Love It, Hate It, Miss It – Part 3

Third in a running series answering the questions, what do I love about living here, what do I hate or dislike and what do I miss. Here are some more of my reflections:

Love It
Location: So we put down the little town we are in quite often. Just get Keith started and he’ll tell you all that is depressing about our part of Belgium, but we both agree that our town has a great location. In less then two hours driving we can be in four different Countries...France, Germany, the Netherlands and Luxemburg. By train and plane the list is extraordinary. We live less then five minutes from a train station and just minutes from the major highway so it’s very easy to get around. We came here for the opportunity to travel and our location has been really perfect in allowing us to get all over Europe. My favorite part is the fact that the highway sign by our house says “Paris” on it, a pretty nice change from “Richmond”

Cafés: I know I’ve talked a lot about us heading into the Grand Place to sit at a café, or that we’ve gone to a café for dinner...but it’s hard to explain how much we both love the café atmosphere. Town centers filled with tables under awnings, people out to have a beer or a coffee, and in no hurry. It’s a big adjustment from any eating/drinking experience in the States. Service is terribly slow, they don’t really check in on you, and it takes forever to get a bill, so why do I love it? Because you can sit for hours and just soak up the atmosphere watching people. You can order one drink and never be bothered or given a dirty look to hurry up. Even in the winter they have heaters under the awnings so you don’t miss a moment of the Christmas Markets. Cafes are just such a great part of the European lifestyle that I am enjoying so much while we are here.

The patient stare: So this actually used to be a Hate It topic about the Bureaucracy in Belgium, but discovering an answer has made it a love it or tolerate it. Basically Belgium has a standard response to any question...“no”. However, we have now discovered that "no" does not mean no, it means ask again, someone else, or be more persistent. We learned within our first weeks here that if at first you don’t get the response you want try, try, try and try again. In fact when I first arrived and needed an ID to get on the base I was given the standard no, and circular logic….“you need to get this badge first” which of course those people told me I needed my ID first. Finally I just stood at the window and stared, not angry, just waiting for some guidance, waiting, staring…. VIOLA! Success, “ok, just this time I’ll give the ID and will fix it in the system.” Not long after Keith and I attempted to get our drivers licenses, which surprisingly was not met by no, but instead the insistence that they would have to keep our American licenses. Again I simply, kindly, stared at the woman and said “No, that is not possible”. A day later we had our licenses without surrendering anything, all with a simple pause. Over and over this tactic has worked. It is still somewhat frustrating to always be met with an immediate no. It feels like people would rather spend an hour resisting or making excuses for doing work then just taking the five minutes to do a simple task. But I love knowing how to overcome it!

Hate It
No Websites: One of our biggest frustrations here is that almost none of the businesses here have websites. Those that do are very limited and have only the most basic of information. Surprisingly, the fact that they are in French isn’t really the problem, we’re pretty adept at translating information so that hasn’t really been the issue. I think we’d be more likely to try more restaurants and stores nearby if we could check them out a bit more online. We have been able to do all our banking and bill pay through the web, however, so we’ve been lucky that way.

TV: It’s like they are taunting me! They have a lot of great shows here on TV like The Simpsons, Friends, Lost, etc. but they are all in French. No subtitles, everything is dubbed in French. We get a few channels in English, CNN, BBC, and then there are some Dutch stations that play some shows that are in English with Dutch subtitles. So I can watch Star Trek the Next Generation, Monk, Magnum PI, etc. We even get the North American Sports Network that covers all the major games of the week, so we have been able to catch some Hokie games! But in the grand scheme of things English TV is limited.

Miss It
A Dishwasher: Overall our house has been great, a nice size, nicely furnished, and has all the modern conveniences we need minus one….a dishwasher. I really didn’t think I’d miss having one so much but it gets tiring doing dishes all the time. There are just times you want to throw everything in the dishwasher and walk away. We’d probably only have to run it once or twice a week but it’d be nice to keep the counters cleaned off in the meantime. Our kitchen is pretty dinky so it’s not really an option let them pile up. One can dream.

The Search for the Best Beer in the World

When Mike came to visit a while back, a beer loving friend gave him a list of must-try Belgian beers. I was ashamed to admit that despite living in Belgium for almost a year now, I had never even heard of the one at the top of the list...Westvleteren 12. On a side note, the number indicates the alcohol content...meaning 12% alcohol! I took a look in our Lonely Planet guide to Belgium and noticed that they too had rated it the best in Belgium. After a little more research I discovered that last year it had achieved the title of "The Best Beer in the World" by ratebeer.com, a popular beer aficionado site. (It has since fallen to second...still, not too shabby)

We started by going to our favorite beer shop in Brugge, which has every beer imaginable...except this one apparently. Several beer stores in Brussels proved fruitless as well. I tried the Delirium bar in Brussels who is famous for its beer selection, which is currently at 2004 available brews....again no luck.

As it turns out, the monks that produce this beer make a very limited quantity, and don't sell to stores or bars. The only way to get it is to drive to the abbey and pick it up yourself. Even then, you have to make an appointment by phone (which is impossible to reach, and they only speak Flemish), and you are only allowed two cases (about 40 beers) per car. I read online that there is a cafe attached to the abbey where you could get a glass of the beer, and sometimes purchase six packs when they are available (which is apparently never as I found out). So, we took a Saturday afternoon and headed to the abbey to try the "Best Beer in the World."

Upon arriving at the abbey in the middle of Nowhere, Belgium, we found the little cafe that the websites spoke of. I eagerly walked in to purchase my six pack at the little store, only to be greeted with a chuckle when I asked. Apparently about two times per year they will sell a case or two, but no more, and they don't know when they will get it. However, you are able to purchase a little kit which has 1 of their famous beer, 1 of their second famous beer (apparently the 10th best beer in the world), two of their "regular" beers, and a glass with the abbey's name on it for about 20 Euro. We tried to pick up several of these sets, but you are only allowed to purchase 1 per person. So, Elizabeth and I each bought a set for ourselves and then sat down for lunch, where we were finally able to try this famous beer.

I must say, I was not disappointed. The beer itself is dark like Guiness, but less bitter and a lot more flavorful. It's absolutely fantastic. I don't know if I would call it the best in the world, but it's certainly one of the best I've ever had. I'm sure that some of its fame comes from its rarity too, but it's absolutely worth a try if you ever get the chance. I found a few places that have imported it to the States, but it seems to run about $30 - $50 a bottle. If you're a big beer fan though, it might just be worth the price.

McCrea’s, Thanksgiving, Germany, France…. And so much more……

We are way behind on our blogs, hopefully we'll have a bunch up soon! But here is a bit about our Thanksgiving with the McCrea's

Winter weather didn’t put a damper on our fantastic visit with Kevin and Stefanie. We picked them up on Thanksgiving Day at the airport and gave them the quick tour of Brussels. Unfortunately the first day here is pretty much a waste; it’s pretty exhausting coming our way so we try to keep the sight seeing to a minimum. After a few quick looks around the city we headed back to our house. Bailey was so excited to see some of her friends from back home. Since NATO doesn’t have Thanksgiving we decided to postpone our celebration to Friday, in the meantime we introduced them to “Steak on a Rock” and Belgian beer. Thankfully, neither disappointed.

Other than Keith having to work a short day on Friday it was not unlike a typical Thanksgiving. Kevin and Stefanie got to sleep in, and I did last minute grocery shopping. Our friends here bought us the necessary fixin’s from the military base. The local store doesn’t sell Turkey (only whole chickens), or any of the boxed favorites like Stove Top stuffing. While I started the Turkey in our tiny oven (cooking in Celsius) Keith took them out to meet the cheese lady to pick out some yummy items for the evening. The food turned out wonderful and the night was great, we had the McCrea’s and our Friends Dan, Susana, their daughter Sofia and dog Emma, we couldn’t ask for better company on Thanksgiving Day. Overall a great Thanksgiving!

On Saturday and Sunday we went spent going to two different cities, Brugge and Monschau, Germany. The holiday season is clearly a fun time to be in Europe, all the villages and cities set up outdoor Christmas markets. Brugge is no exception; all the booths were set up selling all sorts fun items. We took them on the standard walk through town, on a canal ride and of course stocked up on beer and chocolate. Monschau, Germany is about an hour and forty five minutes from our place. It’s a small village just outside Aachen. Basically it was like something out of a fairy tale. A perfect German village nestled in the bottom of the mountains with a stream running through it. It didn’t hurt that while we were there for their Christmas Markets it started snowing! It was something right out of a movie. The town was decorated for the season, and pine booths were set up throughout selling Gluevein (the spiced hot wine) hot chocolate, bratwurst, waffles, and all sorts of yummy goodies to keep you warm. We had lunch on a glass enclosed terrace overlooking the stream, watching the snow. Kevin and Stefanie had success in purchasing an authentic German Cuckoo Clock, Keith and I are sure to get one before we move home.

Keith headed back to work on Monday after dropping us off at the train station. The three of us headed into Paris for the day on the high speed train, we only had one mission to accomplish. Stefanie wanted to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We walked around for a bit letting the grey sky’s clear up and checked out their Christmas booths along the Champs Elysees heading from the Louvre to the Arc de Triumph. After lunch and a slight clearing of the skies we made our way to the Eiffel Tower. To my delight the lines seem to disappear with the winter weather so we made it to the top with little delay or complications. Mission accomplished. The rest of the day was just bonus.

Their whole trip was a real treat for us. Not only do we enjoy getting to show people where we live, but we really love getting to go on these day trips with our friends and family. The only problem is the time seems to go by so quickly.

Working At NATO

Working at NATO has been a fascinating, frustrating, and educational experience....

First let me say that the people are fantastic. Sometimes strange, often fun, but always interesting. On my team we have people from Canada, Poland, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Hungary, Slovakia, The Netherlands, Denmark, and Turkey. I enjoy watching the interactions between these different cultures as everyone has a different way of going about things...and many of the stereotypes are true. The Germans are methodical about everything. They like to organize and hate the ineffeciancy that is so common here. The Italians and Belgians seem to take their time with everything and enjoy their long coffee breaks and wine at lunch. The guys from the lesser developed countries such as Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary are lots of fun and love a good drink, but are also quite hard working. I especially love to hear stories from the Polish guys about life in a communist country...they were only allowed to purchase six loaves of bread per month, but that didn't matter since bread was rarely available at the stores. If you owned anything from America such as blue jeans or a Coke, then you were either filthy rich or worked for the government. For example, one guy told me about the time his father saved his monthly $20 salary (everyone in Poland was paid the same wage, regardless of what you did) and bought him a pair of real Levi's jeans...for $17! Apparently when he was a child, there was a food shortage and the government went on TV and told the people that America had dropped "Stonka Bugs" from a plane to eat all of their crops! At the time they believed it, as there was no independant media to tell them otherwise.

The NATO employees have a pretty fantastic deal here. They are paid very well, pay no taxes to any country, get tax free shopping, tax free cars, half price gas, free healthcare, and free education (including college). In addition, there are 19 official holidays, and they get 35 vacation days!!! Also, every two years they get an additional 10 days to return to their home country and their travel expenses for the whole family are paid by NATO. So, every other year they have 3 months vacation. When they are at work, it's generally very low stress. Since people have so many vacation days, no one is ever here. So, any time you need approval for something, you have to wait until they're back from holiday. Nothing ever gets done.

The base itself is quite large and has most everything people need to survive. Several thousand people actually live on the base, so there are small houses and apartments in the back. There are a couple of schools with soccer and baseball fields, a movie theater, bowling alley, barber, dry cleaner, and grocery store. As far as I can tell, the people who live on the base never actually leave it. Unfortunately there are very few restaurants within 10 minutes of the base, so I generally eat lunch at the cafeteria. The building that I work in is about 60 years old and has had almost no updates. The most glaring problem is the lack of air conditioning. Now that I've been through a summer here I can say that it never really gets that hot relative to DC, but there were definitely a few weeks that we were sweating it out in the office.

Absolutely everyone here works the same schedule, there are no "flex hours" like you see back home. You are expected to be here 8:30 - 5:30, Monday through Thursday and you eat lunch at 12:00. No more, no less. The nice part is that Friday is 8:30 - 3:30, so you get an early start on the weekend. I wish I could be more flexible with my hours, but when there are only 38 per week it's hard to complain. The other nice part is the coffee breaks...these guys LOVE their coffee. Most everyone takes 30 minute coffee breaks at 10:30 and 3:30. We go as a large group and spend the time socializing. As I've said in blogs before, these guys work to live, not live to work.

There are a lot of differences between the work environment here and one back in the US. The first thing you notice here is that there are almost no women. Part of this is due to the fact that it's a military base, but even the NATO civilian positions are almost always filled by men. The women that are here are dressed in ways that are just not appropriate for work in the US. Low cut tops, short skirts, tall boots and fishnet stockings are standard for the civilan women. For the military, it seems that many of the countries have a competition to see who can dress their women in the shortest skirts. The environment is similar to what I picture for the US in 1950. Women are treated as objects, not employees, and people are rewarded for their age, not their competence level. Crude jokes and bad language are the norm, and commenting on people's appearance (especially women) is perfectly acceptable. For the men, you see some very interesting outfits as well. Uniforms that are way too tight or way too big, foot-tall fuzzy hats, and handlebar mustaches are all on display here. Sometimes it's hard not to chuckle when I walk through the hallways.

The best part about working in an international environment is that I get to experience parts of other cultures in a very authentic way. The guys here love to share their favorite drinks from home...so far I have received a few bottles of Slovakian moonshine made by my coworkers father, Italian wine, and a bottle of Polish "Bison" vodka complete with a blade of grass in it. Apparently the bison urinate on the grass, and that gives it a "special" flavor. I haven't had the guts to open that one up yet. Also, many of the countries are currently holding Christmas Markets on the base where they bring authentic food, drink and products from home. Last weekend we attended the Norwegian and Canadian markets. At the Norwegian market we had some Gluvine (heated, spiced wine) to go with my reindeer sandwich. Yes, apparently I ate Rudolph. At the Canadian market I picked up a bottle of "Moose Milk"...which is more like heavily spiked egg-nog. It has nothing to do with moose other than the story behind it.

Overall, it's been a great experience so far, and I'm looking forward to another year of new experiences with my international friends.

Cheese Lady

Yesterday Keith had off for Armistice Day, marking the end of WWI. We were pretty happy to have a day to take it easy; we've obviously been on the go with the cruise and Mike's visit. As part of our day of chill we decided to check out a farm nearby that someone at the base told me about. The farm is own by a woman and her husband that make cheeses. We took some of the craziest one lane roads, winding through fields of cows and sheep, thank goodness for the GPS, I don't think we would have found it without it. The whole thing was so awesome. This was one of those unique experiences that makes living here really cool. Thea Oostendorp owns the farm and hand makes the cheeses from milk produced by their own organic cows. The cheeses are amazing, she has garlic, Italian spices, peppers, beer, nettles, plain... and so many more. After taste testing almost all of her cheeses, Keith and I bought a bunch of different flavors, our only regret.....not buying more. We both thought this unique experience was going to cost us a bundle, but were completely shocked at how cheap it all was. It was significantly cheaper than the grocery store, and so much better. Guess it just means we'll have to go back soon! Although not a glamorous destination, still one of the neatest things we've done while living here.

Mike's Visit

We were honored that Mike chose to visit us for his frist trip outside the U.S.; it was really great to see him. Surprisingly enough we didn’t leave Belgium during his entire visit. He was pretty clear about his interests…..Beer, Chocolate, Waffles, and Military History...probably in that order. So, we did our best to make sure he got to experience the best of what Belgium has to offer. He actually flew into London and took the Eurostar into Brussels which can be a real cost saver but also can make a long trip even longer. We took it easy for the first couple of days so that he could adjust to the time difference, but I was sure to take him into Mons for his first waffle. He was happy to discover they are not the breakfast waffles we are use to back home but instead are a sweet, fantastic dessert. We made our way up to Brugge to see all the chocolate shops, hopefully he can resist eating all his purchases and manage to get most of the chocolates home as gifts as intended : )

On Friday he and I headed up to Waterloo, a neat historical site, but in terms of tourism needs a lot of work, as the films and explanations are clearly dated and vague. Still incredible to see the spot where Napoleon was defeated. Although climbing the 226 stairs was not all that fun in my out of shape condition! Next, we stayed on the historical kick and the three of us headed to Bastogne (Battle of the Bulge) on Saturday to check on the WWII memorial there. The site was much better in terms of information and background, but still not as comprehensive as I might have liked. Keith also took him to a cemetery near the house that apparently is the only one to have U.S., British, and German soldiers buried in the same location. Now that Mike has seen some of the actual WWII locations he is re-interested in the Band of Brothers mini series, so we watched a few in the evenings. So with Chocolates, Waffles, and history checked off the list the only thing left was BEER.

On his last day Keith took Mike into Brussels to check out the Grand Place and a bar that we’ve been meaning to try. The Delirium bar has the Guinness World Record for having the most beers available at any one time, which amounts to 2004 different brews. So, Mike had an opportunity to try the best of what Belgium has to offer. Obviously we had plenty around the house for him to taste test, but we certainly can't compete with their selection. Due to some scheduling complications Mike decided to head back into London a day early to make sure he was on time for his flight. Although they don’t have the beers we do, I am sure he is having a great time.

Cruisin’ the Mediterranean

Last week we finally took off on our week long Mediterranean cruise that we've always dreamed of doing. Seven nights at sea on the Norwegian Gem visiting exotic places sounded like just what I needed after a few of my taxing 38 hour workweeks and work trip to sunny San Diego.

Our cruise began with a short flight to Barcelona...or so we thought. We decided to take the low cost airline, Ryanair, not realizing that when they said Barcelona, they meant Girona...a town over an hour from the city. This wasn't an issue on the way out, but since we scheduled our flight back for 6:15 am the following week, it made for a brutal morning wakeup call at 2:30am. In hindsight, we should have done more research, but live and learn I guess. After an uneventful flight and hour long bus ride to Barcelona, we were on the boat by 2:00 pm and relaxing with an umbrella drink by 2:30. The boat didn't leave until 7:00 that night, so we had a few hours to sip drinks and enjoy the views of the city from the top deck of the enormous cruise ship.

Day one was a day at sea, which we used to sleep, drink, and gamble. The ship had a large casino and plenty of areas to sit and relax and listen to music. It was a nice relaxing day, just what we needed after all of the recent travelling. The next day we arrived in the island country of Malta, a place which I had never heard of and knew nothing about. It's a small island off the southern cost of Italy and a former British colony, which meant that most people spoke English. Malta was one of those places that looks amazing in pictures and from a distance, but once you get into the city (called Valetta) there isn't a whole lot to look at. It's nice enough, but was a little old and rundown, and not many exciting things to see. We took a bus to the center of the city and then spent a few hours walking back to the ship. There were some beautiful ocean views, but not much else. The highlight of Malta was finding a small area full of little shanties housing local fisherman. There were two men on the dock fishing, with three cats waiting impatiently to pounce on anything they caught. It was fun to watch the cats jump up in anticipation every time they pulled their lines out of the water.

On day three we arrived in Naples, Italy. Since there is a major NATO base there, many of my coworkers have been to the city and warned us that it is not a place where you want to wander around on your own. We took their word for it and scheduled an excursion to a small village just south of the city called Sorrento. The drive down took us through Naples, which I must admit didn't look too impressive. However, Mount Vesuvius loomed in the background and was an amazing sight to see. Our tour guide was a native Italian whose broken English made her sound just like Borat..."we stop here and you can make the picture niiicccee." Sorrento turned out to be exactly what we were looking for, a beautiful little seaside town with small shops and restaurants. We wandered the city a little bit and then had coffee and gelato (Italian ice cream...AMAZING stuff!) at a cafe overlooking the ocean.

Day four was in Rome...or more specifically Civitavecchia, the port about 1 1/2 hours from Rome. As we had just been in Rome a few months ago visiting my mom, we decided to stay on the boat that day. Despite the predictions of rain, it was 75 degrees and sunny, so we spent the day in the pool and jacuzzi. Usually these were too crowded to enjoy, but with most of the guests in Rome it was quite pleasant.

Day five took us to Livorno, Italy, which is the port town close to Florence and Pisa. Here we decided to pay the money for a tour to both cities. After an hour drive to Florence, we had a nice walking tour of the city. Unfortunately I think we had our expectations set too high for Florence, as we were both a little disappointed. The city was very nice, but nothing too spectacular. It is a several hour wait to see Michelangelo’s David so we didn’t have time for that, and the full size replica was under renovation, so we didn’t even get to see it. The tour did include a nice lunch at a 5 star hotel which was fantastic. We had authentic Italian lasagna (good but no Stouffer’s…kidding of course) and more gelato. At the table we even sat next to another American family living in Belgium…what a small world!

After Florence the tour took us to Pisa, where we were able to stand under the famous leaning tower. This bizarre building did live up to expectations as it was both beautiful and scary…it really looks like it’s going to fall over at any minute. We took our obligatory photo of Elizabeth holding it up, and then headed back to the bus. I have to say that if you’re ever looking for a fake Rolex or Gucci bag, that is the place to go. I can’t even count how many times that I was offered a “Rolex” for only 30 Euro.

Next on the list was Villefranche sur Mer, a small town just outside Nice, France. There wasn’t really a port here, the ship just anchored in the bay, and they stuffed us on the lifeboats to go to the shore. This town was absolutely beautiful. Mansions built on the side of mountains overlooking the crystal blue water and little seaside restaurants and cafes were everywhere. We took the ten minute train ride into Nice and spent the day wandering the town and strolling along the shore. We are definitely going to plan a trip back to Nice…it seems like the perfect city to spend a few romantic and relaxing days.

Finally, the boat brought us back to Barcelona, where we spent our last day. After getting off the ship and checking into our hotel, we took the bus tour of the city, getting off a few times to see some touristy spots. There is a famous architect named Ghadi who designed many buildings there so we spent a while hunting them all down. His designes alone are worth the trip to Barcelona, as they look like something straight out of Alice in Wonderland. Dramatic colors and siding that appears to be melting seem to be his signature, and his buildings are both beautiful and bizarre at the same time. The church that he designed (Sagrada Familia) has been under construction for over 100 years as it’s entirely funded by donations. There really aren’t words to describe it, but it’s worth a few minutes of web research to see some photos of it…simply amazing.

The next day we woke up at 2:00 am to take a cab to the bus station, then a bus to the airport, and then fly back to Belgium. Unfortunately the fog was so bad at our airport that they circled for an hour, attempted two landings and aborted, then finally redirected us to another airport. From here they put us on another bus to the original airport where we finally picked up our car and drove home.

Despite the long trip home, it was still a wonderful vacation. Next up, a Scandinavian cruise!

Oktoberfest: We Came, We Saw, We Drank

Our trip to Germany consisted of five nights in four different beds. We planned our trip to Germany with some of our friends here, Dan and Susana and their daughter Sophia. Dan is the man with a plan, so we were happy to tag along when he said he had a place to stay in Munich. This story is full of family ties, so I'll do my best to explain. Dan's wife Susana has a sister, Sandra, who lives in Stuttgart with her husband Michael. Susana, Sophia and Sandra were in Portugal their home town and were flying back to Stuttgart on Thursday. So we left Mons with Dan and on Wednesday right after work for Stuttgart. With me so far? Hopefully most of the confusing stuff is out of the way :) Five hours later we pulled into Stuttgart and met Michael, our friend's wife's sister's husband! We crashed at their place for the night.

On Thursday we took turns ducking our head in the shower; Michael, Sandra and their one year Lucas live in a truly European apartment with really cool funky space right out of an IKEA catalog. They have done an amazing job maximizing the little space they have. After a German breakfast of breads and pastries from a local shop we headed out to see Stuttgart. First we headed by the Porsche factory, awesome! They have a skyway crossing the road from one building to the next that actually has the Porsche bodies rolling across it! Michael, a native German, took us to a local beer store and loaded us up with a crate full of different German beers. Really cool experience, nothing we would have been able to do if we weren't traveling with Dan and his family. We then made it to the festival in Stuttgart, not technically Oktoberfest, but basically the same idea. Huge beer tents and major festival activities. I clearly had no appreciation for how huge these festivals are and what a production. I had no idea how many major rides they have. This is no state fair with a ferris wheel and some bumper cars. This is full size roller coasters, a full size log flume, things right out of Kings Dominion (or better). We hung out in a tent for lunch and some German drinking songs, then strolled through the grounds of the fest. The guys went to pick the girls up from the airport while we checked in to a local hotel. We all met back up for dinner then Keith and I took a stroll into the city center of Stuttgart. The city is amazingly green, you would have no idea that it is somewhat of an industrial city, so cool in that it twists and turns through the hill sides.

On Friday morning, Dan, Michael, Keith and I packed up the car again for the two hour drive down to Munich. Dan knew a guy who lives in Munich who was going to be out of town and said we could use his place. Despite the five flights of stairs and TOTAL cigarette saturation it was worth it, his place was five minutes from the festival and free! We dropped off our stuff and made it over to the festival. As warned it was packed and we couldn't get into a tent, but the food was yummy! We found some benches under some outdoor heaters and just took our seats for the day/evening. We all said we wish we could have a tape of the night to playback at high speed, to watch all the folks who came went around us. We had a fantastic time meeting all sorts of wonderful characters. Of course I befriended the Irish at the table next to us with my trademark "For fucks sake, it's feckin' grand". We did finally go into a tent at the very end of the evening, amazing to see about 90% of people dressed in authentic Bavarian dress. The term tent really doesn't do it justice. These "tents" makes tents at weddings look like you are going camping. They are huge! I've already been asked how it compared to Mardi Gras, and I guess I would say that it was significantly less sleazy and less sexual than Mardi Gras. The drinking was about the same though. A major difference is that the tents close around 12:00, so it's really meant to be a day time festival, not something that starts at night.

As we strolled back to our nicotine patch apartment, mild manner Michael suddenly burst with excitement over a Japanese restaurant/bar, so we strolled in at midnight. What better way to end an evening at Oktoberfest in Munich than at a Japanese bar? We hung out for a good two hours, had a great time and made friends with the folks working there.

Surprisingly we weren't too hung over on Saturday.... I guess when you space the drinking out over a full day it's not too bad. Michael served as a tour guide of down town Munich, unfortunately the rain and cold really put a damper on things. We did get to walk through their amazing market, saw the Glockenspiel, the major church, and the Hoffbrau House. We wanted to go in, but the mass of people standing outside (lines are clearly an American thing) just wasn't worth fighting. They were being let in like they were at a cattle call. "I have a group of six, four, three" then had to fight your way through. Keith and I are hoping to make another trip to the Bavarian area during a non-Oktoberfest time so I am hoping we can try again.

On our way back to Stuttgart we stopped at a place on the side of the highway advertising Marklin train stuff. For those of you who don't know, Keith is really into model trains, and owns several Marklin engines. Michael, our amazing host, found out about this place and we made it just in time to see their incredible displays. Really awesome setups with loads of detail. Back in Stuttgart we checked in to our hotel and took it easy for the rest of the night, hanging out with Sandra, Susana and the kids. The journey back on Sunday was uneventful, we were pretty ready to sleep in our own bed after all our travels.

Lonnie Visit

A whirlwind of European fun is probably the only way to describe our visit with Keith's mom. She and I rode the train back from the airport last Thursday and just took it easy until Keith got home from work. Since Keith's vacation days are numbered he wasn't able to join in the festivities on Friday so his mom, Jen (another consultants wife), and I went to the Parc Paradisio to stroll around and check out the gardens and the animals. Because it was a week day the park was fairly deserted, and the rain held off just long enough for us to see everything we wanted to. I still can't get over how close you can get to the little monkeys!

Saturday the three of us headed for Koln (Cologne) Germany. Yes, it's where cologne comes from. The fourth largest city in Germany is only about two and a half hours from us. Not the most spectacular city I have ever been too, but still pretty neat. Most of the city was devasted durning the war so they have done a lot to rebuild. The main draws are the church, which was pretty spectacular and it's location on the Rhine. We strolled through the city and had a lovely lunch with German beer. Have to say, so far, I prefer the Belgian stuff.

On Sunday we took it easy, we watched Bailey play with some new toys that Lonnie brought from home and then headed up to Brussels to catch a movie. The Kinepolis theater in Brussels is a sight to see. It's three stores tall with over 20 theaters. There was watched Wall-E, complete with French and Dutch subtitles, an intermission, and sugar popcorn instead of salt. Very strange...

Monday we headed to Paris, this time by car. Keith braved the rush hour city driving - probably the worst I've ever seen, but he got us there and back safely. It's a longer trip by car than by the high speed train but we still managed to squeeze a lot in. We managed to see the Trocadero, the Eiffel Tower, a boat ride on the Seine, Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Arc du Triumph, and have lunch. Obviously there is so much more to do in Paris, but to see it all you really have to stay there for several days. We finished the night off with a nice dinner in the Grand Place back here in Mons.

Tuesday, Keith was back to work and Lonnie and I headed out for a leisurly day in Brugge. All along Keith and I have been knocking the little town of Mons that we are in, it's a fairly poor city, that has lost it's life and spirit, and Lonnie thought we were being a bit hard on it until she saw Brugge. I don't know how to explain Brugge other than it is exactly what you think of when you think of a cute european town. It's upbeat, picturesque, clean, charming, or as my mom would say it has "pizzaz". Both Keith and I wish that SHAPE could be located in Brugge instead, but I guess if it were we might not ever leave Belgium. Once Lonnie saw Brugge she understood why we are so down on Mons. It just isn't the same. We walked through the busy city streets, checking out the chocolate and lace shops. We walked along the canals and Lonnie got her first chocolate waffle, a fitting end to her trip to Belgium.

Tanks in Town

The last weekend in August we headed down into Mons for a special event, "Tanks in Town", and frankly the title is pretty self explanatory. Every year the locals dress up in authentic WWII clothing and ride through the streets on tanks and other military vehicles up to the Grand Place. The event is held every year to celebrate the liberation of Mons by the Americans during WWII.

We found a spot on the sidewalk right on the route the tanks were taking to where we could literally reach out and touch them. We watched as the tanks drove by and roughed up the cobble stone streets; we just couldn't believe the number of original tanks they had for the parade. At the end they parked all the vehicles in the Grand Place so that people could take a closer look and even sit in some of them. Keith told me later that many of these types of parades are subsidized by the Belgian government to help keep them running and maintain the cultural heritage in the local communities. Pretty cool. The funniest part was seeing all these guys dressed in U.S. WWII uniforms only to hear them speaking French, Belgian impersonating Americans, who would have thought?

Fancy a day in Paris?

Two years ago we spent our honeymoon in Paris, so for our anniversary we thought we would go back for the day to celebrate. We took the high speed train, the Thalys, from the train station about ten minutes from our house. We were in Paris an hour and fifteen minutes later. The entire day was a super chill trip, we did zero planning, didn't take a guide book or a map, and figured we'd just figure it out as we went along.

From the train station we took the metro to the Louvre. We didn't go in, did that last time, but took in the views. We walked through the parks just in front, watching the kids play with little sail boats in the ponds and riding pony's. We walked our way out to the Seine and walked along the river up to the Eiffel tower. Since it was a gorgeous day, it was no surprise that the lines were crazy long but we had no intention of going up anyway. We grabbed a quick sandwich before taking a boat ride down the Seine. Unfortunately without a cloud in the sky the trip was pretty hot and not quite as relaxing as we would have hoped, but still a great way to see the city. We both preferred the trip at night, getting to see the city all lit up. We got off the boat and walked up the Champs Eleyses toward the Arc de Triomphe. We stopped a couple of times along the way to sit in a park and at a cafe for a break from the heat.

After checking out the Arc we took the metro over to the Trocadero and found one our favorite cafe's from our honeymoon. We got a table right in front with a great view of the Eiffel tower. Sure two beers were 12 Euro, about $20, and our dinner was silly expensive but it didn't matter we had a great time just people watching. The fashion, the personal interactions, the cars, are all so fantastic that you can spend ours just observing. Sitting there we talked about how blessed we feel. It was just two years ago that we talked about how cool it would be if we could live abroad, never did we believe that it would actually happen. We are so excited to have been given this awesome opportunity. We made our way back to the train station and were back home by 10:00pm. Pretty cool that Paris is an easy day trip!

Carpets, Coffins, and Cliffs

Last weekend was another three day weekend for Keith, assumption day, so we filled in with all sorts of European fun :)

On Friday we headed in to Brussels to meet up with some friends of ours to check out the famous Flower Carpet. Every other year the floor of the Grand Place in Brussels is covered in a carpet made out of flowers. It was quite impressive. We also had the longest lunch of our lives (at least 2 hours for cold food that should have been hot) in a little resturant that looked nice enough, but clearly we were decieved. Keith's mentioned the general attitude of indifference and lack of customer service before but this took it to new extremes. Waiters don't check in on you, and have mastered the art of avoiding eye contact so as to not be pulled over to your table when help is needed. For the first time we were truly unwilling to pay the 10 % tip that is automatically included in your bill. But the day wasn't to be ruined. Our friend, who for some reason has all sorts of inside knowledge of Belgium, took us to the strangest bar I have ever been in. He called it the coffin bar. We walked in to a pitch black room with caskets for tables, and ceramic skulls for beer mugs. The best part was that for such a "dark" space the music was Duran Duran, AC/DC, and so many other favorites that were upbeat and fun. It was awesome! After a couple of skulls I was pretty buzzed and ready to go home. :)

Saturday was overall very relaxing, Keith's company has sent over a new person for a couple of months and we met up with him to show him around Mons. There is a lot of support of military and NATO civilians at the base for getting people welcomed and acclimated, but unfortunately they really don't offer any of that to contractors. Keith and I both wish we could have had some of that support when we got here, so we are happy to do whatever we can to help other contractors feel they at least have some other resource. Not that we are experts by any means, but I guess it's nice to just see a friendly face.

On Sunday we packed up Bailey and took a two hour drive to visit our neighbors in Luxembourg. We found a truly picturesque city that perfectly combines old and new. We followed a walking tour that was recommended in our Lonely Planet guide and thought it was a fantastic way to see the city. Nothing in particular stands out to me as a must see, it's mostly just taking in the feel of the whole place. The town winds through ravines, and along cliff sides with hints of the old fortress peaking through modern buildings. One of the funniest moments was when we were stopped by a group of Asian tourists who asked us for directions. While we fumbled through our guide book to help them out they were completely fascinated with Bailey. They were so impressed with her tricks that they were filming her and applauding after each trick. After this, we are keeping our eyes out for Bailey's You Tube premiere. Overall it was a perfect place for a day trip...and overall a great weekend.

6 Months Already

It's hard to believe that it's been six months in Belgium already. I glanced at our picture site and was just amazed at how many places we've been, yet we have so many more on our list. I can't believe that in less than six months we've been to Amsterdam, Brussels, Rome, and London...not to mention countless other beautiful little towns. We've been to 5 different countries and more than 10 cities....each with it's own unique charm. We came to Belgium not only to see Europe, but just do something different...and so far mission accomplished. I thought I would take the six month mark to write about some general observations of living and working here.

If you have been keeping up with the blog, you probably have a good idea of what life is like in Belgium. At first glance, you would say that it's not that different from living in the States. People hop in their cars and go to work...come home and have dinner...repeat. There are many subtle differences though, and these are what we have found so interesting.

Americans live to work, while Europeans work to live. It is a cliche, but it's very true.

People here are less about material possessions. Most Belgians live in a small house, drive a tiny car, and don't have an HD TV. They are more about experiences and personal relationships. For example, our neighbor has guests over on his patio for dinner and drinks 3 or 4 nights per week. While I am thoroughly enjoying this part of the Belgian lifestyle, I am from time to time reminded that I am an American...I miss the shopping malls...Target...and most of all, Best Buy. That being said, I wish I could combine the best of both of worlds. When I return home, I will certainly miss the cafes and the laid back lifestyle of Europe.

Another major difference I've found is that businesses are employee focused instead of customer focused. The government has so many labor rules in force here that it is almost impossible to fire someone. As a result, clerks tend to not really care about helping you, the customer. Businesses close at 6:00 and all day Sunday, seemingly because they just don't care about making money...it's just not one of their values.

Everything here is just less Darwinistic. Instead of the cut throat, survival of the fittest methods of American business, Belgium is more about protecting everyone and keeping everyone equal. The government protects businesses, so there is no penalty for not adapting and modernizing. As a result, the companies and workers here are just indifferent. For example, almost no local businesses have websites. Even the smallest "mom and pop" shop back home has a small website with at least their opening hours and directions. That's just not the case here.

While all this is can be frustrating as a customer, it is fantastic as a worker. 38 hour workweeks 6 weeks of vacation each year are normal out here. It all fits well with Belgian values...they work less and make less money than Americans so they can't buy as much. However, they have more time for friends and family. Neither way is better I guess...it's just what you value more.

One thing I have really come to respect of Belgians (really Europeans in general) is their...for the lack of a better word., economical...nature. They are never wasteful. Everyone knows about the small cars and small houses, but it extends to almost every aspect of their lives. As we've talked about in a previous blog, you are charged by the trash bag here. You buy a roll from the store and set them on the street once per week. If you use less bags, you pay less for trash disposal. Also, recycling bags are half price, so there is financial reward for recycling. Most grocery stores have bottle return machines at the entrance where you can deposit used bottles in and get a voucher for € 0.10 each. Again, they give you a financial reward for recycling. Other examples include half price electricity in the evenings and on weekends, as well as charging for bags at the grocery store so you reuse them. They even give a large tax break on diesel fuel (about €1.00 / gallon), which provides better mileage than unleaded gas.

Another fascinating thing to watch here is the ongoing political crisis. I don't know how much coverage it is receiving in the US, but Belgium is in a non-violent civil war. There is a Belgian magazine published in English called The Bulletin. The last headline read, "Meltdown: The End of Belgium?" The background is that Belgium is divided into two regions, Wallonia and Flanders. The two regions speaks different languages, very different cultures, and most importantly, very different economic situations. The northern half of the country (Flemish speaking) is prosperous, while the southern (French speaking) area is quite poor, which is a complete reversal of the last 50 years. As a result, the northern and southern halves of the country do not get along at all. The city of Brussels is one of the biggest things holding the country together, as both sides claim it. The city itself is in the Flemish region, but it is French speaking. It's entirely possible that we won't be living in Belgium much longer, as it might not exist!

I've rambled on enough for now, but stay tuned for our adventures over the next six months, including my thoughts on working at NATO...it's a fascinating place!

Love It, Hate It, Miss It - Part 2

Second in a running series answering the questions, what do I love about living here, what do I hate or dislike and what do I miss. Here are some more of my reflections:

Love It

Fewer material needs: As a result of several factors we really don’t buy material “stuff” anymore, and I like it. Obviously because we are only here for a limited time we don’t really want to accumulate a lot of stuff that we have to worry about shipping home, or selling before we leave. We don’t want to spend a lot of money on the perfect silverware, or cookware when we are only going to be here for a short while in the grand scheme of things. But it’s not just that. I think in general the Belgians are more about traveling, eating good, drinking well, then about buying stuff. It’s interesting how you can spend your money when you don't want to make purchases at Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, William Sonoma. We have a storage unit full of that stuff back home, and I really don’t miss any of it. It will be interesting to see when we return home if we carry on with the simpler lifestyle we have here.

Home Cooked Meals: I get tons of questions about what do I do with my time, and maybe a some point I’ll do a blog about my daily routine, but one of my favorite things is getting to cook nice dinners. I’ve always loved cooking but always hated doing it when I got home from work. For some reason after sitting in the car for 45 min in traffic I just didn’t feel like cooking. Plus we had sooo many great restaurants back home that it was easy to eat out and not eat “fast food”. The hardest part of cooking here is actually related to the section above. I don’t want to buy every food gadget while living here, so I don’t have a food processor or blender, hell we don’t even have a microwave. So most of the things I cook are not that complicated, but its fun nonetheless. We’ve gone from eating out sometimes three nights a week to maybe once every week and a half. The financial savings of eating in has been hugely significant which gives a lot more money to put towards travel. I’m always looking for fun new recipes so please send me any of your favorites.

Hate It

Like Individuals but Hate People: I think of myself as a fairly upbeat, happy person but I am finding myself so angry at times with PEOPLE. I think this was true at home but for some reason when you travel you are surrounded by People and the situations just seem to be more profound. I guess it’s similar to road rage where you are not longer dealing with individuals but faceless, inconsiderate, rude, obnoxious People. I still believe that most individuals are good, and well intentioned, but for some reason when you ask them to stand in line, or follow structure and rules all hell breaks lose. So many times now (truly more that I can count) we have been shoved in line, cut in front of, ignored, pushed out of the way for seats, dangerously cut off on the road. It gets hard to be patient when people are so outright rude and thoughtless. At first you wonder if it’s the Belgians, and then we go to France, Italy, and London and it happens there as well. And then you go somewhere with American tourists and for sure they are just as bad. Our friends here have had strikingly similar experiences, and the story telling includes the same level of rage that can only come from being so disappointed in people. On a happier note though we continue to experience wonderful kindness from individuals we meet. We have been truly blessed with incredible neighbors who continue to be helpful as we get settled here. I only hope our experiences here continue to introduce us to wonderful individuals and limit our time with masses of people.

March of the Snails: I actually think this is one of Keith’s “Love It” but I hate it. Whenever it rains, and it rains a lot, hundreds of snails emerge on the sidewalks. So whenever we take Bailey for walks during or right after it rains we are surrounded by snails and slugs! To Keith’s point, the snails have these really beautiful shells, with amazing colors. BUT they are not always in their shells and so easy to step on. Seriously why is there a bug/insect/whatever it is, that looks like moving mucus!!! Icky!

Miss It

Pumpkin: It is really great to have Bailey here with us; she keeps me company while Keith is at work. But we both really miss our cat Pumpkin. I think he is really happy at my parents house, so much to explore than there was in our condo, and even a yard to play in. I don’t regret not bringing him; he’s had a fairly traumatic life already that I think it was best to leave him behind in happy home. It’s just tough not having him around, and I really think Bailey misses him more than we do.

Mexican Food: Overall the food here is really good, Keith and I have been very impressed so far. They have some really fantastic Italian food; I am truly going to miss the pizza when we move home. The Chinese food is really not that great but it will do when you have a craving, but sadly no Mexican food. We make fajitas at home sometimes but it’s just not the same. They really don’t sell too many of the ingredients for me to make stuff at home either. It’s just a bummer, I miss Mexican food.

London Calling

Keith had Monday July 21 off work for Belgian National Day so we decided to take advantage of the long weekend and went to London. Both of us have been before but separately. Actually our previous visits were yet another in the long line of eerie events that happened to us before we met. We both were in London at the same time in 2001 but didn't know each other at that point. So this time we got to experience it together. We took the Eurostar through the Chunnel, the high speed train is awesome! We made it there in two hours, normally five by car. We couldn't have asked for a better weekend, no rain and great temps. We also ended up with a great hotel. So far we have been very impressed with the Best Westerns all over Europe. They aren't the typical chain you find in the states (yes, I now refer to the US as the states) but instead are independent hotels that have been bought. This one was right near Hyde Park and had just finished being renovated so it was really sleek, especially nice given how small London hotels rooms are. It also had a underground station about a block away so it was really convenient for getting around the city.

We found a great pub to eat in Friday night when we first arrived but were quickly disappointed to find that the beer there truly does not compare to those in Belgium. It was funny to look around and see that locals were drinking Belgian beer. Saturday we took advantage of our energy levels and fresh feet to do a lot of walking. We took "The Tube" to the furthest location we were interested in - Tower Bridge, and just walked most of the way back along the Thames. We stopped for lunch at a riverside restaurant to enjoy a beer and fish & chips. It was just fantastic to be out and about taking it all in. The main thing that hit both of us was how weird it was to suddenly be able to understand everyone's conversations around us. It was almost overwhelming to be hearing so much of what other people were saying. Since it's usually in French, we've both learned to tune so much of that out.

We did a lot of the standards but avoided some of the things we had done before. For instance we skipped the inside of Westminster Abbey since we'd done it before and admission was 12 pounds each. With the conversion of 1 pound to $1.96, $24 a person just didn't seem worth it. We thought the euro was bad....the pound made the trip crazy expensive!

We skipped theater tickets for the same reason, just way to expensive, but we took in a movie instead. We went to the Empire Theater and saw WALL-E. Not only was the movie fantastic but the theater was incredible. The hall and the screen were enormous, a converted theatrical stage.

The next day we were off to see the changing of the guard, we had both seen the palace before but not the ceremony. As the guide books warned the crowds were crazy. Ironically without knowing it we managed to get a spot right in front of a lot of the action. And thanks to a very clever gift from Kevin and Stefanie, a wand to extend your camera, we were able to get pictures and film that others weren't. At one point a man standing behind me actually reached his hands around my body and put his hands over my face to take a picture, I obviously was not too happy with him. Let's just say my body language passed through any possible language barriers :)

Not only was the changing of the guard a tourist nightmare, but Harrods was a mad house. Keith had never heard of it, and although neither of us are big shoppers, it's still a landmark that I thought he should see. I am still amazed by their toy area, it must be a spoiled kids dream. We also hit up Hanley's, largest toy store, although it really didn't seem to compare to F.A.O Schwarz in NY. They did have a life size Lego Indian Jones, which made the trip worthwhile.

We found a great place for dinner just around the corner from our hotel. It was a Chinese place that was a lot like PF Changs, but without the large chain feeling. The best part was that they served dim sum and any one who knows me, knows that I love Dim Sum! I was in heaven. Keith was also in heaven because we found Starbucks on every corner, just like home. Beligum doesn't have any (well I believe there are two...both in Brussels) so we had Starbucks every morning.

We spent our last few hours on Monday walking around Hyde Park before catching the train back home. We checked out Kensington Palace, watched the many dogs playing with their dog walkers, and strolled through the gardens. On our walk back to the hotel from the park we passed a real estate office for the Kensington area. WOW. One Two bedroom flat was renting for 1250 pounds a week!!! Not a month but a week!As much as I might enjoy living in London, I think for those prices I'll stick with good ol' Belgium!

Places to Go, People to See

So we're a little behind on our blogging, hope to catch up with it a bit this week. Two weekends ago July 12 Keith and I had a pretty full agenda. Saturday we headed about 40 minutes east of our little town to another little town, Namur. The highlight of the town has to be the Citadel, sitting atop a large hill, very impressive. The hill top provided some fantastic scenic overlooks. Some fortress though, we read in our travel guide that it has been sieged and occupied more than 20 times. It turns out on the inside they have a lot going on including medieval reenactments, etc. but we were both in the passive tourist kind of mood and skipped on a lot of the inside stuff. We both thought it might be a good reason to come back. The town itself was charming as usual with great open markets and cafes, perfect for strolling. As most know, neither Keith or I are all that interested in shopping but I have to admit it's fun to discover the unique shops, so we haven't done much buying but still fun to look.

Sunday was extremely satisfying, we made a trip up to Brussels to the Monument for Jewish Martyrs. My co-worker back home had told me before I left that she had discovered that she had family members names on the walls at the memorial and asked if I would be willing to get a rubbing and some pictures. It was really exciting to find their names, get rubbings, and take pictures. I guess it just felt great to be able to do that for someone.

We also headed back to the nice movie theater to see Kung Fu Panda, I still can't get over the ten minute intermission, so weird! But fun to see a movie in a real theater instead of at the base.

On Tuesday we were back in the car heading to Leuven, which is about an hour east of us, just outside Brussels to meet up with a former professor of mine from grad school who was here for a conference. Small world I guess, back home she moved from NOVA to Georgia so we haven't seen each other in a long time, it just takes moving to another country! She has significant experience living abroad so we had a good time picking her brain for travel ideas. She confirmed that Budapest is a must see. So many places, so little time!

Independence Day Weekend

July 4 obviously isn't quite the same in Belgium as it is back home, but I will admit that NATO did a rather good job of helping us Americans celebrate out here. The party started at noon on Friday and ended around 11:00 pm with a fireworks show. They had a massive tent with food, beer, and music. I ate a home cooked hot dog off the grill under an American flag while listening to a band play some Credence Clearwater Revival. For a little while I forgot where I was...

On Saturday a coworker and I left the wives at home for a guy's night out at a casino in a town about 45 minutes away. There are four or five "casinos" here in Mons, but they only have electronic games, no table games. This casino was small, but fairly nice. There are several interesting differences between this place and a Vegas casino....first, instead of just walking in the door, you have to get registered and they take your photo. Second, no free alcohol! But at least the beer was at least reasonably priced. The games themselves are even a little different. In Blackjack, people surrender constantly. I thought this was quite funny considering the military reputation of France. Also, in Roulette, there is only one zero instead of two, and if it comes up when you have your money on a color you get half of it back. So, your odds of winning out here are actually much better. As a matter of fact, I walked out of the casino about 400 Euro on the plus side (about $550), not a bad night's work!

On Sunday Elizabeth and went to a local park called The Paradisio. It's a cross between a garden and a zoo. There is a petting zoo where you can feed goats and pigs, aquariums with sharks and octapi, and a monkey jungle where the monkeys run free around you. The park is beautifully landscaped, and it just makes for a wonderful place to walk around on a cool summer Belgian day. The park is about 10 km from our house, so we decided to pick up the season pass...

Overall, it was a wonderful Independence Day weekend...a little different from what we're used to, but different experiences are why we moved here!

The Fire Festival

Last night we decided to take in some of the local culture and attend the Feux de la Saint-Jean (Fires of St. Jean) here in Mons. We had no idea what we were attending...a coworker just mentioned something about a "fire festival" in town. Sounded interesting enough to us, so we headed down to the Grand Place around 9:30 last night.

The festival started with a little band playing some slow, funny sounding music. Then, people dressed in all white with white painted faces walked slowly out of the town hall, miming that they were cold. After a few trips around the stage, a crazy little lady came out with springy shoes on and danced around, yelling things in French. At her request, the cold people awoke Monseur Hiver (Mr. Winter)...who was the 20 ft tall puppet you see in the pictures. After more dancing and spraying of white confetti...Mr. Winter apparently kicked the bucket...although I have no idea what killed him. He just kind of fell over.

After burying Mr. Winter, the summer people came out wearing butterfly outfits and fruit and vegetable hats...crazy Belgians. More dancing and music ensued. Finally, all the groups got together and they lit fire wheels and set off fireworks. It was a very elaborate production.

Once the sun finally set around 10:30, people gathered again in the Grand Place where several high school drum lines were performing. People lit torches and and followed the bands in a line through the town to another area where they apparently lit a huge bonfire, although we didn't go to that part...we sat at a cafe and had a beer instead. Overall, it was another strange but wonderful night here in Belgium.

Summertime in Belgium

Summer in Belgium is an interesting time. First, let me say that the weather, at least so far, is perfect. The average day is about 72 and sunny. One day per week is usually cloudy with a little rain, usually in the upper 60's, but most of the time it's beautiful. I always wondered why America never had the outdoor cafes like they do here and now I realize that it's due to the weather. The entire summer is cool enough to sit outside comfortably, unlike D.C. where just sitting outside will make you sweat.

The wonderful weather does come at a small price, however...the sun never seems to set. The sun rises around 5:30 in the morning and sets around 10:15 at night. Just to demonstrate the point, this picture was taken outside our house at 10:00 pm a few nights ago...

This one at 10:30...


It took us a while to be able to sleep when it's light out, but we're slowly getting used to it...

When in Rome

Two weeks ago (yes, I know this is a late post...I apologize) I took a few days off and we headed down to Rome. We found a fairly inexpensive flight on the European discount airline, Ryanair. I have heard several bad things about this airline from coworkers, but the two of us were able to fly for only 200 Euro. Once we boarded the airplane we quickly realized how they offer such cheap flights...they charge for everything and sell to you like a used car salesman. There are advertisements all over the plane and on the seat in front of you. They charge for everything, including soda and peanuts. As we boarded the plane, they play advertisements over the speakers telling you about the fabulous liquor, wine, and sandwiches that you can buy. The voice reminded me of someone on TV back home telling you about a monster truck show..."sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!!!" Half way through the flight they even came through selling lottery tickets, we could be Euro-millionares!

Anyway, the flight was smooth and even landed 20 minutes early. We waited a good 40 minutes for our luggage, but it did show up which was a relief. The cab ride to the hotel in downtown Rome was an interesting and terrifying experience. The driver took us down the Via Appia, the oldest road in Rome, built during the Roman empire. There are still stone walls on each side of it, and ruins in the distance. It was a beautiful ride. However, we quickly learned that Romans pay absolutely no attention to lanes, stop signs, lights, speed limits, or any other standard rules of the road. People literally ignore red lights and proceed right through the intersection. After several months of driving in Belgium, I was feeling confident about driving in Europe and thought about renting a car for this trip. Thank God I didn't, I couldn't imagine trying to navigate Rome.

We arrived safely at our hotel, but we were too early to check in. So, we left our luggage with the concierge and started walking the city. Our plan was to find a place for lunch, then go back and check into the hotel...but as we found there was just too much to see. As we were walking, we saw a large marble statue at the end of the street and decided to just walk toward it. Along the way, we found a wonderful site with Roman ruins, as well as the giant white building you can see in the pictures. It was absolutely beautiful. After admiring the area for a while, we took a look at a map and realized that we were pretty close to the Coliseum, so we headed down that way. The walk there led us by the Roman forum, which is apparently the best collection of ruins from the Roman Empire. There isn't a whole lot left, but there was enough to give you an idea of what it looked like a thousand years ago. The whole time we were there we were in awe of what the Romans were able to engineer back then.

At the Coliseum, we were approached by a lady offering tours for 10 Euro. We weren't planning on taking a tour, but with the group you didn't have to wait in the 1 -2 hour line. We figured that alone was worth the 10 Euro price. Our tour guide was an eccentric little Italian lady who we found quite entertaining despite not understanding a lot of what she was saying. She told us all about the gladiators and the history of the building, and how the Catholic church stole all the marble from the Coliseum to build the Vatican. She told us this fact many times and made it quite clear that she is angry about it. Despite the missing marble and 1000 years of wear and tear, it's still an impressive structure....but it's no Lane Stadium. Inside the arena she wanted to demonstrate a gladiator match by using me and a British guy. We fought with rolled up paper fliers as Elizabeth and his wife laughed at us from the audience. She made jokes about how big I was and how skinny he was, which is apparently why she declared me the winner of the match....but I was told to let him live. It was during our duel that the other guy's wife leaned over and told Elizabeth what a "cheeky monkey" our tour guide was...I don't know exactly what that means, but I think it's a good description of her.

After this, we took the Metro to see the Spanish Steps...which was a complete waste of time as far as I'm concerned. The surrounding buildings were under construction, and there were none of the flowers that you see in the pictures. It was really just a big staircase with a ton of people sitting on it. From there it was on to the Trevi fountain, which was absolutely amazing. Neither words nor pictures could describe it, you just have to see it for yourself.

At this point it was dinner time, so we found a little restaurant that looked pretty good. Here, in the heart of Rome, Italy is where we found the worst Italian food we've ever tasted. Uncooked pasta covered in salty, runny tomato sauce. Maybe it was just a tourist trap, but it was terrible. The house wine however was spectacular. After several glasses of wine we stopped by a gelato stand to get some of the famous Italian ice cream which, like the wine, did not disappoint us.

The next day we were off to Vatican City. We decided to take a tour here as well, which was led by an American lady who is just living and studying history in Rome. We were apparently extremely lucky this day. It was about 75 degrees and sunny Saturday, yet there was only a 10 minute line to get into the Vatican museums. I've been told by coworkers that it's usually at least a 3 hour wait. The museum itself was nice, but since we've seen the Smithsonian and the Louvre it wasn't extremely exciting. However, the tour ends in the Sistine Chapel, which completely lived up to any and all expectations we had. It has to be the most amazing piece of art I have ever seen. Strangely enough, you are allowed to take all the pictures you want anywhere in the museum except for the Sistine Chapel. At first this sounds reasonable, until our tour guide told us why. Apparently Nikon paid for the restoration of the building, so they now own all the rights to photos taken in the chapel. No, you can't take a picture if you own a Nikon camera. We thought this was ridiculous, so we turned off the flash and snapped a photo anyway. As you can see, it turned out nicely. After this, we took a nice walk through St. Peter's cathedral, which is the most elaborate church ever built. It even had bodies of previous popes behind glass...which was a little disturbing if you ask me.

My mom was due in to meet us before her cruise on Sunday morning, but unfortunately her flight was delayed and she missed her connection to Rome. We spent a lot of time on Sunday trying to track her down and weren't able to do much sightseeing. However, we did find a lovely little cafe with good Italian food, wonderful wine, and just an all around fantastic atmosphere. It was exactly what we were looking for the whole weekend. My mom finally arrived later that evening and we were able to have dinner with her and several of her friends that were also going on the cruise.

On Monday, my mom took the Vatican tour in the morning, and then we all went out for another nice meal. Here we got some authentic Italian pizza, which has a very thin crust and big chunks of toppings. It was probably the best food I had in Italy. After lunch we took a tour bus through the city and got off at the Coliseum again. Here we said goodbyes and Elizabeth and I headed off to the airport.

Unfortunately our flight home wasn't as smooth as the flight down there. Our flight was due to depart Rome around 9:00 pm, but ended up leaving around midnight. This meant that were weren't back home in Belgium until about 3:00 am...and I was up at 7:00 for work the next day. The trip home sadly left us a little bitter and detracted from what was otherwise a wonderful trip.

Love It, Hate It, Miss It

So this particular blog will probably turn into a series over the time that we are here. Keith and I have realized that whenever we talk to people from home we always get three questions. 1. What do you love about living there? 2. What do you dislike there? 3. What do you miss the most? So we've both been doing some thinking about these questions now that we've been here 3 + months and thought it was time to share. Keith will probably do his own post and some of ours will most likely overlap but you'll get the idea.
Here are some of my refections.

Love It:
No cookie cutter homes, resturants, strip malls: One thing that has started to frustrate me at home is that no matter where I go in the US there is the same strip mall in every town with the Target, Barnes and Noble, Maccaroni Grill, and Old Navy. I you look across the street there is the same community development with identical McMansions. It makes traveling within the US less interesting when you know you are going to see the exact same strip malls. Don't get me wrong I spent a lot of time in those strip malls, and know plenty of people with very nice and lovely McMansions. However it's been great to be in a place where every house is unique, there are no strip malls, and resturants can easily be confused with somebody's home. When I walk Bailey through our neighborhood it's fun to look at all the different houses that all have interesting features. Finding resturants outside of the city center has actually been a challenge because they blend in with the neighborhood, but when we have found one, they are great places to eat. It's pretty cool that on our trips to other parts of Belgium each town looks different, except for the standard large church in the center of town, it makes traveling pretty exciting.

Lack of SUV's: Keith has mentioned that the gas prices here are pretty outrageous, I think something like $8.50 a gallon.... I still have a hard time with the litter/gallon conversion...so the popular style of car is the hatch back. The only large cars, SUVs and MiniVans, are all owned by US military who have had their cars shipped here from the US. Again I am not trying to be a hypocrite, I loved my small Saturn SUV, but I've been really impressed with the smaller cars so far, we've taken one on several trips, made a couple IKEA runs. I just have to admit I enjoy being on the road with fewer SUVs.

No traffic: Ok so we don't live in Brussells, I am sure there is traffic in Belgium, but we really don't have any traffic where we live. I drive Keith to work most days and the roundtrip take me less than 20 min. When I was working in McLean I was working 11 miles from home and it would take about 45 min to get to work. Getting home could easily take an hour. I don't miss random traffic on 66 on a Saturday. I just don't miss traffic, I think it's going to be the hardest thing to readjust to whenever we return.

Hate It:
Wearing 3 outfits a day: So the weather in Belgium is goofy. Actually since it's been spring it's been pretty nice but it is not crazy to think that I would change three times a day. It can still be pretty cold in the morning, for awhile I still needed a winter coat but by the middle of the day I wanted a short sleeve shirt, and capris. Then by evening it would cool off but not nearly as cold as the morning. Since I didn't bring my entire warbrobe with me the broad ranging weather in a day has presented a clothing challenge.

Everything closed on Sunday: So I think Keith and I have mentioned on previous blogs that everything is closed on Sunday....... but it's pretty annoying. I mean seriously, IKEA is closed on Sunday! It's not a relgious thing, basically, Belgium reguires that employers pay their employees 3x their salary on a Sunday so instead of forking over the money they close. We think that's why a lot of cafes and resturants are open on Sundays, because they are all family run. It's mostly a challenge just to make sure we have enough groceries...... it's not really a problem, it's more annoying than anything else.

Miss It: So to be honest I really don't miss much other than friends and family. This section will probably be shorter than the rest.

Meeting Maya: The hardest part so far about being here has been not getting to meet Maya, Wendy and Brian's baby girl. She is closest thing I have to a neice, and I couldn't be more excited for them. It's been great to see her via webcam, but it's just not the same as getting to hold her. In fact lots of our friends are having babies and it's weird not being there to meet them. At least I know I'll be around most of her life :)