Saying sorry the (proper) Australian way

This is from the BBC news website:

The Australian government has made a formal apology for the past wrongs caused by successive governments on the indigenous Aboriginal population. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised in parliament to all Aborigines for laws and policies that "inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss". He singled out the "Stolen Generations" of thousands of children forcibly removed from their families. The apology, beamed live around the country on TV, was met with cheers.

Here is the complete text of his speech, very long, but definitely worth a read. There's now talk of this being merely symbolic and doubts whether any compensation would follow. BUT, its something, possibly a beginning...

I'm proud to be an Australian today!

New Year in Riga, Latvia 07-08

10 days of nice Latvian winter

On my 30th birthday, my wife gave me two and a half tickets to go to Latvia. 12 years ago I spent a year in Riga with crazy exchange students, proud Latvians and the soviet past. I went back the year after to visit my second hostfamily and Elina, a friend I 've stayed in touch with and who loves to come to Belgium at Easter time. It was great to go back now and discover how new shops hadn't made the place uglier, how the cream is still deliciously natural and how beautiful the art nouveau architecture is, however, life has become a lot more expensive. I turned up at my hostfamily's doorstep and they still knew me :) My hostbrother and sister both have a baby about Mira's age. Well, the rest are pictures and stories if you are interested.

Before the weekend starts...

I have a long to-do list today. Lots to finish off before I can leave the office. Leaving earlier today because we're off to Paris for the weekend! We're going to visit Ania, Marek and Kacper..
Ania is a friend I met in Geneva while working at WHO. She became our neighbour and partner in crime on the Geneva and Rue de Lyon social scene. And now our friendship has evolved, with husbands and kids in tow. Looking forward to letting the kids play together and catching up over a glass of wine...

Other things happening right now:

-Jeroen has a throat infection, same as I did two weeks ago. He is going to do a lot of sleeping in Paris!

- I've finally booked our tickets to India next year. Mira, baby #2 and I will go 28 May to 14 July, Jeroen comes 22 June and back with us. Yippee!

- With all this being unwell, we need to get moving on our christmas present for Mira... sanding, filing, putting it together, varnishing... its going to take some work in the next week.

- My cousin Sarika is planning to visit us in February. Finally! Fun times coming up...

- Jeroen's brother Manu is planning a holiday to India with his girlfriend. They want to buy bicycles there and bike around northern India for five weeks. You can imagine what the Indians have to say about that!

- We're going to Latvia in two weeks. Holidays! With real snow, and hopefully no rain...

Sinterklaas

Sinterklaas is celebrated on 6 December by all children in Belgium. What Christmas eve and stockings are for children in the Anglo Saxon world, is what Sinterklaas is for Belgian kids.

So in the tradition, Mira left one shoe under the chimney (well, on a table in the living room then) with a carrot for Sint's horse, and a beer for his assistant Zwarte Piet.

By the time Mira discovers this blog, she'll be old enough to know the reality behind Sinterklaas, so I can say now that Jeroen and I had been working for a few weeks beforehand to have Mira's gifts ready. She is at the right age for a doll of her own and pretend play, so I made her a doll (with help from friends- thanks Greet and Megan!) and Jeroen fashioned a bed out of an orange crate, with a mattress, pillow and sheets.

In the morning, Mira was most excited to find a clementine in her shoe (tradition) but is since permanently atatched to her doll, taking her to bed each night... Mira's doll is called Gudia, has her own diaper and bib, which is very important for Mira right now- she regularly checks the diaper to see if its wet :-)

Next project: Christmas present. We're making something along the lines of this. Aaah, the joys of parenting!

Throat ache and still no government

Finding a compromise about the state reform seems difficult, but that doesn't mean the country is about to fall apart. More worrying is the cold and wet weather and the many throat infections. Parul has been suffering from one ever since she got over her morning sickness.

Mira werd anderhalf jaar op 20 november. Ze is een deugniet, die allerlei woordjes begint te vormen, waaronder mijn favoriet: "APPELTHEE".

Hieronder enkele foto's:

1,5 years old

In memoriam Dadaji

I took this picture in January 2007, when Dadaji, Parul's grandfather, met his great granddaughter for the first time. It was a happy moment.
22 November 2007 he passed away peacefully in the afternoon. He was ready to leave, but we'll miss him, his humor, his pragmatic advice and his progressive mind.
Jeroen

Bel me terug als het gesprek uitvalt

Een week terug sta ik in het recyclage park en gooi met een worp een kapotte plastieken kuip over de rand van een container. Mijn GSM valt uit mijn jaszak op de grond en het schermpje loopt traag vol met een vaste vloeistof. Dit was de laatste val die geen blijvende schade berokkende. Wat nu, we zijn bezig met een low impact project en proberen om geen nieuwe spullen meer te kopen. In de winkel nemen ze deze GSM nog terug en krijg ik er 10 euro voor als ik een nieuwe koop. Niet echt low impact maar wel recyclage, of toch het gevoel dat je iets goeds doet. Intussen kan ik nog wel bellen met de GSM, maar als een blinde. Ik zie niet wie me belt en kan de SMSjes niet lezen.

Ik besluit wat rond te vragen en mijn collega heeft nog een oude GSM (een nieuwer model van NOKIA dan dat ik had) van zijn zus. Voor 10 euro is hij van mij. Ik ben er extra blij mee, het koste me weinig en het werkt prima. Tot de batterij op ongelegen momenten begint uit te vallen. Had ik toch maar iets nieuws gekocht, alhoewel, misschien kan ik ergens een batterij vinden van iemand die zijn GSM ook liet vallen, of misschien is het wel een slecht contact dat te repareren valt. Ik houd hem nog even bij en zie wat ik kan vinden.

TOEVOEGING:
na eens een nachte lang met de oplader te hebben geslapen doet ie het prima!

Toys

There's been a lot in the news about unsafe toys in the last few months. I won't recap that, but details are available here , here and here. At work we deal with this issue everyday now. Aqua dots are still being sold in shops in Belgium, despite the recall and press publicity last week.

This makes me reconsider all the toys at home as well. Plastic was never a favourite, and now there is more reason to boycott it. But cheap wooden toys also run the risk of lead paint, so the key perhaps is quality over quantity! I don't want to be all snobbish about this, as most consumer goods are made in China, and European superiority and workmanship is overrated in some cases. However, what isn't overrated is product safety and market surveillance, which is seriously lacking and under-resourced in China.
What this means for us is no plastic toys (definitely no plastic for the new baby to chew on), and good quality wooden or cardboard toys and books.
Thus, my appeal also to family and friends who might want to surprise Mira in the upcoming festive season - please go for wood, paper or cloth :-)
I am making a doll for Mira for sinterklaas, and Jeroen and I are crafting a play stand for her for Christmas. We would also like to collect these nativity toys for the kids every Christmas, any contributions would be most welcome...

Green tip- save paper

Next time you're at the ATM- decline a receipt. Simple!

Cool idea

While reading blogs by other people trying to go low impact, I came across this cool idea ...

"Soup Kitchen - When my husband and I were engaged, we took many of our friends and family members to a soup kitchen to volunteer. It was a bonding experience that meant more to me than a party..." Source: http://andamom.com/

Not directly low impact, but could be turned into one. For example- instead of a heavy, many coursed christmas dinner! Will surely cut down the costs and up the feel good factor :-) I think I'll investigate the options in our area and see if the family is open to something like this!

LOW IMPACT

Its been ages since I blogged. But yesterday, while reading some blogs on the internet, I had an "a-ha" moment, which I then excitedly shared with J and now it's a joint project we are going to try and implement starting tomorrow.

Let me backtrack a little bit here. We've been talking about moving next year sometime, and working in development for a few years. This made me start thinking of the practical side as well, including what we would need to leave behind packed up, and what we could take with us. And with this came the realisation that we have sooo much stuff!
We're not the most commercial or material of families. Some might also think of us as slightly crunchy :-) However, we enjoy the luxury of two incomes, and budgeting hasn't really been a necessity. A cute new T-shirt for Mira here, a new handbag for a change, a new release book that was recently reviewed... they all seem to quickly find a place through our wallets into our house!

So what is low impact? Low impact is an attempt to reduce the amount and impact of our consuming habits. What this will mean in practice:
1. For the next four months, we will not buy anything new! (Of course there are exceptions, which include health/safety/food/ personal care purchases)
2. For food products, we'll buy packaging free as far as possible
3. If we need something new, we'll explore the second-hand, borrow or create avenues first!
4. In general, we'll try to minimise bringing more plastic into our house

So there you are... four simple rules to stick by for the next four months.

Will this be easy? No way. Specially with Christmas, birthdays, and a holiday to Latvia. We'll have to be inventive with Christmas presents. J and I already have an idea for Mira's gift. It will be a woodwork project, new for both of us, but hopefully fun and satisfying. Our gifts to each other could be something handmade too, or an experience, not necessarily wrapped in paper. In Latvia, we'll try to buy souvenirs from markets or cooperatives, instead of a souvenir shop. Or bring back something edible...

Starting tomorrow, we are also part of a "climate neighbourhood" project (Klimaatwijk), which looks at reducing your energy consumption without a change in comfort. We need to record our meter readings, and get helpful hints and specific suggestions from energy experts... The goal is to reduce energy consumption by 8% in the next six months. Our low impact project will fit well with this.

I'll post regular updates about this, and be honest about our attempts!

We don't expect our family and friends to do the same of course, but we hope they will be understanding and supportive :-)

flandersnews.be - Life for Hans Van Themsche

flandersnews.be - Life for Hans Van Themsche

This trial received massive media attention in Belgium over the last weeks. Rightly so, a young boy randomly shot some people in the centre of Antwerp (usually a safe place) last year. A young white girl (2 years old), her black nanny and a Belgian with Turkish background all got hit, only the Belgian lady survived. The three biggest communities of Antwerp were affected and a big debate about violence and racism among youth is still going on. The parents are relieved, as far as you can be after losing your child.

Our daily bread - Home - Geyrhalterfilm

Our daily bread - Home - Geyrhalterfilm



Mira is asleep and I am watching Our daily bread while tidying up old newspapers. I am really shocked by these simple images of our food industry. Is that the way the chicken and pork is handled before landing on my plate? It makes you wonder about industrialization, because it is more than just farming on a large scale.

BTW, the Meatrix II deals with a similar issue but is so much fun to watch (if you know the Matrix of course). American's tend to get similar messages across in a very different way than Europeans. I also saw Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth and immediately put the pledge button on this blog, because it is worth seeing, even though you think you know what it is about! What are we doing about it, we live in a Klimaatwijk (climate neighborhood).

30 worden, turning 30, weekendje in Bras bas

Bras weekendje

No escape, adulthood is knocking on the door in the form of a round number, 30.

Thanks for the good company on this weekend and thanks for all the nice postcards of those who weren't there.

Jeroen

BBC NEWS | The Reporters | Mark Mardell

BBC NEWS | The Reporters | Mark Mardell

BBC Blogger Mark Mardell is trying to make sense of the Belgian flags outside his window on his euroblog. A nice analysis about Belgium though very British, it is not such a big deal, there is a political compromise in the making and normal people are not divided! Funny to read the British comments on his article. Is shows that international media only follow the francophone press and not the Flemish papers. Since the Francophone press tends likes to depict the Flemish as separatists (even though this is a small minority), the problem is aggravated for no reason. Anyhow, Brussels cannot be divided and a lot of BRUSSELAARS do not identify with Walloons but only with Brussels. Anyhow, even without love for surrealism, Belgium does not need to be separated, just needs a new government and we are almost there I believe.

a Belgian

End of summer

We went camping with some friends from Parul's choir in Opoeteren beginning of August. After that there was some time at home, I went climbing in Arolla (Switzerland)for a week, while Parul was coping with difficult pregnancy symptoms. Yes we do have some news for March! and Dan visited us from Australia.

August album

Meanwhile, people are back at school here and politicians are still trying to form a new government while satisfying both the Flemish and Wallonian negotiators. Mira started walking beginning of this month, (while handing DVDs to Parul at Dorien's place). Since then, she's become a very stable toddler who loves running around. Next week we 're off to the Ardennes to celebrate my 30th, I 'll have to start behaving like a real adult...









J

Why use a spoon?

A holiday near Calais (and a few first steps)

Oye Plage

Our holiday for the last two weeks was basically reading and relaxing in the old fisherman's house of my uncle near Calais, with lots of nice visitors. The North of France bears many traces of World War one and is a primitive area, even though new neighborhoods are popping up everywhere.

We thought Mira was going to start walking on the beach, but she only did the night we came back at Dorien's place, while reaching out for a few DVDs. She loves walking in the water but still is a little wary of sand and grass, maybe that's why she preferred Dorien's wooden floor for a few first excited steps (not in the pictures).

Happy birthday Nani!

Dear Nani,

Today papa took lots of photos, I wish I could be there with you, but instead here I am with my laugh, my curls, my teeth and all my love. Happy birthday!
Mira

Mira & Lemoni

While we went to Robin's birthdayparty (op het eilandje), Mira stayed over at Lemoni's place. She decided to push her around in her cart.

(Bedankt Jeroen en Caroline voor de leuke video en de sleepover).