Top 5 things that struck me once I returned to Canada

1. SPACE! So much space! HUGE wide streets, actual sidewalks, houses and buildings that don't even touch each other! Yards!

I guess this should not be surprising given the difference in population density. Canada: 3 people/sq.km. Belgium: 344 people/sq.km.

I also noticed this inside homes and buildings. When I got in the elevator in my condo building the first time, I thought: "My God, this is huuuuge!!! You could have a small studio apartment in here!!" When I saw the hallways, I thought: "My God, this is huuuuge!!! What, are we expecting BUSES to run through this hallway?"

2. No one smokes anymore! And if they do, it is only in dank shameholes and definitely NOT next to you in a restaurant. Nothing makes that delicious Belgian meal more memorable than a nice big puff of Gitane smoke in your face... I was in Canada 3 days before I smelled cigarette smoke for the first time, and that was 6 days ago! Belgians would think I'm lying...

3. COLD drinks. I know we have cold winters in Canada, but good lord we like our drinks ice cold, don't we? Water is always room temperature in Belgium, and even when they slightly chill soft drinks, they almost never serve them with ice. It took me days to retrain my mouth and throat to drink what felt like liquid nitrogen at first...

4. Lights, lights and more lights. Are we that afraid of the dark? I literally had to shield my eyes from the interior lighting in most buildings the first couple of days. Is it really necessary to have 2,000 watts of lighting per square metre??

5. Air conditioning: Out. of. control. While I wished at times for AC in Belgium, it is a shock to the system when you have not felt it for three months. Pass me a scarf, mittens and a tuque; I'm heading to the movie theatre.

Top 6 things I'll miss from Brussels

1. FOOD! The world's best chocolate, frites, waffles, and beer. And coffee, bread and other foods that are pretty darn close if they are not the world's best... Not a Brussel sprout in sight either!Next time, I'll be there when mussels are in season too... mmmmmmmm

2. Sundays: Remember the days when almost all stores were closed and you really had almost no choice but to take the day off and relax? This is still gloriously true in Belgium!

3. Co-workers. I should point out at this time that this list is not in any particular order...

4. International weekend trips. With destinations like London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brugge and Luxembourg (yes, Luxembourg) all within about 2 hours away, it doesn't get much more fabulous!

5. Nonante, septante. No unwieldly "soixante-dix" or "quatre-vingt-dix" for the Belgians! It's like living in a XIXth century novel!

6. Smart escalators. Love them! Why don't we have them in Canada????

Top 9 things I missed from Canada

1. My home!!! My lovely beautiful gorgeous condo!!

2. Sidewalks. Seriously. They should look into this. They are quite useful.

3. Grande no-whip mocha frappuccino blended coffees

4. Working from home.

5. FREE water in restaurants.

6. Family and friends. Uhm, I should probably point out at this time that this list is in no particular order...

7. Grocery stores. Again, quite useful!

8. Practically dog-poop-less living.

9. Being in a place where being fluently bilingual gets the following reaction: "Wow, that is so impressive! Such a huge asset!" instead of: "You know two languages?" and a look that clearly shows that they suspect that with such a low level of skills, you may not be fully potty-trained yet and may start to pick your nose in public at any time.

ATTACK of the Giant Molecule!

Everyone knows that Belgians make the world's best chocolate, fries, waffles and beer.

But they also make giant molecules of iron crystal magnified to 165 billion times their normal size like it was nobody's business!

The Atomium (I dare you NOT to have the Robbie Williams song Millenium in your head when saying this word) was built for the 1958 Brussels World Fair, and you can visit several of the nine spheres via a set of escalators and stairs inside the arms that connect the spheres... check the photo album to see! Quite incredible!

Luxembourg

Vue de la vallée de la Pétrusse, à partir du haut de la vieille ville de Luxembourg

Lime + Pussy = BAAAD!!

As I was preparing the following blog post about lime juice as a potential microbicide, I came across this image. I was just looking for a lime image, but when I saw this one, I immediately thought: lime + pussy = BAD!

Perfect for an article that cautions against the use of lime juice as a potential microbicide! Regrettably, the image is too likely to ellicit reactions from the authors of the article I highlighted and from other readers who might catch the connotation.

So I give it to you here to enjoy!!

My new fave song!

Click on image!

I'm sure everyone else in the world has heard this a million times. What can I say... I was heavily medicated in 2006 when it came out. Otherwise I would have used it as my theme song, since there is no song called "Shu malade mental" yet. Cool video too!