Hello, Goodbye!

My 18-month adventure in Brussels has come to an end. It is with a bittersweet feeling that I leave this city. I will definitely miss my friends & colleagues in Brussels, in Netherlands (my 2nd home), and Switzerland (my 3rd home). All the get-together, daily dinners, weekly dinners, clubbing, dancing, shopping, drinking, movies, and travel getaways. Not to mention the introduction to Turkish, French, Flemish, Indian, Italian, Romanian, and Moroccan cuisines, and most especially being welcomed to your home and the opportunity to meet your family. You know who you are! THANK YOU for such a warm treatment, for caring for me, and for keeping me away from home sickness. There was never an idle time with my weekends as I would always be out with friends and it felt as if there is not enough time to spend with you all! You are all the reason why I will miss Europe!

Breakfast!

It is very seldom that I eat breakfast. I'm normally not a morning person and I am not a fan of filling my stomach before going to work. Nowadays, I'm more used to just bringing a banana or apple with me to the office which I eat during mid-morning as my "breakfast".

Occasionally though, it's nice to have breakfast and prepare for it. I enjoy a brunch especially with friends. A friend of mine stayed with me on a Friday night 2 weeks ago and I prepared a good heavy brunch with SPAM, Vienna Sausage (thanks to my cousin for bringing this), Lucky Me Pancit Canton, and sunny side-up eggs coupled with freshly baked baguette.

These are simple pleasures in life that I enjoy as it is difficult to find Spam and vienna sausage here in Belgium! It was a fulfilling way to start the weekend.

Welcome back Spring! Hello flowers!

Beautiful flowers bought from The Hague in Netherlands. Arrangement done by me. :)

Brussels BE: Mesa Eurasian Filipino Restaurant

One of my Filipino friends in Brussels informed us that there is a new Filipino restaurant which opened recently. The Filipino restaurant is located in Ixelles. We went to visit one Friday night and I was just stunned to see a place fully packed with Filipinos. They have a live band playing ballads during Fridays and Saturday.  The food is not exceptionally great but is good enough to be enjoyed for a dinner. The service is quite slow as we had to wait for 1 hour for the food to be served but I heard that they are trying to improve it. Price of food is very affordable with huge serving.

Do be prepared for a dinner with sound-surround noise just like in Manila with all the Filipinos chattering and a good music in the background.

Quick and delicious dinner

Pan-fried hamburger patty topped with sauteed bottom mushrooms and onions. Champignon cream sauce and sauteed spinach on the side. All cooked in one pan! :)

Guess my favorite color?

Pia's back in town!

Pia is back in Brussels! To welcome my dear friend, who makes staying in Brussels even more fun, here's a welcome dinner for her. Carbonara, oven-roasted chicken, with some salad. 

And here is Pia enjoying her food! 

The trouble of learning a new language...

I have been residing Belgium for almost a year and it just doesn't make sense that I can't understand French or Dutch. So, I told myself "Cindy, you gotta learn a language before you leave!" After a few consults with friends, I decided to learn Dutch. So today, I was browsing at BBC and learning the basics of Dutch and stumbled across a website that helps you learn Dutch. It shows you videos with Dutch and English subtitles. So I told myself, "Not bad at all.."
Then, I saw Sesame Street and told myself, "Okay, this would be easy. I know you hated Sesame Street when you were a kid because it's just so slow! But this will let you learn the basics." and Click... and this is what I understood...

Ja, ak? ik? bla bla bla Bert

Nee, Nee, bla bla Ernie

Bla Bla bla Bert

bla bla bla Ernie

which translates to

Yes, ak? ik? bla bla bla Bert

No, No, bla bla Ernie

Bla bla bla Bert

bla bla bla Ernie

and so what did I understand? Nothing, they talk so fast! I only got Yes and No, Bert and Ernie and practically Bert, Ernie, Bert, Ernie...
*sigh* This is so difficult...
To add, I'm enrolling myself in a language course and I have to take an oral exam, so how do you take one if you practically don't know anything besides Ja and Nee... Hmm..

Apartment Hunting

Finally after a month in Belgium. Multiple failed attempts in finding the right apartment for me, I finally found one yesterday!

Pictures from Immoweb

I fell in love to the kitchen and garden of this house. The kitchen is perfect! A complete Miele setup with coffee maker, oven, wine cooler, and even plate warmer. It has 2 bedrooms though it is not as spacey as I would have preferred. The garden is very nice. Challenging part though is maintaining the garden if I am able to get this.

I just said yes to the broker. I hope they can work it out! *Crossed Fingers*

It's Saturday!

After a looonnngg week, finally it's weekend!

Work just gets more and more challenging. I am caught to intervene in the middle of a project gone bad and trying to save everything. I hope to see rainbows in the next few weeks.

But... Today is a day to do shopping around Brussels. Hope I find something! :)