THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Hello Everyone!   Last few days have been pretty low key.   Just settling into the new house and getting into a routine.  I've been walking at least twice a day with the dogs.  Since it stays light out so late I can take a long walk after dinner.  So tonight when I was out walking with Newton and Brian I brought my camera and took some photos of the neighborhood.  Jouir!

This is a restaurant and events place just up
the street from our house.

These are pictures of the area in our neighborhood.  Gotta love the cobblestone roads!  

Our street comes out to this main road.

Chemin de la Brire 

I bought some geraniums and planted

them in the window boxes.

This beautiful arrangement is from

Randy's boss and his peers at SAPPI. 

This weekend we should have some decent weather.  I think we'll drive up to Brugge on Sunday.  It's about 1 1/2 hours drive.  It's located near the North Sea.  Maybe we'll check out the views.

  

Bonjour!

No pictures to post today.   Just some routine day to day type things happened today.  But, alas, in Belgium....nothing is routine.   Got up early to get over to the town hall to meet with the relocation agent to get me our town ID cards.  You have to have your French speaking agent with you because they are not allowed to speak anything but French in the Town Offices.  So Randy says on his way out the door (he's traveling to Stockholm), "do you have the id photos?"   Uh oh!  So I look up to see when the Carrefour opens..8:30, email the relocation agent arrange to meet at 9:15, get to Carrefour to find that the photo shop does not open until 9:30!  I don't have a cell phone yet so I can't contact the relocation person so I go to the town hall, wait for 40 minutes, she gets there and she suggests we start the paperwork and get the pictures afterward and bring them back to the town hall.   This plan works fine.


After lunch I head over to a mobile phone store to get a phone.  This is in Waterloo which is a very busy town with a lot of shops of every sort; big, small, chain stores, mom & pop shops, etc.  So the purchase of the phone goes rather smoothly.  The salesman spoke English fairly well.  I get home and now I realize that I have absolutely no indication on the phone, on the box, on the paperwork as to what my phone number is!   I sent a text to Randy and finally he told me my mobile number.


Like I said, nothing is routine in Belgium!  But things work out in the end, it's just a round-about way to get the end result.


After dinner the boys and I (and the dogs) went for a really great walk.  We walked down this road which is really just one car width but it is a two way street.  Lots of woods and unique houses tucked away in the hills.  At the end of the tiny road we turned onto a cobblestone road which brought us up to the main drag and back to our little street.  It was a great walk with a real feel for the French influenced countryside of Belgium. 


So that was my day...lots of chores just like at home!  Ending the day with a nice bowl of fresh strawberries bought at a roadside stand.  Okay....full disclosure.....I put those delicious strawberries on top of a bowl of decadent dark chocolate ice cream!  

Hi everyone!   I survived my first full day in Belgium.  Randy and I picked up my new car.  It might not be the cute little Mini-Cooper I dreamed of driving around in but it gets me from place to place.   It's a 2008 Saab 9.3.   Thank goodness we found an automatic - I wouldn't want to have to be thinking about changing gears AND try to remember where the heck I'm going AND making sure I'm going the correct KPM and navigating the MANY traffic circles!  Plus I'm terrible with the hills and a manual transmission and there are a lot of hills here.   So anyway - here is a photo of my wheels.  

After picking up the car I went to the supermarket and tried my hand at food shopping.   The store is really big...like a Walmart Superstore.  But unfortunately, not as cheap!   The nicest thing is the super-fresh bread.    


The time change has been okay.  Seems to be affecting Mark.  He slept till 12 noon, woke up and then went back to sleep for at least another hour.  The daylight hours are longer.   Below is a photo I took at 9:30 p.m.  The sky finally got dark around 10:15!  Pretty strange.   

Off in the morning to the Town Hall to get our ID cards.  That's all for now.  

DAY ONE

Hi everyone!   I survived my first full day in Belgium.  Randy and I picked up my new car.  It might not be the cure little Mini-Cooper I dreamed of driving around in but it gets me from place to place.   It's a 2008 Saab 9.3.   Thank goodness we found an automatic - I wouldn't want to have to be thinking about changing gears AND try to remember where the heck I'm going AND making sure I'm going the correct KPM and navigating the MANY traffic circles!  Plus I'm terrible with the hills and a manual transmission and there are a lot of hills here.   So anyway - here a photo of my wheels.  

After picking up the car I went to the supermarket and tried my hand at food shopping.   The store is really big...like a Walmart Superstore.  But unfortunately, not as cheap!   The nicest thing is the super-fresh bread.    


The time change has been okay.  Seems to be affecting Mark.  He slept till 12 noon, woke up and then went back to sleep for at least another hour.  The daylight hours are longer.   Below is a photo I took at 9:30 p.m.  The sky finally got dark around 10:15!  Pretty strange.   

Off in the morning to the Town Hall to get our ID cards.  Mark is NOT going to be happy about the early wake up but they are only open till 12:00.   That's all for now.  

Woof! Woof!   We love our new home.
We even saw a fox in our garden.   He was trying to steal our chewy bones! They were outside because dad thinks they smell bad....He doesn't know a good thing!

Well, as you can see ALL the boys in the Rotermund family made it safe and sound to Belgium.  


I felt super-organized this whole week and had 3 checklists going at the same time.  How can people accomplish things without checklists!!   Mark and I left on Saturday, June 23.  Or should I be very European and say 23 June.  Great flight out of Logan to Heathrow overnight.   Then a short 50 minute flight to Brussels.   A little bumpy at the beginning.  For those of you who aren't fans of flying...you know what I'm talking about.   Those who are seasoned travelers...then you wouldn't have even noticed.  You probably would have just slept through it and made me feel like a total idiot.  A good flight in general.  Off to baggage claim for 6 bags and then met Randy and Brian.  Got my last view of a Starbucks for a long time.   The only Starbucks in Belgium is at the airport and at Central Train station.  Can you spell f-r-a-n-c-h-i-s-e??!! 


Even with the pouring rain is was great to finally have the family together under one roof.  We unpacked bags, watched the F1 race from Spain and had Randy's homemade Chicken Fajitas for dinner.  Brian and I took the dogs out for a nice long walk.  There is a pub at one corner and they were playing some interesting music.  Kinda bluesy, jazzy stuff.  Small crowd but might be a good idea to check out.  


Will be picking up my car tomorrow and heading off for my first solo food shopping trip.  Wish me luck.  


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Good News!   Just got word from Randy that the dogs are safe and sound in Lasne.   They are absolutely bonkers after having left our house in the states at 4pm on Wednesday.  They flew on Luftansa, made a connection in Frankfurt and got through customs in Brussels.  Believe me, I did just as much paperwork for them as I did for the kids and myself!  So I'm glad that there was no problems.  I said hello to them on Skype and Oreo was looking under the table to see where I was on the laptop!  Thanks to Animal Land Pet Movers!   They were awesome!


Two more days and counting for Mark and I.  Still crossing some "T's" and dotting some "i's".   Even when I'm there in Belgium we have to go to the town hall for ID cards so I won't be done with the paperwork for a while.


Check back for more news.  I'll be posting more frequently now.

MOVING DAY!

Well, moving day is fast approaching.   Randy and Brian left for Brussels back on June 8.  Luckily Randy has been able to put off any travel for these two weeks.   Brian has been hanging out at the house and probably just happy to be done with high school.   Oreo and Newton arrive on Thursday, June 21.   I hope Newton isn't a basket-case.  I'll keep you posted on how it is going.  Mark and I arrive on Sunday, June 24.   Will be great to have the family all in one house for the summer.  


Keep checking the blog to see pictures of life in Belgium.   We'll be doing day trips on the weekends to check out local towns and cities.  Brugges, Antwerp, Ghent, etc.   


Note:   When you want to comment, click on Comment, then write your comment, then where it says "Comment as" click on "Name" and add your name.   Some of the other selections just bump you into a Google page that is for starting your own blog.   Also - if you want to see full size pictures instead of the small ones that are posted, just click on the picture and you can flip through them.    I'll re-post these direction a few more times. 


Thanks again for all your support.  Will miss everyone but am very happy to be back together with the family.