Here is the promised birthday post! I’m excited, are you excited? 
Yesterday started out as any other day. But at breakfast it was different! I got a CD (‘Circle’ by Scala and Kolacny Bothers) and a picture frame that has these ribbons that hang down and have little clips to clip pictures on it. I’ve already created something with a bunch of pictures – my first Belgian bricolage! The CD is a women’s choir and it’s got songs like ‘Ironic’ by Alanis Morissette and ‘Use Somebody’ by Kings of Leon as well as some original songs written by one of the Kolacny brothers. It’s really nice, I like it a lot.
Once Greg was off with Bastien, I went online and watched some YouTube videos and listened to my new CD. Around 10 I lay down to have a nap (I was up till 2am in the morning…part of it was because of my cough and the other, well, maybe I was excited I don’t know :D). I ended up finally falling asleep and waking up around 1:15! Crazy. Then I had lunch and spent the afternoon getting ready. I wanted to look nice for my birthday dinner you see. It’s up to you to see if I succeeded! After picking Bastien up and coming home for a bit we went to Louvain-la-Neuve for dinner. We went to this Italian restaurant called Le Fellini. 
I had the Pizza Carbonera (I think that’s the one it was…), but I translated part of it wrong. I was all excited because it said green peppers…or so I thought! It was actually green pepper CORN! So I spent most of the dinner picking them out >_<. I was also intrigued because it said there was bacon (normal, ok) and…egg. I thought I would try it out. This is what I got (breakfast and dinner all in one!): 
Needless to say that is one pizza experience I will NEVER forget! During dinner I got another surprise; a webcam! This was from Adeline’s mother. Thanks Sybille! So if anyone has Skype and wants to video chat, let me know. ^_^ The pizza was quite tasty (without the pepper), but I couldn’t even finish it all…and no doggy bags. The funniest part of dinner was when Bastien discovered himself in the mirrors. Adeline and I were beside each other with our back to a mirror and we were sitting in a corner. So Bastien (who was across from me) was able to see himself in 3 different mirrors depending on which way he moved. He was thrilled! He kept saying ‘there’s 3 of me!’. It was very cute.
So dinner was awesome, but now it’s on to the really fun part of the evening. Now, you all know me. Except for the occasional wedding (it was one time, gimme a break!) I partake in the social event of drinking rarely. Now before you get excited/disappointed, I did not get drunk :P, but I did experience 4 beers. Or rather, 4 different types of Troll beer. We went to the brewery because Adeline (who used to work there) told me about this ‘taste-testing’ you can do on your birthday.
You have to show your ID to prove it’s your birthday (he couldn’t find my D.O.B. on my license at first and it freaked me out for a second…then I showed him where it was) and then you get to try the La Rafale for FREE! It’s 4 beers (the entire thing is 0.5L), 2 blonde, and 2 amber.
Beer #1: Curvée des Trolls. 7%, smooth and nice.
This is the beer that I had last week (was it really only last week?).
Beer #2: Ambrose-Temps. 5.5%, a little more bitter than the first. This one I could tell was weaker, but I didn’t like it as much because of the extra bitterness it had compared with #1. 
Beer #3: Bush 10%. As you can see, this one had more of a kick than #s 1 & 2. It was also a 
blonde beer like the first. I liked this one.
Beer #4: Bush 12%. This last beer (like #2) was an amber beer. Stronger and much more bitter. I felt it in my nose! I didn’t really like this one. My favourites were #s 1 & 3. I may not be a Gentleman, but I definitely Prefer Blondes* beer. Insert witty musical reference here, er, there.
It was a lot of fun trying those. And it’s a good idea really. If you don’t know what kind of beer you like, this lets you try different kinds in small sizes. Greg got one too, and he tried to tell me to drink it in the opposite order, but I’d been forewarned by Adeline and there were numbers on the tray…and he thought I would fall for that! 
And he kept trying to get me to chug them…I’m not sure if he’s such a good influence! I’m kidding. He’s great! And he was just joking with me…I think ;). Remember I said Adeline used to work at this Brewery/Pub? Well, she used to be able to carry 10 of those trays at once! Empty of course, but still impressive. It was good for Bastien because he was able to be as loud as he wanted and no one would mind :D. Him and Greg kept making silly/scary faces, it was very entertaining. It was a great end to a great evening. The Pub trip wasn’t planned, but sometimes those things are the best. We weren’t sure if they still did it for free on your birthday, but we thought we’d check and I’m glad we did because it was fun and not something I’m ever going to get to do again.
So I’m not sure if the post itself was very interesting, but the pictures are I think. I had so many I wanted to include, but I just picked a few of my favourites as a treat. Thanks for all the birthday wishes I got on Facebook and through email (and snail mail, thanks Laura!). This post is up so late because I was responding to all of those!
Goodnight!
*Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is the name of book, a musical and a 1953 movie starring Marilyn Monroe for those who don’t know. I can’t tell you what it’s about, I just know the title! There’s a sequel to the first book titled But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes. I thought that was sort of interesting.
Holly Abroad 