Shouting lager lager lager lager

Now that a busy week of concerts is 'achter de rug', I am sure Tom and myself will be suffering some sort of dip!

The week began on the 10th of November, taking me to see Natalia (very poppy - not my style of music, but good company) with a group of colleagues, allowing us to shake our bums around a little and try some unique style of dancing. This was a lot of fun, and an ok show. Thankfully, tuesday was a public holiday(rememberence day gets an entire day in europe... not just one minute at 11am!).

Saturday, after  a little midday nap, and a shot of Guarana at 8pm, Tom and I found ourselves in Gent, meeting up with Benj and a whole wod of others (we had a group of 9 in total) for one of the biggest dance festivals in Europe: I love techno. FINALLY I had my chance to see Underworld live, and they definitely lived up to my expectations! We started off the evening in the 'blue room' with Hot Chip, LA Riots and Digitalism, before having a quick break in the chill-out lounge with our free water (a great initiative if you ask me!), before making it over to the red room (lucky we got in for the headlining act). The only regret was that we missed out on seeing Justice in the orange room (the room had a limit of 5000 and was full before Underworld had finished) But after a full 8 hours of dancing, I think we were all completely satisfied with what we experienced!

The red carpet arrival with Claudia, Tom, Valerie, myself, Benj and Johnno

Somewhere around HotChip with Benj, Tim, myself, Tom and a few randoms

The end of the Underworld Show. The born slippy .nuxx climax was just superb! I don't know how those guys find all that energy after nearly 30 years of performing (yes, probably something synthetic in the shape of a small circle is involved!)

The end of the evening. Completely buggered and chugging down the water!

Sunday saw a relaxing sleep-in, followed by a trip to Brussels to see one of the most spectacular groups I have ever seen live: Sigur Ros. They seem to have created their own genre of music, and play such an eclectic repetoir, that I for one was never bored and longing for more!

On the family front, Emme is now in Salamanca, attending language classes for a couple of weeks, to develop a basic knowledge of spanish, and mum will be here in 4 weeks. Looking forward to seeing them both!

Emme and other catastrophes

My dear, beloved sister arrived on the 22nd of October, and what a great reunion. Without going into too much personal detail of her past, it was a much needed 'run-away' and despite having quite a small appartment, my family will always be welcome to stay with us. 10 days after her arrival, she headed off again, and is now galavanting around southern europe, trying to absorb the final rays of sun before the cold winter really sets in, and she finds herself moving into a cold dark flat in London. Now one more Christiansen female to make it over here, and we can celebrate Christmas in full Australian style (much to the discomfort of any Belgians present, I'm sure). I just don't know where I am going to find a cricket bat made from 4x2, which will be used to play 'French Cricket' in our small, probably muddy communal yard. I will perservere however...

Tonight brings the first of the concerts/festivals of the week, in the form of Natalia. I am still contemplating whether or not to go after a rather embarrassing cause of events resulting in a nocturnal visit to the accidents and emergencies wing of our local hospital and am not sure whether I have fully recovered from my constant need to do pee pee. But they have given me some antibiotics (trust me, I don't take medication too easily, but when it comes to toilet trips every 5 minutes, any relief is fantastic!) so hopefully that will be cleared up sooner rather than later.!