***

... Neige à Bruxelles ...

- Le petit Sablon -

- Avenue de la Couronne -

Second party team @ Leiden

- Pelikaan gracht -


The exams are finally over which is giving some space to relax a bit before second semester is starting. It's very quiet at Avenue Nouvelle as most of the students have gone home. After goofing some days with Seydi in Bxl I decided to have a long weekend myself with my family & friends. Leaving my simple student home in Brussels to THE PLACE TO BE - The Fusion @ Leiden - the student house of my bro.


- Mr. Ibrahim -

To make the second party team complete we invited Ibrahim to join us. I wanted to educate the kiddo a bit and visit The National museum of Antiquities to see the exhibition of Egypt with mummies & pharaohs. I was in minority as the girl and the two guys decided to stay in and play computer games all afternoon. But I don't blame the kid though: Tutankhamen or Batman... difficult choice for a 10-year-old!


During my stay in Leiden my brother was so kind to lend me his bike to move around a bit. I deeply love riding the bike, especially in The Netherlands because it's safe there! I have my own bike in Bxl but you must be crazy to take it, because it's so dangerous. In The Netherlands we have special paths & routes for the bike as where in Bxl you just ride between the cars on the road who are not so gentle with you. I've got deep respect for the Belgian people who do & even more for the ones who survive it!

As not many people take the bike in Brussels we have plenty of space to park your bike in the city where in The Netherlands it's the total opposite... you drive around for hours to find a place and to find it back again. It's like parking your car in Paris.

- O Brother's bike, Where Art Thou? -

To finish the weekend my brother took me out shopping for my b'day present which I for sure didn't refuse! I needed a new pc screen and we would look for a normal 17/19 inch flat screen, but when arriving in the shop we both completly fell in love with the new Samsung 22 inch wide screen. She is a true beauty and I think that secretly my brother is a bit jealous now :-)

As the "Soldes" in the Netherlands were still going on & I had some time left before catching my train my brother suggested to shop some more. It was the first time in my entire life that I went shopping for clothes together with my big bro but it was a great pleasure!

First party team!

- Bertine, Liz & Leonie on expensive home made cocktails -

The clock has passed twelve, it's officially the 07th of january 2007 & I just survived after a small birthday party my first day as a 22 year-old. As my apartment for the moment is really small & we are in the middle of the exam period we decided to celebrate my birthday at the end of the month. For some of my Dutch friends this was unacceptable & the party team took the car & drove to bxl.

My place is very easy to acces from the high way, but as simple as it was my friends got completly lost with the car & I had to go out on the bike to find them. You know that bxl is nothing without it's rain so after an hour searching & my being totally wet we finally found each other & the party could begin!

- My Belgian birthday cake! -

It was a last minute party which consisted out of improvisation. With no birthdaycake with 22 candles we used Belgian wafels with whiped cream and little candles to blow. My coffee mugs & take away coffee mugs that I bought 03 years ago in Manhattan were transfered into cocktail glasses. As a student in a small student apartment I'm very limited in my room and belongings. I have two knives, two spoons, two glasses, etc... It's not much but enough for me and an very effectic method which forces me to do the dishes at least every two days!

- No comment!... :-) -

Further celebration is to be continued @ the end of the month...

Kicking off 2007 @ the Hague

- Liz, Seraphina & the two gentlemen: my brother & little Taran! -



- Uncle Jan & Seraphina -

Since some years now we entered a new family tradition of gathering with uncle Jan, Dennis, Sanne & kids to celebrate the new year and enjoy the simple pleasure of being together. We moved the tradition this year from our family home in Hellevoetsluis to the Hague @ Dennis & Sanne. It was simple, great and heart warming to be together, talking, kids running around and eating the famous & delicious spinach/feta dish!


- Dennis our kitchen princess -

- The Theethbrushing Team -

Holidays at the Fusion

It's been a while but Liz has been travelling quit a lot these last months so no time to write much. It has been a hell of a crazy time and definitly in need of some holidays to calm down a bit and enjoy some quality time with family & friends. X-mas & New Year was to be spend in Leiden this time with my bro & his friends @ the Fusion. My first time to spend it in Leiden & and it was quit nice... we did nothing much but eat, play games & watch a lot of tv! Liz finally would have seen The lord of the rings part I till III but my bro invited another girl (there are only guys living there!) so... --> two girls & wine= chatty girls = never saw the movie!

- Josien in action during "Operation backing Oliebollen" -


When being Dutch you can't have the New Year celebration without oliebollen! Even though the best oliebollen in the Netherlands are to be bought in a little temporary shop on wheels in Rotterdam, my brother & I still preach that there aren't such good oliebollen like the fresh home mades. Josien was so nice to take over for me while I was having a phone call, but I forgot after hanging up and eventually she spend backing all!



- The Fusion -

We ended the old year with great French champagne & watching from the rooftop of my bro's apartment to the firework over entire Leiden... Pure magic! Afterwards more friends of my bro came and we drank, did singing star on tv, drank & sang some more again. Would like to tell more about it and I'll... someday... when I remember again! ;-)

- Josien again in action but this time oliebollen with raisins... :-) -

The wind that shakes the Barley

The plan was, after a long search and discussion, to see the German/Danish movie Adams æbler (Adam’s Apples) but at the cinema we discovered that there were only french subtitles which wasn’t a problem for me, but for my partner of that evening it was... We had to decide in an eye blink for a different movie, but I wasn’t able to find one that was speaking to me & suggested to go have a drink instead as we were in the center anyway... the proposal was rejected and replaced for the movie The wind that shakes the Barley (Le vent se lève)... A film that gives a (non-objective) look at the Republicans in early 20th century in Ireland.

The movie started horribly. There were two thoughts constantly shooting through my mind:

I) Next time I select the movie!
II) How am I going to get out of this place?

I’m not the kind of lady that is easily frightened by shocking or bloody scenes. At a very young age I always succeeded to sneak underneath the dinning-table (when I should have been in bed) to watch secretly the scary movies that my big bro was watching. But with this movie I even had to turn my head away during the first scenes and even then my stomach was turning from the sounds that remained. After surviving this part, the movie started to get along and became less stirring and hope for a good film to come was there again.


However that hope was dissapointing. There was no actual match between the story that has been told & the images that were shown. In one scene they tell you a big national problem, the next scene they show you a group of local boys who fight against this in their own area, where the scene after that tells you that this has a big positive effect on the national problem, but they never show what... only telling the problems, showing the fights & telling you the solution. And actually writing this it may sound like logic but the way they show it in the movie takes away the logic.

For me it made the film unreliable and not clear which message the writer wanted to bring and from which angle the director was working.The film left me more the impression that I saw a try out film with a draft script. This is a pity because the actors played very well & convincing, putting on strong characters. Also the makers of the film had some amazing shots. It’s sad that a movie with such great, strong material is not brought to its full value.

Inside the VRT studio's

- The control room & my favorite spot at the VRT studio's -


It was great to have the opportunity to be present at the VRT (one of Belgium's biggest station) Saw a lot of great things that you as viewer/listener have no idea about and being present in the live shows of Radio Donna & Studio Brussels brought back old feelings from the times that I worked as a presentor at our own local radio station in the Netherlands.

Was strange though as well to deal with people who are big presenters/celebs in Belgium and I had no idea who they were. It was nice as well too because on this way there was a possibility for neutral communication. It reminded me a bit of last summer when I was visiting a hanball tournament with Mr.B & Hervé and there was this (appearantly famous) french player Laurent Puigségur and under the people there was much excitement and it took me quite some time to figure out why --> Definitly a Liz moment!


- break down of the election stages -



- Radio 2 -

- "Ketnet's Studio" -

- Radio Donna (On Air) -


*Special Thanks to Neil van Craeynest*

Celebrity week-end @ Delft

- "Tarzan" -



- "Rubeus Hagrid & Mr. I. Potter" -

- Our own home version of "Garfield" -

- "Professor Severus Snape" -

Na regen komt zonnenschijn

Yesterday Janneke asked me to join her on sunday to go to the center of Bxl. She needed to do some research for the Uni and suggested to have a drink afterwards. I agreed and after spending a wonderful short night and a silent sunday morning (= without construction workers) we left to have a walk through Brussels.

Ten minutes after we left it started raining but we went on and eventually the sun was stronger and beated the rain! A beautiful rainbow smiled to us with all her grace. The picture reminds me a bit of the advertisement of the movie Mongolian Ping Pong.

I was especially touched by this little sculpture. Normally I don't find them very interesting, but the street sign which says "Alley of Gifts" gives it such a great touch.

Eventually we never did the research and dove straight into an Irish pub. I drink sometimes, but I never liked beer. It's quite impossible to integrate and become a legal Belgian if you don't drink beer, but to my amazing this place serves really GOOD beer! Finally there's a beer I like & with this there comes an end to the period of being an outsider at parties where people drink nothing but beer. The music & atmosphere were a bit less, but they have big screens showing sports... Finally a good beer & sports, what more could a girl wish for?

A long, noisy way to Morphée's arms

For the people who read my message of yesterday... Forget I said anything about the sundaymorning works at the railtracks near my window. Appearantly they also do night work. Till 02 am I had the privilege to listen to the harmonious sounds of construction workers before falling into Morphée's arms!... Sundaymorning at 08am doesn't seems so bad anymore :-)