Luck 15c. from Mid. Du. luc, shortening of gheluc "happiness, good fortune," of unknown origin. Related to Mid. High Ger. g(e)lücke, Ger. Glück "fortune, good luck."
Brittany came to visit this week and the week started out on the wrong foot. It was actually our feet that led to the problems. I went to pick Britt up from the bus stop. Since she didn't have a cell I decided to just wait for her about an hour after her (early morning) flight landed. So I was out at the bus stop around 8 am. Bus after bus passed and Britt wasn't on any of them. After an hour, I decided to walk around the block (the bus only comes every 10 mins so I figured I had some time). As I was coming back around the corner I saw an Airport Bus at the stop and ran ahead in case Britt was waiting there. When I got there though she wasn't there. So I waited another 45 minutes at the stop. I was getting worried because I didn't know where she was and I figured she would have been on the bus by now. I decided to walk home and check my facebook because she had been leaving me updates on her travelling through fb. I don't know why but halfway home I had a change of heart and turned around. I crossed the street and almost right away heard someone call my name. Yep, Britt. She was standing right there where I crossed to, not really near the bus stop she was supposed to be at. Turns out, she got off the very bus I had missed because of my little venture around the block. She had panicked when she didn't see me waiting for her and walked all the way down Princes Street (almost a mile). We had 2 phone messages from her ("Please find me!") and for some reason she just thought she'd wait for me on the street that happened to be the way to my flat. oh. and it was raining the whole time.
But since then we've been to the palace, up Arthur's Seat, to an American football game, to Glasgow for a day of shopping, down the Royal Mile, and through Princes Street Gardens. And the weather has been gorgeous! It's been really fun having her visit. Hopefully we'll get to Calton Hill tomorrow and that should pretty much round out our touristy activities.
Say What?
A few nights ago we had our British friends over (always perfect fodder for Say What?. I happened to use the phrase "thick as a brick" and they both started laughing at me. So I asked what they would say instead: Thick as two short planks ("you know, stacked on top of each other.")
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Twelfth Word: Scot
Scot: O.Eng Scottas (pl.) "inhabitants of Ireland, Irishmen," from Late Latin Scotti (c.400), of uncertain origin, perhaps from Celtic (but answering to no known tribal name; Ir. Scots appears to be a Latin borrowing). The name followed the Irish tribe which invaded Scotland after the Romans withdrew from Britain in 423 C.E., and after the time of Alfred the Great the O.Eng word described Irish who had settled in the northwest of Britain.
Rain. Gah. Sarah and Mike came for the weekend, and their trip coincided perfectly with the only rainy weekend in 2011. We had a marvelous time though and the rain just gave us an excuse to make homemade pizza and play a bunch of games. Of the touristy things, we did go to Calton Hill, the Parliament, the ruins on Arthur's Seat, through Princes Street Gardens and along Princes Street. It was wonderful to see family from home.
The previous week Alex and I went to a Robert Burns' dinner. Rabbie Burns is Scotland's national poet (a "Great Scot!" if there ever was one). Basically, the dinner is haggis, neeps, and tatties. But before digging in, the haggis must be addressed. Yes, you must address the haggis. Rabbie wrote a poem called "To a Haggis" which was sung before (for?) the haggis:
This haggis was the mother of all haggises. Holy cow! (or whatever it's made of). It was over a foot long!
For reference, normal haggises are about 5 inches long and 3ish inches wide. It was very tasty though. Alex and I thought it would be funny if instead of saying there was an elephant in the room (something no one wants to talk about) that we would say, "Maybe we should address the haggis." :) I love language!
This week I attended proofreading training and am now a volunteer proofreader for the school. Undergraduates who aren't native English speakers can send in their essays to be proofread by one of us. Also, we've gotten the first round of essay assignments. I should be working on them but blogging is more fun. (oh yes, I've chopped about 6 inches off my hair too).
Finally, yesterday Jordan and I went on the trip with the International Student Center to Bamburgh Castle in England and Melrose Abbey in Scotland. The bus ride was through beautiful farmland lined by hedgerows and filled with sheep. The route hugged the coast so we had beautiful views of headlands and crashing waves. Bamburgh Castle is the last inhabited castle in the UK (I think). The inside wasn't as beautiful as the outside. I really enjoyed going down to the beach and smelling the refreshing sea breeze. It made me miss Lake Michigan! We had only a short amount of time at Melrose Abbey. As a result, there were 117 of us scrambling around taking pictures. The Abbey ruins were beautiful (check out the facebook pix)! The area around was so hilly and green. We passed manor houses set into the hills with four smoking chimneys and circular drives. Man, to be born into wealth in this country! It was a lovely escape for a day.
Say What?
I don't think I've told this story yet.
The background info is that Alex worked at The West Room for a week or so with Rory before he decided to take the job at Pierre Victoire. Well, Alex quit Pierre Victoire after having a terrible time with the other kitchen staff and after a confrontation arose one day. He sort of stormed out. Well, Al had mentioned quitting to his former boss at The West Room and that boss told Rory that Alex came to work drunk when he quit. We couldn't figure out why that guy would lie about Alex like that. That's when Al realized he told the boss that he was really pissed and decided to quit. We had a good laugh because over here pissed means drunk but in America it means really angry.
Rain. Gah. Sarah and Mike came for the weekend, and their trip coincided perfectly with the only rainy weekend in 2011. We had a marvelous time though and the rain just gave us an excuse to make homemade pizza and play a bunch of games. Of the touristy things, we did go to Calton Hill, the Parliament, the ruins on Arthur's Seat, through Princes Street Gardens and along Princes Street. It was wonderful to see family from home.
The previous week Alex and I went to a Robert Burns' dinner. Rabbie Burns is Scotland's national poet (a "Great Scot!" if there ever was one). Basically, the dinner is haggis, neeps, and tatties. But before digging in, the haggis must be addressed. Yes, you must address the haggis. Rabbie wrote a poem called "To a Haggis" which was sung before (for?) the haggis:
I have to add the first stanza here because it's just so funny:
Aboon them a' yet tak your place, (aboon is above)
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
As lang's my arm.
This haggis was the mother of all haggises. Holy cow! (or whatever it's made of). It was over a foot long!
For reference, normal haggises are about 5 inches long and 3ish inches wide. It was very tasty though. Alex and I thought it would be funny if instead of saying there was an elephant in the room (something no one wants to talk about) that we would say, "Maybe we should address the haggis." :) I love language!
This week I attended proofreading training and am now a volunteer proofreader for the school. Undergraduates who aren't native English speakers can send in their essays to be proofread by one of us. Also, we've gotten the first round of essay assignments. I should be working on them but blogging is more fun. (oh yes, I've chopped about 6 inches off my hair too).
Finally, yesterday Jordan and I went on the trip with the International Student Center to Bamburgh Castle in England and Melrose Abbey in Scotland. The bus ride was through beautiful farmland lined by hedgerows and filled with sheep. The route hugged the coast so we had beautiful views of headlands and crashing waves. Bamburgh Castle is the last inhabited castle in the UK (I think). The inside wasn't as beautiful as the outside. I really enjoyed going down to the beach and smelling the refreshing sea breeze. It made me miss Lake Michigan! We had only a short amount of time at Melrose Abbey. As a result, there were 117 of us scrambling around taking pictures. The Abbey ruins were beautiful (check out the facebook pix)! The area around was so hilly and green. We passed manor houses set into the hills with four smoking chimneys and circular drives. Man, to be born into wealth in this country! It was a lovely escape for a day.
Say What?
I don't think I've told this story yet.
The background info is that Alex worked at The West Room for a week or so with Rory before he decided to take the job at Pierre Victoire. Well, Alex quit Pierre Victoire after having a terrible time with the other kitchen staff and after a confrontation arose one day. He sort of stormed out. Well, Al had mentioned quitting to his former boss at The West Room and that boss told Rory that Alex came to work drunk when he quit. We couldn't figure out why that guy would lie about Alex like that. That's when Al realized he told the boss that he was really pissed and decided to quit. We had a good laugh because over here pissed means drunk but in America it means really angry.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Eleventh Word: Dandelion
This etymology has nothing to do with anything but it's an interesting one!
dandelion: early 15c., from M.Fr. dent de lion, lit. "lion's tooth" (from its toothed leaves), translation of M.L. dens leonis. Other folk names refer to the plant's more authentic diuretic qualities, preserved in M.E. piss-a-bed and Fr. pissenlit "piss in bed".
It's a new year and a new semester, and life is passing every more quickly. I can't believe January is almost at an end! I have so many things to look forward to this semester and hardly any of them are school related! My sister and her fiance will be arriving in the UK this upcoming week to begin their semesters abroad in York and London, respectively. Sarah and Mike are planning to visit in the beginning of February. Our first guests from home! My friend Brittany is coming in the end of February, and then my family is coming the first week of April (the same week that the musical Al is in is opening!). Our friend Adam will be visiting in May sometime. I can't wait to show off this city!
This week has been busy catching up with everyone who was gone over the holidays. We celebrated our friend Jason West's birthday last night with some rounds of poker and a game of Huggermugger (a dorky linguists' game that we love). Tonight we are going to see our friend John Green's band play in Grassmarket. A few of our friends from church are in his band so it should be a good time! Al is going to Glasgow with some friends for a Sleigh Bells concert tomorrow night, too. (Bonus points to the English nerd who can tell me how to properly "possessify" the phrase "my friend x's" which I attempted twice in this paragraph! ahem, Sarah VanderMolen and Emily Cutter...)
Now for the nitty-gritty. I'm taking only three classes this semester: English Word Formation, Dialectology of the British Isles, and Optimality Theory (yuck). I'm enjoying having so much free time because I'm in denial about having to select a research topic in the next few months (meaning, I should be in the library trying to find a topic). Still haven't gotten marks back from last semester's work :(
When you're immersed in a field for so long, it's easy to take for granted that other people might have no idea what that field is about. Linguistics is definitely one of those fields because it is so small (relatively speaking). What I love about linguistics, though, is that everyone is a linguist in a way, they just don't know it. Everyone (with veeery rare exceptions) has a mastery of language. Everyone speaks grammatically. Everyone can control and manipulate language according to rules in their brains that they aren't even aware of at a conscious level. The more I learn about linguistics, the more the human brain amazes me. Babies are geniuses! More so than adults, at least when it comes to language. But the sheer amount of linguistic information that our brains process in mere nanoseconds is ridiculous! Computers don't even compare! Linguistics is at the same time, foreign language learning, history, philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, metacognition, and mathematics. It is not a field for the faint of heart.
It's hard to convince people why I am in a field that won't make me a lot of money and has limited job possibilities. Those people are very practically minded (and their is nothing wrong with that). But everyday I learn more amazing things about how God made our brains work so we can communicate with others. How can I not want to stand in amazement everyday after a great class or after reading books on language? Money is not as enticing to me as the fulfillment I get from being engulfed in wonderment on a daily basis. If you still don't understand, that's ok. I hope you have something that gets you excited about life and humbles you at the amazing-ness of it. Language is that for me.
Say What?
Ok, this is not a British thing, but Al and I are reading Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct and this is an excerpt (1994: 209):
"One of the first computer parsers [a computer that derives the different meanings of ambiguous sentences], developed at Harvard in the 1960s, provides a famous example [of computers getting it all wrong]. The sentence Time flies like an arrow is surely unambiguous...(ignoring the difference between literal and metaphorical meaning). But to the surprise of the programmers, the sharp-eyed computer found it to have five different [meanings]! (It helps if you re-read the initial sentence after you read each sentence below in order to get how the computer could have rendered that meaning)
1. Time proceeds as quickly as an arrow proceeds. (The intended meaning)
2. Measure the speed of flies in the same way that you measure the speed of an arrow.
3. Measure the speed of flies in the same way that an arrow measures the speed of flies.
4. Measure the speed of flies that resemble an arrow.
5. Flies of a particular kind, time-flies, are fond of an arrow.
Among computer scientists the discovery has been summed up in the aphorism 'Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.'" :)
dandelion: early 15c., from M.Fr. dent de lion, lit. "lion's tooth" (from its toothed leaves), translation of M.L. dens leonis. Other folk names refer to the plant's more authentic diuretic qualities, preserved in M.E. piss-a-bed and Fr. pissenlit "piss in bed".
It's a new year and a new semester, and life is passing every more quickly. I can't believe January is almost at an end! I have so many things to look forward to this semester and hardly any of them are school related! My sister and her fiance will be arriving in the UK this upcoming week to begin their semesters abroad in York and London, respectively. Sarah and Mike are planning to visit in the beginning of February. Our first guests from home! My friend Brittany is coming in the end of February, and then my family is coming the first week of April (the same week that the musical Al is in is opening!). Our friend Adam will be visiting in May sometime. I can't wait to show off this city!
This week has been busy catching up with everyone who was gone over the holidays. We celebrated our friend Jason West's birthday last night with some rounds of poker and a game of Huggermugger (a dorky linguists' game that we love). Tonight we are going to see our friend John Green's band play in Grassmarket. A few of our friends from church are in his band so it should be a good time! Al is going to Glasgow with some friends for a Sleigh Bells concert tomorrow night, too. (Bonus points to the English nerd who can tell me how to properly "possessify" the phrase "my friend x's" which I attempted twice in this paragraph! ahem, Sarah VanderMolen and Emily Cutter...)
Now for the nitty-gritty. I'm taking only three classes this semester: English Word Formation, Dialectology of the British Isles, and Optimality Theory (yuck). I'm enjoying having so much free time because I'm in denial about having to select a research topic in the next few months (meaning, I should be in the library trying to find a topic). Still haven't gotten marks back from last semester's work :(
When you're immersed in a field for so long, it's easy to take for granted that other people might have no idea what that field is about. Linguistics is definitely one of those fields because it is so small (relatively speaking). What I love about linguistics, though, is that everyone is a linguist in a way, they just don't know it. Everyone (with veeery rare exceptions) has a mastery of language. Everyone speaks grammatically. Everyone can control and manipulate language according to rules in their brains that they aren't even aware of at a conscious level. The more I learn about linguistics, the more the human brain amazes me. Babies are geniuses! More so than adults, at least when it comes to language. But the sheer amount of linguistic information that our brains process in mere nanoseconds is ridiculous! Computers don't even compare! Linguistics is at the same time, foreign language learning, history, philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, metacognition, and mathematics. It is not a field for the faint of heart.
It's hard to convince people why I am in a field that won't make me a lot of money and has limited job possibilities. Those people are very practically minded (and their is nothing wrong with that). But everyday I learn more amazing things about how God made our brains work so we can communicate with others. How can I not want to stand in amazement everyday after a great class or after reading books on language? Money is not as enticing to me as the fulfillment I get from being engulfed in wonderment on a daily basis. If you still don't understand, that's ok. I hope you have something that gets you excited about life and humbles you at the amazing-ness of it. Language is that for me.
Say What?
Ok, this is not a British thing, but Al and I are reading Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct and this is an excerpt (1994: 209):
"One of the first computer parsers [a computer that derives the different meanings of ambiguous sentences], developed at Harvard in the 1960s, provides a famous example [of computers getting it all wrong]. The sentence Time flies like an arrow is surely unambiguous...(ignoring the difference between literal and metaphorical meaning). But to the surprise of the programmers, the sharp-eyed computer found it to have five different [meanings]! (It helps if you re-read the initial sentence after you read each sentence below in order to get how the computer could have rendered that meaning)
1. Time proceeds as quickly as an arrow proceeds. (The intended meaning)
2. Measure the speed of flies in the same way that you measure the speed of an arrow.
3. Measure the speed of flies in the same way that an arrow measures the speed of flies.
4. Measure the speed of flies that resemble an arrow.
5. Flies of a particular kind, time-flies, are fond of an arrow.
Among computer scientists the discovery has been summed up in the aphorism 'Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.'" :)
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Tenth Word: Fond
fond Instead of giving you an etymology, this word has an interesting syntactical usage. It is something called a "transitive adjective." Most adjectives don't take an object (like, "he is mad.") but fond must always take an object. No one can be fond. "I am fond" sounds weird. You must be fond of something. Well, these are things I am fond of.
I don't want to forget these things about Edinburgh. I don't think I will, and I'm sure I'll add to this list, but this is just to share with you pieces of the city that make me sigh, chuckle, or even drool.
1) If you look at a satellite view of Grand Rapids on GoogleMaps you'll notice the all too famous grid pattern of streets and city blocks, houses just far apart enough to keep out of your neighbor's personal bubble, backyards and front yards, space. In Edinburgh (especially Edinburgh), people literally live on top of each other. The city planners must have decided that just because a building was in a certain spot didn't mean they couldn't build something right on top of it, and not in the same style necessarily. There's even two hotels on a street near us that share a wall. Every building is squished together. I love it. It makes for that cute postcard look. But the twisty streets and bridges also make for a complex and photogenic Old Town. Victoria Street (West Bow) is my favorite curved street. It winds up a hill and at the top is another street that basically sits on top of all the roofs of the buildings lining Victoria Street. Plus, it's where the cheese monger has a shop.
The next two streets over are streets running under huge archways on top of which are other streets. The fourth street is another bowed street called Candlemaker Row. It's not only a maze, it's amazing! hardy har.
2) The Mosque Kitchen is this awesome (and inexpensive)outdoor....can you call it a restaurant? You walk in a door to get your (amazing!....or should I say "gorgeous"?) food from the two men serving it and walk back to the covered courtyard to eat the steaming hot curried chicken and rice with a huge, larger-than-a-plate, piece of naan. With all the pigeons, leaves, and the cold, it really has a feel of an outdoor soup kitchen. Everyone is bundled up and eat with plastic utensils. And of course, the delightful sign beckoning you to dispose of your trash is a proud and adorably ignorant display of linguistic ambiguity: "Please clear your dishes when finished in the bins provided." As if one may be having so much fun in the bins provided that they forget to clear their plastic "dishes."
I don't want to forget these things about Edinburgh. I don't think I will, and I'm sure I'll add to this list, but this is just to share with you pieces of the city that make me sigh, chuckle, or even drool.
1) If you look at a satellite view of Grand Rapids on GoogleMaps you'll notice the all too famous grid pattern of streets and city blocks, houses just far apart enough to keep out of your neighbor's personal bubble, backyards and front yards, space. In Edinburgh (especially Edinburgh), people literally live on top of each other. The city planners must have decided that just because a building was in a certain spot didn't mean they couldn't build something right on top of it, and not in the same style necessarily. There's even two hotels on a street near us that share a wall. Every building is squished together. I love it. It makes for that cute postcard look. But the twisty streets and bridges also make for a complex and photogenic Old Town. Victoria Street (West Bow) is my favorite curved street. It winds up a hill and at the top is another street that basically sits on top of all the roofs of the buildings lining Victoria Street. Plus, it's where the cheese monger has a shop.
The next two streets over are streets running under huge archways on top of which are other streets. The fourth street is another bowed street called Candlemaker Row. It's not only a maze, it's amazing! hardy har.
2) The Mosque Kitchen is this awesome (and inexpensive)outdoor....can you call it a restaurant? You walk in a door to get your (amazing!....or should I say "gorgeous"?) food from the two men serving it and walk back to the covered courtyard to eat the steaming hot curried chicken and rice with a huge, larger-than-a-plate, piece of naan. With all the pigeons, leaves, and the cold, it really has a feel of an outdoor soup kitchen. Everyone is bundled up and eat with plastic utensils. And of course, the delightful sign beckoning you to dispose of your trash is a proud and adorably ignorant display of linguistic ambiguity: "Please clear your dishes when finished in the bins provided." As if one may be having so much fun in the bins provided that they forget to clear their plastic "dishes."
3) The way our apartment faces, Alex and I can never see the sun, but I see the effects of it on the castle out our window. It reminds me of Monet and how he painted the Rouen Cathedral in different lighting. I wake up with that castle and go to sleep with it. It stands out orange against a darkening blue sky; tinges of pink speckle the bricks in the early morning when the sun is in the east; the upward shafts of light illuminate this monument through the long hours of darkness. Sometimes lights are on all night and I pretend a princesses is in a fit of sleepless insomnia as her lover battles the British with William Wallace's army. Ok, maybe I don't go that far, but I do wish I could wear pretty Jane Austen dresses all the time and run around palace grounds like a princess shirking her royal obligation to poise and reputation. You try having a castle out your window sometime and see how your thoughts wander!
4) Edinburgh is rife with fodder for "Say What?". Some of our favorite examples are:
-Bin your litter.
-No dog fouling.
-Beware of pedestrians.
-Park and display ("Have you paid and displayed?")
I guess I should save some examples for "Say What?" shouldn't I?
Say What?
Oregano. No, not o-RE-gah-no. It's o-re-GAH-no. No lie. It's weird.
Shallots. No, not SHA-lots. It's sha-LOTS. Where do they come up with this?
Basil is not BAY-zil, but BAA-zil (like the a in apple).
Corriander is what we call cilantro, both swede ("sweed") and turnip are names for what we call rutabaga, and pudding is any kind of dessert here (but mostly cakes). Our pudding is their custard.
Also, food can be for "eat in or take away" instead of for "here or to go."
Monday, December 27, 2010
Ninth Word: Beer
Beer: OldE. beor, a word of much-disputed and ambiguous origin, but probably a 6c. W.Ger. monastic borrowing of Vulgar Latin. biber "a drink, beverage" (from L. infinitive bibere "to drink;" Another suggestion is that it comes from P.Gmc. *beuwoz-, from *beuwo- "barley." The native Germanic word for the beverage was the one that yielded ale (q.v.).
Alex and I spent his birthday weekend in Belgium. That's where the trouble starts.
We took the "bus to the airport," which is not the same as the "airport bus." It was rush hour and we thought the bus only took half an hour to get to the airport. Wrong. It took us two hours. We missed our flight. We were so depressed. We actually took the correct "airport bus" home. I told my parents the story and they generously offered to loan us the money to buy a flight out the next morning. We accepted and took all the necessary precautions to make our flight on time the next day. Except, I set my alarm for pm instead of am. I woke up at 4am and just happened to check my clock: 15 minutes until we needed to catch the airport bus (a 5-7minute walk away). No showers, no breakfast, nothing. Just up and out the door. We caught the bus with some minutes to spare and from this point on everything is smooth sailing (until we try to get home).
fyi: we went on this trip specifically to enjoy and learn about the Belgian beer tradition. And for the chocolate. And the Christmas markets. And I suppose the waffles too.
Thursday
Alex and I arrived in Brussels around 9:30am and caught a train up to Bruges where we would spend the first two days of our trip. Bruges is exactly the kind of Christmas postcard town you want to be in around the holidays. Charming. But, of course, it was raining. When I stepped out of the train station I noticed two things immediately: the rain smelled like a sewer but the air smelled like chocolate. Also, we were not going to get by with our English. Hardly anyone spoke it. Bruges is in the Flemish region so that made it even more difficult. The neighborhood around our hostel was pretty quiet except that on every other building or so were speakers blasting out Christmas music. I guess they take Christmas seriously in these parts.
Bruges is called the "Venice of the North" because of the canals criss-crossing throughout the city. We explored as much as we could without getting too wet. We went into the Church of our Lady where we got to see Michelangelo's "Madonna and Child" sculpture. We wanted a respite from the cold (the church wasn't heated) so we found a tea shop nearby and got coffee :) They gave us Belgian chocolates on the side. We went to de Halve Maan brewery afterwards and had a tour of their facility. It was very informative and interesting. And the best part, of course, was the free beer we got at the end.
Bruges is atrociously expensive. It took us a while to find a restaurant that served anything under 20 euros. We found a cozy place on the Groet Markt (grand market) and then went out to a tiny locals pub. I mean, NO tourists come to this place. We stuck out, but had a lot of fun. Alex and I drank some wonderful beers and played lots of backgammon.
Friday
The next day, we walked along the main waterway in order to bring our luggage to the lockers at the train station. I posed for pictures by a few of the windmills lining the canal. We enjoyed the bright sunshine and newly fallen snow. After storing our backpacks, we went to the Groet Markt again and walked around the Christmas market. We got a bratwurst and a Belgian waffle. They stuff the waffles with sugar. I mean, it's like a waffle and sugar sandwich. But they are really yummy. Belgium is also credited with the invention of French fries and there are fry shops all over the place. I was not too impressed. They taste like McDonald's fries. Nothing to get your panties in a bunch about. We climbed up the belfry overlooking the square and got some lovely views of the town. We did a lot more exploring and eventually found our way to Jerusalemkirk, a church that is a copy of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (now destroyed). It was cool. We were also so cold and tired that we headed back to the train station and went to Brussels.
In Brussels, we had the same problem of no one speaking English. We went to Chinese for dinner and everything was in French. We just ordered and hoped for the best! We walked around the Grand Place where there was a huge Christmas market and hordes of tourists. We had a drink at an Irish pub that was recommended to us but then decided to just go back to our hotel and relax watching French game shows on TV.
Saturday
Al's birthday. We took the tram to an awesome flea market in the morning. Alex found a guitar he really wanted to buy, but of course, how would we get it home? After taking several pictures and looking at all the crazy stuff, we went to the Museum of Instruments. There were so many instruments I didn't even know existed! It was really cool to see them, but we also had headphones that allowed us to listed to examples of the instruments too. Afterwards, we headed toward Cantillon Brewery. Alex can fill you in on the details. This tour was fun too. We got to try some very different beers.
We went back up to Old Town to Delirium Taphouse, a three-story bar that holds a Guinness World Record for most bottled beers (over 2,500!). We had lots of fun trying new beers and talking about our favorites. On this whole trip neither of us had the same beer twice. We missed so many of our friends while we were hanging out at Delirium but we had a fabulous time. Dinner was hard to find. We didn't want to be in a touristy area but there really weren't many other restaurants around. We settled on a small Italian place for Al's birthday dinner and it was surprisingly delicious.
Sunday
We did a walking tour of the European Union buildings since Brussels is considered the capital of the EU. We walked through a really cool neighborhood that kind of reminded me of Chicago. Then we found our way to the European Commission, which was a really boring but humongous building. and then walked down toward a big and beautiful park. We found ourselves at the European Parliament, which was another boring building, but hey, now we can say we've seen them. By this time, we were so cold we wanted to get inside so we took the metro to a really cool neighborhood that happened to have a farmer's market going on. I bought a Belgian waffle again and we sat for a long time in a coffee shop. That night, we went to dinner near the old town and went to a few more pubs. We got to try so many delicious Belgian beers on our trip and see two wonderful cities.
Trying to get home the next day was a nightmare. We got up at 6am to get to the airport in the south only to arrive and find our flight had been canceled. We could either get a refund or reschedule our flight for Thursday (it was Monday)! So we got a refund and found a really expensive flight out for the next day at the airport in the north. After about an hour and a half by train (we missed a connecting train) we got to the airport and hunkered down for the next twenty-four hours. When you decide to sleep in an airport because you've spent all your money on a new flight home, your sense of perspective gets thrown off. Pizza Hut becomes a luxury. Your pickiness about where to sleep becomes tinged with irony. Personal hygiene goes out the window. I had about 4 or 5 salami and gouda sandwiches during these 24 hours (we bought meat and cheese at the grocery store). Tiredness and exhaustion overcame us and we settled down in a Quick Burger fast-food restaurant, one on each side of a booth. The Red Cross had given us each a wool blanket. So many travelers were stranded because the airport had run out of de-icing fluid for the planes. The next day we managed to fly up to Southampton, England only to find the flight we thought we missed from being delayed an hour had actually been canceled. So again, we waited, this time for five hours, before we boarded a plane to Edinburgh. We finally made it home after 40 hours. (oh, and I contracted influenza and have been on the couch for the past four days)
Good trip, good beers, great time with Alex. We are never travelling to a northern country in the winter again. Too cold, too many travel delays. But it was worth it. We had a great time.
Say What?
Bruges is in the Flemish region, and they speak Flemish, yet the word we use for the city is French ("Bruges"). The locals call it "Brugge," the Flemish word.
Brussels is in the French region, they speak French, yet the word we use for the city is Flemish ("Brussel"). The locals call it "Bruxelles," the French word.
Alex and I spent his birthday weekend in Belgium. That's where the trouble starts.
We took the "bus to the airport," which is not the same as the "airport bus." It was rush hour and we thought the bus only took half an hour to get to the airport. Wrong. It took us two hours. We missed our flight. We were so depressed. We actually took the correct "airport bus" home. I told my parents the story and they generously offered to loan us the money to buy a flight out the next morning. We accepted and took all the necessary precautions to make our flight on time the next day. Except, I set my alarm for pm instead of am. I woke up at 4am and just happened to check my clock: 15 minutes until we needed to catch the airport bus (a 5-7minute walk away). No showers, no breakfast, nothing. Just up and out the door. We caught the bus with some minutes to spare and from this point on everything is smooth sailing (until we try to get home).
fyi: we went on this trip specifically to enjoy and learn about the Belgian beer tradition. And for the chocolate. And the Christmas markets. And I suppose the waffles too.
Thursday
Alex and I arrived in Brussels around 9:30am and caught a train up to Bruges where we would spend the first two days of our trip. Bruges is exactly the kind of Christmas postcard town you want to be in around the holidays. Charming. But, of course, it was raining. When I stepped out of the train station I noticed two things immediately: the rain smelled like a sewer but the air smelled like chocolate. Also, we were not going to get by with our English. Hardly anyone spoke it. Bruges is in the Flemish region so that made it even more difficult. The neighborhood around our hostel was pretty quiet except that on every other building or so were speakers blasting out Christmas music. I guess they take Christmas seriously in these parts.
Bruges is called the "Venice of the North" because of the canals criss-crossing throughout the city. We explored as much as we could without getting too wet. We went into the Church of our Lady where we got to see Michelangelo's "Madonna and Child" sculpture. We wanted a respite from the cold (the church wasn't heated) so we found a tea shop nearby and got coffee :) They gave us Belgian chocolates on the side. We went to de Halve Maan brewery afterwards and had a tour of their facility. It was very informative and interesting. And the best part, of course, was the free beer we got at the end.
Bruges is atrociously expensive. It took us a while to find a restaurant that served anything under 20 euros. We found a cozy place on the Groet Markt (grand market) and then went out to a tiny locals pub. I mean, NO tourists come to this place. We stuck out, but had a lot of fun. Alex and I drank some wonderful beers and played lots of backgammon.
Friday
The next day, we walked along the main waterway in order to bring our luggage to the lockers at the train station. I posed for pictures by a few of the windmills lining the canal. We enjoyed the bright sunshine and newly fallen snow. After storing our backpacks, we went to the Groet Markt again and walked around the Christmas market. We got a bratwurst and a Belgian waffle. They stuff the waffles with sugar. I mean, it's like a waffle and sugar sandwich. But they are really yummy. Belgium is also credited with the invention of French fries and there are fry shops all over the place. I was not too impressed. They taste like McDonald's fries. Nothing to get your panties in a bunch about. We climbed up the belfry overlooking the square and got some lovely views of the town. We did a lot more exploring and eventually found our way to Jerusalemkirk, a church that is a copy of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (now destroyed). It was cool. We were also so cold and tired that we headed back to the train station and went to Brussels.
In Brussels, we had the same problem of no one speaking English. We went to Chinese for dinner and everything was in French. We just ordered and hoped for the best! We walked around the Grand Place where there was a huge Christmas market and hordes of tourists. We had a drink at an Irish pub that was recommended to us but then decided to just go back to our hotel and relax watching French game shows on TV.
Saturday
Al's birthday. We took the tram to an awesome flea market in the morning. Alex found a guitar he really wanted to buy, but of course, how would we get it home? After taking several pictures and looking at all the crazy stuff, we went to the Museum of Instruments. There were so many instruments I didn't even know existed! It was really cool to see them, but we also had headphones that allowed us to listed to examples of the instruments too. Afterwards, we headed toward Cantillon Brewery. Alex can fill you in on the details. This tour was fun too. We got to try some very different beers.
We went back up to Old Town to Delirium Taphouse, a three-story bar that holds a Guinness World Record for most bottled beers (over 2,500!). We had lots of fun trying new beers and talking about our favorites. On this whole trip neither of us had the same beer twice. We missed so many of our friends while we were hanging out at Delirium but we had a fabulous time. Dinner was hard to find. We didn't want to be in a touristy area but there really weren't many other restaurants around. We settled on a small Italian place for Al's birthday dinner and it was surprisingly delicious.
Sunday
We did a walking tour of the European Union buildings since Brussels is considered the capital of the EU. We walked through a really cool neighborhood that kind of reminded me of Chicago. Then we found our way to the European Commission, which was a really boring but humongous building. and then walked down toward a big and beautiful park. We found ourselves at the European Parliament, which was another boring building, but hey, now we can say we've seen them. By this time, we were so cold we wanted to get inside so we took the metro to a really cool neighborhood that happened to have a farmer's market going on. I bought a Belgian waffle again and we sat for a long time in a coffee shop. That night, we went to dinner near the old town and went to a few more pubs. We got to try so many delicious Belgian beers on our trip and see two wonderful cities.
Trying to get home the next day was a nightmare. We got up at 6am to get to the airport in the south only to arrive and find our flight had been canceled. We could either get a refund or reschedule our flight for Thursday (it was Monday)! So we got a refund and found a really expensive flight out for the next day at the airport in the north. After about an hour and a half by train (we missed a connecting train) we got to the airport and hunkered down for the next twenty-four hours. When you decide to sleep in an airport because you've spent all your money on a new flight home, your sense of perspective gets thrown off. Pizza Hut becomes a luxury. Your pickiness about where to sleep becomes tinged with irony. Personal hygiene goes out the window. I had about 4 or 5 salami and gouda sandwiches during these 24 hours (we bought meat and cheese at the grocery store). Tiredness and exhaustion overcame us and we settled down in a Quick Burger fast-food restaurant, one on each side of a booth. The Red Cross had given us each a wool blanket. So many travelers were stranded because the airport had run out of de-icing fluid for the planes. The next day we managed to fly up to Southampton, England only to find the flight we thought we missed from being delayed an hour had actually been canceled. So again, we waited, this time for five hours, before we boarded a plane to Edinburgh. We finally made it home after 40 hours. (oh, and I contracted influenza and have been on the couch for the past four days)
Good trip, good beers, great time with Alex. We are never travelling to a northern country in the winter again. Too cold, too many travel delays. But it was worth it. We had a great time.
Say What?
Bruges is in the Flemish region, and they speak Flemish, yet the word we use for the city is French ("Bruges"). The locals call it "Brugge," the Flemish word.
Brussels is in the French region, they speak French, yet the word we use for the city is Flemish ("Brussel"). The locals call it "Bruxelles," the French word.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Eighth Word: Decorate
decorate: early 15c., from Latin decoratus, pp. of decorare "to decorate, adorn, embellish, beautify," from decus (gen. decoris) "an ornament," from Proto-Indo European base *dek- "to receive, be suitable" (see decent)
Monday was too Christmas-y to fill with homework and responsibility. So, with the snow falling gently on the castle out our window, Alex and I set out to decorate our flat for Christmas. The previous tenants had left several red and gold ornaments, some colored lights, and a small (fake) tree. By small I mean one foot tall. We thought it would suffice until we actually took the tree out of the closet and set it on the table. No good. You could barely see it, let alone decorate it. The people before us must not have been filled with enough Christmas cheer or something, because I would not be able to stare at that weenie tree for the next month.
Alex and I braved the cold and wind to head to...Pound-Saver. Yes, it's like a Dollar Store back home. I have never been Christmas tree shopping at a store before (let alone a Pound-Saver/Dollar Store). Luckily, we found a nice four-footer, grabbed some extra lights and headed back to put our tree together. For comparison:
So many things wrong with that last paragraph. I have a very pure heart when it comes to chopping down a real tree from nature. Give me the sawdust, the snow, the sap and pokey needles! Give me a tree that is too tall and wide when you finally get it indoors! Give me precious minutes wasted to nudge the tree back and forth and get it perfectly vertical! It's a team effort. Not a one man job. Well:
Monday was too Christmas-y to fill with homework and responsibility. So, with the snow falling gently on the castle out our window, Alex and I set out to decorate our flat for Christmas. The previous tenants had left several red and gold ornaments, some colored lights, and a small (fake) tree. By small I mean one foot tall. We thought it would suffice until we actually took the tree out of the closet and set it on the table. No good. You could barely see it, let alone decorate it. The people before us must not have been filled with enough Christmas cheer or something, because I would not be able to stare at that weenie tree for the next month.
Alex and I braved the cold and wind to head to...Pound-Saver. Yes, it's like a Dollar Store back home. I have never been Christmas tree shopping at a store before (let alone a Pound-Saver/Dollar Store). Luckily, we found a nice four-footer, grabbed some extra lights and headed back to put our tree together. For comparison:
So many things wrong with that last paragraph. I have a very pure heart when it comes to chopping down a real tree from nature. Give me the sawdust, the snow, the sap and pokey needles! Give me a tree that is too tall and wide when you finally get it indoors! Give me precious minutes wasted to nudge the tree back and forth and get it perfectly vertical! It's a team effort. Not a one man job. Well:
I made Alex help anyway.
We had a delightful afternoon of hanging ornaments and lights and listening to Christmas music. Unfortunately, the ornaments that were here already didn't come with hooks, so we improvised by using paper clips, rubber bands, and string. I collaged a star for the top.
So our house was all set up and I had to head to class. We were both excited for me to come home so we could sit in the glow of our tree that night with warm mugs of tea and some leftover truffles from Thanksgiving. With my luck, this day wasn't going to stay so magical. When I came home, the power had gone out. It seemed everyone else had power though so we called the emergency line at Scottish Power and only got a machine. We laugh that everyone is freaking out about the snow but places have lost power and the snow hasn't stopped yet. Anyway, our whole block eventually ran out of power (we could see candles in everyone's windows) and had to wait two hours (as promised by Scottish Power) to get our power back on. So we did not enjoy our Christmas tree (which we couldn't even see), did not enjoy warm mugs of tea (our appliances are electric) and suffered in the cold and dark. Everyone got power back at the two hour mark except us! What a night! We didn't get power back until 10pm (a 6 hour outage).
Well, we were able to enjoy our little four-foot fake tree finally and we have been enjoying it ever since. I have never put up a tree before December before but you should see the snow and the castle! I can't avoid the magic and cheer they give off! A small fake tree may not be what I'm used to but I'm loving it. And in the words of Charlie Brown, "It's not such a bad little tree."
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Seventh Word: Thank
I'm writing this post as I eat some Thanksgiving left-overs and look out at our snow-covered castle. For anyone who knows me, these left-overs would not be on my list of favorite foods (greenbean casserole, sweet potato casserole, haggis) but the comfort and nostalgia they bring (besides the haggis, I guess) are what make these Thanksgiving foods an exception.
Alex and I hosted seven other people for dinner and two others joined us for dessert. We managed to fit eleven people into this tiny flat! Much to my surprise, the dinner went by with out any significant disaster. Ok, we broke the bowl all the mashed potatoes were in, the turkey was done an hour before all the guests arrived, and Alex forgot to take out the giblets :) But everything tasted so good! Here's a basic rundown of the foodstuffs:
-a 9-10lb turkey, not dry and very delicious
-mashed potatoes and gravy
-excellent green bean casserole
-sweet potato casserole
-corn pudding
-stuffing
-rolls
We were blessed with a diversity of cultures at our meal: American (Jason's from Mississippi which is definitely a different culture than ours up north), Scottish, English, and Belgian. Our Scottish landlords' son brought some haggis. It was so tasty! It went perfectly will all the other flavors we had. If we can find some good stuff in the US it might make an appearance at next year's feast (beware, families!). For dessert, I made a pumpkin pie, Jason brought chess pie, which as far as I can tell is like a butter tart, and pecan pie (we had trouble deciding how to pronounce "pecan." pee-can, pee-can, pee-cahn, or pih-cahn).
Our Belgian friend made delicious truffles, and Sydney (an American) brought marshmallows, graham crackers, and Hershey's chocolate. Our British friends brought whisky to add to black tea (apparently a typical Christmas drink where they are from...not even the Scots had heard of it). Every non-American there was given a s'more to eat :) I think they liked them. I know they thought they were ridiculous and messy. Also, none of them believed us about why they are called s'mores!
We played a few rounds of Telephone Pictionary and Balderdash (remember, we're in a Linguistics program!), which was full of raucous hilarity. And the best part of the evening? SNOW! It was the first snowfall of the season and they were beautiful fluffy flakes! I went out to the roof right below us and made a snow angel :) It was magical:
The best part is that the snow is still here! (I'll admit, I listened to Christmas music this morning.) And we're supposed to get more tonight.
Thanksgiving is such a great holiday, especially for the food, but last night, five cultures came together and shared food traditions and stories of holiday feasts and I think we all felt pretty thankful for being together. Most of us were displaced from our families back home and it felt good to be a part of a family again. Alex and I missed our families, of course, but our family over here is pretty cool too.
My "Say What?" in this post comes from an interesting cultural difference that was mentioned last night:
We were all talking about childhood memories and Alex brought up "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." Ben, who is from England, noted that Brits must be more cautious about tv violence than Americans because when he was growing up it was called "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles."
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