acemi is abroad

and not in a zoo! I saw a fox running in front of my apartment building at around 2.30 am as I was coming back from Friday night out last week. I can't call my quarter natural environment for a fox since it is not far from the city centre but apparently the Parc Woluwe which is 10 min. walking distance from home nestles some foxes as well as rabbits, swans and many species of birds.

Since a few weeks we, residents of Brussels, enjoy lovely sunny weather especially at the weekend. I don't mean to complain but stink of urine on sidewalk or at the entrence/exit of a subway station ruins the light feeling of walking in the sun. Could we have a little bit of rain, during the week maybe? Please!

I don't remember having a nice new year's eve so far, except one in 2004 I think. This year I had a lot of fun but self-sacrificing was unavoidable at the same time.

My 3 friends working in Bonn, 2 Portugues and 1 Turkish, decided to come to Brussels for partying on Monday. The deal was closed, I was responsible for food and they were for drinks. After having dinner and couple of bottles of wine we took off to interns' party around 11.30. We didn't leave my flat mate alone who didn't have any hope to enjoy the night but I think at the end he was the one who was having most fun We went to the station to take tram which goes to the house where the party was taking place and we got on the first one. The line was correct but later on we realised that particular tram changed its route and we were on the wrong way. It was almost 12 as we got on the correct one and we had to accept the inevitable, celebrating new year in a train We opened our bottle of cava, Spanish sparkling wine, and the truck was bounced with holler of "Bonne année!" I couldn't photograph this odd and funny moment because I forgot my camera at home I've thought I should not have kept it in drawer after I forgot to take it today again and decided that I haven't forgotten it because I've been tipsy

For me party was finished at around 2.30, although we left at 5, as a friend started vomiting and it lasted for one hour. I was guarding him against people who wanted to use the bathroom and trying to comfort him. As he fell asleep on the couch I could take a rest sitting silently. After wasting half an hour to find a taxi we could arrive home at 6 am. Streets were still full with people and I could hear people shouting even at 9 am.

What do you think my 2008 would be like? Will I have fun, will I be busy with taking care of other people, will I be able to sleep enough? Anyhow I think I had a good start and I'm sure I won't complain being tired as long as I'm happy with whatever I'm doing.

This time I had the chance to visit two more cities in Belgium, Brugge and Liège. Brugge is a beautiful city, which made me feel like walking in a city in middle age. There are more sacred buildings than Münster and we visited almost all of them we passed by.

Liège was our last stop in Belgium. It's not a particularly special city but it's very french. People don't speak English, most of them were in trendy clothing like in Paris and I saw many beautiful people. For photos check my albums.

For the Silvester I went to Antwerp. Unfortunately the weather was terrible and I couldn't see much from the city. In new year's eve I attended to an enjoyable house party and today to a new year's lunch for the family of my friends but that's a pitty that I cannot speak Flemish.

In the photo below you see Gordon's Scotch beer, which I had on Saturday in a bowling alley. This beer which served in an interesting glass is a Belgian beer and it tastes like Efes dark and I like it very much.

I wish you all a happy new year!