My First Belgian Snit

For a few weeks now, my dry, frizzy hair has been making me crazy. Today, I finally had a snit. That's Dutch for "haircut." That's my chair->

We dropped the girls off at school and went to the Central Station to get train tickets for this weekend (we're going back to Amsterdam and Mijdrecht to visit M and R on Saturday/Sunday), then stopped into the Delifrance on the Astridplein for coffee and an almond croissant. We are becoming quite the experts on who has the best coffee, best chocolate on the coffee saucer, and best, freshest, flakiest croissants. So far The Bistro on The Wapper gets my vote, but XO near the Grote Markt was good too.

We hopped on the 10 tram to head back to our neighborhood but after John hopped off the tram, I stayed on and went toward Melkmarkt near the Grote Markt. There are some sweet little cobblestone streets tucked between the Grote Markt and Hendrik Conscienceplein where I'd seen an Aveda salon called Elements with (for Aveda) reasonable prices. They're right near a sweet little restaurant (photo at right) called Aurelia, one of my favorite girl names. I know, I know, she'd get called "areola" in junior high school. I'm being theoretical.

I showed up for the appointment and decided on a whim to tack on a spa treatment to repair damaged hair (which always reminds me of that great line in the play Proof where Claire says to her fluffy sister, "you can't make hair healthier. It's dead." Her sister's reply? "Whatever. It has Jojoba."). Little did I know I had signed myself up for an hour of aaaaaaahhhhhhh. By the way, more info is available at http://www.zone03.be/shopping/detail/nl/1542/Elements%20Hair-Body-Care.html if you're interested.

My experience with restorative hair treatments was heretofore limited to a V05 hot oil treatment. This thing was to V05 what a Maserati is to a pogo stick. Serum was massaged into my scalp as I sat in a massage chair . Magic aromatherapy goo was wafted under my nostrils and then massaged into the frizz. To give the magic goo time to work, the salon lady-in-waiting massaged my head, neck, shoulders and back, shiatsu-style.

The lady-in-waiting (Natasha...of course) rinsed my hair in the usual hair salon sink with one crucial difference: the chair I sat in was a shiatsu massage chair. It lifted me into the ether as Natasha did whatever-it-was to my hair (who cares if it was mayo from the frituur on the corner??). Next I was offered coffee (a chocolate on the saucer...need you ask?) and a seat in the chair you saw at the top of the post. While my hair rested in hot towels, turban-style, Natasha gave my hands some sea-salt exfoliating treatment with lovely Aveda lotion to finish it off.

Next, the stylist wafted into the scene and we had a discussion about my poor hair. I had told John before I left that I hoped whoever cut my hair was opinionated, because I've been feeling wishy-washy. He was! This was no haircut. I was pruned like a shrubbery and am now sporting a European asymmetrical up-to-the-moment slightly spiky (but not frizzy) new 'do. It was lovely.

Got back to the apartment, lunch and quiet time while John went to office hours with the students, and then Adventure #2 began. We've read the heck out of our growing collection of books, and I'd just gotten detailed instructions on how to get to the central Openbare Bibliotheek (that's public library) from here. A cinch! A quick tram to the Astridplein (see Aquatopia post) and we were looking at the Chinatown lions. We popped into the Sun Wah Supermarket--gotta get back there for Chinese New Year decorations and other fun stuff--and were just about to buy something when MeiMei pulled a false potty alarm. Drat!

We found the library, no problem, and obtained a library card for five euro. In the children's section they have a shelf of English books and also lots of VHS and DVD shows for kids. We chose two VHS tapes (Pingu and Race for your Life, Snoopy!) and four books, including my new favorite, How Tom Beat Captain NAJORK and his Hired Sportsmen" by Russell Hoban, which is an absolutely silly story about how a boy whose guardian, Aunt Fidget Wonkham-Strong, thinks he fools around too much and calls in Captain Najork and his hired sportsmen to teach him a lesson. They play three games: womble, muck, and sneedball, with hilarious results. The girls love the story and the way the boy outsmarts the stodgy grownups who think they are going to teach him a lesson.

Once at home, we watched Pingu while keeping the girls awake til 6 for our Wednesday dinner at 't Injaske. I had reservations (ew, pun, sorry) about taking them to a restaurant meal at the end of a long day, but we crossed our fingers and walked over. They insisted on sitting next to College Students, Not Mommy and Daddy, and did pretty well. They were served their dinners right away, but the restaurant was understaffed and really busy tonight, so unfortunately I had to leave with the girls and ask John to bring my dinner later because they were getting restless and the rest of us weren't getting our food. Much better though to leave before a scene, don't you think? And my moussaka was just as good later at home. I tucked the girls in and they were soon asleep. I can't believe how well they're doing. How much of this will they remember? Time will tell.

So that was today. Tomorrow: Koninklijk Museum Voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen!

It's snowing in Antwerp

Light snow has begun falling. The girls are begging to stay up late enough to build a snowman. I tried to explain that the most we can make tonight is footprints, unfortunately.

SN Brussels Airlines is having a fare sale right now from Brussels to all sorts of European destinations for 49 euro one-way. I'm trying to see whether I have any family members who might be interested in a week somewhere in April when the girls have Easter break. More on that as the plans solidify.

I may attempt to take them myself if nobody takes me up on the offer, especially considering the alternative...two weeks with no school when the weather is still iffy!

They liked staying for lunch!!!!!!!

What a great, great day. And it could have been a disaster.

We decided to try having the girls stay at school for lunch, playground time, and afternoon class til 3:30 with the rest of their classmates (nobody else comes home at 12, so they've been missing out on whatever happens after they leave). We dropped them off this morning with their little lunches packed in Princess lunchboxes from the Super GB and crossed our fingers.

What to do with all that time? First we found a new cafe, near the school, for coffee and croissant time. Nothing much is open before 10am as far as shops are concerned, so there's not much else to do but enjoy a leisurely coffee and croissant while perusing Belgian interior design magazines. Pain and suffering, I tell you. Next we took the 7 tram to the starfish neighborhood and got bread at Goossens. I love that little shop!

Then we took the 8 tram all the way to the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp (www.kmska.be) to check it out for a JMU student tour we have planned for Thursday. It's so easy to get there, and the building itself is beautiful. I can't wait to see the exhibits on Thursday! There's a visiting exhibit from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam because of a renovation project. I noticed that they have audio guides too--I really love to see an exhibit with the audio guide at hand. It makes such a difference as far as the richness of the experience. Our group of students seems interested in seeing the cultural offerings while they're here, so it makes us all the more eager to sleuth out the possibilities.

Came back to the apartment for a while, read the International Herald Tribune, then headed to a soup restaurant in the University of Antwerp neighborhood. John had onion soup and I had a sort of cream of leek soup with pieces of salmon in it--delicious.

After John went to hold his office hours, I suddenly realized I had two whole hours to myself. Occasional solitude is essential to my mental health. Two hours with nobody calling my name...better than chocolate.

I decided to take my book of the moment, Dave Eggers' What is the What, and go to Verso, a cafe that I'd noticed as we rode the trams day after day. I knew that it was part of a high fashion boutique, and that it had a fire in the fireplace. How much could coffee be?

As it turned out, this was just the place for a languid afternooon. (www.verso.be) I perused the menu and ordered "Koffie Kompleet"--only 2 euro more than a Pellegrino water, and so much better! Koffie Kompleet is a cup of coffee accompanied by two Pierre Marcolini chocolates, four shortbread cookies, a scoop of the most delicious homemade vanilla ice cream ever, and a tiny cordial cup of Bailey's Irish Cream. I put a bit of the ice cream in the coffee and nibbled/sipped at my little table of treats for a good hour and a half til it was time to wrap it up.
Before I left, I decided to wander through the verso boutique itself, since I never go in that kind of rarefied atmosphere. The shirts in there cost more than I make in a semester of teaching. I sniffed the perfume testers at the cosmetics counter, scents with names like Jasmine & Cigarettes, Divine Angel, and Hotel Slut.

Took the 7 to the 8, popped into the Proost Supermarket to make sure the girls had an afterschool snack as soon as they got out, and walked up to meet them. The moment of truth had arrived. If they came out crying and clinging, the party would most certainly be over. If they had a good day, the possibilities for February and March are greatly expanded, for all of us.

We heard the announcement for "Familie Arndt" and came to the door. JieJie and MeiMei came out neither too sad nor too relieved, just normal. It was the best possible outcome. JieJie had learned to make newspaper hats today--an essential life skill!--and MeiMei had had gym this morning. They played tag at lunch recess with some kids who speak English, and enjoyed the rest of their day. We'll try it again on Thursday, which means I get to go to the art museum too.

Tonight JieJie asked if they could be sure to get to school early in the morning because that's what "her school friends" do. a good sign indeed.

I don't mean to give the impression that I'm trying to put my kids in storage all day, but really what is there to do in the apartment between 12 and 3 that's as fun as school? If they are happy there, it's probably the best use of that time, given the weather and our urban locale. If they were miserable though, I couldn't enjoy the free time it affords us with a black cloud of Mommie Dearest guilt hanging over my head.

I am thankful for this promising development.

I'm Not Pollyanna

If you have been following the notes from this Antwerp adventure, perhaps you have noticed that I tend to like where we go, enjoy the food we taste, and find most people I encounter to be more or less pleasant. I wonder whether you think I am really seeing everything around me...I mean after all, how can anyplace be this great?

I do tend to be a glass half-full sort of person by nature, it's true. And I love to travel, I love meeting people, trying new things, getting out of the comfort zone of the same-old same-old at home. I love learning new languages and turns of phrase, and seeing things from a different perspective. This time we have been given here is truly a gift for which I am beyond grateful, and I know John shares this feeling. We both loved Art Buchwald's last column...he mentioned wanting to eat as many eclairs as he possibly could in his final days, and regretted denying himself so many on doctor's orders. Life is a gift to be enjoyed, and the world is a big place--so much to see in so little time.

Do I like Antwerp? Absolutely! Would I move to Antwerp permanently? Nope. I think I like it more because I know we won't be here permanently, as odd as that may seem. It's been about a month now, so I feel a bit more comfortable making a Big Pronouncement like this. There are things that are easily dealt with for a short while that I think would begin to wear on me over time, and they're all parenting-logistics type things.

What things, you ask? Lack of elbow room for all of us, and lack of an easy way to get some mental elbow room while parenting young children. We are on the third floor of an apartment building that is a far walk from anything like a playground (thank goodness we found the school so they have a place to play with other kids!). At home in Virginia, which appears in my imagination impossibly green even though I know it's freezing cold and stark there right now, the girls can run out the back door and play in the yard while I do dishes, so we are together but I have a bit of mental space. Just before we left, big sister JieJie had gotten old enough to go play at her friend's house up the street without me along.

At home, they had dozens of ways to entertain themselves and were getting more and more self-sufficient for increasing chunks of time. In this apartment, our parent-child relationship is different. If they are bored, they call my name. If they are happy, they call my name. If they are tired of playing with their sister, ...well you get the idea. It's as though they are more dependent on me here, and on John of course, though he is infinitely more energetic and playful with them between 3:30 and 5pm than I seem able to be. The need to make sure they don't get too loud for the neighbors is always there too, though JieJie and MeiMei have really adjusted well, considering. But their "In case of boredom break glass" tactic is to screech like starving baby eagles. Yikes.

So we go outside, but still the girls have to exercise restraint. At home we have the yard, plenty of sidewalk to draw on or ride tricycles. Here we have pavement, cars, trams, buses, bicycles and lots of pedestrians to consider. Some buildings in Antwerp have nice courtyards with trees or private gardens, but the courtyard of our building is where people park bicycles and bring recycling, so that's not an option. As you know, we are going on lots of walks and other outings, but that's a double-edged sword. It's a temporary fix, but once we get back in the apartment, there we are again and they're more tired than before.

To end on a positive note (see? I can't help it), it is neat to travel with the girls, to see things through their eyes and see how people become playful when the girls are there. In the tram home today, a whole section was playing high-five games with the girls and laughing, and there was such a nice sense of warmth and friendliness.

So I am certainly not Complaining, by any means. I just wanted you to know I haven't overdosed on saccharine, if everything seems too happy-happy for you. How about this for a negative comment: there's doggie-do everywhere! It's true! The girls call out "DOG POO!" about once a minute so we don't run over it with The Stroller. I've started to guess at each dog's breed and general health by the size of the turds. Is it too much to ask to pick up after your dogs, people?!

Still, you can step in that stuff anywhere. Except maybe Disneyland. Bottom line--pun intended--the dead of winter is a tough time for parents and young children (and anybody I suppose) to be cooped up together. It will be lovely when spring comes.

5th Birthday Preparations

JieJie will turn 5 in just over a month. Time does fly. Sometimes when I sneak a peek at her when she's not looking at me, I can still see the baby JieJie in her expression, the way she concentrates when she's looking at a toy or the way her eyes squeeze tightly when she's happy. Still, she's getting so tall all of a sudden, and so grown up. The dress we bought for Santa photos is barely at her knee already.

To celebrate her birthday, JieJie had asked to go back to Samoerai, the teppan-yaki place overlooking the Steen. We know that we will be back at Samoerai for a JMU student dinner about a week before her birthday (March 9) so we are hoping just to ask for the fireworks dessert that night and do that part a bit ahead of schedule.

For the actual day, though, we happened upon a great present: custom-made princess dress-up clothes. My friend M in The Netherlands has a friend MJ who started her own business, http://www.prinsessenjurken.nl making beautiful dress-up clothes. She has shoes and tiaras too (and she came up with the brilliant idea of renting out trunks of dress-up clothes for parties). I just placed an order for two dresses, two pairs of shoes, and two tiaras, with one tiara more fancy than the other so we know who the birthday princess is. I am sure the girls will play with these dresses long after March 9th has come and gone, and they will be easy to take home with us too. There's always that "can we fit it in our suitcase on the way home" question.

Since the clothes suggest a theme, perhaps I can find a horse/carriage ride in Antwerp just to make the whole day extra-special. Of course there will be no problem finding a delicious cake, we can get some balloons, all that fun stuff. Her birthday is on a school day too, so she can celebrate with her classmates. I love birthdays.

Our friends T and K will be here then too--they are like grandparents to the girls, so it will be so special to have them here. My parents will visit later in April and no doubt will make up for lost time as soon as they get over jet lag, if not before.

I know JieJie will wish she could see her friends from Virginia on her birthday, but it's shaping up to be a special day in a different way.

Kid Stuff in Antwerp

The girls had Friday off from school, and we stayed put this weekend, so I can now tell you about great things to do with kids in Antwerp because we've done some of the major ones in the past 72 hours. I hope the girls have had enough fun and rest that they're ready for another week of school. We know it's challenging for them to keep diving in every morning at school. They are really trying so hard, really hanging in there, so when there's downtime, we are trying to have lots of easy fun.

Friday: Pirateneiland (www.pirateneiland.info) play park (see last post). An easy ride on Bus 1 down to the docks that Napoleon developed long ago. This old warehouse district is being gentrified from sleazy strip clubs to upscale apartments and family-friendly entertainment, and we could see the Flemish National Ballet headquarters a bit further down.

Saturday: Aquatopia (www.aquatopia.be is a GREAT website for kids) at the Astrid Park Hotel, Tram stop Astrid on the underground. What a fantastic place! This is by far one of the best places to take kids that I've ever been to. The attention to detail in this giant aquarium complex blows the mind. As someone who appreciates the theatrical skill needed to create an environment that truly transports visitors out of their everyday experience, I was in extra awe. Aquatopia is a three-story "zoo" specializing in fish and other aquatic species like turtles, frogs, coral, anemones, octopi, and also a few swamp-dwelling reptiles (snakes and iguanas).

Admission was quite reasonable. MeiMei was free because she's not 4 years old yet. The director of the JMU program gave us a coupon from the McDonalds on DeKeyserlei to get JieJie in free, so it was just 12,45 euro for me. What a bargain! We spent two hours in there and could've stayed longer. In each different environment, the lights, sound, surroundings, and even the temperature taught us something about different aquatic biomes. Our favorite was definitely the mangrove swamp because, in order to demonstrate how fish move among a mangrove tree's roots, we got to crawl (yes, me too, on my hands and knees) through kid-size tunnels under the fish tanks and climb over giant "roots" as though we were little fish. The girls also enjoyed the coral reef exhibit and the shark tunnel, where sharks and rays swim right over your head. We'll definitely go back there.

After our visit to Aquatopia, we passed through the stone lions that mark the entrance to the heart of Chinatown, Van Wesenbekestraat, looking for a place to eat lunch. We chose the City Palace Restaurant. It was a promising sign that I was the only person of European descent in the place. I also noticed that many of the tables were round with lazy susans in the middle for sharing dishes, another good sign. Our waiter asked where JieJie and MeiMei were born, and I answered Chongqing. As usually happens, we heard a flurry of conversation near the kitchen, with the word "Chongqing" sprinkled in, and then several other waiters and kitchen staff showed up to bring various items to our table and have a look at the girls. MeiMei smiled at them and said and said "uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco!" and big sister JieJie scolded "say Ni Hao!" What a world.

The waiter asked where we were all from and when we said the United States, he mentioned things about New York's Chinatown. Had he been there? I asked. No, just heard about it from friends, but he had worked in London's Chinatown before coming to Antwerp. So he knows at the very least four languages, because I heard him speak Dutch, Mandarin, and Cantonese in addition to English, and he likely knows another dialect of Chinese based on our (granted, limited) experience.

I wasn't sure what to order, since the menu was in Chinese, Dutch and French, so we asked them to bring a variety of dim sum and really enjoyed the variety of dumplings and meatballs and noodles. The hot and sour soup was fantastic.

At one point, MeiMei leaned back too far in her chair and fell over backwards. She was startled and started to cry, and immediately several people rushed over with candy for her (poor JieJie is getting tired of watching her clumsy little sister get all these sympathy treats when she herself gets nothing for just doing as she's supposed to do). I was scolded for my negligence in letting her sit wrongly in the chair (see the China entries--this is par for the course and I take it as par for the course).

After lunch we stopped in a Chinese supermarket. I want to try to find some New Year cake to make--Year of the Fire Pig starts on the 17th! I didn't find it Saturday, but the girls found some marshmallow candy so we got that. I swear our eating habits have gone down the tubes...but when we get back to Virginia we can just say "we only eat chocolate every day in Belgium, sorry girlies!" ;)

We caught the tram home, had our quiet time, and then walked to the Super GB to get lunch boxes. Tuesday afternoon we are going to give it a try (lunch and staying til 3:30). We'll see how it goes.

John got home about 7pm having had a great day in Brussels with the JMU students. We will definitely go back as a family later this month, but he felt we'd made the right decision to stay behind.

Today we slept in til 8:30 (believe me, this is LATE for us) and after breakfast decided to try the Antwerp Zoo (www.zooantwerpen.be), which is a block from Aquatopia, right next to the Central Station. It's a beautiful, park-like zoo, a welcome green space in a city that feels very paved and sooty this time of year...I have to remind myself that there are bare trees all around that, when they bloom, will transform the city. For now, though, most greenery is hidden away in private courtyards. From a pedestrian's point of view, it's all roads and buildings, very little sign of nature, so the zoo's green lawns and hedges were food for the soul.

The zoo is really expensive though! With the exchange rate, it was about $60 for the four of us to get in, and we wish we'd used our money toward an annual pass--it would have paid for itself after two more visits. Since the zoo is only a ten-minute walk from the apartment (like most things, actually), I could see going there just to give the girls a place to run and play on a nice afternoon. Ah well, live and learn, eh?

The zoo has an impressive group of birds from around the world, including condors, parrots, and these gorgeous owls that live in the northern parts of North America and Asia. For each species of bird and animal, the name plate also featured a map showing the region of the world where the animal's natural habitat is found. JieJie is a real map lover (she takes after John) so she loved calling out the names of the continents as we looked at each animal.

We left the zoo just after lunch time as it was turning chillier and the girls were hungry. Thank goodness for The Stroller--they'd have never made the walk home after all that fun at the zoo. This afternoon, we thought we'd try a trip to a Carrefour, which is like a French Wal-Mart. The only other Carrefour I'd been to was in China, actually. Our guide took us to buy baby supplies at a Carrefour in Chongqing the day we adopted MeiMei. (Am I the only person who thinks all these international overlaps are funny? At lunch in Chinatown there were so many interconnections I thought the universe might turn in on itself and create a black hole right there at City Palace). We hopped on the 3 tram and rode it to the end of the line in Merksem. It's neat to see the beginning of the 'burbs of Antwerp.

As with many things in this area, Carrefour was closed today (Sunday) so we let the girls play at the indoor playground of a Quick fast food restaurant (so like McDonald's you truly can't tell the difference, looks-wise anyway...we didn't eat there, just had Cokes). We took the tram back into central Antwerp and got off at the Groenplaats (Green Place) where there happens to be a Sunday afternoon flower market. For a measly 1 euro I bought a cute little primrose in a little pot that is now sitting in our kitchen window sill next to the miniature banana JieJie got from a classmate's birthday party. Next Sunday I'll bring more money--we need some greenery in the apartment.

This evening we got the sad news that John's maternal aunt Eileen passed away early this morning. She was a wonderful, kind, gracious lady. She lived in Kentucky but had visited us in Virginia and had met both girls, which we're glad of. She was 86. Our thoughts are with John's cousins M and B and their families tonight. Amen.

Not Going to Brussels

One of my requests, as someone whose main duty on this semester abroad is to look after the interests of my almost-5 and 3 1/2 year olds, is that I be given a copy of the itineraries for any out of town trips. I want to know where the potential trouble spots are.

Last weekend's trip to Gent and Brugge was ideal. Minimal time on the bus, lots of walking tours in beautiful locales, and just one short tour that needed an alternate plan (the Gravensteen in Gent).

When I got the itinerary for today's trip to Brussels, two major alarm bells went off. First, after a 45-minute bus ride just to get to Brussels, the itinerary says "two hour bus tour with guide." This means the girls would be on the bus, having to be quiet, with no access to food or a potty for two hours at the most active time of their day. Not a deal-breaker...I could always just ask to be let off near the town center which I've visited before. But then strike two: an hour and a half guided museum tour during the part of the afternoon when they're used to curling up with a quiet toy, a book or their LeapPads. Basically this would mean spending most of the day away from the group, ambling around Brussels in The Stroller.

It just didn't make any sense whatsoever, so we're staying put and we'll see hubby/daddy at dinner tonight. Our next trip, in a few weeks, is to the Ardennes and Western Germany and we're definitely going because it's a 3-day, 2-night jaunt. More on that later in February.

So what will we do with our day? The weather seems cooperative, so we have a choice between two different spots, both within walking/easy tram distance: Antwerp's famous zoo, with its Art Nouveau gates and buildings, or Aquatopia, a huge indoor aquarium complex. Both of these places are adjacent to Antwerp's Chinatown, so perhaps we'll get lunch there. I would love some good Chinese food, and it's also interesting to see how Chinese cooks adapt their recipes to suit the tastes of the locals. You will find Chinese restaurants all over the world, but depending upon where you are, the dishes are not ever prepared in a truly authentic way unless you're in China proper. The "Ristorante Cinese" in Italy is heavy on noodles. American Chinese Restaurants do a lot of breaded and fried stuff and lean toward sweeter recipes.

I look forward to hearing from John about the tour of Brussels. We've already decided that we'll do a family daytrip there on one of our free days coming up. Frankly, I've got a touch of bronchitis so I'm thankful for the rest too.

Yesterday the girls had a day off of school so we took them by bus to Pirateneiland (Pirate Island), a huge pirate themed indoor play park with plenty to climb on, crawl through, slide down, and bounce around. And since we're not in sue-happy liability insurance land anymore, they actually had some FUN things for kids to play on! And they have an interesting take on what parents might do while the kiddies are climbing around saying "ahoy, mijn hartjes:" there are three kinds of Belgian beer on tap! Stop hovering, mom and dad--chill out by the window with a pint! The bar wasn't open on Friday morning, because that's when school groups come through...I suppose it would be bad form for the teachers to knock a few back while the 100+ kids that they've just spent an hour on the bus with run around like crazy gnomes. Ya think?

Since there's a food theme lately I will of course share what we had for lunch: JieJie had a croque monsieur again (hot ham and cheese), MeiMei had a grilled cheese (croque monsieur with no ham), John had boeuf bourguignon (sp?) and I had a traditional flemish beef stew in (what else?) beer sauce. We all shared a bowl of frites (fries) with the Belgian condiment: mayo. The girls didn't ask for ketchup, and they're starting to say "ja (yes)" and "nee (no)" regularly. Wonder how long it will be before we hear an entire phrase in Nederlands (Dutch) pop out of their mouths.

School: To stay or not to stay (all day)?

We have been so happy with the school we found for JieJie and MeiMei, and they clearly feel at home there too. Of course it's not been without the predictable bumpy moments as they adjust. JieJie says some kids don't let her ride on the few tricycles they have at playground time (they block her like a tiny little traffic cop), and she reported that some other kids were pulling MeiMei by her arms (we wonder if they were just fighting over who would play with her and got carried away) but we haven't heard more stories like that this week...I think/hope it is just normal kids-testing-each-other stuff, and trust that we'd have heard if there were problems that merited our involvement. It will be better for JieJie when her little friend is back.

The teachers and staff are very firm disciplinarians but clearly very loving and kind. JieJie's teacher went out of her way to find out how her preschoolers could learn to make their own snow globes, since they're studying winter this week. They turned out so well! We were asked to bring in a jelly jar (actually it was an empty red cabbage jar). Yesterday, JieJie made a snowman out of dough. The teacher took all the little snowmen home and baked them, brought them back, and then the kids assembled their snow globes with water and glitter, and it works just like a real one. JieJie's creation is proudly displayed on the mantel in the apartment. It may be the only "snow" we see this winter, very mild weather we're having.

Since things are going well enough after three weeks of school, we're starting to think about having them stay for lunch and the early afternoon which usually consists of art or music or some other fun activity. They seem curious to see what happens when their classmates head in the opposite direction at noon when we pick them up. Probably best to try just one day next week and see how they react.

If you look at the big picture, it might be good for them to spend longer days in school. They won't really have a ton of days in school, between school vacation days and our side trips cutting into the weeks. Between now and the end of April, they'll be out for four weeks total! There's a week off in February (that's when our program goes to Germany), then we're gone the last week of March to Luxembourg/Strasbourg/Paris, and then the school takes the first two weeks of April off for Easter...then they have only 8 more days of school til we leave. I can see why some people who bring older kids on a semester abroad choose to home-school them through online courses. If the girls were in first grade or beyond, they would miss a great deal of school, though travel is of course very educational.

Food again - Bakkerij Goossens etc.

Just a P.S. to yesterday's post, the dagmenu at 't Injaske did not disappoint. I was almost going to order Moussaka but decided to try the dagmenu (menu of the day). It just said something in Dutch about a plate baked in the oven. They make great comfort food there - sounded like casserole to me. It was like au gratin potatoes with ham and leeks, with some cheese sprinkled on top and put under the broiler to make a crackly crust. It was served with some squash soup as a starter. Yum.

This morning we wandered around looking for a cafe after the girls were safely ensconced at school, and ended up at Monaco on the Meir. Cappucino was good there. We read a London Times and watched the traffic go by.

Next we decided to try Goossens Bakery. That's the place I'd found in the "starfish" of pedestrian streets just off the Meir, on Korte Gasthuisstraat, the one with a line out the door. I found out why there's a line out the door--what scrumptious stuff they have there! I got some whole grain bread, sliced, a coffee cake type pastry with frangipane filling for tomorrow's breakfast, and six koekjes (cookies) that are like pinoli cookies sandwiched around a pistachio filling. Yum! I hear they make bread with apples every Friday morning...we'll have to stop by there again for more scrumptious treats.

Finally we stopped into a bookstore called Standaard Boekhandel. They have a good children's book section and a good English language novel section, but we didn't get anything today. I'm still working on Dave Eggers' What is the What and after that is Claire Messud's The Emperor's Children. The girls have a small but growing collection of English language books (the one thing we could've brought more of--hard to find here!) thanks to my mom and aunt, who have so generously mailed a few at a time.

Got back to the apartment and hung out til John went to get the girls. I made lunch while they were on their way back. No school tomorrow, so we're looking into a daytrip of some kind.

Foodies Rejoice!

Today has been a great day for eating amazing food.

Breakfast was our usual whatever-people-want, with MeiMei's Choco-Muesli, JieJie's dipping eggs, John's coffee, and my Special K with red berries.

Uniforms on, school bags packed, and it's off to the #7 tram, switch to the #8, get off at our stop on Lange Leemstraat and head to school. Remind MeiMei to kiss & hug because she's already showing her new headband to her teacher. Peel JieJie's hands off my thigh as she makes a big show of wanting me to stay (same thing at her Virginia school--we see the giggle in her eyes now when she does it, so it's not a concern).

John and I walk back toward our place, stopping at a nice cafe on the Wapper, a few doors down from the Rubens museum. We've been here before and like the Boulanger, which includes two individual pots of coffee, with little chocolates of course, and a basked of croissants, butter and strawberry preserves. This has become date-time, this period between drop-off and 10am when stores open. We don't do dinner and a movie anymore, it's leisurely breakfast and it's great!

This morning we decided to go to the National Maritime Museum at the Steen castle on the Schelde River. It is a really nice museum, and all museums are free the last Wednesday of the month (today) - what luck! In the museum we enjoyed a fine collection of all things having to do with the history of the Port of Antwerp, from paintings to artifacts to the many many many models they have of different types of ships that have docked here. In the most impressive room toward the end of the exhibit halls, you start by looking at a dugout canoe from the earliest recorded history here, and end up looking at a fascinating cross-section model of a luxury steamship operated by the Red Star Line between Antwerp and New York. My dad in particular is going to want to spend some time there, as his dad was in the U.S. Navy and my dad has always liked boating-related stuff.

On the way back to the apartment, we went through the always-impressive Grote Markt with all the guildhalls overlooking the square and the Brabo Fountain. I hope I never take that view for granted. We wanted to grab some chocolates just to have around, but little did we know we were going to get an education about Belgian chocolates!

It was 11am when we walked into a chocolate shop just off the Grote Markt. We were the only ones in the shop for the next half hour and the shopkeeper takes such pride in what he sells, it was a truly amazing shopping experience. I asked if he had an assortment. He asked if it was a gift--I said sheepishly no, it's for us, just to have some in the house. He got a gleam in his eye and started asking about our tastes. Did we like dark, milk, or light chocolate? Did we like marzipan? Nuts? Nougat? Caramel-butterscotch? Marshmallows? Grand Marnier? Cognac? Were we American, French, ?? We answered the questions and said we were American. He said "I know what you want" and started throwing all kinds of chocolate into a small bag. I'm thinking it's going to get expensive, but I was too interested to care.

Along the way, he handed us all kinds of samples. Here--try this dark chocolate with cocoa powder...Americans like it. Here--try this framboise and taste how the flavors bloom one at a time, chocolate, raspberry, cinnamon, and chocolate again, and never too sweet. Here--try this thin slice of dark chocolate that children like to melt on their toast. No don't eat it yet--hold it to the light first and see how it shines. That's how you know it's good. Do you like this? It's a crunchy caramel--toffee, I said we called it. He told us about the amazing eggs that will appear on his shelves before Easter, Picasso eggs he called them. And hollow eggs that you hang by ribbons. and eggs filled with candy confetti. And on and on.

Finally, the piece de resistance. He turned the radio off in the shop so it was totally silent and held up a cube that he said was dark chocolate covered mocha marshmallow. Listen! he said. And he broke the marshmallow--I swear you could hear tiny air bubbles popping right there in the shop. We tried the candy (John is NOT a marshmallow person) and agreed it was just heavenly. The girls would love a strawberry one. I can't wait for Easter!

The damage for the whole big huge bag of assorted chocolates, enough to last us til next payday, was only 15 euro. The shopkeeper talked a lot about how Americans think they are buying Belgian chocolates but that what we are getting is made so that it lasts a year, and "real" Belgian chocolate is only good for a month. He kept using the word "fresh," a word I've never heard associated with chocolate. You really can taste the difference though, and you can tell that there's real cream and butter in some of the fillings, which would make the "fresh" idea make sense. I believe we now have a favorite chocolate shop. If you go to Antwerp, go chocolate shopping at Chateau Blanc on a quiet morning when you have time to be spoiled with enough samples to fill you up for the day!

Lunch was with the girls, at the Frituur Die Witte near their school. A Frituur is a place where you can get all different kinds of fried things, especially french fries--ahem, Belgian fries. We had a mini order of fries (a kleine is huge) with curry ketchup, my new favorite condiment, and also a breaded hot dog called a currywurst, and a chicken/onion kebab deep-fried and sprinkled with spices. The girls raided the fries till there were none left, and JieJie had a second currywurst. Not something we're going to do a lot of--they use beef lard in the fryer so it's delicious but extra-unhealthy--but it was a delicious treat for a Wednesday afternoon.

Tonight's dinner will be at a neighborhood restaurant called Eetcafe 't Injaske. I'll probably order the Dagmenu (menu of the day) because it's a great way to get a good value and try a regional specialty. Last time the dagmenu there was trout wrapped in salmon in a cream sauce with leeks and mashed potatoes and it was yummy.

We've also learned how to order beer Antwerp-style. You can order a "Bollecke" (BOWL-uh-kuh) which is a kind of beer DeKoninck makes, or you can order a "Pintje" (pinch-ya) which is a small glass of the house beer. I'm not a huge beer drinker but when in Antwerp...

Our DeLijn 3-month Passes

De Lijn is the company that runs trams and buses that serve the entire Flanders region. We've started to learn which trams and buses take us where we need to go. If it's bad weather, instead of taking The Stroller, we can walk down to the end of our street, catch the 7, transfer at a number of points to the 8, and get off at the end of the street our daughters' school is on. Timing can be tricky. Depending upon how long it takes to get that first tram, and how far behind the 7 the next 8 is, it's taken us fifteen minutes to get the girls to school, and it's also taken an hour (twice as long as walking) because of traffic. Since the trams run on the regular streets without their own lane much of the time, they are affected by traffic lights and rush hour just as the cars and buses are. Still, it's a fun way to see the city and a pretty effortless way to get around.

What we decided to do, with part of our transportation allotment from the university, is buy a 3-month pass on De Lijn. It will expire the day before we leave Antwerp--perfect! It costs 75 euro for the pass, but once you have it, you can take any bus or tram in the region at any time.

To buy a pass for DeLijn, bring your money and your passport to the DeLijn office on Franklin Roosevelt Plaats (it's in one of the low buildings in the midst of all the buses at that depot area). You should also be prepared to write down your local address, which goes on your pass. The pass itself is just a slip of paper in a plastic holder. We keep them in our passport holders, since if we are ever checked for our passes, we'd need to show our passport at that time as well.

It's kind of weird getting on all these buses and trams and never showing anyone a ticket, but we've been told that sooner or later a conductor will spot check us, so we'll make sure always to have it with us.

Lactose Intolerance in Dairy Paradise

It is not uncommon for people of Chinese descent to have problems with lactose allergy (most common in babies and young children) or lactose intolerance (which comes on in childhood and persists through adulthood). JieJie has a mildly bad reaction when there's too much dairy making its way through her system. We used to handle that with soy milk until MeiMei came along and proved allergic to the protein in legumes. Our compromise, rather than having four kinds of milk in the house, was lactose free cow's milk, something readily available at home in Virgnia.

Here in Antwerp, and indeed in much of Europe, you can find many wonderful dairy products. The butter is wonderful, spreadable right from the fridge. The types of cheese we can try are nearly endless. So far my favorites are young Gouda and Leerdamer. And can we talk yogurt? There aren't yogurt sections here, there are yogurt AISLES. You can get drinkable yogurt, pourable plain yogurt, fruity yogurt, diet yogurt, tiny little shots of probiotic yogurt to promote digestive health, yogurt tiramisu, kids' yogurt, snack yogurt in a tube, Fristi yogurt and fruit drink in a juice box...and both girls LOVE yogurt.

JieJie would eat yogurt and cheese til the cows come home, and then she'd ask said cows for some milk. Poor thing, she loves the thing that causes some pretty bad lower digestive tract issues, not to get too graphic about it.

I thought well, at least we can get lactose free milk, but it was really hard to find initially. Most milk is not stored cold in a dairy case, but is sealed until needed--if you're familiar with Parmalat, or any of the vacuum sealed soy milk products, you get the picture. There's a whole milk aisle of different products, and I finally found in one little corner of the Super GB on the Groenplats a section of "lactosevrij" milk from Finland, so that's what we've been buying. It's actually pronounced like lactose-free, since the v is more of an f sound and the j is like a y.

Problem solved, and JieJie's little system seems to have settled down, as long as we don't go overboard with cheese and yogurt. Now if only the bean allergy weren't keeping us from getting cans of cassoulet...so tempting!

Our IKEA Adventure

So once the girls are home from school for the day, it's lunch, then quiet time, and then...??? It's easy to feel cooped up right now. The weather's cold and cloudy/rainy, the days are short, and the apartment, though well laid out, is still smaller than the upstairs of our house at home.

This afternoon I told the girls if they wanted to go to IKEA, I'd take them. They know from visits to Grandma and Grampa's near the Mall of America in Minnesota that IKEA has a very cool kids-only playground. They said "yippee" and got ready.

We walked to Franklijn Rooseveltplaats where all the buses arrive and depart, and found bus 502 which goes out to the 'burbs, specifically Wilrijk. It took about 45 minutes to get to IKEA (pronounced EE-KAY-uh here) and we went through a beautiful, ritzy neighborhood called Berchem which reminded me of nice areas around Capitol Hill in Washington DC--gorgeous townhouses.

The girls wanted to stay in the playground area, so I showed the attendants my passport and gave my cellphone number and the girls hopped in. How cool, I thought - they're in heaven and I get a whole hour to shop in a store I like. Just in case they balked after a half hour, I went straight for the kitchen accessories section and found what we needed for the apartment: soup spoons (we've been eating soup with espresso spoons) and a kitchen scissors (only one euro!). Didn't find the cheese knife (how can any apartment in this city not have a cheese knife???) but I've seen that at HEMA, which is such a nice store you really don't even need IKEA.

I went through checkout before learning that I should've bought a plastic bag for 10 cents, so went back to get that, then got the girls out of the play room where they were coloring and watching a Princess Jasmine movie in Dutch. I got the feeling they would've stayed much longer, but it was time to get back, already 5:30.

We went out to the bus stop and just missed the 5:39 back home, so had to wait til 6pm. Even a year ago, that would have meant certain disaster, but the girls are just old enough that they can start to go with the flow a little bit, lucky for me. It was my fault for not checking the return schedule.

At one point, as we whiled away 20 minutes at the bus stop, JieJie said "I wish we lived here Mommy." I said "really? what do you like about it?" thinking she meant Belgium, thinking how wonderful this experience could be for a kid, thinking the furthest I'd been from home at her age was Brainerd. She said "well, if we lived right here we wouldn't have to wait for a bus!" Oh....duh.

So the bus came, we headed back into town, then we caught a tram that went within a block or so of the apartment, and around the time they usually go to bed we sat down to dinner.

I learned that trips to IKEA are probably not a good fit between quiet time and dinner, but I would much rather have an adventure like that than stay in the apartment all afternoon, griping at each other about not jumping on the couch for the 23rd time! Let's hear it for De Lijn, bus and tram service of Flanders! Heck, I'd hop a tram just to see where it went if the weather gets yucky again.

Daytrip: Gent and Brugge

200 people viewed this blog last week! No Lauren, you're not the only one posting. All readers, please feel free to post comments.

What a fantastic day we had Saturday! It was our first daytrip with the whole group of 30 JMU students, our Director of Logistics Mr. K, John, JieJie, MeiMei and me. Our destinations: Gent (Ghent, if you're British) and Brugge (Bruges, if you're a French-speaking Belgian).

We met the tour bus promptly at 9am at the bus stop on the Paardenmarkt (Horse Market). The Stroller fit beautifully into the baggage compartment and the driver was so sweet to the girls. Right away, JieJie asked if she could sit with a college student, and in the next few minutes, I got a glimpse of her as a teenager. I called out to ask who would like a seatmate, and JieJie put her hands over her ears and hid, totally mortified. I'll have to be more subtle. Anyway, she and MeiMei each buddied up with a 20-something and we were off to our first stop, Gent, capital of East Flanders. It was about an hour on the bus. The countryside is flat, lots of farms with little towns here and there. You'd think it would be more built up with so many people in relatively little area, but it's quite bucolic not far from the city limits.

Gent is BEAUTIFUL, historic, pleasant, people were friendly, and I definitely want to go back when we have more time. To prepare for the trip, I got an itinerary about mid-week to see if there were any parts of the day that wouldn't suit preschoolers. Mr. K had forewarned me that the major tour of the morning, of the Gravensteen, or Count's Castle, was not a good place for an accident-prone 3 1/2 year old because it's a real medieval castle with precarious stairs, no railings, and some steep drops if you lose your step. Also at the top of the climb there's an exhibit of medieval torture devices (how in the world do you explain to a preschooler that people would go to so much trouble to hurt someone else so badly on purpose????).

Anyway, looked like we'd have an hour to use as we pleased, so I read up on the other things to see. Luckily, the city center of Gent is compact. It's easy to see lots of things without walking all over the place. When we parted from the students and John, we decided to get a snack and then see the beautiful canals, bridges, cathedrals and guildhalls of Gent.

We walked into a tiny bake shop and the girls saw what they wanted: eclairs and Bismarcks filled with custard. I chose an eclair. We went back to the unheated lounge area of the Vleeshuis (Meat House, which used to be like a meat market but now features regional food specialties) and sat there with our jackets on, getting our faces full of chocolate and powdered sugar. It was JieJie's first eclair, a momentous occasion indeed. It was so quiet in that building, JieJie asked if people came there to pray!

From there, I decided we should walk along one of the canals and cross by St. Michaels Bridge, which is supposed to give one of the best views in the city. It was really easy to find the way, and we were rewarded with a beautiful view in every direction. We could see the wide canals where boats used to tie up in front of guildhalls for hundreds of years when Gent was a major trading center. The weather was perfect too--we really lucked out.

Here's one shot I took, of a tour boat going down the canal. We didn't have time to take the 55-minute boat tour, but that's something that would be really fun to do another time. The area around the canal was a good place for the girls to stretch their legs without worrying about traffic, but I'm glad I strapped them in The Stroller as we went down toward the cathedral - there's a major bus/tram transfer point and the roads are very busy.

We met up with the group to reconnoiter, settled on a meeting place and time, and then went into Cafe Leffe for lunch, just our family and Mr. K. The girls shared a Croque Monsieur (that's hot ham and cheese) and the rest of us had omelets. Our coffees came with something sweet on the side (this is the norm - if you order coffee, you either get a little cookie or a chocolate with it) and we shared those with the girls.

After lunch, JieJie wanted to stay with her daddy and MeiMei wanted to come with me. We ducked into a chocolate shop and got a treat - mine was made to look like an acorn and it had hazelnut filling. Hers was a chocolate covered cherry. We got extras for John and JieJie. Since we were right by the big cathedral, we went in there to see it and it is truly magnificent. We lit a candle together (she said her usual dinnertime prayer) and then went around the nave. The sculpture around the pulpit was most impressive. Above the priest is a "roof" and above that is a depiction of the tree of knowledge from the garden of Eden with a voluptuous golden snake entwined in the branches, and a golden apple hanging from one spot (at least I think I remember the apple!). Seems a clear enough message. There's a famous tryptich in there by Jan van Eyck but there wasn't time to see it on this trip--another reason to go back. Mr. K says he prefers Gent to Brugge because it's a working city, not so much a tourist destination. I'm inclined to agree, though Brugge is enchanting.

We gathered everyone together to head for Brugge, another hour or so on the bus. I had prepared for the ride - you never know the girls' frame of mind that time of day, so I had some sticker books for them to play with and they each chose a college student to help them find the pages where each sticker was supposed to go. I had time to look out the window and daydream. What a lovely way to travel, and the girls were truly great--interested in things, willing to try all the different foods, and good about the time on the bus.

We arrived at the Brugge bus let-off and met our tour guides. With such a large group, we split into two smaller groups for the city tours, and John hit it off with our guide right away because this guide teaches American history as well! The walking tour of Brugge was great, though I missed about half of it because I needed to keep the stroller at the periphery of the group. No matter - the city speaks for itself much of the time. We walked down streets no wider than the hallway of our apartment, and strolled out into magnificant plazas with stunning architecture. Much of Flanders and The Netherlands has a style of roof called a "step gable" - I have a photo of a street in Brugge that shows it fairly clearly - you can see how the facade comes to a stepped point at the top in the row of buildings at the right.

After the formal tour concluded, John joined us for a walk to a museum called Choco-Story (www.choco-story.be) where we learned a little about the history of chocolate, how it grows, what people have made from it, even different types of beautiful serving and storing containers called bonbonnieres. And of course you get to sample some chocolate along the way. The girls got this little sticker game to play as we went through, so they'd have to watch for different important things in the different exhibits. It was a great way to keep them looking really carefully at things, rather than just heading straight for the samples!

We had time to kill, so we strolled around the compact historic center of the city and wound up at the Markt, a great big public square with spectacular buildings on all four sides dating from architectural eras spanning the last thousand years or so. Maybe that's what's so impressive about both Gent and Brugge (and Antwerp for that matter)--seeing so many different aesthetics and building materials/methods right up against one another, distinct yet harmonious.

Dinner filled me with trepidation. We had hoped the girls would nap during the walking tour but they didn't. This meant that they could be at the very end of their energy for the day right during dinner...yikes.

We took up most of the restaurant, the 35 of us, which helped a bit. The girls had some buttered bread to start, and then a tomato cream soup arrived in little turreens--it was absolutely delicious. The main course was salad, steak, a baked potato AND frites (french fries) with ketchup or mayo. Mayo is the Belgian way. The girls actually did pretty well, and when they wanted to get down and wander between courses, which we normally don't allow, it worked because they just wanted to go sit in college student laps. The students were really great with them.

Dessert was called Dame Blanche, but it's really vanilla ice cream and whipped cream with hot fudge sauce. Mind you, in this case it was the best chocolate sauce I've ever had. Mr. K says it won't be our last Dame Blanche, that it's a pretty common dessert here.

We walked to the bus, girls fell asleep in the stroller and we thought for sure they'd sleep all the way back but they woke up as soon as we got on the bus and stayed active the whole time. Luckily there were several students who were interested in showing the day's photos from their digital cameras, sharing music on ipods, or just playing patty-cake games.

We got home and fell into bed at 9pm - what a day! Sunday we did little to nothing - most things are closed anyway. We watched some cartoons, hung out in our pj's, and did a late afternoon walk around the deserted Meir shopping street, where the huge TOTALE UITVERKOOP (everything must go!) signs are now being replaced by a sales term I need not translate: NIEUW COLLECTION! The fashion for spring seems to be, in no particular order, ruffles and more of the layering, with dominant colors being white and khaki. Blah. I may have to sit this one out.

Les Waltons

We get some really interesting tv here, and I think I saw the show to end all shows on Wednesday. JieJie and I were channel surfing (given the weather and lack of playgrounds, we've been watching more tv here than at home). All of a sudden, I saw the familiar faces of Walton's Mountain, and Special Guest Star Ronny Howard seemed to be playing John-Boy's cousin.

I say seemed, because the episode of "The Waltons" was dubbed in FRENCH.

You have to understand, not only did I watch the show as a kid in the 70's (every Thursday, I still remember) but back home in Virginia, we live only about a half-hour from the REAL Walton's Mountain.

Watching John Sr. and Jim-Bob having a heart-to-heart in French as they drove their old pickup truck into town was just absurd...changed the whole feeling of it for me. All of a sudden they were spies working for the resistance. I wanted the dad to get a beret out of the glove compartment--oh, yeah, and they definitely needed to smoke.

And Grandpa Walton dispensing advice like Maurice Chevalier-Shifflett (it's a Valley thing) to little Elisabet...the children calling "allez! allez!" while they spun someone around to play Blindman's Bluff...

And of course, the final scene. I couldn't wait to hear everyone say "Bonne Nuit, Grandmama...Bonne Nuit Zheem-Bob...Bonne Nuit Jean-Homme!"

A little shopping

In the U.S., it seems that every store is always having a sale. Every week, circulars arrive in the newspaper announcing that the best prices and best selection are available NOW or THIS WEEKEND. The word sale really has no meaning at all at home.

There was a time when stores had sales only once or twice a year, to clear out inventory before the new season's selections were unveiled. Shoppers knew that when the end-of-season sale was over, regular prices would be back for quite a while. My mom remembers that time.

That time is now, in Antwerp anyway. By law, stores in Antwerp are only allowed to have sales in January and July. This week, the last full week of January, the 30% off banners have become 50% off, and the 50%s are now 70% off. I hate to buy something just to buy something, but then again there are a ton of great stores and boutiques here, it's a world fashion capital, and if I don't buy something this week, the rest of the time I'm here I'm afraid I'll be kicking myself for paying full price when I coulda shoulda woulda. You have to understand, I can talk myself out of buying pretty much anything.

Even today, when I had time to shop, for just a moment my inclination was to shop for the girls, or read in a cafe, but I finally looked in the mirror and told myself "you are going to shop for YOURSELF today."

I had salivated over any number of boutique windows as we got to know the city, yet when I started out to shop today, there were all kinds of reasons I found not to go in and look. Can't shop in a store called Noblesse. Can't go into Gucci or any of those name brand boutiques. Can't go into a store where there are 3 clothing racks hanging like art exhibits, and a perfectly coiffed mannequin of a saleslady waiting to pounce on my credit card before I have a chance to say whoa.

I finally ended up in a department store called P & C on the Meir shopping street. I had decided to try and find a suit or at least a really nice tailored blazer/jacket, and I am happy to say not only did I find it, I actually took it to the cash register (kassa) and BOUGHT IT--and two coordinating & very very soft turtleneck sweaters to wear with it. The jacket itself is all wool, a nice plaid with lots of different colors so I can wear it with lots of things, and it fits beautifully. I'm glad I bought it, and it was a good price too --a $200+ jacket for under $100.

Tomorrow morning while the girls are in school, I will likely head to another department store called Inno and get a couple of nice outfits for the girls. There are of course amazing boutiques for kids here too, and a number of them have luscious dresses in the windows...but at 200 euro and up for something they might wear twice...think of how many outfits that money would buy.

John has gotten himself a couple of things too, and may splurge on himself tomorrow if he sees anything worthwhile. His favorite purchase is a fleece-lined baseball type cap to keep the rain off his glasses and keep his head warm in this increasingly frigid weather--it was REALLY cold this afternoon!

Antwerp Bicycle Repair

Just wanted to post, if it is of help to anyone else, that a good place to get bicycles and/or stroller tires repaired is on the corner of Nationalestraat and Sint-Antoniusstraat (not far from fashion designer Dries Van Noten's Antwerp boutique!). I can't tell you what it's called, but the man who runs the shop has helped me twice now, first with the right kind of pump for The Stroller's tires, and today he put a new inner tube on the front left wheel for 15 euro and we are back in business. He is very nice, and between our broken English and Dutch and hand gestures, we understood one another just fine.

If you have time, take Sint-Antoniusstraat east, follow it as it becomes Oudaan, and then turn left/north on the pedestrian street Korte Gasthuisstraat. What a great little pedestrian district! People were waiting in a line out the door from one scrumptious looking bakery, and there were lots of other great boutiques, a tea house, snack shops, and at the center of this sort of starfish of streets, a sweet little plaza with a few of those riding toys for kids, animals on giant springs (what are they called??) which the girls of course had to try.

The tram, it should be noted, is not the greatest solution when we can't use The Stroller. Today and yesterday the girls were late to school though we left earlier than we would if we walked! The trams get caught in traffic and we waited at a transfer between the 7 and 8 lines this morning for a good 15 minutes before the 8 came. Still, it beats walking in the rain or snow.

Simple Pleasures

There are definite advantages to taking a 3.5 and almost-five year old on a semester abroad such as this one. We chose this semester precisely because it was post-diapers but pre-kindergarten, so we have more flexibility on both...ends...ok, I didn't intend to go down that road but it's there now.

Major advantage #1: They get up early. No teenagers moaning in bed at 10am when everyone else is ready to see the sights. JieJie and MeiMei are up at 7am every day. Right now it's still dark at 7, but we look forward to it getting lighter and lighter.

Major advantage #2: They have no sense of what's "supposed" to happen. These girls roll with whatever happens because they assume that's how it goes. Sometimes the other side of that coin can be troublesome...they assume we know about all this stuff and we find ourselves saying "hey, we've never done this before either!" Still, there's very little disappointment, because there are no real expectations, unless you count getting to have candy all the time.

Major advantage #3: They take pleasure in everyday things. What are their favorite things to do? They can move laundry from the washer to the dryer because these machines are front-loading and easy for them to deal with. They love to take out the garbage and recycling and they fight over who gets to put bottles down the collection pipes at the corner of our street. The bottles fall down the pipe and we hear a most satisfying crash as they break in the collection pit below. They LOVE escalators (JieJie calls them a pet name, "escalaties") and luckily those are plentiful here (we have none at home). They've been excited to learn to ride on trams, and JieJie even knows how to read the indicator lights at the tram stops that show how far away the next tram is.

Major advantage #4: They are easily enchanted. They loved the castle (Steen), the carillon that plays in the beautiful cathedral down by the river, and they remember that just below that cathedral's steeple, there is the statue/fountain of Brabo throwing the giant's hand into the Schelde River. MeiMei said "that's where the monster is!" and I said "Mommy made a mistake, it wasn't a monster, it was actually a giant." MeiMei said "you mean like a Fee Fo?" Took me a moment to realize we'd read Jack and the Beanstalk not long ago! We're still giggling over that one.

We have a great system (at least it's working so far) for the girls to help keep things picked up. With only a few rooms, we can't let messes pile up. There are three rules: keep voices down, keep bedroom picked up, and don't leave toys out in the living room. As long as all three rules are followed, they get to pick a small toy off the "treasure shelf" in our room. It has become a really big deal to pick a small doll or a coloring book, and a great heartache when that opportunity is lost, but it seems to be working. If I have to pick toys up, I put them on the treasure shelf and voila, it's restocked. It seems to be helping maintain a kind of equilibrium as far as how much they can keep up with.

Yesterday we went to a big toy store and they chose these little battery operated yapping dogs that work with a little remote control on a "leash" (cord) and can walk along the floor, wag their tails, etc. These are in addition to the little stuffed dogs they brought from home, Arfy and Woofy. Now we have Barky and Rolly. And they want a real dog when we get home from Belgium.

Money

First off, the dollar has strengthened slightly against the euro, which is good news. When we left, it was about $1.33 to the euro, and now it's $1.29. Let's hope it continues along that trend. We were so spoiled in China, where one dollar bought eight RMB!

One issue we've dealt with since settling in to Antwerp is how to handle money. Is it better to use traveler's checks (NO--we didn't even bring them...apologies to Dad who is an AmEx retiree) or cash or VISA or a VISA debit card?

Cash...where to get it? Fortis Bank, the main bank near us and one with many ATM's throughout Antwerp, does not accept foreign cards in its ATM's. Last week, we ran perilously low on cash. We wondered how our students would access their own accounts. For a while there, we thought we might have to take a train across the border into The Netherlands just to get cash from an ABN-AMRO or a Rabobank! Ultimately, we even considered opening an account at Fortis Bank, when we discovered a Citibank ATM near the Belgian National Bank on Frankrijklei. The flip-flip-flip of currency in the machine was music to our ears! Our credit union did charge a "foreign transaction fee" as well as $1 for using an out-of-network machine, so that's the downside. Best to make fewer, larger withdrawals.

The advantage of cash is, of course, it's universally accepted. If rates are good, you also lock in the exchange rate at the time you withdraw. If rates improve, well...tough luck.

On to the VISA network. Credit and VISA debit cards are treated equally here, so it's really your choice which to use. Upside? For me, if I have cash I'm too likely to spend it. At home I hardly ever carry cash. Downside? Too many stores, including some groceries, are not on the VISA system. Also, that foreign transaction fee shows up for every debit card purchase.

For the length of time we'll be here, a new bank account doesn't really make much sense. If we were going to be here any longer, though, it would be a really appealing option, and the JMU staff member who moved here last year said it's a piece of cake moving funds around between U.S. and Belgian accounts.

Restaurant Review

Samoerai Japans Restaurant
Willem Ogierplaats 2-3
2000 Antwerpen

What a great place to take the girls! Dinners in Antwerp can extend for three hours, far too long for most children to sit still and stay at the table. BUT, throw in a little theatre, with teppan-yaki cooking right at your table, and two little girls will sit up and take notice.

Samoerai is a nice walk from our neighborhood, past the Grote Markt and around a little corner to the riverfront, just short of the Steen castle. We walked in and immediately the wait staff started to fuss over our girls, asking if they were Chinese, if they were twins (several of the staff asked that...the girls are at least six inches apart in height, but oh well!), and one staff member asked JieJie "ni jiao shenme mingzi?" (what is your name?).

We have a place at home called Kyoto that does teppan-yaki and sushi, but Samoerai felt fancier. We were taken to a teppan-yaki table and given bright kimonos to wear. It seems the kimonos help the chefs know who is in what group, a clever touch. Our tempura appetizers came in little boats with the sauce at one end, and one of the pieces of tempura was crispy noodles arranged like a little fan. I'd never seen that before. We ordered shrimp and noodles for the girls, and theirs was cooked first (parents appreciate that stuff!). Our dinners had shrimp, salmon, a white trout-like fish, and beef tenderloin, plus noodles. It was all cooked perfectly, with nice sauces on top to provide the finishing touch.

A waitress brought the girls lollipops to enjoy while the adults had the last meat course, and JieJie and MeiMei also visited the koi pond near our table a few times. Just when I would worry about them getting squirmy, huge flames would burst forth from one of the nearby tables--nothing like fire to get one's attention!

The ultimate was dessert, especially the presentation. Dessert is an ice cream sundae with some fruit alongside (kiwi, melon, a spiced pear, etc) which is no big deal BUT it comes in a little dish that is resting in a larger goblet. In the goblet is a cube of dry ice, so when the ice cream arrives, cold fog is spurting out all around the dessert, and it's quite the effect! One boy at another table was having a birthday, and his dessert had the fog AND a couple of sparklers in it as well. JieJie declared that she wants to have her fifth birthday there in March.

Good thing they'd had a nap yesterday afternoon, because it was 10:30 by the time we got home! We praised them over and over for their excellent behavior at the restaurant. If we can limit the amount of 3-hour dinners they have to endure, and choose them wisely, I think they'll have good memories of dining out in this wonderful city.

Agenda for today: The Stroller has a flat front left tire, so it's off to the Meir to find a pump. Let's hope that it just went flat and there's no hole in the tire, otherwise we'll have to take it in to be repaired.