Weekend: Antwerp errands and sightseeing

We're staying put this weekend and doing some local exploring. The director of the JMU Study Abroad program arrived yesterday and will be here for a week, showing us the ropes.

Last evening (Friday) we went to a neat Scottish pub called The Highlander on Prinsesstraat. It's the meeting place of BATS, the British Amateur Theatre Society, and a fellow JMU staff member here in Antwerp says it has a "Cheers" atmosphere in terms of the regulars who get to know one another. The girls came along and tried the macaroni and cheese (makaroni-kaas) which is their favorite, while I had a nice plate of spaghetti bolognese. I was thankful for the boisterous atmosphere because it meant the girls didn't have to whisper their way through the meal. We're really trying to limit dining out so that they can relax when it's time to eat. It's only fair, when so much is expected of them.


Later last evening, John attended a meeting of the Antwerp American Club as a guest of Mr. K. It's the 2nd oldest such society of its type in Belgium, second only to the Brussels chapter. There used to be a substantial American community here, but the club has dwindled to eight members (perhaps today's American expats just don't have interest in joining). John spoke to one 88-year-old member who is a WW2 veteran who did the Mermansk run as a merchant mariner. He enjoyed the evening, being the sort who is genuinely interested in people and the stories of how they came to be where they are.

Me? I stayed in to watch "The Italian Job" on tv while the girls slept. It was nice just to chill and do nothing. And I love a good heist movie.


This morning we had some errands to run and marketing to do, so we split into separate teams and set off about 10am. John and JieJie went to the grocery store with the grocery caddy on wheels. MeiMei and I went to a store called Unif on the Quellinstraat, where we were able to locate gym shoes and tights that fit MeiMei. She's so tiny, the smallest gym shoe they sell is a size larger than she takes, but not by much. Yesterday we'd found JieJie's tights at a department store on the Meir called Inno, but they didn't have anything smaller.


On the way back from Unif, I had a Navigational Light Bulb Moment! Antwerp had really thrown me this week. Normally I have a fairly reliable sense of direction, but the streets have a way of curving and shifting that keeps messing with my internal compass. Finally this morning I looked down from the Teniers Plaats and saw the tail end of the Meir shopping street! MeiMei and I followed Leysstraat to the Meir and found our way home, stopping en route for a chocolate croissant of course.


When we got home, John and JieJie had returned from the Super GB with goodies for the week: new kinds of meat and cheese to try, some Muesli with chocolate and other treats.


Lunch, then quiet time + orientation meeting, and then John headed out on a program errand. The girls and I had a quick snack before making our way down the 51 steps to the street and making our way to the Grote Markt, a major stop for tourists.


On the way, we followed our noses into a beautiful church: The Carrolus Borromeuskerk, which overlooks a beautiful little cobblestone square called the Hendrik Conscienceplein. I found an exterior shot on flickr.com for your viewing pleasure. It is a beautiful church, built by Jesuits in the 1600's according to my Essential Antwerp guide (AAA Publishing, 2001). The inside was also pleasant and the girls hushed their voices almost instinctively as we walked in. Soft vocal music was playing as we made a donation and lit a candle. It occurred to me that we will be visiting no small number of houses of worship on our trip, so it's not too early to practice the proper way to do so. The painting above the altar was beautiful too, very dramatic with lots of Heavenly Light. Found a picture of this too on flickr!

After our visit to the church, we crossed the square to the Stadts Bibliotheek (City Library) which has a beautiful room filled with old books and busts of famous Antwerp citizens. Right now it has an exhibit of a contemporary book binding artist's work.

We headed back out through a labyrinth of narrow cobblestone streets that opened onto the Grote Markt. It's a beautiful square. Gilded guildhall buildings surround a large cobblestone square and in the center is the statue depicting the legend that supposedly gave Antwerp its name. The statue shows a man named Brabo getting ready to throw a giant's hand (Hant-Werpen would mean Hand Throwing, shorten it and you get Antwerpen) into the Schelde River, saving the city from the giant's wrath. JieJie wanted to see the monster's arm where the hand came from (of course) so we walked around til we saw the poor giant with the big owie.

On the way home we stopped for a piece of chocolate. I got white chocolate filled with butterscotch-caramel. MeiMei picked a chocolate bear filled with chocolate creme, and JieJie couldn't make up her mind--she is a discriminating shopper--so we helped her choose a chocolate rocking horse with chocolate nut filling.

We found our way home no problem (yay!) though JieJie's tantrum, which is still going on at this writing, began about three blocks from the apartment and had something to do with needing a Band-Aid but is really about being physically and mentally tired. Still, we can't get her to rest before a planned dinner out with the director at a local rib joint, so I'll be sitting this one out. I'd rather miss a restaurant dinner than spend the whole thing scolding two tired troupers who need a good night's sleep. Them's the breaks...it's easier to do the right thing knowing we have several more months to visit these places.

First Week of School

So the girls have finished their first week of school in Antwerp, and are looking forward to a weekend of sleeping in, choosing their own clothes and exploring the city.

MeiMei still says "hmmm...what shall I wear today?" and chafes when I remind her that the uniform is waiting in the closet, but already they know just how to cooperate when we are buttoning the top button, and they want to learn how to tie the tie and sash.

Their classrooms are just right for them. We are thinking that perhaps in a couple of weeks we might even have them stay for lunch and art/music a couple of afternoons away but that's a discussion for another time.

They've made some friends this week too. One little girl likes JieJie and waits for her at the coat rack in the morning. MeiMei was holding court at her little round table this morning too.

We have found the other parents to be very welcoming and friendly. Several people have asked us about our work here and made casual parent-to-parent conversation, and we were included in the invitation to a benefit dinner in February for the school. The invitation says "wear your dancing shoes" - aha, an excuse to take advantage of the January sales! Of course, who needs an excuse to buy a dress??

Watch your step! Pavement in Antwerp

In Antwerp, as in many large cities, there are many ways to be run over in the street. In addition to cars and trucks, buses and bicycles, here in Antwerp electric trams run on rails all through the city, and they are very quiet until they're all but on top of you. As a pedestrian, it helps to know the clues that will take you and your little children safely to your destination.

Unless you like playing real-life Frogger, take care to cross streets ONLY at crosswalks and ONLY when the light is green. Motorists are quite friendly to pedestrians who are waiting to cross at a crosswalk and we haven't had too many experiences with aggressive drivers. They will wait patiently for you to cross. If you choose a corner with no crosswalk, though, it's as though you're invisible. Nobody will stop for you...some people speed up just to make the point.

And red means stop, no matter your mode of transport. Even pedestrians wait until the light turns green. We don't see too many people making their own judgment that the coast is clear.

Watch for trams! Rails embedded in the cobblestones make it pretty obvious where the trams run. On some of the narrow streets, they come pretty close to the curbs, so keep your little ones between you and the buildings. These are not good streets for gutter-puddle splashing.

Finally, stay out of the bicycle paths! On the busier streets, bicycles have their own lanes up on the sidewalk. The bicycle paths are paved with red brick or stone or asphalt and the bicycles have separate crossings at lights. There are a lot of bicycle commuters in Antwerp. People are going to work, going shopping, taking two kids to school, one on the handlebars and one over the back wheel. They get going at a pretty fast clip, and you don't want to get in their way. At corners, leave room for cyclists to get back up on the path from the road. This may mean you have to wait a good distance back from the corner!

I find myself looking down as soon as traffic patterns are at all complicated. Between the cobblestones, tram tracks, and red bicycle pavement, there's plenty to watch for.

Don't despair: there are some great pedestrian-friendly places in Antwerp. On the Meir shopping street, you can relax a bit, though there are still tram crossings and the occasional car or delivery van. There are beautiful plazas where pedestrians have the upper hand. This morning we even discovered a lovely botanical garden we hope to get back to when it's not so muddy.

With so many different forms of transport using the same roads, it could be chaotic. But because everyone generally follows the rules of the road, with a civil attitude worthy of praise, it seems to work out ok.

Side note: you may have heard of the strong storms that swept through northern Europe yesterday, causing all kinds of chaos with the trains and planes. We were spared the worst of it though we certainly felt and heard the gale-force winds I saw a huge piece of metal roof flashing lying on the ground last night, and the wind (which had calmed significantly) was still strong enough to throw the pulley on a construction crane around like a yo-yo.

Blustery!

It is very windy today, and has been blustery since late yesterday afternoon about 4pm. I can pinpoint the time because I took JieJie out for a shopping excursion while MeiMei slept, and as we were making our way home from the Meir (pronounced like a female horse), a pedestrian shopping boulevard, all of a sudden we were almost swept off our feet! All around us, people's umbrellas were turning inside out and their hats were flying off and down the street. Simultaneously, cold rain started to fall horizontally. JieJie was in an intrepid mood so we laughed about how wet we were getting and arrived back at the apartment feeling like adventurers.

This morning, the walk to school was just as windy but not as rainy thank heavens. John and I relaxed this morning and then left early to get the girls because we are in pursuit of a few hard-to-find items. They don't seem like things that should be hard to find, but I'm telling you...wow. What we need: extra pairs of tights for school in plain red and blue. I've found tights but they're all really FUN patterns and the order of the day at school is Tradition. (Side note: I'd like to know more about the history of the school...for a school to open here in 1940 and have a name that suggests sanctuary from war...there's gotta be a story there).

Another thing we need: a book bag that conforms to the school rules. A plain, dark color. No velcro allowed. Small enough for the girls so it's not like a big briefcase. You can tell that some of the book bags have been handed down from parent to child, especially the leather ones.

While I'm on the school topic, a quick update there. MeiMei had been very weepy about school the past two days, which is not usual at all for her. Last night we talked to her about it, insofar as she's able to articulate what's going on (after all she's only 3 1/2). She said she didn't like school anymore, that she just wanted to be back at her old school. We asked if the kids in her class were too much bigger, and she nodded, then added that she didn't want JieJie to be in her class (JJ was asleep at this point so no feelings were hurt). The teachers had tried sending her to the littler kids' class yesterday, so John and I thought maybe a switch was in order. This morning I just took her straight there. She lit up when she saw the teacher (whose sister is the teacher in the other classroom) and immediately took her hand. I asked MeiMei if she wanted that to be her classroom and you would've thought I'd offered her a room full of her favorite toys! No tears today, and the report at the end of the day was good. JieJie also liked having a room and teacher all to herself. So for now, that's in good shape. We've learned from general parenting experience that no case is ever truly closed! But it seems settled for now.

Back to shopping, the big thing we're trying to track down is a rain cover for The Stroller. It's quite common to see these things that look like giant plastic bags covering strollers, and with the wind and rain and forecast for colder weather next week, we NEED it. One shop referred us to a different shop...we'll try again this afternoon. If all else fails, I'll get an adult poncho and attach it with clothespins.

With such weather as we're having, hot soup is a great lunch. Knorr canned soups are available here and they're great--"scrumpish," says MeiMei.

Well, they're ready for quiet time to be over...not likely we'll get outside with this weather, so maybe we'll try Cinderella in Dutch.

A typical day so far

Note: I left my camera's usb cable at home and can't get it for another few days...sorry for the lack of photos.

Here's a typical day so far, keeping in mind that the university students haven't arrived yet.

6:30am: alarm goes off and it's still dark out, hard to get up. We rouse the girls and wander around getting breakfast, showers, get the girls into their school uniforms and coats.

7:45am: John walks the girls down three flights of stairs to the lobby. I go to the place where we store the stroller and wrestle it into the elevator, then meet them in the lobby, where we strap all the buckles and put their school bags underneath.

8ish: We walk 2km to their school. It's dark when we set out, and by the time we get there, street lights are shutting off. On the way, we pass shops, the former home of the artist Rubens, the national bank building (that's the one I noticed the other day with the flags) and the Stadtspark, a big triangular park in the center of Antwerp.

8:25: We arrive at the school. John takes the girls to their classroom while I park the stroller in a little alcove in the playground courtyard (all the schoolyards are within the boundaries of buildings--it's funny to look into a row of shop windows and suddenly see kids playing behind the next row of windows. For a millisecond, "kids for sale?").

8:30: The school bell rings. At their former school in Virginia, there were never bells. There was a different sense of time. Also, the girls were free to choose their own activities and stay with them as long as they pleased. Although this school uses Montessori materials, there is much more of a sense of the group doing things together at certain times. They have an assigned seat at a table rather than sitting in a circle on the floor, things like that. MeiMei has been weepy the past two days saying goodbye in the morning but we are confident she'll be ok given time for adjustment...after all, it's only been 3 days!

8:35: We head back to the apartment, sans stroller. It's great to park it at the school so we have more mobility in the morning.

9am: We're back at the apartment, having walked 4km already! There's time for the paper (International Herald Tribune), coffee, a walk, or whatever.

11:15: Time to go get the girls! We've found a little place on the corner near their school where we can get a coffee (with a free piece of CHOCOLATE) and sit for a moment before going to the school. We go in a bit early so we can get the stroller out without getting in everyone's way.

11:58: This is my favorite part! A smaller bell is rung by hand, signaling to a boy from one of the older groups to come and ring the lunchtime bell at noon. You have to keep out of the way because he comes running like an Olympian down the hallway, wearing his smart uniform complete with short pants, and rings the bell with gusto before sprinting back whence he came. The traditional atmosphere of the school inspires one to use words like "whence"...

Noon: JieJie and MeiMei come out of their classroom calling Mommy! Daddy! and we all hug. It's back in the stroller and home we go. We keep passing this place called the Tuk-Tuk Shop that sells snacks and broodjes (sandwiches). One of these days we're going to stop in and see if it's as delicious as it looks from outside.

12:30: We're home, the girls change clothes and we have a bit of lunch.

1ish to 2ish: quiet time. That's now, as I'm writing. The girls have been playing with their LeapPads and looking at books during this time. We try to keep them from sleeping...they can't fall asleep at night if they take afternoon naps and then the whole next day is, well, crappy. Or should I say crabby?

mid-afternoon: time for a stroll outside, weather permitting. We're not far from some nice pedestrian areas and we found a playground nearby that might be nice on not-rainy days (which seem the exception).

pre-dinner: tv for the girls, a glass of wine for us, and we all hang out in the combined living room / dining room.

Dinner happens at about 5:30 or so, and then the usual evening routine, some play, maybe a bath, a tv show, a movie (I found Disney's Cinderella in Dutch, French and English--bonus!) or whatever. Yesterday we broke down and bought some books because I didn't bring any bedtime stories. We got a great version of Princess and the Pea by Lauren Child, who does the fun "Charlie and Lola" series, and we got a new retelling of the Aladdin story, and finally a book called "Kleine Museum" that has Dutch words next to closeups of famous paintings--it was a Gen-X indulgence to be sure, one of those purchases that is as much for me as for them. I am reminded of the SNL skit about the parents who were all showing off their exotic baby carriers, all from Europe of course, and competing over who chose the carrier that would make their baby the smartest...anyway, it's a beautiful book and will make a nice souvenir of our time here.

7:30: The girls are in bed, little duvets pulled up to their cute little chinny-chin-chins. They sleep hard after one of these busy days!

8:30: John and I get the sleepies but have learned not to go to bed that early - too hard to sleep through the night. We stay up til the BBC News is about halfway done and go to bed between 10 and 11, ready to start again too early in the morning!

The Antwerp Diet Plan

A note about diet and exercise...

Antwerp is a chocolate lover's paradise. As I mentioned before, even the healthy cereals have chocolate filling or chocolate flakes. We were presented with a lovely assortment of pralines, or filled chocolates, when we arrived at the apartment. We've had chocolate croissants and chocolate Special K.

We have also found a great selection of really affordable beer and wine (sadly, I'm not that into beer, though I will likely have the occasional Belgian white beer since it's such an institution...we even saw a man having a juice glass of beer with breakfast in a restaurant we passed this morning).

Finally, if you like specialty meats like salami, knockwurst, sausages, etc., and if you like cheese, Antwerp is for you.

Can we eat all this stuff? Well...yes, actually. And we don't have to worry too much about the consequences. Why? Well, without a car, we get everywhere on foot. Just getting the girls to school, coming home, and going to get them again at noon means 5 miles on weekdays, and that's not counting grocery shopping or sightseeing. Frankly, by mealtimes we are ravenous!

I really enjoyed a lot of the Dutch foods we had on our trip last weekend. Even the names are fun. There's a sandwich filling called kip-sate, which is basically like a chunky chicken satay in peanut sauce that you can put on bread. The girls enjoyed poffertjes (like pohffer'-chyes) which are cute little pancake puffs. Our friend R made a delicious pasta meal with spicy salami and tomato sauce. And we had stroopwaffelen, sweet flat waffle-like cookies with a yummy syrupy filling. M says on Thursdays you can get them fresh from the oven and they're still warm and gooey...mmm!

All continues to go well so far. Perhaps the novelty will wear off in a few weeks when the girls realize in a more concrete way that we are not just here on vacation, but at least once a day JieJie (the harder one to please) says "Mommy, I like living in this apartment!"

So do I. It's a great life and we are thankful every day for the opportunity to experience it. The university students arrive next week, so this is our last "quiet" week as far as program responsibilities go, but then again when the students get here, we'll have a ready supply of babysitters so we can try some of the great restaurants we keep walking past.

weekend in The Netherlands

We had a wonderful weekend in Mijdrecht, a suburb of Amsterdam, where we visited family friends. The girls got to play a lot, the grownups had a great visit, and I think we all are at the point where if we are tired, it's not jet lag anymore.

We know our Dutch friends through family connections. My uncle was in airline food service, and met M's dad years ago when M's dad worked for Martinair. My aunt and uncle got to be friends with M's parents, and then M stayed with them when she was 19 and I was 16 and we became pen pals. Who would have thought that 20 years later we'd have attended each others' weddings (in Virginia and Delft, respectively) and now our children are teaching each other new languages.

So we left from Antwerpen Centraal train station on Friday at 1:30ish. It took about 2 hours to go to Amsterdam-Schiphol station at the airport there (not all the way into town). We all enjoyed watching the scenery go by. The further we got into TheNetherlands, the flatter the landscape became. The farms are really neat, the way the perfectly rectangular fields are separated by drainage canals. Each field seems to have its own crop, but since it's winter, all we saw were sheep grazing (I take it they can't swim since they were all in one field usually).

There was no need for a club car on our intercity train (which by the way was 72 Euro for the four of us since MeiMei rides free and JieJie is still 4). Every so often someone came through with a snack cart. We liked the coffee they served, and the girls shared a "wafel-suiker" (waffle with sugar).

We arrived at Amsterdam-Schiphol and found M's husband R and went back to their lovely home, which they just built a few years ago. I will close the door on the details since we were enjoying time with friends, but suffice it to say a good time was had by all and the highlight for the girls was probably a trip to a huge indoor play-park with go-carts and a big climbing-sliding structure, as well as a bicycle/tricycle track with little working traffic lights. I won't soon forget the sight of my girls dutifully waiting for the light to turn green!

We got back Sunday late afternoon, cobbled together a quick dinner (smoked salmon and peas over noodles) and settled in for the evening.

This morning was the first full day of school for the girls. We're getting faster with the uniforms. JieJie is really ticklish, so buttoning her collar and tying her tie makes her reflexively put her shoulders up to her ears and giggle. MeiMei is pretty good about things once she agrees to the uniform itself ("noooooooooooo, I don't WANT it!").

We've learned the route to the school fairly well but we still don't leave the apartment without a map. After school, which the teacher said went very well (yay!) we stopped in a uniform shop to get a few extra shirts and a crest for JieJie's jumper. Then we had an awesome pizza lunch at 118 Lange Leemstraat, a place called Blauw Water pita en pizza. The girls had Pizza Margerita (tomato and cheese) and we had Zeefruchten (Sea-fruits) with calamari and shrimp. YUM. I would absolutely eat there again! Toward the end of our lunch, a lot of school students lined up to eat there, so you know it's good, affordable food.

That's all for now - bye bye!

Jet Lag 2 and First Day of School

Greetings from blustery Antwerp. It's a gray, rainy day and I can hear the wind howling past the windows that overlook our narrow street. The girls are napping, in hopes that they can catch up on sleep after last night.

JieJie had a particularly funky day yesterday and crashed hard at 7pm. MeiMei lasted til 8:30 and then went off to bed. John and I stayed up til maybe 10:30. The saga began at 12:30 when JieJie woke up, and I mean wide awake and ready for a new day. She was in with us for a while, then went back to her room but was singing...I was afraid she'd wake her sister so I gave her this little flashlight toy that our friend V gave us (thanks for the bag of goodies - what a life saver!). She amused herself with that for quite a while but didn't fall asleep. Finally at 1:30 she came in and complained that she still couldn't sleep, so I got up with her and we talked in the dark living room about Dora the Explorer in Dutch, which she'd slept through that morning.

Dora in Dutch is FANTASTIC--what a great way to get started learning the language! There are certain things that each character says, so there's a basis for immediate understanding. At home, Tico is the character who always speaks Spanish, but here he speaks English--it was so funny to hear a different voice as Tico say "Yes! I'm happy to do it!" instead of "Si, es un placer!" JieJie wanted to know what Swiper (Sveeper) says instead of "Oh MAN" when his nefarious plots are foiled, and she thought it was funny that he says "oh nee!" (oh, no!) For those of you who don't watch Dora, each show is a quest to reach a goal, and they chant the landmarks along the way. This time the goal was one I recognized as the Gooey Geyser, but in Dutch it's Droppige Geyser (sp?) and the g's are like the ch in the German "Ach."

So by 2:30, JieJie was ready to try sleeping again. Just as we were headed down the hallway, MeiMei woke up but after I sat with her a few minutes, they were both back to sleep so I went to lay down. I could feel myself surrendering to sleep when MeiMei cried again and wouldn't stop til I laid in her twin bed. She fell asleep about 4. I went back to my room when the alarm went off at 7 to get up and get the girls ready for school, but we turned it off and slept til 8:30 when Mr. K called. I'm glad he did, too, because we would've slept through our appointment at the school otherwise. I called the head of their school and moved the appointment to 11am.

After breakfast (various things with chocolate in them: chocolate croissants, Nestle cereal--even their All Bran is chocolate-filled!), we bundled the girls in their coats, hats and gloves (thanks, Aunt K in Wisconsin!) and set off for the school, which was supposed to be about a 30-minute walk. It was windy and brisk, but the girls seemed happy to see the sights, and every street is more picturesque than the last. John pushed the stroller (yay for the stroller) and I read the map directions we found on mappy.com's pedestrian map finder (like mapquest for European cities). It was tough navigating at times because the street names are listed on plaques on the sides of buildings, and not every corner lists all the streets, though most do. The other fly in the ointment is that street names seem to change at random. A street name might only be the name of one block of a road that continues on under another name. Just when we feared we were lost, we saw a map on the street and found the school, no problem. Still, we've learned our lesson - we never leave the house without a real map.

The school is going to be great. They've decided to put both girls in the same class (they're 3 1/2 and almost-5) for now, and if there's a need to separate them after they get comfortable, we would likely move MeiMei into the younger class since she is a bit more intrepid. The head of the school, Mrs. O, was so kind and attentive to the girls. It put me at ease right away. We went to the classroom, which has great big windows all along one wall and the familiar Montessori materials on one wall. The children were all making King's crowns for epiphany (it's also a Catholic school). What a great coincidence - the girls just did the same thing in Sunday School at home. MeiMei went right to a little "play house" area and picked up a doll, while JieJie hid in my coattails, peeking out every so often. She didn't seem to want me reassuring her or explaining anything to her in front of the other children--typical of an older child, from what I've learned. "Let me do it!" is often the underlying message when she gets upset. Her teacher Ms. K is a warm, friendly woman and she speaks excellent English--JieJie's face lit up when she realized her teacher could understand her and vice versa. They will learn some Flemish of course, but it won't be sink-or-swim.

We left feeling excited for the girls, and they seem enthusiastic too. How great it will be for them to make some friends, continue preschool (which they loved at home) and have time to run around and play even when the weather is awful (there is gym class even for the little ones). We think, at first anyway, school will be followed by lunch at home and then afternoon naps, just because of the energy it will require for them to get used to new surroundings.

We got lost on the way home but found our way eventually, though it took an extra 1/2 hour than it should have. Again, yay for the stroller. We are also thankful that people are pretty friendly and helpful when we asked for directions. When we studied the map at home, we had the same thought we often have about Mapquest...best to study the map and choose the simplest route, not necessarily the shortest. Tomorrow, instead of 20 instructions, we'll need to follow about 5 to make it there. As John said, "there's a MUCH easier way to get there...and when you see how easy it is, you'll cry."

I didn't cry, but he's absolutely right. Anyway, I'm looking forward to being able to find our way by landmarks rather than street names. There's a really cool street on the way that goes right past a Belgian government building, very grand and formal. Size-wise, it reminds me of the New York City Central Post Office near Penn Station. I can't wait to see what all these interesting buildings are.

We've arrived--and the stroller did too!

Ta-da! Through the miracle of airline travel and internet communications, I am writing to you from the desk in the Antwerp apartment. Lots to tell, so I'll begin at the beginning.

Monday 1/8/07 was departure day, but we weren't leaving until 4:30pm so we had a full day to finish cleaning our house, pack the last few odds and ends, and tire the girls out so they'd be likely to sleep on the flight.

I tried one last time to email the ebay seller of the BeBeLove stroller we bought. He had become strangely uncommunicative ever since my PayPal payment went through, and did not provide me with a UPS tracking number. About 10am, a beautiful brown truck pulled up to the front of our house and the driver brought a package to our door and rang the doorbell. I ran down to the door, wanting to thank him for the speedy delivery, but he was down the street before I could stop him. I looked on the porch floor and saw...JieJie's LeapPad backpack box. Argh again!

The rest of the day passed uneventfully and then at 3:24 pm, a FEDEX truck pulled up (hunh??) and finally, there was our beautiful stroller, packed flat in a box. I practically kissed the delivery man (I think I told him I loved him) and I noticed that the seller paid the difference to have it shipped 2-Day. He's going to get good ebay feedback for that! The stroller was easy to assemble, just pop the wheels on and snap the canopy on, then I had to pump up the tires and voila, The School Bus.

The JMU van driver came at 4:30pm and took us to Dulles Airport, British Airways desk. I had already checked in online at home and printed out boarding passes so we went to the FastBag check-in. I had printed out a sheet of address labels with our Antwerp address on them, so when it came time to tag the six suitcases and two car seats, instead of having to write it all down, we just stuck labels on the tags and we were finished in no time. Top that, Heloise.

Flight was delayed to 11pm, so good thing we'd brought some toys for the girls. We also took lots of long walks/runs up and down the long corridor of our departure hallway. We had dinner, a few snacks, and I gave the girls some Airborne Jr. in disposable toddler cups we brought. They liked the taste. Ruby was messing with the cup, biting the spout, and the top came off, spilling about half of the grape-flavored stuff all over her. SUPER MOM MOMENT: I'd thought ahead to bring a change of clothes for them both--AND a band-aid for the small boo-boo JieJie got on her finger. You have to understand, I'm not usually this prepared. Perhaps the knowledge that this would end up in the blogosphere motivated me...

Anyway, then it was time to get on the plane. The girls were SO good (had no idea what to expect, was prepared for the worst). They liked the personal video screens at each seat, though they didn't really watch anything. They also liked the meals. We requested kids' meals and they were kid-friendly but not unhealthy. After eating, the girls and John fell asleep for several hours. I can't sleep on airplanes because I need to be able to curl up, but I watched a couple of movies instead, Little Miss Sunshine (hilarious, I want to see it again because I missed the end) and The Queen with Helen Mirren (she was good but the material itself was the quality of script more often associated with Lifetime Movie Network).

JET LAG BEGINS...Got into Heathrow late morning London time, which was barely dawn as far as our bodies were concerned. The girls slept through breakfast, but we took it with us into the terminal and they ate it in a cafe overlooking the runways. They were good about walking - I wasn't sure whether the stroller was checked through or not since we gate-checked it at Dulles.

NOTE TO AIRLINES: Come up with some kind of precise terminology to clarify the word "destination" for multi-leg flights. Perhaps "immediate" and "ultimate"? It's confusing to say something will be ready for you at your "destination"...which one?

Flight from Heathrow was delayed due to scary straight-line winds that pushed the plane sideways as we taxied for takeoff. Inside I'm thinking, one wing-tip touches the ground and I'm toast. Meanwhile MeiMei is sitting next to me cheering "Wheeeee!" and laughing. JieJie had her first window seat and was really interested in seeing all there is to see. She said "are we still on our planet?" so we talked about the atmosphere and all that.

Landed in Brussels/Bruxelles an hour later--the flight was so short, they practically threw the snack to us as though it were feeding time at the zoo...why bother? Not complaining, mind you.

Claimed our luggage, and all six suitcases arrived intact. I figured the stroller and car seats would come through a separate door or something, but no such luck. We inquired at British Airways lost luggage--thank goodness we kept the receipts with the numbers on them--and they were able to tell us that those three items were sent on a later flight. It suddenly occurred to me that if the stroller got lost, it would've been in our possession for a total of eight hours. John filled out the forms so BA could deliver our things directly to Antwerp (pre-printed labels came in handy again) and we put the girls on top of suitcases on the luggage carts. They rode out through customs (I swear, smugglers should just travel with cute kids...we were waved through with no questions) and we all met Mr. K, an efficient, amiable man with twinkly eyes who assists with the university's Antwerp program. He's American but has also lived for a long time in London before coming here.

Mr. K drove us to the apartment and it's really great--small but well laid-out and very cozy. John and Mr. K went to dinner and I stayed with the girls, unpacking and waiting for takeout. At that point, the thought of asking them to behave in a restaurant seemed downright inhumane. The takeout was great - a wonderful Greek salad for me and macaroni and cheese in a cream-of-chicken type cheese sauce with little bits of ham mixed in. They ate dinner and we all fell asleep by 9pm.

JET LAG CONTINUED: MeiMei was the only one who slept thru the night, so she's already on local time. The rest of us were up from 1-3am and then slept til 9:30ish. I think we're caught up now, more or less, but I still have momentary dizzy spells here and there.

Today, Mr. K came with the truck to take us on a big grocery shop at Match, a nice store in walking distance. It was good to have access to a truck for the first grocery trip. From now on we will be limited to what we can carry in a rolling cart, and we don't have all that much storage space for much more anyway. It's good - we'll eat things that are fresher. Stroller and car seats arrived mid-afternoon and, despite the rain, we went out for a late afternoon walk. It was such a tease...I want to explore every nook and cranny of what I saw today. and the stroller was worth the angst--it handles the cobblestones so well, the girls were singing and their voices didn't even shake!

Dinner was salmon, broccoli and potatoes and we scarfed it down. JieJie had been bouncing off the walls (not good in an apartment building) so we knew she was tired and she fell asleep right after dinner in about a minute. MeiMei stayed up a bit but not for long.

So now you're caught up.

bye bye!

Time to pack up the computer, and they're going to disconnect the phone and DSL any moment. I just scanned copies of important documents onto a USB drive to avoid carrying so much paper. Noticed that the girls' passports weren't signed, so a quick trip to the passport.gov site answered that question (parent prints child's name, signs next to it and then writes (mother) or (father) after the signature.

Church this morning was happy-sad. We feel so lucky that we feel so much a part of a big family there, and it was sad to say goodbye. But then again, it means it will be so joyous to say hello again in a few months, with so many stories to tell.

Well, here goes nothing...British Airways here we come!

two days to go...

...and no stroller. UPS 3-day shipping does not include Saturday delivery. It's supposed to be here by the end of the day Monday, which is approximately when we're leaving. Guess you'll have to wait til our first post from Antwerp to find out how this mini-saga ends. I'm packing up the computer Monday morning, so no entries til Tuesday at the earliest. Worst case scenario, we'd have to have it shipped to us in Antwerp, but I think we'd still come out ahead.

Otherwise, we're pretty much packed and ready to go. Tomorrow will be just cleaning and taking care of odds and ends, and Monday we have the whole day. John's going to go to work just to rub it in that he's not concerned with syllabi, overrides, and the whole beginning-of-the-semester frenzy. As for me...perhaps I'll take a long walk and maybe even get a cheapo manicure. Something to give a moment of peace before the crowds and disorientation. I can't sleep on airplanes, so I'm about to be awake for about 30 hours straight from Monday morning til what's going to feel like Tuesday mid-afternoon when I can finally go to sleep in our Antwerp apartment. Wish I enjoyed knitting.

3 days to go!

Still no stroller--and ebay seller provided no UPS tracking number--but I hope it arrives tomorrow. If not...well, I hope it arrives tomorrow.

Final shop today for the carry-on, a bit of lotion, hand sanitizer, wipes in case of girls' digestive upset, and we'll try Airborne fizzy immune boosting stuff to see if it works. I tried "No Jet Lag" tablets on the China trip and honestly don't think they did a thing, but I have a friend who swears by Airborne so we'll see.

Also bought my walking shoes. I went to the Sole Source (http://www.thesolesource.net) and tried on some Merrells but finally decided on Earth shoes which I have never tried. They're GREAT - my arches always fall when I walk a lot but these feel very firm in the support. I'll let you know how they work out. I got red, figuring they'll go with black or brown, and also as a nod to my mom, who always has a pair of red shoes in her arsenal.

That's all...we're spending a quiet weekend at home, resting up for the big trip. SO EXCITED.

Packing has begun + ebay suspense

The girls and I packed for them today. I had them choose the shirts, pants, pj's etc that they wanted and put them in a laundry basket. That way I can divvy things up among the several suitcases we're bringing, so if any one piece gets lost, we all have some things in other suitcases until the lost piece arrives. I also got a new hard-sided suitcase to keep more fragile things from getting busted. Still, I was clear with the girls that they shouldn't pack anything they wouldn't want lost or broken!

The ebay plot thickens with the stroller - fixed the payment situation and left for dinner at church, then returned to find a message "did you want red or grey?" ARGH! I swear I put red when I ordered the thing, but anyway thank goodness he's in California. Let's hope he made the UPS deadline so we can receive it Saturday. Otherwise we're looking at MONDAY (yes the day we are leaving).

slogging through details

The last-minute to-do list is on the fridge. I borrowed some of JieJie's PostIt paper and I think she has forgiven me. "Is that my paper from my pad, mommy?" "Yes...next time I'll ask, ok?" "Ok..."

So we now have someone to mow the lawn, shovel the snow (if we ever get any), rent our house, we've suspended magazine and newspaper subscriptions, had dentist appointments ("I was so BWAVE!"), and we're slowly eating up the food at the back of the pantry. I sometimes wonder what garbanzo beans and crushed tomatoes and vegetable soup mix and pasta would taste like, with the leftover pickle relish, bacon and sundried tomatoes languishing in the fridge. The girls turn their noses up at the things that show up on their plates. "I not wike dis mommy!"

And there's a snag in the stroller solution. The suspense is building. Apparently I have my PayPal account set to default to an e-check, which takes several days to clear. Seller is in California and (understandably) reluctant to ship without payment clearing. I ended up sending a redundant payment with a credit card and asking for a refund of the e-check. As I type this, the UPS deadline for the west coast is fast approaching. Will he email that he has shipped it, so we get it Saturday? Or will he email that my payment came too late...in which case I'll either be paying hefty shipping to get it Saturday or biting my nails hoping it gets here Monday before we leave for the airport?!

Well, there's always something I suppose. And I actually feel better knowing that this is probably what it is.

Meanwhile, all laundry has been diverted from the usual dryer-fold-drawers flow. All folded laundry is waiting in baskets for Packing Day, because the girls' favorite outfits are in those baskets and I'm Not Washing Them Again!

The Stroller Decision

After realizing that waiting til we get to Europe to buy a stroller may cost us significant bucks (the kind I like is over 500 Euro and the exchange rate takes that up to $660) I found an almost identical stroller on ebay for $279+shipping. It's a BeBeLove Dual Shock Z all-terrain stroller and it looks great. Unlike a jogging stroller, with one fixed front wheel that can make it hard to steer, this one has a pivoting double front wheel. And who knows, we could sell it before we leave Europe and make a profit...bonus! British Airways will allow us to gate-check it. It's got room for groceries underneath, it folds down for storage and has a huge canopy for sun and rain. Behold...the school bus!

One week til departure

We are getting excited because in about a week, it's time to go to Antwerp. I just looked at information about British Airways' baggage and check-in policies and found some really promising information. Because we are traveling with children under age 11, we will be able to find out our seat assignments three days in advance. I hope we get a bulkhead row so I don't have to keep nagging the girls not to kick the seats in front of us. Yeah, I know this is partly done so BA can isolate the screamers in one area of the airplane, but I still appreciate it.

The other thing I liked is that we can request kid-friendly airline meals that come with little amusements for the girls. We do have high hopes that they will of course sleep the whole way over, but I've been around enough to know that hoping is nice and all but not nearly as valuable as having a plan B and C and D. And not looking at people who are staring at you while your four year old has a fit. Not that she will. (please!)

We had an unanticipated dry run yesterday because our ex-cat Morty, whose personal hygiene declined along with his overall health, left us with some lovely fleas when he departed this life, may he rest in peace. So we decided to "bug bomb" the house and head to friends' in Williamsburg. The girls traveled very well in the car both ways. This morning we strolled around Colonial Williamsburg looking at the lovely holiday decorations. The girls did a lot of walking with very little complaining and their big fascinations were the crushed oyster shells that covered the paths, as well as the horse poop on the roads. On the way back to the car, though, JieJie reminded me of the importance of being prepared at all times with a little something to eat, drink, and do. She started complaining of hunger, and was soon chanting a mantra as we walked down Duke of Gloucester Street: "HUNGRY THIRSTY TIRED! HUNGRY THIRSTY TIRED! HUNGRY THIRSTY TIIIIIIIIIIIRED!"

Note to self: snack, small bottle of water, stroller!

The Question of Car Seats

One of the practical considerations when traveling with small children is, what the heck do we do about car safety seats? What are the laws in Europe? Granted, most of the time we'll be traveling by train or bus, but we are planning to rent a car at the Malaga airport, so for that we'll definitely need them. The last time we trusted a car rental company to provide suitable car seats (Alamo rental at the Tucson, AZ airport) we learned an important lesson: take care of this detail yourself if you want any control over the quality of the seat!

Anyway, back to the law. I asked my friend M from The Netherlands what the law is. She said in The Netherlands, both of my girls would need to be in car seats, at least a booster for JieJie (almost 5) and a full-fledged restraint for MeiMei, who is still wearing size 2T at age 3 1/2. But, she said, who knows about other countries as there is no EU-wide law as of yet.

I did a little scouting around and found http://www.childcarseats.org.uk which has a handy compilation of the car seat laws all over Europe. Basically we need to have car seats for the girls unless we are in a taxi.

Usually I like to travel as light as possible, but we're really going to need their seats with us...to get to the airport, to get from the Brussels airport to Antwerp by van, and in the Costa del Sol definitely. Looks like we're checking two car seats. M offered to find some second-hand, but we'll need them before we see her, so best to bring ours.

Preparing the Girls p.1

If you have (or have had) the pleasure of living day-to-day with preschool children, you know that the routine is crucial. Disrupt it at your peril. Of course, that's exactly what we're about to do, over and over again, for the next five months. Still, there are ways to soften the jolt. Here's what we've done so far:

1. Talk about living in Belgium in very concrete ways. JieJie loves cheese, and MeiMei loves chocolate. We talk about how many delicious things they will be able to taste in Belgium. We talk about the different languages that we will hear. Antwerp is a Flemish-speaking area; JieJie calls it "Belgium language." "How do you say hello in Belgium language?"--"Hallo." Sometimes when we are driving to school we talk about how we will take them to school in Belgium: by bicycle, by bus, or walking, as we will not have a car. Who knows how much of this they're taking in, but we make the effort. Maybe it helps us too.

We have also talked about the things that they may at times find uncomfortable. What it means to live in an apartment instead of a house; the fact that restaurants in Antwerp are not as likely to welcome children so their table manners need to be tip-top; that we will not be able to bring everything with us that we might miss (certain toys, etc).

2. Use visual aids. We have had an Amsterdam calendar in our kitchen for the past year and occasionally we point out the buildings, cars, and different things that we will see when we visit our friends in Mijdrecht, The Netherlands. We have a few Belgium / Low Countries guides with photos that we've left around the house (one that's reachable while on the potty, even!) for perusing. The university has also provided us with a guide to the program that includes many pictures of our apartment. They were very interested to see their bedroom. Since they are used to sharing a room here, it should be comforting to do the same in Antwerp.

3. Find a new routine. The more we thought about the implications of staying in a 750 square foot apartment on cold, dim, rainy days (Antwerp is about the same latitude as Nova Scotia, after all), the more it made sense to try to find a preschool that might take the girls during the week, since we will mostly be in Antwerp with only a couple of side trips out of town. At first we worried that our request for enrollment might be denied, or worse, that it would be accepted but that our schedule would be disruptive to the school and we might seem like "those kind of Americans." Luckily, through the amazing internet, I was able to find a fantastic preschool which is also a Montessori school. JieJie and MeiMei are both in a Montessori school here. It's perfect, because no matter where you go, all Montessori classrooms are set up in basically the same way with the same materials and methods. JieJie's teacher said she has seen children come from another country and language into her Montessori classroom and just breathe a sigh of relief when they see the familiar things around them, like "oh! I can DO this!" The hours are the same, just morning thru lunch, and the people at the school have been very welcoming. The students there wear uniforms, which I'm a fan of (wish they'd do it here) and we made a big deal of getting new black school shoes with some Christmas money. We are going to go visit a few days after arriving in Antwerp just to say hi and show the girls around, then we'll try having them stay maybe an hour the next day, and then we'll try to jump in for a whole morning the next week (I'm prepared to stay in the office reading a book for several days, if needed, until they adjust).

Other than that, who knows what we will do? And for that matter,

who knows if ANY of this will even work?

But it's all worth a try.

wiring deposits overseas

So you might be wondering: if Louise is in the USA, how does she pay to rent a townhouse in Spain, owned by someone in the UK? I couldn't use a credit card or PayPal because the owner prefers a wire transfer. I have done wire transfers before with our China adoptions, as our adoption agency preferred to prepay some of the fees in China that way, so I knew it wasn't a big deal.

I corresponded with the owner, David, for about a week, clarifying dates, cost, how to get the key, which airport he recommends (Malaga, not Gibraltar b/c of the customs hassles) etc. Somewhere during this conversation my parents decided to come along too, which changed our dates slightly. So David and I agreed upon a deposit amount (he took a significant amount off the price since we're staying two weeks--thanks!) and exhanged the information necessary for me to do an international wire transfer from my bank account to his, taking into consideration the current exchange rate from dollars to pounds. I sort of expected to use Euros, but he preferred pounds, so that's how it went.

The wire transfer went through without a hitch, was received on his end, and an information packet is on its way to me as I type this. I've decided to get the key and other information once we're in Antwerp. One less thing to worry about forgetting when we pack.

I continue to marvel at the internet's ability to turn the globe into one great big small town.

You may be wondering why I'm not stressed about packing for a family of four. That's because I'm stressing about grading 62 final exams first! Better stop procrastinating. Argh.

ownersdirect.co.uk ROCKS MY WORLD

OMG - the most amazing opportunity just came our way via the miraculous internet. We never would have found this place otherwise. I was looking on AAA Travel at their villas, many of which are certainly great-looking, but I just had this feeling that if I looked a bit deeper into the web, I'd find a much more personal, perhaps more cost-effective way to book a place for two weeks on the Costa del Sol in May.

And there it was: I Googled "costa del sol villa rental" and up came a GREAT site, www.ownersdirect.co.uk which has properties all over Europe that you can rent directly from the owners, as the site's title suggests. I have never been to the Costa del Sol before but looked around at some different properties. Then, there it was: a lovely, white-stucco rowhouse in Estepona, Spain, with flowers in the windowboxes, grillwork around the windows, and what looked to be a roof terrace for enjoying the sunshine. I read further...4 minutes' walk from Mediterranean beaches, in a neighborhood where we can stroll old Andalucian streets, troll for goodies in markets, and enjoy the shade and aroma of the orange trees planted along the avenues. As for the house itself: totally updated, 2BR's, and yes, it was a roof terrace I saw--WITH ITS OWN KITCHEN UP THERE. I have visions of plates of olives, bottles of wine, a lovely loaf of local bread, fresh fish sizzling on the grill. What an amazing place to enjoy sunrises, sunsets, and siesta with a good book.

And book I did--the villa, that is. A few quick email exchanges with the owner and I'm preparing to wire the deposit tomorrow. That's it! I'm still pinching myself. And since my parents hadn't settled on their plans yet, they've decided to join us too. My dad will love the marina, my mom will love the shopping, and my girls will love having Grampa and Gramma along.

Estepona is supposed to be a more typically Spanish town, closer to Gibraltar than Malaga, a "year-round" town as opposed to an in-season tourist trap. We can see The Alhambra from there as it's day-trippable, and hubby has plans to try going to Morocco via Gibraltar if time permits. Who knows what other adventures await us in beautiful Estepona?

All this for WAY less than we'd spend for a week in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Un
Be
Lievable.