I really have a ton of these little stories, and can't seem to find the words to write them down right now. So I'm hoping that people will forgive a drop in quality in exchange for a higher output.
I just wanted to tell the story of hanging out with my roommates last night, making crepes. It was an impromptu party; I had plans of job searching in the evening but one of my roommates, the French girl, will be moving out soon and wanted to hang out with us for a bit. So we cooked and drank red wine and laughed and talked. At the moment, I can understand what they are saying anywhere from 20% to 60% of the time when they speak to each other in French. When they talk to me directly, and they dumb it down a bit, it's usually 60% to 70%. I still have a hard time expressing myself, lacking the vocabulary and the practice to form sentences in French, so I often have to shift the conversation back to English when I want to explain something.
But a funny thing happened last night, when we were having a conversation that was shifting between French and English and one of them told me something, and I forgot which language they had used to speak to me. It's exciting to be listening to the ideas that they are conveying rather than focusing on decoding the language itself. I've never had that happen before, and it was exciting to me.
I just got back from a meeting with my old boss, where he expressed interest in hiring me as a contractor. I'm not sure that I will be able to do this because of visa issues, but it's nice to know that my skills and awesome personality are still in demand. I will have to do some research and make some calls regarding the feasibility of it. But I feel that the only way to get a job in Brussels (especially when you lack EU citizenship and fluency in three languages, like my competition) is to know somebody.
Tomorrow, I am going to Rome to visit and old friend who is working as a military contractor in Italy. I will just be there for 45 hours or so, so I will try to make the most of it, and will try to post some pictures when I get back.
