Ireland

After almost four and a half years, I finally managed to go to Ireland to visit my dear friend. My first time in the Emerald Island :)

I arrived Tuesday night (just two days after the Pizza Brunch) and stayed until Sunday evening. Got a nice flight from aerlingus from Zaventem (National Airport, ca. 20 minutes from the centre of Brussels).
The first shock - hey, remember, people drive on the wrong side of the road in this country and the driver sits on the wrong side as well! That took a while to get used to (kept asking myself why my friend was not getting in on the left side of the car). When we got to her place (and her sisters), she welcomed me with some mouldy bread (you are forgiven honey) :) The following day was her birthday, so I gave her my present and birthday card and after talking for a while, went to sleep.

Wednesday - slept long :) The girls were at work and I stayed home relaxing. After the shower I was amazed!! The water is so nice in Ireland! Here in Brussels the water dries your skin so much that you always have to have lotion around, but in Ireland my skin felt so nice and smooth (one point for Ireland!).

I met my friend in the city that evening and we went to Fridays for dinner with some friends of hers. They had some nice frozen and strawberry daikiris and the food was also quite good. We got one of those 15€ menus.

 

(her birthday cake/ice cream)

Then we went to a bar, I can't recall the name... But it was literally next to Krystle. On Wednesday they have an amusing special promotion - every drink 2€! The bar/pub was quite full, despite it being huge (when you see it from the outside, like my friend says, it just looks like some old houses, but on the inside it's enormous). I got to see how Irish girls dress up for the nights out and... well... Some of them were quite sexy, but altogether it seemed like a competition to see who can wear the shortest/smallest dress and the highest heels.


Hope you had a great birthday honey! :)

Last half of January

To avoid having a huge post, I will divide this in several parts.

The day after Carmina Burana there was a Christmas/New Year Party at work. It was a lot of fun! We got to see the big boss, he gave us a nice pep talk while we were having free champagne. After, we had a very nice buffet dinner and ended up dancing to some old tunes in the middle of the hall, that had been turned into a dance floor. Considering this party was on a Thursday, on Friday people wanted to work even less than usual, haha.

The Saturday after I had some people here for dinner and we had a pizza workshop. My Italian friend got a nice recipe for dough (still waiting for that recipe lady!) and we got our hands dirty and made yourselves some pizza!

(melting Mars for the delicious desert and preparing the bacon for the pizza)

 

(Pizza 1/4)

 (Pizza 3?)

  (and the view again. I love it!)

And because that was suppose to be a Pizza&Movie night, when we were done with the food (or part of it) at around midnight, we finally started watching a movie - The Ugly Truth. Was not bad. After that one, we - the three remaining people - tried to watch I Hate Valentines Day, but we were so tired and Nia Vardalos face looked so plastic that we gave up not long after.

On the week after that, the partying started on Thursday. We had a girls Movie evening with Twilight - a couple girls had actually not seen it yet and, you know what, they liked it! :P 

On Friday we had a multi-birthday party - 4 friends celebrating their birthdays together on a mega-party! It was so much fun!! Hope you guys loved the t-shirts (I certainly did and want one for myself too)! We even had our own wristbands, haha.

 

On the next evening, still following the birthday celebrations, we had dinner at Kokob, a fascinating Ethiopian restaurant in the centre of Brussels. We got a very nice menu for 25€ and got to try several specialities. We had to eat with our hands, using some kind of pancake bread and, following the tradition, the first two bites were given to the person sitting next to you. Good fun and the food was delicious! Warning: if you don't want to feel full too fast, don't eat the "pancake" bread like crazy, take it easy.

 

 

Because it was a special weekend and we had friends over, that Sunday we also had a Pizza Brunch here. The first pizza was done at around 13.40 and there was pizza rolling until almost 18h.

 

  

 

(no wonder if someone got a couple extra kilos that weekend...)

Day 122

I know, I know.... I have been really bad....

I will update this blog properly very very soon.
I have so much to write about January, so many pictures from Ireland and concerts I went to. And many times I find myself thinking how I will write certain things, but then I don't open the blog page when I sit down in front of the computer.

I will very soon.... Less than month to go :(

Day 98

I went to visit the Belgian National Archives yesterday morning (was snowing and very cold). It was an interesting visit - my favourite part was when they took us to the room with all the scanners and material to digitalise documents. Wonder how much those "little" machines cost...

Last night I went to Bozar (Centre for Fine Arts) to see the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven and Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. Beethoven was really beautiful! But Carmina Burana was more... how to say it... enthusiastic? Constant goosebumps :) It was quite funny to realise that so many songs from German bands such as Helium Vola, QNTAL, In Extremo and others were based on these specific texts. I already knew the songs were old medieval lyrics and poems, but I didn't know they were a part of the Carmina Burana compilation.

It was worth every penny, really beautiful!

Today it feels a little warmer. The websites say it might be 1º (yes, positive, for a change!).

Day 96

Yesterday was one of those days...

It started off nicely; despite it being a Monday, I was in a good mood. But I knew there was something coming... as in, I knew I had to talk to someone, work-related stuff, and I kept postponing it, because... let's say... talking to that person feels like you're talking to a wall sometimes. I find it incredible how such little sentences can contain that abusive amount of arrogance and self-righteousness! I tried to keep calm, but the thruth is that I almost got in a fight (and I am all for peace & love)... and I even had to talk to that person again later. When it was time to leave the office, I almost ran out, because I couldn't stand one more moment here.

Went home, tried to calm down a bit. Needed to go shopping, had no food left.

So I went to Delhaize and filled my little basket. When I was standing in line, a person that works there told people that there was some problem with the machines and that they don't know if it would be fixed in 10 or 20 minutes. I decided to wait, because I really needed the food anyway and it all been picked out. I waited another 5 minutes and the guy said that they didn't really know when the computers would be working again and asked us, if we didn't mind, to put our groceries back or just leave them where we were standing. I put them all back, one by one - it was like shopping in reverse.

Still needed food, of course, so I went to GB, which is SO much more expensive than Delhaize :( I normally don't take a lot of time shopping, especially if I have to carry everything and considering that I am living so close to the supermarket and can always go back the following day to get something I forgot; but it took me over an hour and fifteen minutes...

This morning I went to Start People to register as an interim, had all the documents I needed on me. But they didn't let me register, because apparently they are only accepting applications from trainees on Wednesdays and Thursdays, from 2-4pm. No, it doesn't matter that I had everything on me and that there was no one else waiting, I will have to go back tomorrow or another day. What is it with these people....

Anyway... this week is going to be quite full.

Today there will be a birthday drink for someone I know.

Tomorrow I will go to Bozar to see Carmina Burana (Carl Orff) and the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven. Should be brilliant.

Then on Thursday there will be a late Christmas party at work.

I guess I will be entertained...


P.S.: Had to work with that person again today. The person was in a good mood, so was I. All is well.

Day 94

One year ago, a Portuguese young man drowned in the Spree waters in Berlin. It was a very sad story and I won't go into details. I just wanted to say that I haven't forgotten and I don't think I ever will and (maybe to myself again) I hope you have found peace, wherever you are.

On a completely different note, last night I forgot to mention my travel companions.

I finished reading Age of Five before even flying back to Brussels. I really enjoyed that world and the fantasy tale: the Siyee, the Elai, the main characters and, of course, the Gods - beautiful!

I then started reading The Host from Stephenie Meyer. I think she has very nice strong ideas, but in a way I don't think she manages to express them properly. All those worlds have quite some potential, but in the end... It already was a rather long book, so I guess she had to cut somewhere. The Soul is a bit like Bella in certain aspects, always self-sacrificing; and, again, a love-triangle (or should I call it a square)... After the world of Trudi Canavan, it was a difficult passage, but I did enjoy the book and it's ending.

I am currently reading (re-reading) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, obviously from J.K. Rowling, but I am reading it in Portuguese this time, for a change.

Once I finish this one, I have The Shinning from Stephen King awaiting :)

Day 93

Yesterday was exactly three months since I came to Brussels.

I am really back now.

If you thought, like me, that my first journey might have been a little... hhmmm.... complicated and that all my troubles had ended then, I can tell you this: no! That was actually only the start. Now I shall mumble about the rest of my trips.

28 December

Expected departure - 14.25

After Christmas and spending a couple more days with the family, it was time to fly back to Brussels, also because on the 29th in the morning I had my train trip to Hannover, to spend there New Year.

When I was getting ready to go to the airport, while putting my bag in the trunk with my father's help, he dropped the car keys and we closed the trunk. Turns out, the rest of the doors were closed and the trunk automatically sealed after a few seconds. No keys and my luggage trapped inside. We had to call assistance. We waited and waited.... I eventually called the flight company to ask if it would be possible to get a later flight. Gladly, there were still seats on the 19.40 flight, same fare as the one I had booked, so I only had to pay an extra 50€ for rebooking.

A couple hours later, assistance comes and takes the keys out, no sweat. I said: I don't mind, take me to the airport early and I will just wait there (just wanted to be close to my plane, lol).

Actual departure: 20.10

It was quite stormy on that late evening in Lisbon and several planes in line for lift off, so we left a little later than planned. Nevertheless, we arrived in Brussels on schedule, ca. 23.30. The airport can look quite long at that time, if you ask me. They changed the belt where the luggage was suppose to arrive twice, on the second time they didn't even put a warning on the screens, there was no one there to give information, nothing... Left the airport almost an hour later, no bus and surely no more trains either. Took a cab home, another almost 37€, but at least I got home really fast. Unpack, repack, going to bed, couldn't sleep for about an hour... Probably fell asleep around two in the morning.

29 December

Departure: 7.20

Woke up at 6.00, still quite tired and with an upset stomach (unfortunately a situation that became quite common during my holidays with all the crazy travelling).

Got to the Midi/Zuid train station on time, got myself a big bottle of water, one fresh bread (simple) and a coke (which saved me, lol, made me feel so much better) and got my train on time, no problem.

However, during the trip between Lièges and Aachen we had technical problems and were running with a 20 minute delay. Got to Köln, had to run to get my connection, but it ended up working out. Arrived in Hannover on schedule.

In Brussels there hadn't been much snow on my street and when I arrived to Hannover it all looked quite clean. The following day it started to snow and it snowed quite a lot. In those situations, all I want is to stay at home where it is warm :)

(View from our balcony)

(close to home)

It was the first time, in all these years, that I did not spend New Year's eve in Portugal. It was a different experience, but fun. We had raclette for dinner, something I had never tried before:

And at midnight people go outside with fireworks and all I can say is that it's quite noisy and I was a little afraid of those things flying in the wrong direction and some accident happening. I think in Portugal those things are even forbidden, so it's quite normal that I am not used to it at all.

It was a short period in Hannover, but it was good to be back. Even managed to go to my CD shop and leave there some money. My new aquisitions:

Theatre of Tragedy - Forever Is The World

Within Temptation - An Acoustic Night At The Theatre

Paramore - brand new eyes

Adding to the other album I had bought after that night out with my friends:

Editors -  In This Light & On This Evening

and 

Muse - Absolution

which was a Christmas present (yes, I collect cds).

Holidays don't last forever, especially the short ones, so soon it was time to come back to Brussels and here goes the story of my last journey (for now):

3 January

Expected departure: 16.31

Expected arrival: 21.35

With one of the lightest bags I have travelled in the last few years, I was of course ready to get on my train back on time. Unfortunately, because of the constant snow, most trains were delayed. It was cold and I waited....

Actual departure: 17.03

The time I was suppose to have in Köln until my connection was only thirty minutes, so I got on the train with a slight heavy heart, considering my options... There was no other connection to Brussels that night, so DB would have to provide me with a room and put me on the first train in the morning. But all I wanted was to get home and I needed to be at work at 9 in the morning...

During the trip, many times the train had to slow down or even stop, so our delay was no longer those mere thirty minutes, but sixty-two... No hope for while... Until they told us that the connection to Brussels (which originally departed from Frankfurt) was waiting for this train to arrived. Instead of leaving at 19.43, my second train left at around 20.30.

Actual arrival: 22.35

No problems to get back home gladly and no more holidays.

After all these trips all I felt I needed was, of course, some time off to relax, but no.

Got back to work this week; it was difficult to get up in the morning.

I think yesterday it was -9º when I woke up... 

It's been snowing in Brussels, but I think things are under control for now.

Last night I went to a party (organised by a friend of mine among others), but I actually only stayed for a couple of hours. Got a new stamp:

 

Today I finally went to see Avatar. I had been planning to see it while in Portugal, then later in Hannover on 3D, but it didn't happen, so today was finally the day. UGC De Brouckère again - it is very awkward that, because there are not booked seats, people go early and sit on the floor outside the room and as soon as people from the previous session start leaving, they get up and go in asap, to try to get the best seats. And you know what this means? It means that the rooms aren't cleaned between sessions, so no wonder there's still popcorn lying around. When I went to see New Moon (on the big El Dorado room) I saw people cleaning up, but not today on this smaller room.

Here are a couple more pictures from the snow in Hannover.

(2 January)

(3 January)

Less than two months to go and still my first trip ever to Ireland at the end of this month.