Laundry, recycling, and driving a stick shift

LAUNDRY

After 2 hrs, walking 1 km (that's .6 miles) there and 1 km back lugging bags of dirty laundry, and 20 Euro (that's 26.40 US$) Ross and I did the laundry at the wassalon. Although the facility was nice, I'm not sure this is going to be one of my new favorite things. Our apartment has a washer, but no dryer. Not sure what the thought process was behind that one since there's obviously nowhere to hang clothes to dry. We don't even have a terrace much less a yard - just a parking lot!

RECYCLING

I spent about 3 hrs translating the trash booklet we got at the City Hall. It's got 46 pages. Our garbage corner now consists of:

1 bag for paper/cartons

1 bag for plastic bottles/cans

1 bag for glass bottles

1 bag for biodegradable trash and

1 bag for "other" trash that doesn't fit into any other category.

AND we have to cart the bottles to the store to be recycled. Of course, this doesn't even come close to covering car batteries, cooking oil, and disposable diapers, etc. I'll cross that bridge when and if I need to! Needless to say all these bags take up a chunk of our little living space, but we're doing a good thing, right?

DRIVING

Well, I initially refused to drive - at least not yet, but Jim had to return his rental car to the Brussels airport since he now has a lease car. Since he can't drive them both, I drove the rental car to Brussels! When I tell you I was stressed out... I. Was. Stressed. Out! I am amazed at Jim's driving skills here, but I just wasn't ready. Plus, I haven't driven a standard shift in over 10 years. Anyway, Ross and I made it to Brussels safely and I even braved some of the drive home today from Amsterdam. I just thought I wasn't really comfortable riding! I'm ready to just ride again :)

Overwhelmed to say the least!

Well, Ross and I made it to Belgium and in record time - only about a 12 hour trip from first takeoff to final landing. I was so happy to see Jim again. He drove us home from Brussels and I was on the edge of my seat the entire ride. He's comfortable driving here now, but I'm not comfortable riding yet. I don't know what any of the road signs mean and traffic moves very quickly so I'm expecting a collision at every turn.

These first couple of days have been....well let's just say overwhelming. The language barrier is already a challenge. Ross says I'm definitely not trying to "blend in", but I know that will probably take a while. Everyone speaks some English and most speak it very well, but it means always asking someone for help. I'm determined to learn enough Flemish (Dutch) to get by and maybe enough to "blend in".

We walked around Brussels for awhile after our arrival. Our first real outing was to Antwerp, then on to the town of Knokke-Heist on the North Sea (which is about 2 hrs from Hasselt). Here's a photo of Jim and Ross in Brussels, Ross in Antwerp (drinking age in Belgium is 16!) and a photo of the sea.

The apartment we are living in is pretty small so we're slumber partying it right now. One of mine and Ross's charges is to begin looking for a little bigger place to park ourselves. Here are pictures of home sweet home for now.

Yesterday, Ross and I made our first journey about town. We figured out how to use the city bus system and successfully made it from home to Carrefour (Belgium's answer to Walmart) and back home again. Shopping is a challenge when every label is in Dutch or French and every measurement is in metrics, but we managed to get home with most of the items on our list. Mr. Clean wasn't too hard to figure out, but we decided to leave these other two behind :)

And last, here's my new favorite Frazier pic. I miss y'all already :(

Tot Ziens

Well, it's here. Tomorrow is moving day which means the inevitable and near impossible goodbye to Josh, Randi, and Frazier. I'm lucky to have been in close proximity to Randi this last year and a half and I wouldn't trade that time nor these last 5 weeks since Frazier's birth for anything. I know it's not forever, but it sure feels like it right now :(

Here's my new favorite Frazier photo and yes, he was smiling at me :)

The hondje

Winslow, our hondje (doggy), will become a world traveler soon and I'm attempting to get him acclimated to staying in a kennel. Each day I put him in the kennel and leave him there for an hour. It seems so ridiculous and he must be thinking "why do we keep doing this?" He will eventually spend in excess of 10 hours in the kennel in the cargo section of the plane as "checked baggage". How do you prepare a hondje (or anything else) for that?!

The paperwork for getting us humans to Belgium has been a challenge and we aren't there yet. I think I may have figured out why we have so many illegal immigrants here in the States. More on that later.

The prep for Winslow has been more than I anticipated, but I think we're ready. Microchip in place and assuming he decides to attempt an escape at the Atlanta airport, theoretically we can track him down - and it only cost 68 US$ - cheap considering we can find him anywhere on the globe; import authorization signed and stamped for only a mere 50 Euro; authenticated veterinary certificate signed and stamped for a measly 34 US$. Now we just have to wait for the temp to get below 85 degrees at departure time and purchase a "ticket" to Europe - "that'll be 550 US$ please". Hmmm, 85 degrees (that's 29.444444444444446 Celsius for the rest of the world*)...November, maybe.

*Only in the United States and a few other countries (such as Belize) does the Fahrenheit system continue to be used, and only for non-scientific use.

Smurfology

Are you old enough to remember the Smurfs? Those little blue creatures who lived in the woods somewhere? Well, they were a creation of Belgian cartoonist Pierre Culliford in 1958. They weren't introduced to us until the animated tv series more than 20 years later in the 1980's. Since we have a new grandson, Jim and I chose Opa and Oma as opposed to the typical Southern Papaw and Mamaw as our new nicknames for life. They also happen to be Dutch for Grandfather and Grandmother. I guess we could have gone with Papa Smurf and Smurfette. After all that's kind of Dutch.

Metrics anyone?

Did you know that Burma (Myanmar), Liberia, and yes the United States are the only countries that don't use the metric system? Take a look at this map and you'll get some perspective. When I was in high school there was a big push to convert to the metric system when Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act of 1975. It was supposed to take place over a 10 year period, but there was much resistance and it was voluntary! It's inevitable we will have to convert at some point so I guess Congress will pass another Metric Conversion Act. They might want to exclude the "voluntary" part next go round.

Three nations have not officially adopted the International System of Units as their primary or sole system of measurement: Liberia, Burma and theUnited States.

One more week...

This time next week Ross and I will be somewhere over the Atlantic headed for Brussels. I did a test run of packing the other day and was glad I did because it didn't all fit. Fitting everything you think you'll need for a couple of years in one bag weighing no more than 50 lbs. is a challenge to say the least. I've resorted to taking a second bag to fit at least another 25 lbs. of "essentials".

Jim is in Scotland this week where they drive on the wrong side of the road. He says it looks like a postcard. I am anxious to hear more about it when he returns to Belgium and we can ichat. Update: here's a picture Jim took in Scotland.

I have a list as long as my arm of last minute things to do before leaving. Most really do have to wait until "last minute". Of course the most important is giving Frazier lots of knuffels en kussen! Here's my latest photo favorite I stole from Randi's blog.

Frazier

The arrival of Frazier has been a delight beyond words. Here are just a few of my favorite pictures.

Never been to Europe before...

Our first trip to Europe was to decide if we thought we could move there. Turns out we could. That was May.

Some observations made on that trip:

1. stylish eyeglasses are mandatory

2. autos are small and standard shift

3. must be able to parallel park in a space no bigger than a king sized bed

4. must love coffee - got that down

5. must love beer - working on that one

6. Americans really are the only people who speak just one language

7. dogs are welcome in restaurants

8. having learned metrics in grade school would be handy

9. no AC

10. need to learn Dutch

Jim is a full fledged "American in Belgie" and I will be soon. His departure was very difficult and I am anxious about mine on Friday, August 21. Ross is accompanying me so there is some comfort in not having to say goodbye to him yet. I don't even want to talk about saying goodbye to the rest.

Sounds exciting ... and it will be. Opportunity of a lifetime ... and it is. May be the hardest thing I've done up to now ... it may in fact be.