Leuven/Louvain/Löwen

So literally, just after I posted the last entry, I had a fit of spontaneity and decided to jump on a bus somewhere. I decided Leuven wasn't too far (around 31 kilometres) and that I could take the slow bus and have a nice trip through the countryside.

I packed a little picnic for myself, my book (Tony Blair's A Journey, which I will probably review whenever I finish it) and set off. I think I just needed a day away from the city, a change of scenery, somewhere I could think and just relax. On the way there there were these beautiful fields and the weather was lovely, and I even thought about just jumping off the bus and chilling out there for the afternoon. However, I knew I wanted to see Leuven, and I also kind of wanted a cold beer.

Leuven is really nice, really chilled out and such a student city. You totally get that vibe as soon as you get off the bus/train - students are everywhere (which I guess means it's a ghost town between semesters) and the shopping looks really good. Lots of pretty old buildings, like the Stadhuis and the Oude Markt.

I had a few pintjes in the "Leuvens Studentcafe" on the right. I wanted to feel like a student. Lame.

The pretty Stadhuis. Lots of flag poles attached, but not as many flags as the Stadhuis in Antwerpen.

So after walking around and looking at the nice buildings, and strolling along the river that runs through the city (the Dijle), I decided to chill out on the Oude Markt for a bit and enjoy a few pintjes in the sun that was just starting to come out.  I chose a student bar, as the student vibe of the city really got to me, and being the lame ex-student, wanted to feel just a little bit like a student again. Cheap lager and a book on a Monday afternoon (i.e. drinking and not working) certainly reminded me of the many sunny afternoons living the student dream.

After a couple and a good read, I set my book down to have a think and a listen to some tunes (I had also decided this morning to not skip any songs on my iPod, and to listen to anything that it told me to. I have to say, it was really good!). Recently the idea popped into my head about going back to university. Not because I miss being a student so much that I can't live a life without study, but because I stumbled upon a Master's Degree programme at the VUB (Vrije Universiteit Brussel). I was meant to go to an open day yesterday but had to work instead, so I'm hoping to catch the next one. It would certainly be cheap to do here, and I could continue working as well to support myself (not that I haven't ever not done some work during my studies) during the 1 or 2 years, depending on how fast I want to complete it.

However, this is just something to think about. Who knows what I'll want to do in a year's time. My main focus for now is saving up money to do some travelling. Then I can decide if I want to do a Master's Degree after that. I'm just glad that I have Belgium as a viable option for study. I've made a life here, and I definitely don't want to give it up now that I'm happy. It's not like there is much for me in the UK besides studying/doing my PGCE (which I would like to do in the future), so I might as well stay here. I do miss home though, so I think some visits will be in order this year. If not, at least a bloody holiday is needed! I need to sort out Ibiza with Debs and the gang from home at the beginning of next month, as I'm worried about getting the time off work! Fingers crossed :)

Verschrikkelijk...

... is what it is. (Despicable)

So I didn't make a single bloody post in April. Well I was busy. I had Rich, Elaine and Andy come to visit, which was fab (they brought Marmite, Dusch Das, chocolate bunnies, Attitude mag, Heat mag, and lots of other sexy things!) We had a FAB weekend together, although it is definately safe to say that the following week I spent in recovery. Various visits to Belgica, Chez Maman, the Box (oh dear) and just generally trash bag parties, made it into one of the most fabulous and ridiculous BGWs (Big Gay Weekend) ever.

The weekend after, Basia had a few mates from her days in France come to visit. Laura from Manchester (fabulous girl), Princess from London (such a cool lass!), Kathy from the Luftwaffe (thanks to Basia for letting me make Luftwaffe jokes in front of her BEFORE telling me she was German), Kate from Leeds (much West Yorkshire bonding was had), Lola (who didn't have feathers in her hair, but a tiara at one stage) and last but not least Lindsey from Canada - crazy biatch!

But from now I am back to work and working long and hard (lol). My aim is to start saving from June, sending money back to England and paying off my overdraft (the dreaded student overdraft that everyone seems to want to forget about!). On the upside I got a reply from the Student Loans Company and I don't have to repay my loan yet as I'm not earning enough money yet. But, I have to keep a record of my earnings for the coming year and tell them at the end of march next year so they can reassess (I just had to look up that word, my spelling and general English language is terrible at the moment) my situation. I figure if I pay off my overdraft and save up some good money for travelling sometime next year, I can use whatever money I save, and then I still have my overdraft as a back up. Hopefully they won't take it off me once I pay it off!

Work is going well. I'm working some good hours at the moment so will be earning some good money this month, which is annoying as it doesn't seem to go very far. Once I've paid my rent and some towards debts, I don't have much left over to save, but I guess that's just life! I'm happy though, which is the most important thing.

The radio show thing went well! The more I listen to it the more I realise my Dutch was horrific. I was nervous and it definately showed, but I still enjoyed myself and was cool to hear my voice and my mix on the radio. Gina's mix was banging as ever, and I was really glad I could help in whatever small way I could in her mission to bring banging tunes to the world! She has her own recording studios in Wombwell, and her own website http://www.missbdj.com/ where you can find info on her studios and everything that she's doing!

For the recording of the show itself, check out my soundcloud page http://soundcloud.com/maitre_d

I was meant to have a long weekend off work, but they called me in to do an 8.5 hour shift yesterday. It was Mother's Day here so there were a lot of people who didn't want to work. I on the other hand, had already done the whole Mother's Day thing in the UK in April, so I was free to work. Double pay with bonus, I think so.

However, there it was actually quite busy for a Sunday, and there was a particular flight to Warsaw with LOT that I was doing, a full flight, with 2 check-in agents. The last guy I had to check in wasn't best pleased that he had to wait in line and was the last in the queue. Complaining that the self check-in machines wouldn't work, I explained that only a handful of airlines at Brussels Airport use those machines, and LOT isn't one of them. He said that was ridiculous, and asked if I was Polish, or whether I worked for LOT. I said no to both, and he got even more angry that, God forbid, an airline might use a ground handling agent. Unheard of. Wait...

The funniest bit was when he started on some rambling about communism, and relating that to the existance of queues before and after the fall of the iron curtain, drawing comparisons between Poland and Belgium. My jaw was well and truly dropped after this, as well as those of others around me (it was either that or burst into fits of laughter). Just another day at the airport, I guess. Bring on the next one!

Comeback.

So my back is well hurtin', y'all.

This is because I lifted too many bags today at work. I didn't follow the advice of a colleague, which was to make passengers move their own damn luggage. Me, with my overdone British sense of customer service (load of buggery bollocks), managed to hurt my back so now my muscles ache. It's not that bad, but I feel compelled to moan about it. Maybe I am becoming Belgian...

As for the "y'all" (which a uni friend of mine tried to tell me once that it is a perfectly acceptable 2nd person plural pronoun - I don't even care if the grammar books say it is correct, I still say it's bloody buggery bollocks. I mean, whoever translated "vous" from French, "vosotros" from Spanish, or "jullie" from Dutch into "y'all"? No-one, that's who, and if they have, they should be shot), I'm decided whether or not I'm going to have to tone down my jokey anti-american attitude. Sometimes I mean it, but most of the time I don't. I've met my fair share of Americans and they're fine, really, with a couple I would say are really cool. Anyway, this is because I'm going to be starting a training course at work to work with US Airways.

I've got these booklets of info about customer service and smiling, which I'm sure will defnately make for an interesting mind-numbing read.  Tomorrow is my last day of 4-hour shifts, as my contract was upgraded so I work 75% of full-time (which means a smooth 6.5 hours a day. Sweet.

On an unrelated note, my sister Sarah and her boyfriend Jordan are setting off on Saturday on their trip around the world for a whole year! I'm so jealous and can't wait to get out there myself.  They have started a blog which I'm hoping they will update as well and as often as they can, so for your interest, here it is:


http://jordansarahadventure.blog.co.uk/

Life is going well at the moment, I had a good day at work today, although I had a slight run-in with a passenger who had too much baggage that I really couldn't overlook. I told her she could pay a surcharge, but she didn't want to for her own reasons. She then tried to get other people she didn't know to take one of the packages she had. I told her she couldn't as it is against security rules. She then proceeded to ask the man checking-in next to her if he would take it. He accepted, but of course I couldn't let that happen. Suffice to say the situation became awkward with her asking just about every other passenger, trying to get them to take the package. It's quite simple - you don't do it. It was interesting to talk to at least 3 other passengers who were disappointed that I wouldn't let them accept the package of this stranger they had just met. In the end, a complete stranger who had taken his friend to the airport for the same flight, exchanged numbers with her and agreed to take her package home with him. Problem solved. Despite her being a little upset with me that I didn't just let her take it, it was still nice (in a way) to see how people in her community came together and helped her.  All I can say is that I have rules to follow, otherwise I lose my job. Not gonna happen, love.

People roll their eyes when you ask "have you packed this bag yourself/have you accepted anything from a stranger to take with you?" etc. I mean, who would do that?

As for the title of this post, (I almost forgot to mention) I will be making a guest appearance on a local radio station, thanks to a mate from work who has her own show there. There's another show where they interview djs and play their mixes, and yours truly will be rocking the radio waves on the 23rd April, on Spits FM. The interview will be in Dutch, which will probably end up being the comedy highlight.  Still looking forward to it though, as I'm thinking about getting back into the whole djing malarkey... stay tuned.

Because I'm copying off Garragay....

A - Age: 22
B - Bed size: double, but hard as a rock.
C - Chore you hate: Opening the door. I have to go downstairs as the bell doesn't work yet.
D - Don't eat: Snails. I tried them recently and.... no, just no.
E - Essential start-your-day item: A cuppa
F - Favourite board game: Trivial Pursuit
G - Gold or Silver: Silver, cos I's gots its on ma fingers, yo.
H - Height: 180cm, according to my medical exam for work.
I - Instruments you play: Piano, Guitar, and the good old recorder. Nowt like it.
J - Job title: Check-in Agent (said in a Flemish accent)
K - Kid(s): Only if they don't shout, and only if they're related to me. Can't stand other people's kids.
L - Love or lust: Both (in agreement with Warragay)
M - Mum's name: Jeannine (note the foreign-ish spelling)
N - Nicknames: Cooper, raver, Dave the Rave, gay. You know the score....
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Never. I cracked my head open once, but they just glued it up with cat gut. Ahh the good old days...
P - Pants or pantyhose: Pants, because I'm not sure what pantyhose are. Are they tights?
Q - Favourite Movie Quote: "You'll go down for this." "I only go down for a price, and I doubt that you could afford it."Julie Walters in Personal Services.
R - Right or left handed: Right. Because it's normal.
S - Siblings: One elder sister and one twin sister.
T - Time you wake up: Whenever I need/want to.
U - Underwear: Most of the time.
V - Vegetable favorite: At the moment, somewhere between a courgette and a mushroom.
W - Ways you run late: Public transport. Belgium just doesn't work in general...
X - X-rays you've had: Teeth x-rays. That's about it.
Y - Yummy food you make: Chilli con carne, and I do a good curry, being from Bradford and all....
Z - Zoo favourite: Don't often go to zoos, but maybe will make a trip to Antwerp zoo. Or maybe Chester zoo!

Берлин

Dag allemaal!

So it's been a while, but only because my internet has stopped working chez moi, so I haven't had nearly enough time to update the old blog on my happenings.  The title of this blog is "Berlin", written in Russian/Cyrillic - I was simply curious as to what it would look like.

As previous posts indicate, I went to Berlin to visit some friends. That's Lukas (Looookas).

It was simply fabulous. However, not fabulous in the way that I expected. It was quite quite different to the Berlin I had created in my head - crazy people with purple hair and nose rings everywhere, artists and hippies lining the streets, grungy electro clubs and shit loads of currywurst.  All stereotypes I'm sure you wouldn't have to try very hard to find, but nevertheless it is always refreshing to find that this is not the mainstream.  I guess I know that stereotypes that apply to a majority are rarely realised when you visit a country/city, but it's always nice to not be so educated (by yourself or taught) about a place before you go there, and just be innocently surprised and enlightened. Put simply; don't read too many guide books, just enjoy it.

I thought of this as we were cycling on the runways of the old Tempelhof Airport one day - it felt great to be enjoying such a wide open space on a sunny (yet excessively windy) day, bang smack in the middle of the city. It also made me realise that I'm glad that I have various friends dotted around the world - it's nice to go and spend time with them and do the things that they do, sampling their lifestyle alongside all the great sightseeing we enjoy as tourists.

Windsurfing on the runways at Zentralflughafen, as you do. You can see the ball tower in the distance.

On the Friday night, we went to Lukas' flat for a barbecue (cold but the sun had been shining) which was fabulous. We drank and ate and I spoke terrible German, but more of that later. Holly came over (a friend from uni who also lives there now) and got suitably fresh and had a great catch up.  Afterwards we adjourned to a club not far away. A great little place in someone's cellar, you had to walk through this old living room and downstairs. As we walked in a 30s style cabaret band was just finished and then the dj started up playing similar music. It was great! It was old fashioned music but it had a great beat behind it which just made you want to dance, and not even in some "alternative/ironic/look-at-me-I'm-different" douche bag kind of way, it was just good music. It slowly developed into some deep/tech house which was cool and the we spent the rest of the night dancing. I met some nice people who I am sure I will never meet again, but I will remember this girl's cool red hair. I remember being told to make sure I was quiet with Holly outside, as the place didn't have a licence and had been shut down once already. Fab. 

If you want to go here, ask Lukas or Catherine.

The next day Catherine and I went for a walk and visited the Berlin Gallery, as there was a new photo exhibition on from a photographer who took some cool photos in New York and Berlin during various points in the late 20th century (I know that's recent-ish but it's easier than saying "between the 60s and 2000s/noughties/whatever the hell we call them). That night we went over to one of their friends' flats for a birthday meal - we brought brownies, which we named "chocolate squares" as they were too much like cake. After eating a very tasty risotto and other things, we spent the evening drinking and talking and listening to music. I spoke a shit load of terrible German this time, but only because at the beginning of the evening, it was clear that I was the only one there that wasn't German/had studied German. I remember thinking that I could sit here and wait for someone to speak English, or I could just get on with it and have some fun with it. It felt like when I started my year abroad and felt that I couldn't speak a word of French or Spanish despite having studied it, which is, contrary to how it sounds, extremely invigorating and stimulating. I enjoyed that evening a lot and reminded me that I do have the balls to just go for things, as lately I feel like I have been holding myself back (only slightly) from certain things. So big up to Deutschland and the guys at the party for making me feel welcome and speaking some German with me!

The last day was spent cycling at the Zentralflughafen as I mentioned before, then in a cafe with coffee and bagels.

Catherine and I then went for a cycle along the canal (the weather was beautiful the whole time I was there) before stopping off for the rest of the afternoon in a bar for a extended catch up and gossip. 

That evening we went for some great tapas with Holly at Maria Mulata and then on to a bar across the road for the rest of the night. The hangover kicked in on the plane the next morning, by the way.

Thanks to Catherine, Lukas, Holly and everyone who showed me a lovely time there. I can't wait to go back. Eurovision party chez Foster is calling...

"Me love you long time..."

I was watching clips of American Dad (link to episodes here) on Youtube (I'm chilling out before I set of to Berlin) and watched this particular clip of Roger (my favourite character) as Laura van der Booben:

Anyway, I wanted to know what the song was when he walked through the office, and I found it.

I wasn't sure if the lyrics were actually real or not, but they are - and I think you should have a listen... all the way through, as it gets better/worse as it goes on, depending on your personal music/lyrical tastes. Enjoy.

Also, the names of the rappers are hilarious. So 90s it's not funny.

<sample from Full Metal Jacket>
What'll we get for ten dollars?
Every 'ting you want
Everything?
Every'ting
Ooh! Don't do that, baby! Ahh!
Hold on this! Oh, sock it to me! Aaahh!
Ooohh!
</sample from Full Metal Jacket>

Chorus (repeated):
<sample from Full Metal Jacket>
Ahh! Me so horny!
Me love you long time!
</sample from Full Metal Jacket>

Verse 1: [Brother Marquis]
Sittin' at home with my dick on hard
So I got the black book for a freak to call
Picked up the telephone, then dialed the 7 digits
Said, "Yo, this Marquis, baby! Are you down with it?"
I arrived at her house, knocked on the doo
rNot having no idea of what the night had in store
I'm like a dog in heat, a freak without warning
I have an appetite for sex, 'cause me so horny

Chorus

Verse 2: [Fresh Kid Ice]
Girls always ask me why I fuck so much
I say "What's wrong, baby doll, with a quick nut?"
'Cause you're the one, and you shouldn't be mad
I won't tell your mama if you don't tell your dad
I know he'll be disgusted when he sees your pussy busted
Won't your mama be so mad if she knew I got that ass?
I'm a freak in heat, a dog without warning
My appetite is sex, 'cause me so horny

Chorus

Verse 3: [Brother Marquis]
You can say I'm desperate, even call me perverted
But you say I'm a dog when I leave you fucked and deserted
I'll play with your heart just like it's a game
I'll be blowing your mind while you're blowing my brains
I'm just like that man they call Georgie Puddin' Pie
I fuck all the girls and I make 'em cry
I'm like a dog in heat, a freak without warning
I have an appetite for sex, 'cause me so horny.

Chorus
Breakdown(4x):
<sample from Full Metal Jacket>
Ahh! Hold on this! Oh, sock it to me!
</sample from Full Metal Jacket>

Chorus

Verse 4: [Fresh Kid Ice]
It's true, you were a virgin until you met me
I was the first to make you hot and wetty-wetty
You tell your parents that we're goin' out
Never to the movies, just straight to my house
You said it yourself, you like it like I do
Put your lips on my dick, and suck my asshole too
I'm a freak in heat, a dog without warning
My appetite is sex, 'cause me so horny

Chorus
Breakdown (repeated):
<sample from Full Metal Jacket>
Fuckie suckie. Me fuckie suckie.
</sample from Full Metal Jacket>

Eurovision is calling...

So I made a really big plate of stir-fry, as I was in dire need of some vegetables. I've been unable to concentrate properly so I thought some vitamins etc. would do the trick.

May it also be noted that I am currently watching "Cloverfield" on 2BE.

It.            Is.            Shite.

Anywho, I've otherwise been entertaining myself with Eurovision videos. I've been checking out a few of the entries and here are some of my picks - good and bad. I'll let everybody else decide which are good and bad...

I like this one - it was about the first one I heard. But great Eurovision dance pop!

A favourite of mine - reminds me of my year abroad in Valencia. Probably the accordion sounding thingamibob.

Italy, not the best comeback. In fact that's too polite. It's just shit. Stop trying so hard, Italy - it's EUROVISION!!

Belgium on the other hand, bless them, not trying hard enough. I blame the government. Oh, wait...

Still better than the Netherlands with "Je vecht nooit allen", which I shan't even bother to post. No. Just no.

Glen Vella of Malta, flying the rainbow flag. FINALLY, a song with a key change!

I just don't know what's going to happen with this. 

Frightful as it is, I can imagine it doing better than Blue, probably because Blue are going to choose to sing live, rather than leave it to backing singers like real modern Eurovision performers. 

However, I will probably dedicate a whole post to the UK's entry. Anything's got to be better than Josh Dub-whatever.