Anyway. Brugge (or Bruges - it's the capital of the Flemish region of Belgium) is the place my soul will haunt when I die. Seriously. I've told the husband when I die I will haunt a particular pub called Staminee De Garre. Belgium has moved me so much that I've decided that we will embrace our Flemish last name and learn Dutch, I'm going to learn traditional Flemish dishes, we will make a mecca back to Belgium once a year (if our good fortune holds), and if we ever do have kidlets we will raise them in Belgian traditions.
Gulden Draak in De GarreThe hub's father is on his way to visit today. And we are taking him to a Flemish pub in Fremont to celebrate this little decision of ours. I found a Dutch tutor (who also happens to be a fitness trainer- maybe I can have her yell in Dutch will I work out?).
I think this is a great! I love the idea of embracing your family roots. That's why we're doing the family tree thing... my gene pool is too muddled to have much of anything to embrace, but at least if I know how we all got where we are I can feel connected to my ancestry.
ReplyDeleteThanks!! My gene pool is all sorts of mixed up too. It kind of makes it fun, I can pick and choose what side I want to fixate on. As far as I can tell, no drop of French though, thank god. ;) (I kid, I kid).
ReplyDeleteVal's side is much more straightforward. Being there and seeing so many people that looked like his relatives was quite a moving experience.
It should really be fun for you, learning new cooking techniques and a new language. Once upon a time I thought it would be fun to learn Norwegian, since my paternal grandmother's family came from Norway and I am more Norwegian than anything else, but I don't know... I'm hoping our family tree can narrow down who came from where, so maybe one day I could visit those places. My dad's grandmother came from Ireland and I would love to visit... my dad's dad's family came from England, I think in the 1700's, so it would be interesting to figure that out if I can. We've decided not to trace Dan's family tree, because I think it would be too heartbreaking. We're trying our best to create family traditions for Abby, it's a fresh start for all of us since Dan and I both grew up without any family traditions.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure those family traditions will be cherished by Abby as she gets older. :)
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