The wobbly bits
November 10, 2006 at 10:59 Friday night at our house generally means leftovers, and this applies to my blog as well. I present to you the wobbly bits--thoughts that haven't gelled into anything resembling a full blown post.
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I had my hair cut today--my first haircut since I let a military barber have a go at it in August. I find that playing Russian Roulette with my choice of stylists seldom results in a truly bad hair cut, but it does result in some heinous blow outs. Despite using the three key styling words, "curly," "natural," and "shaggy," the French-speaking stylists always feel compelled to blow my hair straight back off my face and load it down with styling products to keep every bit in place. In the end, I look like a cross between Larry King and Jimmy Swaggart and hang my head in shame. I need to find out how the phrase "scrunch it" translates into French so I can avoid the tele-evangelist look next time.
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One of the challenges of living overseas is that businesses here have odd hours. I needed to have reprints made of some photographs. I show up at the photography shop, and it's closed. I check the hours and discover it is always closed on Thursdays. Oh, of course, closed on Thursdays. I should have seen that coming.
After all, the place where I get my hair cut is always closed on Tuesdays and is sometimes closed on Mondays and the stylists take an hour lunch break when they're hungry, which may or may not be at lunch time. The pharmacist I use closes for about two hours in the early afternoon, and I always seem to be pulling on the door during that window in his day. Sometimes stores are closed for no reason at all. Nothing like taking the bus somewhere and discovering the store I planned to visit isn't open despite hours posted to the contrary. No explanation given.
This weekend is Armistice Day here in Belgium--which means everything will be closed on Saturday. On Sunday everything is closed as well because Belgians don't work on Sundays. Period. Quite a number of the smaller shops will be closed on Monday as well, because hey, they're ALWAYS closed on Mondays to compensate for being open half a day on Saturdays. While holiday weekends in the U.S. are generally exploited by retailers with extended hours and tons of sales, Belgians actually shut everything down and relax. How un-American! ; )
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Finally, this is the time of year where various international delegations here in Brussels host receptions and parties to promote their countries and their cultures. The other night E went to a party hosted by the Norwegians and Danes and he was served reindeer. No, it wasn't garnished with silver bells. He assures me it does NOT taste like Christmas. Don't tell PETA, Santa, or the kids that Rudolph makes a good kebab. I'm afraid we're going to get coal in our stockings this year.
Sigh.
Happy Weekend!
November 10, 2006
Copyright 2006 Veronica McCabe Deschambault. All rights reserved.
Leftovers
Reader Comments (8)
:-)
Very diverse subjects, yet all making a tasty platter (no reindeer pun intended).
I never know which bakery is closed on which days because just as I worked it out, they all took turns at closing for 4-5 weeks of summer holidays.
The post office across the road closes for lunch ... so the staff can eat together. They don't open again until 2pm ... they're a post office!!!
Okay, back away now. As for hair, I've had mine done twice in the time here ... by friends.
How did the sleepover go?
SHOPS: It's like that in Spain, too. Mostly during the siesta time, though, from about 1:30-4:30. I would go nuts with having to deal with capricious closings on days of the week!
REINDEER: Well, if you consider that eating steak is cruel and heartless in certain cultures, I guess you can deal with reindeer. Long as it's not a relative of Rudolph. :-)
She had a great time at the sleepover,though stayed up until after midnight. I tucked her into bed at 7:30 last night to compensate....
Post a picture of the hair? Or, you should take a picture of it now, styled how you like it, and then take it in with you when you get it cut! Jeez, I am brilliant.
:)