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!