Slovenian presidency

Here we go!

Let us see what the first half of 2008 will bring us!:)

Nederlandse examen

As always, doing everything else, but studying before the exam. This is with what I will enlighten my Dutch teacher tomorrow.

Betrapte inbrekers op YouTube
Schaarbeek - Bij een man uit Schaarbeek, bij wie was ingebroken, werden de boeven via de computer gefotografeerd. Hij zette de mannen herkenbaar op zijn eigen website en op YouTube. De inbrekers maken daardoor kans te worden vrijgesproken door de rechter.
Op 8 november kreeg André Lovinfosse ongewenst bezoek over de vloer. Inbrekers forceerden de deur van zijn flat in Schaarbeek en stalen zijn laptop, tv, fototoestel en juwelen. Toen de boeven de computerkamer betraden, werden er - zonder dat ze het wisten - foto's van hen gemaakt. Een webcam die beweging kan registreren, nam de foto's en stuurde die op per e-mail. Op de foto's zag Lovinfosse twee inbrekers, van wie het doen en laten uitgebreid gefotografeerd werd. Met de foto's heeft André een filmpje gemaakt, waarop de daders goed te zien zijn. André Lovinfosse heeft de beelden doorgespeeld aan de politie, die één van de daders zou hebben geïdentificeerd. Hij zette de beelden ook op het internet. Hij wil ze er af halen als de inbrekers zichzelf kenbaar maken.
"Die mensen zijn bij mij binnengekomen zonder mijn akkoord, dan mag ik hen ook tonen op mijn website zonder hun akkoord," zegt André Lovinfosse.
Volgens communicatiespecialiste Lieve Desmet mocht Lovinfosse de inbrekers niet op het internet tonen. Hij neemt het recht in eigen handen en schendt de privacy van de daders, zegt ze. Na een klacht mag enkel de onderzoeksrechter de beelden van de inbrekers publiek maken.
Door zijn actie op het internet zou Lovinfosse de inbrekers wel 's troeven in handen kunnen geven als ze voor de rechter komen. "De advocaten van de daders kunnen zeggen dat hij onrechtmatig gebruik heeft gemaakt van die beelden. En dat kan de besluitvorming van het proeces beïnvloeden. een vrijspraak is mogelijk," aldus Desmet.

Article taken from http://www.brusselnieuws.be/site/rubrieken/1091053972/page.htm?&newsID=1197045099

Almost midnight. Perfect timing for going through the rest of the material for tomorrow:) The funny thing is I have testing to determine my French tomorrow during the day, he he he, and the Dutch test at 6 p.m.:) Ik zal morgen aleen nederlands spreken op het werk. Mijn baas zal gellukig zijn als he van het Nederlands kom.

Just another ordinary day in BXL

People move every day. They commute to work, they leave their homes to go and live somewhere else, on the other side of the globe. Boulot, metro, dodo. A person or more a day leave our lives, but the same number enter. Balance, everything is about balance. I have been told so before I arrived to this marvelous city called Brussels. The locals do not like to mingle with the international community, because they say we will be leaving sooner or later. In a way they are right, however I am still here. Am I just waiting to wake up from this strange dream? Here are some moments from one of the spontaneous lunch developed into farewell party for a soul that just left us for the sunny, green and calm south France. However, hope never dies, right?!

In this collage: Samir, the friend of an evening story teller, half Algerian, half French; Rita, south Italian; Vlado, true Serbian; Jennifer, a local; Liam, another local; Gergana, imported Bulgarian; Angelo, north Italian; another Italian, this one from Sicily; candles from the flea market somewhere from Paris, bananas from Costa Rica, barbapapa from local store, pictures of mountains in the back from Slovenia, the hanging thing on the fridge from India, the white sheep a products made by Portuguese and British, T-shirt from HospitalityClub mtg in Warsaw, PL...what else can I say...globalisation, we love you:)

Bruxelles, je t`aime

Can that be? Most probably only during December due to all the Christmas lights and the fact that people do not take dogs much out as the city is packed with people (read as: less dogshit on the streets as dogs have nowhere to shit as there are too many people all around).
Need an umbrella? Take one. Nobody needs an umbrella in Brussels as the winds blow too strong:) Not to mention the fact that Belgium is the country where everything is possible. Just about anything...

Everybody knows that highways in Belgium are illuminated. So are the streets. They just produce too much electricity and they do not want to sell it to the neighbouring countries, so they might just spend it. If only electricity would be cheaper for the inhabitants of Brussels. Not to mention that I still did not received a bill for heating and electricity since April. I should move into another apartment soon and definitely before the bill reaches me:)

One of the views that not every Bruxellois knows about. After having more or less 100 guests over in these more than two years, this is one of my favourite places. The top of P58

The view from the big white wheel from the picture above. The St Catherine square. Most of the shops offer food and drinks. Don`t feel surprised why people in Belgium get fat and why they do not consider my lovely celery and ginger juice as food:) he he he

Just reading

590 pages of information telling us why it does matter what we eat, which products we use and the way we live! How to remove liver stones without operation, how to detoxify our bodies, the truth about the toothpastes and much more! Those interested will definitely get this book for themselves, the rest will just have to wait that I go through it and write down my favourite findings:)

P.S.: Picture was taken from http://www.drclark.com website.

My breakfast

Celery, carrots, apple an ginger.

In the beginning it looks like this, but when I put it through juicer, it looks like this. mmm

Et voilà...

Weekend passed and my second liver cleansing is done:) Yuppeeee and I feel better and better. Here is a part of the result. Hopefully in one year the gallbladder will be clean:)

Friday night...

...with no plans for partying is perfect for a (unfortunately speeded up) fasting. After some time now, having eaten too much chocolates and with a mailbox full of candies waiting for me when arriving home, I decided that it is high time to do another liver and gallbladder cleansing.

And here I am, sitting and typing this after second glass of MgSO4 (mmmmmmmmmm, tasty), still 40 minutes to go before I will take the one and true magic posion - 150ml of olive oil and 150 ml of fresh grapefruit juice followed by a good night sleep.

And then? Well, again I wait until 6 a.m., drink 3rd glass of salty water and then again at 8 a.m. and then I visit the meditation place for a half an hour to an hour.

And then? Then I am ready for some chocolate:) Just joking. Then I will make myself some nice freshly made celery-carrot-ginger juice......mmmmmm

Are you ready to give it a try? Have a look at the previous experiment. I am most interested in what kind of little green will come out this time:) Pictures follow.

Previous liver and gallbladder cleansing

Why I do this entertaining process? Have a look at Dr. Hulda Clark`s webpage and Dr Clark`s Information Centre

You are...by Azra

My dears,

It has been long time I promised to Željka that I will do my best to have this song translated into different languages. She and Rosemarie translated it from Croatian into English and now it would need to be translated into other languages. It is not so complicated, is anybody prepared to give it a try?

Thaaaaanks:)


YOU
(by prof. Azra Kristina Ljumanović, or. hr)

You are like the sea along the shore of my life,
You are like a seagull in the sky of my soul.

You are the very path that leads me to my future,
You are that hand which welcomes me to safety.

You are my life, and I, I am your song,
You are my joy, and I, I am your hapiness.

You are like the Sun that dries my tears,
You are like the rain the waters my land.

You are the very path that leads me to my future,
You are that hand which welcomes me to safety.

You are my morning, and I, I am its sunshine,
You are my evening, and I, I am its dream.

You are the very path that leads me to my future,
You are that hand which welcomes me to safety.

You are like gold that warms me with its glowing,
You are like treasure that I guard by offering it to others.

You are the very path that leads me to my future,
You are that hand which welcomes me to safety.

You are my eyes, and I, I am your glance,
You are my face, and I, I am your smile.

You are the very path that leads me to my future,
You are that hand which welcomes me to safety.

You are like a river that springs from my heart,
You are like aharbour to which comes my boat.

You are the very path that leads me to my future,
You are that hand which welcomes me to safety.

You are my home, and I, I am your house,
You are my love, and I, I am all yours.

You are the very path that leads me to my future,
You are that hand which welcomes me to safety.

You are sea, seagull, seagull,
You are sun, rain, rain,
You are gold, treasure, treasure,
You are river, harbour, harbour:

You are my life, joy, joy,
You are morning, evening, evening,
You are eye, face, face,
You are home, love, love...

Translation by Rosemarie & Željka

5 plane tickets Zagreb - Bruxelles - Zagreb to give away

U tijeku natječaj "Put u EU"

Povodom druge obljetnice otvaranja pregovora o pristupanju Hrvatske Europskoj uniji, Delegacija Europske komisije u Republici Hrvatskoj pokrenula je nagradnu igru pod nazivom „Put u EU“.
Natječaj je namijenjen državljanima Republike Hrvatske bez obzira na dob, a otvoren je od 1. listopada do 15. studenog 2007. Nagradna igra sastoji se od odgovora na pitanja o EU i pisanja eseja na temu "Što će EU donijeti mojoj obitelji?". Odgovori na pitanja i esej se šalju na hrvatskom, a prihvatit će se i materijali na engleskom jeziku.
Prijave s odgovorima na pitanja i radovima šalju se na adresu: EU info centar Trg žrtava fašizma 6, 10000 Zagreb ili elektronskom poštom na euinfocentar@euic.hr, s naznakom „Za nagradnu igru“.
Prva nagrada natječaja je putovanje u Bruxelles na Božićni sajam za pobjednika i članove njegove obitelji ili prijatelje (maksimalno pet osoba uključujući i pobjednika), druga je nagrada tečaj stranog (EU) jezika po izboru, dok treću nagradu predstavlja komplet tiskanih izdanja o EU i zemljama EU-a. Više informacija: http://delhrv.ec.europa.eu

Alora, who is coming to visit me? :)

Best neighbour

It has been more than a month now that I have survived. Hardly survived without the first aid from lovely neighbours. What am I talking about?
Think of a lovely day at work, going to the language course after work and coming home around 22:30. Of course all the shops are already closed, but you desperately need some apples, soya milk, ice-cream or chocolate. And of course, the best neighbour is the shop next door open almost 24 hours a day, every day in the year and with that I mean every day! And since you are living on your own, there is nobody whom you could have phoned and asked to get you these things home. Especially when it comes so complicated that the people forgot how the fruits and vegetables look like, not to mention it to translate its names into several different languages to be sure that when saying celery, you mean celery and not salary:)
Oooohhh, of course, my beloved Turkish family living on the other side of the street, having its shop now closed for two months for renovation. But as we are living in Belgium, this will not take 2 months, but moreeee. Ufffff. I hope they finish in time or at least when I come back to this lovely city after New year.
Here are the things I miss. And they "live" just across the street!

Silva Mind Control Method Seminar

Silva metoda - Jose Silva UltraMind ESP sistem

24. in 25. november 2007

Seminar bo potekal od 9.00 do 19.00 ure z odmorom za kosilo med 13.00 in 15.00 uro v poslovnem centru Slovenijales na Dunajski cesti 22 v Ljubljani.

Cena dvodnevnega seminarja znaša 150 EUR (z DDV) (15-% popust za dijake, študente, upokojence in skupine).

V ceno sta všteta gradivo in mednarodni certifikat (priročnik in CD-ji z alfa in theta zvočnim zapisom ter razlage Joseja Silve in Eda Bernda Jr. v angleškem jeziku).

Seminar bo potekal v slovenskem jeziku.

Dodatne informacije in prijava na:
Klemen Mihelič
Inštruktor UltraMind ESP sistem Slovenija
01/242-55-26
041/603-615
http://www.ultramind.si/

And the links for those who do not yet speak Slovenian
http://www.silvaultramind.com/
http://www.silvamethod.com/

Replies to my query...

...of 25 September 2007 - European Day of Languages

Ben:
Lekker ne estas germandevena sed tutnederlanda! Nur hazarde en ambaŭ lingvoj oni uzas la tutsaman vorton. Do jen, vi jam havas vian peton. Amike

Paul:
Well, nearly all Dutch words originated in German, because it was one language in the beginning.
Anyway, here are some words with double consonants:

wakker, tikker, aller, akker, bitter, bakker, dotter, dikker, dunner, ebben, gunnen, gillen, akken, latten, letten, minnen, motten, metten, mokken, netten, pissen, potten, pannen, pukkels, punnen, pakken, pakket, kennen, kunnen, kannen , luttel.....

and many more, just have a look in a Dutch dictionary.

Finally 5 minutes of break

Nooooo, I did not run out of stories! It took me almost 2 months to get finally 5 minutes of free time to write this:)

I am sure you are all familiar with the term "9 to 5", however in my case this has become "9 to 6" and I love my job.

I promise I will write down some stories soon. Definitely before I fly off down south for a couple of days:)

European Day of Languages

26 September is proclaimed European Day of Languages. Europe will always be multilingual, although some languages are "stronger" and some in "minority" and Esperanto is still alive and kicking. With regards to this I would like to launch two initiatives.

Firstly I would like to invite you to let us know what are the specific characteristics for your language. For example Slovenian language has dual, 6 conjugations and no swear words, although some will object my last statement.
Esperanto is the easiest language to learn. It has 16 rules, no exceptions and one can learn it in 3 weeks, then one just needs to work on vocabulary.
What about your language(s)?

Secondly I would like to invite all Dutch speaking people to try and find a true Dutch word with two equal consonants. My Dutch teacher says it does not exist, but I am sure it does. As example I give the word "grammatica", but this one is not completely Dutch, so it is not accepted. It has to be a true and only Dutch word. Help me, I cannot sleep due to this problem.

More info about the European Day of Languages

Cheaper telephone calls

Don`t worry, I am not talking about the "famous" European Union regulation on roaming prices, but about JustVoip.com that I found a couple of days ago.

It is a sister programme of VoipStunt.com and offers you even more cheap telephone calls. Finally I can call home (to Slovenia) free of charge and to Croatia for 0,01 Euro per minute. Marvelous, I love this:)

www.justvoip.com

Chow chow show in Brussels

Sunday, 30 September 2007, from 10.00 until 17.00 with the most important events taking place between 14.00 and 17.00 I would like invite all that are interested in these lovely, little bear, Chinese origine, fluffy dogs, pedigree chow-chow to come and see them at the Special Chow-chow show in Brussels.

The Chow-chow show will be held at Salle Poelbos (close to the Hospital AZ VUB), Avenue du Laarbeek 112, 1090 Bruxelles. The entrance is free of charge.

I will be there with my camera hoping to see some good chow-chows. In the meanwhile enjoy the lovely picture of my beloved Grace:)

Apartment to rent in Brussels

2 big, luminous, spacious, unfurnished one-bedroom apartments to rent in Rue Haute 121, 1000 Brussels. In the lively area of Marolles, 10 minutes from city centre, 10 minutes to the Sunday fruit market, 5 minutes to Sunday flea market and less than 5 minutes to Sablon.

Bedroom (approximately 15 m2), living room (approximately 20 m2), kitchen with dining room (approximately 20 m2), bathroom (approximately 9 m2), utility (2 m2), cellar (approximately 8 m2). 5 big windows giving plenty of light. Apartments are unfurnished, except for kitchen (fridge and dish-washer included). Normal 2,5 m high ceilings.

Appartments looking to the East and West. One apartment located on 1st floor, the other located on the 3rd floor. One apartment per floor, 5 apartments all together.

Closest food shop opposite the street, owned by nice Turkish family. Other food shops located nearby. Many restos, bars with wireless internet. Quiet area during night, although close to Havana, Bazaar, Fuse. Nice view of Palace of justice, Hilton hotel.

Available immediately. Rent 675 Euro plus charges.

For visit call Dirk at +32 475 25 19 21, for info call me.

Sunrise and sunset in Brussels

Who says Brussels is ugly, grey and cold?


If my memory does not tricks me and if we do not live in the Matrix world, I have to admit that Brussels has good sides as well. We get some hot days up here as well. Ok, ok, these pictures were taken mid April 2007, however we have had quite many days like these lately. The best thing about this picture is that it was taken from my apartment. Great, no? I have the chance to see sunset everyday. And if I go to the other side of the apartment I can see the sunrise.


One of my next blogs will be listing 10 good things about Brussels. There are good sides as well!

St. Nicholas is baking cookies very often in the morning in Brussels! Sunrise in Brussels! (For decrypted message ask a Slovene!)

Sunset in Brussels!

Little green ...

(Don`t worry, they were not as big as the look like. The bigger was about 7 mm in length.)

This weekend I finally found time to do this amazing experiment to see if there are really little green living inside me.

And here they are, they came out as described in the liver cleansing process. And there were many, these are just the bigger ones I managed to pull out of the toilet. Yes, toilet:) I know, bljak, but I knew that if I would not have provided my own photo no-one would believe me, isn`t it so? But they were swimming on the top, so it was not so difficult ;)

So, what am I exactly talking about. I am talking about liver and gallbladder cleansing. Search on Google for detailed explanation how to do it, why is it good, etc. And if you want to do it and you are not sure, you are free to ask.

I can only say that I feel much better now, better than before and I am sure I will do this soon again.

Job offers

Since I passed the EPSO competition, I got the following offers:

in July

• DG Research - Directorate A - Interinstitutional and legal matters - Framework Programme


• Service of the spokesman of the European Commission


• OLAF - European Anti-Fraud Office


• Eurostat - Luxembourg - Health and food safety statistics


• DG Communication - Directorate C - Audiovisual, Web, Communication Tools & EUROPE DIRECT contact centre


• Joint Research Centre Ispra - Italy - Management Support Unit H.01


• Joint Research Centre Ispra - Italy - Rural Water and Ecosystem Resources Unit H.05

in August

• DG Research, Transport and Aeronautics - Unit H.03


• DG Translation - Luxembourg


• DG Education and Culture D.01 - Youth unit policy


• DG Justice, Freedom and Security - Unit D.4 - Financial Support
  
• DG Economic and monetary affairs


• DG Justice, Security and Freedom - Directorate D.3 Fight against terrorism, and access to information


• DG Justice, Security and Freedom - Directorate D.1 - Internal Security and Criminal Justice


• DG for Health and Consumers Protection - Unit C.5

The funny this is that before receiving any offer I already knew where I was going, but still it looks like I am on the list of the people available:) Well, anyhow, I will be updating this list. Just for fun:)

Finally an official offer

I just received a pleasant surprise in my mailbox. After long waiting period to receive an official offer for a post within the European Commission and after intervening with the Administration, I received THE offer.

"Dear Ms Turk,

I am pleased to inform you that the Commission has decided to offer you a post . . ."

And so on and so on:)

Finally:)

Lost does finish

Eventually:)

The enhabitants of The Island do get saved in the end. It turns out that The Island is a true island and not anything you might have thought it is. However many many questions remain open. I guess Lost - the movie will follow this or next year trying to answer the remained open questions, but I am sure it will just bring us even more open questions and a miserable ending. However, if you are interested in how Lost ends, here you have a piece of it.

Jack and Kate at the airport fence, the night is dark, Jack on the verge of despair, Kate fresh as a rose.
J: We made a mistake.
J: We were not supposed to leave.
K: Yes we were.
K: Bye Jack.
J: We have to go back Kate.
J: We have to go back Kate.

Tritons and salamanders internship

I am looking for a biology / ecology / amphibians / tritons and salamanders related Ph.D or internship, fellowship, training, project.

Any information related this is welcome. Thanks in advance!

We stood up on Triglav

We made it, we stood up the highest mountain of Slovenia on Saturday, 21 July, and Sunday, 22 July 2007. The mountain Triglav is 2864 m above the sea level and it was the highest mountain of Yugoslavia as well in the good old days!

As promised, here are the links to more pictures:)

Roberto`s pictures

My pictures

Greetings from Opatija (Croatia)

Postcards from the south

Hello to everybody,

This is just to inform you that I will be leaving this beautiful city of Brussels today for 3 weeks. Yes, although I did not get approval from my closest PSTF (Personal Support Task Force), but those who know me, know as well that I will rebel everything, especially when not approved:)

Anyway, I will be here, just not so often (depends on the availability of the wireless networks of my lovely neighbours), but those who would like to get a real postcard from one of the countries down south, please send me your real addresses:)

And as I already promised, I will take pictures of my village:) My parents will be happy to provide you with roof over the head in our big house and make you eat a lot, beware:) he he

See you soon, happy holidays to everybody,

Manca:)

New family member

My family has just grown bigger for one more family member. Her name is Joyce, she is 15 years old and she comes from a town called Mtakuja in Tanzania.

She speaks haya, swahili and some English. She might learn Esperanto as well. She lives with her mother and she is the youngest child in her family. She is a second grade high school student and would like to work as a journalist or a policewoman once she finished her studies.

And she is one of the lucky children that had the opportunity to meet Mr. Mramba, an active esperantist in Tanzania, whose life pushed him in the way that he now has the opportunity to help people from his village and other villages around his village by providing them with possibilities to educate them, to dress them, to give them books, pencils and classrooms, to make wells and to support women in their projects. The main problem these people are facing as poverty (they cannot even afford clothes), undrinkable water and remoteness from the information.

50 Euro per year will enable Joyce to visit school, to pay for her books and pencils and to buy her two school dresses and shoes. The funds are transferred to them through the Flemish Esperanto Organisation. Twice a year, the supporters receive a letter from the school with a picture of the child the supported is supporting, news about them and their grades.

Those interested in supporting children during their study years, feel free to contact me. To support high school child the fee is 50 Euro per year. To support child in the elementary school the fee is 30 Euro per year. For more information about the project read here http://www.kono.be/mazingira/.

For more about Tanzania read here.

My village 2

Unfortunately I do not have any precise pictures of my village, but I promise I will take some this summer and publish them and write some more about the village and villagers:) For now I have found some pictures from around the village and some "domestic" animals.

Word of the day

The coat-hanger (EN)

la gruccia = la stampella = il attaccapanni (IT)

Lithuanian cold soup

Thank you Laima for an excellent Lithuanian cold soup made of red beet, cucumbers, kefir, sour cream and secret ingredients!:) I hope to meet you again. Until then I will prepare the soup myself, I will definitely look for a recipe. Don`t worry people, I will publish it here:) And I promise I will not publish only posts about food:)

Giuseppe, Rita, keep up the good spirit and "in boca al lupo x il vostro master":)

Portuguese fiesta

Description and more pictures on their way:)

Potatoes the way I like them

Boiled potatoes, skin peeled and then prepared with onion and cumin is one of the things I miss in Belgium. While we would eat potatoes like this very often in Slovenia, you cannot find them prepared this way in Brussels. I grew up with potatoes prepared in any way (one knows then why I am so round:) and when I miss home, I make myself potatoes like these:) Njam, njam, friends already said that they like them as well:) I promise we will do them together soon again:)

Slovenian Statehood Day

Hello all,

I would just like to share this info with you.

On 25 June 1991 Slovenia (and Croatia) declared their independence from Yugoslavia. More about day read here.

Some info about Slovenia and short history

Info about Slovenia from CIA

Triglav again

The dates are approaching and the number of the people going to climb the highest mountain of Slovenia, that is Triglav, is increasing. The name Triglav means three-headed as it has three peaks.

Try to guess how many crazy climbers are we so far:

- 2 guys from Croatia

- 3 girls from Slovenia

- 3 of us speak Esperanto

- 3 couples all together

If somebody is still interested to join, the final dates now are Saturday, 21 July and Sunday, 22 July 2007. We will take the easy way from Pokljuka, sleeping at Planika, going for a visit to Kredarica, reaching the top early in the morning on Sunday, hopefully with a nice view all the way to the sea-side, maybe Venice, Switzerland for sure, maybe Germany and definitely Croatia and Italy.

Keep fingers crossed:)

***The picture was taken many years ago when I organised the fifth and until now the last "expedition" to Triglav. We were six and I had the pleasure to "baptize" those who climed the mountain for the first time.

Loveparade 2007

Saturday, 25 August 2007 in Essen, Germany

Let´s go!:)

http://www.loveparade.de/

Afternoon chocolate

I just read the article about a chocolate - not the one one would be happy to read about, but the other one; the one about how cocoa beans are being collected and about what actually is inside the chocolate we eat. If you are interested why we become addicted to chocolate and the truth about it then read the article.

I will definitely prefer an (or two or more) apple a day now, but I cannot promise I will be able to say no to chocolate. Uff, tough life:)

http://www.notmilk.com/hershey.html

The Secret

You still do not know about The Secret? Have a look at it at the following link:)

The Secret

Hungry?

Finally I managed to get myself to make these lovely and tasty pancakes. Although I could not find the real fresh cheese here in Brussels, I used the Belgian fresh cheese (which is more or less similar to sour cream) in combination with Mascarpone and sour cream. I added vanilla sugar and pieces of plums and raisins soaked in whiskey. Pancakes are of course without eggs and milk.

Mmmmm...

My village

Have you ever heard of a small village called "Drenov Grič"? Probably not, but let me tell you something about it since 11 May was European Mineral Day and my village has a lot to tell about minerals, among other things:)

There are about 500 enhabitants, number increasing, living in the village of Drenov Grič. The name of the village comes from "Dren", which is the name of the bush that used to grow here, but I never saw it. In English "Dren" stands for "dogwood" and "Gric" stands for "a hillock", as the dogwood has grown on the hillocks surrounding the village in the past. According to the pictures of dogwood I found on the internet, it looks like magnolia (at least to me).

In Drenov Grič you can find two inns, one small shop, fruit and vegetable shop (One can even pay with a mobile phone!), two bars, a cash machine (It was an achievment and a half to get one), football, tennis and basketball playgrounds, an elementary school, a bus station, a former train station, American blueberry orchards (where I spent a lot of my teenage time picking up blueberries, earning money, but also filling my stomach with the tasty blueberries), horseriding facilities , several SMEs (Small and medium entreprises) and a firefighters brigade in Drenov Grič.

With a budget or aproximately 4.000 Euro a year, the village improves its appear, however very slow and most of the time on the costs of the villagers. I think that a traffic lights has been foreseen in the next ten year. However, if I want to get to my house, I still need to take the small bridge, which will fall apart soon as too heavy truck drive over in order to build more houses for people coming from the capital.


The village is located on the spot where a lot of limestones and dolomites can be found. But not just ordinary limestone. This limestone is black, therefore also the name black limestone.

Actually I think I should be more proud of where I am coming from. Not only we have black limestone in our village, but about 2 km from my village the oldest wheel was found.

A text about the sculptures in the protected limstone area of Drenov Grič (in English, don`t worry) Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of the sculptures, but that gives you just one more reason to visit my village, no? To see with your own eyes:)

About the black limestone quarry "Kuclerjev kamnolom", the peat bog "Jurč" and the natural park "Mali plac" (in English and French)

More about Ljubljana moor (in English, German, Italian and Slovene)

Geographical details for Drenov Grič

Buy local

I buy local.

The other day I ran out of toilet paper and as it was Sunday and all the shops closed as we woke up after noon, I decided to pay a visit to the Turkish fruit and vegetable shop opposite of my apartment that virtually sells anything. With this I mean anything.

There I was looking at which toilet paper should I buy, when I noticed familiar words. It said "toaletni papir" (toilet paper) and "Paloma" (the name of the company that produces toilet paper among other things in Slovenia). It took me about a minute before I realised that I was looking at Slovene products in a Turkish shop in the middle of Brussels! Wow, great, no more dilemma which toilet paper to buy. And goodbye homesickness, here comes Paloma!

Our beloved computers

It happened the other day again that I was trying to explain to a colleague that computers are sensitive creatures and they need to be caressed and loved just like pets and flowers.

Somehow the computer went blank and did not want to do what the person behind it wanted it to do. I asked him "Did you caress your computer today already?". All I got was a strange look. But the moment I touched the keyboard, the computer started working perfectly.

Another day the printer stopped working. I was asked to have a look at it (and I am not IT expert) and the moment I only touched it, it started printing.

Of course I remember days when I would only walk into a room full of computers and all of them would froze at once. It happened several times. After that I decided that it might be better to wait for my friend outside the computer room:) But that is "passé".

There is much more between our minds and computers than we think or acknowledge. Next time when you have problems with your computer, just speak to it nicely and I am sure it will start working again. Remember, as long as you give them what they need, they will be happy and so will you.

I will try to find some articles about this on the net. Pls read:
Mind over Matter
How to crash LAN

We all know we can influence our lives, other people`s lives, why could not we influence computers?

Pledge bank

Did you ever wish to do something good, but you felt alone and frustrated when all you needed was some support?!

Then put you pledge into the Pledge bank, add a deadline and ask people to support you!

Nice idea, but do not forget, you can do good deeds on your own as well:)

Fruits vs. IT technology

IT technology is something that I will probably never be acquainted with enough. I can still recall my amazement when I first heard of an Apple and it was not connected to fruits:) Some time ago I crossed a Blackberry and the astonishment appeared again. When did the fruits become IT components?

Children do not even know anymore where the fruits are coming from. They see them as something you buy in the shops. If you show them the fruit-trees they get confused.

I never had an Apple or a Blackberry, at least not yet, but I have eaten many apples and true wild blackberries:)

No more Disco lights

Moving has its advantages. Beside lovely neighbours (who left on vacation these days and now their internet line is blocked due to too much traffic and who knows when they come back to fix it:), I was lucky and got a personal assistant as regards fixing things in the flat. I only got his mobile number, so I decided to call him "Mojster Miha", which is Slovene translation for "Bob the builder". And later on I only found out that his real name is Mohammed.

After having guests over who fixed some lightning problems and helped me moving some heavy stuff to the celar of 3x3 m, which I call student room, because in Slovenia this nice celar without windows could be transformed into a student room for 2 students plus at least 2 full-time running servers.

And finally, after 4 months, "Bob the builder" came by and fixed the lightning and the leaking basin drainage. Hurray:) Hopefully he will fix other things soon.

Therefore, no more Party Disco Lights guys:) However, the memories remain. Remember
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSfYWWM0KNc?

Have a look at his crazy video as well:)
http://www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2005/disco-elevator-p1.php
Worth trying, maybe at Andre`s place as he lives in a building with the elevator?!:)

Joost surprise

Today I received this nice e-mail from Joost support:) Now I can finally invite 3 friends to join (however most of them already joined while waiting on the waiting list). So, if you have fast internet line or neighbours you love and you would like to try Joost Beta, let me know:)

_______________________________________________

Hello,

We hope you are enjoying your Joost experience.

Good news! We've posted 3 invitations in "your Joost" so you can invite your friends to watch your favorite program with you. To invite your friends, start up Joost, click on "my Joost" and fill in your friends' details in the "invite friends" widget box. Enjoy the ride!

If you've got any questions, feel free to check out our forum www.joost.com/support and send us your feedback on what you like andthings we could improve.

About Joost:

As you may know, we're working on a project that we think will revolutionize the way you're watching TV - bringing you the best of TV and the best of the Internet.

So, we hope you will enjoy our beta tester program and help us put the finishing touches to Joost. This is still a private, invitation-only beta and the software is being rigorously tested. We would greatly value your opinions, and we hope you'll participate actively by giving us your feedback.

Enjoy, and see you on Joost!

The Joost team

Bread dumplings

Did you ever think what to do with the rest of the bread that has been lying on your table for a couple of days? Do you just throw it away? Or do you eat all the bread that you buy? In some countries (e.g. Croatia) bread is untaxed, so it would be a sin to throw away even the crumbs.

I am lucky and I am not thrown into this kind of dilemma very often as bread is something I avoid and it is rarely seen in my apartment, apart from when the guests bring it. It happened so these days as we were eating fresh bread every day which resulted in leftovers of masses of bread from previous days which nobody ate. This is how I started making bread crumbs when I remembered that I could do bread dumplings as well, one of my favourite dishes I stuff myself with when back home:)

Here is the recipe for 21 bread dumplings:

• approximately 1 and a half kilo of two to three days old white bread,
• 4 to 5 eggs,
• 7 dcl milk,
• garlic and parsley.

Cannibals may wish to add pieces of bacon; I added fresh basilic. Veggies may wish to use soya milk instead of cow milk and egg replacements (e.g. oil) instead of eggs, although I used eggs as the guests left them behind.

Cut the bread into small pieces (approximately 0.5 x 0.5 cm) and put it into big bowl. Add milk. Mix with a large spoon. Cut the garlic and herbs into small pieces and mix them with bread. Leave 10 minutes to soak. Squeeze the bread, so that it is not too much soaked.

Make dumplings using your hands; if needed help yourself with a spoon. Put dumplings on plate lightly pre-covered with bread crumbs. Take care that the dumplings do not touch one another. Put into freezer or cook immediately for approximately 10 minutes. Once frozen, dumplings can be put into one bag/dish and be left in the freezer for later use.

Bread dumplings are good company to goulash and sauces. Mmm, I cannot wait to make myself a good seitan goulash and stuff myself with a couple of bread dumplings:)

Bon apetit!:)

Neighbours

We just have to love them, no? I love my neighbours. None of this could be possible without them. Thank you!

P.S.: Those who know the situation know what I am talking about. Do you love your neighbours?

22 April - Earth Day

22 April - Earth Day

In Slovenia a group of people every year on 22 or around 22 April organises an activity "Each one should get his bag of garbage" (see post below). The aim of the activity is to take a garbage bag and your friends and to go for a walk around the area - it can be city, forest, meadow - and to fill your bag with garbage.

It would be nice to organise something like this in Brussels as well or even all around Europe. I know, I know, we do not all throw the garbage out of car windows and on the sidewalks and in the parks when we pass by, but that does not mean we should just ignore the fact that our living environment is turning into rubbish dump.

For more info on Earth Day click here.

22 april - Dan Zemlje

Dragi Sončki!

Bliža se dan zemlje in z njim naša akcija Vsak po svojo vrečo smeti. Akcija je enostavna, vzameš vrečo za smeti, prijatelja ali kar celo družbo in se odpraviš na pohajkovanje po mestu, zelenem travniku, gozdu ali obrežju rek... vmes naberete vsak svojo vrečo smeti in jo odložite na zato predvideno mesto.

Da bo akcija bolj odmevna, dostopnejša in širše zasnovana, smo se na Pozitivkah skupaj z stranjo Svet je lep in še nekaterimi nevladnimi organizacijami odočili, da bomo skupaj v večjih mestih nabrali 10.000 vreč smeti in tako očistiti nekaj nadvse potrebnih kotičkov.

Pomagate nam lahko tako, da se nam pridružite v soboto 21.4 ob 11h dopoldan v 10 večjih slovenskih mestih (seznam najdete tu), saj le s skupnimi močmi lahko izvedemo tako obširno akcijo.

S sabo lahko prinesete risalni list ali šeleshamer, pa debelejši flomaster, saj bomo (seveda tisti ki boste želeli) med akcijo mimoidočim delili tudi letake in vrečke za smeti, ki so nam jih donirali sponzorji. Drugače pa nam lahko pomagate tudi tako, da to pošto posredujete svojim prijateljem in znancem ali ga objavite na spletnih straneh, kjer se zadržujete. V akciji vsako leto sodeluje več pridnih rok, zato verjamemo, da bodo mesta, sprehajalne poti in narava, ena, dva, tri spet čista.
Se veselimo, da se vidimo v soboto ;)

Ps. Če veste za kakšno lokacijo, ki bi jo bilo lepo očistiti, nam to lahko sporočite po emailu info@danzemlje.si in potrudili se bomo, da bo spet čista. Vse ostale informacije o akciji pa lahko dobite na www.danzemlje.si.

Objem

Uredništvo Pozitivk

"Democracy"

Do you ever feel run over? Do you ever feel second class citizen? Do you ever feel left behind? Do you ever feel like there is a conspiracy behind it all?

Don`t worry, I am not selling you anything. I just hate people behaving like they are superior beings, the so called "higher" class, "the cream of the cream" and would do just anything to push other people down, even more when they see that these people have less chances than they do.

If you are not an Esperanto speaking person and even if you are, then I guess there is little chance of you having heard of DEMEXP before (in EN, EO, FR, DE). The name is short for DEMocracy EXPeriment ("DEMokratia EKSperimento" in Esperanto).

It is a project aiming at making voting in any situation really "democratic".

"The democratic experience is a large scale project of direct democracy. It aims at providing the tools to facilitate the expression of all citizens, to transform this expression into decisions, and to apply this decision.
In the democratic experience, each participant can submit a vote subject, propose answers, and vote. All winning answers to the votes are gathered into a database that represents the common position of the group. This common position can be used to drive decisions.
Thus, the democratic experience is a complete and open tool for direct democracy. It can apply to small groups of people (associations, companies) but also to larger groups (countries, the planet!). "
(Taken from www.demexp.org)

If Demexp would have been accepted, many world`s people that call themselves "important", would not be where they are now.

Just think about it.

Language quiz No. 1

No. of participants: 15

From 10 countries: Belorussia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Indonesia, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine

Languages played: 32

In the following order: Spanish, English, Portuguese, Greek, French, German, Chinese, Polish, Italian, Icelandic, Croatian, Dutch, Turkish, Bulgarian, Swedish, Slovenian, Lithuanian, Indonesian, Bosnian, Japanese, Slovak, Malaysian, Serbian, Albanian, Estonian, Vietnamese, Romanian, Norwegian, Macedonian, Latvian, Hungarian, Esperanto

The participants have been divided into 3 groups. Each song has been played for 1 minute, then the groups had to write down the language in which the song has been played. Languages 1 to 5 have been marked with 1 point, languages 6 to 10 with 2 points, languages 11 to 15 with 3 points and so on.

Group 1, consisted of Polish, Portuguese, German and Indonesian participants, scored 62 points with guessing 19 languages with best guessing languages from the first group.

Group 2, consisted of Bulgarian, Polish, Portuguese and Turkish participants, scored 70 points with guessing 20 languages with best guessing languages from third, fifth and sixth group.

Group 3, mostly affected by people leaving and new people arriving consisted of Serbian, French, German, Ukrainian, Turkish and Belorussian participants, scored 50 points with guessing 16 languages with best guessing languages from fourth group.

All group guessed the following languages: Spanish, English, Portuguese, Greek, French, Italian, Turkish, Indonesian, Estonian and Romanian.

Songs as on CD:
1. Spanish - Mocedades: Eres tu
2. English - Baccara: Yes sir, I can boogie
3. Portuguese - Dulce Pontes: Senhora do Almortao
4. Greek - Giwrgos Giannias: S`agapw
5. French - Sinsemilia: Tout le bonheur du monde
6. German - Schnappi vs. Gigi D`Agostino - Das kleine krokodil
7. Chinese - Unknown author: After a thousand years
8. Polish - Dzem: Sen o victorii
9. Italian - Marco Masini: T`innamorerai
10. Icelandic - Hljómar: Sveitapiltsins Draumur
11. Croatian - Crvena jabuka: Stižu me sječanja
12. Dutch - Abel: Onderweg
13. Turkish - Tarkan: Sikidim
14. Bulgarian - Unknown author: Vljubeni
15. Swedish - Abba
16. Slovenian - Majda Sepe: Med iskrenimi ljudmi
17. Lithuanian - Keistuoliai: Raudona Merga
18. Bosnian - Bijelo dugme: Lipe cvatu
19. Slovak - Elán: Tanecuice z Lucnice
20. Serbian - Ceca: Beograd
21. Albanian - Ritmi i Rruges: Kush ka faj

Enjoy listening and until next language quiz!

:>

Good things about forwarded e-mails

I received a forwarded e-mail from a friend not knowing that all the details of the person who sent him the same e-mail were included (or maybe deliberately) and I found the following lines in it that I would like to share with you.

"Če te kdo vpraša za nasvet
kako ujeti sanje,
odgovor je le en...
verjeti moraš vanje. "

My translation into English:

"If someone asks you for advice
how the dreams to catch,
the answer is only one...
to believe in them is what you must."

Airport security

Case No. 1
Thanks to "our friends" from the other side of the Atlantic ocean I cannot even take a bottle of ordinary water with me to the airport anymore. As soon as I reach the security check point, the security personnel goes crazy about me having half a litre of water with me. However they try to be human and suggest me to drink it there, in from of them, and then they will throw the empty bottle away.
Fact No. 1: Of course, I am a hamster and I keep the water in the two water tanks just next to the thyroid and then I drink it when I need to. I wonder how come my biology teacher somehow skipped this fact?!
Fact No. 2: I am a billionaire and it will not be a problem for me to pay 2€ for a half a litre bottle of water they are selling at the airport just 5 meters after the security check point.
Resolution: Of course I will pay 2€ for half a litre bottle of water. I did pay (although not being aware of) 4€ for a half a litre bottle of Fanta the other day in Portoroz. Uff, I know, I know. I hope I win the lottery soon; keep fingers crossed;)

Case No. 2
Security check point. I take off the jacket and the belt. I do not wear anything suspicious, even the shoes and the bra have been already pre-checked several times before for "not ringing" at the security check point. I do not have any liquids or food with me this time. I take the laptop from the bag and I even open it for the security personnel on their request. I should "not ring" stepping through "the door". But, I do, I do ring. I ring loudly. Surprise, surprise. I am surprised. I know I do not wear anything suspicious and I tell them that maybe it is the bra or the piercings. Or just my elevated negative energy level towards the security check point, I think to myself. I am requested to stretch my arms and my legs in order to be searched and I follow the order. I am told that I have been selected randomly to be searched. Never in my life I have been searched so thoroughly. The woman touched every single piece of my body. I remain in shock. They found nothing. However I still believe that there was a man behind all this, hiding himself behind the mirror glass pussing the button for so called "random searches" and enjoying the show.

Marolles, Marolles

Today I crossed an interesting blog about Marolles, the part of Brussels I like the most. The blog is in French, but the old photos are marvelous! You just have to love Marolles:)

Have a look at
http://sofei-vandenaemet.skynetblogs.be/category/1026755/1/marolles

"Coincidences"

Sometimes I want to burst into laughter when people get going about how they were standing at a bus stop willing a bus to come and then an utterly amazing thing happens - the bus comes. And how they were just thinking about their neighbour`s cat when it walked into the garden!

Do you believe in "coincidences"?

JOOST!

At the moment I cannot invite anybody yet, but as soon as I will be able, of course, I will invite "the gang", you know it:) Patience my dear, patience is world`s most appreciated virtue!

Received from Joost Support on 17/04/2007

"Hello,

Thank you for trying out Joost and for your feedback.

Even though we are daily allowing new users on the platform, at thismoment we don't hand out tokens. We will be handing out tokens again inthe future, so stay tuned!

Best regards,

Joost™ Support"

Hospitality Club guests

I had 5 guests from the HC (Hospitality Club) over in the past week.

Steve, an Aussie (Australian) living and working in Edinburgh at the moment, came by. I picked him up at the North train station. It was first time I went there; it was at night, but I was not scared. I asked the two policemen where the Eurolines busses stop and I found Steve easily after beforehand agreeing that I will wear a red scarf (although it was too hot for a scarf) and he was having a red backpack as well. We did not buy the ticket for the metro, nobody checks anyway. I told him what I tell to all my guests "If they ask you for the ticket, just speak your mother language". With Steve it would be difficult as English is his mother tongue, but I am sure that with a heavy Aussie accent he could have got away with it. Anyway, nobody checked the tickets:) Steve comes from an average Australian family (without the dog), finished medical care studies (If I recall correctly), did some social work in Nepal and is now working with children at risk in Edinburgh. And in the meanwhile tries to seize as much as possible from travelling cheaper in Europe. That is how he ended up in Brussels, with cheap Eurolines ticket from London.

Anna, a Polish girl, who finished her studies in Islamic painting, working in London in the security field, found my place by herself. 5.15 a.m. the doorbell rang. I knew she would arrive earlier, but I did not think so early. What else could I do, then to get up and open the door. There she was, full of energy, plans and readyness to seize the day and to visit as many museums as possible, of some I have not even heard. She brought me excellent English black tea and great tips on what kind of questions should I ask to the HC guests.

When Steve and Anna left, Milos, Bojan and Muris came. They are all studying in Wien, Austria, but are coming from different towns. Milos, an international relations student comes from Belgrade, Serbia. Bojan, medicine student comes from Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Muris, IT student, comes from Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was fun having them around for 2 days. They cooked, cleaned, did some men`s housework and managed to get me partying with them on Monday until early morning hours. I still ask myself how I managed to go to work on Tuesday:) They could not understand how I can be a veggie and left a nice invitation to "čevapčiči" in my Guest book. It is always a pleasure to have people from the once common country visiting.

Blog fee?!

I have read this morning that the European Commission issued a proposal to prohibit citizens to blog.

The proposal includes a directive saying that only registered authorities will be allowed to post their postings in the form of a blog, however prior to blogging they will have to register and consequently contribute a registration fee of 1000 Euro plus a special "blog fee" of 5 Euro per posting.

Once the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament accept the proposal, the latter will enter into force on 1 April 2008!

Stars of Europe

No, this is not about how many stars are there on the flag of the European Union. It is about a special event that took place on Sunday, 25 March this year in Brussels.

The European Union celebrated the 50th anniversary of signing the Treaty of Rome, but better we should say the Treaties of Rome, because there were two signed on the same day. The Treaty establishing the European Economic Community and the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community. For more info click here (this is why we have the wikipedias, no?!).

Imagine cold spring evening, cloudy sky, 60.000 people from all over Europe, different nations, different languages, different cultures, Atomium in lights, well done organisation, big concert stage, excitement and then... Zucchero shows himself on the stage singing "Baila". Wow, excitement, people go crazy of joy. The joy intensifies with The Scorpions, Helmut Lotti, Kim Wilde, UB40, Gypsy Kings, Lou Bega, Nana Mouskouri and many other European artists.

You were not there? Don`t worry, Open Day of the European institutions is approaching fast (5 May this year) to celebrate the Europe Day (9 May). But that is already another story.

A grey day for a friend

People coming and leaving our lives is something natural.

The way we deal with that and the way we accept that is often difficult for the majority of us. And even though we know deep inside that they went somewhere better and that they are feeling much better now not suffering in any way, we often do not want to accept the fact that they are gone.

How to explain to the person mourning that it was for their best? How to explain to the person mourning that life will go on? How to confort the person so that he/she will not feel even more affected, sad and depressed? How to explain to the person mourning that their beloved will still be around them?

They are here with us, guiding us, directing us to the right life-paths and giving us tips and advice and above all loving and caring about us, if we are aware of not! Talk to them, make them happy, they will be glad to hear from you, you will see! And keep up the good spirit!

Rainy summer this year as well?!

Slovenia has a long tradition of old folk sayings (link in Slovene only). It says: "Če je Jožef (19.3.) lep in jasen, je dobre letine prerok glasen." My translation: If the Joseph (19 March) is nice and clear, the harvest will be abundant.

Regarding the fact that it was snowing on 19 March in Slovenia, it looks like that the trip planned to Triglav will have to be cancelled. But stilll, hope remains and let us wait until July. "Če na drugi dan Malega srpana ne bo lepo, se dež ves mesec ustavil ne bo. " Translation: If the second day of July will not be nice, the rain will fall down all month long. I guess, we will just have to wait until 2 July and see what happens.

Hopefully it will not rain! Keep fingers crossed!

2864 m above the sea level

Triglav (the three-headed mountain), the highest mountain in Slovenia, 2864 m above the sea level, will finally and hopefully after three years of hopes and dreams become our destination this year. There has always been bad weather, too much snow or unpredictable reasons, which prevented us from conquering it again.

In short. Suggested dates are Friday, 20 until Sunday, 22 July 2007. As there will be unexperienced people among us and those going up the mountain for the first time, we will probably take the "easy" way starting at Pokljuka (1300 m above sea level). The way will lead us by Vodnikova hut (1817 m above the sea level), Triglav hut Kredarica (2515 m above the sea level) and/or Planika (2401 m above the sea level), Prehodavci hut (2071 m above the sea level), Dolic hut (2151 m above the sea level), the valley of wonderful 7 Triglav ice lakes, the hut by the Triglav Lakes (1685 m above the sea level) and hut by Savica next to Bohinj lake (653m above the sea level).

While trying to find a good link in English, I found this one. Please bear in mind that I will not charge anybody for anything, but I will also not take any responsibility! If you are interested, let me know asap and start preparing! We are already 4 from 2 countries!

Language quiz

It is a quiz which we (Esperanto speaking people) usually play at our meetings, gatherings, seminars... In Esperanto we call it Lingva kvizo:)

Language quiz is a quiz where the songs in different languages are being played and the contestants, usually in groups of 2 or 3 coming from different language groups, try to find out/guess in which language have the songs been played. The songs are played only for a minute or less. But of course there is a bonus point for the contestants - the supportive audience and the atmosphere that allows cheating. The beauty of the quiz is amazing and if you have the opportunity to take part in it, try it and try your knowledge:)

I have already received quite an amazing number of songs in different languages, but the more the merrier, so if you happen to have a song in a language that you think I do not have already, just send it over.

Joost anyone?

Hello everybody,

Anybody "inside" Joost already and could invite me to join? There is a long waiting list and I am a bit impatient to wait as I know that at least one of you is already a part of it! Read more below or visit www.joost.com.

"Don't want to wait? Try getting hold of an invitation from another tester. All new beta-testers now get tokens allowing them to invite friends and acquaintances, and these tokens will give you instant access to Joost™. Get ahead of the curve - beg your friends for an invite today!"

Thanks a lot,

MancA:)

Moving in Belgium

Let me start with a short story about moving in Belgium from around New Year. Just because it is funny:) Pls, disregard the language mistakes:)

THE MOVING

It was Thursday, a day just like any other. But already some days before I knew that things planned for that Thursday will not finish the way, they were planned. It was THE Thursday, THE DAY when I moved, well when I was supposed to move to new apartment. But, as I live in Brussels, the law of Murphy applies is all cases all over Belgium. In every single case and in every single way. Unfortunately, but true. Those who have experienced it know what I am talking about. Those, who have not experienced it, will say that I am exaggerating. Anyway, if you believe it or not, here is a story that will make you laugh (at least I hope so) at least for a while and maybe it will also stir us to appreciate the countries, we are coming from.

We (me and my boyfriend Dag) woke up early in the morning to finish with the latest preparations for the moving to my new apartment; to close and seal the last boxes; to have a cup of coffee and a spoon of Nutella, before we would pack last things in the boxes. To be late in Belgium is something completely natural, and so was the moving company. This time they were late only half an hour. But at least they started working straight away. The boxes and the furniture were in the moving truck in about two hours considering the fact that some of the furniture needed to be dismantled into smaller pieces. Everything went quite smooth when putting the furniture and all my belongings into the truck, considering the fact that I never got special bags for clothes they promised and that they came totally disorganised; read without any tools although I agreed for dismantling and putting the furniture together as well. We were more worried what will happen when we will reach the new destination. I kind of suspected that somebody did not do his homework. And I was right. I believe that what you think influences what happens, but this was just too much. And I did not really want this to happen, but I kind of knew it will happen. Maybe that is why I was not so surprised, angry or nervous when thing started going wrong. We reached the new destination easy and without any complications. Even the truck managed to get there, even though this street is only one way.

Firstly, the parking place, which I reserved for all Thursday, has been completely occupied. Typically. The signs in Belgium do not count for anything. The truck had to go around the neighbourhood twice, before it could park on the parking place envisaged. Immediately the guys from the moving company told us that the moving will not be possible on that day as the street is too narrow and the parking place too far from the windows through which they planned to move the furniture. Furthermore the fixed fence on the sidewalks made the moving impossible. They told me that it was my fault, because I was supposed to inform them that I would need a special lift and not a standard one. Furthermore they said that my windows were not standard size, but smaller and that I should have informed them of this as well. Strange, I somehow expected that I was paying them also to check the place where I was moving to as I gave them the address and informed them of the floor to which the things should be moved. At the end it is them the moving company, not me. I quickly realised that the things will probably not be moved that day and I tried to reach solution. They clearly let me know that this was completely my problem and only mine and it was only me, who had to reach a solution without their help. At the end, they made some phone calls to see which other moving company could lend them a special lift and we finally agreed that the moving will be done on Saturday. That cost me extra 125 Euro. Just the lift.

After lunch and a coffee, I went to the police office to check if the road signs that they put on the parking place I reserved, could stay there until Saturday. The police in Belgium is worth a special story. After explaining to the woman working at the reception at the entrance which service I was looking for, she directed me to the second floor. Walking into the reception of the second floor was like stepping into a low budget low class movie. A guy sitting in the right corner of the office, only him and nobody else, just waiting for the time to pass by I guess. Furthermore straight on was the poor receptionist; probably the most bored human being in this world. I greeted both and looked to the guy on the right seeking any signal of life from him telling me that he is not waiting for the receptionist, but at somebody else. I greeted again, this time focus at the receptionist, waiting for a reply and a standard question “Oui?” meaning “Yes, what the f**k do you want from me? Don’t you see that I am busy doing nothing? Where the hell did you come from and who sent you? Why the hell don’t you return to your God-forsaken country you came from in the first place?”. Instead of that I received the most bored look I ever saw on person’s face. Can people really be so bored, so shallow? He looked somewhere behind me, into a wall, mumbling something to himself in French not even a French would understand. Then his boss passed by informing him that he will not return to the office that day. Wow, with the speed of light the face of the receptionist changed and just after his boss left the office, he mumbled to himself loudly “Thanks God that the boss finally decided to leave”, this time more clearly and understandable. I was surprised, but not as much as I would have been if I would not have been used to see this happening all over Brussels . And finally, he looked at me with the expression I described above asking me “Oui?” meaning what I already explained. I took a deep breath and explained him the situation with the road signs, the moving that did not take place and that I would need to make another reservation for the parking place for Saturday. “No problem” he said, just change the date on the road signs yourself, it is completely legitimate and legal. Surprised I asked again if this is really the case as it seemed too strange to me. Again he confirmed and when I asked him again if this is the case, a second policeman came by and confirmed again. After receiving three confirms from the second policeman, I said to myself “Ok”, although a bit suspicious, and started wondering if I might ask them for a written confirmation, just in case. In the end, I did not. I left police with a different worry on my mind – where to find a piece of chalk or a special pen to change the date on the road signs.

Just when I was in front of a shop ready to buy a piece of chalk, I received a phone call from the moving company informing me that they got the lift and that they will finally be at my place in an hour. Wow, a great weight has been taken off my mind. I thought, WOW, the moving will all in all take place that day. After an hour and a half of waiting for the moving company I decided to call them to see where they were and when I could expect them. I was surprised when I heard from the man on the other side that the moving in the end will not take place on that day, but on Saturday. So, everybody knew it, except me. It looks like somebody forgot to inform the one, who was mostly concerned by this. Me.

The worries about the chalk for the road signs came back to my mind instantly. As I was still in doubts about changing the date on the road signs by myself, I decided to try to call to the phone number that was written in small print at the very bottom of the paper I received as a confirmation for the reservation of the parking place. At least once in lifetime in Belgium a nice voice on the other side explained me that I definitely need to make a new request for reservation for the parking place and that in no case I should change the dates on the road signs by myself. I thanked to the nice voice and asked him if he could tell me how I could do that still that day. He invited me to pass by his office on the other side of Brussels . He was kind enough to inform me that he will be in his office until late that day as he still had work to do. Those living in Belgium know that public services usually never work after noon. I was really happy that at least one person was ready to help me out and not trying to cheat on me.

I got to knew new districts of Brussels , those north of the Gare du Nord, both on the left and on the right side, before reaching my final destination. I entered the police, nobody asked me a question why I came there and whom I am looking for. I went to the fourth floor as instructed by the nice voice on the phone and found the only living soul still working that day so late in the whole floor. YES, there is God. I explained the situation again to this nice policeman. He was nice enough and just changed the dates on the paper I had without charging me again for making the reservation for a second time, telling me that what the moving company did was completely irresponsible. I thanked him, wished his happy new year and kind of regretted that he probably is Belgian as he did not act as a real Belgian.

At least at the end of the day, I solved this problem. But still the furniture was packed and stored in a truck in some warehouse in Belgium . Possibly it will not be stolen, I thought. And I managed to solve the problem as regards the road signs and the reservation of the parking place. I was satisfied with myself, happy to know that everything will arrange itself on Saturday. Sometimes things have to happen in another manner and we do not necessarily have to understand at that time why.

At that time I had other worries coming to my mind. As everything, just everything was packed, all my furniture, all my belongings, all my clothes, I was left until Saturday with the things I had on me and with me. Only this and nothing else. I felt homeless. But more than this, I was worried where we will sleep that day. I had two beautiful apartments to choose from where to sleep, but both were completely empty, offering only heating and water. At least that. As I planned to buy the inflatable bed after I would have moved, this was the perfect time to do some shopping. So, we went and we bought the bed, sheets, extra cover, two towels and some food and returned to the new apartment. I was happy to have heating and running water. At least we could take a shower, wash some of the clothes and place them on the radiators hoping that they will dry until morning, so that we could wear them again the next day.

THE NEXT DAY

On Friday I woke up feeling the worst. With greasy hair I had only one thing on my mind. I was ready to go to the hairstylist just to wash my hair. In the end I did not go to the hairstylist and we survived most of the time sleeping and resting from the previous day and trying to get some energy for the upcoming day – the Saturday, the day when the furniture and the rest was scheduled to arrive.

THE SATURDAY

Imagine beautiful Marolles in its perfect state. Sun shining, old furniture and antiques shops open, streets full of curious people looking for something strange to make their lives and flats colourful for a moment or for lifetime, children playing in the streets, “gifted” musicians playing on the streets, people in their “best” suits walking down the streets not knowing that they are lost in this part of the city that does not really care if you are a beggar or a rich man, funky young people ignoring the system, drinking coffee, looking at the chaos around them and thinking about the f**king beautiful life. And then the truck came. THE truck from the moving company.

Of course the reserved parking place was occupied by ignorant and easy-going people. The neighbour next door from the fruit market immediately removed his colourful hippy van, the rich man was nagging due to the fact that he had to move his ugly, according to him his pussy-magnet car to another parking place. All that rest was Renault Modus. As his owner did not show up, the moving company called the police. Police came and asked for the papers based on which they made the report and called the towing service to remove the car that blocked the parking place. I showed them the paper and without even having a good look at the paper they immediately said that it was not the right one. I just smiled, wishing I was dreaming and I could wake up from this nightmare. The guy from the moving company intervened and the policewoman made the report and called the towing service. The other policeman or policewoman (I could not identify the gender of the other one) stayed in the police van. The owners of the antique shops nearby came out and started looking what was happening, children playing joined them and admired the police, people passing by started asking what was going on. Everything looked very suspicious and incredible. The truck that was blocking the street, the “special” lift that had to go around the neighbourhood several times waiting for the Renault Modus to be removed. The people in the cars waiting started getting nervous, they used their horns, the buses could not pass by. Chaos, total chaos. And then the towing service showed up just in the moment when the owner of the car dropped by. She apologised and said the car was not hers, but from her daughter. She tried to turn the engine of the car on, but it did not work. Dag and me strated laughing as we did not believe our eyes. It felt like in a movie. The whole movie that started on Thursday unfolded before our eyes and as we did not have energy for anything else, we started laughing. Even we did not believe our own eyes. I had to promise Dag that I would document this happening and share it with the rest of the world. He promised he will be my witness that I tell the truth and only truth, because if he would not have seen all this with his own eyes, he would not have believed it, he said. I promised. We continued looking at the chaos on the street. The driver of the towing service, the policewoman and the guy from the moving company looked at the engine of this car, blocking the parking place, trying to find the solution so that the engine of the car would start working. Each one of them tried to turn on the engine, but it did not work. The woman repeated for the hundredth time that the car was not hers, but from her daughter. As if though the police would not make her pay the fine. Finally, the men agreed to temporarily push the car to the side. The woman got into the car and the men tried to push the car. But she forgot to release the hand brake. They reminded her to release it. Then she put her foot on the brake instead of on the clutch. At that moment we finally understood why men think women cannot drive. Finally, the car was moved to the side and the truck could park. The towing service drove around the neighbourhood again and returned in less than 10 minutes to pick up the car that did not work. The police left and everything seemed calm, ready to move the things finally. The moving company set up the special lift and the moving begun.

The neighbours leaned onto their windows, people passing by curiously looked, finally everybody was satisfied when first boxes reached fourth floor. I opened immediately the first box to check if my laptop was still in one of them. I found it and all my worries seemed tiny when I found out that I have at least two nice neighbours having open wireless internet line. The moving continued, the furniture and all other things reached its final destination. I tried not to involve and made myself some tea. After some three hours everything except the bookshelves chest was moved. For the latter, the moving company said it was too big to bring it through the window and we will have to bring it to the fourth floor ourselves. I could not believe my ears and told them that I have paid them and agreed with them that they will dismantle and put together everything. They denied this of course and told me that I should discuss this with the person I reached this agreement in the first place. But the problem was that the person in charge was somewhere on the other side of the world at that time, enjoying new year’s holidays, and we were stuck in this beautiful Brussels moving things. I told them straight away that I understood that I was a foreigner in this country and that my French was far from perfect, but that I was not stupid and that I would not play their game. Finally they put the bookshelves chest in the hall of the building and asked me to pay for their service. I told them that we would first dismantle the chest and take everything upstairs and then I would return to discuss with them about the price. I told them as well that I did not approve of them charging me extra for the special lift, because they did not do their homework. They also tried to charge me extra money for the boxes, although the price has been agreed. I told them straight that I would not pay more than we agreed, although in the end I also paid for the lift. I let them know that I had to pay twice for the reservation of the parking place, although I did not have to, but I wanted them to know that my business with them was not finished yet when they left. They even complained that they never dismantle furniture and that they did this voluntarily and not by agreement and that they hate Ikea furniture. That was also how they acted towards it.

When I returned to the apartment, I was happy to see things around, I counted the boxes, all were there. I checked if the wardrobe and the bed have been put together correctly and I found out that they were of course put together wrong. Fortunately our first aid tools were there and we started dismantling both and putting them together in the right way. We continued with cleaning, vacuuming and after a while we left everything. Fed up with everything, we finally changed our clothes and went out for dinner.

In the following days, surprises awaited. I found out that my money box in a shape of pink Barbapapa full of Euro coins was missing. I searched whole apartment, but I could not find it. The fact that it was full of coins was not so important, I wanted my pink Barbapapa back. These bastards took something I liked very much. Then I noticed that a small pocket torch was missing as well. I remembered I packed them together.

After New Year I called the person in charge. I explained him the situation and he promised to call me back. He called me back the next day promising that he will find a solution. He asked me to call him back next day. I called him back the next day. He did not answer. He called me back the following day. I did not hear the ringing. I called him back. He did not answer. I called the following day. He did not answer.

The story has not finished yet.

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Well in the meanwhile the story finished. I got some money back, but I also discovered that at least one more thing is missing:) But, life goes on.