Dress Drama

Turns out, it's not easy to order a bridesmaid's dress from overseas. I've been trying to find the dress online, order it online, and call David's Bridal futilely for a couple of hours now. It's not looking positive.

Out of nowhere they declared that we had to have our dresses ordered by today in order to have them back by March 5th. Four months seems a little extreme, but you never really want to mess with the people who control the taffeta when it comes to weddings.

Anyway, it's after midnight, and I am still trying to make this work...so a better blog tomorrow maybe? In the mean time, if you see this:

in cornflower blue...let me know! The things I do for my friends!

Week in Review: Week 9

Week 9? It's already the 7th of November? Whoa! Time is flying. Here is the week in review: 

• Since we opened the Christmas season this week we decided to watch White Christmas the other day. Janee also brought along some Christmas music for the car the other day, which was a nice change from Hary's Arabic music. 
• I will graduate in less than 5 weeks! And I have (drum-roll please) ONE PAPER LEFT! I can't believe it. My portfolio is almost finished too.
• This week I did not have classes to teach--everybody is on a week long All Saints/Fall break. And while we managed to fill each day up, I managed to get a good nights sleep every single day. It might have been the most restful week I have had since...last December? It's been a long year. 
• My mom will be here in a little over 2 weeks! We have decided to hit up England my last few days and are going to go over to Bath. Exciting!
• We went over to the house of an Iraqi family the other day. The tea she made for us tasted different from the Moroccan or Turkish tea that we normally drink. I don't know if it was just the tea or some spices added, but it was really good. 
• Why isn't "other day" one word? I think it should be like someday and stop making my life difficult.
• Anahabuck is Arabic for "I love you." 
• Also, did you know that Gazpacho, the Spanish soup, is actually from the Arabic for "soaked bread"? And while I am at it, hummus, the dip, is actually the Arabic word for chickpeas in general. Arabs seem to be really impressed that I know that word. 
• What do you think--Should I get some henna before I go?
• Sometimes I really do forget that I live in Belgium. We were at a market in the center early today and I was amazed at all the white people. (Abilene is going to be a shock to the system...)
• This week someone told me I looked Chinese. Again, close, but no. I just have small eyes. 

OK, that's about all I've got at the moment. 

A Note On Waffles

Before I came to Brussels I admit that I never really liked waffles. A lot of that has to do with me not much liking syrup, but I was just never a huge fan.


But let me tell you this: Belgian waffles are not like waffles in The States. I have seen "Belgian Waffles" on menus and in restaurants, but making a normal waffle and calling it "Belgian" does not make a Belgian waffle. Neither does making a really big normal waffle.


For one thing Belgian waffles aren't made out of batter, they are made of dough. They roll it into balls and squeeze them in the waffle maker rather than the old pour and flip method of American waffle makers. The other major thing is the sugar. For Belgian waffles you need waffle sugar: 

See waffle sugar comes in chunks. The chunks are mixed into the dough and then cooked up. Some chunks on the edges even get a bit caramelized. 

And the best part? No syrup required!

The Art of Saying No

As I mentioned the other day, I am horrible at telling people no. It's probably yet another thing I inherited from my dad. I just can't help it. The problem is, it gets me into all kinds of situations. For example, my inability to say no is exactly what got me tangled into spending the evening with Mr. Collins last night.

I have been joking for a while about how the Arab culture here surrounding marriage, dating and matchmaking seems like something straight out of a Jane Austin novel. Turns out, the joke was on me!

But don't you worry. I channeled Elizabeth and when marriage came up it was not difficult for me to dig up the word no.

For the Directionally Challenged

Shops around here are like boxes of chocolates--you never know what you are going to find!

I thought this was pretty awesome:

It's an Islamic prayer kit, including a prayer rug complete with a built in compass. How clever is that?

Today is the first day...

Of the Christmas season!!!

OK, I know Thanksgiving hasn't even passed yet. But at least we waited until November. Janee will be having her baby anytime and then there will start getting crazy around here. So today when I came downstairs the stockings were up and The Holiday was on. The tree is now up and all the presents are wrapped under the tree.

And I couldn't be happier. I love Christmas--the music, the movies, the decorations, the cards, Advent, all of it. And it looks like this year I'll be stretching the season out a bit. Which I am perfectly fine with! (I'll just celebrate once in Europe and once in the US.)

So wishing you all a happy beginning to the Christmas season!

November

I talked to Abby tonight and she sold me some story about November being National Blog month, or something like that. She tried to talk me into joining her and Krystal in writing a blog a day for the month. The problem is, I don't have time for things like that right now.

But, the bigger problem is that I have a very hard time telling people no. So you know what? I decided I'll try to give it a go. Now, too bad I am already a day behind...and that should I actually get a blog up everyday they won't all be witty or interesting. But who cares. I'll try.

In other ambitious challenges, part of me would really love to participate in NaNoWiMo (or National Novel Writing Month). Basically you sign up and try to write an entire novel during the month of November. How fun does that sound? Now of course the problem there is that I probably won't even get a novel read during the month of November, much less written. (Seriously--I haven't finished a single non-school book since I got here!). But maybe one day.

For now I'll just try for 29 blogs.