I started out with an interest in the Elizabethan era and then moved back to the time of Henry the VIII and now Philippa Gregory has taken me back to the War of the Roses. The Plantagenet era, before the Tudors, is less well-known as is Elizabeth Woodville, widowed Lancastrian who woos the newly crowned King […]
Belgium Moments: Slagroom and Battle Royale
In the last week, I have some memorable – what I have deemed – Belgium moments because only these things can happen in Belgium. The first moment is my favorite. Its been an amazingly nice week of weather. That’s right, in Belgium you get nice weather (20+) in March and September, but wet greyness in […]
A library in Brussels with English books
Since moving to Brussels I’ve purchased quite a few books written in English, but at 10-13 euros per book it adds up quick and living in a small apartment, the bookshelf just isn’t big enough.
A Canadian learning French in Belgium
I started French classes. Yeah, I finally caved. After years of vowing to never take French, I have been coerced by the question “You’re Canadian! Don’t you speak French?” and the loneliness of verbal isolation to start learning. I must be the only person, wait, the only female on this planet who does not like […]
“You’re from Canada! Don’t you speak French?”
Living in Belgium, where French is one of the national languages, I get this remark a lot: “you’re Canadian and you don’t speak French?” It’s quite shocking to every European I’ve come into contact with. In Belgium, there are three official languages: Flemish (60%), French (40%), and German (1%). Flemish is spoken mainly in Flanders […]