is a killer roof - you have just room for your legs and otherwise you have to lie on your back on the roof.

But firstly of course - you have to get to the roof. To do this, you have to go to the kitchen, open the roof window above the sink and slide yourself to the other side. And on the other side you are standing on the rain gutter - which is as wide as your two handfuls.

But somehow it felt safe enough to climb over there. And it was worth it.

The sky was clear and full of stars. I took one sigarette, puffed it and looked into the night sky where planes were moving like little stars. I could see the European Commission, all the fancy neighbouring houses and it was kinda cool. Just to stand on the roof, smoke a sigarette and watch the skyes and talk with friends.

The men in Schaarbeerk

2010-05-22T17:07:00.001+03:00

Now at last Im writing about the men in Schaarbeek. Not because this is my favourite topic, not at all, but because it has been the only cultural shock thing for me in Belgium so far.

When I lived in the Brussels city centre I didnt notice it too much, but Schaarbeek looks like Istanbul and is dirty like Palermo. Covered woman are part of my every day whenever Im going or arriving from work and Im not suprised to see them anywhere. The area near to the big curch (from the hill up of the North Station) is full of men’s cafes where you never see woman having a bier. Actually to be honest – womean are not supposed to enter those places.

Probably it is really simplistic to see it like that, but I think that after work all those maroccan and turkish men gather at those bars, play cards and watch football (but sometimes they also watch some really cheesy soap serials). In the general, those bar men are ok, they usually dont disturb you and except for realllllly looooong looks you dont get anything.

Other sort of the men in Schaarbeek area are “the passing men”. Those are men who pass you or whom you are passing and they try just to touch you really slightly while passing and are whispering “Kss, kss”, or “Ahh, Bonjour Madamme” or “Kss, kss, kss, Bonjour Madamme”. So, while I was blond girl there was no one morning when I met this kind of people who always tried to talk to me on the street. And this kind of attitude is everywhere over there, street cleaning guy feels like he is cool enough to act like that, the garbage truck driver can slow down just to smile to you and people just look at you and are totally unshamed... The result of that - a woman feels like an object and I almost was to buy for myself also the same black robe that the woman on my street wear... just to be invisible for those annoing people.

And there are innovative men. Men whose tacktics are so crazy that I even didnt get annoied, Im just laughing. So, one day I was passing old men sitting on the bench (they of course start looking at you already then when you are 50m away from them) when suddenly when I was passing I heard following sound coming out of the month of one of those oldies:“Auh, auh, auuuuuuhhhh”, so I was thinking - the man just started to bark on my direction!! I felt like he had turned to a wolf who is hoping that the moon will hear him when he barks long enough. But I must admit – in my wildest dreams I could not have expected sth like that... and after walking couple of meters I actually started laugh by myself, cause the situation was really unrealistic.

And there are grabbing men. You have to be aware of those. In most of the cases they are not really dangerous, but this is just really annoing when sth like that happens with your friend.

My general philosophy is that for some reason, when those men see blond coloured hair, their turn from guys to wolfs or other reptiles and from their lowest of their throaths every kind of noises just emerge and they really are not able to control it...

And for the final – its now good to be brunette. I can feel myself like a human again. It has been probably a month since I last time got this kind of annoing attention, actually Im feeling like life in scaarbeek is turning nice again.

The street furniture

2010-05-22T16:42:00.003+03:00

I think it was on an one nice day in February. Yes... it was exactly that day when Marcelo had his birthday. My friend Anneli was visiting me and at the day time we went to Brugge and had wonderful time over there: shopping, walking around and spending our time in Railway Bar, which was full of interesting people.

After returning to Brussels we decided to have our final beer named Kwak in one of the Grand Place restaurants, we were also supposed to meet one of my friends there but for some strange reason he never found us...

So after the restaurant being in a bit happy mood we began our trip back to Schaarbeek, close to the North Station. Everybody probably knows that North Station is famous for its girls and windows. So Anni was a bit qurious about that area and after stepping outside from the station made a following proposal to me.

“Geily, lets go along that street, I want to see those girls”

“Really?!? Ok, we can go along that street”

“Can we go on the other side of the street?”

I was looking at the other side of the street. And then to us. Hmm... there are only guys on the other side of the street – guys who are looking at the window girls.

“I dont know if this is a good idea... do you see any girls just walking like us on that side of the street?”

So we decided to walk along the red light street but on the safe side. Though on the other corner we had to cross the street to take the road up the hill... somewhere there where my apartment is. We met on that road a funnily crazy black guy who was conviced that he looks just like a famous pop singer... but for now I have forgot the name singer (MJ or sth like that) ...

Anyways... just before stepping into my house I saw something. Something that was sooo abandoned and looked for someone who could take care of it ☺. It was a cupboard. In the middle of the street.

Lets be honest. I have never taken furniture from the street. Never-ever... But at this time I didnt hesitate. Ok, it wasnt the newest and the coolest, but it was just big enough to fit into my smally small room which needed some kind of furniture.

“Anneli, lets take this cupboard up the stairs!”

“Are you kidding me?” she asks and starts laughing

Im laughing too and so she takes from one side, I from another side and we start lifting the cupboard towards the door of our house. Im living on the 3rd floor. And the stairs of our house are really narrow. So with a lot of laughing we managed to lift the cupboard to the second floor. Trying not to make too much noise.
After the second floor I decided that I will go up and ask for Marcelos help. When I entered the apartment I saw that the birthday party had begun already.

“Marcelo, pls come here... i would need your help...” was I saying silently and trying not to laugh too much. Anneli beside me was lauging.

“Yeah... what exactly...?” answered he

“Just come downstairs, help me to lift sth..”

As soon as he got out of the apartment and saw the cupboard on the second floor he started to laugh as well.

“Geily, where did you get this?” asked he through his laugh and answered itself “From the street, yes..?”

I was almost to get cramps from laughing cause the situation was so funny – Marcelo looking with unbelieveable eyes at the cupboard and me trying to make him a little bit more silent (laughing at the same time), cause I was afraid that our neighbours might think that Im crazy ☺

We came up with the cupboard placed it into living room. Hearing the noise, Anja came out of her room. “What is this? A present to Marcelo?”

“Of course, we just found it from the street”, was my answer through continous laughing.

Sleep.... wait for it ...less night!

2010-05-16T04:56:00.005+03:00

Today is the sleepless night. I mean, it should not have been sleepless, but I managed to bring it to this by drinking during the day 3 red bulls. And now I have the red bull wings which should take me everywhere I want (except land of sleep) and I am not able to get rid of them :(.

So, it all began on one Sunday morning when I decided that I will live one week without any drop of alcohol. And its kinda hard in Brussels, cause the big part of every weekend includes more or less some amount of light alco. And not having anything at all can seem kinda snobbish, so you should drink at least a bier.

Actually it seems to me that in Brussels they kinda encourage everybody to drink - water has the same price as bier (2-3 euros) and often also stronger shots are just 50 cents more expensive then glass of water (if they are). So it is actually very snobbish to drink only water.

But I decided it and decided that I really will follow it through.

Monday and Tuesday were really easy. No events happening no temptations. Wednesday it got tricky. It was Anjas birthday and I managed to mix some cocktails withhout drinking myself at all. People were of course curious. And I discovered that for some reason I get tired at the party really quickly... Thursday I had to explain even more, but luckily friday was again easy day. So main problem was with Saturday, it was the day of gay pride parade and the mood was superb. And I really wanted to drink sth else than coke or juice. I think that I even managed to annoy my friends with alc free week :). So I decided to go for a red bull. And then for another one.... and then for the third one....

It didnt seem to be such a bad idea at that moment. It though seems like that right now at 4.30 am :D, when sleeping seems like a mission impossible.

Anyways - Im proud of myself of having been true for my promise. There is still one day to go to finish my week and Im starting to feel happy about myself already right now :). Im thinking what could be my next target what to achieve :)

Edited on Monday at 00:04

So I made through it :), proudly announcing that I made the week to the end and can be proud of myself! I also was reviewing my week and found out that on 6 days out of 7 people around me were drinking sth. So this actually makes me to be more careful with social events and have more water drinks around me. And of course - red bull is no solution.

You Shall Not Fly!

2010-04-17T10:10:00.003+03:00

It's 9am on Saturday morning. Im waking up... in Brussels. The weather is beautiful - sun is shining and the sky soo clear. But something is missing. Something that has been missing already for three days. No plane is flying and probably will fly in the nearer future.

On friday I was supposed to fly back to Estonia, to see my family and friends over there. But lets start from the beginning.

On thursday around 10am we got Employee Communication information that all the flights in UK are suspended due to the ash cloud. I didnt care much about it, felt of course sorry for our british colleagues, but hoped that this closure is still temporary.

Around 12pm we got new information, that all the Belgian airspace is also closed. This made me a bit worry, but not too much - cause it was meant to be temporary.

Then the closures spreaded all over Europe... and I started to worry when they closed Estonian airspace on Friday morning. But hope never dies - so I took my big travelbag on Friday morning still with me to work and hoped for the best. Of course - during the day it became very clear that Im not going to fly anywhere, and a bit sadness in my mind, I found myself on Friday evening back on the way to Brussels...

You shall not fly... The sky has been increadibly clear those days - Im just wondering - WHERE? is that ash - definitely not over Belgium, because the sky is so clear that you can almost see into the deep blue space. Usually I see from my window planes flying by - one by one - in every 10 minutes or so. Now we havent seen a plane for three days already. Im starting to miss them. Miss the sound of plane engine, miss the white smoke stripes in the sky, miss the sun reflecting on the bodies of the planes...

I will go today to the airport. Because I have never seen an airport where planes doesnt fly. Will take my whole camera package with me and make photos of that historical moment, because this is sth that has never happened in the recent history of Europe before.

I wonder - when will it actually end? I have rebooked my tickets to tuesday evening... Will the cloud go away until then? How will it feel to see planes in the sky again? How will it feel to sit in the plane straight after this event? I dont know but somehow Im sure that seeing a plane again in the sky will make me emotional. It makes me to appreciate the opportunity to fly more than I did before.

And most probably we have to say goodbye! to cheap flight tickets in the nearer future, because the companies have to get themselves out of those massive losses they have made during that week.

Easterweirdness

2010-04-03T01:18:00.005+03:00

Somehow the day had been really hard. Firstly, it was Easter Friday and no normal person is supposed to work at Easter Friday!!! But in Belgium we have Easter Monday :), so it was my first time in the life to work on Easter Friday.

Somehow during the day an idea creeped to my mind - I want to get out of the city toevening! Probably a result of quite hard week in the city, when I ended up having a bit of "spring frustration". Anyways - all opportunities were quite limited and so I ended up going to Maastricht. Mainly because I knew that town and it is a nice place.

I run to home just to take some essentials and then back to North Station to take the train. For some mystical reason the Liege train was full on screaming children. I entered one of the last wagons and had to walk through the whole train to find a bit more quiet spot.

So before the weirdness begins I saw the Liege. I never taught before that it could be a place worth visit - and to be honest - it was a very nice place (as far as I saw from the train window). And they have one of the Belgiums nicest trainstations.

The local train took me to Maastricht. I had no hotel booking. So I just practiced the old trick from Italy times. You just walk in, ask the price, look at the room and make decision.

And then the weirdness started.

I mean sometimes when you think it is weird, you should just trust your heart and escape, but sometimes it is hard to differ - is it weird or is it cool??? So I mean you can get trapped.

As it was raining the first thing for me to do was to find a hotel. I knew that near the station, there are plenty of hotels - just pick one and go. And I found and chose to step inside one. As it didnt seem very expensive (in fact it also wasnt expensive). It was behind a Kebab shop. The guys from the Kebab shop were also operating the hotel. I opened the door. Loud laugh was coming somewhere close, like too men laughing. Some very familiar smell came to my nose. Hmmm, they are smoking sandwich. There was nobody in the reception. But there was a bell. I pushed it. Bling... bllliiinngg...

Some random french guy came out and started to talk to me. I answered in English. He laughed and braught another guy who was able to speak in English too. All the keys of the rooms of the hotel are on the shelf behind the guy. And the shelf is old.

"Actually, we have one room with shower and TV", this is the last one left.

"Can I see it?"

"Of course", he took the key from the wall and handed to me.

I climbed up 3 stairs. The room was a room. There was a wardrobe, which was broken. There was a very old table and two beds. And quite normal bathroom. Nothing too clean tough. But the price was tempting.

"Ok", I will take it. Somehow I felt really weird saying it. Im a girl, in a kebab-place hotel, where the cooks are smoking sandwich at the same time they are serving the clients. I will sleep in a hotel which basically smells as sandwich.

"Are you smoking?" the receptionist asks.

Thousand taughts go through my mind - I mean, what should I say???

"Maybe... " I answer, "I dont know"

"Im saying it because you know its not allowed to smoke in your room, you can open a window of the hallway and smoke there if you like". What he didnt say was that it is also impossible to open the room window, as the handle is broken.

"By the way. Dont take anything those maroccans at the streets are offering. Its bullshit, its real shit. If they start bothering you, call me..."

Hahahaa... I mean I have been previously in Maastricht and this is a nice village compared to my Turkish Morroccan neighbourhood in Brussels. But it was nice from him to worry about me.

The room. It had a real character. My neighbours were probably 3 guys, whom I didnt see, but heard laugh all the time. A smog of sandwich crawled around the stairs in that place and the table of my room had apparently too many burning signs. Im just wondering, how this place has survived at all...

And first time in my life, I visited alone a Sandwich shop. However much you want to tell yourself its cool, then - its not. Waiting in that line, where from the small pigeon hole some guys are handing sandwiches to other people. I felt like criminal. Hands start to shake a bit and heart will speed up. Its weird feeling... because I have never bought it myself before.

"Hallo, warum kaufst du es so viel??"

"Meine Mutter ist gestorben"

"Naah, und denst du das rauchen es zurcükbringt???" the guy in the pigonhole is almost screaming to one guy just before me.

"Ja... jaaa..."

"Naaa du hörst gar nicht zu!!! Möchtest du dass Mechen nicht an dich hören???"

"Nein aaa" the guy is not really interested about the topics that pigeonhole guy might want to tell him.

"Ja aber hör dann zu, es bringt night deinen Mutter zurück. Es kann in ersten Moment gut fühlen und dann geht es vorbei. Und du wird immer mehr und mehr möchten und dann wirst du andere sachen tun. Und dann ist es Scheische! " the guy is red in his face.

"jaa... ich wirds nicht"

The Pigeonhole guy hands over the package. Maybe I mean they really care about their customers in here and remind them just time to time that enough is enough.

The girl at the bar who hands over to me Coca it really nice, but seems a bit in the heaven.

So I sit there on the table. Look at the aquariums of the place, and just am relaxing. And being alone in this place seems to be weird. In one moment four guys gathering, bending to the table just next to another aquarium and are looking how the Turtle inside the aquarium swims. They are there for around 5 minute in that position.

Im probably the only person who is sitting there and reading at the same time the journal Economist. Probably Im the only one who has ever read Economist in that place.

This was my Easter Friday which ended with six parts of "HIMYM", four hamburgers and with one Dr Pepper Cherry.

Have never had an Easter like that before. And when I learned one thing then it is - dont go to too weird and cheap hotels. Its hard to justify yourself why exactly you want to be in that quite crappy room...

So I had to think about the importance of decision making even today.

I hope that daylight will kill any weirdness in the air of Maastricht today.

Vilvoorde - the centre of the Universe (definitely for somebody around there)

2010-03-31T01:31:00.006+03:00

My office in Vilvoorde is quite a nice place. Have you heard about Vilvoorde before? If not then I let u know how Im getting there every day.

I use the train to get to work. Every single day. And bike... khmmm ok, sometimes I forget my bike key and they I just have to walk for 15 minutes to reach the train station or office, but in the general I bike. Waiting for a train is like a tradition for me. I get out of my apartment - walk up the hill and down the hill, look at the massive and beautiful church on the way and end my walk in the noth station, in an area where girls are earning their living by flirting with men.

I know already that the girls from "Popcorn" are usually fat and ugly and that there is one girl always offering herself in the corner window of an house 2 streets away from North Station. I think she is african and she looks sweet, and she doesnt like to work often, cause her window is closed most of the time :D. Ok, I dont want to dispute if those girls have made this choice by themselves and enjoying the work and a lot of money or are they on the other hand in extreme poverty. I personally feel always a bit sad when I see them.

But back to the centre of the Universe topic. My little IR (inter regional) train is taking me usually at 8.32 to Vilvoorde station where I bike to the centre of the universe i.e to my office. It is an internal joke among some of us as we are pretty sure that for some people the Vilvoorde down with all of its warehouse buildings definitely is the center of the universe. I am more or less just amused by the fact that this joke reminds me the book Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy and the talks about the cafeteria at the end of the Universe. There is a cafeteria in the centre of the universe though, it is operated by Sodexo company and offers quite good espresso.

Decision taking

2010-03-31T00:55:00.005+03:00

I think Im really attached to that theme named "decision making", I wrote my bachelor thesis about it, have written in this blog about it (though in Estonian) and also written an article to a management journal. My desire to understand how decisions are made might maybe be explained by my own unwillingness to take decisions too quickly.

Couple of years ago the decision was between Coca-Cola and SEB. Two big and international companies. I chose SEB. Then it was a decision to leave Estonia or to stay. I decided to leave. After that I have made one big decision, to move out of my poor old flat. Which was a right decision as well. Now I am in here. There is a mist of potential opportunities as heavy curtain around me, not letting me to see through it, and I have to wait for the mist to settle to understand where is the road which I should take.

To be honest, based on my thesis I already know that we humans, are able to rationalize almost anything. Any single thing... So plusses and minuses are totally in our hands, we will see what we want to see...

The other thing that Anja sometimes tells me "Do what your heart tells you to do". It is a wonderful saying, but my heart is telling me one day one thing and another day another thing. I mean the heart can be also manipulated by our rational selves. So we start seeing what we want to see and start believing what we want to believe.

Somehow it seems that the only thing that will help us to make our decisions (it seems cruel to say it out), is our ego. Our ego deciding what we actually want. (And here the social pressure is excluded, but this can play in some societies quite significant role. One Chinese girl to said to me that she is quite unhappy inside, because she feels that there are two sides inside her, one which wants to be perfectly in line with the social expectations and other side which is actually her - adventurous and risk taking.)

I want to believe that sometimes only time can tell what you should do and what you shouldnt do.

Six months - a short summary

2010-03-30T23:51:00.003+03:00

In Brussels, the time is flowing fast. Six months ago I arrived here, girl with 20kg's of luggage around me and was having my first adventure in Brussels while looking with Anja, where is the place where Im supposed to stay.

Since that time many other adventures have come to my way. Those six months have been full of surprises and self discoveries. Somehow it has given me more that all that time back in Estonia. Before coming here I had never had an Indian friend (though one of my clients was once from India), I never new before that personally people from Pakistan, Romania, Macedonia, Philippines, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Ukraine etc, etc... Though Belgium is not a culture shock country for us Europeas, then the mix of people I met over here was amazing and sth I didnt expect. Maybe that was also the reason why I was so positively surprised, because I didnt had any big expectations, and to be honest, any expectations, except I will be working hard, at all.

Though first months were not so much about hard work. But this gave me an opportunity to understand in details all that, what I was going to apply in the future. I like the work, it seems that finance is where Im good at and what I enjoy doing.

But about personal growth and knowledge about myself. In the first three months I was feeling myself quite often lonely. Somehow especially hard were monday evenings. I was almost living alone - as my flatmate almost never showed up before 11pm.

So the sadness started to creep inside me already on the way back to "home", my flat. I succeeded to keep it away by going to shopping, but at one moment you still have to enter the door of your flat. I open the door and step into the big dark empty apartment. And almost by the instant I feel so lonely. And I can not do anything against it. This is just part of the experience that I had to go through. Cleaning and cooking helped to fight that feeling pretty well :-)

The next three months I spent in another flat (I mean, am still spening), as the feeling of loneliness grew too big. It is really funny but when Im alone at the empty silent flat it feels for me like Im alone in the whole universe... And then I just want to open the windows to hear any voices from outside... Now Im living with three awesome people. Ok - Im missing my big room, as Im living right now - you might say in a pigeonhole, but... Give me the smallest and ugliest room in the world and give me some time and you can be sure that I can make sth really wonderful out of it. So I really love my small room also right now. I have made a nice and cozy place out of it. Moving to the turkish neighborhood ended my lonely months.

This turkish part of the Brussels is really worth cultural shock. Yesterday I was walking there with Jüri and suddenly he says: "Where are all the women?". I usually never look around in that area. I mean it is enough for me when africans, turks and maroccanese pass me and sigh: "Bounjour, bonjour Madammmeee...", so I just try not to notice them or anything. This time on the other hand I was looking around. And it was true - I didnt saw any women. The area in front of the big catholic church and park was full of people and life, but all people where eigther guys or men. And when walking we passed an unnumerable amount of men clubs, all full of men. One could think that she/he has landed to a planet only full of men after seeing that. Of course its not so. I later saw also women - they were doing the laundry and drying it on the terrasses of their apartments. I really feel like living in Marrocco or Turkey over here, so Im just trying to be tolerant to the culture.

But I have had some culture shocks and creepy moments. One in the tram at almost the first day when I arrived when a strange probably morroccan guy started to touch my hair in the tram, then a very strange situation in the unguarded bank office and another strange situation in the laundry place first time ever I went there. I mean the laundry place situation is probably the best.

At this time I was quite in a hurry. I needed to write my CV and meet Anneli at airport and then Irochka also called me and wanted to meet me in the Starbucks of the airport. In other words - it was another crazily busy day. I was talking my laptop bag in one hand and the laundry bag in another hand and started to move out of the apartment.

"Geily...", stopped Anja me "I dont think it is such a good idea to take your laptop in the laundry place".

"Really?!"

"Its not such a nice place, there are sometimes very strange people around"

I was actually not expecting this. I mean, I have been at laundry in New York (was a small and cozy place), doing laundry in the middle of Sicily (where they were lazy and didnt put enough washing powder) and near to my previous apartment there was also a laundry place which didnt look so dangerous at all... But anyways. I left my laptop at home. And it was a good decision.

I dont know why, but sometimes it seems to me that young turkish males are full of testosteron, agressiveness and sometimes stupidity. Im really sorry to say it out loud, but I can not explain otherwise why people are pointing at you with their lazer toys and making your life uncomfortable. 18-20 years old guys running around in the laundry place, making noise and closing the doors. Usually I dont have fear before closed doors, but when you are basically locked in with one crazy person inside and another crazy is keeping the door closed on other side, then it brings claustrophobia out of me. Anyways - staying calm helps always. Next time I did some positive thinking before visiting the laundry place and met some very very nice people though they couldnt speak any English. Actually I was so successful that I convinced a french speaking guy to sell me his laundry coin :-), its a cool story, cause it proves again that friendliness and openmindedness goes a long way.

There have been much more good, funny, sweet and dramatic stories in those six months and I try from time to time write sth... But lets see how successful I am. For sure it is - life in Brussels is not boring and will never be.

How it took three hours by train to get to Leuven

2010-01-21T00:39:00.005+02:00

It was one of the beautiful, beautiful December days. It had snown all day long and streets were covered with thick snow. This would have been a start of beautiful story if it had happened in Estonia, but we are in Belgium... so it actually never snows in Belgium, except this winter :P

Ali and Geily had promised to go to the Christmas market in Leuven to see Eva and Jornt. Usually you can get there from Vilvoorde in 35-45 minutes. At the end of the working day they took their bikes and started to cycle towards train station. The weather was beautiful, and streets full of snow - so from bicycling almost spontaneously became icecycling or snowcycling. Braking was out of question if you were not interested in pirouetting on the street and turning your bike left or right requested again amazing amount of balance. Ehh - i managed to stay at least on the bike during all our journey. Can not be said the same about Ali :)

We managed to reach the train station, only to find out that the train had been cancelled ( yes those things happen in Belgium, even when there is no snow!) and the other train will come in 20 or so minutes and will be late probably. So Ali saw a perfect opportunity - there is a train straight from Vilvoorde to Leuven. I looked at the screen and saw also Leuven. So we wanted to buy some tickets, but apparantly the guy at ticket office was probably busy watching "Friends", because for 3 minutes he was nowhere to see and the ticket machine in the station was broken.

So we just decided to run and buy the tickets in the train. The train came almost in time. And we were happy that we didnt have to wait for the Brussels train, but could take a direct train.

This feeling of happiness was ended after 15 minutes when the conductor came. I mean - I was prepared and made a sad face and said why we dont have the tickets.

"Where do you guys want to go?" asked the conductor
"To Leuven" answered I

I dont remember, but I think that the conductor started to laugh.
"Then you are taking a long way" said she

"The train is going to Leuven, right?" asked I

"No, no... This train is going to Antwerp"

The train had just stopped in some station and after realizing my mistake the first wish I had was to get off hat wrong train.

" But now guys, you dont have any other option then to go to Antwerp with me and take a train from there. I can write to your ticket that you are lost, so you dont have to pay the double price, but you have to go to Antwerp", said she...

I nodded... but suddenly a horror rose inside me. I looked around "this is a local train? right?"

"Yes, indeed it is", said the conductor.

"OMG - we will be in this train for forever! It will stop in every single corner... we'll never reach Leuven..."

But she just laughed and gave us the tickets. Two of us, Ali and me, were quite depressed. We had to meet before with one other intern to go to Evas place, and it seemed now that we will only arrive to Leuven a bit before midnight.

And the train stopped... in... every... single.... little.... corner... Luckily after being patient about it for an hour the train arrived to Antwerp Berchem. "Only one more stop and we are in Antwerp!!" said I happily.

Couple of minutes later the train started to move again. BUT... to the wrong direction... back to the BRUSSELS, back to VILVOORDE!!!! What? Why didnt it go to Antwerp? Why didnt the conductor lady say anything about it?

You can imagine our fury which instantly transferred itself to crazy laugh about the randomness of all that situation... so there was nothing else to do then to came off the train in the next station.

So there we were - in the middle of nothing in a village station or actually in the middle of that cold and untouched snow. If it wouldnt have been so cold, I could have made some snow angels... But it was cold and wet, my foot felt like ice cubes.

So we were waiting the in the rural train station and watching how all the IC trains from Antwerp were happily heading in their directions and none of them stopped of course at our station.

At last the other local train came, and that one went also to Antwerp.

So it took us to arrive to Leuven around 3 hours and nobody can still believe how could we mistake the trains. And it was really good time in there with Eva and Jornt and their friends... Was worth all the hassle :)

Lunch stories

2010-01-21T00:24:00.002+02:00

Im working in Vilvoorde, this is basically 15 minutes by train from Gare du Nord. There are 6 AIESECers (some of them ex) working in there and most of the other interns are working in Diegem, some also in Zaventem airport.

Our small interns group comes from many different countries - 2 guys from India, one from Pakistan, one from Kenya, one from Serbia and one from Estonia. Guess who??

The Pakistani guy is especially interested in windows, at every lunch the windows are mentioned in one or another contect and recently also interested in the meaning of life question. Luckily this is easy for him - as meaning of life should be tagging in facebook and cookies made by Geily. The guy from Kenya is sending us often some links after lunch about the topics we discussed at the lunch time. Sadly no meaning of life links have been sent recently, but I'll let you know when it happens :).

And Im really happy that when the window topics gets into details then they continue in hindi :)

Have never had so much fun during lunches.

What is happening in Belgium "land" :)

2010-01-20T22:45:00.007+02:00

One day Liis wrote to my Facebook and asked where are all the blog posts I promised to write... Emmm... You know - I dont have a good excuse. It just that somehow I have avoided doing it. It is easier to live, then to write about it. Anyways - I decided to put up some pics with explanations and stories about the life in here. So - read and enjoy :)

Time has flown fast. October - it seems like it just was and suddenly now it is already January and half of the internship is done. In this post Im not gonna write about work, maybe later, but more about life in Belgium - but I assure you - I do work and it is not "holidays seven days a week". I have visited during those three months three times Antwerp, so I would say, am quite familiar with the city. I dont have special stories about Antwerp, except catching a train from Antwerp to Brussels at 5am after another party, but I like the small cafes of that town. It is also good for shopping, but all that crowd over there can drive small Estonians just crazy... on the main street there is at the daytime absolutely no space to move. People are queuing and stopping randomly, so you have to be careful and slow all the time.

And from parties in Antwerp to parties in Brussels... I mean - I never knew I have so much energy. Usually in Tallinn I was after work so stressed out that I came home, ate my dinner, drank a glass of wine to relax myself and spent the evening with my dear family. Even when invited out at the weekends I was usually too lazy to go - so it was usual that I ended up in clubs and pubs only couple of times a year. Most of the time I just met friends over a cup of tea, or had spontaneous junk food parties or we were just cooking at each others places sushi or whatever we liked... travelling together to random places. Good old times - I miss them...

When I arrived to Brussels and found out that interns drinks start at 9.30pm on Thursdays, it was a big surprise to me, I mean in Tallinn I usually slept at 10 - 10.30pm, as the wake up call was as early as 6am... Anyways - you have to adapt yourself, and after a while it was not unusual that I went out some weeks 5 times... But you know... you can not carry on so forever. So it resulted with flu and bronchitis. And now Im more careful :) - you always learn from experience :)

My sister :). As soon as she found out that Im in Brussels she came to visit me :). I dont think we look especially similar, and our characters are definitely not similar (on the first hour we met I managed to get a bit angry at her because all she cared about was if I have enough food - which in the language of Germans means bread, cheese and ham - in my fridge to feed her in the morning! of course I didnt, because I dont eat those things), but there is sth, what will tell you unmistakably that we are sisters. Maybe in the way we act or react. Anyways - I was giving her here lessons about openmindedness, cause I think that all the studing in conservative Deutschland is not so good for her social life :).

And I took her to eat the worst belgium fries in Brussels - it is the place which is said to be serving the best belgium fries near to the Bourse. (but really, those belgium fries over there are sooo bad, Mc Donalds ones are every second better. and Cook and Book ones are the best belgium fries, so if you have some time, then take your guests over there )

And about my apartment. I really loved my apartment/room. It is really cool - and I designed it by myself :). But Im now giving it away. There are some reasons, and I will try to write about it later one day. Sometimes the life in here seems like in French soap opera.

PS. In this blog Im not trying to write in super good English, or in an especially good style. But if you have any comments about it - always welcome.

Õõvastavad hetked...

2009-11-01T22:53:00.002+02:00

Võib mõelda, et kes küll bookib õlletehase ekskursjooni hommikul kella kümneks, aga just nii oli meie grupiga. Ajasin end hommikul laisalt püsti ning pakkisin sisse fotoka. Teel trammijaama (jah – siin on trammijaamad ja trammid töötavad maa all põhimõtteliselt – ehk näeb välja see jaam põhimõtteliselt nagu metroojaam), tuli mulle meelde, et mul on sularaha otsa saanud.

Kuna Belglastel on oma miski kaardimaksete süsteem, siis sageli on selline olukord, kus välispangakaarti ei aktsepteerita ja osades poodides ei aktsepteerita üldse pangakaarte vaid miskit Bankcontact kaarti, mis on nagu top-up kaardi moodi. Enamikes baarides aktsepteeritakse üldse vaid sularaha. Seetõttu olen pidanud ümber harjuma ning pidevalt kannan nüüd endaga veidi sularaha kaasas.

Õnneks on Bourse trammijaama lähedal seesugune pank nagu Fortis, kust saab raha välja võtta. Tegemist on klaasistatud siseruumis asuva alaga, kuhu saab sisse astuda. Siin saingi oma esimese väga freaky kogemuse Brüsselist.

Astun siis panga sularahaautomaatide alasse sisse kui näen, et eespool on kaks tsurkat – sellised noored nolgid väga kahtlased ja ei tee midagi – hängivad lihtsalt. Jään ukse peale põhimõtteliselt seisma.

“OK – mida ma nüüd tegema peasksin”, mõtlen, “kas minema välja või siiski raha välja võtma?”

“Come on , come on – dont be afraid”, üks kuttidest naeratab. Kuna ta hääles on teatavat sõbralikkust, siis astun edasi. Vaatan kõrvale – nurga taga orvas on veel üks kahtlane kutt. Vaikselt võpatan. Astun automaadi juurde ja võtan oma raha välja. Õnneks siseneb veel üks naine, kes hakkab oma raha välja võtma. Hetkel kui ma lahkuda soovin avab üks tsurkadest mulle uhke saluudi ja kummardusega ukse ning ma naeratan ja kõnnin välja. Ausaltöeldes – süda sees ikka veel puperdamas.

Aga tundub, et see laupäev ongi mõeldud freaky olema. Trammi peal istun ühele vabale kohale maha ning järsku tunnen, et sõidu ajal kellegi käsi on mu õla peal ja siis juustes....

“See ei saa olla võimalik!!!”, mõtlen ma. Pööran ringi ja teen oma kõige kurjemat nägu, mida oskan. Aga see tüüp mu selja taga on täiesti süüdimatu – naeratab mulle vastu ja lehvitab. Teen kurja nägu edasi.

Noord Stationis lähen trammi pealt maha ja see hull on ikka mul kannul – sama astme peal, mis mina ja üritab rääkida ja rääkida ning minu nime meeleheitlikult teada saada. Inimesed kõrval ei tee asjast absoluutselt välja – ehk sel hetkel tead, et asi on sinu enda lahendada... Üritan hoida võimalikult rahva sekka ning tüüpi ignoreerida, aga ta ikka käib koos minuga – soovitavalt minu selja taga!!!

Aeglustan sammu, et teda endast ette lasta nüüd oleme juba kõrvuti.

“Please tell me what is your name”, küsib ta.

Olen otsustanud, et enda kohta ma midagi teada ei anna.

“This doesnt have any importance,” ütlen ma ja teen taas kurja nägu ning jään seisma. Ta üritab näidata, et ma tema ees käiksin, aga ma tahan ikkagi üsna meeleheitlikult temast lahti saada, et raputan lihtsalt pead ja näitan talle peaga noogutades, et hakaku astuma.

Õnneks ta hakkabki. Jään ise ühte rahvarohkesse kohta Anjat ootama, et ükski hull mulle ligineda ei saaks ja otsustan, et nüüdsest alates olen avalikus transpordis üksi olles vaid kinniste juustega, et mitte selliseid olukordi esile kutsuda.

Housewarming

2009-10-29T22:52:00.000+02:00

Ehee. See pilt ei ole tegelikut tehtud mitte Brüsselis, vaid Antwerpenis ja ratas ei ole ka minu oma. Aga lihtsalt tore pilt vaatamiseks :)

Juba järgmisel päeval käisin ma shoppamas, sest kingad, mis olin endaga kaasa võtnud olid ülipikkade kontsadega ning Bürsseli taolises munakivilinnas täiesti ebapraktilised. Poes maksma asudes avastasin, et olin oma krediitkaardi ära kaotanud! Või õigemini olin ma selle niimoodi ära pannud, et ise ka ei saanud aru, et kuhu. Kaardi kadumine oli mu jaoks müstika kogu järgmise nädala - aga õnneks Murphy seadus töötab ka Brüsselis, sest nii pea kui ma olin endale uue kaardi tellinud ja vana kinni pannud leidsin ma vana üles - oma rahakoti vahelt - ühest turvalisest taskust, et ta välja ei kukuks. Ehh...

16nda oktoobri õhtu kujunes põnevaks sain tuttavaks veel uute inimestega. Nimelt läksin koos Evaga kaasa tema ühe parima sõbra-sõbra housewarming peole. See oli tegelikkuses päris tore kogemus ehkki ma ei tundnud kogu sellest grupist kedagi, sest isegi Eva oli tol hetkel minu jaoks täiesti uus inimene. Pidu ise oli tore. Meie kohale jõudes oli suur laud kaetud erinevate kookide, veinide, juustu, chipse ja snäkase. Põhimõtteliselt kõik nagu Eestiski. Üks erinevus oli kõik seisid püsti ja rääkisid, sest diivanit kui sellist ei olnudki.

Korter ise asus üsna selle koha lähedal, kus mina elan. Tegemist oli ca 4 korruselise? uusehitisega, ning korter koosnes kolmest toast - hiiglaslik elutuba, koos terrassiga, agamis ja töötuba, mida samuti ühendas terrass. Ning vannituba ja WC eraldi. See viimane tundus mulle üsnagi kummaline, sest enamikes Belgia ja Euroopa majapidamistes on need kaks nüüdsel ajal koos - pani mind mõtlema, et kas vana hea vannituba ja WC eraldi on nüüd taas moes?

Huvitav on Belgia kinnisvara turgu vaadates järgnev - nimelt on üürihinnad pigem tõusuteel kui languses ning kinnisvara väärtus on vähenenud võibolla vaid 10 protsenti ja ka seda mitte kõikjal. Aga ma loodan, et sellest, mis Belglased oma majandusest hetkel arvavad, saan miski teine hetk paberile panna.

Ürituselt tagasi jõudsime alles peale kella kahteteist ning laupäeval kell kaheksa hommikul pidin juba olema teel Noord Stationi, kus sain kokku teiste AIESECaritega, et minna Duveli õlletehasesse.

Korterist ja koterikaaslastest

2009-10-28T15:24:00.000+02:00

NB! Korterist ma hetkel pilte ei pane, sest see näeb välja nagu laagriplats, aga eks nad kunagi tulevad.

Õhtul aga üllatused ei lõppe. Saabun oma uude koju ja mind tervitavad mu mõlemad hetke koterikaaslased – Eva ning Fulya. Minu väike magamisase on tehtud elutuppa sofa peale. Ning seal magamiskotis ma oma järgmised kaks nädalat magangi.

Hommikul ja õhtul saab tavaks see, et keegi ikka köögis kolistab ning ega ka kohalikud aknad eriti lärmipidavad ei ole – mööduvate inimeste kõnelused ning autode müra on kohati liigagi hästi kuulda. Samas on tegemist ühe isegi väga laheda koteriga.

Korter asub kahel tasapinnal – esimesel korrusel asuvad kaks tuba üks väiksem ja üks suurem. Suurem tuba, millest 1 nov saab minu tuba on hiiglaslike akendega (ma pole üldse kindel, et see väga hea asi on) suur tuba. Esimesel korrusel on ka esik ja täiesti korraliku suurusega vannituba.

Trepp läheb alla teisele korrusele, ehk siis groud floorile. Seal asub korralik köök ning elutuba, mis on ka päris korraliku suurusega. Kahele inimesele täiesti piisab.

Ja nagu ma juba sõnasin siis asukoht on suurepärane.

Nüüd siis aga veidike mu korterikaaslastest. Tulevikus hakkan ma koos elama sellise inimese nagu Fulyaga, kes on tüdruk Türgist. Lahendustele orienteeritud tüdruk, aga võibolla mitte kõige tugevam uute suhete looja. Talle meeldib öösiti süüa tegemas käia ning sellega minu ja Eva und veidike segada (sest elutuba ja köök on seotud).

Miks mulle see tema öösiti (kell 23.30 ikka) söögi tegemine ei meeldi on see, et belgia ja võibolla ka prantsuse juustud haisevad kõik hirmsasti. Noo mõnikord on tunne, et keegi on mädamuna külmkapis katki teinud. Ja kui siis keegi samal ajal, kui ma üritan magama jääda selle külmkapi ukse avab, siis on kogu elutuba ka seda hirmsat haisu täis ja põhimõtteliselt on tunne, justkui oleks keegi sulle juustu ninasõõrmetest öösel sisse toppima hakanud.

Aga kuna ma elan elutoas vaid ajutiselt, siis ma väga ei muretse – juba järgmine nädal peaksin siiski saama oma tuppa kolida. Siiani on aga tunne, et elan nagu campingulaagris ☺, mis ei ole samas sugugi halb, kuna alati on kellegagi rääkida ning aega üksindust tunda ei ole.

Seda põhiliselt tänu Evale, kes samuti töötab DHL’is ning kelle korter see eelnevalt ka oli ehk kuni 1nov siiski ka on. Magame temaga ühes toas, läheme koos tööle ning olen saanud juba tuttavaks paljude tema sõpradega, kellest paljud ja ta ka ise on endised AIESECarid. Minu jaoks on olnud täiesti hämmastav see, kuidas muidu täiesti võõrad, erinevast rassist ja erinevatelt kontinentidelt pärinevad inimesed on olnud kõik nii avatud ja abivalmis ning sõbralikud kohanemisel aitama.

Ehk siiani ei ole mul olnud kultuurishokki – ei ole mul olnud miskeid raskusi kohanemisel, kõik on läinud hästi ning aega on olnud väga vähe, et liigeid mõtteid mõlgutada – ehkki ehkki – ma tunnen puudust mitmetest asjadest, mis Eestis olid niivõrd lihtsad – sõbrannaga teele või kohvile minek, parimatele sõpradele mõnusa õhtusöögi tegemine, kellelegi õhtul kaissu pugemine :D.

Elust Brüsselis

2009-10-27T21:03:00.008+02:00

Tänavake minu korteri lähedal mis on ca 3-4 min kaugusel vanalinnast

Saabusin Brüsselisse 15nda hommikul kella 8 paiku. Olin tõusnud tol päeval ca kella 3 paiku öösel ja seetõttu kohale jõudes üsna uimane. Astusin lennujaamast välja – mõlema käe otsas pagas pluss käsipagasi peal magamas endiste töökaaslaste kingitud kass.

Vaatasin inimeste seas ringi ning mõistatasin, et kuidas ma peaksin küll ära tundma inimese, kes mulle vastu tuleb… “Look for AIESEC people”, oli Anja öelnud. Jalutasin edasi ja tagasi, aga selle suure hordi inimeste seas, kellest vähemalt poole hiinlased moodustasid, ei näinud ma ühtegi AIESECi inimest… Kuidas ma nad üldse ära tunnen?

Kell sai mingi hetk läbi 8.30, seisin kurvalt lennujaamas. Ent mulle tuli meelde ka Marise kogemus, et seesugune vähene ootamine võib üsna tavaline olla ja seetõttu ka väga ei kurvastanud. Õigesti tegin, sest Anja tundis mu terve selle rahvahulga seast ilusti ära.

Meie järgmine seiklus oli saada minu korterisse Fabriekstraatil. See tänav asub kesklinnas, koha nimega Bourse ehk siis börss lähedal. Kummalgi meil ei olnud kaarti kaasas, aga küll oli ettekujutus, et kuidas sinna saama peaks. Kahjuks valisime vale tee ja kui me juba üle kanali minu kottidega sattusime, siis hakkasime kahtlema kas oleme ikka õigel teel.

Põnev oli see, et ükski kohalik ei osanud meile öelda, et kus võiks see tänav asuda – keegi ei olnud sellest midagi kuulnud. Või kui oligi kuulnud, siis sellest hoolimata, ei teadnud keegi kedagi, kes teaks kedagi, kes elaks Fabirekstraatil. Ja need kes teadsid ei osanud rääkida muud keelt peale prantsuse keele.

Restoran minu korteri lähedal

Läbi nende kohalike abile me lõpuks mu korteri üles leidsimegi. Saime sisse esimesest uksest ja siis hakkasime koteri ust lahti tegema, kui järsku:

“Geily, this key does not fit in!”, sõnab Anja

“What are you talking – let me try...”, sõnan mina ja võtan võtme ning üritan ka ust avada.

“Both of the keys – they seem to be the same...”, ütleb Anja taas.

Trepikoda kus Anjaga istusime

Ka ma ise vaatan võtmeid – jah – need mõlemad on täpselt ühesugused. Ohh – dämn! Isume mu koteri ees trepi peal nagu kaks kodutut. Anja üritab kontakti saada mu korterikaaslastega, ent nad mõlemad töötavad kesklinnast väga kaugel ja ilmselgelt ei tule vaid selle pärast linna.

Kelder, kuhu panime asjad varjule

“Let’s go to my place”, ütleb Anja lõpuks. Paneme mu kohvrid maja keldrisse, mis näeb välja nagu vanade majade kelder ikka – kole ning kõle. Ent saame naabritelt kinnitust, et asju seal hoida peaks olema turvaline. Igaks juhuks võtan siiski välja oma arvuti ning kaamera, et vältida teispidiseid võimalusi.

Selleks ajaks kui me Anja juurde jõuame on möödunud juba 3 tundi sellest hetkest, mil ma lennujaama jõudsin. Olen kohuvtavalt väsinud. Anja on armas ja hoolitseb selle eest et ma saaksin käidud dushi all ning paneb mind oma voodisse magama... Järgmised neli tundi und, on ühed Brüsseli paremad unetunnid.

Üks naljakate plaatidega maja siinsamas lähedal

Selle päeva õhtul jõuan ma veel laulda O Reillys baaris karaoket, tutvuda ühe türklase ning hiinlasega ja süüa Belgia rahvustoitu – friikartuleid.

Brüsselisse-Brüsselisse :)

2009-09-27T17:39:00.002+03:00

15nes oktoober on mitmeski mõttes tähtis päev - läbi saavad mõneks ajaks mu seiklused endises töökohas ning astun lennukisse ning lendan Brüsselisse. Esialgu vähemalt 6 kuuks, ent võibolla isegi kauemaks.

Sellised huvitavad asjad siis juhtumas :)

Veel veidi ringreisi pilte

2009-01-18T17:56:00.003+02:00

Teisel pool saart olid hiiglaslikud lained. Tol hetkel kaalun ma, et kas minna ujuma või mitte. Otsustasin seda mitte teha, kuna vee tase oli äärmisel kõikuv tänu lainetele - ühel hetkel olin ma tänu mingile hiiglaslikule lainele lihtsalt järsku vööst saati vees... Tõmme oli ka päris tugev.
Sedasi valmib rumm... Mmmmhhh Kõigepealt siis suhkuroogu erinevat viisi hapendatakse ja kuumutatakse ja kogu see plöks näeb suht halb välja. Ent kui seekõik ära destilleeritud saab, siis on ta mmmhhh väga hea ja väga kange!
Poiss võttis ämbri täie rummi (kas 69 või 75%-list, kuna valget ei tehtagi siin madalamate kraadidega) ja kallas teise tünni, kust siis.....

teine tüüp pudeli täis laseb. Ja nii see töö käibki!

Ehh... Lihtsalt huvitav pilt. Jälgige neid pilte ja kirju, mis selle putka seina peal on. Tegemist on vist mõne poeputkaga.

Ringisõitmise päev

2009-01-18T17:50:00.003+02:00

Rentisime üheks päevaks auto, et veidi saart avastada. Siin siis üks huvitav spordibaar. Sisse ei astunud. Mustad oskavad ikkagi üllatavalt hästi graffitit teha. See tundub siin teatud aktsepteeritud kaunistamise viis olevat.

Hello Madam, maybe some jewellery? Or swiss watches? Please feel free to step in!

Üks lennuk, veidi vana teine.

Ja teine lennuk, kellele lehm seltskonda pakub. Tsekka seda, et kõigil lehmadel olid millegipärast juures sellised valged linnud. Tõenäoliselt abistasid putukatega.

Selle külakese nimi oli Grenville. Me siin ei peatunud, kuna see parkimine on liiga keeruline ja vasakul pool sõitmine on veel keerulisem linnas.