Sarah says:HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANS!!!! That's my father-in-law up there. All the birthday people got flowers to wear in their hair. He wears his well, don't you think? Below you can see all the food we ate in honor of all of our birthdays, including my brother-in-laws' - who you can see in the below photo - his name is Wim. You can also see good old Marv in that photo on the left trying to be funny! Strangely, my family-in-law is starting to like Marv more than they like my husband - their own son, brother! Man did I eat a lot this weekend. Tomorrow it is back to the smoothie-diet! I actually look forward to it. My consuming smoothies means it's getting sunny again here in Belgium! We were lucky today with the weather. We got to sit outside and eat. Lovely! It was windy though and at one point a huge terrace parasol flew up in the sky above us from the neighbor's garden and blew all the way over a building onto a parallel street. It was funny and freaky! I wish I had gotten a photo of it!
So it's Sunday, which means Post Secret time! Below is definitely my favorite this week. I can totally relate. Big Time even!!!!! One frustrating thing I find about Belgium is that so many people play it so safe. That isn't meant to be an insult. It's just not what I am used to having grown up in America where you often really can just totally start over and do okay and take risks. The other side of that is huge of course - many people obviously can lose their wealth there just as fast as they build it up and all. I realize that. But here, you become what you study even if it isn't, wasn't really what you dreamt you'd be and there is often very little room for career change or risk-taking. I am generalizing indeed. But I really can appreciate that American go-getter spirit sometimes! It can be loud-mouthed and over-confidant and seemingly arrogant to think you can become anything you set out to be -- but it's a nice thought and too many people really do let a lot of fear get in the way of taking new action and direction in their lives. It's far too general for me to say that Belgians don't take risks and that Belgians would rather stay in a bad situation than take the risk to get out of it with the possibility of failure and all that. But there is something to it - in general. Just the whole set up here of choosing your career direction via what you study starting at age 12 already! You sort of get put in this box based on some tests you take and then you follow that path and can almost be forever defined by it. It's changing here and it is becoming less of a catastrophe and more of a possibility to indeed change direction in university or in career - and I'm glad about that. The fewer things that close you into a box in life, the better. The world should indeed be all of our oysters in some way or another. There's just so much to learn and see and do and grasp and grab. I can really appreciate the "go for it" side of the American dream. Of course I'd be a liar if I didn't admit I love the European Social system and am happily living off of it. I guess there's a lot to be learned by mixing together all of the great things from various cultures!
One last thing! I watched this horrid-topic Louis Theroux documentary tonight about the Most Hated Family In America. Via this link you may be able to see some of it. You'll have to navigate a little to find the right link to it. Click here for part one perhaps. Click here for part two I think. And click here for part three I hope. I can't believe this freaky family of gay haters exists. Their whole focus is to be against Gays because it's God's will, they say, to punish all of us because we put up with Gays when the Bible says no Gays allowed. The people Theroux interviewed can't wait for doomsday to come to punish the whole world for all its sins and for allowing Gays to be part of the world and the military. It's unbelievable. Seriously. These people are bizarre! They are so hateful. I can't believe they waste their time with this. It's so freaking archaic. I just don't get it. The funny thing (painful really) is that they also hate George Bush and say we are at war because of all the sins and because Gays are in the military and it's God's ways of killing them. What the frack!!!!!! These people are insane. Anyone so hateful and bigoted is. Freaks!
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