Delirium

Two posts in one day, crazy, I know, but I'm feeling the need to document, apparently.  First day in Belgium was really... really... REALLY chill.  How chill?  Besides walking around in circles, lost and trying to ground my sense of direction, which I think may be fruitless, I napped F-O-R-E-V-E-R!  Covered head-to-toe in everything I wore on the plane, plus some layers, I laid on my top bunk bed (weird yeah??) and curled up as much as I could in the thin sheets and blankets they provide at the hostel and SLEPT!  After waking and becoming coherent I decided it high time I figure out something to do, besides chilling on the top bunk of the female dorm.

This city is dead, which is really when I like to travel.  I hate tourists, in Seattle I hate them, I hate being one, so I try to blend in as much as possible but I have a feeling I SCREAM "UNITED STATES," well not as much as some red necked prick wearing an american flag hat but you know, I scream Seattle. :)  This is also officially my first time traveling abroad alone and I've learned I'm no longer nervous trying to navigate around foreign places, like I used to be and as long as I'm in france or germany, I can at least say a few things but Flemish, I know not.  Not only do I not know it, Lonely Planet's "helpful phrases" AREN'T in Flemish!  WTF Lonely Planet... you suck.  This is another transition for me as I've been surrounded by people, well at least one person, at all times, for the past 2 months and my "me" time has been non-existent.  Now, I'm a fan of my "me" time, a BIG fan but I'm struggling slightly today, wandering around by myself.  It donned on me, a few hours into my lost circle walking, that this is what I need.  This is exactly why I have planned to travel India by myself.  You learn more about yourself when in uncomfortable, or at least, new situations and I know there is still some digging I must do.  I wish it was a bit warmer so my brain wasn't frozen by the time I got to some cafe to sit, think and/or read though but alas, it's what I've got right now.  I almost want to use this time to reflect more so than explore, which I know is weird, and that plan may change, but sitting in a dark pub, cafe or tea room, writing, just seems pretty perfect.  The cobble stone streets are so quaint, the streets are gorgeous, the rivers are amazingly cute, the mist from the sky is soothing and the fact I can't understand a single person around me, keeps my inwardly focus.

I was attempting to find this place in one of the guide books I read that supposedly sells really cheap and great pancakes and fries (cheap is GREAT especially when the prices I'm looking at are Euro and not Rand) but they kitchen was closed so I walked down the street to a cute little looking place and took a seat in the back.  I ate my croque madame, drank my tea w/ my biscuit and talked to the owner of the restaurant.  It was called Bien Soigné and the adorable owners name is Tatia, who is from Portugal but her mother is a white woman from Mozambique.  I was completely shocked when she said her place had only been open for 7 days because she had her shit so together, from the customer perspective.  She has aspirations to visit her mother's home and meet her relatives from the Southern part of Africa but right now, she's focused on ensuring the success of her restaurant and taking care of her family.  At some point, her husband walked in, gave her a kiss and helped her clean up and get ready to close.  She was really sweet and she ended up giving me an extra egg liquor on the house, which really, we need all tea in the US to be served with one of those!  Nomnomnom!

I came back to the hostel and I'm currently sitting here, debating whether to be social, drinking a Delirium and getting sleepy again.  I think a nights sleep will do me good, as will the walk outside to the shower area on the other side of the hostel.  Ummm... brrrrr!

Oh.. I think I need someone to give me a quick summary of what the fuck has happened in the US in the past 2 months.  Keith Olbermann fired from MSNBC and NOT over the political contributions?!  What?