Sandcastles On The Moon

I have moved!

2008-02-02T21:28:00.001-07:00

My new blog is:

http://ellenator.blogspot.com/

Please update y'allzez links.

Cre-Mation?

2008-01-30T20:02:00.001-07:00

The idea of being cremated has always sounded more appealing to me than a fancy traditional-coffin funeral. It does seem to make life easier. No expensive coffins, no nasty make-up being put on my face (I vowed in 10th grade I would rather die before I wear make-up) and no dislocated shoulders of the coffin bearers.

And someone agrees with me!

I too, like the idea of my ashes being returned to the earth. I want my remains to be used to fertilize a tree! I know it sounds very John and Yoko-ish, but it sounds better than being left to decompose.

I spend more time arranging my funeral in my head than my wedding. You're always certain that you are going to die, and a funeral is a place where people remember you in a positive light. And it's also the one thing I'm not in control of.

Plus, if people want to stay in contact with me on this earth, by means of visiting something, they can visit my tree. And talk to it. I mean, me.

Gordon B. Hinckley 1910-2008

2008-01-27T21:43:00.000-07:00

Thank you President.

I got the news at a Ward Dessert Night. It never occurred to me until we said a prayer: all the people in that room could be considered the Hinckley Generation. Even though there have been 2 prophets in my lifetime so far, President Hinckley is the one that had the most impact in my 'Mormondomism.'

Interesting thing. The initial reaction was shock. The second: "He's with Marjorie, his wife."

Things I wish I had said in Sunday School #1

2008-01-21T10:21:00.000-07:00

Reading: 1 Nephi 8-11; 12:16-18; 15

Topic: Tree of life

Summary: Lehi dreams about the tree of life in chapter 8, and is interpreted in chapter 11 by Nephi.

Even though we believe that Nephi and Lehi see the same things, the context is very different. Nephi receives the interpretation directly from the Spirit of the Lord, talking to him "as a man speaketh; for [Nehpi] beheld that he was in the form of a man...and he spake unto [Nehpi] as a man speaketh with another." (v. 11)

Lehi's dream seems to be a bit more problematic. Lehi wanders around in darkness for many hours, and has to pray for the mercy of the Lord. (v. 8). Lehi also had to deal with the fact that his family is in the dream, and that Laman and Lemuel do not take of the fruit.

Poetry Dreams

2008-01-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago I dreamt in poetry.

That is, I didn't have poems being recited in my head. It was the feeling you get when someone reads poetry in a soft voice, reading as if the spirit of poet was speaking through that person's physical body. When the meter and the rhythm overtake your body, synchronizing the beat of your heart with the flow of your blood.

And more happy moments on campus

2008-01-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

Blog-a-versary

2008-01-08T08:13:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday little blog! Today you turn one!

Thrift store Stories

2008-01-05T15:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was at Savers with Friend. While Friend was trying something on I was sitting on a chair outside the dressing rooms, minding my own business, watching people walk by.

Standing next to me was a lady who was trying something on. I didn't pay too much attention to her, because it's a thrift store. People try things on.

I was in the middle of observing a father pushing a Maxi-Cosi underneath the door of a dressing room when the woman trying the coat on turns to me and says:

"You look like you judge everything.

What do you think of this jacket?"

Happy moments on campus

2007-12-19T15:54:00.001-07:00

summary of Ellen's life

2007-12-18T21:22:00.001-07:00

1. I'm in the middle of finals

2. i passed my Book of Mormon and American Heritage finals!!

3. Tomorrow I have my french final. at 7 &$# AM. i have one left on thursday, my math final

4. Life has been really quiet. I've been doing a lot of reading on the blogs lately. seems like recent speeches have sparked new activity.

5. I love Neutrogena Hand Cream. if it came in human from, wedding bells would be ringing.

6. i need a haircut.

7. i really REALLY can't think of what to write.

more excitement later

Old Navy adventures

2007-12-04T18:33:00.000-07:00

Today at Old Navy I saw a 1.2 yo with Utah hair. I kid you not.

Her. Hair. Was. Huge.

The thing is, I didn't even know that 1.2 yo's had much hair in the first place.

Apparently this one had enough for it to be round brushed, curled AND hair sprayed.

Seriously, isn't this the one and only time in your life when you can get away with being wild and stinky?

Taking the iPod commercials a bit too far

2007-11-27T17:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was walking across campus (Holy cow!!) when I saw a scrawny kid in faux-skinny jeans (Note to self: be on the lookout for those) busting some moves while listening to his ipod. While he was making a double 360° turn I noticed some crocheted head-gear that somewhat resembled a yamaka in Christmas Colors.

EEEK!!

2007-11-25T12:19:00.001-07:00

Really, really, really aweful AND creapy video from the 80's! It's kind of long, but the best is near the end:

The weight of my words

2007-11-19T16:36:00.000-07:00

I got a little misty when I saw this...

Harry Reid made my day

2007-11-03T20:20:00.000-06:00

**DISCLAIMER: I know it's been over a month since I last let my written voice ring through the bloggosphere. I do apologise for the tens of people who read this blog and had nothing to wake up to every morning.**

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695217196,00.html

Harry Reid really did make my day. Not only was the Marriott center filled with mostly Democrats or Anti-Bushians, I was sitting on the 3rd row (granted, I was there an hour in advance. Hey, it was ok for students to CAMP OUT when President Hinckley came).

And it was great. Beyond amazing.

He even smoothly incorporated his opinion of the Bush Administration.
And much to my surprise a large majority of the audience cheered and applauded him.

While I waiting for the Devotional to start, I was listening in on a conversation of 2 students behind me. They were very much Democrat, since the girl was discussing the purchase of an Anti-Bush bumper sticker and how it would lower the re-sale value of her car. They did make one remark that I thought was very true:

"The thing I like about Harry Reid is that he embraces his religious beliefs in his political career. I'm not saying he forces them into his job, but he's not ashamed of them. That's why I can't support Mitt Romney. It's almost as if he tries to distance himself from his religion, just to gain public support."

Sightings at Starbucks

2007-09-30T21:06:00.000-06:00

He walks in. Baggy pants, huge white shoes. Football jersey. 2 hoop earrings dangle under his baseball cap as he walks up to the counter at Starbucks. He orders, he waits while looking around the room with his piercing blue eyes. The lady with the black artsy hair hands him his drink. He turns around and leaves with forceful walk.

Team of football jersey: BYU Cougars
Logo on baseball cap: Y

She needs to sort out her priorities

2007-09-27T20:19:00.001-06:00

I went to the Congo last summer. Congo is listed number 10 on the list of most dangerous countries. Pakistan is number 11.
I was in Kinshasa, Limete, staying with my dad in a Catholic Community on the 13th avenue. We went on walks around the 'block', got lost, wondered along railways and found our ways through back alley's, with little Congolease children screaming 'Mundele'. There are hardly no white people in Limete. The Belgian embassy was about a good 45 minutes away. The violence of the elections was still lingering.
Did I ever feel threatened? No.
Did I ever feel scared? No.
Am I dying to go back? Yes.

I live in Provo. Right next to Orem. I ride my bike to BYU every morning. I take a shortcut through a church parking lot, behind the MTC.
Do I wonder about being ambushed by a rapist in the bushes?
All the time.

Philippe Decoufle

2007-09-25T16:59:00.001-06:00

We have found the most amazing TV channel. It's called Ovation, and if you don't have it, shame on you. It's the 'artsy' channel, where they cover everything from 'The final 24 hours of Kurt Cobain' to random Euro art programs.
Such Euro art program was on last night. It was about a French choreographer called Philippe Decoufle, and the whole program was in french with English subtitles. Kudo's to the people who decided to put subtitles in.
Anyway, since I'm an internet junkie, I youtubed the man right away. Turns out there aren't too many clips of him out there, which is quite a shame.

The introduction to this clip is kind of long, and it doesn't get ADD friendly until minute 2, but it's still totally worth it:

You know you're in college when...

2007-09-21T13:31:00.001-06:00

...you have to cancel appointments and meetings just so you can wash your hair.

yeah. it's that bad already.

I'm back!

2007-09-21T12:56:00.001-06:00

so after spending a rough month trying to settle in, i'm finally back to the bloggo-sphere.

I started byu! yes i did! And after a minor crisis of faith/culture/direction the first week, i'm doing quite well. A few items of notice:

1. the majority of BYU males are not quite...belgian. meaning they don't seem to be quite used to the fact a female doesn't jump from the sidewalk just to make way for him. or when a female dominates a conversation. just to name a few examples.

2. HOLY. EVERYONE. LOOKS. THE. SAME. I mean, on occasion you spot those euro/eastcoasters/large city people, but in general everyone dresses and looks the same.

3. I had to help a journalist from the daily universe SPELL. you want to know the word? It was Bias. B.I.A.S. I, ellen, the foreigner who doesn't know how to spell without the use of Spell Check.

4. I'm really enjoying it. No really. I knew the transition from belgium to provo wouldn't go as smooth, but as a hole i really enjoy byu. i really enjoy it because, on random occasions, you meet someone who thinks kind of like you. and who understands that the people who scream the loudest aren't always the ones that are right. and that makes me smile.

more later.

The BEST blonde joke ever!

2007-08-26T09:42:00.001-06:00

It's really great. Click here

After 7 years

2007-08-23T07:54:00.001-06:00

On Saturday, August 18th 2007, I became a permanent US citizen!

Too bad I still can't vote...
and getting social security seems to be a Kafka type of situtaion...

but, I ain't complaining.

And more youtube fun

2007-08-10T05:57:00.001-06:00

What music video/performance is worse?

The ever so famous 'I want to love you tender' aka 'Worst music video ever:'

Or the performance of the Flemish Laura Lynn last week that made me weep into my uno cards:

Hippies from Holland

2007-08-08T05:43:00.000-06:00

Wisdom's from a hippie family on TV:

"We focus too much on our differences. People always point out differences and tell us to embrace them. Why focus so much on differences? Shouldn't we embrace our similarities? Why is it easier to notice our differences, instead of what we have in common. In the end we are all people with a heart."

I thought that was nicely put.

peace and love.

I'm now going to continue packing.

Dear world

2007-08-03T15:02:00.001-06:00

I am not dead. I'm just going to go a bit inactive in the bloggerworld for a while, since I have to try and fit 14 months of life in 3 suitcases. And I have to stock up on last minute impulsive buys whilst I am still in Belgium. Like that really cool bonnet and gloves at Vertias. And those really funky boots that I REALLY shouldn't buy. And a few CD's of Klezmer music at the Fnac.

yeah. you get the main idea.

To all

2007-07-19T14:45:00.000-06:00

I'm going to be in Congo (Kinshasa, Limete) until next Saturday. My dad just packed 16 liters of water so I doubt I'll have internet.

much love!

stupid, yet funny survey from myspace

2007-07-16T09:43:00.000-06:00

i usually don't bother about these, but this one turned out to be quite amusing:

Directions:
1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
gimme gimme gimme a man after midnight

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
black or white

WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A GUY/GIRL?
hoilili

WHAT IS YOUR LIFES PURPOSE?
singing softly to me

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
obiero

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
machette

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
savoy truffle

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK ABOUT YOU?
vampires in blue dresses

WHAT IS 2 + 2?
jeux d'eau

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Moyshe Halt Zikh (this means 'Hold on Mozes' in yeddish...)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
simarik

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
i'm a believer

WHAT SONG WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR WEDDING?
Ishmael and Itzchak (eek??)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
unsquare dance

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Ndiri Bofu

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
kindergarden

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
mrs. robinson

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
creation

WHAT WILL YOU REPOST THIS AS?
bang-a-boomerang

Shocking Blue

2007-07-13T01:38:00.000-06:00

You may think that I'm going crazy but:

My mint tea smells like campfire.

consequence: I'm running around my house with my mug covering my nose.

My forehead is a phenomenon

2007-07-09T01:22:00.000-06:00

A while back my mom and I went to Brussels to do some shopping. Around 6PM she took the train back to Antwerp, and I took the train back to Namur.
While waiting for my train, I remarked that a train on the other side was filled with children, all going to Gent. I also remarked that they were waving to the people on my platform. Seeing their attempts did not bring forth any fruit, I carefully waved back to the little Gentenese. The small blond girl, who had taken the initiative, bounced off her seat and screamed something to her friends. Soon the window was filled with young girls, pressing their faces against the gloomy windows. Some bored boys wanted to see what all the commotion was about, and squeezed their faces against the window too. At this point, I was highly entertained by the fact that a few friendly smiles and waves could be such a big deal.

That probably also explained the fact that everyone standing around me had now moved a couple of feet away...

Rainy days

2007-07-05T11:24:00.000-06:00

We've officially been summer for 14 days. It has been raining for 21 consecutive days.

I have complained about the rain 3 times so far. One of those times was when I was barely awake and thought it was December 25th.

These are my usual thoughts when another shower strikes:

"Rain! My hair might look nicer!"

"Rain! Great! It'll fill the reservoir!--wait.."

One learns not to complain about rain when one has lived in Utah for 1/3 of her life.

This is one of those 'what would you do' posts

2007-06-29T08:42:00.000-06:00

For the past two consecutive days i've seen mothers react to their child's misbehavior rather...violently.

ya'll know what i'm talking about. a kid is misbehaving in public, and the parent responds with a very public showing of hitting and screaming.

1. I was taking the tram home on Wednesday when a young mother was standing in the handicapped section with a (approx.) 2yo girl in a stroller and a 4yo boy. 2yo is kind of kicking the bag of mom from stroller. mom starts shacking the stroller, yelling some rude things at kid in dialect. a little later boy starts to unintentionally squeeze a finger of 2yo between this thingie to keep wheelchairs from rolling (it's kind of hard to describe what it is, but just go with it). 2yo isn't in that much pain, but still screams hysterically cuz it's her older brother doing it. mom pushes the boy really hard, grabs his coat, shakes him back and forth and slaps him on the head as well. everyone on the tram is discretely staring, but boy seems to find this a daily activity.

2. I was standing guard by our car in namur when a woman walked past me. clinging to her was a 6yo girl who was just 'crying' for the sake of crying. obviously she had been punished before for doing something wrong and was sorry and frustrated at the fact that she made her mom angry (or so i think. i'm not sure if you should trust my child psychology). right when they had passed me, the woman GRABS the girl's HAIR, pulls it back really hard, yells a few things in french at her (ta gueule) and then throws her head back forward by means of her hair. the girl, now feels even worse than before, but her attempts to give her mom a hug are answered by some more 'ta gueule's'.

Of course parents can have a bad day, get frustrated...i totally understand that.
Obviously we should cut parents some slack. i'm not a parent, or far from becoming one.
Everyone has their own way of punishing kids. some parents are the talking kind, others tend to be more physical, and others parents take away rights and privileges. i'm fine with all that. every kid is different, and good parents probably know best.

But the two cases i'm describing to you here are extremes. clearly all the outsiders in the 2 stories were a little shocked by the way these people punished their kids.

so what would you do? Let's say you're...old and experienced? would you go up to the parents (personally i think it's a very bad idea to approach a parent in times of rage) and tell them that they are wrong? or would you stare at them, and give them the worst evil glare you have in store? or just walk by and try not to think about their situation at home?

I hate situations like this.

it's over!

2007-06-23T06:53:00.000-06:00

so....

my year in namur is over. the most dreaded thing of 2006 is done. Well, almost. I still have to get my grades that are awful, and pick a few more things up from my studio.

It's been a good year though. Ignoring the fact that I was dragged here against my will, from the basement on the hill, i can't complain. People here have been really nice to me, which was nice since I left my belgian elementary school on a bad note 8 years ago. they accepted me right from the start. I'm really thankful for that.

I'm really going to miss my studio. I adored living by myself. I could do whatever the frick i wanted to. Ok, the most hard core thing i ever did was stay up till 3 AM reading mormon blogs...
I could have solo dance parties and talk to myself (shut up, you KNOW you've done it too) and no one would care, not even my neighbors, who were drunk half the time.

gosh, i'm really going to miss that place. even if i slept with a knife under my pillow half the time...

but i'm also really glad that my Namur Chapter is over. Let's be honest: I was really out of place there. and i really didn't have a social life, cuz i didn't speak the language well enough.

(oh, and I'm also glad I don't have to worry about drunk hobo's ringing my doorbell at unreasonable hours of the night :-))

Boy Howdy

2007-06-20T14:01:00.001-06:00

You Passed the US Citizenship Test

Congratulations - you got 9 out of 10 correct!

Could You Pass the US Citizenship Test?

This is the coolest blog EVER

2007-06-17T06:22:00.000-06:00

Anglo-Saxon mp3's:

http://fred.wheatonma.edu/wordpressmu/mdrout

I can totally see Lancelot rocking out with his ipod.

I'm going to the Congo in July!!

2007-06-15T09:58:00.000-06:00

That's right! I'm leaving for Kinshasa the 20rd of July! We'll be back 8 days later. Yes I know, it's only 8 days, but it's better than nothing at all. I'm going there with my dad who is part of a project for the VLIR. We'll be staying at local nunneries and we also emailed a few people from the LDS mission home. The mission president told us he will hook us up with a few locals that will help us around (so we won't get ripped off at the markets and other unpleasant activities).

Today we got all our vaccinations since they are supposed to be done a month in advance.

(please excuse the crappy shot and the fact that my arms look cut off) (my vaccination booklet)

While we were paying one of the ladies at the desk starred at me for about a good minute. I politely smiled at her (well, more like an 'eek-quit-starring-at-me' type of smile), and she remarked, loud and clearly for everyone to hear: "You look REALLY pale, are you feeling alright??"

Yes I'm feeling fine, and it's not like I have not gotten shots before! Then I came home today and told my mom what happened at the Tropical Institute. She too said that the first thing she thought when she saw me today was that I was very pale.

maybe it's the yellow shirt? Good thing I only have 2....

Lunch conversation

2007-06-13T11:22:00.001-06:00

I was sitting outside a classroom with 2 other people, waiting for a Dutch Stylistics exam to start. (this conversation was in french)

L: I love dutch. I think it's the prettiest language I've heard.

V: You kidding me??!! I hate that language! I think it's the ugliest thing I've heard! Then I think German is prettier!

Me: *cough* *cough*

V: Well, I'm not referring directly to you. You speak fluent English. So you're saved.

.....aaaagghhhh......

June

2007-06-13T03:34:00.000-06:00

The month of June seems to be a really boring month.

1. Lots of people around the world are doing finals.

2. Apparently June is the month were people decide to 'engage themselves in some projects.'

3. The bloggernackle is quiet. You might have noticed that my sidebar has not been very active.

4. People want to save money for the summer (trips, festivals, sales...)

to prove my point:

I'M BORED.

BYU Entertainment

2007-06-10T07:28:00.000-06:00

This pretty much sums up all the free entertainment I'm going to get at BYU. Minus International Cinema.

Because I don't want to end up like

2007-06-05T01:27:00.001-06:00

them. (If you don't want to watch the whole 10 minutes, here's the shorter version.)

When I first saw this, I thought this was highly entertaining. But now I'm not so sure. They are ridiculous. This is not even sharing your opinion. This is 'I'm-right-you're-wrong-and-if-you-disagree-with-me-I'm-gonna-smash-a-chair-on-your-head type thing.'

Why do politics release the beast in us? Why do nice people turn into such tyrants with red faces and veins popping out of their necks, and call it 'sticking to your guns?' Why must we always make sure we remain loyal to our political label, because if we don't, we'll be called a flip-flopper and indecisive. And ooooh, we certainly don't want that! Because looking back on the past, and learning from previous decisions is the last thing on earth we want to do!

It always surprises me (especially in Utah) to hear people bear powerful testimonies on Sunday, and then become monsters during the week when politics are released on them.
Why do people let go of their values and lower themselves, just to prove their point to people who slightly disagree with them? Can't we just 'not like' a political party and leave it at that? WHY do we have to insult each other just to prove that our so called 'way of thinking' is the correct way? And what is so glorious about doing it out in the open for everyone to see?

I am guilty of sometimes loosing it as well. Ok, probably not as bad as the example on top, but there are times when I came really close.
Well, I'm done with that. I don't want to end up like those decent women on the view. I think it's senseless to destroy your image over politics. So I've decided to do away with the political label. I am not going to fight.

When writing this post a few scriptures about worshiping other gods came to mind. Also the Scripture about being in one heart seemed appropriate.

And no, this does not mean Ellen is going to stop following up on the news and politics. Believe me, Ellen is still gonna have the label 'Liberal Mormon' on her forehead, and it's gonna take one heck of a laser surgery to get it of. And if I was at BYU this year, I would still be outside the JSM building, protesting against Mr. Cheney.

But I'm done with the fighting. It really does not make life easier to live with a constant hatred and fear in your heart, for something so abstract as politics.

This is how one takes tests at BYU

2007-06-02T14:48:00.001-06:00

I stole this from some dude's blog. This sign hangs outside the Testing Center at BYU, and 'the doors' refer to the exit doors.
Sometimes my life seems to be one long continuous culture shock

A list of the random things that happened to me in the past couple of days

2007-06-01T10:15:00.000-06:00

1. The name of the Canadian Store 'The Crazy Canook" popped into my head and will not leave.

2. I dreamt that my English Lit. exam consisted of filling in blanks of printed Beatle Lyrics by means of riddles. I also freaked out and failed 'Yellow Submarine.'

3. Steven's Hot Coco popped into my head as well. In the lexical form, that is.

4. A booklet arrived in the mail yesterday from BYU for New Students. In order to reach my house, it traveled all the way around New Zealand. Apparently this isn't the first time BYU has send me mail via Oceania.

5. A random doctor remarked that prophyria includes intense abdominal cramps. He then concluded that those cramps were caught by eating beans.

500 years of women in art

2007-05-30T15:25:00.000-06:00

This is amazing. yes m'am.

My friends are in my computer

2007-05-30T05:12:00.000-06:00

So about how I absolutely don't feel like studying for my next final. My disasterous oral exam (well, I'm pretty sure it was) that I took yesterday, doesn't really help me.
and of course:

I'M NOT GETTING ANY BL***Y CREDIT FOR IT!!!!

I know, I know. It's good practice. These exams that don't count for anything will help me learn how to prepare for exams in the future that do count.
but uuuuuuggggggghhhhhhhhh. i just wanna go and sneak into some kind of industrial property and take pictures. and download free music.

My next final is dutch linguistics. i've already studied a few chapters, but probably forgot most of it. maybe i'll receive some kind of divine insight into 'De Syntaxis van het Nederlands.'

Third Culture Kid

2007-05-25T09:54:00.000-06:00

I found this on facebook, and since I'm incredibly bored, so I'm going to mark all of the things that apply to me.
The 'textbook' definition of a TCK before:"A third culture kid is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside their parents' culture. The third culture kid builds relationships to all the cultures, while not having full ownership in any. Although elements from each culture are assimilated into the third culture kid's life experience, the sense of belonging is in relationship to others of the same background, other TCKs."
[x]"Where are you from?" has more than one reasonable answer.
[] You've said that you're from foreign country X, and your audience has asked you which US state X is in.
[] You flew before you could walk.
[xx] You speak two languages, but can’t spell in either.
[] You feel odd being in the ethnic majority.
[] You have three passports.
[x] You have a passport but no driver's license.
[x] You go into culture shock upon returning to your "home" country.
[x] Your life story uses the phrase "Then we moved to..." three (or four, or five...) times.
[x] You wince when people mispronounce foreign words.
[x] You don't know whether to write the date as day/month/year, month/day/year, or some variation thereof.
[x] The best word for something is the word you learned first, regardless of the language. :-D
[x] You get confused because US money isn't colour-coded.
[x] You think VISA is a document that's stamped in your passport, not a plastic card you carry in your wallet.
[x] You own personal appliances with 3 types of plugs, know the difference between 110 and 220 volts, 50 and 60 cycle current, and realize that a transformer isn't always enough to make your appliances work.
[x] You fried a number of appliances during the learning process.-Only my best friends' hairdryer :-)
[] You think the Pledge of Allegiance might possibly begin with "Four-score and seven years ago...."
[x] Half of your phone calls are unintelligible to those around you.
[x] You believe vehemently that football is played with a round, spotted ball.
[x]You consider a city 500 miles away "very close."
[] You get homesick reading National Geographic.
[x] You cruise the Internet looking for fonts that can support foreign alphabets.
[x] You think in the metric system and Celsius.
[x] You may have learned to think in feet and miles as well, after a few years of living (and driving) in the US. (But not Fahrenheit. You will *never* learn to think in Fahrenheit).
[] You haggle with the checkout clerk for a lower price.
[x] Your minor is a foreign language you already speak.
[x] When asked a question in a certain language, you've absentmindedly respond in a different one.
[x] You miss the subtitles when you see the latest movie.
[x] You've gotten out of school because of monsoons, bomb threats, and/or popular demonstrations.
[x] You speak with authority on the subject of airline travel.
[x] You have frequent flyer accounts on multiple airlines.
[x] You constantly want to use said frequent flyer accounts to travel to new places.
[xxxx] You know how to pack.
[x] You have the urge to move to a new country every couple of years.
[x] The thought of sending your (hypothetical) kids to public school scares you, while the thought of letting them fly alone doesn't at all.
[x] You think that high school reunions are all but impossible.
[x] You have friends from 29 different countries.-eh, do wallonia and flanders count as different countries?
[x] You sort your friends by continent.
[x] You have a time zone map next to your telephone.
[x] You realize what a small world it is, after all.

WHY...

2007-05-23T14:03:00.000-06:00

...is it a crime in fashion to be a woman with muscle?

I can't fit in things like these:

or do I know any healthy and thriving woman who can.

Seriously, why don't people keep women in mind who don't have a car, and have to carry 6 KG's of potatoes to their place of residence, that is on the 3rd floor of a 300 year old home?? And chase trains down the platform?

Is it really that awful now to have a muscle in your body to get a twitch in?

I'm dead

2007-05-20T08:26:00.000-06:00

"Ellen, you just committed suicide!"

Me: checks for pulse.

"Man, Ellen, you're in for it now. You just committed suicide!"

Not something you'd hear being said in the chapel.
The reason for my sudden death: My Relief Society lesson.

My habit of sitting in the back corner and quietly observing the sisters, and agreeing and disagreeing with them in my head is over.

It all happened on Saturday at midnight. My mom, who has been sick for over 2 weeks, finally decided that she wasn't up to teach her lesson. She had the whole thing written out, and she wasn't just going to let all that work go to waste (ok, you can always recycle a lesson into a talk or another lesson).

So, I offered to take her lesson over.

It was strange to let my voice echo across the chapel. Let's just say that the whole building was filled with the D's (*insert family name here.* no, I'm not going to make it easy for some sicko to find me) voices, because my dad was teaching Priesthood in the Cultural Hall.

But apparently it was fine. I mean, it was my first time ever teaching, and it wasn't my lesson, so the sisters were really mild for me. So I guess committed a positive kind of suicide :-).

Let's just hope they aren't going to receive divine inspiration (ok, if so I should take that as a compliment) and have me teach, oh let's say...primary??

Vespa Man

2007-05-19T04:40:00.001-06:00

Being the responsible college students that we are, some friends, Mi, AS, Ma and I, decided to buy an ice cream, and eat it on the steps of the St. Loup Cathedral. All was peaceful, when this rather odd looking man approaches us, and starts speaking to us in broken dutch, even though he is Walloon. He apparently has a weak for the Cathedral, and decides to explain his Stone Love to us, all in Flemish.My friend Ma (In french, this is):Ma: We are french speaking, you know (I'm glad she decided to keep my true identity on the down-low).Man: Well, i figured so much, but i like to practice my Flemish! The St. Loup cathedral, my young friends, is one of the most amazing cathedrals around. Seriously! You guys should go to Mass just to enjoy this wonderful cathedral! It really is a shame you don't go to Mass. You should do that more often. Cuz let me guess: You are all baptised in the Catholic Church?US: start looking at each other, wondering if we should text someone to see if they have a ninja they can send us.Man: See! I'm so right! Man, I have such great knowledge of humans!At this point, a woman in a green dress, in her 40's or 50's approaches us, and starts talking to Man. I didn't really quite catch what was being said, since a lot of Belgian French was being thrown in. Mainly, she told him to quit bothering the young people (that would be us) with his crazy talk. She asks Man what his name is and he replies with Arthur.While Green Dress Woman talks to us, and Arthur yells something in French/Italian down the street to the boss of this small Italian restaurant. Truth be told, he was just speaking french, but adding an Italian accent. The only thing i got was that AC Milan made it to the finals of the champion's league.Arthur turns himself back to Green Dress Woman and much to our entertainment they yell at each other, none of which i can repeat, or would want to repeat even if i understood them. Meanwhile, Mi, AS, Ma and I turn to each other, and wonder if this is Candid Camera. Discretely we start to peek around the cathedral, just to see if there is a huge black object that shouldn't be there.Well, Green Dress Woman leaves, and Arthur starts telling us his life story, including his Life Wisdom. He starts telling us about how both of his sons are convicted felons, their crimes ranging from downloading illegal music to stealing cars.His years as a young man follow, including a detailed description about his hair, and how he would let it fly in the wind on his vespa.Arthur: You guys know what a vespa is, right?Arthur: Well, you know what guys, my name isn't really Arthur. It's Frank.Us: Really now?Arthur: Yeah, let me show you my ID card. (and indeed, it is Frank)Arthur/Frank/Vespa Man: Yes, it's very important to have your ID card with you. You need it if you want to buy a Vespa.You know what a vespa is??some more talkVespa Man: Man, I love young people like you guys! you're so friendly, willing to talk to strangers.Us: eeeigh...Vespa Man: What are your ages anyway? What do you do??Us: We're studying Germanic Languages, and he (pointing to Mi) is studying to be a vet.Vespa Man: Oh! that's great! I love young people like you guys! You guys should buy a vespa!You know what a vespa is?After confirming for a 3rd time that we know what a vespa is, he continues with his ramblings, of which i can only pick up on a few things, and one of them was this:Vespa Man:....and those *%$#%* ^&*-^$!##!^** FLEMISH!!!!Good thing I had no problem keeping my mouth shut.Luckily his cellphone rang (all of us a bit surprised that he has social contact), and after rambling a bit more, he sets off to go do whatever.I want thank Mi, AS and Ma that they kept my somewhat controversial identity secret to Vespa Man.

100 DAYS!!!

2007-05-09T05:09:00.000-06:00

In 100 days I shall be on a plane back to Utah! Actually, I'll probably still be on a plane to Atlanta....
When back in Provo, I shall be greated with culinary highlights such as these:

Also, Allison and I will entertain ourselves for many hours at the new Ikea, with activities such as these:

AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

100 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Come Thou Fount and the Hymnbook

2007-05-03T03:04:00.000-06:00

I posted it on the forum of 'Bring "Come Thou Fount' back to the hymnbook'on facebook, but I figured I might as well post it here too. The hymn 'Come Thou Fount' used to be in the LDS Hymnbook, but is not anymore, which really is a shame because it's a beautiful song. At the last General Conference Mo-Tab (the Mormon Tabernacle Choir) sang it.

Notice how they skip the part in verse 2 that says:
'Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I'll begin;
This seems to be contradicting the 2nd
Article of Faith :

'We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.'

Maybe we need an LDS re-write...

On the rooftops of Namur

2007-04-24T08:53:00.000-06:00

**DISCLAIMER: Blogger hates it when I upload pictures. I apologise if the layout is a bit funny.**

It may be known to some that I'm living in the old part of Namur, where
most of the houses date back from 1400 to 1800 AD.
henceforth, all the houses seem to be intertwined with each other by means of roofs. It's true, I already have my escape route planned out in case the stairs ever catch fire.

so here's the view i have from my kitchen:

A couple of months after I had moved in I discovered a Tupperware bowl and a sponge on my side of the roof. Since I didn't recall doing anything that involved a sponge and a bowl the night before, i discretely thew the domestic items to the other roof, seeing it probably belonged to the neighbors anyway.
The sponge seemed to have disintegrated during the winter, or is currently being used in a birds' nest. Plastic, especially the Tupperware kind, doesn't decompose as fast as we would like, and thus it remained the whole fall and winter on my roof, catching all the raindrops and other nasty stuff that falls from the sky.

It hasn't rained in a month, which explains why it's dry.

Over the course of the winter months, I found other random things on the roof, none of them which belong to me. Unless I turn into some kind of Roof-Rubbish werewolf at night, I have no clue how they got there:

Plastic to keep your meat in and home-made cigarettes

Also, a couple of weeks ago, a whole bunch of girls were sitting on the lower part of the roof. I hope you won't feel too heartbroken when i tell you i have no pictures of that.

When I came back from Antwerp after Easter Break, I discovered a kitchen knife on the roof. Now, I'm not afraid of Tupperware, but when i find unidentified sharp objects in my proximity, i tend to get a little worried. I don't know if someone threw it there from the street, or if some of my neighbors had a picknick on the roof, but it's still a little freakish. And no, there were no blood/cheese stains on it.

I ended up moving knife away from my roof:

And apparently my neighbors/serial killers aren't the only ones that leave their junk on my roof. Mother Nature is in it too! I found half the Mediterranean ocean on top of this partition that separates my roof and my neighbor's roof.

Well, I don't mind that. It's kind of nice, truth be told.

So yes.

Spreading the love of Erlend Worldwide

2007-04-18T05:57:00.000-06:00

It seems that HM is turning into my myspace. not that life is one big myspace/facebook anyway.

this afternoon i got the brilliant idea to go to HM. The HM in Namur kind of sucks compared to the 5 we have in Antwerp, all spread out over one street. But hey, an HM is an HM.

now, last time i was there they were playing Gwen Stefani's massacre of The Sound Of Music.
However, this was followed by the song that made Allisonneke's page famous among 10's of people, Hot Chip's Boy From School, and made me bust some dance moves in the Volvo while driving to Brussels.

Today, when i was expanding my sock collection in said store, I was welcomed by a song by 'I don't wanna know who,' which gave me a slight headache.

but.

the song that followed was the song that first introduced me to the magic of Erlend Oye; Drop remixed by Cornelius and Kings of Convenience.
(grief-stricken i must report to you that i cannot find a sample of Drop online. well, most people reading this blog probably have cardboard cutout's of Erlend anyway. If you do want to hear this song i will be glad to give an Erlend Oye 101 class.)

I believe i must have had some kind of solo dance party in between the maternity section and the legging section. (for all the nasty people out there, i was heading over to the legging section. gosh.)

of course, the fact that erlend is being played in mega stores makes me very happy. i feel like i've done my officer's job well, in the Erlend-tribute facebook group.
On the other hand, this means that I have to go on a new quest for strange music no one has heard off.
Wait...why did i think of that as a negative thing??

To all the good music-loving souls that read this blog

2007-04-14T01:04:00.000-06:00

Is there anyone willing to give up 160 bucks and comfort for 4 days to be my chaperon at Rock Werchter at the end of June? I promise, I'm not a screaming/'I'm gonna faint'/let's get stoned type of girl whenever I see a famous person...

I wanna see:

Bjork

Keane

The Killers

The Kooks

Admiral Freebee

Lily Allen

Arno

The Bravery

Damien Rice

LCD Soundsystem

Mika

Rufus Wainwright

live.

and if you REALLY don't want to give up your comfort, we can always spend the 4 nights at my aunts house. well, that might be a contradiction, if you know my aunt. But hey. we'll get breakfast. of sorts...

I am dissapointed

2007-04-11T11:28:00.000-06:00

I am disappointed in this world. If you have Google Earth you need to type in Sudan, and then you'll get an overview of the crisis, sponsored by the Holocaust Memorial Museum. It's shameful.
Now, with all the modern means of communication, we are able to see everything. So why doesn't our 'good deed' mode kick in? Well, why doesn't the 'good deed' mode kick in with the world leaders?
I wish I could change the world single handed. I wish I didn't have 'priorities.' Why does one have to wait to save a life?
I wish it was evident that people do good.
I wish I don't have to look my kids in the eye when they find out about Darfur.

Because I am an only child...

2007-04-07T12:25:00.000-06:00

Satellite dishes

2007-04-04T08:23:00.000-06:00

An observation:

People who actively practice a religion are more likely to invest in a satellite dish.
Seriously, drive through some neighborhoods of Antwerp or Brussels, and dishes seem to be the dominant thing on the 28-story apartments.

says the girl who bumbed her head against a dish when she was trying to get the garden hose to work :-)

Public Transportation Pondrings

2007-04-02T13:33:00.000-06:00

Sometimes thoughts come to me as I ride the bus/train/tram/bike/back seat of the Volvo.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today I bought some poetry.
Yes, I BOUGHT it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Question: Ellen, what country do you identify the most with?
Answer: Well, I consider myself to be like a cameleon. I seem to adapt everywhere I go, and I don't like to label my actions and behavior to one specific area.
Responding Question: But how can you have a concrete personality then?
Responding Answer: Well, a cameleon will always remain a 'cameleon,' no matter what color it takes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why are pregnant women who smoke not charged with child abuse?

By the way: I added a whole bunch of new stuff to my Deviant Art.

It's the final countdown

2007-03-30T15:18:00.000-06:00

So it's Spring. And I'm very happy. I don't leave the house anymore without my camera. I'm so excited to wear shoes without socks again, and have bleeding feet for the next 6 months.
But really. I love nature.
So General Conference starts in 15 minutes. I have windows for KSL and BYU TV open, and I'm ready to hit the 'Download Live' button as soon as my computer clock turns to 6:00PM. GC till midnight! Gotta love time differences With a 2 hour break in between, no worries people.
I remember as a kid in Belgium my parents would actually dust off the satellite dish for conference, and after much cussing (dang, fetch...) we'd finally get the familiar message: "This is the English Language Channel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. If you are having technical difficulties, please call the number listed in your operator instructions."
I think I must have been about 7 or 8 years old when I had remembered this whole thing by heart. My English was prefect back then.

My parents would tape these conferences, and I'd listen with a half an ear in the kitchen, painting. Aaaaah...memories.

and now we are back in Antwerp, watching GC on my big screen laptop. aaah...i'm feeling all pioneer-y.

let's just hope my Internet is not going to explode.

One of my poems. you will be disappointed

2007-03-27T11:56:00.000-06:00

Untitled 1

Time in the from of sand
gently flies across the beach.

The reduced mountains mingle with the fractured shells
carrying the memory of a life long past.

Time of all colors conjoints
waiting to be stroked by the breeze of the morning.

Being accosted by Oxfam

2007-03-26T13:52:00.000-06:00

The other day I decided to show that my heart is in the right place, so I decided to buy some juice at Oxfam.

Now, that morning I had already noticed some Oxfam people in the street, holding clip boards, dressed for a long day out in the cold. Usually I can avoid these people because I listen to Nel (ipod), and because the collar of my coat has fur on it, which apparently gives me some kind of Cruella de Ville appearance. That, or just speak really loud in Flemish on my cellphone. (that worked in Provo too)

Anyway, I'm walking over to the Oxfam store to buy some juice. ipodless.
Now, if you are aware of the fact that there are Clip Board Ninjas out on the street, you should NEVER leave your house ipodless.
But you know, I'm going to buy something at Oxfam anyway, so I shouldn't feel bad about giving these people the cold shoulder. I mean, I rather buy some Bolivian juice, then give a stranger my bank account number.

So as I'm walking over the little plaza, an Oxfam Clip Board Lady approaches me.
Crap, here it goes. But hey, if I don't respond to them, they'll just leave me alone. Right?

My friends, these people have never learned about the etiquette of Street Clip Boarding. Cuz when she started talking to me, she noticed she wasn't going to get the desired response, so she put her foot in front of me, causing me to nearly plunge my face into the cobblestones. Before I even had found my balance, she had me pretty much cornered, and virtually shoved the Oxfam Pen up my nose.

I'm not sure how I managed to escape from her, but it was an escape that every football player should be jealous off. Maybe Antwerp-life has trained me to fend off Clip Board People.

So you can imagine why I was a bit annoyed when I reached the store. Good thing that my sole purpose at Oxfam was to support the Bolivian man. Cuz they know their juice down there. At least the lady behind the counter gave me a plastic bag to carry my bottles in.

gosh.

Of Cornet de Pates and Ellen

2007-03-22T14:54:00.000-06:00

so today i saw the king of Belgium and the duke of Luxembourg.

3 feaking times.

funny that it was me. i would have gladly passed the opportunity to someone else.

Why do people care so much about a monarchy? I mean, it's not like seeing The Whites Boy Alive live or something. :-)

Walloons really seem to care more about the monarchy then the Flemish. When I was sitting in Dutch grammar this morning, we could occasionally hear "Vive le roi!" coming from the street.

but hey...I respect people's choice. If people enjoy being royalty watchers, they have every right to do so. If only my tax money didn't go to paying for the Royal's diaper expenses...

anyway, so there was this little folkloristic play that the locals put on for the King and Co (and also for the general public, but we go to stand in the muddy grass). There were some people that dressed up in medieval clothing. There were some men in, what I guess was a True-Namuroise Native Dress, and then some (I think) honor students of the FUNDP. Oh, and there was also a little fanfare, and the youngest member was (I swear) 83, along with a color guard. No, the youngest member of the color guard wasn't 83, but it came pretty close. Oh, and by color guard I mean 5 people with flags.

then, when I was trying to make my back to my studio, I was stopped by the police, because the King and Co were making their way into the City Hall. Behind police lines were about 100 little Walloon children waving Luxembourg and Belgian Flags.

so, since there was no way of escaping the folklore, i decided to participate and I got a Cornet de Pates (I know there is supposed to be an accent on the 'a', but I'm typing on an qwerty, and I'm too lazy to figure it out). See, i think a CdP is the coolest thing in the world. I didn't know this existed until i moved to Namur. But seriously, the idea of eating pasta on the go, out of a paper cup that one puts in the microwave for a few minutes just blows my mind! now THAT'S what i call culture and folklore!
I might try and introduce this at BYU. Maybe i can get ellie to join...

anyway, the rest of my day was pretty boring. I went to A's house in Namur to work on our dutch project, along with the 3rd member of our group M. We/I got a lot done.

I seriously loathe group projects with a fiery passion of a thousand suns.

Pumpkinsoup is good for the photographer's soul

2007-03-21T16:04:00.000-06:00

it's late and i'm too tired to think, so i'm just going to upload some pictures i took today.

I didn't notice the crack in the window after I had uploaded the pictures, which make them 4 times as cooler. love live neglected student studio's!

It seems like everytime I express a thought on this blog, someone blogs about it as well

2007-03-16T10:25:00.000-06:00

My post

Segullah's post

happy.

bombarded by blogs

2007-03-15T06:06:00.000-06:00

So i relized today in dutch grammar that i've blogged a lot over the years. Xanga, Skyblog, Myspace...No i'm not going to post links, because i'm too ashamed....ahum...It's amazing how much one can change in between the years of 14 and 18.

So i've decided, since i have SOOO MUCH time on my hands with school, cleaning up the house, taking care of the elderly, fending off unwanted creatures...it would be a wonderful idea to gather the flock of blogs into a chronoglocial word document and eventually print them all off.

wow, that was a very ungrammatical sentence.

Little Miss Sunshine

2007-03-11T14:51:00.000-06:00

So over the weekend I saw Little Miss Sunshine. And I'm in love. Despite the fact I was sitting next to my mom who thought this movie was just a nice comedy, I saw it as more life altering. It was like:'hey-this-is-how-I-experience-life-at-times' movie. Well, I'm not really in the mood to summarize the plot and get in trouble with copyright laws, so I'm just going to post this annoying video I found on youtube.Oh, and the scenes they selected actually aren't the best ones. But this will help for the plot:

So yeah. I love this movie. I love the shots in it. And I love the symbolism. Seriously though, life really is a yellow, broken down hippie van, and you need all the people you can get to push it into 3rd gear.
AND...nevermind...

So just ignore the swearing for a while and take a look at one of the most symbolic/sad/beautiful scenes of the whole move:

Ok, ok! Just one more little clip! It kind of defines the whole movie.

1. I'm afraid this is what's going to happen to the Volvo. Except the Mid-West scenery will be traded in for a muddy Belgian road.
2. I love how The-Guy-In White gets a push by The-Guy In-Yellow. *tear smile tear* Man, I'm so hormonal.

And I could go on and on. Seriously, I found another great scene on youtube, (that i rewinded back about 20 times) but I don't want to ruin it all.

So go see it kids! Or rent the movie. And then go on a doughnut run. And listen to Norah Jones.

Testimony Theorization

2007-03-06T14:31:00.000-07:00

You know what's bad? Wondering if you have a Testimony.

Compared to other people, you may say I don't. I've never giving my testimony (ok, in seminary, but that might have been a spiritual form of peer pressure). And I hardly show any physical emotional outbursts in church, or any church related activity. But I have a Testimony.

It seems to me, that we have this idea that a Testimony has to be 'perfect.'
There have to be certain steps, certain processes that we have to go through, before we can call our Testimony real.
It's done unconsciously of course. I think one of the problems with this, is that we as humans have a need to express ourselves to others (says the blog-addicted girl...). We always need to explain to people WHAT exactly things are like. And I think, one starts to question their [in this case] Testimony, if it doesn't match up to the dominant example.
I think, that if one has a Testimony, that there is no possible way to express this through words. After all, a Testimony, to me, is a very spiritual manifestation, projected through our actions here on Earth. And then we must always keep in mind that we are humans, and far from perfect.
That's why people cry. Happiness makes you cry. But, there are always those few people who don't cry. Who are just...different. Just like the people who do cry.

I know I have a Testimony. I know I do. I may not be perfect, but I know I have a Testimony. And I may not have all the knowledge I need. I may not know all the things I need to know. But the things that I do know, I have faith in.

Viedejo!

2007-03-06T10:06:00.000-07:00

It's even better if you watch it twice:

Silence

2007-03-05T23:53:00.000-07:00

Has it been awfully quiet in your lives as well? Mine has been. Well, I guess no news is good news. Seriously though, nothing blog-worthy has been happening. Maybe I'll post something in the future.

The weather has been improving! Now it only rains 5.5 out of the 7 days of the week! Yesterday was a gorgeous day. You really can tell people are enjoying it. The good-human in them resurfaces. Well, it's raining again today. can't have everything in live.

and agh! I'm on such a shopping spree! Seriously, the prospect of it almost being spring and being warm makes me go out and buy skirts and sandals.

I'm going to back to utah in 5 months!

A Day In The Life off I; Tuesday Febuaray 27th 2007, Namur, FUNDP

2007-02-28T01:12:00.000-07:00

6:40 AM: Alarm goes off

7:00 AM: Second alarm goes off. Wake up. Tired after having strange dreams. Or hearing people scream in the street. Or maybe both. Also because I spend some hours studying my English Grammar last night. Got a lot done though. Maybe I can work on that again today.

7:10 AM: Get out of bed. Shower. Look for something to wear. Put on blue tights. Can't find skirt that goes with blue tights. Changes outfit plan to jeans and shirt.

7:25 AM: Make breakfast, check email, facebook, myspace, blogs, news...

8:08: Pack up, finish getting dressed, head off to school. I'm early today, considering I woke up a little late today. Way to hurry in the morning.
It's a gray day and is slightly raining.

8:17 AM: Arrive at school. See one guy I know 'Salut-kiss-ça va?' More people arrive 'Salut-kiss-ça va?' 'Salut-kiss-ça va?' 'Salut-kiss-ça va?' 'Salut-kiss-ça va?'
Rinse. Later. Repeat.
People are reading the Metro: 'Verhofstad promises reform in Charleroi.' Michael Jackson converts to Islam.'
'I like your scarf.' 'Salut-kiss-ça va?'

8:28 AM: Enter Aula Maior and prepare for an hour of Religious Science at the Jesuit University. We read our horoscopes in the Metro. More people enter. BF's with GF's separate from their group of friends to sit apart.

8:35-9:30 AM: Class started. Get really annoyed with girls sitting behind me whispering and fidgeting. Talk about the Good Samaritan and God's relationship with the Israelites. Take notes. I understand this professor and I like the class. Sitting behind a Belgian girl with a headscarf. She nods her head a couple of times during class. Some rows in front of me is a girl who has put her hair up with a paint brush. cool.

9:35 AM: Walk over to the library with some girls. They talk in French, I understand 60% of it. We talk about all the work we have to do, laugh, complain...
the usual student talk.

9:45-10:10 Work on Dutch Group Project with one of the members of my group. Totally pointless, hardly get anything done. Girl highlights a few things on the papers she printed off, and I suggest that she gives them to me, so I can put them together in a PPT. Member number 2 is off with her English Group to work on that group project.
I loate group projects.

10:10-10:40 AM: Slowly walk from library to school. Take a de-tour and have a pit-stop. Climb up to the 5th floor. Some people are already there. Thank heavens.
'Salut-kiss-ça va?'
They talk about things in French that I don't really understand;
Food, probably me...

10:40 AM-12:40 PM: Grammar exercise class. Really kind of boring. Teacher is fun, she makes me smile. We discuss things like the Present Perfect Continuative and the Indefinite Perfect. Don't really know what those words mean.
Fill in conjugated verbs in sentences. Discuss. I get slightly annoyed. I zone out and think about Utah.

12:45 PM: Walk back to studio, eat lunch, check internet.

13:30 PM: Walk back to school. Find some of my friends sitting in a circle in front of the closed door of our classroom. Have a fun conversation about that horrible German movie yesterday. I feel part of the group. Start comparing Flemish people to Nazi's. Don't feel like part of the group anymore.
Talk about French Cuss words and regional Walloon accents. Feel like part of the group again. I love expanding my horizons like that. Conversation ends in us speaking English, so they can 'train' their English.

14:00 PM: English Grammar with LV. I, along with the rest of the class, am totally lost and half asleep. Some people behind me are talking. LV throws them an evil glare. We have a break after one hour.

16:00 PM: Class is over!! I walk home with my ipod and take a de-tour. It's still raining.

16:30-17:50 PM: Do some homework; work on the PPT's for the oral presentations. Listen to Imogen Heap and Nico. Talk to some people online. If done in Dutch, it counts for my Dutch portfolio, that is going to be of no importance to me...
I do the dishes.

18:30 PM: Fix myself some dinner, some red cabbage and lamb meat. This is unusual. I usually never cook like this at night.
It's not the best dish, in fact, I'm not even sure if you'd consider it edible, but I need some veggies.

20: 00 PM: Want to work on English Grammar, but Allison is online. We talk, listen to music. People are screaming in the street, my upstairs neighbor is blasting her TV and moving all the furniture around. People are slamming doors. A usual night in the Rue Fumal. Remember I have to find a news article for my French class tomorrow.

20:20 PM: Mommy + Daddy call. Small talk. Still trying to look up news article for French class.

21:00-23:00 PM: Get annoyed at the fact that nothing decent happened in the news the past couple of days. Spend more time online. Think how I'm going to plan my day tomorrow. Finally find an article. Do my write up. English Grammar is not going to happen anymore.

23:00-23:20 PM: Realize I still have to do the dishes. Do those, brush my teeth, get ready for tomorrow.

23:20-23:40 PM: Say prayer, read scriptures with the Feast Upon the Word Website and blog.

23:40 PM: Lights out.

Found out today that R is ill and won't be teaching today. Sad, but that means I can catch up on some lost Grammar time.

Watch Ellen Cook

2007-02-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

Behold!!!

Ellen cooked! her own creation!

Ok, so it's nothing fancy. Just some red cabbage from a can. It says it has apples in it, but I think I've yet to disocover those. The meat is lamb.

It was alright in the beginning, but while the picture uploaded I got kind of sick of it.

but my body was really in need for some veggies.

tomorrow i'll eat some Andeivi my mom made and froze for me. Along with some Chipoloatta's and Pickles. yeah. For lunch.

Ok, it looks like i'm going to clean my bowl now and take a shower...

and probably dig into chocolate after...

I wish there was a way to photograph smell

2007-02-21T01:31:00.000-07:00

this morning, i left my studio bright and early, to get some school supplies. my Ins-and-Outs syllabus exploded yesterday, and since there is not way to fix it, i decided that it was time to add yet another binder to the collection.

so i was walking through the old streets of namur, to the Club store, when it occurred to me. The streets smelled like burned toast and coffee.

i nearly died and went to heaven.

enjoying lunch, coke, my camera, my blog on a beautiful pre-spring day

2007-02-20T04:38:00.000-07:00

in case you had forgotten how our heroine looks like...with her printer and coke.

...and with incredibly tacky sunglasses from HM. Plus a reflection of her camera in the above-mentioned glasses.

"Wor is mene veleo?"

You will never believe what happend to me

2007-02-15T00:51:00.000-07:00

Actually you will. but this still rocked my world.
Last night, around 4 AM, when I was dreaming about a big yellow spider (according to Dreammoods.com it means that have a fear or an inability to make a decision or take action. The spider means that I feel like an outsider in some situations. Or that I may want to keep my distance and stay away from an alluring and tempting situation. The spider is also symbolic of feminine power. Alternatively, a spider may refer to a powerful force protecting me against my self-destructive behavior), when I heard a human voice. There is a guy who lives here, who talks way too loud on his cellphone when he is climbing the stairs to his studio, so I didn't make much of it. I just thought he was incredibly rude. But, when he announced"C'est moi!!" on the top of his lungs, I knew that it wasn't a friendly cellphone chat. And when he started singing, I quickly realised he was completely hammered. Serenading the whole house, he struggles to make it up the stairs to the second floor where I have my studio, where Drunk Man decides it's the perfect time to look for his keys. Then he notices that there is a couch in the middle of the hall. (don't ask why, I live in a student ville) and decides to make himself comfortable, while singing the same couple of lines over and over again. Now, if I were to speak fluent french, I would be able to tell you what song it was, but because of all the slurring and pauses, I am unable to find the lyrics at this moment. Maybe my fellow Wallonian classmates will be able to help me.

Anyway, he then decides to start the beastly climb to his studio, one the 3rd floor. Climbs back down a couple of times, mutters something like "incroiable", makes some key jiggling sounds (still singing, bien sur) and finally manages to open the door to his studio, slamming the door shut. I think he crashed right into his bed, cuz I didn't hear anything anymore.
Except Ellen who was wide awake (probably with the rest of the house), who was, shame on her, thinking about what a great post this would make. Luckily, I managed to fall back asleep half an hour later.
But, all in all, this story has a happy ending:

Drunk Man is a happy drunk. We always prefer happy drunks over aggressive drunks

He didn't hurl in the corridor. Or at least, I don't think so. I didn't hear any gagging noises and I'm not smelling anything nasty.

He didn't ring my doorbell or try to break into my studio, which happened to my dad once when he was a student.Luckily, Drunk Man only had eye for his music-career.

But man! That dude has to have some hangover! Seriously, why would you go through so much trouble to totally make a fool of yourself, AND blow out your kidneys at the same time? I kind of want to join some uber-conservative women's organization against alcohol. Seriously, where do kids learn to drink like that?

You know, he still owns me for that hour of lost sleep. Maybe I should blast some music with a heavy beat. Or Xiu Xiu perhaps??

I'm using my dutch grammar books as a cookie tray

2007-02-14T13:00:00.000-07:00

Yes, I should be doing my blasted Dutch grammar homework, but I just grabbed a couple of Prince cookies. And it seems to me, that the amount of chocolate has been doubled! hooray! Now I don't feel bad about sinning! This is an unpredictable situation! It's not my fault I'm getting fat. It's those darned people who put more chocolate in the cookies then usual!

Speaking of chocolate:

Happy V-day everyone! Or S.A.D. . whatever you're comfy with.

my V-day was fine i guess. I went to the library to study my enlgish grammar. It's a syllabus of more than 200 pages. After an hour and a half of carefully analyzing everything, I stopped at page 10. Which actually isn't too bad. I've just got an awfully long way to go.
Not to mention I have that dutch project due. And we got ANOTHER group project assigned to us in English. Max. 3 people in a group. I kind of hope I end up being the 5th wheel or something, and that I'm told I'm supposed to do the project alone.

I loath group projects.

Anyway, so everyone here in Belgium has a boyfriend/girlfriend. EVERYONE!!
Even the people of whom you'd think have no interest whatsoever in having a romantic fling, where talking about how they were having a hard time finding the 'perfect gift.'
People kept on asking me all day, if I missed my boyfriend in Les États-Unis. When I replied I didn't have one, they kind of gave me the "you're a looser" look. I guess every country has a different qualification of "looser." In America it's the way you dress and talk, here it depends on your Romantic Status. Or at least I have made this observation.

So our class has another couple! Numero 2. Not that this is much importance to me, but apparently it's a big deal. Apparently it's kind of odd to have your BF/GF in the same class as you. especially in collage. I guess, that if/when you break up with him/her, the 'seeing-them-every-day' might create a discommodious situation.
I guess Belgians try to have a professional environment on the work floor? even if the work floor is..well...covered in dictionaries and syllabi?

Ok, well I better get back to my homework. If I finish my dutch grammar right now, I can read the story for English lit tomorrow morning. Because we need to have read it by tomorrow afternoon.

I know I can't get away with these things at BYU...

Annoyed

2007-02-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

So I'm annoyed by something. Many months ago, when still living in Provo, I stumbled across the fact that my (vintage) Book Of Mormon was missing pages. And not like, one page, but a couple of BOOKS, including Omni, Enos...,and also the very last page. So this weekend, when I was cleaning the basement, here in Belgium, I decided that there was a high chance of finding the missing pages, but as of yet, there is no result. Now, my dad told me that he was going to look through some boxes of documents, that belong to him, and maybe, with a big of luck, the missing pages will turn up. And if not, I'm afraid that I'll either have to buy a new B.o.M, or rip out some pages of another B.o.M. gah. This is really really been annoying me. Maybe I should just buy a new one. But this one is so cool looking. It has the light-blue cover, with a golden Moroni, and the pages are yellowed, and smell like the perfume that still has to be invented, namely Old Books. Well, if it ever were to be made into a perfume (not my B.o.M, but the perfume that smells like old pages) I'd probably name it something like 'Olde Bookes.' Or something along those lines. ok. back to this post.

Tomorrow another week starts and I really want to kick myself out of my Winter Fatigue, by actually going to the library again, organizing my courses, preparing a bit for the exams in June, don't eat so much chocolate (I already resisted some Smiling BN Cookies! aren't I good? The new week hasn't even started yet!), and start working on that group project for dutch.

I'm also going to be on the look-out for some new music. Buy a couple of songs on itunes, explore some new bands. I'm not sure how working for school and music go together, but we'll figure something out....

My enlgish teacher is so..cool? weird?

2007-02-06T14:48:00.000-07:00

Today in English proficiency we got to listen to a song by the band Xiu Xiu (pronounced Shoe Shoe). Well, it wasn't even a song. It was just...artsy *pulls artsy move*.
and i mean, the song is pretty cool. It's just..not a song. it's a protest.

it's art.

and that doesn't mean that I actually LIKE it. I mean, it's not a song I would play in my living room. It's more something that would fit in Tate Modern.
well, you listen to it and decided for yourself.
But one thing has to be said though: my english teacher is so...cool? I mean, who would have the GUTS to play this in the classroom? I was really happy he tried to open up people's minds towards new kinds of music. It doesn't always have to be Claude Francois I was kind of upset with the rest of my class though. They were totally making fun of it, and only shut up when they had to do the exercise.
they just don't understand ART! *pulls move, and draw back into the darkness of the matinee*

I might pick a major I like and end up living in a box

2007-02-05T10:37:00.000-07:00

based on this group on Facebook.

last night my fam and I were invited to a senior missionary couple's home. They are here on a mission to sort out legal stuff for the church, and are in contact with Church lawyers and professors, trying to sort all the problems. So those were the people I got to hang out with Sunday night.
Yeah. It was cool.
And for a very brief second. Like, a flash of light second, I wanted to go into Law.
Even though there is a very slight chance I ever will.
Well, you want to know the whole scoop? Here are all the events that led up to me thinking this:

My dad's firesite
Ingrid telling me about part of her study, Comparative Religions
That night at the the SMC's home.

But like....it's more then law. I always wanted to go into international relations. At first I wanted to start an orphanage in Africa (which I still would love to do), but now, I kind of want to work for the church. I mean, I got a background, I'm European, grew up partially in Utah, speak a couple of languages, 2 of them fluently.
And yes, I'll probably end up living in a box. But hey, it gets compensated by meeting tons of cool people.

i don't know. This might be the last post in about this, or just the beginning.
I kind of wish this year here in Namur was over. I feel like I'm running out of time. Or at least, my time here has been well spend. Aside from a couple of things I WOULD like to accomplish...
anyway...it's gonna be interesting when I go to the Y.

Just a thought

2007-01-30T05:00:00.000-07:00

so you know how people are always complaining that there is nothing on TV, except for re-runs?

then why do people buy the DVD box sets of TV shows?? the only difference is that you have no commercials. which means you don't get a potty/kitchen break!

people are so strange sometimes...

LDN continued

2007-01-29T01:37:00.000-07:00

Back from LDN

2007-01-28T06:23:00.000-07:00

i'm back! well, i've been back since friday. and London..was amazing. mainly because I had the eye-opening experience of seeing Wicked. And I had to keep my eyes open. Mainly because we got last minute (rip off tickets) and were sitting in the verry back, surrounded by dutch people. but man! it honestly is one of the best musicals! very well thought out, great characters...maybe I'll write a review about it sometime.

other than wicked, we saw spamalot, which to me, was hillarious. it was uber brittish humored, and since 99% of the audience was british, everyone enjoyed it. my mom wasn't too stoked about it, but i guess she's not too familiar with Monthy Python. oh, and in the end there was a 'always look on the bright side of life' sing-a-long. and ended with a rain of yellow sunshines on the audiance.

other things? we rode the tube..a lot, went to Tate Modern, Tate Britain, went to TopShop, where I spend way too much money..you know..the usual 3-day trip to london :-)

snow in Calais.

Yey! marry poppins rooftops! (i'm such a dork)

more will follow as soon as i get back on my other computer

FINALS ARE OVER, HELLO VACATION!

2007-01-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

that's right!
finals are all over! I had my last one yesterday, an oral exam on English lit. Luckily I had a Shakespeare question, but I felt that my prof. was pushing me to think about facts, and things that weren't in the syllabus, but that we discussed in class. But...I think I did pretty good, aka, I was able to talk myself out of all the hard questions, by saying things that were sort of irrelevant...:-)
Well, I think I passed. My prof. said "great work" after my final. If you failed, he would tell you right then and there.
It was sad though. When I was waiting for my turn on the exam, this one girl who was ahead of me, came out crying. Yeah. That was encouraging.

On a different note, my dad burned incense in his Sunday School class. He promised his class he would bring grasshoppers next week. Meaning I'll have to go to the city tomorrow and make a total fool of myself at the natural food stores. maybe i should first check at the asian grocery stores.

also, my grandpa is staying at our house right now, because my grandma just got hip surgery. Well, he didn't really move in, but he spends the evenings here.
I'm fine with it, even though it is a little weird. and...I CAN'T FREAKING HEAR MYSELF THINK BECAUSE THE TV IS SO &$#e$%& LOUD!!!

i swear, my ipod is not the only reason why i'm gonna be deaf at age 24...

Storm during and after

2007-01-19T04:39:00.000-07:00

So after a really cruddy morning of getting a cardboard papercut (not reccomended) and getting yelled at in french by the evil EVIL librarian for wearing a coat in the library, I decided that I'm going to make myself happy with cheap couscous salad and uploading pictures on blogger.

Here are some pictures that I took during the storm:

the Cock Wallon still stands through it all:

The picture above are supposed to be birds.
Not anything else...

The damage wasn't too bad. One chimney lost a brick, some trashcans went flying, and the elementry school lost a few roof tiles. If they haven't noticed by tomorrow, I might put a note in their malbox telling them they might want to check up on that.

Pretty sky with morning, with the sun just peeking through. Oh BTW: we've been hitting the high 50's low 60's this week. It's January.

This picture would be so impressive if that *#%^& electricty cable wasn't in it! and my photoshop skills are still a little too underdeveloped to photoshop it away.

Oh the weather outside is frightful

2007-01-18T09:18:00.000-07:00

...and the Ellen is delightful. (i know that doesn't work. shut up)
yes, there is a huge storm whaling outside. this is great!
1. not only is there a treturous storm, but we also hit 14 C today! that means I could leave my big duvet coat home, and wear my neat Gap jacket.
2. PICTURES!!!!!!! 'nuf said.
3. Rain beating on your window, and the wind whaling in your heater!
4. When it's time to go to bed, I'll be scarred!

yeah. you think I'm crazy. But I've kind of always loved storms. I mean, not the kind where levees break, and trees fall everywhere and boats go missing, but just a nice "Mother Nature needs to burn her bra" type of storm. If you know what I mean.

Today I went to the library and got a lot done for my final exam. There is still a few important things to be looked over, and if the internet decides to be boring, I might actually get that finished tonight. Then I can have a frantic review tomorrow, and on Saturday morning.

hello

2007-01-17T10:59:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or is this week going by uber slow?
well, yesterday I bought incense. Not for me (even though I'll probably end up using them) but for my dad's sunday school lesson. It's about the 3 wise men. My dad likes to keep the lesson's very hands-on. I also went on a quest for myrrh, but the Namuroises had no idea what I wanted, and kept on giving me honey. Finally, to please the grouchy woman at the nature store, I bought a (quite expensive) pot of honey.

My neighbors are doing some kind of culinary experiment, and the smell is penetrating into my studio. I tried to close the kitchen door (where the smell is coming from) but it doesn't really seem to help. Last night, I was trying not to choke on the smell of nicotine.
Ugh...this smell is making me gag.

I had my phonetics final on Monday. I have no idea how it went. I think it went ok, but I can't guarantee anything. I have my last final, English Lit. on Saturday. I'm almost through half of the syllabus. This course is really hard to study for, because the same thing get's repeated about 6 times. It's an oral exam, and if my dear professor doesn't ask too many details about dates, I think we are in ship-shape.

wow

2007-01-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

Remember how a week or so ago I wrote a post about Satan? Well, I was just browsing on BCC and the first thing that caught my eye was this.

Librarians, the new Google

2007-01-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

So today, as I was packing up my laptop in it's case, I was thinking: Librarians are the same everywhere. From Provo, to Namur, to Orem... It's some kind of secret code. An underground collaboration. They all seem to dress the same, they talk the same. Anyway, so while I was thinking about this, I was walking through the security machine with all my stuff, when it suddenly goes off. I think it might just have been my cell phone, so I'm in the middle of taking it out, when one of the older librarian ladies tells me I have a book. Well, I do. I checked it out a couple of days ago. So I'm trying to make this clear to her, but she DOESN'T LET ME FREAKING FINISH MY SENTANCE!!! Well, finally I'm able to tell her that I checked this book out a while ago, and that MAYBE SHE COULD CHECK HER COMPUTER??? But honestly, I was trying to explain it to her, she could tell my French is far from perfect, so at least let me finish my sentence! I mean, you're asking for an explanation, so let me give it to you! Seriously, this is such a trademark of French speakers. I swear, there is no such thing as a French, a Wallonia, a Quebequise...They are all French speakers, and that should just be a nationality of its own. They love to listen to themselves talk, and they do not give people to the time to say something. If you don't speak going 678 MPH, it's not even worth listening to you.
Anyway, back to how librarians were going to take over the world.
While interrupting me, she tells me, that when I take a checked-out book back into the library to read, and I'm going to take it out again, I need to leave the ticket in the book. After giving me an evil glare, she let's me go without too much of a fuss, while she yells at the girl behind me that she needs to leave her water bottle in the locker. That's strange...all the other librarians let us take drinks in. Actually, it is totally against the law to prohibit someone from drinking water. It's a human essential. Or at least I heard something like that.

So the conclusion of the day:
1.Librarians belong to a secret collaboration.
2. French is a uniting language.

Don't look while I post this on the internet

2007-01-09T10:38:00.000-07:00

I thought that the world had forgotten all about this. Well, I surely did. Well, here you have it: Ellen with long hair, horrible spanish pronounciation skills, even more horrible acting skills but IN PROVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, beware:

Where IS Satan?

2007-01-09T04:39:00.000-07:00

So I had an interesting thought a couple of nights ago. Something that was completely new to me, and that caused me to think.
I have been thought my whole life that during the War In Heaven, Satan took 1/3 of God's children with him. Well, that 1/3 followed Satan based on their free-agency. These children, including Satan himself, would never have the capacity of receiving a body of their own.
So...where are they? Because they have fallen from the presence of God, right?
And can't you only have a world of your own, when you have lived a mortal life, and acquired knowledge? So why does Satan get to have a world of his own?
Then these things came into my mind:
A. Terrestrial State
Our world once was up with God, next to Kolob. When Adam and Eve partook of the Fruit, to gain knowledge and be able to return to God, our world fell into a Terrestrial State. But, through the atonement of Jesus Christ, and the resurrection, he will be able to return and bring this earth back to it's Celestial State. Perhaps, Satan's world has also fallen to a Terrestrial State, or even lower (Outer Darkness), but with no hope of ever returning back to a Celestial State. They don't have a Christ like we do.
B. Part of The Plan?
In God's plan, there has to be opposition in all things. Perhaps God knew in one way or another that Satan would leave with 1/3 of his children. Hence, Heavenly Father had a world prepared for Satan. The purpose of our earthly life is to make choices between good and evil, and Christ to save us from our sins.
C. Satan on this earth??
I mean, we are tempted by him aren't we? Or is it just a term we use for opposition in all things? Because to us, Satan represents all that is evil, and goes against the will of our Heavenly Father. I stated b efore that maybe his world is equal to our Terrestrial world. But what if it is not? What if it is Outer Darkness (what many believe). One who is in Outer Darkness can't "upgrade" himself to a higher State. A Terrestrial World is still much more aspired to than OD.
E. Satan as a poetic figure?
Isn't the Bible full of Jewish/ancient poetry? Why couldn't the term "Satan" or "Devil" just represent something to call something evil? But then again, Satan DID take 1/3 of the Hosts Of Heaven with him. And that isn’t made up.

Now I'm not saying I need to know the answers. Personally, I agree the most with option A. That was the first thing that came to my mind. The other ones were other arguments, that do make sence in some way.
But the time to find out isnt't right. I don't want to know the answers. It's just a thought that came up in me.

Hello world of blogs!

2007-01-08T12:19:00.000-07:00

Yup! I'm here...again. With a new blog.

My upstairs neighbors are having an extreme home makeover. I hope they'll make it in 6 days.

So I found a pretty cool book at the School Library (BUMP) today. I found it in the English section AKA the forgotten corner. Besides the fact that it combines the smells of Old AND Burn, it also has a pretty sweet title: Pictures On The Pavement.
For those of you who have heard of it, yes I do relize it's a children's book. And to add to the coolness of the book, when I was searching for visual evidence on Amazon, nothing showed up!
But anyway, back to the text. This is about the 2nd paragraph, and it's pretty neat:
"Has Leo-at this moment stretched asleep while starlings pick at his bone-grown as tired as he looks of being British? Does the lawyer call the fox sly? On which side of the bars do hyenas wake up,, does the hog snort off in his sports car? Which is prouder, and which with the more reason, the peacock or I?"
-Expert Pictures On The Pavement, G.W Stonier
Ok, so it's probably not something I'd read to my kids at bedtime (even though I would love to), but I promise it's ment as a children's book, because it has pictures. Ok, that's a lame reason.