Visiting Friends in Lübeck

After loading our entire luggage in the car, we started our trip in Grimbergen at 10 a.m. We still had to go to the Abdijstraat and after saying goodbye to Frank’s parents we left without any traffic jams. The trip itself was fine, of course we had to stop several times to change and feed Caitlin. Today was probably the most problematic (traffic-wise) since we had to cover the long distance between Belgium and the North of Germany in one day.

At around 6:30 we arrived at our hotel, an Etap hotel with the typical practical Etap design. This means it is one star more than a Formule 1 hotel (a little bit more comfort, an acceptable breakfast buffet and free internet in the rooms). The toilets and bathroom (separate) reminded me a bit about those in a train wagon, and cleaning them will probably take 30 seconds with a high-pressure water gun and some disinfectant.

We unpacked, rested a bit and left for my friend Tinchen and her mother Anni, a friendship that dates back to the times when young kids had pen pals and sent them real letters… We were welcomed with warmth and first of all exchanged some news about what had happened in our lives. Old memories were revived too and on top of all the nice conversation we were served a delicious gratin with meat, peppers and tomatoes.

Caitlin was her usual friendly and curious self, only quite late did she get tired and a bit cranky, so we decided to go back to our hotel room and went straight to bed. Having Caitlin sleep between us proved very comfortable. Maybe we shouldn't bring our travel bed anymore next time.

Tomorrow we will test www.bewelcome.org in Rostock :)

List of All my Cars

First publishes April 2008

Ok, I'm trying to remember all the cars I ever owned. Strange, it's quite difficult. But then again I've never been a big car freak. Whenever the car drove smoothly without any technical problems, I was happy.

Getting my driving licence was not so difficult. On the theoretical I scored 36/40, which was sufficient and the practical exam went fine as well. I remember my father saying it didn't look so good, but in the end I passed without any major hiccups.

My first car was a Citroën : The Citroën AX. A nice black cool minicar. It's also the car I had my first (and only) accident with. I took my right of way and another car that hadn't seen me drove straight into me. Quite a lot of material damage but nothing dramatic

My second car was a Fiat : The Fiat Punto. A green one this time.

Then I got the opportunity to buy a Triumph Spitfire 1500. A wonderful little car (see picture) but also a problematic child. Everytime I drove somewhere, it needed some kind of repair. But it is without a doubt the car that gave me my best memories. Driving it to Holland with Iris, going to Wales with Stasja, discovering the Flemish Ardennes with Thelma... I called my car Roxanne by the way. The last years it was waiting in my garage for better times. Now I sold it and hope it will once again enjoy driving on the roads.

My next car was again a Fiat. A dark-red Fiat Tempra. It was my first family-sized car and made it more easy to drive long distances with more than 3 people. Trips to Poland for example, or driving to Germany.

My present car is an Opel Astra. Black, sleek, and very reliable. It took me through the Baltics and down to Spain.

And very soon I will get a new car: a Renault Scenic. I'm looking forward to that.

My Education - Part 2

I started looking for a suitable major and decided to try "Translating and Interpreting", a 4 year course with led to a "Licentiate Degree" but is now called "Master in Translation".

Initially I wanted to take a language that was not so popular. Danish for example. But a few days before giving my final decision, the Danish government fell and I didn't liked the language so much. I know it is silly taking such a decision without first checking out the languages, but that's what happened: I decided to go for Italian and English. An good choice, because the College provided me with an excellent background, not only in languages but in many other subjects.

When I first started there, the school was called "Hoger RijksInstituut voor Vertalers en Tolken", later it became "RVT" and now it is called Erasmushogeschool

I will write more later, but after 4 years (1983-1987) I graduated with a dissertation about "Cocaine: Influences on the brain, a translation with glossary".

Why do women think men lie and cheat?

I honestly believe that most men can't lie. At least not lie convincingly. Because if we do, we often get caught. Let's say for example that I say that I can't go to somebody's party because I have to go to the dentist (but in reality I'm going to another party). They always will find out. Maybe women have a 7th sense (we all know they have a 6th sense anyway). Or maybe we men are so honest that we don't have the time and occasion to practice.
Did you know that girls also cheat more at exams than boys? It has been statistically proven. And it hasn't been proven, then somebody should prove it quickly anyway.

But let's not lose track of my point. I wanted to tell you about Honesty and Man. Once upon a time I had been accused of being a liar. Not once, not twice, but thrice! The accusations were based on nothing but some silly fantasies of a crazy woman. I felt like Saint Peter who had been warned by Jesus that he would deceive Him three times before the rooster would crow. But the fact was that that woman was no Jesus, and I'm not a rooster.

Let me paint the picture: I had invited her at my place. Or she had invited herself, that is not important since I was happy to have her around. She knew I didn't have a relationship. At least not with other women. Or men. Simple, I had no other relations.

So why did I have a box of chocolates on the table, heart-shaped on top of that!. ACCUSATION NUMBER 1 : I must have received that from another girl!
Still, the explanation was quite simple: I had organized a guided tour and every participant had received a box of chocolates (Neuhaus, for those of you who know the chocolate world

So why did I have 2 (empty) glasses Pisang Ambon in my bathroom?
ACCUSATION NUMBER 2 : I had taken a bath with a girlfriend while drinking.
I invite everybody to come and visit my bathroom. Really, you don't need to make an appointment, just come and have a look. It is a bath where I do not have a lot of space, let alone make it fit two people. I agree that being close to the one you love can be very romantic, like two fish in a little bowl. But honestly, it is not something I would recommend to anybody. So what is the true reason behind the two glasses. Ok, I admit it, I am not the most tidy person in the world and please do call Anonymous Alcoholics, I drank two glasses on two different occassions and forgot to take the glasses down So what ? Sue me !

So why were there make-up pads lying in my dustbin?
ACCUSATION 3 : I had a secret lover who first had to make herself pretty for me and then had to take off the make-up to make her ugly for the rest of the world.
Yes, how would I ever find a way to explain that. Maybe I liked dressing up like a woman? Or I organized a Halloween Party and Dracula had to tend to his bleeding lips? Or was the rumour true that I have little goblins in my attic who organize parties all night long?
Maybe I should have told her the truth, that one of my students had taken off her make-up because after a long day at the reception of BIAC she got fed up with wearing a painting on her face

But why do women like to search my dustbin?

Oh, a very important Post Scriptum: I did a test in Facebook, and it turns out I am a natural-born Liar (Liar, Liar, your pants are on fire)...so if you believe everything I write here on this blog, then you have been warned :)

My Education - Part 1

Saki, the Scottish writer, once said the following about education : "But, good gracious, you've got to educate him first. You can't expect a boy to be vicious till he's been to a good school."

Education is something that has been running through my life like a thick red line. I have 2 websites dedicated to constant learning (Levenslangleren.be in Dutch and Levenslangleren.info in English), I try constantly to learn new things and have been to quite a lot of schools and taken numerous courses.

Here a short overview of my past academic failures and accomplishments:

- Kindergarten : The memories are a bit vague, but I do remember some parts of it. I went to the "Kleuterschool Het Prinsenhof" in Grimbergen, from the ages of 3 till 6. We are talking about the period from 1970 till 1973.
- Primary Education was from 1974 till 1981, at the "Basisschool Het Prinsenhof" in Grimbergen. It was quite a happy time, and i have some fond memories of going to school there. My first teacher was Juffrouw De Wit, and other teachers that I will remember are Meester Siccard, Meester Mergaerts en Meester Van Den Block. Yes, we all call our teachers "Masters" :)
- Secondary Education was from 1981 till 1987 at the Sint-Joris Instituut in Brussels. A catholic all-boys' school with a good reputation and not as strict as the nearby Sint-Jan Berchmans (which produced some of our worst racist politician). I first took Latin, but later went on to take Modern Languages with as little mathematics as possible.
I have only fond memories of this school, even if there were some bullies and my school results were not always as good as I would have liked them to be.

I do remember taking Typing lessons (while waiting for my dad who worked in the neighbourhood) and getting great marks (i'm typing this quite fast).

At the end of the final year I took a PMS test (Psycho-Medical-Social centre) which stated I would probably not accomplish a lot at university.

But I passed my maturity test (which is something resembling A-levels) and went on to go to university. For those interested: my maturity thesis was in English: "The History of Cinema"

Recette pour Boulettes Italiennes

Last week we had a nice party at our place, and everybody brought something to eat.

Here is the recipe for Italian Meatballs / Boulettes à l'italienne

Boulettes italiennes

Pour 4 personnes

350gr de boeuf haché
2 pommes de terre cuites en robe des champs
2 gousses d’ail
50gr de parmesan
2 tranches de pain rassis
2 œufs
2 cuillères à soupe de persil haché
0,5dl de lait
Chapelure
Sel, poivre

Tremper le pain (sans croutes) dans le lait
Eplucher et écraser les pommes de terre
Hâcher l’ail
Casser les œufs et les battre

Egoutter le pain, ajouter la viande, les pommes de terre, l’ail, le parmesan, le persil, sel, poivre et les œufs. Mélanger le tout

En faire des ‘hamburgers’ ovales et les passer dans la chapelure

Faire chauffer l’huile et les frire +/- 5’ en les retournant à mi-cuisson

Beaufitul Actrices versus Ugly Actors

Julia Roberts versus Steve Buscemi
Marilyn Monroe versus Mike Meyers
Angelina Jolie versus William Dafoe

Have you noticed how often famous actrices are beautiful, where famous actors don't necessarily need to be the hot sexy top model. Nobody will say that Tom Hanks is the nr. 1 male beauty, although Cameron Diaz might be.

Isn't it remarkable how the roles of "heroines" in Hollywood are often played by beautiful women? Name me ONE single film where a sympathetic main character is played by an 'ugly' woman.
Of course you will respond by saying "what is ugly". But I mean it in the most natural, non-politically-correct way: there are no interesting roles for women who do not fit into the beauty concept.

With men this is completely different. You can have men playing the biggest screen roles, get the biggest pay checks and still be as ugly as the night. Some examples? Woody Harrelson, Josse De Pauw, Tom Hanks, Mike Meyers,...

Ok, you might say that they are not THAT ugly, and some women will even say that they have "character" or "charme, or even worse : "an interesting face"... but do you get my drift? Jay Leno can present his show, but put a woman next to him who is just as ugly as him, and all hell will break loose.

Just look to Belgian Commercial television if you will: when you are elected Miss Belgium, you are sure to become an anchor woman for the news, even if you are as dumb as the backside of a donkey.

The Hidden Meaning of Dreams

I used to think that dreams were all full of lies...that they were just images stored in my subconscious and waiting to be either erased or filed. Just like it happens on a computer, where you shut down the system and anything relevant is quickly written to the the hard disk.

I have to admit that I often dream of beautiful women I meet in the supermarket. Sometimes I even dream about taking difficult decisions (like which excuse to come up with the next time I'm late for work).

But once I had this crazy dream, and I realized that dreams and nightmares do not necessarily come from a place far far away...but can also bring on new ideas

Here is a short description of the dream, maybe you can find an explanation:

"I was working in a colourful pub which was often visited by foreign artists. An Eastern European girl ask me for some Czech cigarettes. I went to my boss and she gave me a black and white coin that I had to put into a jukebox. 10 packages of a brand called "olga" came out of the jukebox.

What does this all mean? What is the hidden meaning behind this dream. Are there any psychology students out there who can help me with my predicament? Help !

Star Wars Exhibition in Brussels

this article was first published on March 30, 2008

I have always been a big Star Wars fan. But initially the thought of seeing "Star Wars" did not thrill me. You see, my dad took me almost every weekend to see a movie. Mostly war movies. And when I heard about "Star Wars" I thought it was another war movie.

A friend of mine, Maarten, had already seen the movie and convinced me it was worth it. And then my mum got invited to a premiere because she had a toy shop that sold Star Wars models. I was immediately a big fan. My favourite movie is still The Empire Strikes Back because of the great scene on Hott and the amazing discovery that Darth Vader is not who we thought he was.

I understand that some people were disappointed with The Phantom Menace, but we should not compare a movie that we saw when we were 10 years old with another one when we are 33.

Anyway, I was going to tell you something about the Star Wars Exhibition in Brussels. Well, if you are a big Star Wars fan, you will like it (and probably love it). Although it is a bit small and some of the exhibits are not so impressive, it does have some real attractions. Especially with children it is a nice exhibition.

If you are not a great fan, then you better skip this one. Not only is it very expensive, but there is not a lot of information about how they made the movies.

You can check out some pictures on my Deviantart account : Thorgal67

More info about the exhibition : Star Wars Exhibition

TOUR & TAXIS, HAVENLAAN 86C, 1000 BRUSSEL

7 days a week until the 1st of June
10 a.m. until 6 p.m.(last entry 5 p.m.)
10 a.m. until 7 p.m. (last entry 6 p.m.) on Saturday and Sunday
Jedi Experience on Wednesday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday

Tickets are on sale at the exhibition:

Adults: €13
Students under 25 years old, children under 12 years old and groups above 15 persons: €10
Children under 5 go free

My favourite Movies

Ever since I was young, I have been fascinated with movies. From an early age on, my dad used to take me to the cinema. I don't remember the name exactly, but I think it was Calypso (in Machelen) and Astoria (in Vilvoorde). But I should ask my dad, who took me almost every Sunday afternoon. Mostly war movies like Battle of the Bulge.

When my brother was a bit older we went to Brussels, to the Marivaux, the Vendôme, the Ambassador (specialized in Disney movies) and the Eldorado (now transformed into the UGC De Brouckère). Of all the cinemas I went to, only one or two still exist.

Later when I studied in Brussels I went to the new cinemas like City2 or Kinepolis. And even later I worked in a real cinema myself : Pathé Palace.

Here are some of my favourite movies. I will talk more about them later.

- Brazil
- American History X
- Magnolia
- Godfather Part 2
- Amores Perros

Friday 13th - Bad Luck in Bremen

This article was first published on Friday 13th, 2007

In April we visited my brother and his family in Peer, then we drove to Düsseldorf to meet Anja and finally we drove to Bremen with Claudia’s family to celebrate her mum’s birthday. What was supposed to be a nice little get-together turned into something close to a nightmare!

On our first day (Friday the 13th) somebody broke into the hotel and stole all our stuff : 2 laptops, mobile phone, mp3 player, exams by Claudia’s students (which they had to redo later that month…poor children), all of Claudia’s pictures which had been burned on CDs. This means that for most people I don’t have their telephone number anymore. Please send me an sms with your full name so I can add you again.

At night we went to the police office to look at pictures of criminals, but no luck. And now 8 months later I received a letter from the Bremen Police saying that they are closing the case as they have no chance of finding them.
I didn’t lose a lot of money as the hotel was insured and most of my stuff was quite new, but Claudia’s pictures were of course irreplaceable.

We tried to have a good time in Bremen and in the end we did enjoy ourselves (the weather was great) but there will always be a part of me that associates Bremen with bad luck and Friday 13th.

The White Album - The Beatles

The first time I really understood the power of music, was around 1975. I must have been 7 or 8, and my dad had strongly warned me not to touch his stereo. We had a Dual record player, pioneer tuner, and Uher tape recorder (one of those big ones with 12 inch tapes).

And in the closet was a nice selection of music that was popular around that time: Herb Alper, The Two Man Sound, Marva and some Russian folk music. And also a white album. It said "the Beatles" in white letters. And inside were 4 A4-size pictures of guys with long hair. I put the record on, and hadn't noticed that the volume dial was pushed all the way. The sound of the airplane (the beginning of "Back in the USSR") blasted through the loud speakers. Luckily nobody was home. My first encounter with the Beatles. They would never leave me.

Until this day The White Album is still my favourite Beatles album, because it is so eclectic.

Deviantart - Urbex

My Urbex account on DeviantArt contains some pictures taking during my Urban Exploration trips. Some of the places we visited (alone or together with friends) were an abandoned theme park, an old hospital, a crypte, a sanatorium, an orphanage and some factories. We only take picture and leave footprints. On some occasions we also took models there for some interesting combination of abandoned beauty.

The Modelling Business - How to Become a Model

Last year I started taking pictures of models, and 2007 saw me continue on the same line. I registered with several websites where photographers and models can meet. The website vary in quality, but most are very user-friendly website

A list of those I registered on :

- Modellennet
- Eye-on (the old "Photograaf.be")
- Model-kartei

Many boys and girl dream of becoming a photo model. When you check the visitors of our website, it strikes us how many type in "how can I become a photo model". But there are many misconceptions about how to become a photomodel.

First of all, it is not necessary to look like a babe or have a six-pack tummy to make it in the modelling business. What you DO need is some courageous, ambitions and feel well. Some people say that they are not photogenic, that they don't "stick" to paper, but that is not true. Everybody is photogenic, you just have to find the right photographer to bring it out in the open.

Also you don't need to be 7 feet tall. Photographers have their ways to make you feel taller (or smaller) than you really are.

Just contact me if you want to make it in the modelling business. I can help you with your portfolio.

Two years ago I became member of a great Internet Site called Deviant Art (www.deviantart.com). It’s a kind of artist’s community where you can upload your artistic works (pictures, paintings, poetry, etc….) or just comment on other artist’s works.

Our friends are leaving Brussels

This article was first published on 24/4/07
Quite a lot of people that we know through BeWelcome.org left Belgium this year. Katherine, Laura, Danah, Dylan, Patrick…. I hope we can stay in touch and meet up again soon. But also some new people came to Brussels, like Asia W. and Tadeusz and Asia H. And we helped Olga move to her new house near Vilvoorde, and visited Wokzter and Karamia who spent Easter in Brussels at Mart_o-clock’s place.

Update:

many more have left since then. Beyhan to Romania, Bartek back to Poland, Krista to Finland, Joeri to Scandinavia (surprise, surprise...)

Hospitality Exchange Movie Mondays

This article was first published April 2, 2007

In April I started organizing my Movie Mondays. First the idea was to invite some friends from the different hospex websites like BeWelcome.org to join we at the cinema for a monthly movie. But the concept proved to be so successful (sometimes we had up to 20 people joining us) that I decided to have it every week. We saw some great movies together this year (Eastern Promises, The Simpsons, Shoot ‘m’ Up) but also some not so good ones (Beowulf). But in the end we always went for a drink in Café Monk and talked about life, movies and other interesting topics. I have made some great friends there (Sylvie, Franco, Krista, Kristina, Stef, George, Beyhan, Olga, Tadeusz, Bartek and all the Asia’s …)

Every week we also write a review about the movie for inclusion on the Becultural website

Hospitality Exchange Movie Mondays

This article was first published April 2, 2007

In April I started organizing my Movie Mondays. First the idea was to invite some friends from the different hospex websites like BeWelcome.org to join we at the cinema for a monthly movie. But the concept proved to be so successful (sometimes we had up to 20 people joining us) that I decided to have it every week. We saw some great movies together this year (Eastern Promises, The Simpsons, Shoot ‘m’ Up) but also some not so good ones (Beowulf). But in the end we always went for a drink in Café Monk and talked about life, movies and other interesting topics. I have made some great friends there (Sylvie, Franco, Krista, Kristina, Stef, George, Beyhan, Olga, Tadeusz, Bartek and all the Asia’s …)

Every week we also write a review about the movie for inclusion on the Becultural website

BeWelcome goes ONLINE

this article was first published on 22 February 2007

In February BeWelcome went online, the first legal open-source Hospitality Exchange Network. You can find more about it here : www.bewelcome.org or check out my Thorgal67 profile http://www.bewelcome.org/bw/member.php?cid=thorgal67
Whether you are looking to make friends or trying to find accommodation all over the world, BeWelcome caters for all travellers trying to get in touch with like-minded people. At the moment we have about 2200 members and the number is growing.

Elections in Belgium 2009

On June 7th, 2009, two elections will be held in Belgium. The elections for a new Flemish government and those for the European Parliament. I'm not sure yet if I will be able to attend, since it is also the weekend that the Berlin Beach Camp is being held.

On a Flemish website deredactie.be they created a poll that will help you find out which party has the same principles as you. I took the test, and it will come as no surprise that extreme-right parties like Vlaams Belang (VB ) and Lijst Dedecker (LDD) are not among my possible candidates. No, I'm more into the Green Party (Groen!). A valid choice I would say, as a good future is more important to me than always making more money. Especially in such a rich country as Belgium, where there are so many who have a good life at the expenses of a unhappy few (handicapped, homeless, ...)

Care to take the test yourself? Go to DeRedactie.be and click on the Stemtest.

You will need to understand Dutch in order to succesfully complete the test.

New Year’s Eve 2006 – Party!

This article was first published on 31st December 2006

This year we had a very quiet New Year. Claudia and I went to the sauna, later we spent a nice time at home and watched some movies. And of course we make a top quality dinner with my stone grill. It felt like back in the old days, when men only had a stone, some fire and a freshly killed mammoth…

Using Sing language with our baby

I recently started using sign language with Caitlin. I read there has been a movement to teach and encourage the use of sign language with toddlers before they learn to talk, because such young children can communicate effectively with signed languages well before they are physically capable of speech. This is typically referred to as Baby Sign.

I have to say that my efforts are met with some cynisicm from my wife, but recent studies seem to indicate that there is some truth behind the theory.
According to a study carried out by researchers like Acredolo and Goodwyn, using sign language with babies has the following benefits:

* larger expressive and receptive spoken language vocabularies;
* more advanced mental development;
* a reduction in problematic behaviours like tantrums resulting from frustration;
* and improved parent–child relationships.

Of course Caitlin is still too young to show any of those benefits, but I hope that in a couple of months we will have our first "conversation".

5 celebrities I had a crush on when I was a student

On one of these social network groups on Facebook you can enter your top 5 lists. 5 cars I owned, 5 sports I used to play, 5 favourite movies...you get the picture?

And yesterday I stumbled accross the following list: "5 Celebrities I had a crush on when I was young". That was fun filling in, and trying to remember what kind of posters I had on the wall. I remember having posters of Debbie Harry (of Blondie fame), Texas, Joan Jett and probably also the Beatles. But who did I really have a crush on?

5 Celebreties I had a crush on when I was young:

1. Debbie Harry

2. Nena

3. Olivia Newton-John (yes, I plead guilty your honour)

4. Jenny Agutter

5. Diana Rigg

The Official Line-Up for Couleur Café

The Official Line-up for the Couleur Café multicultural festival has been published, and it looks awesome!

26/06/2009

BEN HARPER & Relentless7
AYO
AMADOU & MARIAM
KHALED
KEZIAH JONES
ROHFF
NNEKA
BABYLON CIRCUS
ZIGGI & The Renaissance Band
SELAH SUE
NTOUMOS
COSTANZA (DJ's)

27/06/2009

ARNO - special project
EMIR KUSTURICA & The No Smoking Orchestra
ALPHA BLONDY
MAGIC SYSTEM
SHAMEBOY
MAMADY KEITA & Sewa Kan
THE SKATALITES
OI VA VOI
SAULE ET LES PLEUREURS
OZOMATLI
MOKOOMBA
BALIMURPHY
GORI KA DANCE ORCHESTRA
LOWDJO (DJ)

28/06/2009

BENABAR
CESARIA EVORA
ZAP MAMA
GROUNDATION
PATRICE
RZA (Wu-Tang Clan)
NEG' MARRONS
KASAI ALLSTARS
TERRAKOTA
BEN'BOP
DYNAMIC
KEL ASSOUF
PRIMITIV
TUPOLEV SOUND CRASH (DJ’s)

I will be there, you too?

Free tickets for Millennium: The Movie

I won 2 free tickets for Millennium: the Movie. Based on the bestseller of Swedish thriller author Stieg Larsson, this film tells the story of 16-year old girl Harriet Vanger who disappeared without a trace, on September 29th 1966. Nearly forty years later a journalist by the name of Mikael Blomqvist gets an unusual assignment.

Unfortunately I can't go to the cinema, but I am giving 2 tickets away for the Première on Wednesday May 6th in the UGC De Brouckère in Brussels. The movie starts at 20h/8pm and you need to be there 15 minutes in advance to collect the tickets.

Warning: the movie is Swedish spoken with Dutch and French subtitles.

Write me a mail and I will send the invitation through mail. Please respond only if you are 100% sure that you will go. By the way: the original title is "Män som hatar kvinnor" which means "Men who hate women". Sounds like a really interesting movie ;)

Oh, In England this movie has another title: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo