OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

oppositeocean.com

OppositeOcean is a web blog created and maintained by Leah. She is a twenty-something American living abroad in Europe with a passion for languages, art, literature, and one special Belgian. She is a college graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish but finds that the drive to learn endures. Leah has studied abroad in Italy, spent a year studying in Spain, and is now experiencing a new culture in Ghent, Belgium.

Written by

Leah@OppositeOcean

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

For the love of hygiene.

On Wednesday it happened. The last straw was placed on the delicate little camel’s back and my toes crept right up to the very end of the ledge of sanity. I was washing my hands in one of the...

Apr 18, 2013 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

Words, Woords, Woorden

In this video David Crystal, a linguist with great authority on the English language, discusses his favorite words in the English language. Lately I’ve been thinking about my favorite words. I...

Mar 15, 2013 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

Testosterone Terrier

I regularly take the tram to and from the city center of Ghent and I’ve found that there is a pattern involving the occurrence of unusual events and my presence on the tram. The other day I was...

Feb 27, 2013 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

How I traveled across the Atlantic with my kitchen mixer.

I never thought one of my ambitions would be to carry a 37 lb (16.7 kg) kitchen mixer through the Atlanta airport. Now that I’ve done it, I must say I guess I feel a bit more accomplished. After...

Feb 13, 2013 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

Now on Pinterest

I’ve been working on building a Pinterest board for OppositeOcean for a while. At first I was using my personal Pinterest account and had created just one board for OppositeOcean but I experienced...

Jan 30, 2013 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

Signs of Life

Mr. Dorian takes a break from attempting to catch snowflakes. Although freedom is rather temporary at this point, the taste of it is still sweet. I finally have some time to let my brain rest and...

Jan 20, 2013 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

5 Things to Eliminate Wintertime Woefulness

If my second winter here has made anything clear about the relationship that Belgium and I have with each other, it is that she often does little to cheer me up during this time of year. The...

Dec 21, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

Shaken not…shuffled?

Time is a precious commodity for me at the moment as I’m trying to rise to the seemingly impossible challenge of preparing myself for yet another exam period. I wanted to take a few minutes to post...

Dec 18, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

Oh no, not The Simpsons…again…

There are many things about Belgium that I don’t always get, but I really do not get the obsession that Belgians seem to have with The Simpsons. In fact, I don’t understand why anyone would be...

Nov 23, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

Be wary of the egg whites.

It is apparent to me now that my interest in languages has always existed. I can clearly recognize my early fascination when I think back on how I used to read the foreign words on shampoo bottles,...

Nov 20, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

False Friends

The word friend seems to be a very straight-forward word that most English speakers associate with that warm feeling you get when someone does something thoughtful for you or the contentment you...

Nov 17, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

How to trick a Belgian

One of the things I reveled in when I first moved to Ghent was the often-underrated ability to blend in. I had just spent a year living and studying in Spain and often found myself an anomaly in...

Oct 27, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

Cryptic Cow

I have seen this uitdrukking (expression) three times today and each time I thought of what a strange expression it was and wondered what it possibly could mean. On the third time I decided to look...

Oct 24, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

Honest Boats

3 weeks since classes started at the University. My brain is still intact but there is no definite amount of time to say how long it might remain so. I sometimes bike to my lectures (that is, if I...

Oct 10, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

Second-hand Language

To live is to learn, to learn is to grow, and to grow is to change. Life is comprised of change. As children we grow and change physically; add more words, both beautiful and vulgar, to our...

Sep 25, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

Words of the Week – 17/9/12

Throughout my blogging history I’ve always found the blog platform a healthy motivation and inspiration for language-learning. Since I’ve been living in Belgium I’ve had to begin learning Dutch. It...

Sep 17, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

Music on a Monday

Last night something came across TV that sparked a 30 minute lesson in classic Belgian music. It led to my first introduction to the Belgian artist, Jacques Brel and his music; which seems more...

Aug 27, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

The magical qualities of fog.

There is something about a foggy morning that always makes me contemplative. I remember waking up as a child to find that the neighborhood was covered in fog; every morning like this always seemed...

Sep 4, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

Katerdag

Katerdag – A look into a week in the life of Dorian Gray. In this photo, he’s sleeping in his home within a home; his cathouse. This is how I usually find him in the mornings, camped out in his...

Sep 1, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

Music on a Monday

Last night something came across TV that sparked a 30 minute lesson in classic Belgian music. It led to my first introduction to the Belgian artist, Jacques Brel and his music; which seems more...

Aug 27, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

A sea, you say?

As surprising as it may be for such a tiny country, believe it or not, Belgium actually has a coastline. Only about 70 km of coastline on the North Sea, but it is beautiful and enjoyed to the...

Aug 15, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

Technological Let Down

To make a comparison between the technology that we have presently and the technology that existed when I was a child often leaves me in pure astonishment. I remember the first mobile phone that my...

Aug 12, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

When summer comes suddenly.

As much as I complain about the rainy, chilly days here, it only takes a few days of sunshine for Belgium to redeem itself. When the sun is shining and you have nothing more important to do than...

Jul 27, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

Mijn Belgische Verjaardag

It’s hard to fathom that I’ve been living in Belgium for a year now, but it’s true. The year has gone unbelievably quickly and yet so many important things have happened in its course. Before we...

Jul 25, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

The cat adventure begins.

Since we moved into our new house, both of us have been looking forward to adding a cat to our household. We had been visiting a lot of animal shelters and making preparations in the house during...

Apr 25, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

When the swear word loses its strength.

Belgians are superior language learners. A week or so ago I was amazed again by their vast language capabilities. I was waiting for the tram around 10 in the morning so that I could make my English...

Apr 13, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

‘Of’ means ‘or’, and ‘en’ is no longer ‘in’ but ‘and’.

If the title of this post confused you, then welcome to my confusing little world. During the last half year my brain took a turn down crazy language street and I have been living in a...

Apr 3, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

Winter hibernation over

During the last few months OppositeOcean has been dormant. A pattern that I’ve noticed about myself during the last few years of my life is that winter often leaves me uninspired. While I underwent...

Mar 14, 2012 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

A Belgian-American Thanksgiving

My first Belgian Thanksgiving turned out to be a lot more American than I had planned. I arrived home from my Dutch class to find an empty apartment. Christophe returned soon with a mischievous...

Nov 26, 2011 Like

OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

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OppositeOcean | An American expat in Ghent, Belgium

Written by

Leah@OppositeOcean

For the love of hygiene.

Words, Woords, Woorden

Testosterone Terrier

How I traveled across the Atlantic with my kitchen mixer.

Now on Pinterest

Signs of Life

5 Things to Eliminate Wintertime Woefulness

Shaken not…shuffled?

Oh no, not The Simpsons…again…

Be wary of the egg whites.

False Friends

How to trick a Belgian

Cryptic Cow

Honest Boats

Second-hand Language

Words of the Week – 17/9/12

Music on a Monday

The magical qualities of fog.

Katerdag

Music on a Monday

A sea, you say?

Technological Let Down

When summer comes suddenly.

Mijn Belgische Verjaardag

The cat adventure begins.

When the swear word loses its strength.

‘Of’ means ‘or’, and ‘en’ is no longer ‘in’ but ‘and’.

Winter hibernation over

A Belgian-American Thanksgiving

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