Discovering Spring

Predominantly White Outfits
Outdoor Barbecue Parties
Bikes
Rollerblading
Sun, Wind, and some gray and rainy skies
Flowers
Pollens
Dandelions

Back in the Philippines, I was indifferent to the four seasons. I couldn't relate to the seasons featured in European and American clothes stores like Zara, Mango, Marks & Spencer, Esprit. I hardly even knew when it changed even if I was born in San Francisco and lived there for five years. Mainly, it was because I grew up in the Manila where we only had 2 seasons -- the hot and the stormy.

Living in Luxembourg for a little over a year, I've experienced the four seasons. Last year, summer was my favorite because it felt close to the temperature in the Philippines, plus Spring felt too cold for me. Now, it's spring time and I am loving it! My body has adapted to the climate and I find the combination of sun and wind with a some rainshowers refreshing. :) We are spending more time outdoors and jacket-free compared to last year.

With the season comes free-flying pollen, dust, and dandelions blown by the wind. A couple of weeks back, I even saw dried leaves from a nearby tree being blown by the wind. It looked like a shower of white leaves falling like confetti. It was astonishing. I was stunned that I wasn't able to capture it on cam. Next time.

With flowers come the pollen. With the pollen, comes yellow dust. With dandelions blown by the wind, comes web-like, cotton-like "dust" on plants and dry leaves that make them stick and bunch together. With the change in season comes the change in our daily attire. Wool, down feather, snow-proof gear should be retired for the moment or they will clutter much of our cabinet and apartment space. The children's winter clothes that would be small for this year's winter should be stored away, handed down, donated or sold in one of the spring sales. Now, I get a picture of what Spring Cleaning is.

In a few days, Spring will turn into Summer. I'm looking forward to Summer but not too eager to bid Spring goodbye.

Boos K'fe

When everyone in the US and in the Philippines was celebrating Mother's Day, my boys treated me to a Mother's Day Buffet Brunch in Boos K'fe, which was my restaurant of choice. :)

Every time we head to Strassen or go to Arlon, Belgium, we always pass by Boos K'fe. The place caught my attention a couple of months back because on Sundays, their parking is always full. They also have a resort-looking outdoor set up that can be seen from outside. I checked them out online one time to see if they are children-friendly before my gang and I trudge over there for a meal.

It was a gorgeous sunny day when we went there. As usual, the parking was full but they had valet parking that still had a few more vacant places and that's where we parked. We didn't have a reservation as it was a spur of the moment decision. Their outdoor tables were fully booked but they offered us a table indoors, which was almost vacant except for two other tables. Sadly, it was warmer inside while it was breezy outside. Well, that's the downside of not making a reservation.

Anyway, the place felt festive. There were lots of people, families, friends taking all the sun the day offered. The music was upbeat and beach-like. There were children running around and playing in the sandstrip barefoot, building a road-way in the sand. Waiters or Lifeguards as they called them were scurrying from one table to another from the kitchen. Some Lifeguards were offering customers outside straw hats as protection from the sun.

Since it was a sunny day, the buffet brunch had a barbecue grill with burgers, beef ribs, porkchops, pork ribs, chicken, and sausages. There was a table for desserts featuring flavored mousse, fresh fruit salad, muffins. There was also a set up for an English Breakfast with a variety of bread, eggs among other things and another table with cold salads, carpaccio, sushi. My eyes lit up and my appetite was extremely alert and excited. The repertoire of their buffet brunch barbecue didn't disappoint. It was delicious and yummy even to my Asian-trained tastebuds that often find European food bland.

When we had our fill, we transferred to a table outdoors where we sat on beach chairs, kicked off our shoes and let Polo play in the sand. We also took off Nicolo's socks and shoes and let him discover the feel of sand on his feet -- it was new to him. We chilled there for a while and allowed our skin to absorb the vitamin D our bodies badly needed.

The buffet set us back by thirty euros for the adults and half the price for the children. It costed much more than what we expected but it was worth it for a Mother's Day feast care of my boys.

'Tis the Season of Cherries!!!

I have a picture cherry-picking in San Diego, California when I was less than five years old. I ate a few pieces of these in the Philippines last year when my sister's boyfriend came home from HongKong (or maybe Japan, I forgot where). On rare ocassions, they were sold in one of the malls in Makati and in Chinatown for Php 300 for one-fourth a kilo.

Luckily, it's in season here in Luxembourg! Last week, I requested my dear husband to bring home some and here's a picture. They didn't taste like the cherry flavor of cough syrups, chapstick or lipstick because those taste more like cherries that come in bottles and are soaked in syrup. These tasted subtle, the kind that make you never stop eating in search for the flavor. In any case, I found them refreshing, a refreshing break from our usual banana, apple, pear, and ocassional strawberry and grape fruit repertoire at home.

The Chocolate House

We stumbled upon The Chocolate House on a rainy windy afternon last Autumn. It was a good discovery! It is a lovely cozy go-to place for chilling out with warm drinks, chocolates, cakes and pastries. It is my husband's temporary alternative to the Starbucks experience that he has been longing for ever since we came here to Luxembourg.

The place is known for their hot CHOCspoons - they are a chocolate cubes of different flavors that come with a wooden spoon. The chocolate cube is stirred in a mug of hot milk that becomes a flavored chocolate drink when the chocolate cube melts. The CHOCspoons are very comforting during cold Autumn and Winter days.

For spring, they have a number of cold concoctions to cool down their visitors on a warm day. Check out what we had:

ChocoLoco - 1 slice of brownie with 3 scoops of chocolate ice cream (but I changed mine to vanilla) with cream and chocolate bits



Kids Only - 3 scoops of ice cream (vanilla and strawberry) with cream, smarties, and candy sprinkles





Stawberry Tarte - one of the cake selections for the day.





For me, their hotchocspoons are still their best offers.

CeCiL - Cercle Cite' Les salons de la ville

The sunshine and blooms that spring brings makes me itching to go out and visit places (much to the dismay of my boys who would rather stay at home and play Wii or just chill out). Last Saturday, there were three events in the city: The British Ladies' Car Boot Sale, the Reopening of the Cercle Municipal, and the Annual Duck Race. I wanted to go to all of them! Reality check: that was not possible with two children in tow.

I was successful in convincing my boys to go see the newly renovated Cercle Municipal. When we arrived in Luxembourg a year ago, it was under renovation (apparently, it has been so for five years already)that's why I was curious to see it. and here are snippets of what we saw and did there:


The colorful mural that featured artworks from children visitors greeted everyone



  

The Grande Salle - four musicians were playing the saxophone. They are the Saxitude.

They caught Polo's attention





Now, we're watching an interpretative dance number from students from the Dance Atmosphere school.
Nicolo is performing his own version.



The Grande Salle's chandelier.



The Grande Salle's window







 

Every thirty minutes or so, a muse in red holding a red umbrella slowly turned to the tune of a musical box.

At the end, we got a chance to dress up for a free souvenir photo in the Salle de reunion...

... Polo had barbapapa (that's french for cotton candy)

... and Nicolo brought home a balloon. :)





Drawing on the Blue Sky 2

Sunny days here in Luxembourg mean blue skies styled with white lines and straight clouds painted by jets. Seeing these lines fascinate me so much that they never fail to brighten my day.

What a lovely background to Polo's picture

Definitely makes the playground look more playful

X marks the spot? Taken while waiting for the bus at the Mersch Gare (Train Station)

It's like they are straight clouds but they are really jet dust.

Taken through the wet window of our car. This is at the carpark of Polo's school.

How do you like the blue skies here in Luxembourg? What do the clouds in your part of the world look like on a sunny blue sky day?

12 months, 4 Seasons and still counting

The fifteenth of March marked our 12th month here in Luxembourg. Twelve months, four seasons and more than a handful experiences of living by ourselves in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg enabled us to gain another feather on our cap of wisdom and maturity.

Here are the things I've learned as well as the helpful anecdotes or advice we got from those we met along the way to our one year anniversary:

• If someone says that a place is "ten-minutes away" that means it is FAR in my own Filipino definition of time and distance. - In the Philippines, if a place is ten to thirty minutes away, that means that it is near. It's the metro vehicular traffic that makes the journey long. Here, if a place is thirty minutes away, you'd end up in a location as far a Subic is from Manila. I learned this the hard way when I ventured out to bring Polo to the nearest playground on my first hands-on day with him. Only to find out that the playground was as far as Glorietta 4 is from Fort Bonifacio!
• You are pregnant, not handicapped. You are in a delicate condition but you are still capable. - Words spoken to my pregnant friend. Words also given to me by the trainer who gave our one-on-one Cultural introduction to Luxembourg. It helped me make the paradigm and cultural shift. I no longer have help from household servants or from family to rely on. I have to do everything by myself. I cannot rely on my husband to do everything because I am pregnant. I cannot wait until I am no longer pregnant to do things (because I would definitely have a lot more on my hands by then). My attitude transformed to: "I can do this!" "The time is now!"
• Don't wait for good weather to go out and do something because there's no such thing as "good weather". Instead, wear weather-appropriate clothes. - Advice again from the trainer who gave our one-on-one Cultural into to Luxembourg. Very practical advice. In the Philippines, if it is raining or stormy, children should stay indoors. We wait until there is good weather to have them run about outdoors. Here, the sun only shines well in 2-3 out of 12 months. If we wait for the sun, the children will never get to run outside. We were also introduced to season-appropriate footwear and jackets. I never knew that there was such a thing because in a tropical country, one layer of clothing is enough plus maybe a jacket during rainy months but that's it. Thank God for those who invented snow and waterproof footwear and outdoor wear. They softened the shock of the winter and kept us warm and cozy.
• Time Management = Managing your energy - Marvin got this from one of his colleagues. This is very practical. It helps in maintaining a good work-life balance. What will you do with all your time if you don't have any energy left to use it? We cannot use up our energy on trivial things. We have to spread them out and save some for quality time with the family. Likewise, we can no longer stay up late as we're used to before. For one, we are not getting any younger and then, two, we will end up cranky and irritable the next day. Cranky and irritable doesn't go well with taking care of children.
• Dirt is Good (as the ad for a certain laundry soap goes). It helps develop the children's immune system. - Living in the Philippines with a yaya (what we call a nanny) to look after your children almost 24 hours a day, it's easy to keep the children away from dirt in malls, parks and in the house. Since we don't have the luxury of having a yaya here, I have to allow my children to explore and discover on their own and that means encounter dirt, touch the grass! I've even seen parents who have their children taste the dirt from grass and sand. We have to let the children roam free and in the process, get in contact with manageable dirt because playing outdoors in good weather is a luxury here. It's not everyday that the weather permits them to walk barefoot on the grass and sand in the parks and playgrounds. Most of the time, their tiny little feet and hands are covered with 2-3 layers of clothing to keep them warm so when possible, we should have them play freely and explore.  
• There are 24 hours in a day. How can you say that you don't have enough time. - This is what my Mom always says when I say that I don't have enough time. Come to think of it, If my 12-hour day is not enough, I can use some of my shut-eye time to do leftover chores or tasks.
• Ask the right kind of questions to get the answers you need. - Europeans especially Luxembourgers are not friendly and customer-friendly people. They are not friendly or helpful enough to volunteer information but they are keen on giving you the right answer. So to get by, we have to ask the right questions, meaning more direct questions, and to keep asking until we get the answer we need.
• Learn, explore! Mix entertainment with culture. - In the Philippines, there were a lot of things to entertain families. We have malls where children run and explore. We have affordable cinemas for escaping from all the stress. The children have TimeZone! But here, more value is given on natural exploration and culture discovery for entertainment. It's not all about lights and sounds here but more of natural life discovery. Getting wet in the waterworks in the playground on a summer day. Running around in parks. Throwing snowballs and making snow angels in the winter. Collecting nice colored autumn leaves and pine cones in the autumn. I also realized that if lights and sounds were the form of entertainment for children here, the parents will end up more stressed out. With the children playing in the natural environment, there is less stress, more learning and exploration.
• Just imagine you are in Baguio, not in Luxembourg. - This is what my Ate (eldest sister) told me when I cried during one of their going-away parties for us. To manage the homesickness, she said, I shouldn't think that we are very, very, very far away. I should just think that I am in the Mountain Province region in the Philippines where it is cold (in Filipino terms and not in European terms) and at least 6 hours away from the Metro. Thanks to facebook and skype, it feels like we are just in Baguio sometimes.
• "One step at a time. There's no need to rush. It's like learning to fly or falling in love. It's gonna happen when it's supposed to happen and then you'll find the reason why one step at a time..." - So goes the song from Jordin Sparks, an American Idol Winner. I love it! It reminds me that there is a time for everything as well as rhyme and reason for the way things happen. When crunch time happens for me like when I am running late in preparing dinner with the dishes still in the sink and my baby N crying for milk, the first few words of this song come to me and remind me to relax and save myself from being overwhelmed. I will finish everything one step at a time, little by little.