Such a long silence...

Has it really been 19 months since my last post? And that was just supposed to be the start of another series on Christmas markets... ahhh!

It's the usual, too much work and not enough time or energy when I get home. In a sense I'm my own worst enemy because I take too many photos while traveling and don't have the time to sort through them and edit them and I won't write a post about a place without including photos! Ufff

And work has had me traveling oh so much! In a few weeks I'll have been in this job for 4 years, and by my count it's taken to me about 24 brand new countries (and a few repeats). And it's not really going to slow down! Won't be adding many new countries in the near future (just 3 this year, then none that I can see on the horizon), but will have plenty of repeat trips to Southeast Asia. Between 8-10 to Vietnam alone! I hope to become very well acquainted with that country.

Will try to get my act together and WRITE! For now, I've at least updated the "Where I've been" page above! 😛

So much to write about, so little time

Actually, let's make that virtually NO time to write! Which is a double shame because not only do I have tales to share that I've started and not finished in the past couple of years (sailing in Greece, New Year's in Granada, England), but as of 6 months ago I've also been traveling a lot more and have plenty more places to talk about!!! 

La Saint Nicolas des étudiants in Liège

HAPPY SAINT NICOLAS!!!

December 6th is Saint Nicolas, which is a very big deal for children in Belgium and the Netherlands and northern France (they get lots of presents and candy at the houses of various family members where St Nick has left them surprises!).

In Liège, an extension of this holiday is "La Saint Nicolas des étudiants", i.e. the University students' Saint Nicolas celebrations... and trust me, if anyone knows how to party hard, it's the University of Liège students! Particularly the Med students, the Vets and the Engineers... those three branches have their own brand of crazy fun! ;o)

So, in a few words, what happens in the "Saint Nicolas des étudiants"?  Starting a week or so before students don on their pimped out "tabliers" a.k.a. lab coats (the dirtier the coat, the longer they've been doing this! they're never washed!) from their "baptêmes" (now that's a crazy topic for another day, think hazing with lots of beer involved, on a voluntary basis).