Christmas in Kerksken!! Marcelleken´s included!! :P
Let´s just say that this journal will not do justice in describing the greatness of the past 6 days, but here is my lame attempt to try to do so..
ºNo expectation-- this is when you find the greatest!!
ºOpenness-- allowing yourself to learn, share and love
ºLiving in the moment-- being there 100%
ºSociality-- getting to know that ´old guy´, ´weird person´, ´shy person´ , etc..
ºLong lost friends-- we´ve met before, haven´t we?? or so it seems.. after just a few minutes it seems like you´ve been friends for an eternity
ºHistory-- bringing it all back together
and finally..
ºDANCE LIKE NOBODY´S WATCHING!!!
Landing in Brussels, I didn´t really have any expectation nor idea about what was to come. Normal, as I hadn´t seen Ellen in the past 3.5 years and this was only our 3rd time meeting in our lives! She met me at the airport with her friend, Anke, and off to dinner we went in Brussels and then visiting the Christmas Market, before seeing the famous Mannekin Pis!!
I had mixed feelings for Christmas Eve. Ellen had told me that we´d be having dinner with some friends of hers, but then when she told me that none of the ones I had previously met the 1st time were going to be there, I was a little nervous.. how would it be joining a grp. of people that I didn´t know for Christmas Eve? Would they talk to me? Will they speak English? At first, I was a little uncomfortable, they were speaking mostly in Flemish and joking around, but of course I didn´t understand. A little crazy, especially Wim, or ´Parkeit´, as they call him. After a short while we started eating and then Cynthia and Valerie started talking to me in English and then so did Wim and David and Philip and before we all knew it, it was like we had all been good friends for years!!! We were talking, laughing and they kept saying how cool and unique it was for me to be so social with them (yes, Belgians are a little on the shy, conservative side :P ) At one point, and I´m unsure as to why, Wim came out wearing a MARCELLEKEN (in Dutch) or a ´wife beater´ and what a laugh! That was just the beginning of my ´Dutch word of the week´ and lots of laughing.. After rounds and rounds of food (cold appetizers, hot appetizers, soup, scallops in a shell, meat, and finally pancakes-- yes, I think I gained 5 pounds alone in that one night!!) we went to the village pub to join others in the Christmas Eve celebration. Going out for Christmas Eve, I thought?!?!? Especially when we had to go to Ellen´s parent´s house around noon the following day for Christmas dinner.. I was tempted to skip out and go home, but then after deciding to stay for ´one drink´ we arrived home at 6.30 in the morning on Christmas Day!! Right when we arrived at the pub Cynthia played ´Put your Hands up for Detroit´ and then the ´Cha Cha Slide´ which I taught them the last time I was there!! Those got me going and I was set for dancing. I didn´t even care that some people were just staring at me (who´s that crazy girl in the village?? Afterall, it´s not everyday that foreigners go to their little village pub :P ) and got some people to dance along!! The girls and I had a lot of fun dancing to the R/B that we kept requesting and then Wim and I showed off our semi-salsa skills on the dance floor with ´Suavemente´ :P David became annoying after a few too many drinks, continuing with his ¨I like you.. you know what I mean?? I love you!!¨, but he´s always like that, according to all of the other village people jeje I was very happy to see the others that I´d previously met 3 yrs ago and then to also talk alot with Wim, Cynthia, Valerie and Anke as well. What a night!! Definitely the most unique Christmas Eve in my life!!
Christmas Day I was tired, no doubt! We got up after about 5 hours of sleep and went to Ellen´s parents house in Kerksken for Christmas dinner (er, breakfast in our case :P ) with Ellen´s cousin´s family as well. Lots more food! Shrimp, then turkey, veggies, fruit, ice cream cake.. 5 more pounds jeje Let me tell ya, I´ve never been so FULL in my life!! We were soooo tired so a while after dinner we went home for a ´siesta´ which basically turned into sleeping until the next day :P
On Wednesday, Ellen and I went to Aalst to do a little shopping, walk around, eat some donut balls, visit their Christmas market, etc. Then at night, we invited Anke and her bf, Neils, over for some Gluwein, a German hot wine drink with orange juice, cinnamon, vanilla... mmmmmm!!!! I certainly had my share to say the least :P
The next day Ellen and I went to the north of Belgium, near the North Sea beach, but we didn´t go to the beach :P (Belgian weather in December is not exactly beach weather anyways), instead we walked along a path that went through some dunes and then through a little village, where we stopped for some nice typical food. Yes, I could just feel the pounds adding up :p By this point in the week, I had started having stomach problems.. surprise, surprise, eh? :P Later in the night, Anke had invited us over for some lasagne and after that, back to the village pub, to meet with the others, it was! As usual in the small village, there are many of the same people, but there were some new ones (well, new to me) but it didn´t take too long for me to start talking with them, until David embarassed me in his drunkenness by asking me if I liked one of the other guys´ (Luc) bodies right in front of him (we hadn´t even talked yet!) ºblush!º Ellen was making fun of me because everyone was like ´she´s super social!´ and Ellen was telling me that there aren´t many people that go through the pub talking to everybody :P Guess you can say that Spain has had some effect on me :P Another fun night of talking with many of the people I had met on Christmas Eve, some dancing and lots of joking around with Wim and the others about his marselleken!! :P
Yesterday was pretty laid back, during the day at least :P My cousin, Tom, (Ellen´s brother) came over with his kids, Siebe and Lotte, the most adorable kids ever!!!! It was my first time ever meeting Siebe :) The kids were so cute, trying to speak the English that Tom had tried to teach them to speak to me.. ¨How do you do?¨ they kept trying to say :P Afterwards we went to Ellen´s parents house again to visit with her parents. We talked about my grandpa and how he had lived in the same village as a child and they showed me his house. Then we shared some traveling pictures before Ellen and I went out for dinner. Then.. fiesta!!!
I was super excited for the party because not only was everyone from the whole week going to be there, but it was also Davy´s birthday!! We had met 3 yrs ago and ªblushª I had a little crush on him back then and though we´d kept in touch over the years, this was the 1st time of the week I was going to see him again (don´t worry.. he now has a gf :P )!! Things were on the low-key side until once again, Cynthia played ´Put your Hands up for Detroit´ in which several people came over and started dancing and then the ´Cha-Cha Slide´. We got a few others involved and good times were just starting! I had a chance to talk to Davy, or ´the most handsome boy in Kerksken´ (according to him) for quite a while-- nothing like a nice Belgian boy :) (even a non-smoking one.. now that´s a rarity!) We joked around a lot btwn his other friends as well, including another Davy and Luc, the one that everyone was asking if I liked his 6-pack haha They say he´s a pro soccer player, but who knows :P Of course there was a lot more joking with everyone and Wim and the marcelleken!! jajajaja Then, all of a sudden, I looked up and Wim was wearing a Marcelleken at the pub!! jajaja and he came over and gave me one that all of the people had signed as a going away gift for me!!!!!!!! I was sooooo surprised-- they couldn´t have given me a greater gift in the world!!!!!!
Once people started leaving and saying bye I got quite sad. Davy then asked me for a dance which was sweet and then Wim asked me to dance with him for ´Angels´ by Robbie-- another sweetie. It was obvious that throughout the week Wim and I had made a very special connection, though not romantic, but rather like a long lost best friend type. He´s gotta be one of the greatest that I´ve met!!!! He even came to the airport with Ellen and I today to wave me off. I was quite sad, although this time I didn´t cry as Spain is much closer to Belgium than the US and also because Ellen and some of the others (Wim, Cynthia, Valerie, Anke..) are already planning to visit me here in Madrid in May!!!! Just in the past few hours, after arriving to Madrid, I´ve already received several SMS messages from Ellen, Wim and Davy.. I miss them already!!!
I don´t know, at the risk of sounding corny, I think I´ve had a couple of some of the best days of my life this week (granted, I believe that I´ve had a good number of ´best days´) but really, everything was just so fantastic!! Going back to my grandpa´s village, becoming closer with my faraway cousin, meeting many others in the village and befriending some of them.. priceless!! I have fallen in love with Kerksken Village :) To be honest, I was doubting going to Belgium at first, thinking originally of going somewhere new..exotic, but in the end, this was better than any experience I could have had. I will never forget my most unique Christmas Eve, laughing at Wim´s marcelleken with the others, introducing American style R/B dancing, becoming a part of the village... it´s all about the experience and this has truly been one of the most fantastic ones :)
Time to hang my Marcelleken on my wall ;)
ºNo expectation-- this is when you find the greatest!!
ºOpenness-- allowing yourself to learn, share and love
ºLiving in the moment-- being there 100%
ºSociality-- getting to know that ´old guy´, ´weird person´, ´shy person´ , etc..
ºLong lost friends-- we´ve met before, haven´t we?? or so it seems.. after just a few minutes it seems like you´ve been friends for an eternity
ºHistory-- bringing it all back together
and finally..
ºDANCE LIKE NOBODY´S WATCHING!!!
Landing in Brussels, I didn´t really have any expectation nor idea about what was to come. Normal, as I hadn´t seen Ellen in the past 3.5 years and this was only our 3rd time meeting in our lives! She met me at the airport with her friend, Anke, and off to dinner we went in Brussels and then visiting the Christmas Market, before seeing the famous Mannekin Pis!!
I had mixed feelings for Christmas Eve. Ellen had told me that we´d be having dinner with some friends of hers, but then when she told me that none of the ones I had previously met the 1st time were going to be there, I was a little nervous.. how would it be joining a grp. of people that I didn´t know for Christmas Eve? Would they talk to me? Will they speak English? At first, I was a little uncomfortable, they were speaking mostly in Flemish and joking around, but of course I didn´t understand. A little crazy, especially Wim, or ´Parkeit´, as they call him. After a short while we started eating and then Cynthia and Valerie started talking to me in English and then so did Wim and David and Philip and before we all knew it, it was like we had all been good friends for years!!! We were talking, laughing and they kept saying how cool and unique it was for me to be so social with them (yes, Belgians are a little on the shy, conservative side :P ) At one point, and I´m unsure as to why, Wim came out wearing a MARCELLEKEN (in Dutch) or a ´wife beater´ and what a laugh! That was just the beginning of my ´Dutch word of the week´ and lots of laughing.. After rounds and rounds of food (cold appetizers, hot appetizers, soup, scallops in a shell, meat, and finally pancakes-- yes, I think I gained 5 pounds alone in that one night!!) we went to the village pub to join others in the Christmas Eve celebration. Going out for Christmas Eve, I thought?!?!? Especially when we had to go to Ellen´s parent´s house around noon the following day for Christmas dinner.. I was tempted to skip out and go home, but then after deciding to stay for ´one drink´ we arrived home at 6.30 in the morning on Christmas Day!! Right when we arrived at the pub Cynthia played ´Put your Hands up for Detroit´ and then the ´Cha Cha Slide´ which I taught them the last time I was there!! Those got me going and I was set for dancing. I didn´t even care that some people were just staring at me (who´s that crazy girl in the village?? Afterall, it´s not everyday that foreigners go to their little village pub :P ) and got some people to dance along!! The girls and I had a lot of fun dancing to the R/B that we kept requesting and then Wim and I showed off our semi-salsa skills on the dance floor with ´Suavemente´ :P David became annoying after a few too many drinks, continuing with his ¨I like you.. you know what I mean?? I love you!!¨, but he´s always like that, according to all of the other village people jeje I was very happy to see the others that I´d previously met 3 yrs ago and then to also talk alot with Wim, Cynthia, Valerie and Anke as well. What a night!! Definitely the most unique Christmas Eve in my life!!
Christmas Day I was tired, no doubt! We got up after about 5 hours of sleep and went to Ellen´s parents house in Kerksken for Christmas dinner (er, breakfast in our case :P ) with Ellen´s cousin´s family as well. Lots more food! Shrimp, then turkey, veggies, fruit, ice cream cake.. 5 more pounds jeje Let me tell ya, I´ve never been so FULL in my life!! We were soooo tired so a while after dinner we went home for a ´siesta´ which basically turned into sleeping until the next day :P
On Wednesday, Ellen and I went to Aalst to do a little shopping, walk around, eat some donut balls, visit their Christmas market, etc. Then at night, we invited Anke and her bf, Neils, over for some Gluwein, a German hot wine drink with orange juice, cinnamon, vanilla... mmmmmm!!!! I certainly had my share to say the least :P
The next day Ellen and I went to the north of Belgium, near the North Sea beach, but we didn´t go to the beach :P (Belgian weather in December is not exactly beach weather anyways), instead we walked along a path that went through some dunes and then through a little village, where we stopped for some nice typical food. Yes, I could just feel the pounds adding up :p By this point in the week, I had started having stomach problems.. surprise, surprise, eh? :P Later in the night, Anke had invited us over for some lasagne and after that, back to the village pub, to meet with the others, it was! As usual in the small village, there are many of the same people, but there were some new ones (well, new to me) but it didn´t take too long for me to start talking with them, until David embarassed me in his drunkenness by asking me if I liked one of the other guys´ (Luc) bodies right in front of him (we hadn´t even talked yet!) ºblush!º Ellen was making fun of me because everyone was like ´she´s super social!´ and Ellen was telling me that there aren´t many people that go through the pub talking to everybody :P Guess you can say that Spain has had some effect on me :P Another fun night of talking with many of the people I had met on Christmas Eve, some dancing and lots of joking around with Wim and the others about his marselleken!! :P
Yesterday was pretty laid back, during the day at least :P My cousin, Tom, (Ellen´s brother) came over with his kids, Siebe and Lotte, the most adorable kids ever!!!! It was my first time ever meeting Siebe :) The kids were so cute, trying to speak the English that Tom had tried to teach them to speak to me.. ¨How do you do?¨ they kept trying to say :P Afterwards we went to Ellen´s parents house again to visit with her parents. We talked about my grandpa and how he had lived in the same village as a child and they showed me his house. Then we shared some traveling pictures before Ellen and I went out for dinner. Then.. fiesta!!!
I was super excited for the party because not only was everyone from the whole week going to be there, but it was also Davy´s birthday!! We had met 3 yrs ago and ªblushª I had a little crush on him back then and though we´d kept in touch over the years, this was the 1st time of the week I was going to see him again (don´t worry.. he now has a gf :P )!! Things were on the low-key side until once again, Cynthia played ´Put your Hands up for Detroit´ in which several people came over and started dancing and then the ´Cha-Cha Slide´. We got a few others involved and good times were just starting! I had a chance to talk to Davy, or ´the most handsome boy in Kerksken´ (according to him) for quite a while-- nothing like a nice Belgian boy :) (even a non-smoking one.. now that´s a rarity!) We joked around a lot btwn his other friends as well, including another Davy and Luc, the one that everyone was asking if I liked his 6-pack haha They say he´s a pro soccer player, but who knows :P Of course there was a lot more joking with everyone and Wim and the marcelleken!! jajajaja Then, all of a sudden, I looked up and Wim was wearing a Marcelleken at the pub!! jajaja and he came over and gave me one that all of the people had signed as a going away gift for me!!!!!!!! I was sooooo surprised-- they couldn´t have given me a greater gift in the world!!!!!!
Once people started leaving and saying bye I got quite sad. Davy then asked me for a dance which was sweet and then Wim asked me to dance with him for ´Angels´ by Robbie-- another sweetie. It was obvious that throughout the week Wim and I had made a very special connection, though not romantic, but rather like a long lost best friend type. He´s gotta be one of the greatest that I´ve met!!!! He even came to the airport with Ellen and I today to wave me off. I was quite sad, although this time I didn´t cry as Spain is much closer to Belgium than the US and also because Ellen and some of the others (Wim, Cynthia, Valerie, Anke..) are already planning to visit me here in Madrid in May!!!! Just in the past few hours, after arriving to Madrid, I´ve already received several SMS messages from Ellen, Wim and Davy.. I miss them already!!!
I don´t know, at the risk of sounding corny, I think I´ve had a couple of some of the best days of my life this week (granted, I believe that I´ve had a good number of ´best days´) but really, everything was just so fantastic!! Going back to my grandpa´s village, becoming closer with my faraway cousin, meeting many others in the village and befriending some of them.. priceless!! I have fallen in love with Kerksken Village :) To be honest, I was doubting going to Belgium at first, thinking originally of going somewhere new..exotic, but in the end, this was better than any experience I could have had. I will never forget my most unique Christmas Eve, laughing at Wim´s marcelleken with the others, introducing American style R/B dancing, becoming a part of the village... it´s all about the experience and this has truly been one of the most fantastic ones :)
Time to hang my Marcelleken on my wall ;)