Van Rompuy assigned first European president

After 9 years of treaty writing, rewriting, referendum organised in different countries, ... the treaty of Lisbon has finally been signed by all European union members. The treaty gives more power to the European parliament, decision by qualified majority votes instead of the unanimity requirement that currently paralises so much European decision taking, ... The treaty also foresees a new function a European president who will preceed the European council (all European government leaders) which will become an official institution and he will need to prepare their meetings.

And as immediate result of the treaty becoming active, heavy speculation started and who would become the first European president. Most countries had their own favourites and a lot of behind the doors diplomacy was happening to test the opinions and win concensus.

Much to my surprise I saw the Belgian press naming our Belgian prime minister as one of the potential candidates. My regular readers might remember the political debacle Belgium has been suffering for over 2 years and they might even be surprised we (still) have a prime minister. The fact that I've written so little about politics is because the situation in Belgium has become quite stable and quiet. It's our current prime minister Herman Van Rompuy (sworn in 30/12/2008) who can be credited for that.

Van Rompuy has a grey serious intellectual technocratic reputation only softened by his haiku writing hobby. He was not known for his big ego seeking the spotlight with bold statements, but more for being a silent worker in the background. Nevertheless he's build up a long curriculum from being political party president in the beginning of the nineties, minister for buget and recently the president of the chamber of representatives. In that last position he got often consulted during all the political negotiations /discussions / failing governments during the last 3 years. When Yves Leterme had to resign as prime minister last year, Herman Van Rompuy seemed the only 'acceptable' figure that had not burnt himself yet in the negotiations with bold statements who could take up the much needed role as prime minister.....which he seemingly dutifully but reluctantly did.

And we didn't hear much of him anymore. And I suppose he gained respect in Belgium for that, because we needed a worker so much, someone who clearly did manage to bring consensus in his team, reunite the many different opinions between the political parties and align them to work on a common project. And this didn't go unnoticed abroad.

So he was named as a potential candidate for the role of European president. More and more Belgian & international press started tipping the "poet-minister' and in Belgium the discussion for a new Prime Minister had been opened in the press. More and more newspapers started printing his haiku poems as support. The more they did, the more I was convinced he'd surely not become the president. In the past Belgian politicians named for top positions in the European union usually didn't get it due to British vetoes who fear our pro-European attitude. Besides bookmakers are always wrong right: aren't we always predicted to end in the top 5 of the Eurovision songcontest? Right?

Last week the European leaders didn't come to a conclusion for the assignment of their new top positions (they don't only need to assign a president, also a foreign affairs minister, new council members etc... One big balancing act!) so it was clear for me that not all countries were supporting Herman's candidacy. On top of that the British tabloids opened a vicious attack on the Belgian politician with titles such as "Britain ruled by a Belgian, you must be joking." Aaaaaah Belgium can sleep well: it's not going to loose its prime minister.


But the bookmakers proved right after all (the British gave up their veto after 'receiving' the foreign minister) and it is now a fact that Herman Van Rompuy becomes the first European president after all. With this choice they've surely given the journalists a nightmare by chosing someone with a name who probably only can be pronounced by the Flemish. But it is favourable to the budget as his move from one street in Brussels to another street in Brussels shouldn't be too costly :). It's still crisis after all.


So is he a good choice for the European Union?

• He's not quite the profile to be an exiting "international" ego that will/needs to match his international counterparts like eg Obama or Poetin. This was the original intention when the treaty of Lisbon talked about a president role and at that time candidates such as Tony Blair were being named.
  
• If he's chosen mainly because nobody opposed to him because of his grey unknown international profile, the honour is rather questionable.
• If he's chosen mainly because he's going to be grey and not putting any of the European government leaders in the shadow of his spotlight, the honour is rather questionable.
• If he's chosen because Europe needs a wise worker who seeks in the background the different aspects of a problem and unites different opinions towards a common view without seeking a show....they might have chosen the correct profile and have found added value.
  

Time will tell I suppose but he's got the advantage being able to define his new role with quite some liberty.


Time will also tell whether this appointment catapults Belgium back into political instability or not. The C&DV suggests bringing Yves Leterme back into the seat of Prime Minister which immediately causes already a lot of opposition on the Frenchspeaking side of Belgium just like the previous years.

To the fifth power

A few weeks ago Luisa has tagged me for her self-invented meme. As with so many posts, I started right away and then I didn't manage to finish it. So here were are now a couple of weeks later with the fifth power meme.

Five North American Cities in Which I'd Seriously Consider Living:

Well given the fact that I probably have not visited more than 5 cities long enough to make a judgment, this is easy :)

1. Vancouver, BC
   
2. Calgary, AB
   
3. Boston, MA
   
4. San Francisco, CA
   
5. Seattle, WA
   

Five Songs to Which I Know All the Words:

1. "99 Luftballons" - Nena
   
2. Parce que c'est toi" - Axelle Red
   
3. "Liefde is alles" - Bart Peeters
   
4. Zie ginds komt de stoomboot
   
5. Plons de Gekke Kikker
   

Five Foods I'd Hope to Have in Unlimited Quantities on a Desert Island:

1. Potato chips
   
2. Nacho's and guacamole
   
3. Bananas
   
4. gazpacho (given that desert islands are usually hot)
   
5. An assortment of different types of cheeses
   

Five Chores I Should Be Doing Right Now Instead of Blogging:

huh, I'm confused....do you mean that blogging should not be my top priority? :p

1. Ironing
   
2. Cleaning
   
3. Going to bed early
   
4. Do some administration chores
   
5. reading books
   

Five Childhood Friends I'd Love to See Again:

1. Sabine from the neighbourhood
   
2. Sabine from school
3. Leen from school
4. Sigrid from school
5. Valerie from school

So who want's to play? I invite Jen from a2eatwrite, Korie, Carol, Shan, Jenn from Mojenn if they feel like playing. If anyone else feels like playing , consider yourself tagged whether I mention your name or not. Feel free to adapt or change the categories to your liking.

Lasting international friendships

14 years ago I was a Rotary exchange student in the west of Canada for one year. My sister had lived in Canada for a year when I was ten and her exotic stories about lockers in school, Halloween, huge piles of snow, huge empty landscapes, ... had made me dream of my own exchange. I am really just a copy cat :p. My parents gave both of us the opportunity to live abroad in a new culture with host parents attending a different school system. During both our absences my parents were hosting a foreign student in our home.

It was the best year of my life where I developed more independence, awareness & openness to other cultures and a critical mind to my own culture; where I learned to overcome homesickness, to take initiatives, to speak in public , ... Every young adult should be submerged for a while in a foreign culture! I can really recommend it. This is an opinion shared by Rozebril and many other students who have live abroad, I think.

Most of all my exchange has given me lasting international friendships, similar to Carol's story. Thanks to the social networks & e-mail etc it's quite easy to keep in touch with each other lately.

And so all of a sudden I got an e-mail from a Canadian friend I hadn't seen in 10 years to let me know that he has a 3-day stop over in Brussels on his way to an India. Yeayyyyy. So we had the joy to host Pastor Doug Johns 3 days in October with us just before our vacation and one more night in November just after our vacation. It was a pleasure to see him again, to share about our families and hang out as in the old days.
There seems to have been a picture curse though as we both didn't think a moment in October to take a picture and last week I took lots....and we accidentally erased the entire picture card afterwards. Argh. Fortunately Doug had taken some too.




2009 - Leuven


1999 - Coeur d'Alene, Idaho



2009 has truly been the year of international reunions for me. My Australian host sister came over to our wedding. It had been 20 years since we'd last seen each other!!! I still think that was so unbelievable.




And also one of my Canadian host parents had taken the occasion to fly over for our wedding and to spend some time with us before the wedding to explore Belgium and some more of Europe. We had the time to spend time together and share with them the last preparations of our wedding.





Aaaaah all of this is so heart warming and fantastic! It's been so fantastic to see all of you again!

Millau viaduct

We took the "middle" ax across France for the first time, travelling over the impressive Millau viaduct, the highest (pillars)/2nd highest (road) viaduct in the world. What a beauty!

Our diving club vacation in Spain: the wet part

Obviously the best part was the diving.

Our diving (club) vacation in Spain: the dry part

Ingredients for a good vacation:

A good sunny location:




Local gastronomy:






A group of very energetic teenagers....well most of the time at least :p :




Boardgames:




Interesting local markets to snoop around:





The sun that came out regularly to keep us company:

Busy bee

This week has been rather insane. I've been catapulted from relaxed vacation mood right back into projects at work & a backlog of little fires to put out, we had a Canadian house guest, some appointments, another diving excursion and a choir weekend game to prepare in little time. All good & fun, just a bit too much at the same time. Seems like ages since I've been on vacation already :p.

So where's that virtual telepathic blogging functionality when you need it. I would have shown pictures from our vacation in Spain, had a post about the Berlin Wall in my mind, some more food memories, Luisa's meme,... But the fact is that I'm off to work now with some suitcases in my truck because now I'm off to a short choir weekend. And after that, I am very much looking forward to normal routine life again :)

Hang on

Just hang on one more second....I'm back but still a bit too busy with loads of laundry and sorting/loading/gazing at pictures of dives, boats, octopuses, sangria & chips & chorizo, mountains & beaches, rocks, board games, the other club members...

Well just still in vacation mood I guess.

E-mail etiquette: what not to do

Just imagine that a colleagues asks for a service supplier's phone number just in case something urgent needs to be done while you might be absent. So imagine you promise your colleague to e-mail the phone number.

Just imagine this hypothetical situation.
According to the e-mail etiquette you should not in that case e-mail the phone number in the body of an e-mail without further explanation....to that service supplier himself.


If you would do so, you might receive a polite but very confused e-mail in return from your supplier after which you might start to laugh out loud into tears after which you might need to explain your error to everyone around you in the office.
...in that hypothetical situation of course.

Sorry I can't come online right now

......because I am listening to this and so much more.......LIVE at the moment



update:

man man man...oh boy that was good.
Now I can go to bed with sore hands from clapping and images of 4 floors of waving people, little Otto and his pacifier and elephant drawing, a hairdresser on Sunday night in the Carré, garden tools perfectly used as music instruments, curtains flying over the piano player, 'krakkemikige krukken uit Krakau' (which is also near Kalmthout in case you wondered)......and the sound of Algerian percussion, the intimate impression of Jacques Brel, mambo, folk, brilliant mucisians, etc...

One of those (summer?) days

This was my mood most of the day, although a lot less cheerful than Lily Allen.
But don't worry, I'm unwinding now and now I can sing along the cheerful song instead of wanting to type a long rant that I should not want/dare to publish on the internet anyway.




And now I start looking forward to tomorrow evening when we'll go to see a concert of Bart Peeters in Leuven. Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

A autumn walk around Spa

Spa is a historic city in the middle of the Belgian Ardennes, well known for the many sources , its mineral water brands , its wellness hotels popular among nobility throughout past centuries making the word spa a synonym for thermal treatment resorts in different languages.

The beauty & the proximity of the region combined with quiet fall weather made us head out to the south-east of Belgium this afternoon for a walk. And on our drive back home through the valleys, along the meanders of a little rushing creek with view on the woods with turning leaves, I thought for a moment that I was in North America, I felt on vacation...



Some boglands just south of the city of Spa


Fall colours...Yes Lilacspecs , we do have fall colours here and there :p. Not red, but some yellow & orange



Walking


Source the Géronstère





Wow what a beauty. It moved me.

Fateless

Over the summer I read some books I owned myself (among other the good detective "The Poet" from Michael Connelly!), but 3 weeks ago I quickly went into the library. Due to time restrictions, both for the wandering around the many isles full of treasures as for the reading time before I had to return the books, I dutifully restricted myself to selecting 2 books. Books with a historic icon have an advantage to get chosen and I quickly walked out with a holocaust book and a book about the Armenian/Turkish conflict at the beginning of last century.

First I started reading "Fateless" by Imre Kertesz. Totally unknown to me, I was a bit shocked & ashamed that I had apparently obliviously picked a well-known controversial book by 2002 Nobel price winner.

Anyway....Fateless

It's one of the rare books where I reread the ending to try to understand. Kertesz describes his own experiences as a deported Hungarian Jew to the camps of Auschwitz, Buchenwald & Zeitz which he barely survived. He describes all events and although his person is steadily dehumanizing due to the horrible circumstances, he manages to live through it all while rationalizing, taking distance of the linked morality & injustice.
The end reasoning is truly thought provoking and quite shocking as Kertesz returns to Budapest claiming he had not seen the hell in Auschwitz...on the contrary due to the extreme circumstances he had experienced there his strongest moments of happiness. He refuses to be a victim because we are all partially responsible for the holocaust: in a totalitarian regime you must choose to collaborate to some degree if you want to survive. He doesn't seem to state anywhere that holocaust was not evil & horrible but never points an accusation to anybody for what happened and by doing so he accuses us all including himself.

Euh....yes....as I said, shocking and thought provoking and in a way refreshing to read about the holocaust without the usual sentimentality & sadness& evilisation that we are used to. I totally don't get him though. I think I'm gonna put "Kaddosh for the unborn child" on my to read list where he deals with a man who doesn't want to father a child in a society that allowed the holocaust to happen.

Nightly logic

I had already been struggling for more than an hour to fall asleep after trying & failing for 90 minutes to get a printer functioning just before I went to bed (much too late) and after getting all frustrated & wound up over it.

While laying still in a semi-concious state and trying way too hard to driff off asleep in vain, I feel all of a sudden a finger poking firmly in my side.



"What?"

"What are you doing?"

"Huh? Trying to sleep"

"Are you still in the basement?"

"??? ...No, I'm in bed next to you"

"Ah ok" after which he turns around and sleeps on.




And then he mocks me for inviting him at night to watch flowers on the terrace.

Crossing people

"Is this the way to the train station?"
"euh....euh yes, continue strait ahead in that direction"


The lady from the butcher is washing the windows after the shop has been closed for the day.


A couple walks by the bookstore. When they've just walked by, the girl pulls his arm resulting in a big turn of them both when she points to one of the books in the window.


"Pfff il fait chaud ici dans le bureau"
"oui, c'est vrai, très chaud"


"It's not busy right now, I can help you until I get a new customer" says the post office employee while she sits down at the desk next to me and starts sticking stamps to part of my pile of envelops.
"Oh wow, thank you that's so nice of you"
"Those sticker stamps are quite fast to use huh"
"euh, yes yes, easy"
...
"I think there's somebody at your desk now"
"oh yes, bye"


"We have to search the family name marked on this statue" says the girl holding the quiz book to her husband who's already staring at the the big sitting posture of the former local industrial Rémy.


A big group of KSA youth (a well known youth organization) is gathered in a big circle on the square chanting songs to each other while being observed at some distance by a group of tourists.


2 families with little children sit down at the park for a pick-nick.

Another group of people arrives at a woman on a bench who welcomes them and starts explaining them a game in which they seem involved for the next 2 hours and that will use boules.




**************

So many people on their way, each with their own story, goal, direction, .... Amazing when you start to think about how many paths you cross on a simple walk through the city.

Googlies October

It's becoming a monthly tradition to check in the statistics which search terms have been used to land on my blog. Check out Brillig's blog to see more funny results.

As usual most key words were pretty obvious: if you are looking for my blog I suggest to type in "Goofball" or "goofballsworld"....those might be helpful.
But the following were a bit more remarkable:


* Several people in the Netherlands seem to be planning a trip to Deventer with some special interest when they googled the following variations
=> "deventer red light" / "red light district deventer" / "Red lamp district deventer"

* "goose parade vlanderen" : May I suggest you post yourself at the entrance of our parliament building? Lots of empty headed quacking and tail wobbling guaranteed.

* "I got the mexican flu" : Tough luck for you. If you would have had it a few months ago, it would have been special and you might have been announced in the news. Now you just have to sweat it out. Maybe check the WHO 11 steps to wash your hands guidelines for next time.

* "tallpeopleparty" => see september googlies...apparently Scheveningen is the place to be.

* "How to make rubber limbs?": First boil up a lot of elastics...When I say " a lot", I truly mean a lot of them. Boil them all until they become one smooth fluid substance. Then you take the limb that you want to transform, break the bone inside and pull it out. You can pour the fluid rubber in the created void. That should do it, I think.

* "is it mandatory go to school in Belgium?" : no it's mandatory to study (& to take exams? and to be registered to be a homeschooler??), not to attend school.


* "snacks for friendship": chips, lots of chips....definitely chips!

The summer of 2009 in music: Rex by Customs

Yesterday morning I had to scratch ice from my windshield for the first time....Time for another song from this summer. A promising newly discovered Belgian group "Customs" with there first succesfull single.

Very pulsing, energising and sticking.