Epic Belgian Email #35

This is a cheater Belgian Email since I am writing it not from Belgium, but rather from the Great Northern Lowlands. As the topic will be entirely dedicated to my last week in Belgium, however, I think the claim is valid.

So greetings hello and welcome! I think I sent everyone a note to let you know I was here and alive, right? Good. I’ll fill you in on the Netherlands soon enough, but first, all about my exciting last week in Belgium.

The week was irritatingly sprinkled with pointless academic obligations. On Monday, I had to sit around outside a classroom while all the professors in our program debated the quality of our theses. We got no feedback from them, so we just went home when it was over. On Thursday, the same thing happened concerning grades for our coursework. At least this time, after the deliberations, they announced who would be graduating, although nothing more specific.

With my name thankfully on that list, I proceeded to the graduation festivities on Friday. This was about what you’d expect out of a graduation ceremony, only much less ceremonial. It included all the departments of the Faculty of Letters, both undergraduate and masters students. There were no fancy gowns and caps, no pomp and circumstance, just lists of names read off and speeches in Dutch done by people who were probably important. I graduated Cum Laude – third best and third worse of those in my group to graduate on time.

I managed to find my slacker of a promoter after it was over. He seems to have liked my thesis just fine, but had nothing at all to say about the fact that he never bothered to read it before I handed it in. Much to my extreme satisfaction, once I got my grades back, I discovered that my best thesis grades (we got 7 of them) did not come from him, but from one of my other two readers. So maybe my thesis wasn’t total rubbish after all, though I’m still not convinced it was the quality of work I could have done if I’d had a little guidance.

In between these lovely academic ordeals, I spent the week traveling about with Marianne. We spent the first couple days in her hometown of Maasmechelen. Her mommy cooked me yummy Belgian dinners (stuffed red peppers one night, something fried and breaded the next…) This is also where the Chicken Summer Camp is, so we dropped Germaine and Josephine off at their new home. They’ll be learning to get along and play nicely with other chickens and also geese for the next few months. They weren’t doing very well at that at the time we left. I’ve got some great pictures that I will try to put up soon.

Chickens taken care of, we went out that evening with some of Marianne’s friends to play cards and pool (and drink beers, of course). It was really nice. Her friends were great, and very tolerant of my language deficiency, and we had a good time.

The next night we went to Koen’s hometown of Sint Truiden. His family was also fabulously welcoming. His mommy cooked us stoofvlees (beefy stew kind of stuff) and homemade fries. It was very yummy. Then we went out with some of Koen’s friends. I didn’t like them so much; too much smoking and drinking and annoying me. I was glad, in the end, to retire to his backyard, where Marianne and I were sharing a tent in the rain. It wasn’t very warm, but at least it was dry and quiet.

The last day, Marianne and I went up to Blankenberge (I think?) which is on the Belgian Coast. I was tired and ready to be done vacationing, but it seemed like a pity to miss what was supposed to be the nicest destination. We got going late, but it was okay to take just the afternoon. We walked along the coast then went and saw the sand sculptures. I guess this is a yearly activity – famous sand sculptors from all over come and make famous Belgian landmarks out of sand. I took a bunch of pictures, which will eventually end up on my website. Stay tuned. We then had a nice meal (Marianne’s 8-legged dinner stared at me through the meal until I gave him a cucumber hat to get those beady eyes off me) and headed back to Leuven.

That was the morning I graduated. After that, I went out and spent the weekend with the Evans family in Namur. They are so wonderful to me. On saturday, they gave me a bit of a sending off party. All my friends from my congregation showed up (well, at least as many as could fit around the garden tables, a few of which we pilfered from the neighbors). I helped cook the meal, which included three kinds of quiche, chicken in a crazy-yummy sherry sauce, saffron rice pilaf, homemade spaghetti, and lots and lots of cookies and ice cream and cherry tart and cupcakes for dessert. Mmmmmm!

The evening continued with some rousing karaoke hooked up to the living room television. It was hilarious. Everyone sang along to all the songs, so no one felt dumb taking a turn holding the mike. I think Yellow Submarine was the highlight of the evening.

I stayed with them through Monday morning, just relaxing and pretending to be in a family. They’re no substitute for my own (I miss you guys!!) but I’ll happily take what I can get. Two more months to go!

When I got home (to Leuven, let’s clarify), I packed and cleaned and packed some more and cleaned some more. Jeroen came and rescued me at 6 or so. We were supposed to be taking my bike back to the bike rental place but… well… it’s a long story as to why that didn’t work. Ye gads. After giving up in frustration, we decided to go out to dinner (mexican!) and a movie (War of the Worlds). I then had my last sit-out on the terrace in Oude Markt, drinking Kriek and yapping about nothing at all. It was a good way to conclude my stay in Belgium.

Somehow or another, the next morning, I got myself, my two suitcases, and my two backpacks onto the train. (I even left one suitcase with the Evanses! Sheeeesh.) I had to change trains three times before I got to Nijmegen, which was truly taxing. By the time I got picked up, I was ready for a nap. Instead, I got to go meet (and re-meet!) lots of people working in the office and living in the excavation house. Everything is falling together to look like it will be a really great summer. I’ll give more details in my next email, but let it suffice to say for now that although there are no chickens this time, there are ducks and frogs (I guess the spiders and mosquitoes don’t count).

I started working yesterday, and I must say, I’ve forgotten how hard this work is, and how dirty. Yikes. But it’ll be good for me. Especially after my muscles learn to cope and I find a happy balance between sunscreen and blowing dust…

Okay. Time to give this epic up for now. I hope the summer continues to be wonderful in all your respective corners of the globe. Your first Netherlandic Epic should be arriving some time over the weekend… Very much love and many hugs!

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Epic Belgian Email #34

Greetings, oh greetings from Belgium!

It is raining today. Great big determined rain. You’d think it
might let up for a minute (say, long enough to run to the mail
box) but then you find out it’s only holding its breath long
enough to put forth an extra effort and really soak you on your
way back to the house.

Otherwise, it has been a fine, relaxing sort of week. Last
Tuesday, the last of my academic deadlines was met. I gave a
mediocre presentation about the Abu Ballas trail in Egypt,
breathed a sigh of relief, and then spent most of the rest of
the day in a cafe with my fellow students, drinking iced tea and
gossiping about professors, classes, grades, summer plans, life
plans, and what have you. It was very relaxing, very nice.

During the rest of the week, I made a few feeble efforts at
packing. All my clothing is laid out in piles around the room,
but that seems to be about the best I can do. One suitcase lays
open on the floor – I was going to put in it all the things I
won’t need again until I’m back in the States – but I’ve found
woefully few things which qualify: a few books I’ve read
already, a few heavy sweaters I won’t need for the summer.
Otherwise, it somehow seems that I need all my Stuff. I can’t
imagine why. I’m going to have to start making up my mind soon
here.

This week is a week for results. This afternoon, I have to go
sit around while a bunch of professors talk about my thesis.
I’ll be on the other side of the door, excluded unless they have
something to ask me. I sincerely hope they don’t. I’ve been led
to understand that they only ask to talk to you if something is
really wrong. What a bah humbug sort of thing to do. On
Thursday, then, they announce the results. Friday I graduate,
assuming the results are positive.

In between times, I’m going to take off with Marianne and see a
few other bits of Belgium. Tonight and tomorrow I believe we
will spend with her family, in Maasmechelen. Later in the week,
we’ll visit Koen, wherever he lives, and maybe go up to the Sea
for the afternoon. Sounds like a very victorian thing to do,
somehow. “Yes, we’re taking a day trip to the Sea.” Hehe. Must
be the influence of all the books I’ve been reading lately. I
found a used book shop with English language books and had a
hayday earlier in the week…

Today’s other activity was the Capturing Of The Chickens. We
chased them around the yard and stuffed them in a box, so they
can be shipped off to Chicken Summer Camp. They weren’t very
happy about it. Sneaky speedy little boogers, when they know
you’re after them! Germaine got herself cornered against the
chicken fence, then stuck her head through the wires. Apparently
she thought she could fit the rest of her soggy chicken self
through, but to no avail. Getting her head unstuck was not the
easiest task either, but I think she made it into the box
without any undue trauma. They are currently sitting in their
box on the kitchen table, waiting for Marianne and I to depart
this evening. Every time you go into the kitchen, they begin
cluck-clucking in a rather pathetic manner. Sad clucking box…

I probably won’t leave for the Netherlands until the 12th (next
Tuesday), in order to have time to pack and clean and such. The
Evans family has also invited me out to their house for the
weekend for a bit of a send-off, which will be really nice. My
specific plans thereafter are a bit hazy. I won’t know my new
address until I get there, but I’ll be sure to keep you
informed. Then I’ll be in the Netherlands for a couple months
before heading back to the States in September. I suppose at
that point, I’ll be expected to find a job and Get A Life, but
I’m just going to take this one step at a time.

Very good! Off I go to sit around feeling rather nervous. I hope
everyone is having a wonderful summer! I send love and many hugs
from afar! Mmmmmwah!

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Epic Belgian Email #33

And they all heave a great big sigh of aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

As of today, I have officially completed all the work I am
expected to do in order to obtain a Master of Arts in Eastern
Mediterranean Archaeology. (Which is not to say I know
whether I’ve passed, but at least there’s no more work to be
done!)

It has been a respectably exciting sort of week, considering how
excitement levels have been running over the past month. As you
know, I began last week by turning in The Thesis, which is the
first source of relief. The last project to be completed was a
presentation for the two professors of Egyptology, dealing with
an Old Kingdom trail leading through the Sahara Desert. It was a
mildly interesting topic, but I discovered that my primary
source was a 540-page book written in French. I immediately lost
interest, and decided to do other things instead.

So I spent my week doing things like sleeping in, eating lunch
out, reading in the park, and playing Long Distance Solitaire
Showdown with Megan. Very relaxing, most enjoyable.

On Friday night, I guess I probably had my first truly Belgian
night out. (How awful is that, said two weeks before I leave
Belgium??) The evening started with a late movie. Jeroen and I
went to see Batman Begins, which was far more entertaining than I
expected, in an explosive, bad-guy-beating-up kind of way. Then we went to Oude Markt and sat outside drinking iced tea and watching the vast throngs of people hop from pub to bar to pub. It was after midnight by the time we got there, but considering the number of people out and about, it might as well have been the middle of the day. Ah, Belgian nightlife! Eventually we were joined by Jeroen’s girlfriend. By the time we stopped yapping and decided to go home, it was (oops!) almost 4am.

I was putzing around my room, getting ready for bed and watching the sky turn blue, when my roommate Sara climbed in through my window. Well hello, Sara, nice to see you. Did you forget your key…?

No, she was just being friendly – in a breaking and entering
kind of way. Of course, I was there and my light was on, so I
don’t suppose that’s really the case. We had a very odd
conversation, then she went to bed. The little demon woke me up
a few hours later (okay, it was 10:00, but still…) to ask if
she could borrow one euro. That puts her on my hit list, even if
crawling in through my window didn’t.

Sunday afternoon I went to a “costume” party. The idea was to come dressed in a “traditional” outfit from your country of origin, and bring “traditional” food. They really wanted me to come dressed as a cowgirl, but to my deep chagrin, I’d left all my cow-wranglin’ gear at home. I tried to be creative, but ended up just going in jeans and a tshirt. Soooo unoriginal. But I wasn’t the only one. A few of the Belgians were also dressed in “traditional” Belgian jeans and tshirts. Actually, one of the Belgians was wearing an American Flag shirt that said “NORTH DAKOTA” in big letters across the front. I almost died laughing.

The food was unbelievable. I brought chili (that’s “American,”
right? About as close as it gets, anyway…) and it was declared
good. I got busy tasting other people’s food though. There was
Moroccan, Japanese, Chinese, Polynesian, Ghanan, South African,
Polish, Spanish, French, Indian, uh… and lots of others! I’m
definitely forgetting some. I took nickel-sized portions of
everything and went back for favorites. I think I ate for four
hours straight.

Control of the music was out of control. I think we managed to
cover stuff from all the above mentioned countries. At some
point, big band was playing, and it was time for dance lessons.
A few people there knew I used to teach, so we had a little
swing class in the living room. It was really funny and
completely chaotic. I think I got a new boyfriend out of the
deal. His name might be Manu, he might be French, and he’s maybe
six or seven years old, but boy did he want to dance! And not
with just anyone… Good grief. I kind of had to peel him off
after awhile.

Getting home from the party was also a bit tricky. The party was
in Brussels. The buses to Leuven only run once an hour, and only
leave from certain stops. I was happy to have Cynthia (a friend
whose family is from Ghana) along to help me figure it out,
because we had to take a bus to catch a metro to get to the
right bus stop, but then we found out that the bus in question
doesn’t actually go to that stop on Sunday, so we took another
bus to a different stop where we JUST missed the right bus.
(Lost? So were we.) Luckily, buses came to this stop every
half hour, so it wasn’t such a horrible wait, and we did
eventually get home.

On Monday, I finally broke down and decided to do some work on that project I’d been avoiding. I’d been taking stabs at reading the French book throughout the week, but I really wasn’t finding what I thought I needed, so in the end I did my research online and made a bunch of stuff up. (Ssh, don’t tell.) I had concluded that I only needed to score four (out of twenty) on the presentation to pass the class, so it was hard to be especially worried about it or motivated. For pete’s sake – with my thesis handed in, who can expect any real motivation?

In any case, the presentation was this morning and it went fine.
I made one dumb mistake (got the date on a pot wrong by a couple
thousand years…) and for the rest, it turns out I really
wasn’t missing anything out of that stupid French book after
all. Glad I didn’t bother reading all 540 pages…

Which leaves the chickens. I figure maybe if I leave the
chickens for last, you’ll be fooled into reading the less
interesting parts of the email in order to get find the chickeny
parts.

The chickens are fine, and I’m sad to say that’s really all the news. I asked Marianne where they would go for the summer, and she said “Chicken Summer Camp.” Well, that’s not exactly what she said, but definitely the right idea! I guess they’ll go live in a place with lots of other chickens until the students come back again next fall, at which time they will be retrieved.

Maybe they’ll learn some manners at camp. Like not pecking off
the ankles of the hand that feeds you, or something.

Tada! That’s my week! The rest of this week I should probably
devote to a bit of packing and cleaning. Next week, Marianne and
I are doing some traveling in Belgium, to see all the sites I’ve
missed while preoccupied with school and such. It should be a
nice break. After that, I’ll head to the Netherlands.

But you’ll hear from me again before then, so until next time, I
send love and hugs and thoughts of Belgian beer on a terrace at
midnight!

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Epic Belgian Email #31

It’s June and the temperature in Belgium is 16 degrees. Celsius
or Fahrenheit. Take your pick. Either way, it’s freezing. Sara
asked if she could have her heater back last week and I thought
“of course! It’s June! What could I possibly need with a
heater now that it’s summer?”

I guess it hasn’t rained much lately, so that’s something
anyway.

I was hoping I could write this week’s Epic from a state of
Thesis Completion, but I must confess – I missed the mark. I
gave up working on Friday night and haven’t been able to
convince myself to do much with the weekend. All is well,
though. The thesis is written, I have only to finish revising
the last 15 pages or so. (Oh, and if any of you have seen any
nice pictures of Atargatis lately, feel free to send them
along.)

So that is that! I guess I don’t plan to feel any real sense of
relief until I find out whether or not they’ll accept it.
Honestly, as a masters thesis, I don’t feel like it’s such a
great paper. I haven’t said anything new or attacked a question
from a startling new perspective or really contributed much at
all to the field of scholastic excellence… I’m kind of hoping
they’ll give me some bonus points for having really superb
English skills.

I suppose the very worst that happens is they hand it back, tell
me it stinks, and I have to rewrite it/write a new thesis for
August. Eew. Please think happy thesis thoughts for me…

What else is new and exciting in the world? I’ve seen a couple
of less-than-quality movies lately, taken lots of walks… My
bicycle is still locked to a tree. Got my swimsuit (thanks Megs
and Mom!) so now I can go swimming. As soon as I finish my
thesis for real I’m going to go trashy novel shopping. Mmm. Huh,
for having skipped last week’s epic, I don’t really have much
accumulated news to share.

Since I’ve discovered that the only real reason people still
read my epics is for the chickens, I suppose I could provide
some chicken news.

The chickens keep getting meaner and crazier with each passing
day. Not only that, but they seem to have stopped laying eggs.
Maybe it’s in protest of the freeeeezing weather, maybe they
don’t approve of the menu (chicken feed and moldy leftovers), or
maybe they’re just mean and spiteful. I rather suspect it’s the
last. To get their eggs I’ve started taking a big stick along to
poke at them. It’s the only way I can avoid getting my ankles
pecked off. But they’re sneaky little buggers. I think
Marianne’s best laugh of the day is when I’m out rooting around
in the vines for chicken eggs while Germaine dances around my
stick looking for ankle-access and Josephine just gets in the
way.

Whenever I’m not out egg-snatching, Germaine spends her time
learning to climb the chicken fence, and Josephine has taken to
digging holes (in which she rolls around looking a bit like a
rejected feather duster).

My very favorite new chicken activity, however, is Chicken
Hopping. I didn’t know it, but apparently the chickens like to
eat the leaves of the vine that grows on the walls of the yard.
(Or maybe they’re just destructive by nature and like to ruin
plants. That seems possible.) By now, they’ve plucked all the
low leaves off. At first, you could see them out there, standing
up on their scaly chicken toes trying to reach higher leaves.
When even that no longer worked, they learned to jump. Boing!
Straight up in the air, beak extended, looking for all the world
like feathery yo-yos.

I tried to get a picture, but of course, they hate me, so there
was no cooperation.

And that’s the news from Belgium! I’ll be sure to send an
official, self-congratulatory email next week when my thesis is
really done. Until then, I send love and hugs and chocolate
kisses!

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Epic Belgian Email #29

Oooh! Fast approaching the Epic 30s! Just think, if I’d kept up
the once-weekly theme, I’d already be there! This is unmarked
Epic territory…

So hello from the land of Slavery. I am officially slave to the
whims of my Temperamental Computer and my Vile Thesis.

Okay okay, it’s not all THAT bad. But it is Monday, so I’m
allowed to be a little snozly. (I just invented that word. It
can mean whatever you want it to mean.)

My thesis is due on June 20th. My promoter returns on the 15th,
so I’d better have it ready for him by then. That means I have
24 days. Panic may now set in. At last count, I had written
about twelve pages. I could keep writing until I have the
minimum required 50 with no problem. The problem is that I’m
still not at all sure what it is I think I’m saying. As of last
Saturday, the topic has taken yet another minor turn.

IF I should ever be so crazy as to decided to do FURTHER
education, I will not even APPLY to the institution in question
until I already know what I plan to WRITE ABOUT once I get
there. This is decidedly too late to still not know what’s going
on.

Worse case scenario? I turn my paper in to my promoter on the
15th and he gives it back without even looking at it because the
topic I ended up with is too dumb to be believed. Then I have
until August 20th to try again!

Let’s talk about something other than my thesis! I don’t want to
be Bad Attitude Girl all the way through this email. Maybe in
that case I’ll also skip the street party we had last week
(suffice it to say there were a lot of people, more beer, even
more noise, and I didn’t have a very good time) and talk about
the weather instead…

There’s some nice fluffy white clouds in the sky just now… The
weather has been a little bit respectable, but you still don’t
dare leave the house without a coat and an umbrella. I’m
currently wearing two sweaters.

I know! I’ll take you on a tour of my walk to “work.” That’s
my favorite part of the day.

For the last couple weeks, I’ve been working in the Faculty of
Theology, which is the only library that won’t let you check out
books. So me, my giant stack of books I’ve checked out from
other libraries, and my computer bundle up every morning and go
for a walk.

I walk down my street, which is a very nice street. It’s an
unusual street in that it’s almost for pedestrians only (which
is to say, cars park here but don’t really drive through). It’s
covered with cobblestones as well, and is full of trees and
squashed shrubberies and bicycles (which are mostly responsible
for the shrubbery squashing). My bicycle is out there somewhere,
locked to a tree…

Then I walk down Marie-Theresa-straat, past my favorite bakery,
green-grocer, butchery, french fry shop, and my un-favorite
laundromat. It’s a very nice neighborhood. Especially when there
are no street parties in town. I turn off at the Faculty of
Letters, which is where I had most of my classes last semester,
and take a short cut through their gardens. These are mostly
bamboo (go figure!) and some kind of tree with gigantic gobs of
pink flowers. It’s really nice.

I come out behind the Central Library, then I walk around to the
front so I can admire the Scarab On A Stick as I pass. I cross
the street into another little park-like square and then cross
into the main city park.

It is a very nice park. When you go through the gates, you’re on
a gravel path lined with trees on either side that goes down to
the grassy area. I prefer to take a side path which goes up a
hill along side this path, following the old Medieval wall that
used to surround the town. (You’re much less likely to get run
down by a bicycle if you go this way!) I can also stare through
the trees down a the people on the path. It’s very nice.

Once I come off this path, I’m in the grassy area of the park
where there is a pond and a lot of frisbee players. When the sun
is out, the grass is covered with people (at least half of whom
are usually making out with no mind for onlookers). I take the
north exit and walk a half a block to the Faculty of Theology.

I’ve staked out a spot in the library that allows me to look out
the window at the park. That’s the only good part of working at
that library. One day last week, some GUY was sitting at my
spot, and I hardly knew what to do with myself. I didn’t get
nearly as much done at my second-choice desk. Oh well, so it
goes.

And that’s the story of my day! Since Jeroen (my lunch buddy)
has wandered off to Cambridge, I’ve gotten into the habit of
packing a lunch to eat in the park. If I can work again until
I’m hungry for dinner, I’ve done well. Today I got ticked off at
my new friend Atargatis (who refused to present herself on any
of the coins that supposedly have her image on them) so I
decided to come home early. That just means I’ve committed
myself to an evening of surfing electronic journal databases for
more pictures…

Maybe I’ll just give up on this goddess business and write my
paper about my chickens. I could talk about the social
conditioning which has caused them to become MEAN over the last
nine months. They’re not afraid of me anymore, so when I go to
collect their eggs, Germaine has no problem chasing me around
and pecking at my legs. Vile chicken. I can now understand why
people don’t seem to mind eating their pet chickens for dinner.

I guess it’s still better than paying for eggs…?

Okay. I also guess I’d better get back to being productive. If I
write five pages every day, I can be done with this in less than
two weeks. Then I’ll have a few days left to think about how I
can possibly pass off the results as a thesis.

I hope spring is being kinder to everyone on that side of the
world! If you ever feel glum, just think: “I could be stuck
researching the disappearance of obscure Iron Age goddesses!”
How can that NOT make you feel better?

(I’m sure I’ll be very proud of myself once I’m done.)

By all means, feel free to write back a note! I’ll do my bestest
to reply with something more personal than a mass email. It’s
been awhile since I’ve heard from a lot of you. Believe me – any
and all warm fuzzies are appreciated, even through email!

So take care, and until the urge to write strikes again, I’m
sending love and hugs to all of you!!

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Epic Belgian Email #27

Hullo from the Land of Waffles!

Apologies for being lax in Epicness last week. Although I
imagine the Mega Epic the week before might be enough Epic for a
whole lifetime… :

It’s been a very normal (read, unexiting) couple of weeks. I’ve
taken up residence in the Central Library. Most days, I attempt
to be there by 9 (my average actual time of arrival usually
being about 9:30) and stay until 4 or 5 with a nice long lunch
break. It’s productive time (well, about 3/4ths of it is…)
which means I can relax in the evenings without feeling too
guilty.

I had thought my thesis was proceeding more or less apace. On
Friday, we had our “colloquium,” which is just a fancy way of
saying all your professors and fellow students listen to you
talk about your thesis then they pick on you. I was unreasonably
nervous going into this. My presentation was well prepared and
so was I. But after they finished picking on me, I realized why
I was nervous. The final verdict? My thesis is “unoriginal and
unfocused.”

*sigh* Would have been nice to know that a couple months ago…

Okay, to be fair, I’ve given up on my promoter at least as much
as he’s given up on me. He was so fantastically unhelpful in the
beginning, I just stopped asking advice. He wants me to be
independent? Fine! He’d just better be prepared to defend my
unguided, unoriginal thesis…

Urgh. And I must admit, I rather agree with them. It seemed like
a very good idea starting out, but the topic is too big to do
what I want to do WELL in only ~50 pages. (Which is, briefly, to
show how women – as the heads of the household – were able to
change the course of relgion in the Iron Age.)

So I spent Friday evening coming up with some plans to “fix” it.
I have a meeting with my promoter on Monday morning. Hopefully
if I go in with three distinct options, I can get him to give me
some idea which one has the most potential. I won’t be holding
my breath.

Add to that the fact that he leaves the country on Wednesday,
not to return until after my thesis is due, and you have the sum
of the situation.

*takes a moment to mourn the absence of liberal arts and
professors who are actually helpful and encouraging*

Other than THAT, it’s been a lovely couple of weeks! The weather
is perking up (which is to say it rains less than 50% of the day
and the sun usually makes an appearance every couple of days).
The cafes all have tables out on the terraces, and there aren’t
many joys nicer than sitting outside and watching people while
you unwind.

Last week, I went to a Bach concert. It was supposedly “free,”
so I went with Marianne and Piraye. By “free,” what they really
meant was no fee at the door. You do, however, have to sit and
listen to Old Belgian Guys yammer on and on and on and on about
the new pipe organ they want to buy. Fifty minutes of yammering!
In a very very cold church. Then about 40 minutes of music. Oh
well. The music (when it finally came) was very nice.

There’s my Culture Quotient for the month, then.

Other than that, not much is news. The chickens are getting
feistier. They lay more eggs now that the weather is nice.
Sadly, they’re not afraid of me anymore. I won’t be snatching
their eggs wearing shorts any time soon, that’s for sure.
Germaine doesn’t mind pecking at my legs while I collect.
Distracting them with food isn’t useful either. Who says
chickens aren’t smart? (Now if we could just convince them that
those eggs aren’t gonna hatch anyway…)

My roommates aren’t nearly so irritable, thankfully.

And speaking of chickens (hehe)- news on Turkey: I will NOT be
going to Turkey this summer. I can claim this was my decision,
since I made other plans before they told me they didn’t want
me. Instead, I will be going back to Nijmegen, in the
Netherlands, to work with the archaeologists up there before I
come home in September.

That means that if anyone wants to come visit, I’m available as
a tour guide! Mes parents get first dibs, but otherwise, if
you can manage not to get robbed by the airlines, I’d be
delighted to have any or all visitors! Original vacation plans
guaranteed!

Until then, however, I have a thesis that needs its butt kicked.
I’ll go work on that, you all have a wonderful week, and I’ll
write more later! Love and great big hugs to all!

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Epic Belgian Email #5

Greetings friends, family, and armchair chicken farmers!

First order of business is to thank everyone who helpfully
supplied (mostly opinion-based) advice on chicken care. Here are
the things I have learned (from experience and
non-armchair-chicken farmers):

1. Chickens will lay eggs even without a rooster. Apparently the
rooster thing is everyone’s favorite chicken myth. (Well, right
behind the were-chicken myth. If you thought werewolves were
scary, you oughtta see what happens to chickens during a full
moon. !) You just can’t have baby chickens without a rooster.
No rooster means I don’t have to check to see if my eggs float
before cracking them into the frying pan. That’s good news.

To lay eggs, all chickens need are lots of sunlight, water, and
protein in their diet. Since all we’ve been feeding them so far
is leftovers, I assume they must be getting their protein from
the bugs populating the back yard. Yum.

The eggs do deserve a hearty “Yum!” though. They’re quite small,
but very tasty. In fact, I think I’ll make myself french toast
for dinner…

2. Chickens don’t *exactly* hide their eggs. They pick one spot
and make that their nest. Unfortunately, our chickens didn’t
like the “nest” we provided (in the little chicken house), so
they’ve moved in behind some vines. It took us awhile to find
their hiding spot (it’s a very small yard, but we’re apparently
not very bright). But now that I know where it is, it’s where I
always find the eggs.

And those are the things I’ve learned about chickens. So far,
they haven’t tried to peck my eyes out when I go to feed them
and steal their eggs. They’ve been named Josephine (brown) and
Germaine (grey). Germaine can still fly. There’s a note on the
black board downstairs asking who wants to help clip their wings
(“Wie wil de kippen knippen?” Hehe… kippen knippen…) but I
refuse to sign up. I’m convinced they would definitely try to
peck my eyes out if I did that. Eew.

Moving along to less fowl news.

(Sorry.)

Classes proceed per normal. One of my classes last week was
canceled, which meant I had two days off in the middle of the
week. I used this mid-week weekend to start doing some
background reading for a possible thesis. I’m veering in the
direction of writing something about female iconography in the
ancient near east. For those who are less
jibberishly-inclined, I’ve helpfully given the potential thesis
a working title: Babes in Babylon. No professor in the world
would find that academically appropriate, and since I plan to
write about women, I’m probably offending every feminist on the
planet using that title. My apologies. Kind of.

I think that just about covers news. I still can’t upload my
pictures, so there’s nothing new on that part of the website. It
looks like I’m going to have to do a bit of an overhaul on my
computer before things start working properly again, and it will
take awhile before that can be arranged. But I’ll get something
up eventually. In the meanwhile, thanks for all the notes – keep
them coming, I love to hear from you guys. Lots of love and hugs
to everyone.

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Epic Belgian Email #4

The chickens are coming, the chickens are coming!!

I’ve decided to devote this epic email to chickens, since that
seems to be a topic of great concern to a few of you (and since
not much else is worth reporting this week.)

So the chickens. A couple weeks back, just after I moved in, we
had a house meeting. The main point was the divide up the
chores, so I didn’t feel too bad when my mind drifted off as the
rest of them enthusiastically debated things like taking out the
garbage – all in Dutch. I figured eventually someone would ask
me what I wanted to do, and I’d vollunteer to put out the
cardboard for the recycling guy or something.

But no, when the turned to me, it was not to ask how I felt
about sweeping halls or scrubbing toilets.

Everyone suddenly turned to look at me – all five of them at
once.  “Do you like chicken?” Marianne asked.

“Yes!” I said, happy to have an easy answer and thinking maybe
someone was going to make me dinner.

“Oh, no no no,” Marianne corrected. “I meant chickenS. You know,
to have in the backyard.”

I wasn’t sure about that, but everyone else seemed firmly in
favor of the idea. I’ve had chickens in the backyard before -
while I was in the Netherlands – and they didn’t bother me much
then. Besides, I had visions of fresh eggs swimming through my
head. (There are a lot of omlettes in my diet these days.)

By the end of this little house meeting, we’d made the discovery
that I am the only non-Belgian present (as if that was not
obvious through my very poor Dutch), which means I am the only
person who stays in the house on weekends. What does this mean?
It means I’m the only person who can feed the chickens on
weekends. Since consistency is good, my new house job is to feed
the chickens every day. How hard can that be? Better than
toilets, anyway.

The chickens arrived on Wednesday. We got two – a big fat brown
one, and a bigger fatter grey one.  I had forgotten how fat
chickens are. Or maybe these chickens are just especially fat.
Maybe they fattened up for the winter. They look a lot like big,
feather-covered balls with beady eyes.

We haven’t named them yet, at least, not officially. I was
talking to Megan online the other night though, and after I said
they looked a bit like dinosaurs (y’know… feathery dinosaurs),
Megan suggested Rexie and Roxie. I like it.

The grey one still seems to be able to fly a bit. She’s been
outside her little wire-enclosed space every morning so far.
Since there’s no place she can go, I just leave her, and by the
time I get back from classes, she’s usually back on the right
side of the fence. Kathrine (the landlady) suggested we needed
to get her wings clipped. I made it clear I wanted nothing to do
with that.

So far, feeding them hasn’t been a problem. One of the girls was
supposed to go get chicken food (?), but that hasn’t happened so
far, so we’ve been feeding them stale bread. Lots of that to be
had around here. They’re scardie-chickens, as it turns out. When
I come out, they both run and hide in a corner where they peer
at me suspiciously.

I’ve attempted to locate any eggs they might be laying, but so
far, I haven’t found anything. They have a little house with a
removable lid that’s full of straw. I didn’t exactly mine to the
bottom of the pile of straw, but there doesn’t appear to be much
egg-laying going on.  Anyone know if chickens like to play hide
and seek with their eggs? They do have to actually LAY eggs once
in awhile, don’t they?

I suppose I ought to do a bit more chicken research. So far as I
know, though, I’m only expected to make sure these guys get fed.
No one’s said anything to me about cleaning out the coop or

Gosh… I guess my email got a bit too epic – yahoo appears to
have eaten the last few paragraphs.

I don’t remember exactly what was in them, but the important
part is the part that says everything here is great, I miss you
guys, and I’ll send more news when there’s more news to report.

Oh yes, and I also said that I updated my webpage. No new
pictures because my camera software is on the fritz, though.
I’ll have to put chicken pictures up later.

I’ll call the end though. Have a great week! Mmmmwah!

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