Finally!

Well, I finally found myself in the Musical Instrument Museum!!!  It is really cool!  They have instruments I've never seen and of course lots of familiar ones too.  The best part of the museum is that you get a headset to wear the whole time.  There are 3 (or 4) levels that you can go to and each level has a theme (European instruments, mechanical instruments...) and as you walk around the exhibits, there are numbers on the floor.  When you go close to a number, music starts to play in your headset!  You have a sheet of paper that lists the numbers on the floor and what you're listening to at the time.  It's really cool!  I only made it through one floor really well (I wanted to listen to each piece of music in its entirety, usually they're only about 20 or 30 seconds), so one day I will go back.  It was really a fun place and right up my alley!  Unfortunately it was too dark inside for me to take pictures, but you can look at the website if you're curious!

I also ended up back at the Christmas festival yesterday and was talking to Pricile (the girl from Québec).  Her booth is right across from an ice skating rink, and we were talking about in Belgium, adults don't really know how to skate - they go around the rink holding on to the things that kids use to not fall over!  I guess they don't have ice rinks in parks every winter to practice on.  Anyway, we decided that one day next week we'll go ice skating and show the Brusseleers how it's done!  After that we'll go watch the light show in the grand place!

In other news, I went bowling with David and David's Mom yesterday.  Tonight I'm going again, but with the meetup group!  Yesterday I bowled a 162 (WOW!) and a 124.  I was thrilled with my first game because my average is 127.

Tonight I'm not sure how I'll bowl, but last night I took the opportunity to pick a ball that I like the most so I'll find/use it tonight too.  It's a 12 pound ball that is green and looks like a watermelon.  I like to use the mid-heavy balls usually, but if there's a tricky split I use something lighter - 10 or 9 usually so that I can throw it faster... that sometimes helps the pins get over to the other side to get the split done.  I had a few close ones last night. I had a 4-7-10 split that almost worked out, but I JUST missed it.  oh well.  Enough bowling talk for now.

Today I think I'm going to drop off my resume at one more Irish pub (this will be my fourth).  Then, as it's Thursday, there is a museum open late.  This week I'm very excited.  I'll be going to the "Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and of Military History".  I'm excited because I've only gone to war museums in Canada, so I think to see relics and read things from Belgium specifically will be interesting.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!  There is snow!  It has been consistently cold for about a week now, and the snow isn't going away (which I love!)

Last night I bought a book from a bookstore called the Cook & Book.  The store is different from anything I've seen - it's very big, and is a mix of café and bookstore.  There are tables to eat in the weirdest places, but it looks really neat.  I will go back with my camera and take pictures because it really is a very cool place!  Anyway I bought a book called, "Chinglish" which is a collection of pictures of signs (usually from China) that have both Chinese and English writing on them, but the English is terrible.  It reminded me of when I went to China and there were some funny signs.  For example, in our hotel there was a card on the night stand that meant to say "Stay safe with your family" or something like that, but what it actually said in English was, "Go.  Do not forget to family at a safe".

Alright, I'll go now.  Time to get ready for the day!  Oh, it's snowing again!

Here's an interesting fact for the day.  Hamilton Ontario is found at 43°15'N, and Brussels at 50°51'N.  That means that I'm 7° more north that my hometown, and translated into distance that is roughly 817km more north.  Now, more north doesn't mean colder.  Actually because of the land around here and the weather patterns, it is more mild and even here than at home.  The only consistent difference is the setting and rising of the sun.  Actually a difference of 817km only equates to about a 5 minute difference in sunset time.  Today in Hamilton the sun will set at 4:44pm, while here it will set at 4:39pm.  It's amazing that 817km only makes a difference of 5 minutes when it comes to the sunset, but when you consider that there are 12,415 km from one pole to the other, I guess it makes sense.

That's all for today.  I'll be taking pictures tonight at the museum, and at bowling so keep coming back!

Bye now!