Getting in the groove

Today I have excellent new to report -- I found not one but two nearby coffeehouses that are "sans fumer". Actually, neither one is a coffeehouse per se but both serve coffee at 10 am, which is sufficient for me. A few days ago -- on one of my non-Gent days -- I searched the area for a place to work that is not the apartment and which would also serve coffee but ended up in a smokey bar that happened to serve coffee in my neighborhood. This was Miki's bar. If you can beleive it I also passed up the Chocobar but despite the exciting name, it was smokey as well. I managed to get an hour and a half of work done at Miki's but the consequence was that my clothes and hair reeked of smoke. I'm just doing the laundry now and hope that's the end of it.

But, today, I ventured out again and found a place that appeared smoke-free and sat down for my mid-morning coffee. As I paid, I asked in my halting French if it was smoke-free all the time. Yes it is! she replied (in less halting French). She then informed me that people have to go outside to smoke and I said it's like that in the States too. So, hence my excellent news! Also, as I was leaving I noticed on the door a sign that essentially said "no smoking here". Walking home, I saw the sign on another establishment that looks nice (and seems to serve a nice lunch). Now I'll be on the lookout for it all over.

This week I also found a nice place to work when I'm not in Gent. I have to say, my colleagues in Gent have been excellent. On my first day (Tuesday, I guess), they had an office ready, keys, coffee, everything you could hope for! I'm now set up there with internet, B&W and color printing capability and it's not too hard to get there either. Here's how it goes -- 15 minute walk from the apartment to Gare Centrale, grab one of the fast trains to Gent (on the hour or 27 min past the hour, sometimes once more in the hour; a 35 min ride but easy to get work done on the computer or whatever), get un cafe (optional), wait for a tram (0-10 min), take a tram (15 min) and walk a block or so. The tough part is the five flights of stairs (also optional but recommended)! I can get coffee whenever I want and I don't even have to wash my own cup. They have a dishwasher! What luxury... So far I've been twice - Tuesday and Thursday. Yesterday I had lunch with my host (I guess I should create a nickname in case I want to complain about him in an anonymous way? I'll work on that) and his students, all of whom are nice and quite interesting.

But, back to my non-Gent days... on the day I sat in Miki's and was overcome by smoke, I also decided to check out the "club" associated with the group of apartments in which we're staying. They have a fitness center with one elliptical, one treadmill, one recumbant bike and one something else as well as a bunch of weights, sauna, steam room and "relaxation area" (some recliners in a poorly lit area). Well, turns out there's also a library of sorts, computers, a printer and, most importantly, good wifi. So, that's where I am right now! The problem with the apartment is that the tables are high and the chairs are low, unless you're on the couch, in which case the seat is low and the table is lower. I just couldn't work that way. At the coffeehouses too the tables are too high for comfortable typing. Here in the office space there are office-type chairs that make working at a computer reasonably ergonomic and thus feasible for a full day or half day or whatever. Plus, I get to look at the treadmill and think "hm. I should be doing that." Bonus!

So, to sum it all up, I can now get a coffee and sit and work here in Brussels on days that I don't want to spend 3 h going back and forth to Gent. Good news! Especially since it means I can multitask and do laundry (which takes forever), shop and/or pick up the girls after school like I'm going to do today. With all that on my plate, I'd better get some work done now, huh?

Ciao!