Saturday, December 20, 2008
Trash
When we lived in the US, we didn't recycle on a regular basis. K really saw no point in doing it, but now that the issue is so expensive in Europe, K says, "You know, the Europeans really do a lot of things right." For instance, trash bags cost 1 Euro here. That is about $1.5o for each white trash bag! They also have to be purchased from certain stores in your communal area so they have the name of your commune printed on it. People don't pay an additional fee for trash pick up, but the cost of the bag covers it and that is why they are so expensive. The cheaper bags are blue for recycling plastic (collected Tuesdays), and yellow for recycling cardboard and paper (collected every other week) so we are highly encouraged to recycle. Great idea...huh Stacye? She's going to be so proud of us when we get back to the states and we're recycling gurus!
Driving in Europe
Now Tuesday came and K was off to work, but we still only have one car (and no internet, phone, or television by the way which is why I haven't been able to e-mail people or update the blog...sorry!). We have to all get up and drive K to work. Now, I'm not complaining, because I really like it here and we've already had some memorable experiences as a family. Also, I can have patience for a few weeks until our air shipment arrives and our Belgacom services are hooked up. Until then, we have to be a little flexible and roll with the punches.
K made me drive because I honestly think he didn't think I could make it back home (about a half an hour drive) by myself and two children safely. I did make it home, but I can't believe it. So, I'm going to measure the street as soon as our tape measure arrives so I can prove to all of you that the streets do not have enough room to have one row of parked cars on the curb as well as two lanes of traffic. There is no way 3 rows of cars fit on these city streets. I have no clue how there aren't more accidents here. I caught myself closing my eyes as I envisioned our car being sideswiped and the sideview mirror knocked off so many times! Then driving back to get K in the dark was even more challgenging. The next two days I told him he could just have the car. The kids and I could stay at home and play Mario Kart.
Also, the street we live on has about 7 areas that are sharply curved with curbs along both sides so you have to steer the car like an Indy 500 racer. It is so crazy I took a picture for you all to see, but we can't get it up yet until some of our equipment comes on the sea shipment. K is seriously scared that the tires on our car are only going to last a few months because I hit the curbs so much. When our friends Joe and Beth come visit they are going to think they've died and gone to the Formula One Heaven!
K made me drive because I honestly think he didn't think I could make it back home (about a half an hour drive) by myself and two children safely. I did make it home, but I can't believe it. So, I'm going to measure the street as soon as our tape measure arrives so I can prove to all of you that the streets do not have enough room to have one row of parked cars on the curb as well as two lanes of traffic. There is no way 3 rows of cars fit on these city streets. I have no clue how there aren't more accidents here. I caught myself closing my eyes as I envisioned our car being sideswiped and the sideview mirror knocked off so many times! Then driving back to get K in the dark was even more challgenging. The next two days I told him he could just have the car. The kids and I could stay at home and play Mario Kart.
Also, the street we live on has about 7 areas that are sharply curved with curbs along both sides so you have to steer the car like an Indy 500 racer. It is so crazy I took a picture for you all to see, but we can't get it up yet until some of our equipment comes on the sea shipment. K is seriously scared that the tires on our car are only going to last a few months because I hit the curbs so much. When our friends Joe and Beth come visit they are going to think they've died and gone to the Formula One Heaven!
Shopping for Groceries
On Sundays most stores are closed in Belgium, so our new friends (the Biasi's) invited us over for dinner which was very tasty! They were wonderful company and the kids had such a great time at "that lady's house that had the Wii Mario Kart and all those Polly Pockets"!
Monday came and it was time to go grocery shopping. We went to a store kind of like Wal-Mart back at home. So here's the fun of shopping for groceries in another country...2 hours to buy items for 3 meals and some fruits and veggies for snacks. We go to buy milk, which isn't refrigerated (and eggs aren't either) because it's sterilized (we think), and we know that milk is "lait" in French, however, we had no clue what the names were for the skim and whole milk, and 2% didn't have any numbers on it. So, after looking in our French dictionary the whole time while the kids were again, being troopers, we ended up just picking items that looked like the right ones off the shelf and throwing them into the cart. We were getting frustrated and tired from the whole adventure.
Monday came and it was time to go grocery shopping. We went to a store kind of like Wal-Mart back at home. So here's the fun of shopping for groceries in another country...2 hours to buy items for 3 meals and some fruits and veggies for snacks. We go to buy milk, which isn't refrigerated (and eggs aren't either) because it's sterilized (we think), and we know that milk is "lait" in French, however, we had no clue what the names were for the skim and whole milk, and 2% didn't have any numbers on it. So, after looking in our French dictionary the whole time while the kids were again, being troopers, we ended up just picking items that looked like the right ones off the shelf and throwing them into the cart. We were getting frustrated and tired from the whole adventure.
Safely Home
We departed Indiana at 1:00 in the afternoon Decmber 13th. I took a few pictures of our last few minutes in Indiana.
We're on a two year mission to live in Europe and become a little European!
We checked 8 bags for the flight and had 8 carry on bags as well. One carried all our important papers such as passports, birth certificates, our marriage license, FBI background check paperwork, and other various items we need to check in at our local commune (kind of like a city). All the advise we received also stated that we should carry my jewelry, the Wii, and anything else expensive that we wanted to be extra careful with. So, the kids also had their backpacks loaded with entertainment for the long journey. K needed his work laptop and backpack as he would start working on Tuesday in Belgium. We had our hands full, and those bags were so heavy I thought my arms were going to come right out of the sockets. The kids were such troopers though, which has become a theme now for our family after a few excursions. J recently named us the "Trooper Family". I must be using that phrase way too much to describe the kids, but they really have been well behaved and in great spirits about any curveball thrown our way.
We're on a two year mission to live in Europe and become a little European!
We checked 8 bags for the flight and had 8 carry on bags as well. One carried all our important papers such as passports, birth certificates, our marriage license, FBI background check paperwork, and other various items we need to check in at our local commune (kind of like a city). All the advise we received also stated that we should carry my jewelry, the Wii, and anything else expensive that we wanted to be extra careful with. So, the kids also had their backpacks loaded with entertainment for the long journey. K needed his work laptop and backpack as he would start working on Tuesday in Belgium. We had our hands full, and those bags were so heavy I thought my arms were going to come right out of the sockets. The kids were such troopers though, which has become a theme now for our family after a few excursions. J recently named us the "Trooper Family". I must be using that phrase way too much to describe the kids, but they really have been well behaved and in great spirits about any curveball thrown our way.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Kelsey Koo Moving
When getting ready for this big move, I had numerous piles around my house labeled with sticky notes saying "air", "sea", "storage" based on where the item was going and how it was going to get to Belgium if it was going with us. (I also had to pack 8 suitcases and carry ons as well filled with items we would need immediately upon arrival.) Then I had to make piles consisting of donations and trash. So it was just a little crazy around the house! The sticky notes were in my cabinets, on the walls (so I could lay items on the floor that fell into that particular category), on the shelves, on specific items, just everywhere. When the movers came to pack and move our belongings our dog got in the mix and ended up with a sticky note on her as well. In case it's too small to read, it says, "sea." Actually, she's flying in a plane a few days after we arrive.
Getting Ready for Christmas
So we're getting ready for the big move and of course we had to take family pictures for the Christmas cards so we could mail them out before we left. None of them are ever the "perfect" one, so you just pick one and don't second guess! :)
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