Re: a day in brussles

https://plus.google.com/photos/104769303678729727539/albums/6025186218494977681?authkey=CKCz2LGosun-gQE

Brussels photos

On Sun, Jun 15, 2014 at 11:59 AM, Gil Even <gil.even@gmail.com> wrote:

A day in brussles

 

I boarded the plan in Cleveland with a back pack and a baby seat in a big bag as a trolley, not a heavy thing, just bulky. The 1^st leg was fine at plane side check in, but on the large plane, no one said anything as I put it on the plane, but then it wouldn't fit. Unfortunately I had to check the baby seat all the way to my final destination and I am so glad! It would have been a pain to lug that thing around.

 

Now I was free to roam Brussels for 3.5 hours. I preplanned my route to hit maximum number of sites, since the city center is not that large. I've been to Brussels years ago for a few hours and didn't plan and had not real good memories of the place. But I am more prepared now. Still, the 1^st impressions were not great, nice quite city but nothing extra ordinary, its Sunday morning and the city is quite empty, but I go site to site and take photos of many interesting statues or carvings and finally hit the grand palace area and things get lively. Small streets, sidewalks that make me look down or risk a sprain, lots of restaurants, lots of tourists, lots and lots of chocolate places, and thieves. There is a sign on the cathedral entrance that thieves operate in and out of the place, I wonder if they mean the priests?

It's a nice sunny day and I stop in the gallery for refueling of crepe with bananas and chocolate and hot chocolate la maison and get chocolate for desert… (free treat). Now energized I get to the world wonder. I have a new book of 100 world wonder and the grand palace is one of them. I need to see if there was no bribe to get this place in! it is nice, but a world wonder, I am not so sure. Si keep walking and pass more small cathedrals, squares, statues, many of the statues are of lions, some roar, some cower and some just stand proud. I reach the peeing boy status and take a peeing on me selfie, a must I think, get a chocolate sample at Leonidas and later a very yummy ice cream at a small market I happen to pass by.

I make it on time to the airport and wish I left later to reach one more random square.

 

Over all, efficient use of time, in a good city center, but I wouldn't rate it on my top 10 European cities. Something is missing, the place is pretty but the charm is not there.

 

World wonder- check

Ice cream and chocolate – check

Been peed on – check

Not being robbed – check

Flight to Israel in one hour

 

photos coming...

a day in brussles

A day in brussles

 

I boarded the plan in Cleveland with a back pack and a baby seat in a big bag as a trolley, not a heavy thing, just bulky. The 1^st leg was fine at plane side check in, but on the large plane, no one said anything as I put it on the plane, but then it wouldn't fit. Unfortunately I had to check the baby seat all the way to my final destination and I am so glad! It would have been a pain to lug that thing around.

 

Now I was free to roam Brussels for 3.5 hours. I preplanned my route to hit maximum number of sites, since the city center is not that large. I've been to Brussels years ago for a few hours and didn't plan and had not real good memories of the place. But I am more prepared now. Still, the 1^st impressions were not great, nice quite city but nothing extra ordinary, its Sunday morning and the city is quite empty, but I go site to site and take photos of many interesting statues or carvings and finally hit the grand palace area and things get lively. Small streets, sidewalks that make me look down or risk a sprain, lots of restaurants, lots of tourists, lots and lots of chocolate places, and thieves. There is a sign on the cathedral entrance that thieves operate in and out of the place, I wonder if they mean the priests?

It's a nice sunny day and I stop in the gallery for refueling of crepe with bananas and chocolate and hot chocolate la maison and get chocolate for desert… (free treat). Now energized I get to the world wonder. I have a new book of 100 world wonder and the grand palace is one of them. I need to see if there was no bribe to get this place in! it is nice, but a world wonder, I am not so sure. Si keep walking and pass more small cathedrals, squares, statues, many of the statues are of lions, some roar, some cower and some just stand proud. I reach the peeing boy status and take a peeing on me selfie, a must I think, get a chocolate sample at Leonidas and later a very yummy ice cream at a small market I happen to pass by.

I make it on time to the airport and wish I left later to reach one more random square.

 

Over all, efficient use of time, in a good city center, but I wouldn't rate it on my top 10 European cities. Something is missing, the place is pretty but the charm is not there.

 

World wonder- check

Ice cream and chocolate – check

Been peed on – check

Not being robbed – check

Flight to Israel in one hour

 

photos coming...

on remote, ladder and voccabulary

2 devices were lost recently to the never ending chaos

one DVD remote discovered the inside of the toilet , while a house phone found a water play area out side, both devices decided that one bath is enough and do not function any more.

we suspect a baby who was seen holding the devices, pointing at the TV and complaining why they don't work.

 

Matanchuk has some new games. he takes a ball, goes to a person, hands it, and then pulls t away. so cute.

recently he learned to walk up the slide and scare his grand mom. and today he learned to climb the ladder (to get to the slide)!! at first he needed to be pushed, then only to support, then just to be there in case of a fall and now he is climbing. i am still a mm away in case he falls, but it is awesome!!!

he now has two dance moves, up and down and side to side, already more versatile then I.

 

he has new vocabulary.

 

i say good morning, he says hi

i ask if he can jump and he says high?

he falls down, i asked whats wrong, he says aiii

i ask, do you want to go out side and play, he point to himself and asks I?

so many words...

 

we started a hiking project, doing the buckeye trails, its over 2000k -it will takes years, but i started hiking with mattan on my back and hope to finish it with him walking next to me.

 

so far 3 miles of trail covered, but since we have to park and go back to the Car, the actual walks are doubled. Mattan so far is ok in the back pack. the trails are amazing, green , lots of flowers, some deer, frogs and all the time by the chagrin river, i hope by end of summer to reach the lake, all hiking in sections.

 

that is it, lately just doing some biking, some volley ball, some hiking and but wiping.

 

see you in Israel soon.

p.s - lots of mattan photos and some other humans

https://plus.google.com/photos/104769303678729727539/albums/6023872105899406881?authkey=CI2q2LGirprsLw

 

 

on racoons, groceries and lego

this week Alla went to the super market, got some stuff and when almost arrived home, she noticed she forgot the groceries!! and went back. i asked if she forgot mattan...

 

we had a new visitor in the back yard this morning. a raccoon! enjoying the bird food. I dont like seeing him so close to where mattan plays, but i do enjoy seeing them.

 

last weekend i held an amazing race event, the 1st in two years. it shows i have more time now that school is out. i had the people do face painting with Amanda (an expert face painter) and they drew spider man on their faces. then played some paint ball, tried some archery, an hour of orienteering and finish with some disc golf. i need to find a place that lets me act as a participant.

 

I took mattanchuk to the mall today for his 14th month birthday. he got close to the edge on the 2nd floor and approached very cautiously, so cute. he loved the lego store! i had to get him something, but he most wanted 2 cubes and nothing of the fancy stuff. i on the other wanted to get tons of stuff. castle Lego, Simpsons lego... just awesome, but didn't get any for me..

 

in an unexpected turn of events, i was asked to be the president of our work toast masters branch and i ran for office , one minute speech later and i was voted in. what have i done? it may be an interesting role.

 

Mattanchuk has a fetish for the road. we walk him out side and he dashes of to the middle of the road and when indoors he runs to the door, not sure why he does that, but by the time he can tell me,  he will forget about it. i got him a bicycle but he is a bit small for that, he still prefer the little red car. there are several dogs in the area and one of them gave him a face bath, so funny.

 

nothing special lately, simply enjoying the summer... see you in Israel in 12 days

on bluebirds, rice and the bathroom floor

it's strange being out of school and having nothing to do. I need a project. for now, i am debating what to do with toast masters. i should continue my advances speeches series, but for now focusing on the leadership program , i am half way through. but now its time for club election. i can be president. well there is no real competition. its a small club and if i choose to run, no one will run against me, will i win such election? but do i want to commit, that is the question. i may take one of the VP positions, still arguing with myself. with free time, i am arranging another amazing race event, it will be fun. i love arranging these thing, i will share photos after the event. 

mean while i am having fun with mattanchuk.

a few days ago, he discovered a bag of rice and decided to hold it up side down, its very exciting to see grains fall. and these grains go everywhere. i cleaned it up and when i was done, he found another bag of rice and id it again!!! cleaning rice is hard, they scatter to far, i pile the grains and mattan goes to the pile and scatters them by hand, it was so funny.

i took him to the shower, on an unrelated day and had him without a diaper for a second and he peed on the bathroom floor. cleaned it up and took him to the shower and when i got up, i was surprised to find poop on the floor. i have no idea when he did that, it was either him or a very big rat.

on sunny days we started being active, i took him on a couple of hikes, saw some blue birds. i saw blue birds on my street, but not in my back yard yet, i need to find find the food that attracts them, very pretty birds. i took him on a ride in his little car, and now he learned to put his foot on the ground, Flintstones style and slow down, which wrecked his shoe! 

he now says hi, that his the 1st unofficial word, i am waiting for another. he is an expert at taking of shoes and socks, peeing on the bathroom floor, activating the nap time music thing by his bad, muting the tv with the remote,  and practicing his building blocks ability, ball handling and other such skills.

today he managed to flip pages on the tablet, so cute. and he is addicted to Hebrew songs on DVD he got from his aunt. he started eating oat mill porridge and now so have I. i think i have a mom habit of eating whatever he doesn't eat, but the weight loss continues... with a long way to go...

summer is out and i hope to make it as fun as i imagine it to be, rain stay away in the evenings.... so i can continue playing beach volleyball, bike and hike, its so much fun.

cheers

on speeches, trees and feet

could every day be this day?

 

woke up early before 6 am , Mattan woke me up, and while i take a shower, he tries to go into the shower with clothes on to play with shampoo bottles. then breakfast, bottle of yukky stuff for Mattan and granola for me. diaper change of  both 1 and 2 and then heading downtown for graduation. i am not sure of the origin of the graduation dress code. i was placed in a robe of black and green. on top of that, something that is not a vest, not a scarf, but yet drapes from my neck. colored black green and brown. and the traditional hat with a brown tassel. why does business school get brown? do they no business is S##t? i was surprised to see so many people i had not seen, all MBA grads, i was not aware the program was so big. so many future contenders for my next job.

we were placed in a line and made our way to the center courts (the ceremony was in an arena), where every body walks the line to their sits while looking for families in the audience.

the gown has some strange additions  (a kind of fingerless gloves at the ends of the robe) that you can stick your hand in, again, the purpose is not clear and i saw no use at first, but then we found a use, place the phone in, since the robe has no pockets. it held my water bottle as well, a most handy and strange thing.

 

the ceremony began, with one greeting after another, the president,  Representative of the board, alumni rep, the speeches went faster than i assumed, then some honorary titles to people I've never herd of, a few doctoral awards and Finally, over 200 or so graduates, went up, got my side photo, had my name read, one more photo with the president, one More by myself, very efficient graduation machine. then we waited for the entire undergrad class and soon after an hour and a half only we were done, they didn't have everyone throw the hats in the air...shame but some did anyway (so i had to join them). a few minutes later, we got some more photos next to the beautiful blossoming trees. the best time of year is right now, when all the fruit trees are blossoming.  the gradation almost feels complete, as i still wait for my last grade....

after the event i drove to an orienteering event and Quayle hollow. i have not had great success there, once a was stung my so many mosquitoes, i actually felt bad, another time i was lots for a while. but today i was on fire. i have not ran in 6 weeks (took a break for the vacation and end of school), so , i therefore did not expect to be able to run much. but i surprised myself and ran for the most of the 90 minute event, 4.6 miles of woods running, definitely my best orienteering pace ever. this was a score event, meaning a set time and many points, collect the most you can, with further or harder to find points worth more, so to win you must move fast and make no mistakes. this time (unlike the usual) i was mistake free, almost. spent no wasted time. at one creek crossing, i walked on a tree to cross, and at the edge, slipped and got both feet wet. since that point i didn't care for streams and ran through them, where usually i would be more careful and waste time.

towards the end of the time, i made a push for one more point, got wet again and made it back in time (there are severe point penalties for being late). no results yet, and again i will not win, but definitely my best event ever.

and a bonus, got to see some deer and a lovely green forest.

 

now resting at home, with sore but satisfied feet.

this is how every day should be...

 

 

yearly report- season 6

slightly late... but i owe you the yearly report...

 

what did we have in the last year,

we had a graduation, ceremony this weekend and i will graduate with the highest honors..wooooohoooo. i don't know really what has changed to get me to honors, since it's was not so before. perhaps the program is easier, perhaps i am more mature, or more focused. but have spent countless hours and worked my butt off.

 

travel has seen 2 countries, Iceland and cost Rica which brings the total to 55 countries but no new states... how can this be, need to get to Alabama some how, the list of missing states is short, but none are near by.

 

 

the plan for next year includes possibles of Portugal and south of space with bonus Gibraltar, Peru, perhaps more central America. but honestly, i want after the work project ends to take a month off and tour several countries. how to do it with the little one, time will tell.

 

in local travel, we went to a big cavern in south Ohio and that's it, well we did have more work at home.

 

movies- i think i only saw 2-3 the whole year,(though many at home), we saw the blue man group and hardly any music shows.

 

well, its been a busy year of wiping, washing, cleaning, dressing, undressing, dressing,undressing, pee cleaning, poop picking, filming, holding, calming, panicking, medicine giving, creaming, carrying, piggybacking, napping, soaping, salining, laughing, smiling, barking, squirrel pointing, reading, singing, grabbing, driving, sliding,catching and many more surprisingly fun activities of watching mattanchuk discover the world. 

they told me raising a child is fun, i didn't appreciate how much, its awesome, but yes one is enough.

 

running was a big part of this difficult winter  with 8 races so far with improving times, but still have not came close to the 30 minutes goal. i did do 1 8k race and 1 triathlon, internal. there will be more of these this summer,

i had 2 orienteering events and another rogaine orienteering, lost my way once, and managed to pass through so many thorns on one event, that i had marks all over my legs, arms and even head- last rogain for me in thorny Pennsylvania.

 

i didn't spend enough time on the treadmill, need to return to that, and do more weights. i gained >30 pounds in the last year and almost lost it all, i hope by the time you seem me back home, that i will reach a point lowest in the last 4 years. i am doing wight watchers and greatly changed my bad eating habits.

 

cereal changed to granola, beef to fish, lots of edamame, one item per meal, waiting before seconds, putting the fork down and many more changes, i am in my seconds session, it is not part of work, but it's at work which makes it easier to attend.

last year has seen more plate changes including heart of palm (not yummy), squash (i still cant believe i ate it), gefilte fish!!! what the heck is happening to my taste buds.

 

i started going to Toast masters this year and completed my competent communicator status after completing 10 speeches, i am now in the process of a leadership program that will take me the rest of the year, as my club has a meet every 2 weeks, and also proceed with more advanced speeches program. what will i do with all these new learning's and skills, i don't know yet. when i will grow up i will decide what's next.

 

fun activities included surfing, wind surfing, volcano bathing, hiking, biking, jet skiing, kayaking, kanoeing, rafting, jungle tracking, zip lining, canyoning, rappelling,  high jumping to natural pools, water hole swimming, orienteering, rogaining, triathalonearing, running, swimming, snorkeling, volley balling.

 

interesting moments

i swam naked in a volcano pool!!!!! that was awesome, and zoomed in photos by paparazzi does exist, but photos were never shared with me. did i mention the pool was cold.

 

i walked where astronauts practiced the moon landing.

 

i ate great testing hot dogs, purchased them and when tried them here, they were horrible.

 

i learned to surf, and managed to bruise my ribs

 

i learn to wind surf... i need to find local clubs here.

 

i play D&D till 8 months ago in a fun campaign, need to fun another since the organizer moved out of town.

 

i swam and jumped into the incredible water holes in Mexico

 

i saw impossible to find frogs, lizards that look like a leaf and more interesting animals.

 

i launched pumpkins in an Amish farm, and almost hit the target.

 

i tried apple butter (not bad)

 

i played lots of back gammon and word with friends.

i finished season 4 for braking bad, season 1 of home land, season 5 of breaking bad... yes i watch TV too much.

i watched wreselmania live, for the 1st time. i still cant believe the undertaker lost!!

 

i went fishing once, and caught nothing, which is good, why hurt the poor fish.

i didn't have new visitors in my bird feeder, a repeat of the same, but still nice to see. i saw my 1st coyote hear.

i had a few injuries, 1 sprain, neck and beck issues, better now.

 

wow, i start every paragraph with the word i, i need to improve my writing style.

 

for a while, we went dancing and learned some moves, that was fun, but we didn't stick with an an above beginner program.

 

 

in traffic, i had 2 fines this year, parking and expired tags.

on an unexpected side, i did planted and created my vegetable garden that actually grew 2 pumpkins. we even carved them into faces and scared kids in Halloween - my new tradition, 2 years in a row.

traditions continue with matzo ball soup in passover and my killer 3 layer mattza cake.

 

next year... lots of fun activities are considered now that school is over and i promise to continue writing and documenting it all.

 

cheers for year six

pura vida

happy Independence day Israel, and happy cinco the mayo.