Student Parties at the VUB...

The goup - predeparture

Tom and Louis trying some new moves

Enjoying Nirvana Nevermind with Louis

Happy couple at the end of the evening

The theme: 70s, 80s and 90s. The crowd: students from the VUB (Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Tom's uni). The venue - a tent in the carpark of the campus in Etterbeek. So Tom and I took a trip down memory lane - me with my BYO bottle of smirnoff and a carton of OJ to get myself in the mood before we made it to the party. This didn't take too long considering my tolerance to hard liquor not really being tested in the last years. But it still tasted quite good! We started off with a group of psych/criminology and engineering students, but the latter group quickly wrote themselves off (yes, engineers are the same EVERYWHERE!) and the rest of us enjoyed a bit of boogying to the sounds of ABBA, BeeGees, Nirvana, Eurythmics and the rest is a big blur of beats and light. Got home around 4 (quite early I guess for a student party!) but I was prepared in advance with taking the day off today!

We have purchased all the stationary required for the invitations, so hopefully they will be signed sealed and delivered quite soon (to the belgian folk in any case!)

Kom Op Tegen Kanker

Been out of action for a little while, but thought I should mention what we got up to this past weekend. The Belgian government has been furiously raising money for an anti-cancer campaign or kom op tegen kanker by all possible means. So, on Sunday, Tom and I rode our pushies to Aartselaar (around 5km) to plant a 3 oak trees in a nature park donated by the local council. Each tree planted receives a name and all money raised is for the anti-cancer campaign. As you may see however, we were not so suitably attired... since we have no garden of our own, neither of us possess a lovely pair of galoshes and hense muddied ourselves up nice and proper!

Today, Belgium lost a very influencial writer, Hugo Claus - via the still unrecognised in oz, euthanasia. So, while Belgium is mourning for the loss of possibly the greatest Flemish writer/poet, my colleagues and I mourned the loss of a fellow worker (who incidentally died in the same hospital). She was diagnosed with a glioblastoma (aggressive brain tumour) on boxing day, and survived less than 3 months. A lot of us visited her for her birthday on Friday (43rd) but it was quite difficult to celebrate. Despite thinking that there may always be time after the initial diagnosis, don't be too fooled. I really need to get into a different field of work.

Tonight Tom and I are venturing off to a TD (T Dancé or student party) in Brussels, so I have wisely taken tomorrow off. I cannot seem to pull up the way I used to!

Without a title

"Nowhere in the world is an Australian as lonesome as when he's living in England. I sometimes miss Australia so bad, I can taste it. I yearn for it. But whenever I return, I want to get out of there after 2 months". Nick Cave, Spraakmakers, Canvas (Belgian television)