Wedding Blog

I was asked to write a feature blog post  and I thought I would post it here also.
As of the 10^th of November 2012 I start another chapter of my life as on that day Kevin asked me to marry him.

Yes finally engaged such amazing news. However I have never written about the story of me a Kevin and given this is a guest blog post for a wedding blog I figured now is a good time to tell it. So here it is. In short. Basically I was friends with his brother online from a internet forum and thus I became in contact with Kevin. We didn’t speak much until we both went to our universities and found ourselves on line at the same times a lot more often. (Yahoo messenger and MSN). By this point I was with my boyfriend Tom and we had been together about 2 years. He had left to start his basic training in the army and was discharged a couple of months later due to a knee injury without finishing. However when he came back the relationship started to break down and he became very abusive we lasted another year before breaking up and then got back together a few months later convinced I still loved him and we could work it out and we also moved in together. Also during this year my friendship with Kevin and grown and I found him a good friend to talk to. However the abuse with Tom continued constant fights that were all my fault and resulting in me being hit and kicked and made to feel worthless and for some time I believed it to be true. Thankfully it was not an extreme case but I believe now looking back it was heading that way. I can understand why those in extreme cases still stay with their abusers for such a long time. Luckily I had Kevin as this was all going on I would talk to him about the hurt. Even though he would tell me that he was no good for me I couldn't see it. I eventually threw Tom out almost a year after our first brake up for cheating and we tried to work things out at a distance. (I eventually ended it a couple of months later when he was angered and kicked the wing mirror of my car). I know it sounds crazy but I did find myself also developing feelings for Kevin at the same time. However regardless he had been an amazing friend and I decided to fly out to visit him on his internship in Germany. It was in Hanover Germany were we started to fall in love. In that short trip I found he had treated me better than Tom had done in a total of almost 4 years.  We decided to embark on a long-distance relationship as I finished off university for my final year having 3 trips to see one another and me spending countless hours chatting on msn via mobile internet. It was when I finished university I decided to try to move to Belgium. I decided to be a Au Pair as I had to learn Dutch and didn’t want to move in with Kevin right away.  I learned there is a lot of emotions that co inside with moving countries however after a year we decided to move into together. Getting a 2 bed apartment together and an adorable little one year old cat named Sushi.

Kevin’s proposal to me isn’t one I would call typical. I have a favorite chocolate shop here called leonidas and I loved there mixed selection. So he decided to present me with a leonidas box and stated that he had brought my favourite  Upon opening it they were his favourite (a teasing joke from him) and the ring box was inside and I found it and he asked me. That was that it sweet had his teasing element and intimate.

We have decided to get Married 18^th Feb 2014 as this will be the 4^th anniversary of when we got together and it will take place in my home town in the UK.  It will be a wedding on a small budget and probably a month task of organizing a wedding in UK whilst I am in Belgium. I cant really hop over the boarder as my home town is very far North and it takes 11 hours by car and boat door to door. I have decided currently is lots of googleing. Looking up favour ideas (On of my favours is netted bags with a few Belgium chocolates in them) as well as bridesmaid and wedding dress styles. Our chosen colours will be white and a olive green.  He is a collage of my fave wedding things 

Home sickness is a terrible thing

So the past week as been a little bit of a hard one. I wonder if its the heat of the summer that has gone but I have found myself this week very homesick. 

The funny thing I don't miss England as a country. Apparently things are very bad there. This mostly down to the economy my dad and my sister are both threatened to be paid off again and I keep hearing of a increase of child abductions. I love the fact that were I live is so safe and peaceful i just wish i could take all my family and friends with me. 

However it was when going out with friends on Friday that my insecurity got to me. I hear about friends colleges and family because of my lack of grammar driving them mad. (I have very bad dyslexia so I have always had a problem with grammar). As well as a conversation about what you have children its the end of your social life. This made me yearn for those long built close friendships with people I know will always support me. I know that for myself I wouldn't lose my social life as Kevin would be willing to take children while I went out once or twice a month. I just hope other realise it and they dont start to outcast me. I already feel that I have lost some of my friendships here. I know that friendships take time but sometimes I feel impatient and miss the closeness i had with people.

It also makes for very hard times when those close friends i speak of have problems of there own and i find myself to far away to help. Sometimes I feel myself very torn between the country I love and the people I love and wish i could have things both ways. I hope with time I can find friendships such as those I miss from uk. 

So questions for thought. How do others deal with homesickness and leaving loved ones behind?

Reflection

I am now I'm reaching the 18 months mark of my time here in Belgium. I have finished my time as a Au Pair and I am still very lucky that I can babysit for them at times.

It has been a very up and down 18 months and when I first became a au pair I never imaged the impact the family would have on me. I love the family almost like they were my own and the realisation of leaving them was difficult  I also had in fact learned a great deal from them. But I guess that's what the experience is all about. I am very close to the daughter a lot more than the son. However I have grown very found of them both.

As for the other aspects of my life in Belgium. Sometimes it can be slow a difficult. Some days it feels like a big struggle. My language learning is slow and steady  however my hopes for a job are small. All I can do for now is learn Dutch and hope Kevin gets a job with enough to support us as a programmer until I can get things prepared on the Dutch front. However I must admit that currently I am not enjoying my classes at all. The teacher can be really bad sometimes and I feel very out casted among all the Turkish and French speaking people in my class. The is a couple of Spanish girls who however are very nice at lest.

However the more I am here the more things I love about Flanders and Gent and the more I want to make things work. I guess i just have to be paceant. Also in other news I will no longer be writing for Fans of Flanders. Apparently my blog just isn't up to scratch. However I guess that's not important as I write it for myself.

Anyway last weekend I had a lovely shopping trip to get myself some winter goodies. The cold weather is setting in now time to bring out all those winter woollies and in my case buy some more  I almost got my long awaited Leonidas  hot chocolate on Saturday to. However when we went it was close lol. I have only been waiting for a hot chocolate there since last November  Oh well try again in a few weeks I guess however we did have a lovely dinner in the Founde Huisje. I can totally recommend there house rose wine to was really nice. A kind of grenache or slightly dry zinfandel. It was very light to drink and went lovely with the cheese and shrimp crockets before the fondue came. Also I would love to know what dressing the put on there salads there it was so yum. All in all it was a fab day we bought some xmas gifts Kevin got a game and I got a few jumpers and very achy feet. I must admit despite the weather being so horriebal and rainy that day im surprised that Gent was so busy.

Fans Of Flanders Outing

So a few weeks ago  I went on an adventure for the TV Show Fans Of Flanders. I was sent out to try electrified 3. Basically every year they do products around the city to try out. I was sent of 2 of the 3 projects.

The first of these projects was what they called a bicycle opera. My first thoughts was it would passably be a traditional opera and then with actors around the city. However it wasn't really like a opera at all. It was more like a tour of the city with a interesting soundtrack. It was very interesting however how you ride along and here pieces of the city inter grated with pieces of music. Sometimes you almost felt like you were half in another time or place as your ears were hearing sounds and stories from the 60s and your eyes were seeing 2012 making things somewhat unreal and dreamlike. However most of all it was a lot of fun.

As for the second piece this was even weirder for me. It was partly the same idea about taking sounds from a pre recorded track and emphasizing sounds from the city. This time I was given a pair of head phones and  there was music and dialogue. The idea behind the dialogue was in fact that I didn't exist and I was there to observe people and what people do. Given that we as people usually walk around with our heads down as we go about your daily lives and don't really pay attention to others around us it was also nice to take the time and see what sounds and images we notice. The sounds also came into the track from a microphone but were some how distorted keeping up the sense of I am not really here almost like I'm a ghost. Thus as I walked around I began to forget that I was in a way real and forget that people around me may walk into me etc.

The more I reflect on both events I do think that the second one was perhaps my Favourite as they were both a real experience and my talking about them just dose't do them justice. However I feel that I got more from the second one it left with with a lot to think about and reflect on. Over all both pieces purpus I think was to make people be more aware of the city around them and I defiantly discovered more of Gent of my travels.

I fully recommend trying them out as its something that will stick with me for a long time. 

Got Milk??????

Ok so I have been here what now 16 months and I have never wrote about this topic before but it is something that is very much in my daily life here in Belgium and that is of course Milk. Now I come from uk were most milk is fresh milk. This mean that it has to kept in the fridge and lasts from about 3 days to a week depending on weather it is whole milk semi skimmed or skimmed. Basically how much cream is in them. However I discovered in Belgium that most milk is UHT. I read somewhere around 97% in fact but this could be a little off. Now before anyone starts on me. Yes you can get fresh milk. It is a bit more expansive however my problem is this its only available in whole or semi skimmed and I only drink skimmed milk. So this means no fresh milk for Hannah.

People say why not just drink UHT milk. After all its better for the environment. Yes that maybe the case however in my opoion it tastes like utter crap. It was a weird smell and taste to it. I have found one brand called campina that well I can cope with in my tea and in my cereal however I cant really drink it on its own and really just tastes werider when it is warmed. However it would seem that skimmed milk also isnt very popular in this country. This brings me to my second dielemma. Getting a skimmed milk latte. So i spent my frist 4 to 5 months in belgium craving a good skimmed latte. Never mind a good one I couldn't even find one.   So you can imageing my excitement when leaveing antwerp train station and finding a starbucks. (Even though in UK I dont even like starbucks much im more of a costa coffee girl) Regardless I payed a small fortune for a skimmed latte and this was my reactation.

Now lucky for me since those photos that were taken a little over a year ago they have opened 2 Starbucks in gent. (I guess someone out there heard my cries). So at least I can get skimmed lattes a little more regularly than going all the way to Antwerp. However they are still around 5 euros a go. But I have started wondering weather I can make myself drink Semi skimmed milk again or weather it will be to rich for me and at least then I can get my fresh milk more regular than going to the Nederlands for it. Well there you have it the story of Me Milk and Belgium. I wonder if anyone else has this problem or they have managed to go for the Belgium style milk or do they still get the fresh stuff. 

Rant Alert

So I have been taking my classes for a week now and again I am surrounded by people who have lived in Belgium for 5, 10. 20 years and still don't have a basic grip on the language. I just don't understand how unless you work for a international company can you not at lest have a basic understanding of what people are saying to you in Flemish. Or even English. Yes I know that English isn't a language of Flanders but many Flemish do speak English and it makes it harder for me to learn Flemish as a lot of the time they switch for me once they pick up I am English. However I always try. Even with this fact that 80 percent of the time people speak English to me I still find myself in situations were I the fact I don't know enough Dutch frustrating like I cant find a job. So please explain how people can support themselves for 5 10 20 years in a country and are only now starting to take lessons in the countries Language or perhaps its just me being nieve.

I guess I am just having a big homesick moment as I struggle a lot of the time here with the language and alot of the time it dose not feel like I get a brake I would love a job and be able to support myself and not need the constant help from my bf etc.. I just cant get my head around it all. Well rant over but surely im not the only one who feels this way. 

Busy Busy Weekend

So this is the first blog I am writing for Fans of Flanders and I am a little nervous. I am suddenly feeling the pressure now as really I was never sure who reads it outside of close friends. But here we go I have my tea and toast so hopefully there will be some inspiration there. Sadly non of these items are Flemish. The tea is from England and the bread from Nederlands. As much as I looooooveeeee belgium bakers the bread isn't thick enough to make a good toast with it.

So this weekend I went back to the Animal park in Deinze. If you look at earlyer posts I went there with kevin but this time I went with the kids I used to be a au pair for and took lots more different photos for you guys to see.  I wonder if the goat is the same baby one from last year lol. We also had a pick nick and this time played mini golf. I also love the views of the small seculeed flower gardens. Very peaceful and great for pick nicks. So despite the weather being a bit rainy and cold we had a good day and the sun got out a bit.

So that was that really after the park I popped to pauls bakery  to pick up a birthday cake from there vast selection and then headed to a friends for a night out of Irsh barnesss. We usually wonder around at least between 2 bars but this evening we basically ended up in Patrick Foleys. Out of this and the Den Engel which are both owned by the same guy I think this one is my fav for evening and the Den Engel is better  for being very Flemish and sitting out of the terrace and watching the world go bye. Also the Celtic Towers has a time terrace spot. However all 3 bars do food and sadly I have only tried food in Celtic towers and even then it was only a snack and Foleys is a hotel also. There isn't really a real closing time in Foleys I think its around 5 at the latest but they generally close when almost everyone is gone. Good attitude for the customers I feel a bit sorry for the staff however. The bar its self dose a good range of drinks wines belgium beers cava whisky and Irish Cider. That is apparently dry but I think its rather sweet like woodpecker from UK. Yum or as the Flemish say Njam.



Saturday was mostly a moving day and I attended a BBQ Birthday / House warming of a friends but ended up coming home early from that as Kevin was at home and not well. So really not a lot to say on that subject. Kevin felt not to bad on Sunday but not the best so we went ahead with entertaining family for part one of our 4 house-warming get together. I put out some snacks and cava (Yes they drink a lot of cava in this country so much that you can buy it buy the glass and not just the bottle) and of course they were cakes and coffee from pauls yet again. I must say however I did get some lovely gifts.

Well I guess that's that for now basically that was all I got up to this weekend. Needless to say September is a little dull for me in terms of seeing Belgium with just moving it makes it all a little difficult. I go back to dutch lessons tomorrow so that may be interesting new class but the same teacher. I am repeating level 2 as I had to drop part of the year with sorting car out to be imported. However as far as learning Dutch I can see big changes its still super tricky with all the dialects but I am starting to get more confident with speaking and listening is improving day by day. 

Baking Frenzy

So over the last year as a Au Pair it almost looks like I have been baking myself into a new dress size. (Sadly one bigger than I already was). However the girl of the 2 children I take care of loves to bake so we have been baking a lot over the year including last summer when we made over 50 cookies for the kids to take to family in Finland. I have enjoyed it to as I used to bake a lot when i was around 12 to about 15 and then just never had the time again. Mainly we bake variations on English Fairy cakes and American cookies here are some photos from the past year.

Our first attempt at piping and making carrot cakes. The kids liked the cake but weren't so found of the cream cheese topping. Also we tried piping using a plastic food bag lol.

 

So these we have made a few times when the strawberries are is season and they are my Host Mums fav. Basically its just a fairy cake with strawberry jam inside and butter cream topped with a strawberry. We found the proper piping bag and this was our first time piping them correctly. We made them for our host mums Birthday and I think we made a really good job. Jeanine (The girl I am the Au Pair for) Has gotten the hang of piping a lot quicker than I have.









Ok so you will have to forgive the poor quality of this photo I took it late at night with my cam. These cakes were a little experimental and we made them last week with a chocolate fairy cake sponge filled with specspeculoos spread and topped with butter cream. I really love the piping on these ones and the one in the photo is actually one that Jeanine did. (However I think they were a bit sickly)

Well that's all the pics I could find a memory card of my camera broke a couple months back and that's perhaps were all the cookies photos were not to worrie we will be making cookies this Friday. 

Gentse Feesten

Okies So this post is the dedicated to the Gentse Feesten.

What is the Gentse Feesten you may ask. Well Basically to explain it in the simplest way possible it runs in July around the 14th and is a 10 day long street party and festival.  Literally there is something for everyone. Day time they are a host of children's actives from bouncy castles face painting street performers themed boat rides and Craft Activities. Also running from day well into the night and early hours is a host of other actives that include parades street performers theatre and comedy acts as well as stages out side and around Gent housing many consorts from the famous Poli Poli  there is also tents were you can try out Salsa and shopping markets.

Not everything at the Gentse Feesten is free however there is a lot of free activities as well as prices to suit all pockets. I however this year didn't have much money or time so I spend one evening out this year it was Friday 20th of July. I must the the atmosphere was amazing. The weather wasn't the hottest but at lest it was dry. Everyone was really friendly and relaxed. It was indeed a welcome and pleasant change from the sites I am used to in UK were usually alcohol  usually leads to fighting not this laid back attitude that I witnessed. It made me feel safe and therefor I was able to enjoy myself more.

I started off my Gentse Feesten  experience in one of the Irish bars and from there first had a walk around taking in all the sites and seeing what was down all the different streets as well as grabbing one of my fave waffles and ice cream. From the Australian Waffle stand Yum

We also ran into the odd street performer.

Given that we started to wonder around between 8 and 9 pm all the children's activies were well finished however there was still a largish fair or Kermis around the Vrijdagmarkt. Over my year here I have come to earn the the fair / carnival is a big part of Flemish culture and they have at lest 2 large ones a year. Usually one in summer and one around the fall.

After walking around and getting the tour from my friend we ended up at the reminded of hour night at Poli Poli. The history of Pole Pole is it used to be a music stage for the younger adults and teens that was on the water. However due to safety issues now the stage is at one side of the water. More info is on there website http://www.polepole.be/festivals/pole-pole-gent/. Given one of our fave Irish bars were also we waited at the gates for a hour until we realised everyone was just walking around the side and thus we eventually did so to and then we partied out. Was one of the best night club nights I had had since being a fresher at university.



Now hats off to the police and security at Pole Pole. There was sadly some pushing at the fence at the closed the entrance for a hour or 2 due to it being to full and the police acted very quickly avoiding any real trouble.

Problems with Pole Pole the drinks were expensive but apparently its how they pay for such an amazing event I paid about 8 euro for a cocktail but it was strong. Also I did get caught out with getting a train home to. We stayed out until 6 were the trams started back up however there wasn't a train back to were I live until 8 am. Apparently they do put on more trains for the Gentse Feesten but Saturday morning also was apparently a national holiday so this was perhaps the reason for later trains. But i decided it would be a good idea to walk home from De Pinte Station lol. Yeah the walk is wayyyyyy longer than i thought. But i didn't find someone with a mini sculpture of the Brussels Atom on in there garden.

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25/6/ Zumba and Pauls

So last Thursday I finally took my first Zumba lesson in Belgium. Taken over a year but I finally did it yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
I did enjoy it. However it was hard after not really doing it in so long and a figured that these people were more advanced than when i started or it sure felt like it. I thought the teacher was nice and she showed the moves before each dance and then put them together as the music went on. However I am not sure I will be attending another Zumba lesson. The problem is that they only seem to have Zumba lessons in Gyms and therefore you have to pay for a gym membership and they are sooo pricey. I wish they did them in community centres etc and you just payed a few euro's each session.

Well this weekend I went to visit Alice and after a hour of driving around in circles I finally arrived with some tasty treats from Pauls bakery.

So the white things with the red balls on top that now look like boobies to me lol. These were white chocate moose's with a jam filling. So good but maybe a little sickly. The other things are a koffekoeken. Basically a coffee pastry called a mirror. (Apparently). I got these because we have a soft stop for the puddingy stuff in the middle. Basically its cold custard lol. Although I have to say I think the choco moose was my fave lol. I must say I love this bakers and will likely try and work my way through the menu in the coming months.

Another thing I did this weekend is try a second Sushi place in Gent called Tyoko Sushi. I didn't take no pictures sadly. So really I have very little to say about it it was a pretty good price cost us 20 euros each and we will def be back there. (Then I can remember to take pictures lol hopefully )

Over A Year In Belgium

Yep that right I have officially made it over a year here. Other fab news is that me and Kevin are Getting our own apartment. So a figured as we are more than a year in should up date with a long post and hopefully now that I am out and about more around Gent I can post more often.

Needless to say this year I have not done as much exploring as I might of hoped. Indeed overall I could be considered boring.

Restaurants.

I have tried out a few Restaurants and will talk about them all in turn.

1. Fondue husje in Gent (I think that spelling is correct. Also not to be confuse with fondue huis near vrijdag market). This was a pretty good place and for 2 of us with soft drinks and desert cost us around 70 euro s. We got plenty of salad and fries and a plate of meat to dip in the fondue. Meat was really yummy and came with different sauces. However desert I found was a let down. They was fruit and as chocolate fondue however it was dark chocolate and very bitter.

2. Pampas. In Gent. This is by far my favourite place to stuff my face currently. Basically the idea is you pay around 30euros excluding drinks and dessert and you start with some garlic bread and tapas and then its all you can eat salad fries (or jacket potatoe) and then fresh BBQed meat and fish. So far I have been here twice once for my birthday and once with Kevin and some friends. Needless to say I have been so stuffed I have never got to try to a desert.
Anyway to the right is a pic from pampas. The man is cutting off peices of pineapple. The severs are coming around all the time to slice you off pieces of the different foods on the menu  from pork lamb beef sausage pineapple prawns white fish and so on. All this yummy marinades on.  I must admit its some of the best lamb I have ever had. If my little sister comes to visit I will def be taking her here.

3. Ocean Sushi in Gent  Ok so I have always wanted to try good sushi. I am not a huge fan of seafood but sushi is one of those things sometimes I've eaten it and kinda liked it but everyone said it was because it was cheap and low quality. So in feb me and Kevin tried this place in celebration of 2 years together. I must admit I am now a fan of Sushi, On the Right is my meal. As I was unsure I would like the saw seafood I took a veggie option and the rolls were filled with cue cumber and avocado and the other pieces had egg omletts on and avocado. It doesn't look like much but was very filling.
Anyway the photo below is Kevin with his sushi choices and yes I also stole a taste of some of his rolls with the tuna and salmon in which were pretty tasty.

Kevin said that he enjoyed the cones the best but he liked all of it. The fish was really fresh and good quality to.  Sadly I don't remember how much it cost but they do have full menus on-line as well as having a place in Antwerp.

4. Peking Garden  in Halle. I have tried a few takeaways for Chinese food in Belgium however I like this the best. I have found that Chinese food on a whole here doesn't have much of sticky sauces like we do in UK and that I miss. However this place do the best Lumpias or spring rolls. The place is reasonably prices costing around 50 euros for 2 starts mains with rice and a bottle of water. Also the surroundings are lovely and the staff very pleasant and friendly.

Well that's it basically on the food front apart from that I have done little else expect from trips to Starbucks, bars and the pictures. Lately however I have met a few people at ex pat meets and a new friend named Alice. We get on really well and have spent a lot of time around het spiker and the Irsh bars in Gent. These seem to my new watering holes. Anyway love to all and until next time and hopefully that wont be to long.