Bunch of photos 02/19/06

My Dads been here visiting for a couple of weeks. Some photos from an evening out.

Musee in the Grand Place

Looking guilty after rubbing the golden woman.

I could have sworn I was taller than him...

Musee again.

Some blonde checking me out...

What can I say, I work quickly.

Town Hall


How guilty do these two look? This is Ethan's new friend, Elisa, daughter of Emmanuelle & Yves. The other photo is of Ethan and Elisa's brother, Sacha, also looking guilty. Gee, who's the common denominator in both photos?

Baba looking happy with his two grandkids.

P.I.M.P. 02/09/06

Tonight is one of those times when I wish I was in the US, and not only because it's like -3 degrees celsius here, but because the Grammy's are on. Though a lot of those shows are crap, the array of talent assembled at shows like that (the Grammy's, Oscars, Emmy's, etc.) demonstrates how much the creative world starts and ends in the States.

When I turn on the radio in the morning and am subjected to the newest French rap star followed by a love ballad and then some techno song, I truly understand the value of NPR, Power 106, Howard, etc. Did you know, for example, that Ace of Base has come out with new remakes of some of their biggest hits? Well they HAVE, at least here in Brussels.

Apparently the best place to hear good hip hop is in stores, particularly grocery stores, where I've twice been caught in an embarassing situation, once when 50 Cent's "P.I.M.P." came on, and another time it was Ice Cube's "You Can Do It". It wouldn't really be a big deal, but they play the real lyrics here, i.e. they don't edit them. The first time I was standing next to some old lady, reaching for yogurt or cheese or something, humming along under my breath, until it gets to the part "...I ain't that nigga trying to holla cause I want some head I'm that nigga tryin' to holla cause I want some bread I could care less how she perform when she in the bed Bitch hit the track, catch a date, and come pay the kid. Look baby, this is simple you can't seeYou fuckin' with me you fuckin' with a P-I-M-P"... and I'm kind of frozen, trying to see if anyone's reacting, hoping these people don't understand English, but everyone just kind of ignores the awkwardness of it, and I can't get out of that aisle fast enough.

The next time it was even worse, in case you don't know or have forgotten how "You Can Do It" goes, here are the words that seemed to be blasting while I'm waiting to use the bread slicer machine, which normally seems really loud, but wasn't loud enough. "...Everybody will know it Cause I ain’t going for it So pray to the Lord that I don’t pull out Cuss out and bust out Go to nigga raveling Make the clip traveling, uh You can try to smoke an ounce to this While I pronounce this shit Baby bounce them tits Mama move them hips Baby shake them cheeks I got dick for days You got ass for weeks..." Again, couldn't get out of there fast enough. I realized though later that the only one feeling awkward was me, because it's normal for them... and so now I sing along out loud, and when appropriate, throw in a dance move or two.

Speaking of music, I've been listening to a lot of nursery rhymes and children's songs recently, and two have struck me as a bit harsh for different reasons.

1. There's a Hole in My Bucket, you know this song, probably been a while, goes Dear Liza, there's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza, etc. etc.... ( http://www.theteachersguide.com/Songs/theresahole.htm) Well, have you ever really listened to that song? Again, luckily for you, I have, and I've come to two conclusions. 1. Clearly this song was written by a man-hating woman, probably a pissed off wife or divorcee, because 2. Henry is a friggin dumbass. Guy doesn't know how to fill up a hole in a bucket, doesn't know how to cut a straw, sharpen an axe, then the stone is too dry, and he doesn't know how to wet it??? I mean c'mon. Does Henry really have to be made to be so damn stupid?

Though I have to say, sometimes when it comes to the kids, I've been guilty of my own "Henry" moments. Once Ethan had a diaper rash, and Sara told me to put corn starch on the rash, and I wasn't exactly listening I guess and so I used baking soda... they were both in round metal cans, I don't know... Ethan, I'm sorry, please don't use that against me as your "Rage" and write a "memoir" about your life.

2. The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly ( http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/oldlady.htm ) "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.I dunno why she swallowed that fly,Perhaps she'll die.There was an old lady who swallowed a spider,That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly. But I dunno why she swallowed that fly -Perhaps she'll die." She goes on to swallow a bird, dog, goat, cow, and ends "There was an old lady who swallowed a horse - She's dead, of course." Jesus. This is a kid's song? I think I'd rather the kids listen to P.I.M.P.

I would like to end with those Prophet Mohammed cartoons, but I don't want to incite any more riots. Ha. What a ridiculous world we live in right now. Speaking of which, heard John Lennon's "Imagine" this morning in a brief respite from Ace of Base. What an amazing song, even if none of it will ever come true, at least not on a global scale. Maybe the goal is to make it come true on an individual basis or family basis. OK, I'm getting philosophical... that's one of the big hints to stop typing immediately. G'night. I luvvv you maaannn.

Photos Eric took 2/6/06

Here are some of the photos that our friend, Eric, took while he was here. Some good shots. We've misplaced our camera battery but will hopefully be adding some more of our own photos soon. My Dad is here visiting, but we haven't been able to get out as, guess what, Sonia's sick again, for a change. Poor thing. I'm also a little under the weather AGAIN. WTF. The doctor we took Sonia to yesterday said it could be because of the pollution from Eastern Europe and the UK that was trapped over Belgium because of certain weather conditions... fantastic. I'm moving to the mountains.

Museum de la Ville
Maison de Ville Sonia
E & S & monkey E, S, & S. Family shot at the Rouge Cloitre, this old nun's cloister from the 1300's that has been turned into an artist community.


Eric and me in Grand Place
Brrrrr.
Maison de Ville/Grand Place from distance

Petit Sablon
S&S
Ethan trying on Eric's shoes (Eric is a rather tall man)
L'Arbre D'Or according to Eric, my tour guide for the weekend. I just knew this was one of the old guild houses that make up the Grand Place. Think it's a bank now or office space or something.

Furniture Shopping 01/31/2006

Settling into a normal life here with Sara at work, the kids in daycare, and me finally being able to get past the technical difficulties to get started on selling some loans. Diapers ain't cheap!

So the kids have finally gotten better. Ethan's still bummed to go to his daycare, but we're looking into preschools now that he should be able to start the beginning of April if he's potty-trained.

We're starting to get the house furnished, but it will be a work in progress for a longgg time. Been able to get a few things from moving sales, and had one kind of interesting experience with that, not because of what we bought, but because of the location and the people. Called up this lady, told me come to this village outside the city, said "come to the left of the chateau of the village, only one in town", I'm like, yeah, OK, whatever lady, see you at the chateau, sure. So we all go there... and it's a frigging chateau. Not a big house, but a chateau... 6 other houses on the property (converted servant quarters I'm sure), a stone bridge that goes over this creek that runs through the grounds, a yard that went as far as the eye could see... I wish I had my camera.

So this woman and her family had the left side of the chateau, a company was renting out the right side, and the owner, a Count apparently who's family had owned the house for generations was in the middle. If that isn't enough, the people that were holding the moving sale are Romanian diplomats, last name was Dragomir, and she answered the door in this long flowing cloak and had this great big head of hair, and it was just all so different from what we're used to... it was just one of those experiences that reminded me I'm in unfamiliar territory here... not bad, not good, just very different. We didn't buy anything from them, their shit was whack yo... but still worth the drive.

On to the more conventional furniture sources, we've had several of the requisite, unavoidable trips to Ikea. I can't figure out Ikea to be honest. Everyone, including us, talks about the stuff we buy there in this disparaging, semi-embarassed tone ("Yeah, had to go to Ikea..."), like it's a trip to the dentist to get some fillings or something, but we all shop there, or at least most of the people we know probably have a couple of pieces of furniture from there. I was thinking about this the other day after putting together several pieces of their furniture and was looking down at that little metal tool that apparently could,



if Ikea had their way, put together just about any man-made structure ever conceived. I realized this callous-creating tool of the middle class had become the bain of my existence, at least for that week, so in need of an Ikea antidote, I went shopping for a dining room table in my favorite part of Brussels, the Sablon, which has a ton of antique stores with furniture with a bit more character.

The Sablon also has all these great museums and galleries, the Royal Palace is a short walk, charming restaurants with outdoor crepe stands in the summer and moules (mussels) stands in the winter, little cobblestone streets with views of an amazing 12th century church if you look down one, and up another little lane the super-imposing Palais de Justice (the equivalent of their Supreme Court building) looms over you. Very cool part of the city. Definitely a must for any Brussels visit.

The antique shops themselves are nuts. You go in some of them, and they go on and on, 4+ floors, and there's so much in each one it makes you wonder how there are any antiques anywhere else besides here... it seems like the entire antique market must be on two or three streets in Brussels. Some of the stuff is garbage of course, but some is so great, with so much character, and it is really intriguing to me to try and imagine the history behind the individual pieces, think about who sat at that table, the meals they had, good and bad times, etc. And yes, I'll finish your thought, I'm a huge dork.


This table above was 1200 Euros (about $1400), and that's just for the table, no chairs. I loved this one, so solidly built, and you know with something that's lasted this long already, if you take care of it, it'll last our lifetimes and can get past down to the kids, etc. But still 1200 Euros is tough to swallow with a whole house to furnish. Pass.

This one below was 575 Euros, had some fantastic iron detail at the base of the table, but because I'm so ignorant on the antiques market, I really couldn't tell if this one is worth it either, so passing for now until I can shop around some more. Would love to get a table and chairs for 500 Euros, but for that price, we may be heading back to the Swedish Maison de Mediocrité... You see that, that's French people... I'm basically fluent.

Quickly some other random thoughts, then I'll end this run-on entry... I've been having a recurring dream of this woman named Elizabeth, who's a mixture between Keira Knightley and Natalie Portman, not that she's like them, but she's actually them. The thing is both are not my type at all, so I'm wondering if this is my mind's weird way of telling me I'm having some kind of separation anxiety from LA. Bizarre.

My Skins lost of course to the eventual NFC representative in the Superbowl. It's a dagger because we had a legitimate shot to beat the Seahawks and then I'm confident we could have beaten the Panthers to reach the Superbowl ourselves, but nevertheless, a much better season than I ever thought we would have, so no complaints. Sean Taylor, our star defensive player, is facing yet another criminal trial and could be sentenced to 46 years in jail for waiving a gun at some people last year, aggravated assault and something else... think he's already on probation for another crime. What a waste if he gets sentenced... so stupid if he's guilty of the crimes. But whether they get him now or later, they'll get him... seems like there's police officers waiting at the games to charge him for a new crime every other week. He's like the Von Trapp family of the NFL.

That's all from here. A good friend from college, Eric Gabrielson, who lives in Amsterdam now with his wife and daughter, visited this past weekend, we had a really good time... I'm going to Bogart some of his photos and add them in with the next entry because he got some good shots. My Dad's coming on Sunday for a couple of weeks... should be fun. Toodles. That's 'French' for bye. Or maybe it's 'Gay' for bye. I always get the two confused. And the offensive final word begins again.

New US # (703) 879-6411

didn't work out for me, so I've switched our service to and now our US # will be (703) 879-6411. I may keep the Vonage # open for a couple of months still, but please use this new # from here on out. And of course you can use our home # which would be 011 32 2 674 4179 for callers from the States. One of these days we'll get mobile phones and make it even more confusing.

Photos from Christmas, etc. 1/11/06

Hi everyone, hope everyone's Christmas and New Year's were good. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning just the four of us relaxing at home and then on Christmas day we actually had a sun sighting, so we thought we'd take advantage and so we went to this old abbey about 30 mins from Hoeilaart, from the 12th/13th century, called Villers-la-Ville. (info and better photos http://www.eupedia.com/belgium/villers-la-ville.shtml ) It was closed of course, but still it was nice to get out and go for a walk.














Some of us partied a little hard for the holidays.











A full photo of the front of the house.



That's about it. We still love the house, though we discovered soon after moving in that the walls are a lot more thin than our old place - not great with young kids.

Sonia started crawling last week,

and they both started daycare, and Sara started her new job. Ethan is having a bit of a hard time because there are a lot more kids than at his daycare in LA, and of course, there's the language issue. Poor little guy cries every time we drop him off, but it's getting better than it was last week and will continue to get better. After we moved in, we found out there's a daycare down the street for Sonia (there's a waiting list now, but hopefully we'll get her in there at some point) and then there's a school for 2 1/2 year old's to 5 year old's right behind the house, so Ethan will probably start there in March or April. Only condition is that he has to be potty-trained, which is definitely going to be a project.

Fascinating reading, I know. I'll end there... no offending anyone this time, though the potty training will no doubt produce some offensive stories. Stay tuned.

Photos and more photos 12/23/05

Cause we don't want you to forget what we look like.

It snowed a little bit, so Ethan and I made a little snowman (or "Baby No-man" as he calls it), but we couldn't find anything that would suffice for a top hat (speaking of which, who has a top hat lying around by the way, let alone a baby top hat... stupid song), so we gave the snowman a yarmulka. We believe in equal-opportunity snowmen.

These blow up Santa's below that are hung from windows and patios, etc. are really really big in Belgium. At first I thought it was cute, but a couple of them like the Santa here on the bottom right make the big guy look like he's trying to sneak back inside after a long night of boozing and whoring or something...not the image I want the kids to grow up with. Hopefully it'll be many years before either of them know what whoring or boozing is, though it is Europe, and they start them on the bottle young.

Is it just me, or do I look absolutely massive here. Seriously, like Yao Ming-huge.

Feeding the hissing swans of Hoeilaart... I didn't know they hissed either, until there was a battle royale for old baguette between the swans, geese and some kind of weird duck (according to my mother-in-law) that I unfortunately didn't get a shot of... they look like a combination of a turkey and a goose... not a pretty sight. We tried to give them most of our bread because they were just so goddamn hideous, but the swans and normal looking geese would usually box them out and get to it first.










Couple of shots from the Grand Place in downtown Brussels and surrounding area. From the top: St. Michel Cathedral, manger scene in the Grand Place, Sara and Ethan, having just rubbed the gold statue behind them for good luck - a Brussels tradition, a seemingly impromptu carolling session in this covered gallery area off of the Grand Place.

This last one is of the angels that were hanging all over the gallery mentioned earlier. They were all kind of modernistic and freaky, and this one gave new definition to the term burning bush, so have to end with this of course in what is becoming a trend of finishing with something offensive.