Another Christmas

We're getting ready to our second Christmas in Belgium and I couldn't be happier. We have our little artificial tree decorated, the Nativity set is out and the very fancy battery operated candle sticks are in the windows. We're all ready. Saint Nichola should be here this week, the son will either get some coal or maybe a little gift, it's touch and go really, and he's thinking of things to ask Santa for. Right now the only thing he can come up with is a transformer costume.
The Christmas markets have all started up and I am itching to get to some this year. Last year, with wrestling being so hectic, we didn't get to many. Today, the weather is yucky, but that can't stop me. As I've said before, if we waited around for nice weather, we'd never leave the house. On my agenda is the market in Lille, France. It's about 45 minutes down the road and has a great little website that has perked my interest. http://www.noel-a-lille.com/index_anglais.html
 We have some gifts to get still for the siblings back in the States and this year our theme is branching out from just Belgium to the European Union. I'm hoping to pick up some German and French items for the boxes, maybe Italian is I can wait until the 10th to send out the boxes.
Now, the big chore is to get the boys off the couch, dressed and into the car. Wish me luck.

Thankful for AFN

I can't remember if I've posted anything about Armed Forces Network (AFN) or not, but I'm going to again if I have before.
We do not have cable, or Skynet, or even any fancy stuff on appleTV, what we do have is AFN. Since AFN is funded by the government, we do not have to be bombarded by commercials, political ads and mudslinging nonsense.
When we first got here, my daughter and I were amazed at the commercials, some little more than high school communications class productions. Some were funny, some were informative, some were horribly done, but all were without bias. Unless you think it's OK to text and drive, not install child safety seats correctly or think that the hypothermia risks are overblown, you can't be turned off by these public safety announcements.
Let me tell you what I got to watch on TV since we moved last summer and the media circus heated up around this crazy election. I got to watch commercials on how to vote absentee, necessary information since I won't be going back to the states for that but feel that I need to vote. I got to watch commercials about how military personnel and DODs employees are not allowed to use their jobs or uniforms to campaign for someone. And, well, that's really about it. That's the extent of what I had to suffer through relating to the elections. Not bad.
The other thing that we get to bypass are toy commercials and fast food commercials, all aimed at stirring my already wild child into a frenzy about some cool new toy that he has to have to that we need to get a kid's meal somewhere because they have Hot Wheels toys this month. Thank goodness!! We watched about 30 minutes of regular TV when we were on vacation and the whole time I was bombarded with, "Mom! I HAVE to have this toy! Mom! Can I have this for Christmas? Mom! Come see this toy!" Good grief. Exhausting.
I can choose to read as much news this election season as I want, and it's not much because really, this much ignorance hurts my head. I'm getting enough of it from my facebook friends. I am so thankful that when I finally sit down to watch my 2 hours of guilty pleasure TV (SYTYCD or The Voice) during the week,  I do not have to listen to negative mudslinging that will not help me make up my mind about anything.
Thank you AFN for keeping us from this nonsense. Thank you US Army for sending my family away from the United States for the last 16 months so I don't have to listen to political rants and irritating jingles.

Housing Issues

We have our house through the American Housing Office at SHAPE. They are great people and they work hard for us. Any time we have an issue with a house, whether military housing or on the economy, we go there first. They are our advocates and help us with any and all issues. I think there is one American employee, the rest are Belgians with amazing English language skills. They are use to the way things are done (ha ha) in Belgium and I think they work as a cushion so we don't go all ape-crazy in and English speaking tirade that would do no good.
Here's just one issue that they get to deal with. Our heating system is run on mazout, which is like heating oil, and we have radiators instead of vents. So, I guess, the heating oil goes through the boiler and heats the water and the water heats the radiators. However it's suppose to work, the issue is that it doesn't.
We shut off the thermostat in March/April and my husband did something to the system in the garage, flipped a knob or something like that. It's been getting cold in our cement and rock house, so I finally gave in and asked him to turn it on last weekend. Nothing. The thermostat works, the batteries are good. The water heater works better than necessary and the mazout tank is full. My husband flipped the knob and nothing.
This past Monday I went into housing and told them about this issue. (and a few other things, but my fingers aren't strong enough for the others right now) They called both of the property manager's cell phones and the agency he runs. Nothing on the cell phones and an outgoing message at the agency saying that they'd be back from lunch at 1400. We waited until 1415 and called again. Usually this property manager lets things go to voicemail and calls right back, before I get out of the chair. Not this time. So, messages were left on cell phones one time and the agency two times, so four messages on Monday.
Nothing.
I go back in on Wednesday. The man at the office had not put away our file because it was still and open case. (great customer service) We called again, I purposely came in after 1400, and left messages. This is just a pain really. I left times that I would be able to be home for him to call and come by. Wednesday evening, Thursday evening, Friday after 1300-1500 and again after 1600 and Saturday morning.
Wednesday at about 1600 the property manager had called back and I got an email saying that he was given my cell phone number and he would contact me before he came over.
So, here is is Friday night, almost 1900 and I have had no contact with the property manager. Thank goodness we have a wood burning stove to heat up the kitchen and living room, but it does nothing for the upstairs.
 I'm happy that it's only been getting into the high 40's at night. I'm happy that my husband made sure that we had have plenty of wood and that I can start a pretty good fire.
I'm not happy with the property manager. I'm pretty sure if we were a member of his tricked out Land Rover family, that we would not be having this problem.

Autumn Leaves

We recently got the Nebraska Life magazine with the beautiful autumn cover showing the trees in all their vibrant fall glory. Autumn is my favorite time of year and one of the reasons is because of the leaves. People talk about the beauty of autumn leaves in New England, but I've always thought that Nebraska looks pretty good too.
With that being said, Belgium's leaves have just begun to turn. When I look out the kitchen windows, all I see are trees from the chateau grounds, and a few of them are turning yellow. It isn't the "brown and fall down" turning that Texas and Georgia had, but it's pretty close. The trees just don't have the vibrant colors that they do in Nebraska. There are very few that will be burgandy, orange or something in between.
Don't get me wrong, I still love it here, that hasn't changed, but that Nebraska Life cover made me miss autumn in Nebraska.

New Job

I have been an out of work teacher since December 17, 2010, when I left my wonderful school in Copperas Cove, Texas and moved to Georgia with my husband. I had subbed in that part of Georgia years before and with my son at home (and the memories of the schools) I decided that I wouldn't pursue subbing there.
After we moved to Belgium, I filled out all the crazy paperwork, then did it again online for the Department of Defense schools (DODs). I subbed some, but not a lot, in the junior high and high school. I was worried to sub in the elementary schools because I didn't want to be stuck in a classroom of 5 year olds all day long.
So, when a half time job came open in the DODs school here, I was excited. It was for the middle and high school, so I wouldn't have the same kids all day long, and it was only half days. 8:30-12:30 every day, fabulous. There was, of course, lots more paperwork, but it was worth it for a job, and a government job at that!
Our school is run by the Department of Defense for the American children of service men and women, but SHAPE is special. We don't have a huge population of Americans here, but we are the majority of the population. DODs has a contract with many of the NATO nations that their children can come to our schools. I don't know how tuition is covered, but it is for most of the countries' military children. Most of the civilian workers pay tuition, unless it is part of their contract. This means that 43% of our school population are International kids.
In my little special education math class, I have 5 students, 3 are Americans, one is British and one is Spanish. This makes differentiation just that much more important and challenging. Teaching fractions with real life implications is only important for 3 of the 5 students, the others will use the metric system for cooking and measuring. When I asked the other kids what they would need fractions for, they both answered similarly, "For math class."
Because our school has 43% International students, and we are not on an American military base, we don't follow the same school schedule that the other American DODs schools do. It's a good and a bad thing, I guess. We started on the 15th of August, the other DODs schools started on the 23rd. Teachers reported earlier than that. Any questions that I had for the hearing impaired teacher or the special ed director had to wait until school was in session, because their duty days hadn't begun yet. That was extremely frustrating. We will get out of school a week later than the other schools as well. BUT, we get a full week off for "All Saints Recess," the week of Halloween, we get a similar sized Christmas Break, another week of in February for the beginning of Lent (locally known as ski week) and two more weeks off in April for spring break. There are also little days off here and there for the students that are religiously based Belgian holidays. All-in-all, I can't complain. Our new students are complaining about not having Thanksgiving off, but who else celebrates it but the Americans? We get off at noon that day. No Black Friday sales to get ready for or football to watch with the 7 hour time difference, so it doesn't bother me.
I can't say that I'm in love with my job yet, but I don't dread getting up in the mornings, and I have had jobs like that before. It's a new age level, a WHOLE new school system and it's going pretty well.

Great People/Great Food

We have been so lucky to have met some fabulous people since we've been at SHAPE. We've had people over to the house, gone to other's homes and even went out in public with our crazy child. My husband had to comment, "Why didn't we do this when we lived in Texas?" We did have friends in Texas, to be honest, we went out more with my friends. I'm pretty sure that was because when my husband had to live with his friends for a year at a time, when they got back to Texas from Iraq, they needed a break from each other.
When we were in Texas, we went out to eat with friends instead of having them to the house. Dinner was so much easier because the house didn't need to be cleaned because we were going out. We didn't have to clean up after dinner and dinner could be a quick affair because in the states, you're not hanging around the restaurant after your plates are taken.
Here in Belgium, dinner is easily a two hour commitment if you go out to eat. Refills are not free, sodas are from 8 ounce bottles and cost more than some beers. The waitstaff takes their time getting to you because they know that you're there to socialize as much as eat. After they come and take your order, be prepared to wait at least 30 minutes before your food comes, unless you order a starter, then you can wait longer for your entree.
You will have to flag down the waiter or go to the cash register to ask for your ticket. The staff will NOT bring you the check unless asked for because it is considered rude. They would be rushing you, and that just wouldn't happen, even to Americans. I think that the waitstaff thinks that we are rude if we don't order before dinner drinks, starters, entrees, desserts and after dinner drinks. Why are we in a rush? Isn't the food or restaurant to our liking?
Because of having a very active child that can't handle a 2 hour dinner in public, we have started to have people over almost once a week. Like I've said, we have met great people here, both my husband and I, and we have really started to like entertaining. NOT fancy entertaining, I'm not setting the table and serving the meal, but a nice buffet style dinner that is relaxing. Or we've grilled and sat outside in the few nice days we've had this summer.
We've made some new recipes and have gotten to work together in the kitchen. We've both been forced to clean the house and make it look like the kid only lives in one room of the house instead of having toys in every nook and cranny. We've been looking for healthy ways to make some of our favorite dishes. Our son has been excited to share his toys with friends that come over. We've gotten to play board games that have been hiding for years.
On top of that, we've been invited over to people's homes too and been able to sample some truly delicious meals. The one we had last night was restaurant quality Mexican food and I'm dreaming about it still today.
Our assignment at SHAPE has really helped reshape the way we socialize with new people and friends and has been a blessing to our family. I can honestly say, when we go back to the states, we'll be doing a lot less going out and a lot more having people over.

Stonehenge and Avebury

When we told our daughter that we were moving to Europe last year, the first thing she asked was if we could go see Stonehenge. That trip didn't happen last summer with the move, finding a new house and the husband starting a new job, but, we made it happen this year.
None of my British friends were that excited when I told them that we were going to see Stonehenge on our trip to the UK. Actually, most of them have never seen it themselves, and think that it's overrated. Two of my friends actually suggested many other things that were less preserved and less touristy. Well, we did both.
The weather this summer has been horrible in both Belgium and the United Kingdom, so we have been forced to just don our rain jackets and get on with it. While we made the very rainy drive from London to Stonehenge, we were all pretty quiet. With traffic, it was a much longer drive than we were expecting and we were all very hopeful that the rainy drive was going to be worth it. As we topped a hill on this two lane highway, it all became worth it. On the hill in front of us was Stonehenge, huge, beckoning us to come and see what all they hype was about.
We parked, fed the crabby 4 year old a snack and then shelled out extra money for an annual pass for the English Heritage sights. We picked up our audio guides and followed the small crowd under the highway and up the stairs so we could see Stonehenge. It was so amazing. Our daughter is a pretty mellow girl, but she was absolutely awestruck with the huge, ancient stones. None of us could get over the size of these stones and how truly amazing it was that they were still standing after a few thousand years.
Because of the stones' importance to many, many people, the English Heritage group has given the stones a wide berth from would be souvenir hunters, and the closest we were allowed to come to the main group was about 50 meters. We followed the path around the stones, listening to the audio guide and sharing tidbits that we found interesting. One thing we all found so interesting, but hadn't ever heard before is that there is an "avenue" that was followed from the River Avon up to the site. Between the heel stone and the main stones, it is clearly seen, but in the winter, the path is more easily distinguished from the usual farm fields and sheep pastures. 
All four of us thoroughly enjoyed our visit and we excited to stop at the next location, a location that was recommended to me by the Air Commodore of the Royal Air Force. How could we not go?
Avebury, England is also the sight of some pretty massive standing stones. The stones in Avebury are not formed into specific shapes or in as tight as a group, but they are pretty impressive as well. Our son actually asked, "Daddy, why are those rocks growing out of the ground?" And that is exactly what it looks like.
These massive rocks in Avebury comprise 3 stone circles covering a few acres. The thing that we liked about this site is that you can go and walk among the stones and touch them and sit beneath them an ponder just how in the world they got there. The town grew up around the stones, and today, the stones are mostly found in fields and sheep pastures. The gates actually have signs saying that there are animals inside, please keep your dog on a leash and make sure the gate is shut. Really, how fun is that?
This area of England is full of amazing ancient artifacts that have been pretty well taken care of. They aren't pristine and commercial, but they are really, awesome. (to use my son's word of the moment) There was so much to do there, and we knew we had a pretty long drive to get to our next destination, but we will be going back to see more of the fabulous, unexplained places.
Oh yeah, and there are crop circles to go see too (easily explained crop circles, but I find it hilarious that they are there)

Ferry vs Tunnel

With our daughter here from the States, we decided to take a small vacation to England. My husband had been there before with the wrestling team, but hadn't gotten to do any sight seeing. We were told that for the first time, to take the ferry from Calais or Dunkirk, France up to Dover so we could see the White Cliffs of Dover, then take the Eurotunnel home.
Once the ferry takes off, it's about 90 minutes from coast to coast. You follow the signs to the right place and go through the passport stops for England and France then queue up and wait in line to drive up on the huge ferry boat. Easy enough. I believe the ferry had 3 floors to park on, and 3 more floors to shop, eat and relax. Pretty sweet set-up. The shop is a duty-free shop, so there were some good deals there, if you wanted to pay English pounds and suffer the exchange rate.
There was a small kids area with a video playing and some tables with games that were bolted to the floor.  A couple of coffee shops and a cafe to purchase snacks, or you can bring your own. Wall to wall windows to so you could look out and see the scenery, in this case, the cliffs bobbing up and down with the waves in the torrential downpour.
The ferry was nice, and about $30 cheaper than the tunnel, but with the weather that we were having, all the movement of the ferry through the waves was making me wish I had brought sea sickness patch or something. The kids were fine, but the husband and I were a bit queasy.
We took the tunnel on the way back. This, to me, is an amazing piece of technology and engineering, a giant tunnel, big enough for a double decker train to drive under the English Channel. (I was kinda geeking out about it, which I don't usually do) The only thing that could have made this cooler is if part of it were in plexiglass so you could have seen the water. There were several locations to see a departure board that told you when your train was queuing up and loading, and with 2 trains every hour, it was very easy to catch a different train if you wanted to leave earlier or later.
From the time we queued up, to the time we were on the train was 20 minutes and from the time we drove on the train until we got to the France side was 40 minutes. It took only 25 minutes of drive time. 25 minutes and the train was not bobbing up and down, it was smooth riding. I'm not a claustrophobic person, but even if I was, I think it would have been ok. You ride in your own car on the train, you can get off, but other than a restroom, there really isn't anywhere to go. We just stayed in the car and read our books.
While the tunnel is more expensive, it is worth the money to me. The queues are shorter because there are so many departure times, the trip is an hour quicker and you don't have to worry about barfing because the beautiful cliffs are moving up and down on the horizon.

Summer in Belgium, 2012

This summer has not been much of a summer. We have had nothing but rain, rain and more rain. On the days that we do get some sunshine (some) it ends up raining. My least favorite thing about this weather pattern, is that it seems to rain all day long, and at 8:00 after my son is in bed, the skies clear and the sun comes out. I love Belgium, but I'm beginning to feel a bit moldy.
We have had a few nice days, where the sun has been out all day and there is a small chance of getting a sunburn, I mean suntan. Those days are usually tampered by a strong breeze that keeps the temps down below 75, but I'd take more if they were offered.
Maybe late July and August will prove to be a bit more summer like. And I'm not the only one complaining, some friends that have been here over 8 years have said that this is the rainiest summer and coolest that they can remember since getting here. So, it's not just me.

Garmisch in the summer....

Our daughter is here, so we thought we'd take out two birds with one stone and take her to see Garmish and let the husband do the Ride The Alps motorcycle tour. We had the trip planned for a few months and were very excited.
We started the trip out by going to Ramstein, about an 3.5 hour drive in beautiful weather. We got a later start than we hoped, but still go there early enough to do a little shopping, have dinner at a great little Mexican place and let the son play.
Friday morning we took off for Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in the rain. My husband had some wet weather gear, but after a few kilometers, he learned that it wasn't so much water resistant or water proof. He and his riding buddy spent the day soaked on the motorcycles following traffic for the better part of 6 hours. It was miserable.
Friday evening we got to Edelweiss and the men went to the BBQ for the motorcycle riders, and the kids and I tried out the game room and then dinner at the sports bar. A real cheeseburger and fries was very much needed and this place makes a pretty good one. At least, when you've been away from the states for a year, it tasted good. Then I took off and treated myself to a much needed massage and the kids went to the pool. Everyone was exhausted and crashed early.
Saturday they men went out for their 2nd wet ride of the weekend and were able to see some neat places, despite the rain. It was suppose to be a poker run, but they had to make a detour because of a bike race and didn't get to all the places. I don't think they cared, because they beat us back to the lodge even after checking out downtown Garmisch.
While the men were out riding in the rain, the kids and I took a bus tour to Neuschwanstein Castle in southwest Germany. It was just beautiful. King Ludwig II was a bit eccentric and spent lots of money building this gorgeous castle in the last 1800s. Even though he was alive for the building of this castle, he only lived in it for 172 days before he and his psychiatrist died mysteriously. Only 6 weeks after his death, it was opened to the public for tours to help pay back King Ludwig's debts and his been open most of the time since. Even though the weather wasn't lovely, it stopped raining while we were there and we had a good time. My son was quite taken by the padded "throne" surrounding the toilet and that's probably the only thing he remembers about the castle tour. Boys.
We finished our little vacation with a very wet ride on Sunday back to Ramstein that took 8 hours. With the rain, the traffic and the road construction, the trip took a whole lot longer than it needed too. Next time, like I did the first time I was there, we'll take the train or a cheap flight to Munich and then the train from there. That being said, my usually active, loud, less than ideal traveler was wonderful in the car the entire trip, so no complaints there. Really, no complaints about the weekend. The kids and I were warm and dry in the car and the husband got through it safely and now has plenty of wet weather driving experience on the motorcycle.
I love Garmish and the whole Bavarian region of Germany, I can't wait until we can get back again.

Memorial Day Service at Ardennes American Cemetery

My family went to the Memorial Day Service yesterday at Ardennes American Cemetery, and were so humbled. My husband is one of the adult leaders of the Boy Scouts here and they participated in the laying of the wreaths, so he was busy at this service and another later in the day.
Driving up to the cemetery, you see an amazing, huge cube with an eagle done in relief style jutting out of the front. The names of the missing are on slabs around the main monument. Behind the monument are the graves of over 5,000 American servicemen. I have never been to Arlington, but I have seen photos and footage, but I was in no way prepared for the impressive, saddening expanse of white crosses. Every one of them had an American and a Belgian flag in front of it. Volunteers of all ages helped prepare the graves for the memorial service.
At the time of WWII, Belgium was not allowed to have an official army, but there were many resistance fighters. Since the war, they have been recognized as fighters for the war effort. Many of the survivors from the area were at the service with their Belgian flags flying, wearing their berets and pins and jackets with patches. My husband and I think that the flags were decorated differently to show the different Veteran's groups they represented. Just seeing all the courageous men and thinking of how young they must have been and how lucky they are to have been able to live through the war to be at the cemetery for this service brought tears to my eyes. There were at least 50 men there to show their respect. At the second service that my husband attended, he said there were at least 300 Belgian Veterans there.
There were many speakers, both Belgian and American, including the Ambassador to Belgium and the King's Representative. The couple that my husband was with for the second service said that they've lived all over Europe and that the relationship that the Belgians and Americans have from the wars is really something special to behold. They said that the other European countries don't thank the Americans for their part in the war. My husband and I don't have anything to judge it by, but we both so impressed with the amount of non-Americans at the services. The vast majority of the people at the services at these American Cemeteries were not Americans.
The A-10s from Spangdahlem AFB flew over in the Missing Man formation. They had at least 10 beautiful wreaths that were displayed and the speakers were pretty good. They played a version of Taps that I hadn't heard before that used the whole band. It was easier for me to listen to than just the horn version. Or worse, the horn version with the echo. I was expecting the ugly cry, but the use of the band made the song less haunting and heart wrenching. It was just a beautiful service.
I already understand, from a spouse's perspective, what our service members sacrifice, even during times of war. But our wars going on today are different. I can have a good pity party that my spouse will be deployed for a year or 15 months at a time, but at least we can see the end. We had communication that was easy and pretty consistent. Warfare is completely different today, not less or more difficult and dangerous, but different. The service members and their families had no idea where they were going, what they were going to be seeing or doing, with no consistent communication opportunities and often no end in sight. The sacrifices seem, more, to me, somehow. Being able to attend this Memorial Service, and hopefully more in the future, helps me see the respect and appreciation that one generation can have for another, that one culture can have for another. That the respect and appreciation of all those sacrifices that those who volunteer their lives for this military career do not go unnoticed. (not that recognition is what they are going for)

Memorial Services

Memorial Day is coming in the US and in Belgium, they get a jump start on it. Services started today and will run through Monday. There are 20 American cemeteries in Europe from the wars, and 3 are in Belgium, including Flanders Field.
Belgium does a lot to remember the servicemen that died here in WWI and WWII. I'm very excited to see the service tomorrow at Ardennes, but I know it will be emotional. I've lived around military bases in America for the past 7 years and they do have special Memorial services, but I have a feeling that this is on another level. The war was right here at their doorsteps. Just 2 miles from our house, there's a crash site memorial from WWII, it's not big, just a little plaque, but there are flowers and flags on it.
As a military spouse, it warms me to see how that the men that fought and died here are remembered and honored so well. You can't help but think that many of the young spouses and parents of the servicemen never had an opportunity to see their headstone. Getting to Europe at that time was only for the rich, they never could have afforded it.
We are very lucky that we will be able to go and attend a Memorial service for them. It's what I would hope someone would have done for my hero if we were in that era.
Ardennes American Cemetery

Oostende Kite Festival 2012

The sun was shining this morning, the first time in a long time, so my son and I decided to check out the Oostende Kite Festival. It was recommended on SHAPE Families Facebook page, and I am, again, so thankful for that page. What  a great time!
Oostende is about a 2 hour drive for us, maybe a bit more, and since spring means road construction, we decided to take the train. We drive for 15 minutes, tops, to our favorite little train station in Soignes and catch it there. From Soignes, we went up to Brussels and then switch trains. It's very simple and easy to understand, as long as you know where your final destination is. In this case, Oostende was the final destination, so it is easy to find on the departure screen.
Our trains were very nice today, it made me look, more than once, if we were on a first class car instead of second class. The bathrooms were even clean! Clean bathrooms on public transportation isn't always a given, if you can imagine.
The total trip today was 2:38, and I didn't have to worry about taking a wrong turn, getting behind an accident, road construction, finding parking, paying for parking OR finding my parking spot when we were done.
The first order of business for us today was to get some food, specifically, ice cream. I convinced my son that he had to wait to get some until we could see the kites. It worked, and after our 1/2 mile trek to the right part of the beach, he had his ice cream. He was perfectly happy sitting on a bench, eating his ice cream and watching the kites. The North Sea didn't seem to impress him as much as I thought, he didn't even want to get close to the water.
The kites were really quite spectacular. There were some huge kites, bigger than I could have imagined. We were able to catch the stunt demo with some of the smaller kites, smaller meaning about 8 foot across. The stunts were choreographed to popular music and could possible be compared to watching the Blue Angels of kites.
We walked up and down the beach looking at all the kites and displays. The only complaint I have is that there was only one vendor tent open today. I was ready to drop some money on a cool kite or a yard ornament, but only one vendor and they didn't have anything I couldn't walk away from.
Oostende was also having a Family Day Festival, so we got to listen to some live music and play in a variety of bouncy castles, airplanes and oceans. There was the prerequisite creepy puppet/comic show for children, where the adults just babble in a made up "language." The kids here love it and my son just stands back and watches with a freaked out/puzzled look on his face while the other kids laugh hysterically and chase the actors while they try to escape. Of course, there was a beer tent, it was a family day after all.
 Other than my son sneaking away from me out one end of the airplane and missing for about 10 minutes, it was a beautiful day. I'm so glad we made the train trip to the coast to see the gorgeous kites.
Oostende Kites

Keukenhof Gardens

Last weekend, my son and I went to Keukenhof Gardens in Holland with some of our friends. The weather wasn't lovely, but you can't let weather stop you here. If you do, you'll never leave the house, and I was really excited to go see their beautiful gardens.
Keukenhof is about a 3 hour drive from our little house in Lombise, but it's mostly interstate, or the European equivalent, so it was smooth sailing once my son had the proper snacks and entertainment. The thing I found interesting about the drive, was that there are no real signs or billboards here. There are some states that have laws about the number of billboards advertising things, and it must be the same here, only more strict. Keukenhof is HUGE and famous, I was expecting to see something letting me know I was close, especially once we got into Holland. Nada. Anyway, I had Homer, our trusty GPS system that has rarely steered me wrong.
Keukenhof is set in the town of Lisse, Holland. Lisse is a little town that probably loves the money the gardens bring into the city during the spring, but is very glad to see the tourists leave after the bulbs have lived their lives. The traffic was crazy starting about 8km away from town and the traffic police were out at all the lights directing traffic despite the working lights. A little bit of madness, but no use sitting at a light when there isn't any traffic coming from one certain direction.
Before you even get to Lisse, you can see some of the impressive bulb fields. To look off to the side of the road and see row after row of color, whole farm fields of tulip bulbs, was a sight to behold. I remember driving in Kansas once and coming upon a huge sunflower field, it's similar shock. I can only assume that the bulb farmers plant them with equipment and not by hand, but I haven't been able to find any specific information about bulb planting on a large scale basis, and it is LARGE scale.
 Really, I never knew that fields like this existed.
Keukenhof does have some fields like this that you can see as you drive up to the park, but inside the park are more manicured gardens that are impressive in their own right. Tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, gladiolas all in gorgeous, ornamental displays all over this huge park.
There were many little fountains, statues and other picture taking opportunities at the park, but if you ask my son what his favorite things were, he'd tell you the slide and the windmill. Keukenhof was thoughtful enough to put in a park, complete with not-up-to-US-safety-standard playground equipment. Not to say that it isn't well made, but most playground equipment here has some major safety hazards that parents either have to get over, or be miserable. I choose not to be miserable, and my son has a great time and is a heck of a little climber. The windmill was safer, but my son was most impressed with the inside of the windmill where you can see all the gears that makes it work. Using these two things as a guide for my son's future, he'll either be an mechanical engineer or a stuntman.
Our trip was capped off with a trip to the souvenir shop where we came home with new shirts for Daddy and son, a bottle opener to add to the collection and a small spinner for the yard that looks like a windmill. (a boy's must have apparently) It was a great day, lots of walking and sniffing and fun. The drive back was peaceful since the boy ran himself ragged and fell asleep about 30 minutes into the trip.
Keukenhof was just lovely, and I'm hoping to drag my hubs back there later in the season to see some of the gardens that hadn't come into full bloom yet.

Spring Break part 3

The last big excursion we took with SHAPE Trips and Tours was a day in Barcelona. I do wish that this would have been put earlier in the week, so we could have gone back if we wanted, and I would have wanted. The city is spread out, so a bus tour would have been long, like we did in Rome, but it would have been fun.
We were able to go to Park Guell, which was designed for a wealthy family by the architect Antoni Guadi. It was just beautiful, he worked with landscape artists to design the gardens so they would fit into the environment well. It was kind of Texan looking with the plants that were chosen. He designed a few houses in the park as well as an absolutely gorgeous seating area. The seating area is done with mosaics all around and the colors were beautiful. I would have hated to been the mason that had to lay all the little pieces of tile to made the designs, especially, on the under part of the area.  Park Guell could be something that could take you a small amount of time to enjoy, or the better part of the day. We didn't have beautiful weather, and we only had 90 minutes, but I made the most of it. To live in a city where a park this beautiful is available to wander around in anytime of the day would be wonderful.
The next big thing we got to see/drive past slowly, was the Sagrada Familia, another one of Antoni Guadi's famous works. The cathedral is still unfinished, though it has been under construction for 100 years. Guadi died before it was finished. The cathedral is being built with donations and public funds, so who knows how long it will take to be completed, but for what was charged to go inside and the LONG line in the middle of April, it looks like there's a steady flow of money.
We ended our day at La Rambla, a pedestrian shopping/market area. Lots of pickpockets in the area and it was quite crowded, but it was a great place. The weather was yuck, so we did find a place off the main place to eat inside. There is also a huge open air market there that was amazing. The fruit stands alone had the most beautiful, colorful fruit. I bought a huge container of fresh fruit for snack and it only cost 1,50 euro. I wish I would have had the camera to take pictures of the fruit stands, really, the colors were too amazing to be true.
At one end of La Rambla, there is a statue of Christopher Columbus, pointing west. It's a nice statue and a great way to know which way is which.
Barcelona is definitely a place that I'd love to go spend some more time. The city is huge and is worth more than just an 8 hour day trip.

Spring Break part 2

When we signed up for our SHAPE Trips and Tours vacation to Lloret de Mar, Spain, there were 3 excursions on the list. 1. Marineland (discussed) 2. Medieval Dinner Theater and 3. Day trip to Barcelona.
Now, with a 4 year old in tow, and having read my last post, you can probably guess which one we thought would be most exiting for our son. Knights, horses, jousting and eating dinner with your hands?!? What's not to love? Well, let me tell you

Our guides from SHAPE had worked with a tour company in the Costa Brava region to get everything just so. The guides already weren't overjoyed with the Marineland experience. We had to go up from there, really. Again, the private showings of the animal shows were nice, but.....we could do better.

So, we all board the bus at 1945, that's right, 7:45pm, to drive over to the Medieval Dinner Theater. It's a beautiful night and we only took one wrong turn on the way there.  (previous issues with directions and the Dutch drivers) We pull up to the castle, and, oddly, we're the only buses there. No, make that the only vehicles there. The show is to start in 30 minutes and no one is parked out front or on the sides. Perhaps another private viewing and all the performers are parked in back? Strangely, the sign in front now shows that there is also a cabaret show. Fun, but probably not family friendly.

Pictures are taken by the moat, and the front doors and the shields. Our son and his bestie had matching knight costumes, a birthday gift special for the trip to the Medieval Dinner Theater. We are ready for those door to open. Phone calls are made and someone shows up from the same company as the MDT and says we're in the wrong spot. No big deal, we'll load the buses at 2045 and follow the car to the right spot.

We pull up to what only looks like a scene from a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western and the wall says, La Siesta. Fake torches, old carriages, waterfall.....hmmm....  We are let in and seated at family style table and listen to a blond singer, that has entranced my son while we all try and figure out where the sword play and jousting will happen.

Quick back story: Earlier in the week, while perusing the Lloret magazine, I come upon an ad for World's Fastest Flamenco and IN JEST asked my husband if he'd be interested in that. "H#!! No," was the response I received.

Dinner is served, thank goodness, sangria was served and the show began. The blond was the warm up singer, followed by a thick set man with a thick head of hair singing in a decent tenor voice. CDs for 15 Euro were available. Then came the dancers. Warm up dancers before the main man came on stage and the place went wild. Not even kidding, wild. I knew immediately who this man was, I had seen his picture in the Lloret magazine, it was The World's Fastest Flamenco, or Ted Nugent's Spanish Brother, as he was to be called for the rest of the evening.

Now, I understand that there are many things that I'm not mature enough for, example, birthing classes. I, apparently, am not mature enough to take in The World's Fastest Flamenco and appreciate it for what it is. I'm just not. I accept it. Please, I dare you, check out this website and tell me that you are. http://www.lasiesta.net/en/artistas.htm There were tight white pants, flaming feet of fury, long hair flinging, and sweat flying everywhere. It really was just too much. Many in attendance at my table were happy for the free flowing, free refills of sangria. The same group was happy for children too darn tired to understand that we didn't get to see swords and horses and were almost asleep for most of the show.

All in all, it wasn't a horrible night. We took it the best we could. It was absolutely not our guide's fault that the MDT wasn't in season yet and so they rebooked us at their will and to keep our money at their other show, La Siesta. Culturally, it was a hit, a huge hit. Most of the other tables were on their feet, loving every minute of it. A few tables were ordering more sangria and staring blankly at the stage, I  assume they used the same Costa Brava tour company and were suppose to be at the Medieval Dinner Theater as well.

In case you're interested, you can buy DVDs for the show, 15 EU.

Spring Break part 1

In February, the schools here had a full week off for pre-lenten break, or ski week as it's more commonly known. This month, the kids had 2 full weeks off for spring break. Yes, that's right, 2 full weeks. It began with a half day off before the 2 weeks off so the teachers could get the heck out of Dodge, I guess. Either way, spring break.

I had seen a flyer and heard the SHAPE Trips and Tours manager speak about the spring break trip that was going to happen way back in December, I believe. A trip to the Catalan coast of Spain, 8 days there total, 2 days of travel for a cost that we couldn't pass up, so I booked it right after the new year. We would go, along with our friends that also have a son about our sons' age.

Finally, after months of waiting, the day came. On April 5th, we headed out on a big 'ol double decker touring  bus for 15 hours. We left in the evening and did a few stops along the way for the drivers, smokers and for dinner. That was the thing all of us adults were dreading, 15 hours on the bus with the young kids. Ugh.

It ended up being not too bad, actually. After a mini-melt down at the dinner stop (pre-packaged sandwiches and a coffee vending machine), we got back on the bus, watched a movie on the greatest kid entertaining invention ever, the iPad, slipped half a melatonin in some late night pudding and off to sleep. The son slept, my husband and I took turns with the little sweat machine all night and nodded off for a few hours each.

We stepped off the bus at about 1300 in Lloret de Mar , Spain, to rooms that were ready for us to dump our gear, grab some lunch and go exploring. Our "resort" was nothing fancy, and has officially turned my husband off to "all inclusive" offers of anything more than including the breakfast, but it really wasn't bad. We did save some money, having pre-paid in January for our dinners, and we ate there most nights because it was easier for us with our son.

The first day we walked down to the beach and checked out the Mediterranean Sea and found out that these beaches have sand the way most Atlantic Coast beaches have sand, glorified gravel. Not comfy on the bare feet, but heck, we were at the Mediterranean Sea! The little boys got to run in and out of the surf, climb rocks and finally talk in outside voices. The adults and kids got to walk the staircase up to the statue dedicated to sailors' wives. After the beautiful views from there, we hiked the coastline a little more until we found a lovely little place for gelatto and sangria. What a great first day!

Another day we had a planned excursion to Marineland that was just down the road from Lloret de Mar. The park was barely open, and most of the extra people working there were slightly irritable. The animal trainers were happy to have us there to practice their shows, birds, sea lions and dolphins, and the kids loved it. This being our first big vacation with our son, him being happy made us happy, so that was all that counted. The water park side was still closed and it was way too cold to have enjoyed that anyway. Our tour group had the place to ourselves, and the guides from SHAPE Trips and Tours listened to our pleas to shorten our day there so we could go back to the hotel and to more exploring from there.

The next free day that we had, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and hiked way up the coast to see what we could see. Even with sunscreen, we got a bit pink, but nothing horrible. All three of us got some exercise and we treated ourselves to more gelatto.

Spring Break blog will be continued soon.....

Dangerous Design

I can't remember if I've posted about out some of the interesting things in Belgium house design or not, but I'm going to do it again if I have.
The first interesting thing about Belgian houses is that, from what we've been told, is that it is against the law to refuse people a restroom. So, if someone comes to the door needing the toilet, you let them in. Because of that, every Belgian house we've been in has a small, airplane-like, bathroom on the main floor, and usually in the foyer. They usually have just a sink with cold water only and a toilet. I find this unusual, but, hey, if I'm out jogging and nature calls, I don't have to rely on using nature if I'm close to a house.
The Belgians must not be a big people, because the second interesting thing about Belgian houses is that they all have crazy stairs. We have stairs all over our place and they're all different sizes. They might just be a single step from kitchen to living room, or 2 stairs down to the garage. They may be 2 marble steps with vicious edges leading up to 12 narrow, steep, curved stairs going to the second floor. The stairs leading up are also short, my husband has to duck when using them, and if not paying attention, will bonk our son's head when carrying him. The steps themselves are very narrow, my size 6 foot is all that will fit on one. We have all slipped or missed a stair or  two in the house, but this past week, the dangerous design took it's first victim.
Our buddy, Travis, came from his part of the world to visit us for a week or two. There were some European things that he was hoping to see and was going to use our place as his launching pad. The big event of the vacation was going to be a huge trance music festival in Holland that he was particularly excited about. After dinner and having a great Belgian beverage, our son took him upstairs to see his room. On the way back down, the combination of socks, a beverage after being in a dry country for months and our darn Belgian stairs took him unaware and pulled him down.
At first, it just was sore, so he had another beverage and we chatted around the table. The next morning it wasn't really swollen or discolored, but he was hoping to get some medicine to help with the pain. We headed to the closest hospital and found the "Urgencies Room." After getting to practice his French on the receptionist and the doctor practicing his English on Travis, it was determined that he had broken a small bone off in his foot. "It is not broken, but it is fractured, " is exactly what the doctor told me. They have him some of the half arm crutches and sent him away with some prescriptions and an appointment for the following week.
Now, he's been hanging around our place, alternately, working his way through the DVD library and enjoying the rare Belgian weather. He has a plaster cast and the orthopedist told him No Weight Bearing Activities for another month. This has put the kibosh on his awesome music festival and has greatly changed the vacation as a whole.
Let this be your warning when you come to Belgium, Beware the Stairs!

Again with the Belgian Weather

The past two days it was wonderfully springlike. The morning started with fog, it burned off to beautifully sunny days in the low 60s. Absolutely perfect. Today we started off with a decently warm morning and partly sunny skies. Now the wind has picked up, the sun is gone and it's trying to rain. Good gravy, make up your mind!!
This doesn't seem to bother the pheasants, rabbits, moles, crows and other assorted wildlife that is scurrying about today. All the while, I keep looking at the sky giving it the "hairy eyeball" and waving my fist in the air.

Spring!

Today is a beautiful spring day! It's about 56 degrees Fahrenheit outside, the sun is shining and there is all sorts of stuff to do today.
Currently, we have a classic car race speeding past our house. There are all sorts of cars, from Model T looking, to vintage Porches and a few that look like old VW rabbits and even a WWII Jeep. Some have roll bars inside them, some have multiple lights mounted to the grill. It's been fun to watch them speed past. Many of them have waved at us and given us quizzical looks as to which way to turn up at the corner. With my limited French, I could make out that some of the cars belong to a classic car club from Brussels. This is the second time since we've been in the house that there has been a road race go past the house. I'm amazed that anyone can even find our house, let alone have a car race go past it not once, but twice.
There have been a few groups of cyclists ride past as well. The opposite way as the cars, so that's good. You can tell that the drivers aren't excited to slow down for the cyclists, but you know the cyclists aren't going to ride single file in Belgium, it's just not their way. (or wear helmets)
We have our friend's dog, Miss Mo, for a few days, so we took advantage of the beautiful weather and took her for a hike around the woods behind our house. My son was excited to be outside, after some "encouragement" to get away from the fabulous AFN Sunday morning cartoons. My husband took the camera and got some nice pictures of the wild snowdrops and daffodils that are blooming in the undergrowth. Miss Mo got to go off leash and roll in some stinky stuff and get some exercise. We got to jump puddles and enjoy the sun and fresh air. We got to walk past the dairy barns and see the new lamb in the pasture on the corner. It's just been a wonderful morning so far.
This evening, we were invited over to a cookout. Now, I don't want to be too hopeful, but I feel pretty positive that the weather is going to hold out for us. This will be the perfect way to end this lovely spring day.

Gent, Belgium

Yesterday, we took advantage of the lack of rain and decided to go to Gent, which is only an hour and fifteen minutes from here. Gent is in the Flemish region of Belgium, which meant that any French that we had learned was out the window and better to speak English. We had heard that Gent is right up there with Brugge for beauty and canals, so away we went.
After a lovely dinner at a pizzeria, where the waiters spoke in Italian, we took off to explore. Gent has the largest car free city center in all of Belgium, which is wonderful when you have a crazy toddler that hasn't napped. After taking a picture of our cheesy son near a beautiful statue, we went into the cathedral of Saint Bavo. So far, in our travels, St. Waudru Cathedral in Mons has been the most impressive cathedral that we've stepped foot. Saint Bavo made Saint Waudru look small and amateur in comparison. First step inside, my son noticed right away that you could see your breath. It was a balmy 47 degrees outside, but we could see our breath inside. We looked at all the beautiful stained glass work and the little alcoves around the center chapel. Many of the alcoves, which seems to be typical, housed some underfloor crypts. Others, had more ornate coffins with carved tops of the person inside. One in  particular, had a very oddly lounging Bishop on top. The marble and stonework was amazing. Much of the stone and wood was so well cared for that it shone. This place is hundreds to years old and it was shiny. They layers of wax and polish would protect the wood from anything.
Inside one of the alcoves they had a harpist playing. Though is little stand with CDs to sell was a little awkward, he had a sedate smile that when coupled with the music was quite soothing. I would have liked to look inside that alcove, but it was off limits while he was playing.
Another alcove housed The Mystic Lamb or Ghent altarpiece that is an amazing piece of artwork, arguably the most famous in all of Belgium.  It was huge and very difficult to see since the doors were shut and you had to observe through the marble pillars and scroll work on the doors. There was a smaller replica displayed in another alcove that you could get closer to so you could see some details. And let me tell you, the details were amazing. Adam and Eve are on opposite panels and they look so real, it's almost like they could walk off the canvas. It was very interesting the differences between Adam and Eve. Adam is so modest in his panel, looking shy and almost hiding his chest along with his leaf area. Eve, on the other hand, looks bored and hardly modest enough to use her leaf. Her breasts are bare and she looks almost provocative in her panel. She is also is not holding an apple, but another fruit that is often referred to as, "Adam's Apple." The details on those two alone are spectacular, but the rest of the frames are equally detailed. You'll have to look at the link to read about it.
After our tour of the cathedral, we went outside to run the boy and look around. We found a lovely chocolate shop that is currently my most favorite Belgian chocolate. Ahhh, the creaminess is just lovely. Then we took off to find the canals.
We crossed over a pedestrian bridge and looked at some of the artwork atop the buildings. We saw the only dragon weather vane that I've ever seen on the Belfry. There was lots of construction going on at the Belfry, so we'll have to see inside that at a later time. My husband and I had a stressful stroll along the canal, with our son very excited to walk on the edge and look for ducks in the water. He spotted Poseidon with his spear in the middle of the canal and was bothered until he told me, "Mom, that guy in the water is only a statue." Then we saw the castle.
Gravensteen Castle has a nice little self-paced walking tour that takes you in all parts of the castle. This castle, the first one we've been in so far, was built in 1180. That alone is amazing. It isn't a large castle, in castle standards, but it does have the walkways and arrow slits, crazy, carved, curved staircases and the damp chill that you'd expect in a castle. If the displays and information boards have it correct, there were many, many executions and punishments performed at Gravensteen Castle. One display showed a mannequin stretched out on a cot with his hands and feet bound and stretched with a funnel in his mouth to pour water directly into his stomach. It left little to the imagination, especially when my son went over the pet the mannequin's wig like he was comforting him. (kinds creepy, right?) It does have the tingly feel that made my husband state that this was a place my step-dad would love to spend the night. Although, most of the time we were behind a tourgroup of 12 year olds, we enjoyed it.
We had a great day, despite a nap-deprived toddler. He thoroughly enjoyed the city square and running around the weapons and armor displays at the castle. I greatly enjoyed getting to see more of this beautiful country and my husband enjoyed having a weekend off from coaching so he could be with us. It was a lovely city, one that we'll gladly go back to.

The Fog Light

European cars seem to have it all over American cars, in many different ways. For example, diesel engines over here are much more fuel efficient than in the States. Amazing, though few will realize it, gas is more expensive over here than in the States, even if it climbs to $5/gallon at home, it will be more expensive here. So, it is nice that the technology is used in fuel efficient engines, both for diesel and gas. Also, they aren't driving huge vehicles around. Our Prius is an average size car here, there are actually some parking places where it's a tight fit. Especially, if we're going to park in a garage, the mirrors are going to have to come in and we're probably going to have dings on the doors.
Those are good things, very good things, but my favorite necessity on the European car is the fog light. They are mandatory and we're way behind in getting ours installed. The fog light is, on most cars, installed along with the rear break lights. It's just a single light, and it quite bright, it would be like having one break light on. It might seem strange, but with all the fog here, it's quite nice to have. The light cuts through the fog for people coming up on your rear. And when you're cruising along at 150KMH +, it's nice to be seen through the fog.  (No, we don't drive that fast.....generally) We're looking to get the light installed into the bumper so it looks more natural instead of the way most Americans get in installed, hanging under the bumper. Why is it that this handy safety item isn't a necessary part of all cars made. Toyotas sold in Europe have them, Fords sold in Europe have them, Porsches, Volvos, VWs, I could go on all have them installed in their European versions.
When we bring out little Prius back to the States, if it lives through the Priority to the Right laws and crazy drivers, I'll be more than happy to use my little fog light.

Crossage

Ash Wednesday is a holiday in Belgium where the area locals came out to play a fabulous game of crossage. Here is an example of some Americans playing  crossage a few years back.
The goal of the game is to hit your cholette (a wooden ball the size and shape of a grenade) with your rabot (a wooden mallet a cross a between a hockey stick and a golf club) in as few hits as possible to the empty beer keg. We played in two teams of 3 people and we took turns hitting the cholette. Which, you have to yell "Cholette!" before you hit it so everyone else on the street knows to look out. (I got hit 3 times from a rolling chollete, my husband got hit once pretty hard....he wasn't paying attention) The team that hits the keg first gets a round of drinks paid for by the losing team.
In the town of Chievres, there were 29 kegs for us to hit, set up all around the town. We did not play all the kegs and we did not drink at all of them either. (we're responsible crossage players) We did, however, pay for all the kegs we lost, much to the delight of our opponents.
I believe that Chievres started inviting the Americans as a show of friendship a few years back, and let me tell you, they made some money off of us! There were about 180 Americans playing, along with a few other nationalities from SHAPE. Our team consisted of a British Colonel, my husband and myself against an American Colonel, a German Colonel and an American contractor. We had to buy our rabots and cholettes for 33 Euro and it cost another 23 Euro to play, I believe. Three of that was for insurance in case we broke any windows or other property. (we did not!) Next year, we'll have our equipment so we will only have the cost of the game. Then, each of the kegs has a tent or residence selling beverages and snacks. Jupiler was the cheap drink of choice for many of the tents, and even selling them at 1,30 Euro, they still made a good profit.
The game itself was so much fun. There seems to be little consistency with the making of the cholettes or rabots, so some of them were much more can shaped and heavier than others. For the uphill shots, we played with the smallest cholette in hopes that it was give us the advantage of lightness. I don't know if it really helped or not. Our ringer was the British Colonel that was lucky as could be with some of his shots! He hit one from a block and a half away that took a bounce on the cobbles, hopped the curb and hit the keg right in the middle.
It was such a beautiful day for February in Belgium, about 50 degrees and the sun was out almost all day. The wind was chilly, but we were in-between houses and stores most of the time, so it was no big deal. Crossage was the most fun have had since being in Belgium, and that's saying something. We didn't see anything historical or significant, but we laughed and enjoyed a local sport that means alot to the Belgians in this region. We can't wait until next year!! I might even have to get team shirts made!

Pre-Lenten Recess

My son is home for a week from school for Pre-Lenten Recess, or as the Americans call it, Ski Week. We were told in our Headstart French class, taught by a Belgian, that most Belgians identify themselves as Catholics. They identify themselves as Catholics, but they don't go to church. They don't go to church, but almost all their government holidays are religiously based.
That being said, this week, the whole of Belgium's schools are out for Pre-Lenten Recess. This would be the same as all of Louisiana getting off for Mardi Gras week, because Mardi Gras is the kick off of Lent. Now, maybe they do and call it spring break, I don't know. My son's school had a big party last Friday for the kick-off of recess. They were allowed to wear "fancy dress" (costumes) and bring treats to share and they made masks and something my son calls a "marcher." It was a big deal for all the kids and my son had a great time. The only disappointment for him is that he was pretty sure his teacher would dress up as Batgirl and she didn't.
There are many things going on this week such as parades for families and parades not for families, volksmarches, bike races and community celebrations. We missed the biggest one this past weekend in Binche, but have heard it is worth going to next year. (if we don't have wrestling championships the same weekend) My husband and I will be participating in one of the events that goes on this week, crossage. I'll blog about that next, it happens on Wednesday.

Wild Ride Home

Last night, on my way home from choir practice, I had to use my best driving skills. Ok, I'm exaggerating a bit (a lot) but it was a wild ride home.
First off, we live about 9 miles away from SHAPE, not a big deal in Nebraska, but it seems to be here. The roads that we travel are considered farm roads here. They are all paved, with the exception of the Roman road, but they aren't gravel. They aren't even that bad of roads, a few pot holes, but not horrible. What they are though, is narrow. Very narrow in American standards, but if you're driving two tiny European cars, I guess they're accommodating.
After you leave the small housing area from SHAPE, the road does not have a speed limit as far as I can tell. There is not speed limit sign one way or the other. I've driven with both kinds of  Belgians and Shapians on those back roads. Those that think, "Hell yeah, I'm on the autobahn!" or "There's no center line, I better drive at a escargot's pace." Both irritate me, but one more than the other. Last night was the escargot that I got behind that I was unable to pass because they were in the middle of the narrow road. Then we got stuck at the railroad crossing.
Generally, the trains come and go pretty quickly, and I'm very happy that Belgium is so diligent with their crossing bars. We haven't been on a road yet that hasn't had them. So, now I'm stuck behind the sloth car at the crossing. We waited at the crossing for much longer than usual, I don't know what the hold up was, but we were there about 10 minutes.
The slow car goes ahead and we're the only two cars at the stop. I let her go for a bit before I put the car in drive and go myself. At this point, I see a nasty rat scuttle into the road to grab some grain of something that was in the street. A rat! This is the third rat that I've seen on the road or cross the road in the rain, the second at night and I have to say, they're a bit grosser at night. My inner redneck came out suddenly and jerked the wheel to try and hit the little varmit. I missed, which is probably a good thing. I wouldn't have liked the effects of hitting it, I'm sure. Blech! Little, nasty animal number one lives.
At this point, probably at seeing my lights jerk around in their rearview mirror, the escargot driver pulled over and let me pass. Excellent, now I had the command of the road on the straightest, most well cared for part of the road. Moving right along I saw something dart into the street from the left side. It was one of the giant Belgian hares shooting out of the field. There was no way I wanted to hit this giant bunny. I applied the breaks carefully so I didn't Tokoyo Drift into the ditch and the hare did a quick stop and double take before deciding to go back the way it came from. Animal number two could live another day.
My heart was racing after that. I took our tried and true little farm cut road home since it's potholes are the most well known to the little Prius and started the second leg of my journey.
I was singing to my American Graffitti CD and driving at a respectable 70KPH when I come into the little town before mine. Thank goodness I had slowed down because there was a cyclist riding in the street. 2130 at night, a rainy night, dark, wet street and there's a cyclist with a tiny little bike light on the rear under his seat. No reflective gear on and no helmet. This is typical in what I'm becoming to realize is the Belgian live each day to the fullest attitude. Missed him, animal number three lives another day.
Good grief, just get me home. Not even the Peppermint Twist was going to get me to speed back up on the way home, it just wasn't worth it. I did make it home without maiming, injuring or killing any animals, but it felt like that kind of night when I shouldn't even get in the house and try anything remotely dangerous. Dishes stayed in the sink, I could have gotten burned by our abnormally hot water. Clothes didn't get washed, I could have slammed my hand in the door or tripped down the stairs. No shower, I could have fallen and broken something.
I managed to safely change, brush my teeth, wash my face and climb into bed with my book without incident. Safe and sound. Animal number four lives another day.

Work on the House

In August 2011 we had some severe rain storms. We got inches upon inches in just a few days. That on top of the regular rain we get on a weekly basis. The paint on the lower walls of our house started to bubble and then corrode, for lack of a better word. I took pictures in September 2011 after the bubbling was getting worse and spreading along the walls.
I took the pictures into the housing office to show them and have them contact the landlord. He made an appointment with me to come see it, but never showed. Really, not an uncommon occurrence, at least, with my landlord or property manager I guess would be a better term.
In October 2011, we had some more issues that needed to be resolved, so I went back in to the housing office and had them document that he never showed in September and now had something else I needed him to take care of. We had an appointment, he did call the housing office to reschedule that, then came to the second appointment we made for October.
So, October 2011, he came out once to look at the water damage and then came out a week later with the repairman to see what they could do. We could need to do a few things. 1: The land surrounding our house on the south and west sides needed to be dug up and have a plastic barrier put in to prevent this from happening again. The room where the damage was the worst had been built about 3 years prior, so I don't know why that wasn't done at that time. But, I'm a teacher, not a building contractor. 2: The inside walls would need to be jack-hammered away, a plastic layer put up and replastered. That would take two full days. The following week, they would come back and seal it. A month after that, they would come back and finish the project by sanding and painting it.
OK, bring it on. I wasn't getting called from the school to substitute, lets knock this project out. I will hear from the housing office when the contract has been finalized so we can schedule some dates.
November 2011
December 2011
January 2012 housing office calls to schedule the dates. The last Wednesday and Thursday of the month. Low and behold, I had work scheduled for those days.
February 2012 the workmen are at the house. We had to shut off the heater so they could remove the radiators from the walls. They had to plastic up everything including the entry ways to the living room making us look like we're living on the set of E.T. The fireplace was in use, so they couldn't plastic up that hole, so we have dust all over the main floor of the house.
Now, while it has irritated me to no end that this process has been such a long time coming, and on the coldest darn week here in years, the workmen are great. They've been very kind and courteous. They've worked hard and steady. 8-12 lunch 1300-1600. They've communicated, patiently, with me via my phone and google translate.  They were so nice, I even made some butterscotch brownies to share with them yesterday.
They'll be done cementing the walls today and I'll be left to clean up dust....until they come back next week. Tons of plaster dust that resists my swiffer duster like oil and water. One cool thing that we got to see was the inside of the wall in the living room. That is part of the original house and we knew it to be quite old, the landlord said about 200 years old. From the outside you can't tell how old it is because it has been renovated and looks very modern. But that wall, is OLD. It was just stones mortared together with mud, so neat to look at that history. So nice to know why my house is so stinking cold. If I would have thought about it, I would have grabbed one of the stones that fell out of the wall to keep from our Belgian house.

Artisan Day

Yesterday was Artisan Day in Wallonia, I'm not sure about the rest of the country. It was a day for artisans to open up their shops for people to come and see what the do and how they do it. There are so many talented artists in the area, and it was a big hit among Belgians and Shapians alike.
My family is lucky enough to be just about 2 miles away from one artisan that we've been meaning to meet since July! The Cheese Lady, Thea Oostendorp, has her farm and shop in the town behind our woods. She and her husband opened up their dairy farm and cheese shop for all to come and see how her wonderful cheeses are made. fromagesdethoricourt.be/
The family is originally from Holland, then moved to Wales and has settled on this beautiful dairy farm in Thoricourt. Many Dutch people speak Dutch, French, German and English, (amazing). This was a great talent with the huge number of Shapians coming to visit.
A friend of mine was with my son and me and was able to help explain the whole process to my toddler, time and time again, because her grandparents had a dairy that used very similar equipment. We were able to see all the cows eating before they came in to get milked. We got to see six cows at a time getting milked, I think my son and friend watched the milking of 3 different groups of cows. We watched as the milk was pumped into a cooler and then into to the huge vat where is begins it's life at cheese. Mr. Oostendorp answered many of his questions as well.
My son was so excited to see the milk come pouring out of the hose into that hot tub sized vat. He waited quite awhile to see the mixers move the milk around, but never got to see that. The vat wasn't full enough yet. He was so enthralled, that he never once complained about the noise of the milking equipment. That's saying something for him. Unless it's his own yelling or listening to his favorite songs, he does not like noise and it was quite noisy.
While I was waiting in the long, jumbled mass to taste some cheese to purchase, my son and friend took another tour through the cow barn. We came home with 3 local beers and 2 good sized wedges of cheese. One was beer cheese, delightful and the other I bought because I was completely intrigued. Nettle cheese, made with the same stinging nettles that we have in Nebraska. I asked about using the nettles, and was told that you get them when they're young in the spring and then dry them. Nettles are used in soups, cheeses and whatever you'd like. They are good for your health, particularly arthritis. I've heard of people eating dandelions, but never nettles. Hmm, you learn something new every day. http://www.naturalhomeandgarden.com/natural-health/edible-weeds-101-health-benefits-of-stinging-nettles.aspx
My family will gladly give this wonderful farm more business in the next few years as we continue to live and learn in Belgium.

Shut'er Down, It's Snowing in Belgium

Murphy's Law would suggest that when you make great plans, something is bound to change them. Yesterday, my friend and I had planned to take our boys to Ramstein to watch the wrestling meet and play in the big indoor playground. The reservation system was down (2nd time out of 3 that it's been down when I've called) so we couldn't get a room. $40 is much better than 80EU, so we decided to stay close to home. We made plans to go to a movie on post then have a slumber party. The boys were looking forward to it and so were we. Nope.
This evening, at about 1700 it decided to start snowing. Now, AFN said nothing about snow, it said sun. Full sun. That was not the case. It's snowed about an inch in a hour and looks like it's going strong.
If we were in Nebraska, I wouldn't mind and we'd go about our business. That is not the case here. There aren't any snow plows, especially when you live out where I do. They do have a few trucks that sand the main road closer to Mons, but that won't help me.
Snow pretty much closes down the country here. It's not that they don't get snow, but they don't seem to be prepared for it. Honestly, I don't know if they have the funds to have that many trucks or plows. Unless it melts tomorrow, and it's only suppose to be 25degrees, I'm guessing that my son and I won't be doing too much this weekend. Looks like we might have a very white weekend at home.

Strike!

We've been here for seven months now and are getting ready to have our fourth strike in the country of Belgium. This one will be a doozy and I'm very thankful, for once, that we aren't in Brussels. I think as a bit of a background, you need to know that Belgium has only recently gotten back their federal government. They were without one for a little over a year. The French and Flemish regions don't really mesh well.
That being said, the country has done...ok....without it. In response to the new government and the poor economical climate, the public workers strike to have their voice heard. The strikes usually involve the transportation workers, they seem to be the lead on these things. In December, the teachers were included. This one that begins at 2200 Sunday the 29th to 2200 Monday the 30th will involve transportation, sanitation, teachers, road crews, and any public employee that you can think of. Many businesses will be closed because their employees can't make it to work because of transportation. Other businesses are closed in support of the strike.
From what we've heard, roads can be all together blocked, but they can hinder your path. Major intersections to the motorways will be picketed, intersections in cities will be picketed, the airports will be involved, it's just going to be a mess.
Because the schools can't be allowed to close entirely, they will be run as daycares on Monday. From what I understand, it's almost at minimum manning. Some will be out picketing, some stay home because of transportation and some come in. I don't know what the calling tree looks like for that situation, but as with all good schools, I'm sure there is one in place.
My son goes to a Belgian school and when I picked him up on Friday, I asked about how the strike would affect his school. I was told that they don't strike, it will be a school day as usual. All teachers and staff will be there. When I asked why that was, I was told it's because their principal doesn't allow them to strike. That was very interesting to me, but with our limited skills for each other's language, I was happy to get that much.
My main question is this: does this involve the police and other emergency services? No one has been able to find a good answer. Are they on minimum manning? They're a public service, they have as much right to strike as the rest of the public employees.
It's all very different to understand. What I do know is that all the strikes have happened on Mondays, Fridays or the day before a major holiday.

The Smell of Money

Since the winter, we've seen 4 truckloads of cattle leaving the area farms. I assume they're snowbirds heading for warmer places. The ones that are left seem to all be in the barns. The farm down the street has several barns full of beef and dairy cattle staying warm inside.
The cows all being inside seems to have created quite a mess and last week seemed to be the week to clean out the barns. Whew! What a stink.
The smell hit my son and I when we walked out of the door one morning for school. "Mom, it stinks like poop out here." Yes it did! We were unlucky enough to follow one truckload of fertilizer out to the main road. At a safe distance, of course.
I came home, did the housewife and mother stuff that drives me bonkers and left in the afternoon to pick up my son from school, again, following another wagon load of stinky stuff. The farmer just laughed when I passed him, again, and waved. I should have held my nose, he would have really gotten a chuckle out the the silly American.
By the  next morning, I spotted 5 huge piles of newly unloaded money making fertilizer in the field. What goes in, must come out!

Birthday Party

My son went to his first birthday party today since we've been in Belgium. The party was at ImagiPark, which was a pretty cool place all on its own. The people at the party made it even better.
Since my son goes to the Belgian Kindergarten on SHAPE, his class is made up of kids from all over the NATO area. The little boy today has American parents, though his mother is Japanese born. The other classmates and some friends from his father's work, made the party very eclectic. One of my son's buddies from France was there and another from Italy. There were also kids from Germany and Romania there. It amazes me that all these other parents speak passable English. I've got enough French to ask for a dozen or two eggs from the woman down the road, a beer at the bar and where the bathroom is. I can also tell you if a person is running, swimming, eating, cooking or drinking. That's all I've got! These parents are apologizing up and down because their English isn't good and they're doing great! Am I embarrassed that I don't know more? Yes, yes I am.
Anyway, the party was a great time. For 9EU per child, they were able to play in this huge indoor park for hours, have cake and refreshments AND things were set up and taken down for you. I might be seeing another party there in the future, say 2 months from now....
I'm also looking forward to talking to these parents again, they were so friendly and had so many questions about the States and I had questions about their countries. It was just a great afternoon. So many nice people and my child just completely zonked out at bedtime tonight. aaahhhh, what a nice Sunday!

Trips and Tours

SHAPE, along with most of the military bases around here, offers a Trips and Tours service. They're always going to great places for decent prices. There have been many trips that I've wanted to go on since we've been here, but haven't, for one reason or another. (rowdy 3 year old being #1)
This January, they're taking a brewery tour of two different breweries, one of them to a monastery that brews not only beer, but makes cheese and bread as well. It's a great price, adults only, transportation included, but outside school hours and during the week. Along with the food, they're going to Brussels this month for a quick tour and a French cooking class. For the price they're offering, the transportation is virtually free. They're also going to Disneyland Paris at the end of the month for a great cost.
They take several trips to Amsterdam since it's close and there are always new families that want to go there but are afraid to venture out themselves. They try and specialize them as well, the trip coming up is going to the art galleries.
Over ski week, (yes ski week, it's an actual break that school lets out for) Trips and Tours is going to Lisbon, Portugal. Awesome! Since they're flying there, the prices are a little bit more, but how great would it be to go to sunny Portugal when it's so dreary and rainy here in Belgium. Now, if they were taking a ski trip, my husband would have been the first one in line for the trip, but they're not.
This past week, the morning radio show had on the director of Trips and Tours, who's first language is not English, but speaks it with a fabulous accent. She was talking about the fun trips they had planned and was really excited about the trip they had planned for spring break. (2 weeks off here for spring break.) They had scored a great deal at a 4 star hotel with an indoor pool that offered breakfasts and dinners included in the price. They are going to Spain!! Spain, in April on a 10 day vacation. I heard that and my heart sunk a little, I have to admit. 10 days!?! That was going to be so expensive.
Then she said the prices for adults and children and said to come in to see what the best deal was for each family. OK, after hearing her prices, I thought she had misspoke and I did murmur a small explicative.  The DJ thought the same thing and had her repeat the prices she mentioned.  We were going to be able to take a 10 day vacation to Spain for less than it would cost me to fly to Nebraska alone.
So, here's the deal. We're going to Lloret de Mar, Spain for a 10 day vacation! (8 days when you cut off travel time) We'll get to see Barcelona, visit the beach, see gorgeous cathedrals and architecture, see Parc Marineland, among many other things.They have a trip planned to a Medieval dinner show that my son will love! I don't want my time here to go any faster than it already is, BUT, April can't get here soon enough.
Again, thank you US Army for sending my husband to this great duty station!
http://www.lloretdemar.org/info/

Another Blustery Day

What a terribly, blustery day in Belgium! I knew it was suppose to rain today, but I didn't know it was going to be another day that bends over the chateau trees making me worry about my roof and car.
The winds started last night and put down some significant rain and it was grey again this morning. After another heavy morning storm, my son and I took off for a quick trip to the Exchange to get a new play-doh toy and some water. (the water here is filled with nitrates and I'm assuming cow....runoff, so we drink bottled. I know, snootchy)
As the sun came out, we took off and got out in the open away from out part of the 100 acre wood, of which our house sits in the clearing, my son told me to look out for rainstorms. He was right. All around our area were big, gray storm clouds. We were able to keep Wanda Wagon on the road with the winds blowing us around and get to the Exchange without getting poured on. We spotted 2 different rainbows, that was the highlight of the weather. We zipped in and out of the Exchange quickly to be greeted by a huge crack of lightning and thunder. Both of which are pretty rare around here. It rained and poured on us the whole way home. (only 5 miles or so) Wanda was not as easy to keep on the road this time, and we had a bit of mud time, which is easy to do with these narrow roads on a good day. With listening to my son worry about the storms, something he definitely gets from me, we pulled into our woods. The rain started lessening a bit, when we turned down our road, it was down to sprinkles. We could see the clouds moving in, so we made a dash for the house, bringing only the new toy. It was too windy to bring in the water bottles and the wind was picking up again.
No sooner did we get shoes and coats off, down came the rain. It rained so hard the worms sought refuge in the house. (the house is old and crooked, they come in through the gap in the back door. super for heating purposes) Shortly after we cracked open the new play-doh, the electricity went out for a bit. Then I discovered that the lightening tripped a breaker. Another odd thing about Belgium, we've had more tripped breakers here than in all the other places we've lived, combined. Why is that, do you suppose?
We've had brief respites throughout the day without rain and wind, but it's picking up again. I love it here, but the daily vitamin D is a necessity.

Bonne Annee'

A few weeks ago I blogged about my family making Christmas goodies for our neighbors and how we thought it was a good idea to reach out to the few people who do live "close" to us. We had gotten one container of Belgian snacks back in return.
Since those blogs, we've gotten another container of cookies that my husband loved with his morning coffee, several cards with the one word I do understand, "merci" and an absolutely scrumptious Bonne Annee' cake.
Bonne Annee' is how to say Happy New Year in French, and let me tell you, this cake made us very happy. Very, very, happy. It had a crunchy crust, almost like a graham cracker on the bottom, then it had a thin layer of chocolate cake. Belgian chocolate cake, there's more cocoa involved in Belgian chocolate and it is wonderful. Then there were two different jams in the middle, surrounded by chocolate mousse. And if that wasn't enough, it had a sweet, red frosting, almost like ganache covering it. Oh, and some decorative chocolates on top, because you need decorative chocolates after eating the rest of this heavenly concoction. The whole thing is compacted into an 8 inch log-shaped cake of pure sinfulness.
I ate one slice of it and almost immediately went into a sugar rush, I was like Hammy from Over the Hedge. (kid's movie that we've watched 50 times) I could feel my blood rush with sweet, sweet sugar. My son loved it, his sweet tooth is bigger than mine and kept wanting more of the jam in the middle. Then my husband came home and tucked into it. He wondered why he couldn't fall asleep last night, I've got a good idea why.
The delectable little treat is now sitting wrapped up in the fridge calling my name in French. It is suppose to be in my husband's lunch box and not in the fridge tempting me. I must be strong, I have "Résolutions du Nouvel An" to keep and they don't call for more than one helping of that sinful Bonne Annee' cake. But it might appear in my dreams.....