what i've learned

here is a video from a belgian sketch comdey show. they're making fun of the west-flemmish dialect. no one else from the country can understand it because they talk like cave men, yet i've lived here for only 3 years (come february) and I can already understand it (most of it. give me a break.)

anyway, i'm pretty proud that i'm able to understand their crazy talk so i thought i'd show you this video of a computer teacher teaching foreigners the west-flemmish terminology for using computers.



translation:

computer teacher gives introduction
"first and foremost, the computer is your friend. you will learn how to navigate this computer in west-flemmish dialect"

"windows 98 also has a specific language: RUUTE 98" (you can clearly hear the difference between the proper way to say 98 and the west flemmish shit way)

ok ok, everyone stand up
-everyone trys it for a bit-
teacher says: west-flemmish comes from within, let everything out
then he picks on gilbert and tells him he needs to let it out a little looser
the video cuts to another term word but they dont say the actual english word for it, but for reference they're talking about turning on the computer "start"

underline: onderstreeepen
exit
login
log out
backspace

video cuts to the teacher helping a student while gilbert hits his computer
teacher: whoa whoa, gilbert, please!
-turns to other student- whats he doing?
you never hit the computer

if you want to print:
print
hard disk
floppy disk
shut down

then gilbert asks a question regarding something not working properly on his computer and he needs to transfer files to his floppy disk, what does he need to do?
and the teacher answers: thats simple gilbert, you turn it on, stick it in, log in log back out and be done with it
gilbert: ahhhh...now i understand
(mind you gilbert is also speaking west flemmish so the whole foreigner thing doesnt really fit there)

chapels

there are many road-side chapels here in Belgium. i've always found them all very beautiful and unique. i've wanted to do a project around them (i know exactly what the project is but i'm not saying here in case any lurkers try to steal my awesomely awesome ideas). last weekend the rain had finally let up so gregory and i thought it a perfect idea to go snap some photos of the road-side chapels. he did the driving, i did the snapping. here are the photos from last weekend:




















All roads lead to Belgium





Taken today:
gregory and roxy take many naps, here is one captured

November 1, belated

November 1 and 2 are holidays in these parts.
All souls day; the day to cry because your loved one is dead, and all saints day; the day to be happy because they're in heaven (hopefully, right?!)
its tradition to go to the graveyard on november 1 and put flowers down. i think its a beautiful tradition. not only does it make you NOT forget about those who you've burried but it also makes the cemetary look so beautiful, pleasant, welcoming and ALIVE.

this is my third all souls day experience yet only my first time taking pictures. every year i asked gregory to take me to a cemetary and every year he was too afraid of..i dont know, mortality, death, looking like a freakazoid because his girlfriend is treating the cemetary like a tourist attraction?
i guess he's learning to live with me better, or just growing up because we FINALLY went to one. and he did feel a little weird with me taking pictures but i told him they show pictures in the paper so its not that crazy and he let me do my thing...while staying 200 feet away at all times as to not look associated with me ;)











a herpoel and her husband that we didnt know exisited.
(funny story. gregory and janne are related by marriage. but the husband burried here isnt part of janne's family.)

the mystery that is my hair

heres a crazy little story that i may have told before; every time my hair grows people ask me if i've cut it. nope. it just falls differently i've come to tell people. what other explaination is there for people thinking that my longer hair is shorter?
In september i explained this rather poorly to a college of mine. she got the message and too, found it strange. a few weeks ago some else asked me again if my hair had been cut. nope, not cut. blown dried, surely, a little poofier than normal, certainly, but definetly not cut.
but i went to get my hair cut last night. and i was eager for all the oos and ahhs that come with cutting your hair (whether its sincere or not doesnt matter) but there were no oos and ahhs. someone commented on it firs tthing in the morning only because i rode the bus home with her and told her i was going directly to the hair dressers, so she had an obligation to say something. no one commented until the middle of the day! thats a long time for someone not to notice! and i cut a good 3-4 inches off!
how can people notice the minute changes in my hair while its growing but not the drastic change of chopping inches off?
the world may never know.

granted its nothing special. i was only looking for a simple cut anyway, but STILL!
jerks.

BEFORE



SILLY




AFTER




SILLY