Farewell Tour

A family member who will remain nameless recently mentioned that I must be too busy to update the blog lately.  Two posts in 3 days.  How do you like me now?  ;0)

I know I fall behind on updates for those who really want to follow the lives of the little people.  If you're one of those waiting for those long promised Hong Kong and Ireland posts, wow are you patient (and kind of slow)!  Just kidding.  It seems I am a fairly emotional blogger.  Sometimes I feel the flow.  Sometimes I don't.  I'm not good at adding posts to outline life unless I am feeling just so...and lately I have not exactly felt like documenting our days.  I'd rather not take pictures of fighting kids or the Groundhog Day or Truman Show-like tracks our lives have taken on in this 4 week period.  I know I just posted lamenting our lack of routine, but truthfully we do have a routine...I'm just not proud of it.  We've got more extra time here in the mornings than we did in BE and because I am still holding onto my No TV in the morning rule, the kids find other ways to occupy themselves.  Usually that means chasing each other and screaming or hiding in closets (a novel concept since we had no closets there) and that means I am yelling and threatening and frustrated.  These are not Kodak moments. 

Because we can go to the store and to the gym in the evenings, we do, which means later dinners and later bedtimes than we had in BE.  I'm struggling to get meals on the table in a timely manner and keeping kids out of a refridgerator and pantry that they can all reach.  I'm struggling keeping a tiny kitchen and carpeted eating area clean.  Toys are kept in a giant suitcase and for the most part have lost all appeal to the people living here.  They miss the rest of their stuff and we are fighting the temptation to buy more stuff because we know all too well how much they already have.  The TV is live and easy to access when they've had 3 years of either DVDs or limited Slingbox Disney.  We're struggling to find a balance and trying to remember that we are still in a transition period so just because bad habits are being established, they won't necessarily carry over into our "real life" to be resumed in a month or two.

So back to the documentation part...before we moved a friend sent an e-mail suggesting we go around and take pictures of places we frequented because we would "miss them" at some point.  Honestly, I thought, 'Yeah, not likely.  I'm fairly certain I will not miss the grocery store or Carrefour.  EVER!'  We did it anyway.  That friend is almost 1 year into her family's move back and her whole re-entry was different than ours from the way it sounds, but I think every family's experience is unique.
The kids did NOT get why we were driving around taking pictures of places.  It was not the fond memory making, nostalgic drive this post might suggest.  We were stressed about the lack of planes flying in our current air space and the fact that we probably would not get to say real goodbyes to good friends.  We were tired of living in a tiny hotel shopping in spurts for very expensive food.  I'll stop there.

It wouldn't be a tour of Waterloo without a drive-by photo of The Butte.  We climbed the steps once when we first arrived and had more energy and ambition.  We didn't relive the moment, but we did stop by the gift shop and pick up a magnet for the fridge (or something magnetic since the fridge in our new house won't hold magnets).

The Carrefour.  Had been nicely remodeled since I had been in last with a whole new self-scanning area.  Even though I always meant to, I never figured out the self-scanning at the supermarket I went to...it took all I had to get the "rewards" card at the "customer service" desk there. (Yes, "customer service" should always be in quotes when referring to Belgium businesses).

The Chausee de Bruxelles.  We drove this street daily during our last couple of weeks because our hotel was on it, but they started construction some time in March scheduled to go until June.  I'm sure it will be nice when they finish, but it was a mess!

Another view with an idea of the construction...they are widening the sidewalks and it was down to one lane for a few blocks and closed in one direction.  The girls and I walked down this street one afternoon and the sidewalks are a mess with giant ditches "blocked" by rails with child-sized gaps.  We made it.

And more construction.  The sidewalk bricks are being laid one by one, by hand.  Time consuming, but workers take frequent beer breaks...I'm not kidding.

The Delhaize.  The supermarket I was a little scared of for at least the first 2 years.  This is the place where my kids pushed the emergency/cart doors open during our first month in BE that caused us to hear our first "Oooh la la" from a local (and not in a good way).  This is the specific place my friend suggested we take a picture of because we might miss it.  So far, not so much.  (We can always go back to VA and visit Food Lion).

The Deli.  Sometimes this is the only place open.  At one point they closed on Thursdays, but now they are open every.single.day from 7AM to 10PM.  Then one day a few weeks ago, they closed.  I could never figure out what the sign on the door said, but rumors were flying.  We heard they went out of business.  I have no idea how.  It is not because prices are low.  It was open again before we left, just as mysteriously (to me anyway) as it closed.

And Dominos.  Never liked it, but we ordered it.  They also mysteriously closed last fall for a while.

Pizza Hut.  Spent a LOT of Sunday lunches here before we actually took the time to do the conversion and realized we were spending the equivalent of $50 to feed our family.  Pizza Hut is not a place we ever ate here, but last week the girls asked to go.  The 3 of us ate a buffet including salad bar for $12.50.  I had forgotten how American Pizza Hut works.  Salad plates and pizza plates are the same size and about 3 times bigger than those in BE.  We could make more than one trip to the salad bar (only 1 in BE).  We had a waitress who took care of our refills (although Pizza Hut in BE is one of the few places free refills exist). 

The Small Carrefour.  This one we frequented more than the "big" one.  Rumor has it this one is closing down this summer.  That was the reason given to explain the frequent strikes happening on weekends just before we moved.  Ah, now there is something I can't ever imagine missing.  Going out to buy groceries on a Saturday only to find the Carrefour closed due to strike and the Delhaize so picked over there was literally no milk, chicken or bread. 

A neighbor's house.  Those things on the roof are solar panels.  During our stay there there was a huge stack of things outside of this house with a yellow flyer posted on it for months.  We also got something in the mail notifying us that we could contest the addition if we chose.  (Actually the landlords could contest, not us, and by the time we translated the notice and figured out what was going on, they were installed).  Not all that pretty, but not something I would really contest if this were my neighborhood, but we did think 'Solar panels in Belgium?  Must be one optimistic Belgian.'

And the school.  Where we spent more of our time.  What we do miss.  More like we miss the people inside of it.

The gate outside the preschool and kindergarten.  I've always loved the "Do Not" signs in BE.  Especially the "No Dog Poop" one.  This one I'll be happy to have documentation of, I'm sure.

The small theater in Waterloo.  Never went there.  We went to the more American looking theater outside Waterloo or in Brussels.  No pictures of that one, but here is what it looks like.  I always liked that it was called "Imagibraine".  I didn't like that it cost entirely too much, there were not very many showings at all, and least of all that we had to pay to use the bathrooms in addition to paying to see the movie.  At least we got to see some movies in English while we were living there, though.

Waterloo.  Pretty.

View from our hotel room.

And finally, the new menu from a restaurant we didn't frequent, but took the girls to just before we moved, La Pomme.  I posted about it once before and we haven't been back much since then.  We weren't crazy about the food or the prices.  The kids called it "Applebees" for a while, but eventually learned the real name.  The girls loved the Christmas decor there.  For some reason they turned it into what looked like a princess castle at Christmas time.  Never really got that, but the girls loved it.

So, there you have it, our farewell tour.  Just four weeks out and still in the midst of transition and temporary living on this side, is probably not a very nostalgic place to be in for this type of post.  I know a lot of those comments are so critical and at least one friend still living there reads this so I hope she'll forgive me.  I don't mean to be critical.  Believe me the local news I've been exposed to since being back has given me plenty of criticisms for my home country, but being on this side of the experience puts all of this in a whole new perspective.  I wouldn't have ever learned to appreciate the conveniences of our country I've taken for granted my entire life had I not experienced life as an expat.  I would never have realized how truly difficult it is to be in any country that is not your own (including this one) and would not be cringing when I read forwarded e-mails about current events.  (Again, I'll stop there).

I'm thankful for our time in Belgium.  I thought our kids would only miss people.  I didn't realize I would hear things like, "I wanna go back home to Belgium!" coming from their mouths.  To them coming back here didn't really feel like coming home, but because they adapted there, I am confident they will adapt here and should we leave again in a few years (please, please no!) they will miss life here.  I met a new friend at the park yesterday afternoon and we let our girls play together while we chatted.  She was an expat early in her marriage, but her kids have been raised right here.  A couple of years ago they moved to a new neighborhood causing the kids to change schools.  She mentioned they still had friends from their old neighborhood and that the kids had done well with the move, her oldest, particularly, thrived.  Her words were something I definitely needed to hear right now when I'm going through a lot of guilt over uprooting our family and dealing with the aftermath in challenging behavior.  She basically said that change is inevitable in life and even though consistency is very important in kids' lives, they get it in other ways than just geographically.  She's right.  Not everyone goes through a change as dramatic as an International move as a child (Joe and I never even went through a local move), but everyone does go through change.  Based on how much we feel we've grown through the experience, I feel we can safely say the kids experienced their own growth.  Time will tell.  A friend forwarded this message which requires tissues, but I need this reminder when I'm trying to get through these ordinary days.