An Afternoon in Antwerp

Spent a lovely afternoon in Antwerp (about 2 hours north-west of  Liege and Europe's second biggest port after Rotterdam) yesterday with Winand, a  friendly colleague from school, and Greet his girlfriend. G was brought up in Antwerp and W had spent a lot of time there so I was lucky to be there with two experts - much nicer than a guidebook.

The Cathedral from the Grote Markt

 We had a good look at the enormous Cathedral of Our Lady which is delicately embellished with latttice work, a smaller baroque church built by the Jesuits, and the world's first Stock Exchange! Also interesting was the Butchers' Guild House or  union building which is built of a combination of reddish-pink bricks and white mortar which gives the building the appearance of streaky bacon. The Flemish of the past were obviously  not without a sense of humour!

The first Stock Exchange - the birthplace of Capitalism?

The streaky bacon building!

 We soaked up the atmosphere walking the cobblestoned streets admiring the narrow, multi-storied houses with their staircase tops and and other more intimate alleyways where the less wealthy lived. We enjoyed a hot choc in the Grote Markt where we could admire the statue of the characters from the legend from which Antwerp gets his name. Evidently, Antwerp comes from Dutch words meaning 'hand throwing'. Apparently there was a giant who controlled the large river Scheldt and used to extract a toll from people who passed by. If they refused, he used to cut off one of their hands and throw it into the river. One day a hero called Brabo slayed the  Giant, cut off his  hand and threw it into the river: hand (hand!) werpen (throwing) became Antwerpen.

The hand thrower!

Walking beside the large river was almost as good as being at beach. Although it was a liitle chilly, the sky was blue and I thought that I could smell the sea, but was told the sea was at least 30 k away. We left Antwerp as the sun was setting - the first time I have seen a sunset in weeks. I was happy in mind and stomach having supped on gluhwein and eaten apple pie and cherry waffles at a cafe in the. Delicious!

The guild houses in the Grote Markt

More step houses!

Later, we arrived at W and G's house near Landen. We were greeted by 2 rather boisterous but aimiable dogs (some sort of foxy cross). It was dark but I put on the proffered gumboots to go out the back to feed the ponies - two wee Shetlands. I  had a tour of the house which was originally very small and mostly made up of stables but which had been almost totally  rebuilt inside by W. Impressive! Dinner - spaghetti bolognaise and a glass of red wine -   reminded me of a hearty NZ dinner - tasty and relaxed. A great day!

CCCCCCCCCold!

As I noted in a previous post, the snow finally arrived last Monday  and  - it's still here!It has been freezing (and I use that word in it's true dictionary sense) here ever since.

On Tuesday, I crunched my way to the bus-stop looking like a red Michelin man with my bulky merino and polyprop layers bulging under my red Macpac jacket. (No photo - just use your imagination). I also had two pairs of possum-merino socks on and my boots.

At the bus stop, I stood beside a teenage waif who was hatless and gloveless and who wore a thin coat over a dress and pantyhose. She literally shook with the cold. I offered her my gloves but she declined. The barometer on the nearby pharmacy read - 8 degrees ( I thought that was cold at the time but now I know better!) Most pharmacies here seem to have an electronic sign outside which records the date and the temperature - there are 3 pharmacies in the  village of Embourg and two of them have these signs. Interestingly the other pharmacy's sign reported 18 degrees - I know which one I believed. But I digress.

The buses all seem to have been late this week. Funny how 20 minutes of standing in the cold can feel like an hour in the freezer. My feet and nose have suffered the worse. I do wish that my genes had allowed for a more petite model of the latter.

By Wednesday, I knew that this was really winter in Liege: finally, people were wrapping up like mummies or the Michelin family and Granny's daughter, Anne - a true Liegoise, told me it was unseasonably cold when she gave me a lift to the LD site in Seraing on Thursday. I wondered why we didn't have more snow but Anne and Granny both explained to me that it was TOO cold  to snow. C'est vrai??? We did have a dusting of snow yesterday (Friday) when the temperature rose to -4 but today we were back to -13 at 9.30 am.

 I have to say that I am a bit over it now. I'm sick of freezing while I wait for buses that are always late. I miss my little red Toyota with its excellent heater. However, I did read a report yesterday of Europe's longest traffic jam which occurred  in Belgium - it was 1000 kms long. At least the buses (with their designated lanes) seem to avoid the traffic jams and I haven't frozen to death on the street yet - about 200 people throughout Europe already have.

 Apparently most of Europe is experiencing Arctic conditions at the moment and its forecast to continue into next week!  Dunedin winters are going to be a cinch after this.

ChChChChChanges!

So it's a new year: 2012! - I've made a few changes already. The most important one is my French course. While I enjoyed the people on my course and Madame Demaret's forays into Japanese, Roman and Persian culture as well as hearing about Charlemagne, I felt that I wasn't making progress fast enough. I investigated a number of courses over the Christmas break and eventually enrolled in the University of Liege French  course for those who wish to study at the University of Liege. The course is every weekday morning but I'm only able to go M,W and F as I still need to help out at Lucie D.

I felt bad telling Madame D that I was leaving but even worse saying good-bye to the class. They felt like kindred spirits in that we had all been foreigners in Belgium trying to learn the language at one point or another. Many of them had also shared some of their life stories with us.

However, I am enjoying the new course - there are only 14 students as opposed to 30+ and although the majority are in their 20s, there are others in their 30s also. I am without a doubt the granny of the class but I'm okay with that. There are a mixture of nationalities: Sicilian, Portuguese, several Turks, 2 guys from Africa, a German, several South Americans (Brazilian, Venezuelan), Spanish and Chinese. They are friendly and the teacher Aline - no 'Madame' here is very good. The pace is a lot faster. Interestingly, we have our class clown - this time it is Victor from Venezuela. He plays football for one of the local clubs. He often repeats things after the teacher and asks questions that have already been answered. His phone often rings in class and he is often late. However, you can't help but like him - he's very engaging. Overall, though, the class is quite serious. The course is expensive and the aim of most of the students is to be able to go to the University of Liege as a full-time student.

I am also taking a diction course at the Academie Gretry on the Outremeuse. Pierre Maes, a French teacher at Lucie Dejardin suggested it to me. It is a bit challenging but I'm enjoying the tongue twisters e.g. Suzy suches des suchetes - or Suzy sucks suckers. My first activity was to take a news article and write it from a witness point of view and give my opinion of it and then learn the three versions off by heart - all in French remember! So far so good.

Now that Pierre has gone to NZ for a year with his family (he's living in Wellington but I've invited him and his family to stay in the October holidays), I'm having to get up very early - 5.45am - not really a morning person.(Previously, Pierre usually took me to school M-Th) However, it was my choice to stay in Embourg so that's how it is and actually it's only twice a week as I start a little later on the other days.

On a lighter note in terms of changes - my hair keeps getting shorter every time I go to the hairdresser's. It was also getting more and more orange - I was the veritable 'orange roughy' after my penultimate appointment, so  last time I took pictures with me.

A veritable orange roughy!

 According to the coiffeur, Gregory, I looked good in orange and he was rather loathe to change but I was steadfast. He gave in on the colour but then he asked me if I wanted 'un or deux centimetres off the length - I replied 'un' but in my opinion, he took trois!

Until next time...Bisous

Snow at last!

Granny's house before I shovelled the snow off the path.

Wow! Woke up this morning and it had snowed - heaps! In fact it is still snowing and it's 4.30 in the afternoon. Despite the fact that it's a Monday, I've been at home for the day as there is a general strike in Belgium. Most of the staff at school were on strike, including Daniel and I was told not to go to school.(Technically, I can't be on strike because I'm not paid by the Belgians!) The main thing they're striking about is the raising of the age for retirement - it's 60 here and they're planning to put it up to 63. Teachers and some other government employees can take early retirement at 55 but this will be raised to 60 if the government's plans come to fruition. Something else I learnt is that when teachers retire here they receive a pension of  80% of the average of their last 5 years' income - a whole lot better than in NZ. Teachers are paid less than in NZ but life is a lot less stressful.

The back lawn and garden at Granny's.

Back to the snow - I've taken a few pictures and went out in the snow but didn't stay out long - there was no-one to play with! I did do a little shovelling as Granny had her Bridge group coming over for the afternoon - 10 cm or so of snow wasn't going to put them off.  Granny insisted on inviting me downstairs to be introduced to the bridge group member. There were 7 of them at that stage and Granny was keen for her "timide" (or shy in English) boarder as she described me to make up the 4th member of the 2nd group. Unfortunately, the chemistry teacher at high school failed to interest me in the school bridge club so I had to let Granny down.

Anyone for some snowbathing?

Our Street.

Looking at the forecast, the snow might be around for awhile as the temperature for the next 4 days doesn't go about zero and is predicted to be -17 on Thursday! I will definitely be wearing every piece of thermal and merino clothing that I have when I go to school that day! Unlike Dunedin, Liege certainly doesn't stop for a few centimetres of snow.

Yesterday, I returned to Aywaille (about half an hour by bus south of here in The Ardennes). Veronique, one of the PE teachers had invited me for a walk and lunch in the Christmas break. The walk was great and Veronique and her husband Charles speak clear French to me so it was good for my French and for my health.

Veronique  with a view of Aywaille in the distance.

I was invited back yesterday. Again, we had a good walk through the forest and around the hills of Aywaille, then it was back to V's for lunch. After lunch, V and I went to Durbuy http://www.visitbelgium.com/index.php/our-cities/durbuy - the smallest town in the world - apparently.It was charming but also bitterly cold.

Not my photo as I didn't have my camera with me!

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?
 I had dinner with V, C and their 20-something children Jean-Philippe and Caroline. Jean-Philippe has a Music degree and Caroline is finishing the equivalent of her Master's in translation. She speaks French, English, Dutch, Italian and Russian! For souper, we had a lovely leek soup followed by a traditional Liegoise dish of chicon gratin. Chocolate for dessert -Mmmmmm!

My fellow teachers will be starting another year of educating the young minds of NZ this week. Lots of them have been busy the last couple of weeks getting organised as the hundreds of emails in my inbox from the EnglishList Serv attests. Bon courage as they say here in Belgium. I do hope this year's  going to be a good one.

A pretty tree

A day in Paris

Daniel, the teacher I work with most at Lucie Dejardin, had seen an advertisement for a Maori Exhibition in Paris and decided that we should go. By chance, there was a school trip to Paris planned for the 22nd Dec - the penultimate day of school and there was room on the bus for us.

I was up very early on the Thursday morning: 2:45. As there is no public transport at that hour, Blandine, a teacher of French at LD gave me a lift. It was cold, dark and wet when we left Liege, just after 4am. Five hours later, we were in Paris. After negotiating the mad, rush-hour traffic which circulates around the Arc de Triomphe, we arrived at the Eiffel Tower.

 

 I had forgotten how huge it is (the only time I have been in Paris was over 20 years ago). Daniel, his wife Claire, son, daughter and several  friends and I got off the bus and left the rest of the students and teachers to their sightseeing. Since we were at the Tower and it had just opened for the day, we decided to go up it for the view ( Paris was grey and cloudy but rainless). We took the lift to the top - it was very windy but the view was fabulous. I had forgotten that Gustave Eiffel had had an office there.

 I don't know how he could concentrate with so much to see out his office window. On the way down, we stopped at the first floor where amazingly amidst the tourist shops and restaurant, there was an ice skating rink with  queue of people wanting to be able to say: 'I skated on the Eiffel Tower!'

After the Tower, we walked along Quai Branly to Musee du Quai Branly - a very modern museum centred on indigenous peoples. The exhibition was based on the 'Spirit of the Maori'.  Although there were many artifacts, the focus was on Maori sovereignty: the Land marches and Bastion Point.   In my opinion, while this exhibition would be interesting and appropriate in the context of NZ (it had originally been exhibited at Te Papa), I think it could have promoted a really negative image of Pakeha-Maori relationships to people who knew little of NZ judging by what Daniel had to say.

Next feeling  a little peckish, we strolled down the banks of the Seine and visited the Christmas Markets where we dined on a variety of sausage and chicken sandwiches (think long bread  rolls rather than 2 pieces of bread). Daniel was keen for me to try the offal sausage but I graciously declined. The Palais de Chaillot and the Trocadero gave fantastic views of the Eiffel Tower which is directly opposite it.

The afternoon was spent strolling around Paris with  hordes of other tourists. We ambled down Avenue Montaigne which is home to many fashion designers such as Chanel and into Place Vendome to gasp at the unbelievable prices of the jewellery. To my  untrained eye, the most garish and ott jewellery was the most expensive. We ordered a coffee and sat outside the cafe and people watched like good Parisiens.

Later, we walked the Champs Elysee and checked out the Tuileries gardens and more Christmas Markets before meeting the bus and the others at the Grande Roule de Paris.

Our last hour in Paris was spent at the Galleries Layfayette - somehow, I missed these amazing shops 20 years ago. I spent about 15 minutes looking at the window  displays before I went inside. The windows were full of marionettes of the muppet variety engaged in all sorts of activities - there was a band and a hairdressing salon for example. It was dark by this stage and all the Christmas lights were stunning  but I guess you had to be there!

Inside is totally amazing - the photos don't do it justice. In 3/4 hour, I could only glimpse about a 1/4 of it. Spend 5 minutes there and you're thinking 'Recession, what recession?'

We left Paris about 8:30 and I was home Chez Granny by 1.15am - tired, but looking forward to returning to Paris next year.

Joyeux Noel - Happy Christmas

Liege took a while to get into the swing of things compared to NZ but this is probably because the Belgians celebrate the Feast of St Nicholas on December 6 first.

Finally the decorations started going up and the Christmas markets opened.Huge fir trees or 'sapins' dominated the public squares and beautiful lights were hung above the cobblestoned streets. At night, it truly looked like a magic place. At first the crowds seemed quite sombre but as Christmas approached there were more smiles and happy faces.  At school, there were more christmas trees and poinsettias or Rose de Noel  dotted around the staffroom and corridors. Amazingly, most students were not tempted to throw the decorations about!

Our chorale was to have sung at the Christmas market in Place St Lambert but following the tragic events there, no-one had the heart for it (we were to sing a range of international songs rather than Christmas Carols) and so we had a pot-luck dinner and sing-song at one of the member's homes instead. (I made lemonade scones with jam and cream which were moderately more successful than the pavlovas!)

Granny's grandchildren and I helped to put up the Christmas tree and decorate it here. Granny doing a few last minute changes to our arrangement  for the sake of balance and beauty.

On Christmas Eve (Reveillon) , I had been invited to Chantal and Guy-Michel's for their family Christmas. First of all we opened the presents from under the tree. (Chantal had a very beautiful tree decorated with silver, white and clear ornaments) The expense of Christmas was kept to a minimum as we had already drawn a name each of someone else to buy for. I had drawn Chantal and bought her earrings. I was the recipient of a grey-blue scarf from Julien and Chantal and Guy-Michel also gave me a Le Chat diary. Le Chat is a cartoon figure who is  famous in  Belgium for his comments on Belgian society.

We ate and drank ( of course). Everyone had made an apero/aperitif  - my effort was soda water scones with

cream cheese and salmon (not very original but reasonably safe in the cooking department!) The main meal was a pierrade. This involved us cooking pieces of meat and prawns on a large hotplate which sat in the middle  of the table. The meat was accompanied by three different sauces and a large green salad. It was a fun, communal way of eating. Afterwards for dessert, we ate a simple and delicious  zabaglione made  by Chantal's mother.   http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/zabaglione/  A little later in the evening, I went to Midnight Mass with Chantal's mum, Genevieve.  On my return to Granny's, sometime after 1am, I skyped my family who were mostly at Kate and Howard's for Christmas lunch. It was great to see those who were there briefly (they were all keen to eat lunch!)

Christmas Day - I accompanied Granny to 11 am Mass in the city of Liege - quite a contrast to the night before as the church for midnight mass was much more modern and homely. I certainly did overtime on the religious services over Christmas but it's all part of the culture! Granny gave me a great little calendar 'une lecon de francais par jour calendrier'. Some of it is a little advanced for my level but it is all adding to my learning.

I gave Granny a grapefruit knife and spoon (it might not have been top of your Xmas wishlist but Granny likes grapefruit), some chocolat de luxe and some creme de figues du vinaigre - delicious.  If I could, I bring the latter home with me  but it doesn't come in a sealed bottle and I don't know what ag and fish  would say.

Christmas Night, Granny and I got a lift with Quentin (One of Granny's grandsons who occasionally has a conversation class with me - we speak French for half an hour and then English for half and hour) and his girlfriend to Chez Phillippe et Cecile (Granny's oldest son and his partner). Most of Granny's extended family was there (She had had the whole family the night before - I was invited too but chose to go to Chantal's). We had a lovely evening and drank (champagne - the French variety) and ate very well. Salmon followed by the traditional Buche Noel or Christmas log for dessert. Unfortunately, the photo below is not the actual cake because I forgot to take my camera. It looked quite like this though. As well as chocolate flavoured, they come in fresh cream and coffee flavoured.

Granny also made a delicious dessert that was in the shape of a log with sponge fingers on the bottom (soaked in alcohol) then covered in chocolate mousse which was put in a loaf tin mould and kept in the freezer. On the night she defrosted it and smothered it in whipped cream and chocolate - scrumptious.

So that was my Christmas in Belgium - lots of eating and drinking but more importantly lots of good company. 

La Galette des Rois

Today is the 6th of January - the Feast of the Epiphany of the Christian calendar when the three wise kings followed the star to Bethelem to see the baby Jesus bringing with them their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The only tradition that I know of in NZ for this day is to take down the Christmas Tree. Here in Belgium too, I took down the Christmas tree for Granny. Later in the day though, Fanny rang and asked if I would like to share in eating their Galette des Rois . The galette des Rois or  Kings' Cake is made of puff pastry with an almond and frangipani filling.

 Hidden inside the galette is a bean (although these days it is likely to be a tiny figurine) and whoever gets this figurine in their piece of galette is the King and  wears a golden crown. According to tradition, the youngest child sits under the table and calls out who is to get each piece as it is cut so that no one can cheat. Julien has never received the figurine and was hopeful that this year the crown might be his. Fanny too was keen to win as she hadn't won for a few years but it was Guy-Michel who discovered the figurine ( a car) in his piece of galette. He got to wear a matching 'Cars' crown. It was a lot of fun on an otherwise cold and wet afternoon. The cake was yummy too!

GM has the 'Cars' crown and Julien has Granny L's consolation crown!