belgian whispers

Busy Bees

2007-01-14T20:31:00.000-05:00

The countdown is on, and we've been quite busy with all the preparations for the move and getting the house ready to sell.

After the yard work of last weekend, this week, we tackled repainting the office. It was the only room in the house that we hadn't repainted yet in the last 3 years and it really needed a new coat. Given we're putting our house on the market, we figured it was worth investing a couple of days into this. It was worth it, but still tiring: uncoupling all the computers/networks, moving all the furniture, prepping the room: masking tape, drop cloths, step ladders, spackling the walls, sanding the walls, etc. , painting the first coat, painting the second coat, removing all the masking tape, touching up areas, removing the drop cloths, vacuuming, moving the furniture back....and now it almost looks like before, just much cleaner.... glad that's done.

We got some fun relief yesterday with a birthday party for one of Kevin's friends. They had it at the Clubhouse at Bright Horizon's, and the party itself was preceded by a an hour-long gym session (read: getting rid of some of that wild child-energy) which was great.

This is something I'll miss when I'm back in Europe: all the wonderful amenities geared primarily towards kids/families with kids: like the children's museums here, the children's song/theatre hours at coffee shops, the children's fairs, the library's reading hours, the bookstore's toddler story time, the larger playgrounds, etc.
Not that you don't have children's amenities in Europe, but there are far fewer and usually a lot smaller. I wonder if you'd try to start something like 'playspace museum' in the Netherlands or Belgium if it would catch on ? It'd be interesting to look at comparisons of percentages of mothers staying at home and if similar, it could be an interesting idea for a future entrepreneurial endeavour.

Yard Work

2007-01-07T20:53:00.000-05:00

The negotiations are now officially over and I accepted the revised job offer! This means I'll be moving in a matter of weeks. My husband will probably stay here a little longer to finish selling the house, the cars and all the electrical devices, but I'm planning on starting there Feb 1. and Kevin will join me from the start (assuming we can work out a good child care arrangement in the next few weeks).

We've been starting the move prep in all earnest. Which means basically, semi-intellectuals that we'd like to consider ourselves, that we've been making lots of lists: what to arrange, what to take, what to sell, what to donate, what to give to friends/neighbours, etc.

On a side note: the fact that the US and Europe are on a different Voltage is really a pain. Sure, it will give me the chance the buy some nice new electronics and maybe that flat panel TV I've been eyeing, but it also means I'll have to go shopping for again for things like a toaster, a hair dryer, alarm clocks, desk lamps, a blender, a deep fryer, a washer, a dryer, a fridge, etc.... almost feels like I just left college.

This weekend we've been working in the yard, trying to extend that 'curb appeal' for when we put the house on the market shortly. Fortunately, the weather was on our side. Saturday was springlike with temperatures around 20 degrees celcius. Today was a little cooler, but dry till mid-afternoon. We raked piles of leaves from the flowerbeds, tidied around the trees, removed heaps of pine needles from the grass, got rid of weeds and planted new pansies for color.....I can tell I haven't been doing much exercise lately because my back and legs are aching now... guess that's one of the benefits of getting a house/yard in order: you'll stay in shape.

Mea Culpa

2007-01-03T21:01:00.000-05:00

OK. I feel guilty, very guilty for not posting anything in the last month. Yes I do have an excuse, several in fact - I made several international trips in a row for job interviews, was on the road a lot, hosted my dad here for 2.5 weeks, did lot's of Christmas & New Year's cooking and shopping....- Still. Apologies for jumping of the deep end. Truth be told, I think I was a bit in a rut too and felt like taking a bit of a break. But, that's done now. With the New Year, I've turned a new leaf and feel reenergized.

I also have another reason for feeling celebratory. I have received a great job offer from a large consumer-goods company and am very excited about the global position they offered me. We are still in the final stages of negotiations, but all should be worked out this week. Barring any hick-ups, this means that we'll be moving to Amsterdam shortly (!). Very exciting and a bit scary too. It will be quite a change of pace, replacing North Carolina's scenery with the canal-scene in the low countries, but 'verandering van spijs doet eten'...or something along those lines.

My main point of concern right now is the child care situation in Holland. I've read some horror stories online about how hard it is to find a good place in a good school/day care center for toddlers and how long the waitlists are...this doesn't ease my worries given that we're looking to move in less than one month and would have to find something in a matter of weeks. I'm thinking that a temporary solution may be to try going for a nanny?...we'll see. The company I am relocating for is hooking me up with a specialized service for assisting foreign relos, and I am hoping that they've encountered this before and can recommend the best course of action.

But first on the list: finishing the negotiations...the rest will come later.

In the meantime, a bit delayed but not less heartfelt: I wish all of you a wonderful start of 2007! May the year be a healthy one and bring you joy, happiness and the fulfilment of your dreams.

American Size

2006-11-27T23:30:00.000-05:00

It never ceases to amaze me, the food portion sizes here.

I just couldn't stop myself from taking a picture of Kevin's cookie at Barnes & Nobles. He'd been so good this morning, he deserved a cookie. Problem was: this was the smallest size available:

What's a mom to do? Help eat of course :-)

Geslaagde rust

2006-11-26T23:12:00.000-05:00

Zaaalig lang, lang weekend.

Ik had me voorgenomen om het een dagje of twee kalmer aan te doen..en het zijn vier dagen geworden...mag ook wel eens.

Niet veel gedaan, behalve veel tijd met Kevin doorgebracht en wat gekokkereld.
Eerst donderdag Thanksgiving bij vrienden: Hele middag niks doen behalve eten, keuvelen en drinken (al dan niet in die volgorde). Vrijdag uitgeslapen en dan met Kevin naar het bos. Lange wandeling in prachtig herfstweer met knisperende blaadjes onder de voeten en kabbelende beekjes ernaast. Het perfecte anti-stress middel.

Zaterdag met Kevin wat gewinkeld -naar zijn favoriet 'Borders' voor een seizoenale chocolademelk en verhaaltjes, gevold door samen thuis pizza maken.
En vandaag een ritje naar 'Tinsel town', een tijdelijke ijspiste (bij Koka Booth Amphitheatre) met kerstversiering en crafts. Het laatste was een beetje een tegenvaller, maar de zwanen en reigers in het Regency Park ernaast maakten veel goed.

Ik zal nog moeten oppassen of ik wen te veel aan dit thuisblijven en voor Kevin zorgen ;-)

Dagje Rust

2006-11-22T20:59:00.000-05:00

Ik kijk uit naar een dagje verdiende rust morgen.

Het is de voorbije dagen zodanig druk geweest: met al het solliciteren, het interviewen, het surfen en beantwoorden van de jobboards, het lunchen met kennisen en vooral ook het zorgen voor Kevin nu hij de hele dag thuis is (uit financiele overweging voor een tijdje).

Normaal gezien kookte ik de vorige jaren altijd voor Thanksgiving. Maar aangezien John's zus & familie dit jaar niet op bezoek komen hoef ik geen massa-maaltijd klaar te maken. Gelukkig Maar. 't Is altijd wel heel leuk om hen te zien, maar toch ook veel werk, waar ik nu eigenlijk geen zin in heb.

Wij zijn uitgenodigd om bij vrienden Thanksgiving te komen vieren, en hebben dat met veel plezier aangenomen. Ze hebben gevraagd om 'iets van thuis' mee te brengen, dus ik heb vanavond 15 potjes chocolademousse gemaakt. Daar kan niks mee mislopen en dat lust iederen meestal graag. Dus nu zit al mijn Thanksgiving koken erop en ga ik in mijn luie stoel zitten voor tenminste 1 dag (of twee...we zien wel).

Bunco

2006-11-13T13:28:00.000-05:00

One of the things I have been introduced to recently is 'Bunco'. A group of neighborhood ladies has a monthly get-together to play Bunco. Or rather I should say, the ladies use playing Bunco as an excuse to get together and socialize...and there's nothing wrong with that (apart from maybe the fact that Bunco is actually a pretty boring and simplistic dice game, with no requirements on the intelligence front. it's pure chance...and my competitive spirit doesn't always appreciate that fact. I might suggest switching to a more interesting game), but that does leave plenty of time for socializing and getting to know folks in the neighborhood a bit better.

Last week, I hosted the Bunco night. Funnily enough, all 10 of us ended up just talking and eating and we didn't play Bunco at all (a fact that did not cause me any distress :-). Since I had the time, I'd made a pretty extensive menu of appetizers, finger food and desserts. I love cooking and this was the perfect excuse to go all out. I made all items from scratch according to good old Belgian habits, a fact that surprised most of my fellow neighbors.

Two dishes got most praise: Belgian chocolate mousse (of course) and Tex-Mex crap (sorry, meant to write 'crab') dip -a dish I'd have once at a friends and recreated). I used the chocolate mousse recipe from KVLV's 'ons kookboek' and it worked like a charm. The Tex-Mex crab dip is actually super simple, uses ingredients most people have in their pantry here and is very quick to make. It's best served with wedges of pitta bread. Here's the recipe:

-1 can diced tomatoes (drained)
-1 can sweet kernel corn (drained)
-1 can black beans (drained & rinsed)
-1 package imitation crab meat (cut into little pieces)
-mayonnaise - approx. 2 spoonfuls
-cumin - according to taste, approx. 1-2 teaspoons
-shredded mozzarella cheese - approx 1/2 a bag
- salt & pepper
directions: mix everything together and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Smakelijk

Conundrum

2006-11-12T13:09:00.000-05:00

Big conundrum. To take the job or not to take the job.

As I thought might happen, I got a job offer from the company I'd been interviewing with, but I'm very, very hesitant to take it. On one hand, it's a good offer, decent salary and seems like a great, smart group of people at a company in a growing industry segment. On the other hand, it's an individual contributor role (contrary to my last jobs) , there's no bonus plan (contrary to my last jobs), it's a longer commute and the salary is lower than before too.....so I'm not terribly keen. ...yet, of course financially it'd be nice to have a proper income again..and I could keep looking for another job while I start this one...but then, it's awfully hard to be looking properly for another job when you're starting a new one and need to put a lot of energy into the new role....you get my dilemma....

I'm leaning towards declining. I have several other leads that I'm working right now, which makes me positive that I will have other options, tough of course, that's not 100% guaranteed...still, I'm thinking it's too early to compromise, and based on discussions with several search agencies, they all seemed to think that with my background I should be able to get a really good position within the next 2 months time, and they know the job market better than I do...I just hope I'm not being too arrogant in thinking I can land something better in the short term...guess time will tell.

One of the upsides of my current situation is that I've been able to take the time to talk to a lot of people in depth, and it's actually yielded a pleasant side effect. Many of those folks aren't marketers. One is a keynote speaker who's written a book, another is an ideation consultant, another is a small business owner, etc.....one of the common threads is that they can all use marketing help. In talking to them, I was able to share some ideas of how they could cost-effectively improve their visibility to help grow their business. Nothing earth-shattering for people with marketing experience, but pretty novel for people who've never run such programs. And it felt really good to be able to help these friends....it makes me think that at some point in the future, I might want to explore that as a business: providing marketing support for small and medium-size business. I know I have the strategy skills, I'm experienced enoujgh with all the different elements in the marketing mix (marcom, PR, digital, product marketing, channel marketing, adertising, etc.) to offer comprehensive advise, I'd need to beef up on my design-skills to be able to do that myself (but I could always use design freelancers for that part of the projects)......and I'd give me the opportunity to set my own hours and potentially work from home, but still have the variety of working with lot's of different people and business... a very appealing idea for maybe 10 years down the line when I'm tired of the ratrace.....

Fall time

2006-11-05T20:21:00.000-05:00

I don't exactly have a favorite season, but I am always impressed by the fall colors here. I was driving to a coffee shop near the mall the other day on a road that meanders through the country side and I was struck by the beauty and simplicity of the landscape. Not that I would like to live in the counry-side, I'd choke from boredom pretty quickly. I'm definitely more of city girl, but there is something earthy and feel-good about getting closer to nature on a regular basis.
I took some quick snaps with my cameraphone through the windshield. Doesn't capture it fully, but does a decent job (don't worry- I wasn't driving fast at the time).

I'm also proud of myself. I sold a desk yesterday through craigslist. We'd had the desk for ages. It was an old-style, heavy oak desk that my husband used to use. Still nice, but not our current contemporary style. It had been standing in our attick gathering dust since the move. We'd moved it to the garage recently and had been wanting to get rid of it, but neither had the time, desire or inclination.

With a little more time on my hand these last weeks, I took the opportunity to take pictures & measurements of the desk, write a little description and post it on craigslist. I hadn't used craigslist before, but know a couple of friends who'd had good success with it. If you're not familiar with it, it's a free online classifieds site for everything (from appartments, to furniture, art, jobs, partners, etc.). It worked like a charm. Minutes after I'd posted the ad, I already had a response. I traded emails, and by noon the next day, the desk was sold and picked up. Hurrah for craigslist. I don't mind giving them a plug here. It's such a nice service. Connecting local demand & suppy of things - and totally free. I believe it was actually started in San Francisco by a guy named Craig. Very cute story.

After the success with craigslist here, I was curious and checked out their international profile a bit further. Turns out they do have a belgian version too, but it's not very popular. It doesn't have a lot of postings. I wonder why, if there's a competiting site that established itself earlier, or if it's just that it hasn't gotten much visibility yet?

Practice Makes Perfect

2006-10-29T22:20:00.000-05:00

While it's not Halloween yet, Kevin was so excited this afternoon about wearing his costume, we decided to go for a practice run. Here's our fierce lion.

He went to the grocery store 'in character' with me and he practiced his roar for all the other customers. It was too cute.

It made me remember how much fun I used to have dressing up as a kid. We used to have a huge trunk in the attic full of old clothes from my grandmother and other sources, and we'd have a blast becoming different characters and play-acting. I wonder where all those old clothes disappeared to. Probably discarded by our parents after being worn to shreds by us.

I'm so glad Kevin inherited the fondness for play-acting and make belief. And he's creative: He already has 2 consistent alter egos: one is 'Boefje', a baby dog who likes to get into trouble, one is 'Mufasa', a fierce lion inspired by the Disney movie: the Lion King, and who's very wise.

Who knows, if he's anything like me, he's likely to have caught the theatre bug and will end up as a stage-actor. I really wouldn't mind. In fact, that would be living my dream life/job.

I've also been play-acting these days though. I have 2 interviews lined up this week, so I've been doing a little rehearsal answering scripts such as 'what are your greatest strenghts', 'what is your management style' and 'how could you contribute to your organization'...blah, not too much fun actually, but a necessary evil.
I don't think the positions at the 2 companies I'm going for are a great fit, but hey, you don't know till you go and find out more about it, right ? and as my husband keep telling me: it's great interview practice. true. I'm definitely not complaining about having interviews, I mean, it has been only 2 weeks since I was let go from the previous job, so it's great in fact to already have this response so early on.....but some selfish part of me wished that I woudn't have the interviews or that they were for were for different jobs/from different companies.... real reason is that I'd hate potentially down the line being faced with a situation of getting a job offer for a job I don't really want to ..... but could I say no to the income when I don't have an immediate fall-back???

Orange, fat and heavy

2006-10-22T20:47:00.000-04:00

Nope, not a new Garfield movie.. but time for Halloween prep.

After driving to 3 different pumpkin places, we finally found one to all our liking. The selection had been thinned out a bit already due to our late start, but I totally admit we were being very picky too - not wanting to go with a thin, crooked or damaged specimen.

I decided to experiment with a new carving design this year so Kevin could participate...So yes, those are his hands outlined on the pumpkin. He actually had more fun playing with the scooped-out pumpkin seeds than actually carving anything himself, but that didn't deter him from thinking it was cool (how could anything slimy, messy be otherwise?). The highlight was lighting the matches and putting the tea-light candles in the pumpkin. Not sure why, but it seems we are all little pyromaniacs at heart.

Like many people, I like the fall/winter season here. In Belgium, I usually preferred spring and summer, but here the summer humidity isn't my cup of tea. I much prefer the balmy autumn/winter days. Even when it's grey and rainy outside, it feels warm and seasonal inside, the perfect time for hot chocolates, pannekoeken and gluhwine (yesterday's lunch).

On that note, yesterday evening, we attended a rallying party for the NC democrats. Eventhough I can't vote here (I'm only a green card holder, not a citizen), I am very eager to see a change of leadership in this country, and with the November 7 elections coming up, the party can use the help. It's the first time ever I have gotten involved in politics...but I feel things are so off-course people have to speak up and step up...tells you something about how far it's gotten. Previously, I was always very ambivalent about politics. I had an opinion, but wouldn't take any action, thinking that it wouldn't make much of a difference or wasn't needed. I don't now. If you can vote in the upcoming elections, please do. I will make a difference.

Outplacement

2006-10-21T13:36:00.000-04:00

It's been a very interesting week. I have been incredibly busy, and incredibly driven, actually much more so than before I lost my job, and contrary to what I'd expected.

The company has set me up with an outplacement service. You know, the type that helps you out with resume development, interviewing strategies, etc. Needless to say, as I'm typically not a touchy-feely person, I was very sceptical. I figured, I already had a resume and my media-training would go a long way towards knowing how to respond in interviews. I thought I'd pick up some tips, but that'd be pretty much it.

While I was partially right (my resume was in decent shape:-), I still have learned a ton, and they've opened my eyes to a different way of approaching the next position. The thinking's based on 2 main ideas:

1) create a self-marketing plan. Aproach this as the chance and time to really evaluate what the right position and industry is for you, and then develop an actual pro-active marketing plan towards those roles. Using research tools, Dun& Bradstreet databases, bridge contacts, etc. As a marketer, I love this idea: to identify your target audience and then develop a plan towards them using multiple channels. It creates focus and there's a clear goal. The outplacement agency showed data that ~ 40% of jobs are actually created for people, rather than exist to start with, which is very motivating, and helps to avoid the 'just apply towards classified ads' syndrom.

2) network, network, network...as 70% of jobs are found through networking rather than traditional channels (classifieds, internet job boards). This is of course something we've heard before, but I always just thought of it as 'going to the people you know in the industry and asking if they know of any positions.' ..which of course, they don't most of the time. The outplacement agency showed a different way of approaching the networking. Basically, you go to all your A-list contacts, and use them to make other contacts that can move you further in the direction towards your goal. Instead of asking if they know of jobs, you'd say something along the lines of 'I don't expect you to have any jobs or know of any jobs, but what are some of the companies I should think of or people I should talk to that can have some further insights and ideas', which is usually a question that people are comfortable with and can answer. Also, it's more effective to do this face-to-face or by phone, rather than by email or letter.

So, I've been busy in developing that self-marketing plan and calling my first round of contacts. It's easy that way to get talking, and talking and talking...which is actually a really fun way to do a jobsearch, much more fun (and productive) than spending hours on end scouring internet job boards (of course, I do some of that too). And it restores faith in humanity. most people truly want to help you out and are happy to do a joint brainstroming, and usually as part of the conversation, there are things that bubble up that help them too.

With all that, I've been in a much better mood than I thought I'd be at this point . There are still times, now and then, that I get a pit panicky and start thinking financials, but that usually doesn't last too long. Not much you can do except move forward, right?

Another funny thing from the outplacement service: apparently the 'emotional stages' after job loss are the same as the emotional stages after a death (coined by Kubler-Ross): denial - resistance - exploration and commitment. Funky. As the exploration phase is categorized by high enery - that must be where I'm at.

Enjoying city parks

2006-10-14T22:16:00.000-04:00

After the blues of the last 2 days, the crips autumn weather was perfect today for a little outdoor outing.

In Cary, the Koka booth amphitheatre hosted the Indian Diwali festival, an all-day celebration of Indian culture with music, dances, food, drinks, merchandise and kids activities. It was the perfect entertainment for us and Kevin, not just because I love Indian (and Thai) food, but also because the scenery and multi-cultural event seemed the perfect antidote to the polital right-wing moral high-ground stuff you hear so often on the airways these days and which gives me the chills. Growing up in a pretty liberal country, I'm a fervent believer in the 'live and let live' motto.

It was the second time in a couple of weeks we went to the Koka booth amphitheatre. The previous time was for Hopefest, a musical fundraiser for Aids research, featuring Aimee Mann and the Indigo Girls. This is something this area can be proud of: the city parks and family amenities are excellent. There are playgrounds, parks, lakes, picnic areas, museums, etc. which are well-maintained and mostly free. When the weather is good - which it usually is in autumn and spring - it makes it easy to find places to go to with a family. It's not something you'd want to do all the time - lest you want to feel like the waltons, but it makes for a nice change of pace now and then.

Kevin discovered today he loves Indian 'mango lassi' drinks (mango pulp, yoghurt, milk & sugar), but prefers ice-cream over samosas. He also preferred the ducks in the lake over the indian dances - though the shiny rhinestones on the dresses did meet with his approval. He's funny.
All in all, it was a nearly perfect day, and allowed me to forget for a bit that I just lost my job....or actually, forget isn't the right word...it seemed less importance. In the grand scheme of things, eventhough we often let ourselves be defined by what we do at work, when all's said and done, family and friends are so much more meaningful.

A downside to living in the US

2006-10-13T23:57:00.000-04:00

is that from one day to the next, you can be out of a job...as I just found out this week. Forget about the 3 months or 6 months notice as is usual in Europe, the union-protection or seniority rules... businesses here have the prerogative that when things get though, they can let go of people immediately to improve their balance sheets. No matter how good the people, their performance, or credentials. Of course, employees can do the same thing, but right now, I'd rather trade that benefit in.

I was headhunted 7 months ago by a late-stage tech start-up...and then last Thursday, they had a swift round of lay-offs and I was one of the casualties, as were many others, including the VP of sales, head of engineering, head of OEM sales, head of a media account, a product marketing manager and many others. Still, knowing you're not the only one doesn't lighten the blow that much. I still felt angry, disappointed and cheated....if their financials and forecasting were so unstable, they should never have gone on this massive people hiring binge, and then let them go within the same year. That feels like playing with people, and that doesn't feel fun. I guess it's like a good friend said: it's typical of entrepreneurs, they forecast for what they hope for, rather then for reality. I expected more from a company named in Fortune magazine as one of the '9 tech IPOs worth waiting for'.

You can probably tell, there's a bit of bitterness and sadness in my tone...it'll temper in a little while. I'm over the worst. Nothing a good cry and a little time can't fix. But, in the meantime, I am actively looking for my next job.
As I am at this crossroads, I'd ideally like to use this opportunity to relocate back to Belgium, or nearby in Europe, to be closer to my family, but if push comes to shove, I may have to take something here in the short term to make ends meet. So, if you know of any good positions for a results-driven, seasoned marketing director with american and european experience in high-tech and FMCG, of if you have contacts who know people who might need a marketer with a proven track record in brand stategy, campaign management, public relations and strategic marketing, I'd love to make my resume available and look into opportunities.

comfort food

2006-10-09T00:00:00.000-04:00

After all the excitement on Friday, it turned out to be a pretty dreary, drizzly, grey weekend, which is unusual for this area. One of the (few) things I really like about this area is the normally sunny weather, the bright skies. Contrary to Belgium, the fall and winter here are usually filled with blue skies, albeit equally cold often. And it is true that sunlight helps with your disposition, at least for me. 't was not to be this weekend though.

But we made the most of it. And cold, gloomy weather is perfect for baking, so Kevin and I set out to bake a cake. From scratch of course. He (and I) loved it. It takes three times as long to bake a cake with a 2 year old, but it's well worth it. The simplest things like melting butter, separating egg whites from egg yolks, beating egg whites and weighing flour and sugar all become an opportunity for exploration and adventure, and put a huge smile on his face. And it's truly remarkable how good cake batter tastes when you eat it with your fingers :-).

Ever since we made the cake yesterday afternoon, Kevin's been making pretend cake for his dolls, his cars and his dad...too funny. I've also noticed that the words of the cake ingredients (bloem, suiker, boter...) and kitchen utensils (weegschaal, mixer, bakvorm...) are ones he now consistently uses Dutch for, instead of English....maybe that's the trick to speed up his Dutch language development..do it while cooking...I could think of worse things :-)

To evacuate or not to evacuate

2006-10-06T20:24:00.000-04:00

that was the question today.

Late last night a huge chemical fire erupted in a plant 1.5 miles from where we live and threw up a big gas plume, resulting in a midnight evacuation of all residents within a 1 mile radius - about 17,000 people - with the potential for more evacuations depending on how the winds spread the gas cloud around....

Waking up to that news didn't quite make for a regular day. .. all area schools were closed, roads blocked and non-evacuated neighborhoods were asked to stay indoors with windows and doors shut and air-conditioning turned off, and to wait for more news.

Fortunately the winds stayed stable and a rain system helped contain the fire and chemicals (though it did spread to a surrounding plant causing several petroleum silos to explode - also not a fun thing to hear closeby)...and although the fire is not yet extinguished, it doesn't look like there's any threat of evaucation anymore and that the risk for chemical exposure has subsided.

It does cause one to ponder when something like that happens. On the one hand, it shows how vulnerable and uninformed we are. I (and most of the Apex residents) had no idea there was a chemical plant closeby, and - this is the interesting bit - that the plant had been penalized already back in March for not properly storing its chemicals creating a potential hazard. It also did not have a good inventory of on-site chemicals, causing a delay for the hazmat teams to combat the chemical fire.
On the other hand, I was impressed by how fast and efficient the authorities responded to the situation. In less than an hour, they had assessed the situation, initiated a reverse-911 call (where neighborhoods and cells phones in the area are automatically called with the news) , started evacuating the surrounding neighborhoods, set up shelters, got the hamat teams on-site and had the large scale medical responder unit mobilized. I've no doubt that it's due to this quick response that there have been so few casualties. Only a dozen firemen and police and some of the lcoals -the first on the scene without protective gear -had to be taken to the hospital due to chemical exposure.

It also shows that it doesn't take a lot for a catastrophe. A few chemical vats left unattended, or a couple of careless plant employees cutting a few safety steps...they don't know yet what exactly started the fire, and maybe they never will, but there are many of these types of plants and factories around, in many dense neighborhoods...not a very reassuring thought.

One unexpected positive part of the day were the calls from friends and colleagues.
We got many calls this morning as people became aware of the news and knew we lived in Apex. All were worried about us and volunteered their homes in case we were evacuated. A big thank you to all of you. It does feel good to know that people care and that -whatever happens -friendship exceeds all else. And on that corny note I will close. Till later- hopefully without catastrophic fires next time.

I'm not good at

2006-09-26T21:34:00.000-04:00

bowling...I discovered again yesterday. As part of an off-site team building activity for work, bowling was on the agenda. I normally never bowl and that was clear. Also clear was that I have no natural talent in the bowling department whatsoever.

And I didn't mind one bit. I am normally quite a competitive person and when I engage in an activity or sport, I want to be good at it. Funnily enough, it didn't phase me that I stunk at bowling. I actually thought it was funny. Not sure why. Maybe it was the fact that my boss was even worse at it than I was, or the fact that my team just won the mobile scavenger hunt (an earlier team building exercise), or maybe it was the Corona that took the edge off....no, the scary thought is that maybe I'm growing up and I don't care as much about who wins and who doesn't ....maybe the team-building exercise actually worked....scary

The sun also rises

2006-09-24T20:42:00.000-04:00

.....getting up late Sunday morning. Sun shining. Slight breeze combatting the touch of humidity in the air. Shower. Freshly baked croissant brunch. Flying kites with son & hubbie in local park. Fun with son on playground. Sitting on deck next to son splashing with sprinkler, waterhose and buckets. Comfortable belgian dinner of twice fried 'frietjes' with stovers. Glass of red wine....

...feels almost like the Ernest Hemmingway novel - 'the sun also rises'-...mindless, carefree wandering through the day, going through the motions, aimed purely at self-satisfaction....

...love the feel of it at times.... but couldn't imagine it day-after-day...too much isolation, too much selfishness, too little involvement...

Familiar Surroundings

2006-09-23T12:59:00.000-04:00

Just returned from a last-minute business trip to London. Felt like coming home after a long time. Everything was so familiar. The squares, vistas, the 'tube', the British pound, the accents, diversity of restaurants, black cabs, driving on the left, prawn chips, play houses, dress code, .....It was a strange feeling on one hand. I didn't have to wonder how to arrange things, how to get places, I just knew. I didn't feel like a visitor at all, but not quite like a resident either. More like I was wandering in a very familiar fairy tale that I hadn't heard in a while.

I didn't have much spare time during the day - busy at a trade show and with work meetings - but had the good fortune to spend most evenings with my best friend in London. We went out to a middle-eastern restaurant one evening and just chatted for 5 hours straight over dinner and wine. We covered about everything from family, work, getting older, changing life expectations, philosophy, ambitions, vacations, cultural differences and plain old silliness. It was great.

It's always amazed me how there are certain people that you just 'click' with. No matter how often or seldom you see them, the moment you meet up again, you can take right up where you left off. You are simply on the same wavelength.

And strange enough too, I don't see these friends very often - one lives in London, another in Belgium and one in Atlanta, so none of them exactly live next door. Maybe it is related somehow, that the bond feels/is stronger because of the distance.

Regardless of which, it made my trip over more than a business trip, but a chance to connect again and refill and rekindle the batteries of a very special friendship. Made me wish I lived closer though.....

BugFest

2006-09-17T00:10:00.000-04:00

Vandaag was het weer BugFest in Raleigh. Ongelooflijk leuk, zowel voor kinderen als volwassenen. BugFest is hier een jaarlijkse traditie, waar men de mensen al spelender wijs wat bijleerd over 'bugs', dus spinnen, kevers, schorpioenen, kakkerlakken, bijen, vlinders en wat al niet.

Zo vind je er glazen kijk-kasten waar er bijendemonstraties gegeven worden (je weet wel, mensen met bijenbaarden en zo), heb je vele kraampjes waar je kevers, wormen, etc. kunt aanraken en voeden, het je 'koken met bugs' demonstraties, 'anthropod olympics' voor de kinderen waar ze ondermeer, zoals mestkevers, met strandballen moeten rennen, het je 'bug' knutselkraampjes, en nog veel meer.

Kevin jeunde zich erg, al denk ik dat de kever en bijen demonstraties hem minder interesseerden dan de schorpioenenlolly. Ik heb er zelf voor het eerst 'bugfood' geprobeerd: three bug salad, antchilada, wax worm quiche, stir-fry cantonese crickets on rice, hush grubbies, bug bite cookies...en ik moet zeggen, het smaakte niet slecht. een beetje crunchie textuur, maar best lekker, en blijkbaar vol goeie proteinen ook.

Ik weet niet of ze in Belgie ondertussen al een 'bugfest' equivalent hebben. Toen ik er opgroeide bestond dat althans nog niet, maar misschien is dat nu al opgericht. Zoniet, dan zeker een aanrader voor een ondernemingsgezinde bug lover.

Hide & Seek

2006-09-15T20:53:00.000-04:00

Kevin has come a long way the last couple of months. From a toddler who constantly wanted to be entertained, he's now entertaining us. He loves to sing songs, plays with play dough, makes us (pretend) lemonade and coffee, draws pictures for us, makes hats with paper and glue and borrows my shoes to try them out, ...even my high-heeled ones. Probably a safety-violation in eyes of many over-protective parents, but oh-so cute to see as he teeters in them throughout the house.

My favorite part is playing hide and seek. He just caught on to the concept...well, almost at least. He gets the counting part, he gets the running away part...he's not yet quite understood the actual hiding part. Whenever we play and I look for him, I'll put on a show and say 'waar is Kevin nu? Nu zal ik es zoeken' (where's Kevin. I'll go look around). Inevitably, he'll shout from his 'hiding' place (usually next to the sofa) : 'hier mami. ik ben hier'..and then burst out in massive giggles....who cares if not quite 'hide' and seek, it definitely is fun..

Frack

2006-09-11T17:03:00.000-04:00

I must have been watching too many DVD reruns of Battlestar Galactica (the new series - with female Starbuck and hot Gaius Baltar) or they must have more of an impact than I let on (admittingly, I'm still a scifi-fiend), as I've caught myself off guard today....I realized I'd forgotten to do something and I was silently cursing and mumbling to myself: "Frack, I can't believe I forgot".

Frack ? That's just too scary. That's not even a proper word, just the F@%! equivalent used on Battlestar Galactica. Clearly I need to get my priorities adjusted when I start using scifi language over real English..

Painting. Paints. Painted

2006-09-04T22:37:00.000-04:00

Arms sore. Back sore. Legs sore. Neck sore.
In a nutshell: we (I) painted virtually the whole weekend....it is amazing how much time it can take to paint just 3 rooms: bathroom, toilet and bedroom. Mind you. the rooms are large here and you do need 2 coats for a good result. Still.

My husband and I did split the work well. He did most of the prep work, and I did most of the painting. On Saturday I painted for about 5 hours and on Sunday, I painted about 8 hours. I didn't mind as much while I was doing it. It had a surreel Zen-like quality, but now, my whole body aches. Guess painting-muscles aren't the ones you usually use...need some downtime now.

kleur?

2006-08-31T21:51:00.000-04:00

Net zoals mijn zus vind ik het op dit moment een beetje moeilijk om mijn draai weer te vinden op het werk. Het zal wel met de voorbije vakantie te maken hebben. 't is dikwijls moeilijk om je direct daarna weer te motiveren op het werk. Het zal allicht wel van voorbijgaande aard zijn.

Deels als tegenmiddel en deels omdat mijn echtgenoot voorlopig toch thuis is gedurende de dag (op zoek naar ander werk) zijn we (voornamelijk hij) begonnen aan schilderwerk. Eerst krijgt onze 'master' badkamer een beurt en daarna de 'master' slaapkamer. Die kamers hebben we sinds we hier wonen nog niet onder handen genomen. Voor de badkamer is het simpel: de kleur wordt een neutrale 'eggshell', zo'n lichtgeel/wit. Voor de slaapkamer zijn we er nog niet helemaal uit. Voorlopig plan: 2 muren in eggshell en 2 muren in een donkerder kleur. Alleen welk kleur is nog de vraag: donker blauw of mocca bruin staan bovenop de lijst, met als derde mogelijkheid olijfgroen. Zowel blauw als groen hebben we al in andere kamers gebruikt, dus ik heb een voorkeur voor eens iets anders, maar John is er niet zo zeker van of een koffie-kleurtje daar nu wel past. We zien het wel.

Back Home

2006-08-26T15:09:00.000-04:00

So much for the well-intended hopes of keeping up frequent blog posts during vacation in Belgium and France. Alas, it was not meant to be. Or maybe a good thing too. It meant we had a great time, and were able to get fully unplugged.

I'm still planning on putting some more vacation pictures up later, so you're not done with the vacation-talk/torture yet. I like to reminisce.

Now back at work for 3 days, I'm still able to put things in perspective and keep my cool. Stress level is still low. I'd like to keep it that way.

I heard a wonderful little story on NPR the other day driving to work, which made me smile. It showed that newscasting doesn't always have to be about horrible wars, terrorism or religious fights.
This was the gist: Because of the travel restrictions, a small local business in Halifax, Nova Scotia was losing its livelihood. They specialize in airport lobster sales to travellers and normally use gel-packs to keep the (frozen or fresh) lobsters cool. With the restrictions, they were no longer allowed to provide the gel-packs in carry-on luggage, so had no takers anymore for their lobsters. After a couple of emergency brainstorming sessions they came up with an innovative solution: pack the lobsters with bags of frozen peas or corn. These meet the travel guidelines, keep the lobster cool, are inexpensive and easy to come by. As a gimmick, they can now market that they provide a whole meal too, instead of just the protein.....

Lazy Summer Days

2006-08-09T09:46:00.000-04:00

It's overcast today here in Flanders: cloudy, with the occasional sprinkles...But I don't mind today. It's the perfect weather to laze around the house, go for a short walk in the rural neighborhood behind my sister's house, stretch out on the sofa with a book.....Nice, relaxing, soothing....a good antidote to the hussle&bussle of everyday life...a good ingredient for a vacation.

We've been here now for a couple of days, and are having a really nice time. It's been a good mixture of active, on-the-go activities and taking it easy. Given that this is my home country, I don't feel compelled to 'see everything' and 'do everything'. It feels OK to take it easy too and yet it still feels vacation-like as the environment is different from our every day one.

Not that we've haven't done anything: We've visited 'het kasteel van Ooidonk', a local castle built in the 18th century (late by most mediaeval standards here), located closeby my sister's house. The castle's only open a couple of weekends during the summer and we missed it last time we were here. The castle's ornamental gardens are sumptuous and filled with local scultpures. Really beautiful.

The tour inside the castle took over an hour, which the toddlers didn't appreciate too much, but was very insightful and interesting, less so for the furniture and decorations than the abundance of pictures of the count with the belgian royal family and popes. It's quite clear that the remaining count, and his family who still live in the castle, have different values than us. Keeping aristrocratic dynasties intact and boasting royal connections isn't my cup of tea. But it's interesting to take a peak into that lifestyle.

The giant 'coupes' ice-cream with yummie chocolate sauce we had afterwards at the local 'koetshuis' (the renovated carriage house) was more to the liking of Kevin and his cousin Lander. I'm sure pediatrician's woudn't recommend it, but in this country, giving toddlers chocolate sauce on ice-cream and a (daily ) boterham met choco =slice of bread with chocolate-paste, is a very common occurence. I've not seen any signs indicating the kids turn out any worse than their american counterparts. To the contrary, overweight is much less common here. My theory is that it's all about moderation. Don't skip the good stuff altogether, or overindulge all the time, but enjoy ...in moderation. At least that's what my mother always use to say, and I think she was right about that one.

We also visited the Antwerp zoo a couple of days ago. The zoo's 150 years old and has been recently restored. A lot of the buildings are still in the original art nouveau style, very unusuals for a zoo. I don't know of any other zoo that has a distinctive architecture like that. They've done a good job of keeping it a nice blend of architecture, instruction, animal displays and 'terrasjes met speelpleintjes', areas for the parents to sit down, sip a beer while the kids release their energy on the adjoining playground...needless to say, we all had a great time.

Kevin also got a kick out of taking the train. Public transport is so well arranged here, that it's often easier and cheaper (no parking fees) to take the train for a day out. To little kids, it's an adventure. For their parents, it's a convenient way to travel with toddlers. What I especially appreciated here is how clean the trains were. Despite the high number of users, or maybe just because of that, they do manage to keep the trains clean, modern and enjoyable. The fact that the trainstations are very central in the cities, and built to impress in grand style, makes it even more appealing to use them. I highly recommend visiting the trainstation of Antwerp if you're passing through and are using public transport. The art nouveau architecture is beautify, and reminiscent of the musee d'Orsay in Paris O (which was also a trainstation in an earlier life) .

More to report soon, but need to get a chocolate fix first.

All set

2006-08-02T23:32:00.000-04:00

Bags are packed. Plants watered. Fridge emptied. Thermostat adjusted. Taxi booked....ready to go on vacation tomorrow morning.

It's been too busy the last weeks at work, but vacation time is here. I am going to Belgium & France for 3 looooooong weeks.

I am taking my computer, so you should see more, rather than less postings than you have the last couple of weeks. Now just get the flights over, and I dive back into the belgian 'gezelligheid'.

A Solution

2006-07-22T21:16:00.000-04:00

I've always said that it's tough trying to do any sports since Kevin was born....and it's true. It is a lot harder to get away, schedule time, make sure someone else is available to watch Kevin...but the truth is that it's a convenient excuse too.

I don't mind doing sports, in fact, I've always been a pretty athletic person, favoring tennis, skiing, gymnastices (the good old days), working out and yoga. And I always feel reenergized, reinvigorated after doing sports. But truth be told, I do tend to procrastinate and more so since our little guy's been around.

My husband and I were bemoaning our joint low-active sports state and I came up with the brilliant idea of tyring to play tennis together and using Kevin as a ball boy. Up till now, he'd been to young, but now's he coordinated enough. We gave it a try this afternoon at the tenniscourts in our neighborhood and Kevin had a blast. He didn't so much retrieve the balls as searched for remnant pine needles on the side of the court to throw in the trash bin, but hey, he didn't get in the way (much) and we were able to play a nice set.

I guess that I no excuse anymore now. Will be forced to get back into shape yet.

Vacation

2006-07-20T22:09:00.000-04:00

I am really, really looking forward to my upcoming vacation. I'm not leaving till August 3, but the thought of vacation is enough to keep me going the next 2 weeks.

Not that things are bad, but the last 2 weeks at work have been rather hectic, with frequent evenings where our whole team was still online doing work till midnight, and emails flying back and forth. It's not a healthy situation. There was a good reason for it though: the company I work for acquired another company, so it was integration and communication crunchtime to make sure it went off without a hitch (it did). It was an amazing experience though, being at the core of a company acquisition and working through all the communcations and marketing details. Great resume builder too (I think)

Now that that's over, I feel I need a break. Since I changed companies about 5 months ago, I've been going at 200 miles an hour and eventually you need to reload those batteries.... which is where our Belgian vacation comes in ...T minus 14 and counting

BTW, also saw 'Enemy at the Gates', a film about a sniper duel during the second world war, with Judd Law, Rachel Weisz and Joseph Fiennes. the love story's a bit overdone, but the backdrop of the siege of Stalingrad and the cinematography is amazing. really stops you cold and makes you realize the horrors of war... considering current events in the world, more people should watch movies like that..

echos of things to come

2006-07-16T15:44:00.000-04:00

We went to a friends house yesterday for a playdate betsween Kevin and their son and I had to laugh and shake my head at the toys they had.

In addition to an indoor toddler-size traintrack with working train that the boys could sit on to do laps around the playroom, they had one of those outdoor minature toddler trucks: the type powered by a lawnmover engine, but that have enough energy to chauffeur a 2 year old around..

As such, Kevin had his first experience in the driver seat. He seemed a tad anxious the first minute, but when he saw his friend step into the car, put the helmet on (helped by mommy) and take off, he didn't want to be left behind.

It only took him 5 seconds to learn how to push the gaspedal and navigate the steering wheel and soon he was spinning around the driveway like an experienced Formula-1 driver with the largest smile ever on his face...really scary how quickly they take to it...not sure I'm a big fan of making 2 year olds anxious to drive...might be a tad early....say 14 years or so....

..back home, I contemplated on the toys and the insanity of having actual working mini-trucks for toddlers to play with ....only in America

bilingual

2006-07-09T22:46:00.000-04:00

Kevin continues to amaze me. He actually grasps the concept of 2 languages now and can translate when asked. He's not perfect, but then, at age 2 and 4 months, he can't be expected be, can he?

I consistently speak Dutch to him and he's always understood me when I talk to him, but a couple of months ago, as his vocabulary was really expanding and he started making 6-7 word sentences, I noticed that he was resorting to English to speak back. I debated a bit, but then started asking him 'in het Nederlands?', and when stumped, I repeated the words in Dutch. I also started a game of 'wie spreekt er Nederlands?', and taught him that I, he , his 'tante Joke', 'nonkel Yves' and 'vava' all speak Nederlands, but that his teachers and school and daddy all speak 'Engels'. I thought that making him conscious of the two languages, and who speaks what, might make it less confusing...and it worked. He got it.

Now, he still on occasion will respond in English to me, but much less so. And, when he does, and I ask him 'in het Nederlands?', he usually can give me the Dutch word right away. Today for instance we were reading a book on animals and he pointed to an animal saying 'is monkey', but when I asked 'in het Nederlands', he immediately said 'aap'.....

I hope he keeps it up. I definitely wil. I means a lot to me. It is so intertwined with my identity as a European, it's where my roots are, it's who I am. I couldn't imagine having a son who wouldn't be able to switch continents and talk to his relatives in his/their own mother tongue. I couldn't image having a son who wouldn't be able to move back and feel part of the culture.

smokies

2006-07-06T21:53:00.000-04:00

We used the July 4th long weekend to take a trip to the Smoky Mountains, about 3.5 hours West of where we live. Kevin had never been camping, so we didn't quite know what to expect.

To keep from it from being a total shock, we opted for cabin-camping instead of tent-camping. That way, Kevin would at least have a 'bed' to sleep in, albeit with a sleeping bag instead of regular blanket. The cabin was set up such that there was a double bed (for us) and a bunk bed next to it (for Kevin). It was no use though. Despite sleeping in his 'big boy bed' at home, he had no intention of sleeping by himself in the bunk bed, and ended up sleeping in the double bed with us. Oh well. I can't blame him. The only downside was the relative lack of sleep as a result...not exactly the best recipe for a relaxing weekend.

Still, despite the insomnia, we had a good weekend. The scenery and tranquil nature made up for a lot. It's easy to forget the stress of everyday work-n-hussle, and get back to core values when you're surrounded by stunning vistas, green foliage, babbling brooks and streaming waterfalls...

Too commercial of Great Idea?

2006-06-28T20:41:00.000-04:00

I just discovered a new initiative: a service that allows you to customize and create postals stamps using your very own pictures. No, for real. It's not a gimmick. You simple pick some pictures, upload them in this tool, place your order and within a few days, you received the stamps featuring your pictures, and you can use them as real stamps. That just about beats anything that I've seen recently in terms of pure commercialism, but at the same time, as a marketer, I'm loving it.

What a great idea. As the market is more and more impersonal, this is a little gem that will allow us to customize our mail in a way that can truely put a smile on people's faces. Could you imagine if, for your friend's 40 birthday, you send birthday invitations to the group with his picture and 'he's 40' as a slogan?
Or how about a birth announcement with the picture of the actual baby on the envelop? Of course, you could be a true narcisist and put your own picture on all your mail.
And for companies, what a fun way to add a little brand building to their stationary.

I bet that this will cause, at least initially, a little spike in the number of hardcopy letters and cards that will be sent, as people eagerly try out the service. Hats of to the inventors and the postal service for combining creativity with technology in nice harmony.

Proud Type i

2006-06-22T20:46:00.000-04:00

I attended an interactive lunch seminar today at McKinney Silver, a local ad agency. During the presentation, I was introduced to a new term: "Type i".

Type i was new to me. I'm familiar with a Type A person: your typical assertive, aggressive, dominating, gotta-have-it-by-yesterday personality that seems to overindex in senior managment at many companies.

Type i however is defined by being:
- Intelligent: making smart choices
- Independent: listening to others, but using own judgement
- Innovative: progressing, welcoming change
- Interactive: web-savvy and using integrated communication tools to stay connected

I love it. Maybe a bit arrogant, but if anyone asks in the future what type of a person I am, my answer's going to be 'a proud Type i'.

Pretend Phase

2006-06-20T23:46:00.000-04:00

Kevin's in his pretend phase. It's too funny.

I made real lemonade (i.e. from lemons) with him a couple of days ago and now he's constantly making pretend lemonade. He'll pretend to take a knife, pretend to take a lemon, pretend to cut the lemon, pretend to juice the lemon, pretend to pour the juice in a glass, pretend to add sugar, pretend to add water, pretend to stir it and then he'll come to me and offer me some pretend lemonade.

He also is making pretend medecine. Earlier he cut his lip and got antibiotics twice a day. It turned out he really like the liquid medecine, so now he wants to have it all the time. don't worry, we don't give it to him. So he's resorting to making his own pretend medicine and dispensing it to everyone...the bear, the doll, mommy, .....

With all this good pretend nutrition, who could lack for anything?

Irony

2006-06-18T21:52:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was a very physical day: I actually managed to install a sump pump in the crawlspace under the house with my husband, and then mowed the whole lawn (early father's day gift). The irony is that I'm sore all over now but last week, after doing the 5 k Race for Cure, pushing Kevin all the way in the stroller, I didn't ache a bit. Just not fair.

Still, I feel good about us having successfully installed that pump. For those blessed without the knowledge of what a sump pump is: it's a special submerged pump used to drain basements and crawlspaces of water. It's only used in bad drainage areas, like our neighborhood. After hurricane Alberto came through town last week, our crawlspace resembled a little swimming pool, so we had to take action.

Fast forward several hours of digging, drilling, glueing PVC-pipes and such, we now have a sump pump installed. It seems to work. I hope so. Moisture in crawlspaces can lead to mold, which can be dangerous to health when it spreads in walls.

On to more fun things, today was father's day in the USA. I still don't quite understand why father's day is different in different countries. I'm sure the greeting card industry has something to do with it. Kevin gave his dad the perfect gift: he was the perfect toddler today: no tantrums, no crying, no yelling...he just played happily, helping to wrap dad's gift, played by himself without wanting attention, helped to make real lemonade, played at the swimming pool contently for 2 hours, took his nap without problems, etc. He was even the perfect gentlemen in the restaurant, happily waiting the 20 minutes it took to get seated, and then eating his meal without making a huge mess.....amazing. Must bribe him with cake more often :-)

An Entertaining Oldie

2006-06-17T22:20:00.000-04:00

As we were playing with our videos, we came across an old one of Kevin that's one of my favorites..he was trying to use the laundry basket as a walker, but the laundry basket had other ideas.

Kevin's ABC

2006-06-12T22:26:00.000-04:00

I'm still working on Kevin's Flemish ABC equivalent, but in the meantime, you can enjoy his English ABC recital here captured by John. Given Kevin's only 2 years and 2 months, I'm quite proud of the little guy.

OK. Admitted. He doesn't look that thrilled at performing on cue here. Usually he loves to show off. I blame it on the subject matter. Who wants to do educational ABC songs anyway? I'll try to capture him doing his rendition of 'k zag twee beren..' in the near future. He usually has a blast with that.

grote jongen's bed

2006-06-12T22:01:00.000-04:00

We zijn weer een grote stap aan het zetten met Kevin. Of eigenlijk is het Kevin die weer een grote stap aan het zetten is: de overgang van een babybed met spijlen naar een gewoon, laag kinderbed. Het was tijd. Kevin was zodanig gegroeid dat hij met gemak uit het babybed zou kunnen klimmen en vallen (gelukkig heeft hij dat echter nog niet gedaan). En ook zijn we van plan om in Augustus terug op vakantie te komen naar Belgie, en dan zal het ook makkelijker zijn als hij in een gewoon bed slaapt.

Het lijkt zo evident, zo alledaags, in een bed gaan liggen en erin blijven slapen, maar eigenlijk is het dat niet. Als je er even bij stilstaat: meestal ben je 's avonds niet echt heel moe, meestal kom je er dan pas goed door, ben je weer wakker. Ik toch in elk geval, en Kevin heeft blijkbaar ook dat trekje mee. En om dan gewoon stil te blijven liggen in een bed, als je net zo goed uit je bed kunt stappen en in de speelkamer gaan spelen...

Maar voorlopig het lukt ons wel. Ik moet wel toegeven dat we hem een beetje manipuleren. We hebben beide bedjes in zijn kamer staan en geven hem de keuze: "will je slapen in het babybedje, of in het bed voor grote jongens? En als in het bed voor grote jongens slaapt, dan gaan vava en tante Joke en nonkel Yves allemaal heel trots zijn. Dan is Kevin heel flink!" Misschien niet heel fair, maar het lukt meestal wel.... Ok, een paar keer is hij uit zijn kamer gekomen en kwam hij met een grote grijns op zijn gezicht de bureau inwandelen, alsof hij een grote stoot uitgehaald heeft.... ik moet dan altijd mijn best doen om niet in proesten uit te barsten.. tja, vroeg geleerd is oud gedaan?

flooring

2006-06-03T14:44:00.000-04:00

't is the season of houseproject it appears. We went along with the typical stereotype. You know how it goes: you buy a house, you move in, do the necessary painting, arranging, decorating and then plan to do a lot more....which you don't get to till much, much later. We're at the much later stage.

Now 2 years into the new house, we're just at the point where some things just needed to get done...like the floor in the living room. When we bought the house, it had a wall-to-wall carpeting. The other downstairs rooms (kitchen, library & dining room) fortunately all had hardwood floors. I don't like carpets particularly. They're not hygienic, don't look very nice or modern and are impossible to keep clean. I still don't get the prevalence of carpets in so many houses here and in the UK. Don't understand what the attraction is. Still, it wasn't a big priority to get it changed immediately (nor worth the extra investment).

But having a having a toddler living in a house for 2 years and using the carpet as his main playing area will change those priorities, so it was time to get the nasty carpet replaced. Several estimates and trips to the DIY store later, we now have a new floor. Hardwood, not carpet. We couldn't get a match with the hardwoods of the kitchen area, so decided to go for total contrast: modern, beech wood with almost no grain in the living room vs. the caramel colored, grainy, oaky hardwood in the kitchen. I think it came out well, albeit a little ecclectic. I'm sure many locals would have a heart attack if they saw the non-traditional combo, especially against our terra-cotta walls...oh well, too bad. welcome to the 21st century.

copy cat

2006-05-31T20:36:00.000-04:00

It never ceases to amaze me how perceptive 2 year olds can be..and how much they like to copy adults....

Just yesterday when we were having dinner, a simple veggetable stir fry with angel hair pasta, Kevin started fussing all of a sudden. Since he normally loves pasta, I was initially surprised. It quickly became obvious however that he was simply annoyed because he wasn't succeeding in spinning the pasta around his fork like I was doing....how quickly they (want to) grow up ...

water fun

2006-05-29T20:47:00.000-04:00

We went to the beach for a couple of day for the Memorial day weekend. It wasn't the first time for Kevin. We went last year too, but he had a cold then so we couldn't really tell if he liked it.

This time, the response was clear. Water is fun. Sand between your toes is not. Initially the plan was to spend 2 full days at the beach and also pay a visit to the Fort Fisher aquarium. We ended up spending only half a day at the beach, half a day visiting Wilmington and the next day a couple of hours at the aquarium. Then we headed back home.

Ironically, when we got home, Kevin had a blast in the little inflatable swimming pool I set up in the back yard...he played for several hours in the water, with little buckets, watering can, spraybottle and sieve. Goes to show 'een kinderhand is gauw gevuld'....oh well, I didn't mind too much not spending longer at the beach, I'm not the 'baking yourself to gett a tan' type of person anyway....I was quite content being back home and sipping a cold glass a wine on the back patio...just a shame we had to drive 2 hours to and from the beach to find out.

NY

2006-05-24T10:26:00.000-04:00

I'm in New York now for 2 days, for work and so far, all the cabbies have been friendly and spoke English well...amazing...makes me wonder if I'm in the right city?

Week of...

2006-05-20T14:45:00.000-04:00

It am declaring this the week of creativity. On Sunday, I got my very own cover for mothersday and then yesterday, I received this personalized (belated birthday) picture-postcard from my nephew in Belgium.

Isn't it adorable? Although, as he's only 1 year old, I'm pretty sure my sister's the driving force behind it - which makes it a larger family effort and all the more appreciated..

Not sure what it is about home-made, personalized gifts? But they do work and are so much more meaningful than something more expensive, simply bought of the shelf.
Part of it is probably that we are already pretty spoiled anyway, and don't really lack for anything materialistic....but it's deeper than that too. It's the knowledge and fact that someone took the time to do something special for you, to plan things out, and knows you well enough to know what would be meaningful.....probably sounds very corny and sentimental...but true nonetheless

Mother's day

2006-05-14T13:30:00.000-04:00

My husband (and son) gave me a very creative mother's day gift: my very own cover:

..very cute and very creative

costly

2006-05-11T08:41:00.000-04:00

We just got the estimate back to replace the kitchen counters (currently a laminate on wood surface) with Quartz, and install a new sink: $6,800. Ouch. Think we'll politely decline....and get another estimate. ..

DIY activity

2006-05-08T22:21:00.000-04:00

It's only taken 2 years, but we finally got rid of a very ugly chandelier we had hanging in our breakfast nook. When we moved in, we inherited the light fixtures from the previous owners. Most of it was reasonable neutral, but some showed their penchant for country motives, including the kitchen counter backsplash (yes, it's got flowers - but they'll be out soon too) and this chandelier, now nicely waiting for the next trash pickup.

It took some acrobatics to reach the ceiling...and I'm happy the Safety Administration did not pay a visit, as standing on a chair on the middle of the table would probably have been ruled 'unsafe', but we got the job done...without hurting the table, the chair or any bones in our body..
...and the results are very satisfactory. Hurah, no more looking at an old-fahioned frilly chandelier. Welcome to modern fixtures....

and the breakfast table just told me it feels very relieved too not to have a heavy, bulky object dangling above it. very freeing.

The more things change, the more they stay

2006-05-06T23:25:00.000-04:00

the same...

Had an ex-colleague over for wine & muchies a couple of days ago. She's still at my old company and spent most of the time venting about the remaining people, the barriers, the silly politics, the glass ceiling, the inner strungles and navelstaring...things haven't changed much.

And yet for her, as there was for me, there's still this tremendous pull to stay. It is an exciting industry after all, it is never boring. it's cutting edge, fast-paced and I have to admit, it is a comfortable company once you get used to the up-and-down nature......
Taking a step back though, it's amazing how much we let work rule our lives. And how much we let it define how we feel. Maybe that's what's most surprising....Most of my current and ex-colleagues are perfectly smart people, well educated with a solid mind of their own. And yet when thrown together in the microcosm of a company with its competiting divisional tentacles and people, all of a sudden, many people become obsessed by what other people think and say about them, rather than using independent judgement. Worse still, often they realize it's silly, the office perceptions and gossip, but they still can't shake it off....

I must be in a contemplative phase, because I seem to be less bothered by it now. Maybe I've found my inner peace, maybe it's the experience, maybe I've disengaged a bit, maybe I'm just less easily purturbed, but I find myself saying to my friends more often 'why does it matter? You know better. Stand up for yourself, or walk away. Relax. It's not worth the fuss.'

One ex-colleague in particular is having a hard time, especially physically. She's let work stress get to her to such an extent that she's got insomnia, heart palpitations, high blood pressure, allergies and lately an ear/sinus & flu condition that doesn't want to heal. Isn't that just horrible? Other than being a friend and pointing out that the whole 'work defining her life' thing may not be working out, there's not much I can do for her. But isn't it sad? I wonder if it was like this 100 years ago, before the age of technology. Did people generally feel totally defined by work, colleagues and the value judgements there? It could just be our generation, the whole 'generation X- needing to achieve, but fighting the establisment in doign so'. I've read trend stories describing the current generation having a better balance. I'm definitely not a doomsayer for technology. Quite the contrary. I love the benefits, just curious about some of the consequences and where the boundaries are.

none the wiser

2006-05-01T20:58:00.000-04:00

I'm wondering when the wisdom will kick in? Aren't we supposed to get wiser as we get older? With another birthday just gone by, I'm not feeling it....maybe that means I'm still young(ish)?

Not sure either if I'm supposed to be angry or happy at the hubbie. He initially forgot my birtday and woke me on Sunday morning at 8am, but then felt bad and made a grand gesture 2 days later: planting the front yard with miniature Belgian flags and signs saying 'the', 'belgian's' '35!!!'....complete with streamers, confetti and flags inside

...have to admit. it was original.

In mijn voetsporen?

2006-04-22T20:20:00.000-04:00

Een week geleden hadden wij een namiddag doorgebracht in het dichtbijgelegen Pullen Park. Naast de typische vijver met eendjes, speelpleintje en draaimolen, heeft het park ook een klein treintje dat rond rijdt, compleet met tunnel, spoorovergang en brugje. Het ritje duurt amper 5 minuten, maar voor de kleuters is het een belevenis.

Zelfs al is het een week geleden, onze Kevin spreekt er nog over. Af en toe zegt hij spontaan 'tuut tuut', 'donker', 'tunnel, 'park', kevin en mamma rijden'. Grappig. Ook heeft hij het soms over het kleine space shuttletje 'airplane' waarop hij zat op het speelpleintje.

Het doet me afvragen wat hij later zal worden? Een treinconducteur, astronaut, ingenieur...of speelplein coordinator ? Ik droomde vroeger ook altijd over astronaut worden. Misschien valt de appel niet ver van de boom. Maar aangezien mijn ogen niet 100% waren, en ik als tiener al moest brillen, kwam daar al vroeg niks van in huis.

Na de astronauten droom is er eigenlijk nooit echt iets in de plaats gekomen. Ik wist altijd wel dat ik 'iets' wilde bereiken, maar had toen niet echt meer een droomberoep. Al bij al is het eigenlijk curieus hoe ik uiteindelijk de studie-keuze gemaakt heb. Meer door middel van eliminatie dan door vakambitie.

Ik wist dat ik geen les wou geven, dus studierichtingen als geschiedenis en talen vielen al weg, ik wou geen saai beroep, dus rechten en economie waren ook niks, ik was wel geinteresseerd in wetenschappen, maar wou niets met patienten te maken hebben, dus sloot ik de medische wereld uit, maar ging dan uiteindelijk de bio-ingenieursrichting in. Daar besefte ik snel dat alhoewel de vakken (voedingswetenschappen, biochemie, virologie, fysica...) enorm boeiend zijn, dat het onderzoek zelf, het labo-werk, een ontzettende sleur is, en niet aan mij besteed. Ik wou variatie, niet dagenlang, wekenlang aan datzelfde ene project werken, zoals het geval is bij echt onderzoek.

Na het halen van mijn bio-ingenieurs diploma, had ik het geluk een functie te vinden die meer met product ontwikkeling te maken had, dan met fundamenteel onderzoek. En sindsdien heb ik continue, gestaag steeds verder stappen gezet naar het zuiver bedrijfsbeleid, weg van het onderzoek: van product ontwikkeling, via product research, naar market research, naar business intelligence, naar strategic marketing, naar pr & communciations management, via brand management, tot (nu) het leiden van alle marketing communciations voor het huidige bedrijf....

Nu terugkijkend, vraag ik me af of ik het anders zou doen als ik het zou kunnen overdoen. Of ik dezelfde studiekeuze zou maken als toen? Enerszijds denk ik dat ik dezelfde keuze zou maken. Bio-ingenieurs studies zijn ontzettend boeiend, en ik ben nog altijd gefascineerd door de wetenschappen en lees nog graag over de nieuwe ontdekkingen. En alhoewel ik in mijn dagdagelijkse werk mijn ingenieurskennis niet echt gebruik, ik gebruik de technieken ervan wel: het problem solving, het analytische denken, de feiten van verschillende kanten bekijken....Anderszijds zou ik wellicht sneller de huidige richting en positie hebben behaald met wat meer soliede bedrijfskennis, wat ik zou kunnen gehaald hebben uit een MBA. Ja, als ik het zou overdoen zou ik, naar een paar jaar werken, er wellicht een MBA opleiding bijgedaan hebben...

Ik zou het nu nog kunnen doen, er zijn veel 'evening' of 'weekend-MBA' opleidingen hier. Maar ze kosten stukken van mensen (+/- $25.000 dollar per semester), je hebt 2 jaar geen leven want alle vrije tijd gaat op aan het studeren en klassen volgen, en uiteindelijk denk ik dat ik er nu niet veel kennis zou van bij opsteken. Ik denk dat ik de meeste MBA kennis nu al heb door mijn ervaring. Het zou natuurlijk in de toekomst een rol kunnen spelen in het makkelijker vinden van een hoger functie, maar ik betwijfel het een beetje. In Amerika is er nog veel meerwaarde voor een MBA, maar ik denk dat het in Europa nog niet zo erg het geval is, en aangezien ik van plan ben de volgende jaren het stapje over de plas terug te maken denk ik dat ik maar afzie van een MBA....maar als Kevin me om studie raad vraagt, binnen zo'n 15 jaar, dan raad ik het hem wellicht wel aan....als hij beslist in mijn voetsporen te treden

School Pictures

2006-04-16T13:39:00.000-04:00

We just got Kevin's school pictures back. Remember the days when we were little and had those done? The more things change, the more they stay the same....

When I was younger, I never cared much for our school pictures. We always looked like uncomfortable teenagers, awkwardly smiling at the lens, never quite living up to our inner beauty and smartness...of course our parents always insisted on buying the offensive shots, so we'd end up stuck with them for eternity....

Of course, as a parent now, I think my son's schoolpictures are absolutely adorable. Not sure if I'm just totally biased, or if my son is just much more photogenic than I ever was, but I couldn't resist buying the overpriced shots either.... Just one thing, even though he's just 2, I think he looks like 4 in the pictures...

A picture's worth more than a thousand words..

2006-04-15T23:27:00.000-04:00

With my dad and sister back from their skiing holidays now, Kevin and I enjoyed Skyping wth them again this morning. I have to admit. It's wonderful to see my family on the screeen and not just to hear them over the phone. And it makes the world of difference to Kevin too who, at two, can recognize his family just as well as if they were living next door instead of across the ocean. He has no trouble talking to 'vava' or 'tante Joke'. He's even fond of his cousin 'baby Lander', who he's seen only once in real life.

For those not familiar with the technology. Skype.com is a an internet VOIP (voice-over-IP) service that offers free calls over the internet. The superb thing about the service is not just that it offers free dialing (though that's nice too, especially considering most of my calls to my family are international) , but the fact that it includes video-viewing with the call. This means that provided both parties have a webcam or a built-in computer camera, you don't just get sound, but also an live image when you call. Due to the bandwith limitations, the image isn't supersharp, but definitely sharp enough to be enjoyable.

The only downside with calls to Europe is that they are often done in the morning (due to the time difference). On weekends, chances are I'm still in my PJs then. Oh well....haven't heard too many complaints yet.

De Paashaas Komt

2006-04-10T23:00:00.000-04:00

't is die tijd van het jaar: pasen komt eraan. En alhowel wij niet zeer religieus aangelegd zijn, laten we geen excuus achterwege om te vieren. Vooral als er zoetigheid aan te pas komt. En bij Kevin is de appel blijkbaar niet ver naast de boom gevallen.

We hebben voor het eerst dit weekend samen paaseieren geverfd en geraapt...en zoals je op de fotos kunt zien is dat goed meegevallen. Het is natuurlijk typisch Amerikaans dat je hier ' paaseieren verfkitjes' in allerlei kleuren, vormen en kwaliteiten kunt kopen...want je zou toch geen extra werk willen doen of gewone verk kunnen gebruiken :-)...

...en waarom dit weekend en niet het volgend weekend voor het paaseieren rapen?....we deden gewoon met onze buurt mee. Waarom die dat een weekje vroeger vierden weet ik ook niet. Misschien omdat ze het 'heidense' ritueel van paaseieren rapen niet wilden combineren met het kerkelijke feest? Kan best zijn. Ik zou er niet van opkijken.

not my town

2006-04-08T20:01:00.000-04:00

Just got back from a week of trade show in Las Vegas. It's definitely not my kind of town. That's the second time I came down with a bug there. This time a stomach flu that left me unable to eat anything for 3 days. I concur wholehartedly with the saying: what goes on in Vegas should stay in Vegas. In fact, they should fence in the area and keep the place confined.

The best thing about the trip was coming home and driving to the daycare to pick up my son. Seeing him jump up and down with joy when he saw me and have him come running in my arms, almost made the trip worthwhile...but not really.

Nutty but Fun

2006-03-27T22:24:00.000-05:00

New Jobs are always overwhelming at first. This one's no different. I imagine it will take me another month or so before I stop feeling like I'm continually several steps behind, and I can start leading my group, rather than pulling along projects while running after things and figuring them out.

Yet, oddly enough, despite the hectic pace and the newness insanity, I love the change. Maybe it's the energy of the place, maybe it's the change of scenery, maybe it's just getting out of an old rut. Maybe it's the knowledge that I can definitely contribute in this place. It doesn't matter, it's good to feel this way.

Still, it will be good to get over this initial work phase, to have more time for leisure & family activities. With such a cute boy, who wouldn't want to spend time with him. Here's the munchkin with his new fireengine, a gift from his aunt.

Last weekend was also Kevin's second birthday. He is growing up to be quite the little man. Gone are the days of our baby-boy. Good morning the advent of the little lad. He is funny too. He's discovered that he can grin, not just laugh, and he does this often when he considers something amusing or naughty, he'll look at us and grin. Just like he did on Saturday when he was eating birthday cake with 2 forks....yummy

new job

2006-03-20T22:56:00.000-05:00

The new job is talking its toll. I've been working evenings for pretty much the last 3 weeks..hence the low volume of updates recently...but the end is near. We are nearing completion of our company's new branding campaign, website overhaul and products' relaunch...hurrahh. I'll be coming up for air soon....

contrary to popular belief

2006-03-14T21:27:00.000-05:00

We working women often feel guilty about having our kids in day care and not spending more time with. General societal messages - and homemaker moms - also do a good job at reinforcing this theme.

Yet facts tell a very different story. I just read a very interesting article in the New York Times, based on a study by the census bureau. Apparently, we working women actually spend more time actively engaging with our kids then our non-working predecessors use to do. How? We sleep less. How about that for dedication :-) Not sure this is a sign of progress though... kind of sad when you think about it, but at least, more ammo to get over that sometimes naggingly guilty feeling.

Here's an exerpt from the article.
"What happened on the road to gender equality?" said Suzanne Bianchi, a sociologist at the University of Maryland. "A lot of work happened."
Bianchi, who studies time-use surveys done by the Census Bureau and others, has concluded that contrary to popular belief, the broad movement of women into the paid labor force did not come at the expense of their children. Not only did fathers spend more time with children, but working mothers, she found, spent an average of 12 hours a week on child care in 2003, an hour more than stay-at-home mothers did in 1975.
Instead, mothers with children at home found the time for outside work by taking it from other parts of their day. They also worked more overall. Bianchi found that employed mothers, on average, worked at home and on the job a total of 15 hours more a week and slept 3.6 fewer hours than those who were not employed."

Grabbing a bite

2006-03-09T22:33:00.000-05:00

Overall, I'm not a fan of the American fast-food culture. It changes what should be leisurely time with friends and family into a purely functional activity: simply taking in the necessary calories in the least amount of time with the least amount of work. And since I'm somewhat of a gourmet, it saddens me to no end when people consider 'chicken fingers' or 'hamburger helper' a decent meal.

I must admit however that since I've become a mother, I am very greatful to the family style American restaurants that are very popular here. I'm not talking about your McDonalds or Burger kings, but the Vinnie's, Mamma Mia's or El Torrero types. The food is average, nothing to write home about, but they are set up to handle families with small children well. They have high chairs, booster seats, crayons, drawing paper, silly straws, children's meals, etc. All in all, they are equiped to give moms & dads a bit of a break at dinner time.

This is different from the European culture. Restaurants are visited more sparingly, and more on special occasions. They invariably have much higher standards for food, but as a result, usually don't bend down to the level of children's meals nor try to accomodate children much. when, in the future, we'll return to Europe, this is something I'll miss.

Evan, Kevin et al.

2006-03-06T21:59:00.000-05:00

Door het starten van een nieuwe job was vorige week ontzettend druk, maar gelukkig had ik een weekend om naar uit te kijken en wat uit te blazen. Niet dat we niks gepland hadden voor het weekend. Integendeel. Het zat vol activiteiten, maar allemaal leuke.

Zaterdag gingen we met z'n allen naar het verjaardagsfeestje van Evan, een vriend van Kevin. Kevin was opgetogen om zijn vriend Evan cadeautjes te geven die hij uitgekozen had (vingerverf, verfsponsjes en een draaitol met lichtjes). Hij zat continue te babbelen van 'pakjes, pakjes...' en (hiep, hiep) 'hoera'. En het eerste wat hij deed toen hij bij Evan's huis binnenkwam was Evan een grote knuffel geven. Schattig gewoon.

's Avonds hadden we een babysit ingehuurd en aten John en ik een etentje uit, gevolgd door de musical Cabaret. De musical was goed, maar niet zo goed als ik hem met paps in NY al eens gezien heb.

's Zondags was het onze beurt om een verjaardag te plannen, of ten minste om een plaats uit te checken waar we Kevin's verjaardagsfeestje misschien kunnen geven. Playspace Children's Museum is een non-profit organisatie die een programma en gebouw heeft ingericht speciaal afgestemd op kinderen onder 7 jaar.

Het gebouw is ingedeeld in verschillende afdelingen die allemaal zaken op kleine schaal voorstellen waar kinderen mee kunnen spelen: een winkel, een keuken, een brandweerkazerne, een kasteel, een theater, een concertzaal...allemaal compleet met kostuums en accessoires. Fantastisch voor kinderen. Zoveel museums zijn gericht op volwassenen of oudere kinderen. Deze plaats was gewoon perfect voor Kevin. Je had hem moeten zien, zoals hij in 'de keuken' pasta aan het koken was, of op de buhne stond te dansen en zichzelf op het scherm zag....hij was in de wolken, en wij ook. Dit is een schitterend initiatief voor kleinere kinderen, en wij zijn bijna zeker dat we hier Kevin's verjaardagsfeestje zullen geven.

Wit

2006-02-26T20:23:00.000-05:00

There are few plays that I enjoy watching twice here. Overall, there are very few plays where the subject matter isn't pure plot-driven but stops you in your track and makes you think, reconsider your own attitudes, habits and beliefs.

'Wit' by Margaret Edson is one of them. The subject matter isn't the lightest. It deals with a literature professor who has stage IV ovarian cancer and while undergoing experimental chemotherapy, undergoes a progression of emotions and beliefs, going from being a tough intellectual to rediscovering humanity and kindness - all the while drawing analogies to the poetry of John Donne, with humorous wit. Not easy to do.

Raleigh's Little Theatre does not do many contemporary productions,, but they did this presentation of Wit superbly. If you haven't seen the play yet, I highly recommend it, but do keep a handkerchief handy....

Little Chef

2006-02-21T21:11:00.000-05:00

Ever since I knew I was pregnant, I've been dreaming of cooking with Kevin.

I've always liked cooking. At least when I have the time. Not the drudgery of everyday 'after work cooking', but the weekend experimentation with new recipes, new veggies, new ethnic cuisines...but alas, my husband's not a cooking afficionado, so it's been mostly a solitary pursuit.

Yesterday, my dream started becoming reality in such a great way. Kevin's been fascinated by copying adult tasks (cooking, vaccuuming, washing, etc.) for a while now and yesterday he was eager to join me in cooking.

It was around 4pm on a typical cold, grey, winter day, so perfect for the mid-afternoon antidote of sweet, sugary, hot 'pannekoeken', typical Dutch style pancakes. They're so easy to make: Just milk, flour, sugar, eggs and oil. Kevin helped me every step of the way: fetching the mixing bowl, holding the flour, pouring the sugar, putting the eggshells in the bin after use and then, the most fun of all for him: mixing the batter...he was allowed to hold the whisk and mix the batter himself: bliss for the little chef.

He even got a special seat near the stove to watch me cook the pannekoeken and to taste the very first one. He loved it....he couldn't stop babbling about 'mix' 'mami' 'koeken' 'pan'...and wanted to to take an extra pannekoek to his daycare the next morning to show his teacher what he made. So cute. Of course, I think I'm even prouder of him than he is... and I d0 hope he keeps being fond of cooking with his mom for much, much longer.

"Torino"

2006-02-16T22:07:00.000-05:00

Ben ik de enige die normaal gezien nooit naar schaatstoernooien, ski-afdalingen of snowboarding kijkt, maar als de Olympische spelen aan de gang zijn, 's avonds aan de buis gekluisterd zit?

Het is ontzettend verslavend. Door mijn job en Kevin kan ik voor 20:00 niet veel zien dus vergeet live coverage. Maar NBC heeft zijn programmering blijkbaar op mij afgestemd want van 20:00 to 24:00 hebben ze elke dag alle hoogtepunten, documentaires over de atleten en wat al meer. Niet fair. Hoe krijg je deze week wat gedaan 's avonds?

Een rariteit wel. Normaal doen Amerikanen niks liever dan buitenlandse plaatsnamen te 'veramerikanizeren', maar voor Turijn maken ze voor de Olympische spelen een uitzondering. Alhoewel je in op alle Amerikaanse kaarten 'Turin' te zien krijgt, hebben alle media het nu hier over de spelen in 'Torino'....vinden ze wellicht meer sexy klinken....

't is the season...

2006-02-12T23:08:00.000-05:00

...for a job change.

After 6 years at my current employer, I am taking a leap into a new opportunity.

Not that there's suddenly anything wrong at the current company. It's been the same fun, chaotic, annoying, exhilarating, frustrating and wonderful ride recently as ever at a fast-paced telecom company, but after 6 years, it's time for a change.

As I came unto this mental realization over the last couple of months, a new opportunity presented itself. It's riskier, with a company still in the venture-capital stage, but then, the rewards are potentially bigger too....time will tell.

I resigned yesterday and start at the new company 2 weeks from now. Job changes in the states are very different compared to Europe. The usual notice time is two weeks as opposed to 3 or 6 months in Europe. It has it's pros and cons. You can be fired at any time and be out in days, but then, you can also resign and not have to hang on for months...it certainly makes for a more nimble marketplace.

Kevin meanwhile is unperturbed by these changes. He just invented a new game: blowing bubbles in his drinks. He's very proud of this, can't keep from showing off his new achievement. He's also decided that taking naps during the day is not cool anymore and is becoming very good at trying to get out of it: 'book read'...'potty'....'eat'....'juice'....'down(stairs)' are some of his usual excuses. You have to give it to the lad. He's creative.

Sponges and parrots

2006-02-08T21:11:00.000-05:00

I've had the funniest experience recently when dropping of Kevin at his day care school. I've inadvertently become the early morning 'storytelling mom'. It all started innocently enough the last couple of weeks. Usually Kevin doesn't mind going to his day care school, but sometimes when he's a little reluctant to let me go or when I have more time before going to work, I'll sit down with him on the playmat and read a short picture book for 5 minutes or so.

Despite my reading the book to him in Dutch and none of the other toddlers speaking Dutch, I've gotten a little audience at these little reading sessions, whith the other kids sitting down around me as well and paying close attention. It's up to the point now where, when I arrive in the mornings, 2 of the other kids start coming to me with a book in their hand. It's too funny.

And when I read and make gestures to help them understand the (Dutch) words, they all mimmick me. This morning, the story was about a little duck in the bathtub, and I was telling and showing how the little duck washes itself in the bathtub and everyone was dutifully pointing to their belly, their backs, their arms....copying me on cue. Too cute.

I guess kids at this age are just total sponges and parrots. They just absorb all new words and experience, regardless of whether they fully understand it and regurgitate it back to you. We should all keep such and open mind and stay open to new experiences.

(Kevin having fun with a new experiences: visiting the butterfly garden at the local science museum)

Picture This

2006-02-05T22:05:00.000-05:00

Living abroad can be tough on family connections. Not seeing each other very often. Not experiencing kids grow up. Missing those little milestone moments. And even though calling is easy enough, time difference is a major nuisance, making regular evening calls quite impossible.

That all won't change just yet, but I did recently discover a new service that makes it just a tad easier. I had heard about VOIP or Voice Over IP, but had never checked it out. This morning, my sister and I both installed Skype on our computers. It's a new, free service that allows broadband consumers to call each other using the internet, and -if you have a webcam- let you see each other too. I know webcams and the technology has been around for a while, but a service that makes it that easy and is free is rather new I think.

It was so wonderful to see my sister, her husband and their little boy 'Lander'. I couldn't believe how much he had changed since the last time I saw him. He's 10 months now and I last saw him when he was 4 months, so I shouldn't be surprised. I also had seen some recent pictures, but you still can't replace atually seeing the little boy. And my sister for that matter. We talk on a regular basis, but adding live video to the call does make it very different, definitely raises the bar. The same goes for her. She could see how Kevin acts now and actually hear and see him wave and say 'dag tante joke'. And he loved it. When we ended the call, we told him that aunt Joke and uncle Yves had to go to bed, and he kissed them goodnight and waved to them. Aterwards he kept on talking about aunt Joke going 'nightnight'. so sweet.

I can't wait to try out this service with my dad. I know how he misses his grandson, so this could make it a lot easier. Of course, I will have to wait a couple of weeks as my sister will have to help get Skype set up on his computer. My father's still a very progressive and modern man, using mobile phones, digital cameras and other devices without problems, but somehow computer programs are not his forte.

pork roast

2006-01-28T20:31:00.000-05:00

Although I love cooking and love experimenting with many international recipes, I'd never actually done a pork roast. Probably due to the fact that it's a large chunk of meat and untill recently, we were only 2 people to eat it. Now with Kevin starting to eat meat on a regular basis, we at least have 2.5 people eating meat. Maybe also because it seems a little old-fashioned. It's the type of thing my grandmother used to make, not quite the modern thai and sushi dishes that are so popular now.

My husband forced my hand today when he brought home a huge slab of pork from the grocery store. As a typical digital woman, I went straight to www.epicurious.com to find some recipes and was not dissapointed.

I tried the Tuscan-style pork roast. It's super simple. All that's required are garlic, rosemary, salt & pepper, the pork and patience (~ 3 hours).... but the results were stunning. After about 1 hour, the house started to smell heavenly (at least if you like the scent of garlic & rosemary cooking), and when we sat down to table, the roast was succulent, full of flavor and aromatic.

I'll have to try more of the old staples.

Groenten

2006-01-26T20:14:00.000-05:00

Hoera, hoera, hoera.

Kevin heeft vanavond voor de eerste keer in weken weer eens degelijk groenten gegeten. Hij is al altijd stapelzot op fruit. Het maakt niet uit wat: ananas, peren, druiven, avocados, frambozen, bosbessen, appelsienen....hij verorbert het zonder problemen. Maar voor groenten trekt hij zijn neus op. Het zal wel aan het verschil in natuurlijk suikergehalte tussen groenten en fruit ligggen.

We bleven (en blijven) hem natuurlijk wel groenten als deel van de maaltijd presenteren, maar meestal laat hij die gewoon liggen. Om een of andere reden echter had hij vanavond ontzettend veel zin in mais. In tegenstelling tot vorige dagen at hij niet alleen alle groeten op, maar vroeg om meer....je zal het maar begrijpen...

White

2006-01-24T22:41:00.000-05:00

I just got back from the Sundance Film Festival where I had the opportunity to go skiing at the Deer Valley ski resort. I'm not sure what it is about pure white snow and high altitude, but to me, it just makes everything look so peaceful.

Maybe it's the quiet, the solitude. when you stand on top of the mountain and there is only the slight sound of the wind.
Maybe it's the pristine look and untouched feeling of pure white color. Maybe it's the coolness of the snow. Maybe it's the absence of any distractions at the apex of the mountains, or the amazing vistas.

Regardless of why, it puts things in perspective and calms you down. It helps to prioritize.
Despite the physical exertion of skiing, you feel reborn afterwards.
Don't worry, I'm not going to get religious on you, that's not my thing, but there is something spiritual about untouched nature, and it's nice to get back to it on a regular basis to remind us of what's important.

On to better things

2006-01-19T12:07:00.000-05:00

I'm happy to report that Kevin's fully recovered and none the worse from his bout with walking pneumonia. I celebrated this with a couple of glasses of the 2005 Beaujolais Nouveau yesterday.

I admit, it's late in the season to try it out for the first time. When I was living in Europe, we had the traditional 'le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrive' party in October. Alas, this is North Carolina, and I lack the wine-connaiseur friends here to go out and celebrate the wine's arrival (that, and there is no public transport here to get safely home afterwards:-).... Eventhough it was in the comforts of my own home and not in a chic bistro, I still enjoyed the wine. It wasn't the best Beaujolais Nouveau I'd had in my life, but very drinkable. Cheers!

I'm off to Salt Lake City for the next 3 days for the Sundance Film Festival. I've never been before and quite looking forward to it. Not sure on how good internet connectivity will be from there, but will try to send you some snapshots.

walking pneumonia

2006-01-16T17:13:00.000-05:00

It's official. Kevin's got walking pneumonia....

As this is the our encounter with this bug, the initial diagnosis scared me. 'pneumonia' conjours up all kinds of nasty images of long bed rest, hospitalization, weeks of sickness, etc....fortunately it turns out that 'walking' pneumonia is a very mild type that doesn't require weeks of bed rest.

Amazing what you learn when you become parents...no wonder so many parents become semi-bratty know-it-alls. As a parent, one does in fact collect lot's of trivial and not so trivial knowledge about all things related to bodies, sleep, food digestions and developmental steps..maybe they should give parents (mothers) college credit for this. Might help with perceived notion mothers/fathers/homemakers don't do/learn anything anymore...

Bug Season

2006-01-14T20:58:00.000-05:00

't is the season....for children's bugs. We were almost to the 2 month mark of Kevin not being sick, but alas, 't was not to be. He just succumbed to pinkeye and a general cold/flu like bug.

I was looking forward to a nice, easy weekend with some long family walks and dinners. Instead, I've been puked on twice, and have spend most of the time rocking a whiny, feverish little bundle...I don't mind it, I just wish there was more I could do. Other than giving him some Tylenol for the fever and holding him near, there's litte I can do. I hope he gets better soon. It just tugs at my heart to see him so miserable.

Outdated transport

2006-01-12T16:42:00.000-05:00

Here's something I still don't get. Why do schoolbusses in the US remain unchanged since the sixties when are so many better, more updated and comfortable bus models available?

Every morning when I drop Kevin off at his day-care school, I see the old, yellow, squeeky schoolbusses drive kids to school. Honestly, If you'd judge the country by the schoolbusses, you wouldn't think you're in the number 1 internet/tech country in the world. I realize the look of the busses is somewhat iconic, but they could easily preserve a similar style on a modern bus.

I just don't get it.

Pizza

2006-01-10T21:34:00.000-05:00

Kevin is gefascineerd door pizza, ttz door het woord 'pizza'. Als je hem vraagt 'wat eet je graag?', dan zegt hij zo direkt 'pizza'. Als je hem echter pizza geeft, dan eet hij er meestal niet zo veel van. Het heeft wellicht meer te maken met John's liefde voor pizza, dan Kevin's.

Grappig is ook dat alle gerechten die rond en warm zijn voor Kevin qualificeren als 'pizza': quiche, quesadillas, taart. Deze avond aten we een hapje bij Qdobba, een mexicaans restaurant, en Kevin zei de hele tijd 'pizza, pizza...' en was superenthousiast over zijn quesadillas, maar na een paar hapjes had hij er al genoeg van en begon met de ijsblokjes te spelen....een kinderhand is gauw gevuld.

Vocabulary Sponge

2006-01-07T00:03:00.000-05:00

After watching watching the New Year's firework, Kevin came up with his unique translation of 'vuurwerk' or 'firework'. It's 'boom, boom, boom'. And I agree with him. It's an altogether more appropriate term.

Overall, his language acquisition is going really well. He is soaking up new words every day like a sponge. He loves repeating new words. Just this morning, I served him some fruit for breakfast and told him 'dat is lekkere mango' (in English: 'that is yummy mango') and he parrotted 'mango', 'mango'. Then this evening, I was loggin into the company's network with the security token and I told him: 'dat is de code' (that the token/code) and he again repeated 'code', 'code'.

I am careful only to speak Dutch to him, and my husband only speaks English. It's not always easy for me. I have to switch back and forth between speaking English to my husband (who doesn't speak Dutch) and Dutch to Kevin. But the consistency to Kevin is paying off. It keeps him from being confused. He knows I speak one type of language and daddy speaks another and he understands us both. Even before he started using words, he was able to respond to my questions in Dutch such as 'waar is het schilderij?'(where is the painting) and 'toon es je neus' (point to your nose).

And now that he's using single words and the odd two-word sentence, he does so both in Dutch and English. I'd say he uses slightly more English words than Dutch right now, probably a 60/40 split, which I think is not bad, considering he hears much more English at the school and from other people. It's funny, teaching Kevin Dutch has actually taught my husband much more Dutch than he used to know. He now repeatedly uses Dutch words and mixes them in his sentences, like he'll say to Kevin: "did vava go bye bye in the airplane, in het vliegtuig?'.

I'm not sure yet if Kevin's Dutch language development will keep up with the English one. I hope so. So far, it does not seem like it's lagging that far behind. I just think that I have to keep at it by reading a lot to him and exposing him to a lot of new Dutch words. A lot of studies have shown that if kids hear a large vocabulary as this age, that that makes a huge difference in how their brain pathways develop and that it gives them an advantage, so I believe we are doing the right thing. I hear from so many people here that they wish that they had learned another language when they were younger, so I think it's giving Kevin an advantage. Plus I somehow couldn't imagine not being able to speak to my son in my own mothertongue. It would also break my father's heart. He's crazy about his 2 grandkids and couldn't imagine not being able to talk to one of them.

I believe consistency is key. If the kids can easily make out who speaks what, then there's no confusion. It's when languages are mixed that you run into problems. I see this with a friend of ours. She's Dutch, married to a Britt and she speaks both English and Dutch to her 2 kids (one's 5 and one's 2). Surprise, surprise, they favor English. They can speak some Dutch, but not well and they mix the languages. So far, Kevin's not done that. When he's reading a book with me, he stays in Dutch mode and says e.g. 'zon', 'maan', 'appel', 'ja', 'bo(ven), 'vliegtuig', 'tas', etc. There are some terms he persists in English, such as 'bankie (for blankie), but there aren't many and he does understand the Dutch word for it too. In these cases, I think it's because the Dutch word is a lot harder ('dekentje') and he isn't able to pronounce it yet.

Only time will tell, but I think we're on the right track.

Much Progress

2006-01-06T23:10:00.000-05:00

I am so proud of Kevin. He is nearly fully potty trained, after just 1 week! This may not seem like much of a feat to people without kids, but those with kids will be able to appreciate the milestone.

As a true engineer, I did quite a bit of reading on the subject before embarking on the whole training. I was amazed to find out that untill the 1900s most kids were potty trained by 2 or 3 months of age. I didn't even know that was possible, but is appears this is very easy to do, and is still the way the vast majority of children in many parts of the world (asia, afrika, latin america) is trained..

Then in the 20th century came the advent of disposable diapers, more women staying home with kids longer and a couple of pediatricians endorsing the diaper industry claims that it's healthy for kids to be in diapers till they are 'ready' at 3, 4 or even 5 years of age...and so the western world became full of toddlers who had the competence to use the facilities without problems, but who stayed in diapers, in contact with their own waste, for months and years out of sheer ignorance...sad.

Determined not to let this happen and armed with the book 'toilet training in less than 1 day', I set out to train Kevin last Saturday. Kevin is now 1 year and 9 months, and does really well at responding to requests and commands without too many tantrums so he was at a good stage for toilet training. It took a bit of persistance to keep at it: practicing walking to the potty, taking down pant, peeing, pulling up pants, emptying the potty...for hours while constantly praising and encouraging Kevin is no-one's idea of a relaxing day, but wouldn't you know it: It actually worked!!! We went out later that afternoon for new year's eve celebrations without diapers and did not have a problem. My husband had been really sceptical about the possibility of training our son in just one day, having heard that it usually takes weeks if not months, but he was pleasantly surprised too and even apologized about the skepticism.

The only little snag came on Tuesday and Wednesday at the day-care school. For some reason, Kevin refused to go on the potty there for those 2 days, but then on Thursday 'got it' and did not have any accidents at all. Today, Friday, he only had one accident there...the teachers are both very excited about so much progress in so little time and also a little amazed. Most mothers in the US these days wait till their kids are older than 2, often 3 or older, but then it's a lot harder as the kids are more stubborn and have been unused to controlling their bladder for much longer, so it harder physically too.

I know we're not fully there yet with Kevin. We still need to work on the nap and nightime routine. So far, we haven't switched to underpants for tose yet, but most experts say that if the kids develop a good daytime routine, then the sleep routine will develop spontaneously not long thereafter.

For those with young kids in doubt, I highly recommend starting early rather than later, and recommend the book. It was writting in the 70s, so some language and references are a bit dated, but the training is still fully valid and works...and as they say in that l'oreal commercial: It's worth it!

A Different Point of View

2006-01-03T20:54:00.000-05:00

About a week ago, we went to see Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol at NC State, performed by Actor's Comedy Lab.

Everyone's of course familiar with Dickens' traditional Christmas Carol with Ebenezer Scrooge as the protagonist. This one is shown from the point of view of Jacob Marley. Recall, it was Marley's ghost who first visited scrooge and who haunted the tight-fisted fellow. In this version, it's Marley who's doing the talking.

The play is done in a very minimalist type of setting, with only some walking planks as set, without any costumes to speak of and with only the talents of 4 actors to entertain you. Yet, when well done (and this was) it's a very powerful and moving play. A bit corny (yes, the message is still that it's never too late to redeem oneself), but much less so than the traditional version. More up to date, much more fun, with a lot of dry wit added into it. I especially like the no-nonsense approach: black canvass and the actors and the script have to do the work. That's real theatre to me. Seeing as these plays are very seasonal, it probably won't be put on again till next year, but if you have the chance to see it then, I give it two thumbs up.

In general, we've been very happy with the performances at NC State. Overall, the Triangle does not boast much high quality theatre to speak off, but the offerings at NC State and Raleigh's Little Theatre deserve to be pointed at as bucking that trend. True, Chappel Hill is usually more know for its artists and intellectual qualities. Unfortunately this doesn't extend to most performances at UNC's Playmakers Repertory theatre which needs to get the stick out of it ass and get on with the 21th century. I'm not usually a fan of the city of Raleigh, but in this case, they win from rivalling Chapel Hill.

Here's to plenty more good theatre in 2006!

New Year's Resolution?

2006-01-03T20:30:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year !

It's that time of year. Resolutions time. I'm all for goal setting and working towards things rather than just ambling along and wondering why you got where you got...so here's my first resolution for 2006: I will drink better wine!

I'm still working on the rest of the list. If you have input. Let me know.

So much in so little time

2005-12-28T22:40:00.000-05:00

The last week has been filled with crazy days. Not so much in terms of it being hectic, just very different from the usual.

(holiday munchies at Kevin's school)

It started out with all the 'new' pre-christmas traditions: the 'holidays celebration' at Kevin's school or also known as 'eat as many cookies, ice-cream, muffins, chocolate as you can get away with'; then the 'trolley of lights' in our neighbourhood, also known as 'freezing your butt off waiting for your turn to take your toddler in a small trolley that seats 15 people in a neighbourhood with 400 kids', followed by the company 'holiday reception' also known as 'have some luke warm hors-d'oevres on the company, but pay for your own drinks at the cash bar while you talk to your colleagues' (ok. I admit, I skipped the company reception in lieu of spending time with the family - I was reliably informed I didn't miss much).

After these compulsory festivities, we headed off to West Virginia to try out our first American skiing. Winterplace, WV is not exactly the Alps, but for a couple of day of relaxed family-skiing, it hit the spot. In true American fashion, the ski-resort also had day -care, so mom & dad could hit some slopes while the little guy amused himself with toys & playmates. Overall, he did not seem too impressed with the cold snow and ice. I am hopeful this will change and that by this time next year, he'll be ready to strap on some skis too.
(Kevin figuring out this fluffy white stuff called 'snow')

One downside to the trip: don't trust travel food. We normally never eat fast food, unless we're travelling and now I know why again. I came down with a very serious case of food poisoning from a McDonalds meal near the ski resort. ...there went the last day of skiing. As the raven says in Poe's poem: 'never more!'.

Back in North Carolina, it was on to Christmas which we spent with fellow international friends and their kids. Turkey, potatoes, side dishes, triffle and food galore....good stuff (though not exactly the best medicine for a stomach still somewhat upset from from food poisoning)

One thing I'm not yet used to is the new political correctness in the US around Christmas. Even if you're not religious or practising, what's the harm of someone wishing you 'Merry Christmas'? Yet is seems, almost all stores and companies are pussy-footing around this and if they acknowledge the event at all, it's as 'happy holiday's or 'wishing you well'. Even in the grocery store yesterday, a clerk admitted to me they weren't allowed to wish anyone 'merry christmas'. They could only respond in like fashion, if they were wished it first. Silly if you ask me. I'm not a particularly religious person, but I realize full well, we'd have no Christmas vacation if it weren't for Christmas, so let's cut the debate and celebrate the free days :-)

Tree Danger?

2005-12-20T23:59:00.000-05:00

Kevin has surprised me lately. With the Christmas tree, the lights and decorations up and the presents assembled underneath, I thought Kevin would be a little terror around the tree and we wouldn't be able to let him near it for fear of it being torn down, or all the presents openend.

I was wrong. He is mesmerized by the lights and decorations, but is following our 'suggestion' of just looking, pointing but not touching. He's also able to pick up and hold the presents without opening them. Amazing kid.

We'll be off to Winterplace, West Virginia, next for a couple of days of winterfun and skiing. It will be Kevin's first experience with snow. Hopefully he'll find it as interesting as he does ice from the freezer (which he can play with for hours).

Schone Schijn

2005-12-16T12:20:00.000-05:00

De 'site van de week' van de Gazet van Antwerpen is zeer interessant. Het is de website van Glenn Feron waarop hij toont hoe hij met Photoshop foto’s van topmodellen en beroemde vrouwelijke artiesten bijwerkt voor de hoes van albums of magazines. Rimpeltjes verdwijnen, een mooie teint verschijnt en borsten en billen krijgen een subtiele boost.

Dus wij moeten ons niet schuldig voelen in vergelijking met de topmodellen, want zelfs zij zijn zo mooi niet als ze lijken..

Sleep

2005-12-15T09:58:00.000-05:00

is such a good thing. Finally, after several nights of waking up around 4 and 5am (because of congestion and/or being cold and/or nightmares), Kevin slept through the night till 7am. Bliss. Amazing how much more refreshed one feels after a full nights sleep.

Kerstversiering

2005-12-11T21:43:00.000-05:00

(kerstboom binnen)
Een interessante traditie in Amerikaanse wijken tegenwoordig is het versieren van het huis voor Kerst. En dan bedoel ik niet aan de binnenkant, neen aan de buitenkant.

(kerstboom van buitenaf gezien)
Toen mijn vader hier een paar weken geleden logeerden en hij ons hielp met de buitenversieringen, hadden we het er nog over en hij zei dat als je het in Belgie zou doen, dan zou men denken dat je een winkel zou opendoen of zo. Men versiert gewoonweg de buitenkant van huizen niet. Binnenkant, geen probleem. Buitenkant niet.

(inkom van buitenaf gezien)
Hier is het, hoe meer hoe liever. Vele mensen houden het stijlvol, met enkel wat witte lichtjes of ijspegeljtes aan de dakrand, maar je ziet ook tuintjes en huisjes waar het de spuigaten van overloopt: met plastieken herten, sinterklazen, lichtjes in allerlei kleuren, riante kransen, sleeen, enzoverder.

(zicht vanop de oprit)
Dit is het eerste jaar dat wij ook aan de buitenkant wat versiering aanbrengen, kwestie van niet uit de toon te vallen. Hopelijjk niet te kitscherich, maar je moet zelf maar je mening uitbrengen: een kaarsje in elk raam, de kerstboom voor het raam en wat lichtjes en groen rond de trappen en deur.

(zicht vanop straat)

Sinterklaas

2005-12-11T13:10:00.000-05:00

Sinterklaas is al een paar dagen geleden, maar ik was er nog niet aan toe gekomen om hier een paar fotootjes van het Sinterklaasfeestje in te plakken. Het feestje was, zoals gewente, georganiseerd door de Nederlandse club en vond plaats in een wijk clubhuis in Raleigh.

In tegenstelling tot vorig jaar, toen Kevin zich nog van geen kwaad bewust was en zonder problemen op de schoot van de Sint kroop, was het dit jaar anders.
Hij was was vrolijk aan het meebewegen met de Sinterklaasliedjes die iedereen aan het zingen was, maar toen het plosteling stil werd, zijn naam geroepen werd en hij als eerste naar voor werd meegenomen, zag hij het toch niet zitten om uit mama's armen weg te gaan en bij die vreemde snuiter te zitten. Neen, toch liever niet. De Sint vond dat niet zo erg, Kevin was immers braaf geweest dit jaar, dus kreeg hij zijn geschenkje toch. En dat geschenkje, een nieuwerwetse 'etch-a-scetch', met magneetjes, peciaal potlood en 'pimpampoentjes-gom' vindt Kevin, zelfs to vandaag nog, een fascinerend ding. Van alle geschenkjes die hij toch nog toe gekregen heeft, is dit wellicht het enige waar hij bijna elke dag mee speelt.

voices

2005-12-08T21:08:00.000-05:00

I have gotten quite attached to 'reading' audio-books on CD during my commute to and from work. It makes a nice change from listening to radio stations saturated with ads or listening to depressing news broadcasts. It also is a great way to cram a little culture in an otherwise busy day.

One thing that I have noticed is that the narrator's voice adds a whole new dimension into whether you like a book or not. While the material does not change, the voice, timbre, accent, punctuation, flexibility and rythm of the narrator can add so much, or detract so much from the material, that it can totally change your perception of the book. My husband and I recently listened to 'the kite flyer' on book cd during our respective commutes, and while I liked the heavy persian accent of the author & narrator, my husband did not care for it, found it difficult to understand and couldn't finish the book. Had he simply read the book, he probaly would have enjoyed it.

Currently I'm listening to a classic: 'lolita' by Nabakov, read by Jeremy Irons, who also starred as the male lead in the same film. Mr. Iron's reading is done superbly (as was his acting in the film). The book is heavy on prose, elaborations and distrations as it journeys the story of Humbert Humbert. Yet, while on paper, that might actually make it hard to get through at times, Jeremy Irons makes it effortless. He switches between voices, male and female, american and english, without spoofing or overdoing, soft and sensual, changes the pacing and intonations to match the story, now delirious and manic, to caring and soft, then factual and cruel. He mimmics a besotted man mentally retelling a story, with humor, heart and truth. Beautifully done. Highly recommend it if you have the time, though not for those of puritan morals (doubt any of my friends are that type anyway). The full book is 10 cds - most public libraries have it in inventory.

The good body

2005-12-04T22:41:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since my last post. My father stayed with us for the last 2 weeks, and we celebrated Thanksgiving with friends, went on a little roadtrip with the family and then did lots of Christmas shopping with 'vava'. He went back to Belgium yesterday late afternoon. The house is much emptier now and Kevin asks on a regular basis 'vava? vava?'. It's so sweet how he says it, but sad he'll have to miss vava for a while. Probably will be at least 6 months before we see him again. Hopefully dad can fix his computer soon so we can do the videocalls again.

Eve Ensler has done it again. Her show 'the good body' is the follow up of 'the vagina monologues' and every bit as good. Very touching, very timely, very appropriate for this country and season. If more people could feel good about their bodies and find a good balance between healthy, enjoyable nutrition and enjoying food, we'd have a lot happier society and much lower healthcare and psychiatric care costs.

fall in NC

2005-11-23T22:46:00.000-05:00

wonderful weather in NC for fall walks.

Dad's here from Belgium for the holiday. It's great to see how much Kevin has taken to him. Feels like they see each other every day. Amazing how much he loves and enjoyes spending time with his grandfather. As dad is Kevin's only remaining grandparent, I hope he gets to spend much, much more time with him.

memory

2005-11-20T20:34:00.000-05:00

If anyone ever claims that infants and toddlers don't have a long term memory, I'll take them on. Here's a case in point:

Kevin, our 18 month-old son, had not seen his grandfather ('vava') in over 4 months. As vava lives in Belgium, the last time he saw him was in July, when we visited Belgium for 2 weeks. The time before that was 6 months earlier, when we visited for Christmas 2004, so vava's not exactly an everyday sight.

Granted, I'd been showing Kevin pictures of the whole family, including vava, for a couple of weeks now, but no-one could have foreseen Kevin's response at the airport on Saturday.

When vava descended from the escalator, Kevin who normally is near his bedtime at this time of the day, ran to his grandfather shouting 'vava', 'vava' and jumped in his arms upon arrival. All the way to the car and on the way home, he continued smiling, pointing and saying 'vava', 'vava', 'vava'. He was the happiest boy on the planet.....now who says toddlers don't have long term memories? I hardly think he was happy because he recognized someone from a picture. He must have remembered his grandfather from 4 months ago, and 6 months before that. Regardless, I am thrilled he recognized my dad...and it made my dad's day too :-)

Dagje Zoo

2005-11-13T13:04:00.000-05:00

Kevin en ik hebben het huis dit weekend voor ons alleen. John is bij zijn zus in Philadelphia op bezoek.

Om eens wat anders te doen hebben we gisteren de dierentuin in Ashboro bezocht. Dat is ongeveer een uurtje rijden, dus nog te doen. Kevin viel bij het heen en terugrijden telkens in slaap, dus voor hem is het alsof de dierentuin net naast de deur ligt.

Hij heeft zich fantastisch goed geamuseerd. Hij was van geen enkel dier bang. Hij was vooral gefascineerd door de meerkatten, de walibis (een soort kleine kangoeroes) en het speelplein met reuze pimpampoentjes.

(ik was mijn camera vergeten, dus deze foto is met mijn gsm genomen)

Voor mij was het ook een leuke verstrooiing, en daarboven nog goed om in conditie te blijven. In de Ashboro zoo ligt alles namelijk ver uitgespreid. Er zijn meer dan 8 kilometer aan wandelpaden en dat gaan dan nog eens bergop en bergaf continu....en dat terwijl je een buggie duwt. Mijn beenspieren voelen het!

yoga

2005-11-10T22:16:00.000-05:00

Ik ben gisteren voor de eerste maal sinds Kevin's geboorte weer naar een yoga-les gegaan. Zaaaaaaalig! Voor zijn geboorte ging ik elke week, zelfs tijdens mijn zwangerschap - toen was het 'pre-natale yoga'- en daar genoot ik altijd van en het hielp me fit te blijven. Maar toen zijn we verhuisd en was de normale yoga-stek te ver, en was ik druk in de weer met Kevintje, dus kwam het er maar niet van.

Nu ik er eindelijk weer aan begonnen ben in een wellness centrum dichtbij wil ik het echt niet meer laten schieten. Het is ongelooflijk hoeveel vershil anderhalf uurtje yoga kan maken. Je voelt je herboren: je voelt je langer, je hebt meer energie, de knopen zijn uit je spieren, je bent leniger, je bent niet meer moe....

Vroeger was ik heel skeptisch. Ik had zo iets van yoga is voor new-agers, voor die touchy-feely mensen, dat hele zen-gedoe trekt me niet aan. Maar ik had het mis. Yoga is veel fysischer dan ik dacht. Het is echt een hele lichamelijke training. Het hele zen en spirituele aspect is miniem. En yoga kun je zo licht of zwaar maken als je zelf wilt, van zachte 'vinyasa flow' yoga to 'power Ashtanga' yoga.

Als je je ooit vermoeid en futloos voelt en je niet de tijd of energie hebt om aan sport te doen, probeer dan misschien eens yoga. Ik vind het in ieder geval een aanrader.

Oliebollen

2005-11-07T10:46:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, I volunteered at the Triangle's International Fest. I belong to the Dutch club. No, I'm not Dutch, but Dutch-speaking and the club's a good way to meet other Dutch speaking people. Anyway, selling Dutch (inspired) foods and goodies at the International Fest is the main fundraising for the club, so I did my share.

It was the first time in a year that I had oliebollen again.

They are such a staple of the flat northern countries when the weather's cold, and sooooooo good. OK, not exactly a calory-poor, but yummie! If you ever want a change from the standard comfort food, this is the way to go.

Treat

2005-11-01T11:33:00.000-05:00

Chocolate is the best it seems. Kevin, our Dalmatian for the day, did his first Trick or Treating this year and had a blast. He wasn't afraid of the witches, gobblins, devils or princesses. Brave little dog.

Dalmatier

2005-10-29T19:55:00.000-04:00

Ja, 't is deze tijd van het jaar. In America is elke familie paraat met nieuwe kostuums en Halloween versieringen vooraan in de tuin. Je ziet meer spoken, skeletten, heksen, pompoenen, grafstenen en spinnewebben in de tuintjes van de begoedigde klasse dan in de echte kerfhoven (die hier trouwens geen echte grafstenen hebben, alleen herdenkingsplaatjes).

Onze buurt had vanmiddig een 'fall festival', met klein avontuur voor de peuters, kleuters and kinderen onder tien. Een luchtkasteel, een opblaasbare glijbaan, pompoenschilderen, gezichtschilderen, kinderliedjes en italiaans ijs. de herfstpret kon niet op. OK. voor mij kon het niet op tegen de oliebollen en het koude noord-europese weer, maar soit, onze Dalmatier had het toch naar z'n zin.

Je moet toegeven, hij zag er schitterend uit :-)

Flight Attendant

2005-10-29T12:53:00.000-04:00

As I landed on the flight back from NY, the flight attendant did her usual spiel of 'paying attention when opening the overhead lockers as items may have shifted during flight'.

More unusually, she also said 'if this is your final destination and you are driving home, drive safely and fasten your seatbelts'. Had never heard that one before. Nice wishes or occupational hazard?

NY markets

2005-10-26T18:47:00.000-04:00

I'm in NY for a couple of days and this afternoon had a chance to stroll around Union Square, where they have a freshmarket every day. I can't tell you what a wonderful experience that is.

Right in the center of a major world capital, having the feeling of being in a small mediterrean village square where the local farmere show off their produce and crafts. just wonderful. I saw a larger variety of fresh vegetables, fruits, cheeses, jellies, etc than I usually encounter in the farmer-rich Carolina countryside. Not what you'd expect at first blush. Love it though. Wanted to try so much. Ever had sunflower sprouts, organic goats cheese or seasonal mini-pumpkins ? Just go to Union Square to give it a try.

Mornings

2005-10-25T09:56:00.000-04:00

despite the occasional tantrums, whining and challenges....this little sweet, smiling face makes those moments worthwhile (I know the picture's not super sharp...must be the camera, right?)

fresh is better

2005-10-24T22:51:00.000-04:00

for the record: frozen crabs are no good. don't try it. stick to the fresh ones. I just tried a bag of frozen crab legs. Even steamed wiht nice old bay seasoning, vinegar & salt and a nice mustard/mayo/horsradish dipping sauce, they're nowhere near as good as fresh ones you get in the restaurants...I'm usually a good cook, but think I'll stick to shrimp at home.

My back

2005-10-23T20:28:00.000-04:00

aches a little, from mowing the lawn, shearing the holly and boxwood bushes this afternoon, picking up Keving 100 times today, cooking a winter casserole and folding laundry....and yet, in a strange way, it feels good to have done all that physical activity...must be endorphines.

Makes you wonder why we can't recall this feeling on those days when we know we should exercise, but can't bring ourselves to get started...

Finally

2005-10-22T14:11:00.000-04:00

the weather is changing....the sky is grey, there's some fog in the air, it rained heavily yesterday evening and in the mornings and evenings it's now decidedly nippy...YES!!!! I love it.

Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate summer with bright light, hot rays and perfect beach weather, but there is such a thing as too much sun, too much humidity (especially here in NC) and seeing too many people in shorts (who shouldn't be wearing shorts, or should lose 50 lbs before they do).

Call me crazy, but I am looking forward to cold winter evenings, with a fire in the fireplace, a good glass of mulled wine, an old movie.. being curled up on the sofa. OK, I'm just an old romantic. ...and loving every minute of it. If I had my say, I'd make old-fashioned (european style) Christmas markets mandatory.....

puzzel

2005-10-19T09:11:00.000-04:00

Kevin is nu in staat om een simpele puzzel te doen.

Je weet wel, zo'n houten puzzel met de cijfertjes '0, 1, 2, 3...9'. Hij kan de stukken herkennen en ze er helemaal alleen in passen. Het grappigste is dat hij telkens bij elk stuk dat hij erin past in zijn handen klapt om zichzelf te applaudiseren.....heel snoezig. Geluk is simpel.

Happy

2005-10-09T22:06:00.000-04:00

Onze kleine spruit begint allangs hoe meer woordjes te zeggen. Zijn nieuwste aanwinsten zijn 'baby' en 'happy'.

Vanmiddag was 'happy' er vaak bij en ook 'kwaak'. OK, kwaak is eigenlijk geen woord, maar 'eend' is blijkbaar moeilijker, dus werd het maar kwaak.

We waren namelijk op een 'cornmaze' boerderij. Hier erg populair rond de herfsttijd. Boerderijen proberen een centje bij te verdienen door hun deuren voor families te openen en wat leuke dingen aan te bieden als amusement voor kleine kinderen: een 'petting zoo', waar je eendjes, geitjes, kippen en nog andere dieren in levende lijve ziet en kunt aanraken; een 'cornmaze', een soort labyrint in een maisveld waar je goed in kunt verdwalen;

een 'haystack', een grote hooiberg waar peuters goed in kunnen ravotten en zich kunnen vuilmaken; een 'pumpkin patch', een veld vol pompoenen waaruit je examplaren kunt kiezen om er een lantaarn van te maken; een maisveld om mais te plukken voor de dieren, tractors waar ze op kunnen zitten, een speelpleintje, en nog meer van die dingen.

Kevin amuseerde zich volop. Hij heeft ondertussen zijn brevet als tractorchauffeur, maisplukker en ook al zijn certificaat als 'geitjesvoeder'. Niet slecht voor een 18-maand oude jongen :-)