would you like a bag with that?

Whenever I move to a different country, I know that life will be different from what I experienced in the U.S. I expect and understand all of the big differences, like currency, language, and business hours.

But sometimes little things completely astound me.

A few weeks ago I went to Quick, the fast food place across the street from my apartment to grab a meal to go. I was surprised when the cashier put this giant bag with handles on the counter in front of me, and then patiently waited while the cashier got my fries, burger, and even my drink and put each of them in a smaller bag. Then he took the three bags and put them in the big bag for me to take home.




I really, really don't understand this. The fries and sandwich could easily fit in one bag together. I got stuff like that all the time in the US, the fries never beat up the sandwich. The lived in toasty harmony until I would bring them home and put them in my belly. And seriously, I can carry the drink. I plan to actually drink on my way out the door thanks!

I wondered if it was unique to Quick. Maybe that is their thing, excessive packaging.

But today I felt lazy and stopped by McDonald's for a McChicken meal. I had to try very hard from laughing when the cashier put this bag on the counter:



Yep, every thing has it's own bag (well, except the drink because I snatched it up before the guy could even try bagging it, ha!).



There was even a handy drink holder in the bottom of the bag, which is another handy wasteful piece of packaging.



So it isn't just Quick, it's BELGIUM. I just don't understand it. You have to pay a nickel to get a bag at the grocery store and many other retail places, and there is a strong push for environmentally-friendly living. Yet these fast food giants have to waste three bags for a take away meal? Strange.

Fat Tuesday

This past weekend I made my first trip out of Belgium, to Maastricht in the Netherlands to take part in the Carnaval celebrations. The first festivities began on November 11 (the 11th day of the 11th month) and culminated in the parades and balls taking place from Sunday until today.

It was a fabulous experience, the city was full of people of all ages dressed up in weird and wonderful costumes. I took tons of picture and they are in my flickr uploadr just waiting for me to add the proper captions, so I will share those later.

Today I just want to share my favorite float in the entire parade, I couldn't stop laughing at the ridiculous-ness of it. I have no idea who this is supposed to be, but now I really want to make something like this for Burning Man.



I could watch that every day and still laugh. Just thinking about those little feet shuffling along under a GIANT HEAD makes me LOL.

And now Lent begins. I am thinking about giving up speaking English (to people who speak French) for Lent. Either that or Nutella.

Or just not do anything since I don't really practice any specific religion.

But, I do need to work on my French and probably shouldn't be so free about eating Nutella by the spoonful, so Lent kinda comes in handy.

flat mini-tour

I am in the process of transforming my empty studio apartment into more of a home with actual furniture. It's challenging because I don't have alot of money and also don't have a car, so I must rely upon the kindness of others for helping me with big items.

So, at the moment the place is still very much a work in progress, but I can give a partial tour of the areas closest to being finished.

First, the kitchen:



I am thinking of a green color scheme here (hence the green striped carpet). What this kitchen lacks in counter space it makes up for with the cupboard space. And honestly, of all of the flats I looked at, this kitchen is one of the best. Many kitchens did not come with refrigerators, or even a proper stove/oven (instead there would be no oven and a hotplate thing for a stove). Since this kitchen had an oven, a fridge, and a double sink, it was the winner! I got the toaster oven thing from eBay for quick reheating of stuff and it even has a rotisserie setup (chicken anyone?).

Next the bathroom:


I plan to get another little drawer set for the stuff currently in the Body Shop bag. The hamper is great there since I have started doing a fair amount of my laundry by hand in the bathtub.



The little stepstool is for me to be able to get in and out of the shower without dying, since the floor of the bathroom is about six inches lower than the floor of the tub. So weird. The little wooden door in the wall is apparently access to pipes or something. I am not exactly sure why they didn't opt for a more waterproof housing for the opening, since it is in a shower oh well.

The biggest improvement that my latest trip to IKEA produced is making the bedroom a bit more private. Here is the before shot:



Notice that the door on the left is actually the front door, so when I come into my apartment, I am essentially walking right into the bedroom. This is not really the impression I want to give ALL of my guests, so I decided to get some curtains to use as a room divider, and it worked fabulously! Also I found a proper night table to replace my ghetto cardboard box one. Here is the new, improved entryway:



The only thing left for the entryway is to talk to the landlord about the ceiling light. When I moved in it did not work, and the light bulb was screwed in by a very strong person with very tiny fingers because it is practically impossible to get a grip on the bulb and actually impossible to unscrew it. Recently, the light started randomly flickering on and off and now it does work when I turn it on, but then shortly after flickers off. Since it is actually hanging from the ceiling by its wires, it is a little too dodgy for my tastes. I am hoping by using the french words for 'fire hazard' I can get it taken care of relatively quickly.

The living room is essentially bare at the moment, with an ironing board being the most prominent feature of the area. But as soon as I get paid again I will be able to start working on that area.

Sunday Sunday Sunday

It's been just a little over a month since I have moved into the new place, and slowy but surely I am making it my own. I am still missing living room furniture, but that will come in time. My tax refund will come in handy.

One of my new officemates has tons of plants, most of which can have a cutting taken from them to grow new plants, so I got some free greenery for the new pad.

Here are my new friends on day 1 when I put them in water to grow roots:



And today, about a week later I put them in some soil, so hopefully they will flourish and fill my tiny studio apartment with brand spanking new oxygen!



Also today I ventured down to La Batte, the oldest and largest open-air market in Europe. There was almost everything that you can imagine. It had pretty much everything that one would expect from an open air market, tons of fruits and veggies, clothes and shoes. But there were a few unique things that I had never seen at a market before:

• live roosters, geese, ducks, rabbits and chickens (I don't think for pets)
• live peacocks and fancy birds (I hope for pets)
• racy lingerie (leather bits and naughty nurse outfits)
• buckets of tobacco (like 2kg buckets of loose tobacco for rolling your own cigarettes)

I ended up with the rather boring purchases of some almonds, zuchinni, and a rotisserie chicken.

But next Sunday, who knows...