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 …
Category Archives: daily life
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, …
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 …
when the sun shines
…I strap Darwin to my back and go for a long walk, because tomorrow it’s going to be cloudy and cold again.
I could live here for a long time
I won’t go so far as to say the “f” word… (Forever.) …but I think I could see us living in Ghent for a long time. Longer-than-three-years, long time. Longer-than-Kyrgyzstan, long time. Moving to Bishkek, the plan was open-ended. Well, initially we said, “Let’s stay at least a year and see where it goes from …
our mini-trip to Bruges
Farrell’s commute (which I do not envy at all) involves two bikes, a train, and about 3 hours total every day. He rides a bike from our house to a train station, catches a train to Bruges, then rides a second bike to his office at the far side of the town (beyond the cute …
I can’t pronounce my neighborhood
Gentbrugge. Gent + Brugge. Brugge is the Flemish spelling for Bruges, which I pronounce like “bruise” with a “zh” at the end instead of just a “z”. Therefore, Gent+Bruges=Gentbrugge. Right? Wrong. One of my first Flemish lessons occurred in Kyrgyzstan without me really knowing it. The last names of one of our Belgian friends has …
2014 Resolutions
As a millenial and a twentysomething woman, I feel it is steeped in my cultural upbringing to admit for the billionth time that I love writing lists of goals, resolutions and things-to-do, then blog about those lists and potentially not follow through on most of what is listed on those lists. So here we go …
a quick kitchen tour
There are many things going on right now. Sleep training, which also means nap training, which kind of means no sleep or naps for anybody? Bank accounts, home insurance, Farrell’s two-hour commute (each way! dammit, Bruges), figuring out dinner every night (I’m starting to realize we went out for dinner a lot or I usually …