The Agony is Part of the Fun

One of K's friends has lived in Belgium now for a few years and has a saying,"The agony is part of the fun." We're living proof of that quote...if you can really call it fun. We recieved a letter in the post (that's the mail for you nonEuropean people) stating our credit cards arrived at our bank and we needed to pick them up. So Saturday morning we drove to the bank only to find K's credit card, but not mine. In the US there were at least 3 credit card applications in my mailbox every week begging me to join with their company and go in debt the American way. Nobody receives that kind of mail here. The credit cards are much more controlled. For some reason my paperwork didn't get done when we met with the previous bank employee the week before Christmas so now I don't have a bank card or credit card (both which were to be taken care of at the same time). So now K controls all the finances (at least until I get my cards!).

Next comes the fuel situation. Some houses, like ours, rely on heating fuel for the winter. A call is made by the homeowner to have fuel delivered in a truck, and supposedly 2000 Liters lasts all winter until you have your house completely open for the movers to bring in your belongings on the coldest day in 10 years. That along with us having some other uncommonly cold days caused our fuel to deplete quickly. Our landlord was quite nervous for us so K called for more fuel to be delivered this Thursday or Friday. So now K is freaked out about it and we are all wearing three layers of clothing to conserve our fuel. We're praying for warmer weather...the Lord must have heard because today the sun was out and it reached close to 40.

While we're still discussing the agony I must add our dining room light to the list. It went out on us Thursday and we were debating on calling an electrician which would probably take a month before someone could come fix it...everything else takes about a month, why would an electrician be any different? My aunt Sally could easily bring my uncle Mike (an electrician) with her during her July visit. What's another few months when you already have to wait at least one? We had the "bright" idea to call him and see if he could give us some advice over the phone as to how to fix it. K figured out the problem, and while it is still not fixed (remember we couldn't shop for the new part because every store is closed on Sundays, agh!) we will buy the part tomorrow and fix it. Thanks for the advice Uncle Mike!!!

While K and I were discussing the agony this morning, the children seem unphased by it all. Their only concern is who gets to pick the next Wii game to play while Mom and Dad are unpacking. I guess while we're experiencing the agony, they're having the fun.

Although this doesn't quite fit into our story, it was part of someone else's agony and hopefully never becomes part of ours. While shopping a few weeks ago at a local grocery shop we witnessed a mugging. I have yet to tell my parents because I didn't want to scare them, but now they'll know after reading this. Mugging is fairly common here, with very little other types of crime. In my 34 years of living in Indiana the only crimes I really witnessed were traffic violations. It's just a little scary to witness a mugging within my first 3 weeks of living here. I haven't carried my purse anywhere since.