Funny and remarkable differences between Spain and Belgium

Through my year here in Almería I noticed some remarkable and/or funny differences between Belgium and Spain. Of course this list is not exhaustive so you're welcome to add things!

Categorie Daily Stuff:

• In the Spanish language there is only one word for fingers ánd toes: dedos. So that means that feet have 'dedos' and hands have 'dedos'.


• Garbage is collected every day. People throw their garbage in the closest shared garbage container every evening after 22h. When they hear how our system works (garbage is collected one or two times a week) they think that we Belgians are dirty people because we keep the garbage 3 days in our house!


• The cabs here are payable! Where in Belgium you pay at least 9 euro's for sitting ten minutes in a cab, you pay here less then 4 euros!


• Even the news on the television is interrupted by commercials. Lucky that doesn't happen in Belgium!


• Everybody thinks that the only official language of Belgium is French. If I say my mother tongue is Dutch they think I'm from Holland. Most of us Belgians don't know that in the Spanish language is actually called 'Castellano' and that also 'Catalan' (Catalaans) is an official language.

Categorie Shopping and Fashion:

• Spain is the land of the shoes, the handbags and all the other accessories! In a city you find on every corner a payable shop with great stuff! In Belgium you find only payable accessories in the big shops as H&M what means that everybody wears the same things.


• The Zara and Mango are about 20% cheaper here! Wiiiiiiii! But this is normal because (1) it are Spanish companies and (2) because in Spain people earn in general less then in Belgium.


• When it's 30 degrees people still wear long pants. In Belgium we look like summer tourists from the moment it doesn't rain and it's more than 20 degrees.


• Some girls don't mind to wear flashy yellow wíth flashy pink wíth flashy green. They wear even shoes in that colors! In contrary, the favorite color of a Belgian is black, grey, dark blue and brown (I confess). Even in summer. I don't know which is better actually ;)

Categorie Food:

• Lunch is taken between 13h30 and 15h and dinner between 21h and 22h30. In Belgium we lunch between 12h and 13h30 and we dinner between 18h and 19h30. So if you see people eating in the Pizza Hut or Mcdonalds of Almería at 20h you can be sure it are tourists.


• 'Sjieps met pickels' don't exist here! They dó have patatas fritas Jamón Jamón (= chips met gerookte hesp) which is very popular here and don't exist in Belgium.


• 'Frietjes' are always fried in olive oil, which gives them a really different taste ! But they are also very tasty! Btw, also huevos (eitjes), salchichas (worstjes), pimientos (paprika) etc... are all fried (gefrituurd) in olive oil. All very tasty but also very...oily.


• When you go for tapas (this is only true in Almería and Granada) and you ask a caña (beer) or a mosto (grape juice) you get a tapas for free! That doesn't happen if you ask a cola, water or orange juice btw. Don't think the tapas are only a little bit of olives or jamón serano, no, sometimes it's a complete dish! For example: a hamburguesa con patatas fritas (hamburger met frietjes).

• It's common to eat here out of plate put in the middle of the table. In Belgium a lot of people don't find this hygienic (you had to hear my aunt when she was visiting me here in Spain). I had to get used to it but now I like this habit!

• Somebody knows 'churros con chocolate'? A churro is a fried-dough pastry based breakfast. It makes me think on 'oliebollen' but then long in stead of rounded. They are baked in olive oil and really crunchy. Traditionally you eat them with chocolat milk, which is more like a chocolat sauce. Incredible that this is eaten in the morning, but ones you tried it and you get used to it, you want to eat it every sunday! In Belgium we take a quite light breakfast, even on sundays.

Categorie Going Out:

• People start going out at 23h30 or even later while in Belgium we meet around 20h or 21h.


• Spain doesn't have'(fruit)jenever' but they do have great rum!


• Beer is also very popular in Spain but is more expensive then in Belgium (2,5 euro here versus 1,5 euro in Belgium).


• Water is cheaper (for free or maximum 1 euro) than a cola (1,5 euro) or a beer (2,5 euro). In Belgium you pay 1,5 euro for a simple glass of water which is as much as for a beer!


• Very popular here is 'tinto de verano', which is red wine with fanta. Great!


• Also really popular while going out is 'calimocho': red wine with cola and liqueur of raspberry or melon. They serve it in a 1/2 litre glass! Although it doesn't sound really good, it is, trust me!

List of Movies: a bit of explanation (II)

I've updated the list of movies. Probably I've forgot some because lately I watch so many movies I can't remember them all. A little bit explanation about the amount of stars I put:

* WARNING! Don't watch this movie! It SUCKS big time! Even if you're drunk.
** If you have an open mind and you're not in a critical mood, you can enjoy this movie!
*** Regular but good and enjoyable movie!
**** Great movie that you'll enjoy for sure!!
***** An incredible movie that you HAVE to watch!!

ZERO = a category especially invented for 'the number 23' because it's one of the most stupid movies I've ever seen BECAUSE normal stupid movies know at least that they are stupid (like Scary Movie or something), this one doesn't realise it al + it's with Jim Carrey (do I need to give explanation?)

Puesta de Bandas

When in Spain students finish their degree in the university, they celebrate it with a 'Puesta de Bandas'. This means that an official act is organized where a couple of professors and important people of the faculty and the university put the students a 'banda' (in Dutch: een lint). A couple of weeks ago it was the puesta de bandas of Jesús, my boyfriend, so I had the chance to experience this nice tradition (because in Belgium we don't celebrate a lot our graduation, at least not traditionally). In my Jesús' faculty they decided to put the students an official anagram instead of a 'banda'. This is the symbol of the finished degree (which is btw 'Ingeniería Informática'). Btw, it's a really formal ceremony, so people dress up almost as it is for a wedding (as you will see in the photos)! After the ceremony there was a chic dinner with great food (I Love the Spanish Food!!). And after that.... party of course!!! Enjoy the photos!

Quiche with broccoli and salmon

This is one of my favorite dishes! I ate it the first time at Helena's place, then I tried to make it myself and it turned out quite well! For people that don't know me really well: that means that the recipe is really easy :)



Ingredients for 4 persons (1 quiche):

• 250 gr broccoli (in little pieces)
• 200 gr smoked salmon (in pieces)
• 1 onion (in pieces)
• 3 eggs
• 1 pot of cream (250ml)
• 150 gr rasped cheese (the kind you like)
• puff pastry (buy pastry with baking paper)
• a little bit of butter
• salt and peper
• 1 soup spoon dill

How to prepare

Prepare the oven on 200 degrees. Mix the eggs with the cream and the cheese. Add salt, pepper and the dill. Put the puff pastry in the baking tin. Add the broccoli, salmon and onion in the baking tin. Add the mixture of the eggs-cream-cheese all over the broccoli, salmon and onion. Put 45 min in the oven (that is what my recipe says but I think 30 min is enough, so keep on eye on it!)

Enjoy!!!

List of Movies: a bit of explanation

On the right side of my blog you can find a list of all the movies I have watched since I started with my blog (= since I arrived in Spain). While adding the ones of the last months I've noticed that there are quite a lot!!

I've rated them with stars from * till *****. But you have to know that I've rated them like I have experienced them! I know that sounds logical, but I wanted to emphasize that because I've noticed (at least for myself) that the way I experience a movie depends on a lot of factors: the mood I'm in, the company, the time of the day, if I'm tired or not, the place, my movie preferences...

An example: on a cosy sunday afternoon I can be perfectly happy with a movie as Spanglish, Mr. Bean's Holiday or, as I remember out of my childhood, movies as Sissi!

Another example: when I'm tired in the night, I prefer easy movies like Disturbia, National Treasure or Over the Hedge. Like that, I was almost falling asleep in the cine while watching Million Dollar Baby...

Last example: I didn't enjoy Blade Runner a lot, although it is the classical sf-movie, a pioneer in its genre! Although a lot of people are crazy about it! But in general I don't like so much sf-movies and it is a long and slow movie and on that moment I was really tired.

So for the movie lovers, enjoy checking my list! Maybe it is perfect to get some ideas, because who doesn't know the feeling of wanting the watch a good movie while actually you don't have any idea which one???