One distinctly unique behavior I noticed among my Belgian friends in Kyrgyzstan is that they were constantly talking about terraces. It’s sunny, let’s go sit on a terrace. We’ll order tea and beer and sit on a nice terrace. Farrell and I could never match their enthusiasm, especially in Bishkek where it was sunny most …
Monthly Archives: April 2014
a day in Antwerp
Recently, I met up with Annie of MontgomeryFest for a delightful day in Antwerp! We had (apparently lofty) ambitions of going to one single craft store, with the requisite cafe time thrown in, but also decided to just “swing by” the Antwerp Zoo. It’s located right next to the Antwerpen Centraal station (like, really, just …
baby-centric Dutch
By the time I left Kyrgyzstan, my Russian was far from the fluent level I had dreamed of achieving when I first moved there. I will give myself credit though, for my taxi-Russian, my restaurant-Russian, and my Darwin-Russian. Babies are natural conversation starters, I find. Especially when Darwin was super small and squishy, strangers would …
house tour
To show you what a huge contrast this place is from the last place we lived in Bishkek (or any place, really, because plain white walls were a rare find in Bishkek). To show you what you could possibly rent for 760 Euros a month in Gent(brugge, technically just outside of Ghent). To have proof, …
should we buy a car?
Update! We bought a dang car. Thanks everybody for your responses! Quick post: help me, Internet. Give me your crowd knowledge. Here’s the situation. I got a job offer, and I’m patiently waiting for my work permit to come through. The job is in Bruges until mid-June, then it moves to Ghent. (Stay with me, …
DIY cork map
Now that I’m living in a stable location and about to start a new, full-time job, I’m trying to make my way through my giant dream list of DIY projects during my remaining free days. This one was much more manageable for our power tool-less household. I wanted a map to hang on a wall …
Five months in: the pros and cons
I’ve only been here for just over five months, so my views are a bit limited, but here are my pros and cons so far: Pro – Ghent is family-friendly. People always seem willing to lend a hand with a stroller, there are tons of parks, playgrounds, and walking/bike paths around, and the city is …