Feeling so real

Radica thought me how to escape mentally every now and then, by planning a little virtual getaway... the fastest way to day dreaming about past travels, adventures or those yet to come. This one takes me back to Sydney, Australia!

Time flies, it's already been over a year since I visited my friends Radica & JJ in Sydney.

I loved the city. The bushwalks were an adventure as you can read on my previous posts... but hey, can't wait to do it all over! I loved the feel of the city, the skyline, the people and the spectacular view from my bedroom!

The view from my bed, seriously!

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I miss my friends. I have just decided I will most certainly go visit them again as soon as possible.

So, oil people, stop making those prices so ridiculously high so that airlines can give us better rates again asap!

Ok, back to work...

I am still absolutely in love with this song, would play it 15x in a row.

I'm sitting here catching up on some work, dancing in my chair to this song:

How high by Madonna

How high are the stakes
How much fortune can you make

It's funny
I spent my whole life wanting to be talked about
I did it
Just about everything
To see my name in lights

Was it all worth it
And how did I earn it
Nobody's perfect
I guess I deserve it

How high are the stakes
How much fortune can you make
Does this get any better
Should I carry on
Will it matter when I'm gone
Will any of this matter

It's funny
How everybody mentions my name
But they're never really nice
I took it
Just about everything
Except my own advice

Was it all worth it
And how did I earn it
Nobody's perfect
I guess I deserve it
(nothing lasts forever)
(doesn't make a difference)

How high
Doesn't make a difference
Nothing lasts forever
Should I
Will it matter when I'm gone
Will any of this matter

How high are the stakes
How much fortune can you make
Should I carry on
Will it matter when I'm gone

Thought I'd share this with you guys. I haven't heard Madonna's last album yet, not too crazy about the latest singles. But this album: 'Confessions on a dance floor' is just brilliant. Thanks Madge! ;-)

Posh bangers & Naga peppers in the snowy land of make believe.
Sunday April 6th… Saddam International Airport, Baghdad. Errm no, make that Sandown Park, Esher, UK. After a very hectic public transport day, hectic but so much fun, I wake up in a single artist trailer at 5 am! It’s insanely cold outside, but I wake up in the arms of my special friend.Yay.  Ah quick let’s get an authentic English breakfast in the diner bus. Then a little guided tour on the set of Green Zone. The horse race track lobby has transformed into Saddam International Airport for a few days. Complete with broken concrete, broken glass, wires hanging out the broken ceilings, stretchers, hospital material, dust, and plenty of GI Joe’s and GI Jane’s (feel a sudden urge to yell out loud Suck my d**k, thanks Demi!). Big lights create the illusion of sunlight shining down the departure hall of the Iraq airport, while it’s snowing outside! How did I end up here?? 
Thinking back to where it all started. Brugge. When: the filming of ‘In Bruges’. My life has changed so much. I love it. I am grateful for it every day again, and every day again amazed by the person who changed it for me.

Fast forward back to the UK…  I visited London 2 weekends in a row, first weekend to visit my beautiful friend Sana. It was great to see her again, we caught up on lots of girl talk, went shopping, and then met up with mr F for dinner at Thai Square. Very yummy but very loud dinner! But a few Pimm’s and a lot of rosé wine made it all better.

The weekend after that I ended up in London again unexpectedly. Mr F wanted to meet me at St Pancras, but there was complete chaos in the underground and train system, but in the end we found eachother at Victoria Station. A long hug and lots of kisses later, we walked across the Tower Bridge, we went looking for Borough Market (keep practicing on being a tourguide a lil’ bit longer mr F ). We even walked past Tennis Street!  Hey, who of you knows how to find Tennis Street in London?? Anyways…we finally found the market, in the pouring rain. London’s top chefs buy their fresh meat and vegetables there.

I wanted to try something typically British. Rigt across from the market we found a little place that had a sign out front: Posh Bangers! Sounds more like an adult movie to me but ok, let’s check it out, it smells good. What makes a banger Posh really? Anyways… sausages roasting over rosemary.  I was sold immediately, I’ll take posh bangers in a roll please with chilli sauce! Very tasty!!

Posh bangers in Borough Market

I loved the market. The smells of all the food, the colours, just beautiful. They also sold a large selection fresh and dried chillies including the world's hottest - Naga-Bih.  4 peppers for 2 pounds! I love chillies. I love insanely spicy food. And yes I can still taste the actual flavor of food even with a few chillies thrown in. Super-capsicum-powers!
This pepper is outrageous though, too hot for me!

But more about that in a later post. Really wanna post this one cause it’s been way too long!

I love London!! I loved my time there and I love mr F. Voila!
Up to the next adventure.

No, not the Washington White House, but Casablanca baby!

'What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?'

I remember that line from the movie, and in my case, I think too much sun and seafood did it for me.
I got on the train in Sale to Casablanca airport. First class, yippie. All aboard yes. But wait, my stomach still does not feel right. I'll have some water and close my eyes, I'll be fine. Or maybe not. Let's visit the train's toilet.

My visit to the train's toilet was quite interesting, being sick brings you closer to the toilet than you really ever want to be. And it felt like my organs spontaneously decided to donate themselves to the Moroccon tracks. I could feel bladder, bowel, stomach, blood, tissue, brain infections all at once jump up at me from the toilet bowl. Yippie.

Oh and all this while trying to guard over my luggage, and while trying to disregard staring looks of some strange men.
Interesting. A train change at Ain Sebaa, quick let's find a clean toilet. Oh, no such luck...

45 minutes later I get back on the train to Casablanca, I get out of the train in a pitch dark station, nearly break my ankles and then have to go stand in line at security for another 45 minutes. Before you even enter the aiport you are screened!

Once inside the airport, I try and get rid of some decided youngster that wants to 'help me for money' and make it to the terminal. Terminal 1, oh no, I need to go Terminal 2. A quick glance at the timetable tells me I'll have to hurry, a quick puke and walk later I arrive at the check-in desk.

Only to find some b***y woman and men smiling while telling me I can not board anymore. Yay, just what I needed. So I go the Royal Air Maroc desk to get help, where they tell me, Oh no we can not help you you have to go to Brussels Airlines, cause they booked your ticket. Alrightie let's go, where is it? Terminal 1? Oh no madame, ce n'est pas ici. Terminal 2. Oh no madame, Brussels Airlines does not exist here anymore. You must go to the centre of Casablanca!

270 dirhams and a stomach churning taxi ride later I arrive at the centre of Casablance. Oh no madame, Brussels Airlines is not here. Hmm... I decide to walk in a small travel agency and find a friendly looking woman there. I sat down and cried to her: you gotta help me get out of this country!!

The angel of Casablanca, Aicha, smiled at me and said: don't worry, I will take care of you. And she did. And how.

Aicha and family, Casablanca, Morocco

'Of all the gin joints in all the towns in the world, she walks into mine', dixit Humphrey.

Aicha proved to be the most unselfish woman I have ever met, she helped me book a flight, book a hotel at a discount rate, got me a driver for the next day to get back to the airport. And then she invited me to her house where she fed me (or tried to, my stomach was still on the train tracks somewhere between Sale and Ain Sebaa), she let me rest. Then her husband, youngest son (what a cutie) and Aicha took me for a ride in Casablanca, she bought me presents, olives, and showed me the ocean where we went for a drink (water!) and then took me to the hotel. She also had given me some food and water to spend the night at the hotel. The next morning the driver picked me up and Aicha came to greet me and wish me a safe trip. And off I went.

I cannot believe the generosity and hospitality of this woman, she was truly my angel at that moment. I felt very sick, very lost and very little on my own arriving at Casablance center. But by the time I left there, I felt like the very blessed queen of Casablanca ;-)

Aicha, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Chocolates and gifts from Belgium are on their way.

Vive le Maroc! Here's looking at you kid!

Last week I went to visit my special friend in Sale/Rabat, Morocco. He is currently working on a new Matt Damon movie there, same movie he was working on in Spain in January.

Yay another adventure :-) Our time together was fantastic as always, and we celebrated our first year together. I can't believe how much my life has changed in this past year. Mainly in a good way, although something very sad happened. But I won't go into this now.

Let me take you with me to the Sale medina... and do the Funky Chicken!

Funky chicks in the medina!

Can you believe this? Chicks in the most funky colours! I bet you GAIA wouldn't like this very much. I didn't like the fact that little kids had those chicks in their pant pockets, stuffed like toys...

But it does make a great picture, and no it's not Photoshopped! :-)

Another great picture of all the spices, all the colours and smells, very intoxicating, very enchanting.

Sale Medina - spices

The visit to the Medina was quite an adventure, and the little kids in the street looked at us as if we were aliens, alien giants that is, they kept staring at us. Then mr F asked me if I get these looks from kids back home as well, duuh :-))

I loved the Medina: the sounds, the sights, the hundreds of people selling anything you can imagine, the pashmina's, the colours, the fabrics, the music, the smell of food and tea. I must admit I was glad to find some peace and quiet after our visit, enjoying some good thé à la menthe.

And as a bonus the weather was perfect, we were able to get some sun by the pool on Monday. Ice ice cold water and hot hot sun. And the best company possible, one year after the tequila madness. Thank you mr F.

I've been teaching my special friend some Flemish. He's quite good at learning foreign languages. I remember he impressed me with his very efficient Romanian vocabulary ;-)

So he knows many words or phrases in Flemish now such as 'de rekening alstublieft', 'twee pintjes', 'bedankt', 'godverdomme', 'zoete dromen' and of course 'ik hou van jou'.

And I got proof, check out this picture.
Words in the sand, on the beach of Los Narejos in Spain. Written around midnight on Tuesday January 22nd, under a full moon. By my mr F.

Love on the beach

I love you too.

My friend Radica sent me the coolest calendar for this new year, a calendar with sights from Sydney. She marked a few important locations on it, where they live, where work is etc. I love it! I love calendars as a reminder of the fabulous places I got to visit.

So, since January's almost over, I finally took my 2007 calendar down. Reluctant I must say, cause there are a few important dates marked and notes written on it. It's a calendar I bought in New York with different sights of the city.

But most of all, my special friend wrote a few bits on it. I looked at it carefully today, you can say there's a pre-'In Bruges' time marked on it, a 'during' time, and a post-'In Bruges' time. The making of that movie literally changed my life for a number of reasons, reasons I have written about on this blog, and reasons that I will keep to myself.

Pre...I found myself waiting for something not worth waiting for. I know that now. Yes for all of you who warned me over and over again, yes you were right, but I guess miss D had to find out for herself. I won't lose the lesson don't worry...

During...I had the best 3 weeks of my life. Also possibly the littlest sleep of my life ;-)

Post... great expectations and promises kept. Promises still being kept.

What a year...At the beginning of 2007 I read a horoscope that said the year 07 would bring major changes to my life. I remember thinking I wasn't ready for change at all. Looking back now this change was the best thing ever.

Mr F, I hope you will come sign my 2008 calendar soon.

I wonder what calendar I will have for 2009, where will this year take me ?
Only January and already took a trip to Spain, totally unexpected yay! Found myself on a movie set surrounded by Iraq soldiers and US soldier, big hummers and I think I even recognized good old Saddam. Muy bizarro!:-)
Next trip might be to Morocco. Who knows.

I'm back and I'm ready for whatever this year may bring.

Been out of it for a while, but have found my true spirit and energy back. Time to shine bright again.

I hope to find some time soon to start writing again, maybe in the next few days. I'm definitely looking forward to spending some quality time with my special friend and when he's working, I'll try and find some time to catch up on some reading, blogging,...

Murcia here I come, mr F here I come....

In one of my earlier posts this week I wrote the following: 'Hey, even the idea of sales starting next week does not cheer me up. This is serious! '

Guess what. Yes I am ready to go shopping and for the sales. In fact, I already did some shopping: new boots & jeans.
Things will get better. When, I don't know. How is not clear yet. But they will.

So, nothing like a little retail therapy in the meantime...

I'm back!

Please tell me why I should be making good intentions today. Just because it's a new year? Because we're January 1st and most people need some good intentions to make up for the fact that they ate like starved cavemen on Christmas and New Years or spent all your money?

Ah, sigh, you will know by now that I'm not into the Christmas and Holiday spirit at all ;-)
A) I think it's overrated, makes you spend way too much money.
B) And when you are not feeling well at heart or when times are rough for you, this period only makes it worse, cause the media keep showing how the 'perfect life' should be: all together at the table, stuffing your face with goose liver, exchanging irrelevant overpriced gifts, preferrably grandma and grandpa at the table, have a dozen little kids running around the table, chasing the dog, while 'mom' serves dinner looking impeccable and 'dad' tells everyone how well he's done this year, how big his car is, how big his raise was....

And then, to top it off. You are supposed to make your good intentions known for the year to come. Preferrably a long list. Hey, aim high remember. Favourites must be: lose weight, stop smoking, make more money, save more money, buy your dream house, go to the gym, take up a new hobby... And so on and so on :-)

Well I don't believe in New Year's resolutions. Every day is a chance to make a new resolution, for yourself. Not letting the entire world know what you're up to. Then you can do it at your own pace, take a step back, look at the progress you made or didn't make.

But hey, before you start thinking I'm a dark, anti-romantic person.... au contraire!!
I love life, I have know a few moments so romantic recently that they would make most people go into some kind of shock. I love the warmth of being together with friends and some family, sitting at a table together, laughing, talking, drinking, discussing, enjoying good food. But just not during the 'Holidays', this time of year cuts me up. I'll just never be that person the 'media' or 'society' expects, I guess I'll always be considered a little different or maybe too restless.

The question is why do I let it bother me year after year again? Ah, I should know better by now!
Take those jingle bells and stuff 'em where the sun don't shine amigo! I've had it, bring on the sales :-) Now we're talking!