You Know You're Living in Belgium When . . .

. . . this is the "spring" weather (and fall, winter, and sometimes summer) (these photos were taken today - that's snow mixed with rain and hail - c'est terrible!)

. . . you own a pair of muckers (and actually know what these are)

. . . your car, if you have one, is the size of a golf cart

. . . your stroller cost more than your car

. . . you spend more money downloading current tv programs than going to the movies

. . . you never watch TV, except the occassional re-run of Friends on the Dutch channel

. . . paying 12 euros for a paperback book and 8 euros for the new issue of Vogue doesn’t seem so bad

. . . you've forgotten what AC feels like


. . . your child is a medallion frequent flyer member

. . . your child asks for biscuits instead of cookies

. . . you panic if you don’t have email access for more than 1 hour for fear of being cut off from the rest of the world

. . . you are proficient at texting from your cell phone

. . . fast food has a whole new meaning (like under 2 hours is fast)

. . . you expect unfriendly waiters, and are nearly knocked over if one smiles at you

. . . your neighbor in the apartment below yours hates you

. . . you're used to doing 10 loads of laundry a week in your micro washing machine

. . . your best friends are from 3 different countries

. . . your German friend casually mentions (in English) that she's learning Chinese, her 5th language

. . . Picking food particles out of your sink drain no longer grosses you out

. . .your friends have no idea what a garbage disposal is

(cute picture of one of the streets in our neighborhood - on a better weather day)

. . . you actually know something about European politics

. . . kissing total strangers no longer freaks you out

. . . you are used to being stared at as soon as you open your mouth

. . . you used to care about being fluent, now you care about being understood