Three-legged dog, oh my!

Moving to a new place is hard, whether its to a new city or a foreign country. It is exciting to be here, but I do miss having my friends around and people to call up and make plans with for the weekend. So what did I do to cheer myself up? I went shopping, of course!

I started my day off having breakfast at a nice little cafe in my neighborhood and saw the best thing I've seen since I've moved here ... a 3-legged dog hobbling down the street. I wish to God I had gotten a picture of it ... it was awesome. As everyone looked on, I couldn't help but think that if this was the U.S., that dog would have a prosthetic leg by now. And then I wondered why there isn't an "Extreme Pet Makeover" show yet where the experts come in and makeover the pet that's had a hard life (abandoned by his mother, hit by a car and lost a leg, finally adopted by loving owner, gets cancer and loses all of his fur, now on the brink of recovery) ... just a thought.

So I again walked around the neighborhoods ... this time with shopping as my goal ... and ran across two street fairs. The one in the picture is in Marolles, a part of town with a big immigrant population. I don't think you can tell from the picture, but the guy was selling "As seen on TV" products. It made me laugh.

I ended up in Zara and Espirit, and actually bought the few things I set out to buy ... a trench coat, flats and some new jeans. And a cute little sweater for good measure. Since I don't have anyone to show off my new purchases too, I've put a picture of them below. I did go to the Mango, but yikes ...

Last night, I had after work drinks in Place Luxembourg with my colleague Rebecca. Apparently, it is the place to go for anyone working in the Parliament or having anything to do with EU relations. It was a sea of suits of all nationalities! Rebecca's great and it was a lot of fun getting to know her better. After that, I met up with Jeremy, my friend Jerry's friend who lives here in Brussels. Yay, Jeremy! It was so nice to hang out with an American and just socialize for a while. I am happy to know Jeremy (and his girlfriend Femke) so that I've got some outside of the office contacts here.

The Prada flower heel exists!

This event is so BIG it gets its own post. I was finishing up a great day of shopping (more on that in my next post) and looking for a place to grab a quick bite and enjoy the warm, sunny weather when I was stopped dead in my tracks. There, gleaming from the window of a high-end shoe store on the Avenue Louise were the loves of my life ... the Prada flower heel ... in three variations!
Some of you may know that I have been obsessed with these shoes for a number of months, and have spent many hours staring at them online and in magazines. If there ever was a shoe that screamed Mogo, it would be the Prada flower heels. The price tag, on the other hand, screams "What are you thinking? You can't afford these shoes. Get thee to the Payless right away!"

On the sage advice of my good friend Amanda, I decided that if I ever saw the shoes in real life (only available online from

Bergdorfs in the U.S., as far as I can tell), I would try them on and see if they really were deserving of my love and the debt I would have to go into to purchase them.

So I walked into the store, dropped all of my bags, and got down on my hands and knees to search for my size. Alas, no size 41s in any of the styles they hand in stock. While I was disappointed, I believe this was God's way of reminding me that $800 is well spent on much more important things than shoes. So I took a couple of photos (the guy working in the store thought I was nuts) and went about my day.

But I will say this ... if they had the ones on the top in my size, I may have been forced to purchase them. They are just as gorgeous in real life as they are in magazines. Let's hope the knock off version is available soon.

Maybe someday I too can be a Eurocrat!

Well, it's been three days, so I figure I can dish a little bit about the new job! First things first ...

Here's my lovely office ... or should I say cubicle? Really, it is just a desk. You can't see it from this picture, but I can see the European Parliament building from my window ... dorky but very cool!

Very few folks in the Brussels office have their own office, and I'm definitely not one of them! I don't mind at all though cause I sit in a section with three other women, all of whom are lovely, funny and have been extremely welcoming to me. Next to me sits Rebecca, who is British (grew up in Hong Kong), and reminds me of Genevieve (if any of you remember her); across from me is Catherine, who is British and is 7 and half months pregnant with her third child; and next to Catherine is Sheila, who is Danish, speaks every language imaginable as far as I can tell, and used to work in our London office before moving to Brussels. All of them make me laugh and it is fun to be able to chit chat with your colleagues while you're getting your work done, especially when you are doing research and writing memos ... which is pretty much all I've done this week. Looking forward to getting into some deeper client work.

Let's see ... what are the biggest differences and similarities in the D.C. and Brussels office?

1. I can wear jeans every day if I like, as long as I don't have client meetings. This of course means I will be spending most of my time in jeans as I believe all of my clients are based in other locations. Yes ... Norway and Russia for right now. Ooh, ooh ... I get to go to Oslo for a client conference in August! Yay ... sure beats Indianapolis!

2. Much of the work in Brussels is straight lobbying work ... meaning people have their issue specialities and spend their time researching, writing about and learning everything possible about how the EU regulatory process impacts this issue. So I'm going to be spending most of my time working with Sheila and Rebecca on broader advocacy campaigns rather than the traditional work done out of Brussels. They are going to try to get me some work on one of the more traditional accounts, but we'll see ...

3. People here actually take lunch breaks.

4. Of course, this means that everyone comes in at about 9:30 and usually stays until 7:30 or 8:00. Don't think they don't work as hard cause it's Europe. It just seems that they don't work at the same frentic pace we tend to in the U.S. It's nice.

So what else? I joined a gym today, which I am very excited about. It is right across the street from the office and there are loads of international people there. I've spent the past two mornings at the city of Brussels' administrative offices trying to register ... something I have to do so I can live here. Next step ... the police will come visit me at my house to ensure I actually live where I told them I do. Whatever Brussels police department. Oh, and my colleague John who works part time in London and part time in Brussels lives in the apartment below me. Hooray ... he's American but has been living in Europe for years so he's a native. Just nice to have someone I know so close. He's cool and has a great big personality, which of course, I love. I'm looking forward to getting to know him.

Biggest lesson learned to date = high heels and cobblestone streets do not mix! My mom knows this after listening to me complain while I hobbled around the city center while I was on the phone with her yesterday. My mission for this weekend ... shop for cute but sensible flats and a classic trench. We've had a nice reprieve from the rain but I know it's just a matter of time before it returns.

Law & Order en francais!

I now know how I will practice my French. Lenny sounds so sophisticated in French!

First Weekend in Brussels

At 2 pm Saturday, while I was wandering around trying to find plug adapters that wouldn't blow up my outlets (done it twice ... guess whose landlord loves her?), I learned a very important lesson -- always eat breakfast before wandering aimlessly around a neighborhood you don't know in a foreign country. I was so cranky and famished by the time I found the brico (my new word -- it means hardware store), I wasn't even excited that I: a) found what I was looking for and b) found a couple of very cool neighborhoods with all I need in walking distance of my house. No, I was too focused on finding a sandwich and shoving it in my mouth. Once I did that, I decided to go grocery shopping so this wouldn't happen again.

The best thing I bought on my first grocery shopping trip was an orphanage size box of Special K. Come to think of it, it should probably be referred to as the weight loss camp size box of Special K (I hope orphans the world over are served delicious sugary cereals like Coco Krispies!). Seriously, this box is like 4 boxes in one. Paired with my Rice Dream (I wouldn't buy real milk cause they only had full fat), it made for a tasty breakfast this morning!

I've spent the weekend walking all over the city, especially exploring the previously mentioned neighborhoods I am surrounded by. One neighborhood, Flagey, has a cute duck pond, a great bar called Cafe Belga, and a farmer's market on Saturdays and Sundays that sells fresh flowers, meats, vegetables, cheeses, waffles, etc. I'll visit next weekend to purchase more staples for the kitchen.

The duck pond is lined by gorgeous houses ... it has a great neighborhood feel to it ... people who live there were out shopping, playing with their kids in the park, etc. The other neighborhood I walked around, which if the signs are to be believed is called Moliere, has an overabundance of hair salons. And a brico. God love the brico!

I also went for a run in the Bois de la Cambre and through l'Abbaye de la Cambre. The Bois de la Cambre is, from what I can tell, a pretty sizable park (forest) that reminds me an awful lot of Rock Creek Park ... serious traffic seems to be tearing through it, but there are lovely trails and walkways good for running. My apartment actually provided a running map and gave three ideal locations in the Bois for running. I'm going to try another this evening. L'Abbaye is this beautfiul old abbey that is a stone's through from my house. A few gorgeous old buildings and well-manicured gardens. And lots of stairs ... it will be good working out or just relaxing in the sun (when and if it comes out).

Speaking of the sun, I decided to walk to my office this morning to see how long it would take (about 30 minutes) and was amazed at how beautiful it was. The sun was shining, it was warm, and I was thinking it would have been the perfect day for sandals and a dress ... and here I was in jeans and tennis shoes. After I found the office, I walked over to see the Parc du Cinquantenaire ... a major tourist attration in the city. It was beautiful ... the Arch in the photo

is the grand entrance (or exit) to the Parc. See the big, pretty, white, puffy clouds in the photo? Well, by the time I walked up to the Arch after taking this photo, the winds of change started to blow. I'm not joking when I say it dropped 15 degrees and began to rain ... hard and fast. I tried to find a cab to get home but there were none in sight. So I walked and got soaked to the bone. I walked through the European Quarter and back down through Flagey. And wouldn't you know it? By the time I got home, it stopped raining. Ugh.

The sun does seem to come out later in the day here ... and it doesn't set until around 10:30/10:45. So its 6:00 now and sunny, and likely will be for the next 4 hours or so. Time for me to head out for a run!

Looking forward to my first day of work tomorrow. Happy Father's Day, Dad! I love you!