Sunny Day

I went out with my little sister today, we decided to go to Leuven and shop some. Our definitions of shopping differ some, though, I think. My little sister’s definition of shopping seems to be hurrying from clothing shop to clothing shop, while mine is “calmly checking out some book shops and have some coffee at nice café’s”. Needless to say, we saw more books than clothes.

First stop was The Foodmaker, a place where you can sit back and take a breather from the busy 21st century life. It’s the ideal place to enjoy a cup of coffee (every student’s favourite beverage aside from beer), unless there’s a gaggle of giggling girls sitting some chairs away from you. Luckily, we didn’t encounter too many of those during our brief visit.

Fong, my little sister, who’s enjoying a cup of cappuccino and a chocolate-chip cookie.

Next, we visisted some bookstores and (after she persuaded me) some clothing stores as well. Visiting clothing stores usually means that Fong squeals over anything remotely cute on display and that I give the clothes a cursory glance before I exit the store to wait outside. The sales season started the 1st of July and is going strong till the 31st, so I prefer not to get drowned in the mass of teens and mothers. The latter always seem to be accompanied by babies in strollers, afforementioned strollers never failing to get stuck in the escalators and thusly blocking the line up.

In one of my favourite bookshops, De Slegte (a store that sells second-hand books and publisher rests), I found two interesting books. One is a spiral-bound score book with some Chopin sheet music for beginners and advanced ones. The other is a book on architecture, penthouses in particular. It’s pretty neat to see how creative people can get with just one floor of space, and sometimes even more.

One of the last stops was The Grasshopper, a shop where they sell all kinds of toys for little (and not so little) children. I have to admit that it makes me want to have one of those little buggers myself, if only to get a chance to buy some of that stuff. They even have little yellow helmets for the builders-in-making. And miniature cooking sets, complete with downsized cereal boxed and milk bottles. Too cute.

Last stop before getting on the bus home, was De Dry Coppen. It’s a coffeeshop-meets-bookstore, and you can read the books before you buy them. They serve good coffee and delicious home-made pie. Downside of the place was that it’s really quiet in there, so I couldn’t take any pictures because I still haven’t figured out how to turn of my phone camera’s clicking sound. The solution came in the form of a quick sketch, the subject being my little sister again.

Can you even make out what all thoser lines are supposed to present?

Not the best of sketches, I’ll have to admit, but it’s better than a stickman figure.

Tutti Frutti

I love fruit, especially sweet fruits, so you can imagine my delight when mother came home with lychees! Fresh ones (or rather, imported ones that weren’t canned) taste a lot better than canned lychees, though they are a bit less sweet and a bit more bitter. The last part is most likely because fresh lychees still have their pits and canned lychees usually have added sugar to make them even sweeter.

Lychees, like any other fruit, are messy when you have to peel them. They’re sticky but also very juicy which makes peeling them a fingerlicking job.

(above) Juicy lychee in the middle of the peeling process.
(below) One before and one after peeling.

I love the fact that underneath that rough and semi-hard skin lies a soft and sweet fruit. Mmm, off to get more lychees now.

Summer Lovin’

Summer and spring bring birds, flowers, happy people… And pollen. Thanks to the medical world, though, one can generally live through a summer with at least half the problems that an pollen-allergic person normally does (though some say that the higher number of pollen-allergic people is to blame on the filthy gases flying around earth, and I’m not talking about oops-I-shouldn’t-have-eaten-those-chili’s gases).

Flowers and kittens, both pretty but annoying when you’re allergic.

Spring also brings exams (or at least it does in Belgium, I’m not quite sure about other countries) and exams means studying… During revision, all one generally does is study, eat, drink coffee (or power-drinks) and sleep, though the latter is only optional. Then once exams hit it’s time to panic and wonder if you’ve done enough, though once you’ve done your exam you can’t help but think that maybe you should have paid more attention in class.

Hongske’s desk at 2 o’ clock in the morning.

Thank god for a boyfriend who’s there to soothe you during exams. I don’t know about your lover, but mine is rather considerate and caring. I slept over once during exams (for a much-needed break) and was pleasantly surprised with a relaxing bath, a nice massage and a lovely fruity breakfast in the late morning.

Grapes and coffee… Mmmm (not mentioned are the yummy strawberries and also some kiwi).

Then once exams were finally over, I spent some time on trying to get my pasty limbs to tan in the boyfriend’s backyard. There was a lot of fun to be had with his sisters (his youngest sister is my best friend, you see) and the next day we went to the beach on impulse.

(above) A message in the sand for the boyfriend, which Nele (my best friend) added her own touch to by putting her foot in the heart.
(below) Nele and me! The wind was blowing pretty hard at the beach: Nele looks as if she’s got a mohawk (she doesn’t, fyi.) and I look as if one side of my head is hairless.

So to sum it up, I had a fun past couple of months with some downs and a lot of ups. Let’s just hope that the rest of the summer will be as much fun as well!