Clothing Optional

Wee Update:

I live alone. My roommate finished her EVS project and moved back home last Sunday, leaving me a little worried about who would be moving in next. Turns out...no one! I have wanted to live alone for YEARS, but now that it's here, it feels a bit odd. My first order of business was to move into the larger bedroom. After that, I wiped down the entire flat with disinfectant wipes (I don't know how many people have lived here before). Now that the place is officially mine, my life has become:

like this

and this

and, of course, this

Additionally, I now have a spare bedroom for guests, in addition to the three spare mattresses and two couches. So come play!!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go crank up my music and sing and dance while cooking



xoxo
VB

Paris is to Echternach as Scotland is to Luxembourg

This past week was spent in Paris, France, and Echtnernach, Luxembourg. The dichotomy was fairly stark but I had pleasant times in both. Let’s start with the more fun:

Paris

It was my birthday! Thus I took the mere 2 hr train ride to/from Paris for a birthday weekend. I stayed with my friend, Lauren, whom I know from Edinburgh, and we had a lovely time seeing the city and celebrating. I got the chance to visit museums I had never been to, eat some delicious veggie food, and just hang out with a good friend, something I haven’t been able to do since I moved to Lux since everyone here is pretty new. We even indulged in some fantastic birthday cake, as my mom insisted on me getting, “the most decadent chocolate cake you can find.” I think we did a decent job meeting that criterion.

All in all, a very successful trip and a glorious way to kick of 27!

Echternach

My first task as a 27-year-old was to go to volunteer training, or “On-Arrival” as we call it. I will preface this section by saying that I have had a lot of volunteer training in my day. I’ve attended two pre-departure trainings (Boston and Leeds), and one On-Arrival in Belgium. I know all about the Intercultural Iceberg, the Emotional Dip Chart, and Learning to Learn. I’ve also volunteered in a foreign country/language and been expatriated six times. For me, I wasn’t expecting this to be a mind-expanding journey of new information and life-changing activities. Which is good because it wasn’t. I was, however, looking forward to meeting some of the other new volunteers.

Ten of us gathered in the north of Luxembourg at this small tourist city on the border of Germany. The location was scenic and the hostel nice, however I soon realized I was stuck in 4 days of what I like to call “this-piece-of-string-is-a-metaphor-for-real-life” activities and often pondered how I could get this piece of string to escape from training. These are activities where, despite appearances, you really weren’t just rock climbing, eating lunch, or trying to spell your name with a piece of string while blindfolded, no. These were in fact microcosms for my time as a volunteer or for life. It’s a good thing the scenery was so beautiful so I could roll my eyes while pretending to admire it :)

I don’t mean to sound like I went into this with a closed mind, because I did not. But I didn’t learn as much as I would have liked, which is a shame. I was, however, reminded of a few things when it comes to volunteering (e.g. setting goals for the year and thinking about how to achieve them), and, most importantly, met some very nice people. They come from Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Albania, and Hungary. I genuinely liked most of the people I met and I look forward to getting to know them better and sharing some time and experiences in Luxembourg. Most don’t live in Lux city, but the country is so small that it doesn’t make a difference and I’ve already seen some of them again!

My time in Luxembourg is progressing, but I’m still feeling quite homesick for Scotland. I don’t like it yet and it’s not yet home, but I have only been here for three weeks so I’m trying to stay positive and optimistic. So in reality, going from Paris to Echternach was really a microcosm for going from Scotland to Luxembourg, just minus the string.

xoxo

VB

Being a Real Person

Here’s the thing about working full-time: it’s full-time. As in, you don’t have much time to yourself. Totally forgot this about the real world and now finding that my spare time is rare time. I’m trying not to let it get to me too much since I do only work 37-hour weeks and have (most) evenings and weekends free, plus can take as long as I want for lunch and wear jeans (win!), but I’m already nervous that keeping in touch with friends and blogging may suffer a bit in the way of being a Real Person.

So here goes, the answer to the oft-asked question, ‘What exactly are you doing in Luxembourg?’ Until a week ago, I didn’t know much more than ‘working in the Communications Department,’ and ‘trying not to drown in French.’ Now I can give more details while confirming these initial nuggets.

The Communications Department at the Luxembourg Red Cross Headquarters consists of about 10 people. In theory, about 20% of my job will consist of helping this team with anything that has been, or needs to be, translated into English. On one hand, this is enjoyable, as I love and have a flair for editing. On the other hand, after a few hours I want to beg for mercy as I can only handle so much bastardization of the English language at a time. This is usually when I switch to the other 80% of my job…

Coordinating the International Section (IS). The International Section is a group of volunteers made up of non-Luxembourgers who help the Croix-Rouge Luxembourgoise (CRL). Nearly 40% of the Luxembourgish population is foreigners, so it’s a substantial section of the population this group is aimed toward. The IS has both social events for its participants and projects/activities that help either to raise funds for or awareness of CRL and its efforts.

It’s a great concept, except, right now, it’s a mess. The group doesn’t have many leaders, or many volunteers from the sound of it. Therefore I am to help bring in lots of volunteers, some of whom can be project managers and planners. I also need to help plan the upcoming events and determine what our agenda for 2012 will be. Right now I’m in the process of setting the mission, aims, and objectives of this group and what we can offer our volunteers. The hope is that by the time I am done here in one year, the group will be able to function on its own.

So far, it’s okay. Honestly, this isn’t my ideal job, but I do work with nice people and get a certain amount of freedom and responsibility. I think it will be a great learning opportunity and give me experience in many aspects of business in which I haven’t worked. And, most importantly, this will (hopefully) help those who need it in Luxembourg. The money (and awareness) this group raises will provide support for people who are struggling. I can’t think of anything better in a job. Except for when I worked at a place that had a 2pm cookie time. That was pretty awesome.

Voila, what I’m doing in Luxembourg. I have a lot going on outside of work as well; I have started to make friends with some really great people and begun to discover Lux (pictures to follow). Additionally, tonight starts my birthday festivities! Dinner out for about 10 people, then this weekend heading to Paris to turn 27. Even without the daily cookies, life is good. :)

Kisses,
Veggie Bourger

The Bourger’s Buns

I'm talking about where I live...what are you thinking of?

This past week has been a whirlwind and a blur. I don’t really know how I feel about Luxembourg, my volunteering, or anything yet, but I can at least describe where I’m living and working and start from there. Then I’ll eventually get into things like what I actually do at work and my social life, but right now, I’d like to talk buns.

I live in the headquarters of the Luxembourg Scouts. Seriously. This facility has two main buildings: one which has a large dorm and kitchen to house scouts and school groups, and one which has administrative offices and conference rooms. On the second/third floor (Europe/US) of the latter, there resides one apartment. It is a two bedroom flat and I share it with an EVS volunteer from Paris. She has been lovely and wonderful so far, but unfortunately leaves in a couple months when she finishes her project. Here’s to hoping the next volunteer is just as great!

I have my own bedroom and a pseudo-bathroom, which consists of a shower and a sink. I share a toilet room, lounge, and kitchen, plus the laundry room. Mmm washer and dryer :) The kitchen is pretty well equipped and includes a dishwasher. Not that I need to wash much on my own, but it shall come in handy if I ever entertain. Hint hint.

The location isn’t anything special, but it’s not inconvenient. There is a bus right out front and two more down the street, all of which will get me into the city centre in about 5 minutes and to the train station in about 15. I don’t have a grocery store or gym nearby, so I’m still figuring out how I’m going to manage those things.

It takes me about 15 minutes to get to/from work, possibly the shortest commute I’ve ever had next to when I worked in my dorm’s dining hall two doors down from my room. Once I get to the city centre, I walk through a park for about 5 minutes and then arrive at this building:

Unassuming, right? I was quite surprised since it's headquarters of the Luxembourg Red Cross. But it turns out they (CRL as I like to call ‘em) have about 17 or so offices around town, and this, it’s headquarters, just handles their Communications, IT, and Finance departments. So I work in a lil villa in the park.

And that, in a nutshell and several pictures, is where I live and work. Nice buns.

xoxo

Veggie Bourger

Introducing....Veggie Bourger!

Hi, I’m Valerie, the artist formerly known as Kosher Waffle, and I’ve just moved to Luxembourg. This has been a journey in the making and is certainly an adventure to come. Over two-and-a-half years ago I moved to Belgium to volunteer at a community for people with special needs and started this blog as a way of keeping my friends informed of what I was up to and ensuring that my story was shared without the alterations of creative storytelling (Mom). Now I am blogging for different reasons, which only makes sense as I am a different person. A lot has changed since I left America in July 2009. I have had eight incredible months in Belgium with marvelous people and exciting exploits. I had two back surgeries and am still recovering. I earned my Master’s degree in Public Health Policy in Edinburgh, Scotland, where I have just left after the best year-and-a-half I could have imagined. I have also been blessed to travel around and live in Europe quite a bit. My outlook on life is different, my goals are different, and even my friends are different; in 2009 they were mostly American, now they are mostly European.

So with this new volunteering experience comes a new blog. My readership will be different not only because of the changed (potential) readership over the past two years, but also because I am a part of the European Voluntary Service (EVS). The organizations that sponsor and organize EVS like their volunteers to have blogs so that they can both keep track of how the volunteers’ experiences are going and show prospective volunteers what it’s like to be an EVSer. It is merely an added bonus that my mother doesn’t get to put her own spin on things.

You may skip this paragraph if you have already heard all about EVS and what I’m doing in Luxembourg. The European Voluntary Service is a European Commission program that sponsors youth to volunteer in different countries. Similar to when I was in Belgium, I will have a sending organization, Xchange Scotland, and a hosting organization where I will work, Croix Rouge Luxembourgoise (CRL), or Red Cross Luxembourg. While working at CRL, all my expenses will be paid, including housing, food, transport to/from work, training(s), health insurance, and language courses. I will spend 1 year, working 37 hours/week and getting the beautiful 30+ paid vacation days (not including sick days)* with the Red Cross. Working for them is an absolute dream come true for me, and I cannot wait to learn all about how the organization works and get experience in this incredible humanitarian organization. I am so proud and so excited to be with CRL, that I’m honestly quite nervous!

Disclaimer: I haven’t been a grown up in nearly three years. Monday I will start again at a 9-5 (ish) job, wear real-people clothes and have designated lunch hours. I will remember what a ‘weekend’ is, plan things for ‘after work,’ and forsake my beloved jeans. This may be even more daunting than working in French! From my understanding, I’ll be in the Communications Department working on a variety of projects, from domestic to international. I will have more details next week, along with some anecdotes of the terribly awkward and/or faux pas situations in which I’ve managed to get myself.

I’m a bit rusty on blogging, so please forgive me if this isn’t as charming or witty as you expected or if it doesn’t stack up to Kosher Waffle. I can’t promise it will improve much, but I can promise that the more absurd my life gets (which is usually a pretty good guarantee), the more absurd the documentation shall get. Please let me know if you have any suggestions, questions, etc, and thank you so much for reading and taking an interest in my new adventure.

Lots of Love,

Veggie Bourger

*now you know why I stay in Europe