Have the cat do your shopping in Leuven for you

We saw these stickers on some stores in Leuven, Belgium. B. was being a smarty pants and said that maybe it meant you could have your cat shoplift for you. I didn't think that was the case.

"Liefst Leuven" means prefer or preferably Leuven (according to Google Translate) and Leuven Laat means the store is open later, til 8 p.m. It's part of a marketing campaign for shopping in the city. I thought it was rather cute, but I'm a bit biased because I prefer cats, myself. I think they're using the cat like he's choosy and discerning, or something along those lines (and definitely not because he's shoplifting, B!).

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In other arenas of life...well, I've been gone from the blog a bit lately because life here has been quite busy. I'm in the middle of the class that's in midpoint of the degree I'm pursuing now, so it's really the median all around. This is the first online class I've taken, and I have realized that I really don't like the online class format. I feel a bit bratty saying this, but I'm not happy to pay $700 to read the book on my own and write papers. I could have had a similar experience for free, learning on my own. Obviously I need to do the work to finish my (third) degree, but I really wish there would be recorded lectures for students to watch. Do any online classes do that, or am I just too old school? I also miss the interaction among students and with the instructor in class. Writing some half-hearted, insincere response to something on the class message board because we're required to is no fun. I like listening to lectures because one can benefit from the expertise of the instructor and lectures bring the topic more alive. Plus, for the way I learn, I listen, take notes (there is the added benefit of kinesthetic learning when I'm writing the notes), and start to memorize the information immediately; I later follow up by reviewing my notes and the information is pretty well set into my memory at that point. I don't feel that I'm learning that much by slogging through the dense text on my own; I also feel as if I'm retaining so little of what I read.

Of course, I think my brain is nowhere as nimble as it was when I finished my last degree 10 years ago. There is a theory that our brains are being rewired from spending so much time online and on computers; we're not able to sustain as much intense concentration any more. I agree with that; I used to love reading classic literature, dense with footnotes and references. Now, I usually read everything via skimming and I must force myself to concentrate and read everything word for word in my class's text. I find myself losing concentration all the time.

In addition to my whinging and carrying on about the online class, I am also taking two German classes right now. One is through a local organization and it began this summer and will be ending soon. I also just started a Volkhochschule German class that is run by a version of community education, and it's all in German. I'll have to write more about that experience later. I just attended the very first class meeting and was worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up but I did keep up and thoroughly enjoyed it. I will definitely be busy for the next three weeks as I juggle work, the three concurrent classes (at least two of them aren't graded), and daily life.

On top of all of this, I haven't felt well for about 3-4 weeks. This has nothing to do with sitting on cold stones or being exposed to air conditioning; this is the time of the year when my allergies and resulting asthma make me miserable. I've alternated feeling sick to my stomach, not being able to breathe properly, and sneezing. Sigh. The good thing is I have been still going to work through this; the bad thing is that I'm quite tired. Germany, I think I'm allergic to you! That is a shame as you are lovely otherwise.

A trip to Leuven, Part 2

Leuven, August 31 continued...

After viewing St-Pieters Church in Leuven, my friend B and I looked for the Hospital Museum Histaruz, which is a museum with a medical collection from the 1920s-on recommended by the Use-It guide. We missed it when we first looked for it because it's set within the Universitair Ziekenhuis Sint-Rafael which takes up several blocks on Kapucijnenvoer Road; we finally found a sign for the museum and entered through a courtyard on the building, turned right, then turned left to go in.

Two very nice volunteers welcomed us in English (unlike what the guide had said) and we paid our 2 euros each for admission. My initial impression? Um, it's rather creepy!

Looks like an abandoned hospital from a horror movie...

Uhh, wheelchairs with no residents in the chapel?

Want to practice injections with a fake arm?

I'm a baby in a bottle, baby, you gotta...wait a minute, wrong song.

The hospital didn't become less creepy as we continued. Some parts of it were dark; others weren't, but it was hard to unsee what we saw in there -- look what greeted us in one room!

The tumors in wax weren't very uplifting.

Even worse was the dentistry room. This picture is really alarming! They're sticking what amounts to a crowbar in the guy's mouth and the guy looks like he's going to hit him in the mouth with a mallet.

Another picture, this time a print, was really disconcerting. It must have been so bad that I forgot to photograph the whole thing, but here's a part of it where a monkey is trying to perform dentistry on a bird. It's a total what the heck type of moment, and the rest of the print is even worse! There's some guy in his long johns getting dental work done and there's a cat in the room. That just doesn't seem that hygienic!

Another room had a lovely collection of urinals.

We were ready to go but apparently we missed seeing the basement. A volunteer came running after us, very worried that we didn't see the whole museum, and even escorted us to the stairs so we would know right where to go. Since she was so earnest, we felt that we had to see the whole museum. The basement was a continuation of odd leftover hospital equipment. There was even a room full of old computers just stacked on shelves.

We finally had seen everything and thanked the nice volunteers. It was a really odd visit; it was almost as if the hospital had been shuttered with everything in it, then reopened after only the ghosts were left. It's worth a visit for those who like offbeat adventures, creepy dolls, and scary medical devices.

Thirsty after our adventure, we stopped at Carrefour, a supermarket, to buy a drink. Look what we saw: there is the American version of Mexican food available there, Old El Paso brand products. Oh, OEP, how you have branched out to the international markets.

Old El Paso brand salsa and guacamole in Carrefour, Belgium.

While we were there, a guy approached us and asked us something in a language that I couldn't even begin to place. B. said that we were sorry, but we didn't understand him. Apparently, between the 6 or so languages we know between the two of us, whatever he was asking wasn't in any of them! The guy said something else in whatever language it was. We all looked at each other, perplexed. He then said something that sounded kind of like "sucré," which would be French, I guess, but the rest of what he said didn't sound like French, so I really don't know what it was. Quickly improvising, I asked "azúcar?" (Spanish for "sugar") and he nodded so I took him to the aisle with sugar in it, pointed, said "aquí," the guy said "gracias," I said "de nada," and B. and I were on our merry way. B. was a bit shocked, I believe, that I was actually useful for a foreign language for once as I'm usually relying on him for everything other than English. I don't think the guy started in Spanish but at least we were able to end on that common ground.

After that, we ran into this fellow on the street at the River Dijle. He is Paep Thoon, a 15th century organist at the Saint Pieter's Church who was sarcastic and always telling jokes, but there was truth in what he was saying.

Since we had basically started worshipping the Use-It guide, we decided that we must do its bidding and visit the "Ugliest tree" in the courtyard of Sint-Geertruikerk. The only problem was that we weren't quite sure which one it was! There were two that were kind of ugly so we looked at the Facebook page for a picture, found the correct one and gave it a hug.

It was time to leave for Mechelen after giving the ugly tree some love. As we were leaving town, I was struck by a hunger for some corn, which just happened to occur when we drove by the odoriferous Stella Artois beer factory.

A trip to Leuven, Belgium

This past weekend, my friend B. and I took a trip to Belgium. Our main destination was to Mechelen for the Hanswijkcavalcade, a special part of the procession that takes place only every 25 years. On the way, we decided to stop at Leuven, which is about half an hour before Mechelen. It was a good, and slightly odd visit, thanks to the great Use-It guide, written by locals, that I found online.

Leuven is a university town and the capital of the Flemish-Brabant region. I read that it's difficult, or in some cases, not allowed, to drive around in the city center and parking is a nightmare, so we dropped the car off at the parking lot at Station Leuven, the main train station. Trust me, you don't want to bring your car into the city, as is typical with many European locations.

We were not sure if we should walk to town or take a bus; we didn't get very far on understanding the bus tickets and didn't want to wait in line to ask, so we decided to walk. From the main train station to the city center is about a mile or less, we learned, so it was a pleasant walk.

When we visited on Saturday, 31 August, we found the city bustling with residents doing their Saturday shopping, students whizzing around on bikes or conversing in groups with their friends, and of course, tourists. 

We stopped by the Sint-Donatus Park, aka the Stadspark, aka the City Park, because I thought it was funny that the Use-it guide described it as full of "part time palm trees." I have this big thing now about palm trees as a result of some other silly adventures on other trips, so of course we needed to see the palm trees that stay in the park during the summer and in the greenhouse during the winter. Later on, we ran into the winter home of the palm trees at the Kruidtuin, or the botanical gardens, on the other side of the canal. Too funny!

Fancy, eh? The palm tree in its summer home.

In the center of town, we stopped by Sint-Pieters Church, which was begun in 1425. It was originally meant to have a 170 meter long tower but the sandy soil couldn't support it so the tower was built to 30 meters. It does look a bit stubby.

Sint-Pieters Church, Leuven. Photo by B.

I saw this statue inside and was drawn to it. What the heck is going on, I wondered. Is it like a Russian stacking doll of religious figures? Apparently "Anna selbdritt is a subject in Christian art, showing Saint Anne with her daughter, the Virgin Mary, and her grandson Jesus, literally "Anne herself the third," or if you will "Granny makes three," according to a Wikipedia article. Okay, so it's a (slightly strange) three generational "portrait," so to speak, but St. Anne is giant-sized. Got it.

Het Anna-ten-drieën, ca. 1480, by M. van Sint-Barbara van Pellenberg

The next picture is of some "marble" walls. On your next trip to an old church, take a closer look at the walls and the sculptures/carvings. There is a possibility that what appears to be marble or granite is neither; it may actually be painted wood! This technique became very popular during the Renaissance.

From a distance, this is quite realistic faux marble, but up close one can see the cracks in the wood.

A body holding its head.

A head with no body.

...and to be continued...