Antwerp Aftermath: Some Changes Stuck

Have you ever gone away on a trip and come back determined to do some things differently? Maybe you relaxed so much that you resolved never to get so stressed out again, as happened to us the first time we went to Italy. Maybe you promised yourself you'd get out into nature more often, to remind yourself of the wonder and miracles, as we did after visiting Banff and Lake Louise. For us, Antwerp and our vacation on the Costa del Sol were a real wake-up call in terms of the way we deal with garbage/recycling, and conserve water and electricity.

And we actually have been doing things differently since coming home. Things like...

• not using the clothes dryer. We bought a drying rack, put up some clothesline on our screened porch, and we let the summer breeze work its magic. The girls LOVE to help hang up and take down clothes, they smell fresher (the clothes, not necessarily the girls!), the upstairs laundry room doesn't heat up so much, and we have noticed a MAJOR difference in our electric bill. Usually the bill in the summertime is over $120, but last month it was $85.
• recycling more kinds of things. The city doesn't take paperboard (cereal boxes) but I found a place locally that does. We are also looking into getting a composter to get the kitchen waste out of the landfill.
• using fewer lights. We replaced many of our bulbs with the compact fluorescent kind, and have been careful to turn off lights in rooms we're not using. In many buildings in Europe, lights in common areas of buildings have automatic shutoff timers that turn lights off after, say, 10 minutes. The stairwell in our apartment building had those, and it really makes so much sense. In order for those to be used everywhere though, there has to be trust in a certain level of safety, so people aren't worried about what happens in the few seconds between the light shutting off and someone finding the turn-it-back-on switch. Would Americans feel safe enough?
• Saving more water. We had a toilet that was leaking / running anyway, so when we replaced it, we found a dual-mode flush model from http://www.faucetdepot.com/ that looks a lot like the ones we saw all over Europe. The button on the top has two sections, one smaller than the other. If you push the smaller button, you get a .9 gallon flush, which is enough for most...er...jobs. If you need a little extra oomph in the flush, you push the larger button and you get a 1.6 gallon flush. The way it's designed (ours is by a company called Toto) the flush works just fine and isn't "wimpy" at all like some low-flow models. And compared to the old 3-gallon water guzzling commode we had, we are saving some serious water!!! We noticed that in a household of four people, we had the same water usage after installing that toilet that we had when our solitary renter was here!!!! And again, lower bill: was $47, now $39.

And now, thanks to the wonders of the internet, you don't even need to go to Europe to lower your utility bills and save resources. Just jump straight from reading this article to taking your own conservation measures.

Tweaking the Blog

Hey faithful readers,

We're not even on a trip and people keep checking in, so I thought I would give you some more to look at until our next travel adventure. The main addition, thanks to Blogger's newsreel feature, has links to news from Chongqing, which is where JieJie and MeiMei were born. Check out the headlines to the right of this post. Right now they are having some really horrendous storms there, worst in over 100 years, and the impact has been devastating. Lives, homes, and crops have been lost to the rain and lightning.

I will let you know if I hear any news from the girls' home towns of Fuling and Liangping, which are both in Chongqing Municipality.

Storytelling in the Valley

Okay, time to write what there IS to do around here. If you know where to go, there's enough.

Tonight my friend H had invited me and the girls to see a story teller at the Museum of Frontier Culture in Staunton, Virginia, which is about a half-hour south of Harrisonburg. We picked her up at 6 and took Route 42 through winding countryside, mountain vistas in the distance, cut over to Route 11 (the old Valley Pike) and then down to the museum, which is fairly young as museums go.

This living history museum features an Appalachian homestead farm as well as a few other farm buildings literally taken apart in Europe and put back together in the Valley to show the kinds of farms whose architecture and agricultural practices influenced Valley settlers. It's popular with public schools for field trips. We've been to a wedding there in the octagonal barn. It was a lovely evening to be sure and one of two weddings we've been to with reception music provided by the incredible Hackensaw Boys. I was going to, but now realize I don't want to talk about the storyteller we saw tonight, who was absolutely respectable, or the fact that I spent the whole second story watching JieJie and MeiMei attempt really painful looking cartwheels behind the storytelling shed. As soon as I got that Hackensaw music rolling in my head, it reminded me of so many things...Never heard of 'em? Sit back.

In fact, to really get the most out of what I'm about to write, open another browser window, go to http://www.hackensawboys.com/ and play the concert footage from Amsterdam that's on there now. I don't think they play many weddings anymore...they're at the Knitting Factory in NYC and the enormous Floyd Fest in southside Virginia this month, and they're from here.

Now let's get one thing straight. I do NOT like most country music. I love Johnny Cash (thanks Dad) and during the Urban Cowboy era I liked stuff like Eddie Rabbitt and the Oak Ridge Boys, and John Denver's music always makes me smile, but most of today's country-pop leaves me cold. I like what I guess is called "roots country" like Alison Krauss and the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack, stuff like that. Living in Virginia has made me appreciate roots / bluegrass so much, and despise the stuffed-cowboy-hat stuff even more.

At our wedding reception, over a decade ago now, John and I had a group called Dominion Express (Violinist Two-Gun Terry with friends Cameron Nickels and ??) play and everyone had such a great time. EVERYONE was up and dancing. You just can't help it when there's live bluegrass playing. Even my great aunt Mickey, who was a classical music professor at University of Idaho, sat rapt, wondering at Two-Gun's amazing fiddle playing. She knew good music and mastery of technique when she saw it.

But see, the Hackensaws and Dominion Express are NOT country music. They play Bluegrass, or more correctly for this area, "Old Time" music. A friend of mine who has played both styles tried to describe the difference between bluegrass and old-time. He said Bluegrass is more like jazz, where the group plays in unison for the first verse to state the theme of the song, and then each instrumentalist takes a solo turn with laid-back support from the rest of the group, then everyone gets together for the wind-up. With Old-Time, though, he said everyone plays full-out the whole time, and it can be physically grueling to keep up. check out some of the tempos in the Hackensaw clips!!

The other thing that's amazing about the Hackensaws...well just look at the footage of their concert. Is it 2007 or 1937?? You half expect Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, or a young Bob Dylan to come strolling in. Look at the pork pie hats, the flannel shirts...how skinny they all are, like they've been working all day at the CCC camp...and my goodness the instruments! Accordions, washboards, mandolins and banjos, stand-up bass violins plucked hard. Do they blow into a jug? I didn't see one, but I'd put money on it.

Along with Old-Time music goes Contra Dancing, or square dancing with two long lines (Virginia Reel for example). You can try it the second Saturday of every month at the Dayton Learning Center, a former high school in the little country town of Dayton, VA (never mind the aroma...it's the chicken and turkey processing plant. Hope the wind blows the right way and you'll be fine). Show up at 7:15 for a Contra Dance lesson, and the actually dance begins at 8, always with live music. It's a bargain at $5. If you're looking for a Harrisonburg-area old-time ensemble for a wedding or party, try contacting Steve Parks http://www.steveparksmusic.com/music.html who is an anchor of the local scene.

And sooner or later, if you live around here, you'll get invited "out to the county" to someone's giant piece of land where they have a year's worth of wood, paper, and God knows what-all that's set up in a huge bonfire. About 1 in the morning, when the bonfire is no longer eyebrow-singing temperature, the guitars and mandolins come out and you find yourself singing "Goodnight Irene."

So that's a bit of what there is to do 'round these parts.

But I swear we're feeling like we've done it all...restless...

unsure about summer vacation

Crazy, isn't it? But we still haven't decided where we want to go to get out of the 'burg this summer. And we seem to be among the few. Our street is like a ghost town right now with all the people gone on vacation.

But we're stuck.

Do we do the free-lodging family trek through Indianapolis relatives to Minnesota? Do we find a cozy cabin on Peaks Island in Casco Bay, Maine and eat lobsters and blueberries till we can't stand it anymore? Do we visit friends in Alabama at their lake cabin? Or...

Perhaps we should open the blog up for suggestions. I would say the three main criteria are

1. there must be a body of water involved, salt or fresh doesn't matter.


2. can't be expensive. Don't send us to the Greenbrier.


3. fun stuff for the kiddies = fun time for the parents

So what do you think? Let's hear about the best places you've gone with your family. We are not beyond showing up at a rental agency and offering half the week's rent so they at least have somebody in the property (an old Outer Banks tactic).

In looking around on the web I found this fun fill-in-where-you've-been map, and did one for me for the USA and the world. Ta-da!

Now I'm the Tour Guide

A couple of weeks ago, John and I were trying out the new Harrisonburg restaurant Downtown 56, an upscale spot that is part of an attempt to revitalize the downtown (it's in a renovated old warehouse, part of a project that also features loft apartments, something one doesn't usually see in Harrisonburg, county seat of a very rural, agricultural area). Food was fine, the menu was creative and it was clear that some thought had gone into things (e.g. all the prices are $xx.56...cute). Food was good, though we were so spoiled by the consistently excellent food in Antwerp, we're not really tempted to eat out anywhere anymore. After dinner, we enjoyed some entertainment by local favorite Scott Murray, who is engaged to an acquaintance of mine. Ah, small towns. We knew the hostess, one of the waitstaff, and someone dining at the next table too. I'd gotten used to being anonymous while we were away, but no longer.

As we sat listening to Murray's enjoyable singing and guitar playing, a couple across from us asked whether we were from here. They were staying the night in Harrisonburg on their way from Florida to the eastern shore of Maryland, retirees taking the scenic route through the certainly scenic Shenandoah Valley. They wanted to know what there was to do in Harrisonburg the next morning before they headed toward Fredericksburg/I-95.

What about the farmer's market they saw on I-81? They wanted to know. You mean the Shenandoah Heritage Farmer's Market? Yes, she said. Blecch, I said. Unless you're looking for guns or overpriced biscuit mix, skip it. It's hard to describe exactly what's wrong with that place. Maybe the building is too big for what they have there. It feels empty and depressing. Much much better is the Dayton Farmer's Market on Route 42. But the next day was Sunday, and Dayton Farmer's Market is only open Thursday-Saturday.

We racked our brains trying to think of any reason to stay in Harrisonburg beyond breakfast at the hotel...

...and we couldn't think of a single
thing

Isn't that sad??? Maybe we've just lived here too long, but the first thing that came to mind was what they could do once they got in their car and left. We ended up recommending that they drive Route 33 east over the mountains (passing through Shenandoah National Park on the way) and then continue across Route 29 to a section of 33 that goes through some beautiful historic farmland, then tour Montpelier, James Madison's home.

So what DO we do here in Harrisonburg when we want to go out and have fun? Well, there are plenty of things to do, but it's more a case of knowing when those things come around. This isn't the kind of place where things are going on all the time. Especially Sunday morning. There are plenty of free family activities (John is taking the girls to a free movie this morning at our local Regal Cinemas), plenty of little holes in the wall to enjoy an ice cream or a wrap sandwich or whatever.

But that's an article for another time. Gotta get back to work!

3,000 hits!

Well, it's official. The Family Travel Journal has topped 3,000 hits! Pretty exciting. I'll celebrate with a photo from our last night out in Antwerp. We figured out the setting on my camera that allowed me to capture Onze Lieve Vrouwecathedral by night from the Pelgrimstraat. Enjoy, and thanks for reading.

Debriefing: Energy Conservation

We enjoy traveling because it gives us the chance to see our lives from the outside, to question our assumptions about the way we do things in the day-to-day and why. When we get home, we see opportunities to make changes that are healthier for ourselves and for the environment too. Since we got home from Europe, here are some differences in the way we live each day. And by the way, as you read this, are you reminded of the way our grandparents lived??? We are...

• Skipping takeout food. Do you realize how much waste we generate from the "need" to eat food while we go from place to place? Think of the paper and styrofoam and plastic used by one fast food place for one day. If you to to Starbucks (which I never saw the whole time we were in Europe by the way) and order your coffee to go rather than "for here" in a ceramic mug, it seems like no big deal, but multiply that choice by the number of customers, and it's a mountain of trash. If you don't have time to sit down and have that snack or meal, either you don't need it or--just perhaps--your life is too complicated.
• Using a clothesline. In Estepona, our clothes dried much faster on the line than in the dryer anyway because the sun is so hot and bright there! I couldn't stand using the dryer when the sun was shining here, so I strung up a makeshift clothesline on the back porch as a placeholder. We'll probably put in a permanent clothesline out in the sunny part of our yard later this month.
• much more conscious of turning electrical appliances off when not in use, even to the point that we unplug the coffee maker, since we don't really need a third clock in the kitchen. When I walk away from the computer, I don't leave the speakers, printer and screen on.
• installing water conservation devices around the house. In Estepona, there are often water shortages, to the point that we were encouraged to water plants with waste water from cooking, rather than putting it down the drain. We will be replacing an old high-capacity toilet tank with the dual-flush type that is ubiquitous in Europe. The design allows you to use a small flush for pee and a more powerful flush for the other stuff. Why haven't we been using this kind of thing all along? They're not impossible to find here either, if you were looking for a convenient excuse. Your local home supply store can order one for you. I found ours on the web with free shipping. The brand is "Toto." The other thing we're likely to do is put in at least one rain barrel to catch gutter runoff for use in gardening and cleaning. I read that the average suburban house catches 24,000 gallons a year!!! Perhaps we should be putting some of that to use. Funny thing is, our 100-year-old house seems to have had a cistern and pump at one point, but all that's left are some terra cotta pipes near the gutters and a pump mechanism with no handle. Wish they'd left it alone instead of making "improvements," whoever's decision that was.
• eating "greener." We're lucky to have a farmer's market twice a week right down the street where we can buy locally grown produce. It stays so much fresher and tastes so much better. In Europe we paid a bit more for our groceries but everything was so much closer to the source, whether it was bread, meats, cheeses, even chocolate. We look at labels much more carefully, and if something has a bunch of high fructose partially hydrogenated crapola in it, it stays on the shelf.
• driving about as much as we did before. On this score, I have to say we have been doing better than most, because we live a 3-minute bicycle commute from work (even closer to the Family Travel Journal World Headquarters, ha). Once MeiMei finishes preschool, they'll both walk up the street to their elementary school, so we won't need to drive much of anywhere except the grocery store.
• composting. The city of Antwerp has everyone separate out biodegradable food waste, partly because the plumbing system wouldn't be able to handle a bunch of disposals pureeing food waste and putting it directly into the wastewater pipes. I would like to find one of those barrel things that you turn with a crank every once in a while.
• reining in spending on home decorating. Look at HGTV and you realize that America has given itself a House Fetish. People are tearing out perfectly good rooms because the stove is suddenly not trendy anymore or the light fixtures are just all wrong. Where does all that waste go? In Belgium, since it's far more common to entertain friends out at a restaurant than to invite them to your home, nobody needs to have a house with all kinds of room to show off a few times a year at a party. You just need a place to live everyday family life. We enjoy our house here, but have realized how much we spend on pretty frivolous things. I'm having a yard sale on Saturday to de-clutter a bit.

So I challenge you...will it take a trip out of the country to get you thinking about ways you could waste not and want not? Or at least waste less and want less?

Ouch, my heart!

Ok, so I just got an email from JieJie's teacher. We had promised to keep in touch. She said that every morning, when they take attendance and notice who is absent, they mention our daughters' names. Then they say that JieJie and MeiMei are home in America and that we are all thinking of each other. The postcard we sent from Estepona is posted in the classroom. Massive sniff and sigh.

I'm glad for email, but it's such a tease. It makes us seem so close, and then we realize that we are so far away. I just have to believe we will see one another again. That school is so fantastic, I wish the commute weren't so impossible.

The girls went to the last day of their old preschool today. They were invited to the last day of school party and they had a fantastic time running through sprinklers and getting their faces painted. Their teacher here said it was as though they had never left, though she noted that both of them seem much more confident and intrepid, which I absolutely credit to our semester abroad.

If I'd known the school in Antwerp was going to be so incredible, I'd have arranged to stay and let them finish out the year somehow, I think.

You too can hear Belgian radio!

Click on the title of this post, and you will find yourself on the homepage of Radio Twee (two), which was my favorite station to have on while hanging out in the Antwerp apartment. Eclectic and stimulating, the songs are a mix of pop and one-of-a-kind Flemish folk and singer-songwriter music. When you get to the home page, make sure pop-ups are enabled, and then choose "Luister Live" to get audio streaming. I heard a news update and missed the sound of the little "between stories" punctuation sound, which had wormed its way into my everyday sounds without my even knowing it. Listening to Radio Twee lets me imagine I'm not so far from Belgium.

Give it a try!

And by the way, you would never believe how much more internet is out there beyond the .com's and the .org's--every European country has its own suffix, and there are hundreds of thousands of webpages you'll never find if your Google is set only to English language sites.

Gotta love the internet.

Debriefing: Schools

First: BLARGH!!! The photos from our Aachen/Blegny/Bastogne/Boullion trip were lost to thin air...I thought I moved them from the laptop to a USB drive but I think I moved them from the laptop to the laptop and then deleted them. So sad. Guess we'll have to go back. At least we have all the other photos, but darnit there were some really good ones in there. I am kicking myself!

Second, I got an interesting insight from a neighbor last night, who told me that the difference in the girls before and after our trip was startling, that they are so much more outgoing now, that they seem so much more comfortable talking with her than they used to. I see more confidence in their approach to new situations and people, but it was nice to get independent confirmation.

I think it's going to take me much of the summer to come down from the winter and spring. Inevitably, I compare the way we do things in the U.S. with the way things were done in Antwerp, and right now Antwerp is winning in many categories, though not all. In order to stay focused (difficult to do these days), I'll limit discussion to one topic at a time.

Perhaps because I'm writing a guide for families who do the JMU Antwerp program in the future, I'm thinking most right now about parents and children, and how things are for them here and there. Take school, for instance. We had the tiniest peek into the school system in Antwerp. We got to see the fundamentals of how the school is run, got to know other parents and children, and observed how teachers and students relate to one another, their assumptions, their demeanor, the rules. There was formality and order, there were uniforms and straight lines, yet there was love. The teachers instilled self confidence in the children through high expectations and consistent strict discipline. I will always remember the day when I stopped by the school during the day to drop something off and saw JieJie (she didn't see me) running gleefully from her classroom to the recycling bins with a basket of paper. How important she felt to have a job to do! I often tell the story of the day we came late and found JieJie's class in a different room--it was so quiet behind the closed door that I didn't believe there could be 40 preschoolers in there, but there they sat, still, hands folded, paying attention. Then there was the day when MeiMei had a little accident in class, so unusual for her, and coped with the embarrassment by sticking her tongue out at her teacher...she got in a heap of trouble, as well she should have, but the next day she apologized and her teacher welcomed her with open arms and it was clear that the lesson of forgiveness had been attended to. The day to day communication between teachers and students was not all huggy-huggy and self-esteemy, but when we left that last day, the teachers (both of whom are also moms) lifted the girls in the air, hugged and kissed them and cried that we were leaving. When there is a foundation of love in a school, the formality isn't cold at all. It feels more like giving each child a kind of dignity in the endeavor of learning. I really grew to like that, and I miss it.

Contrast that with Kindergarten Orientation for JieJie this past week. First, let me say that we are certainly happy with the school. But it is part of a larger system (nationally, not busting on Harrisonburg at all) that has some really messed up stuff going on, almost as though it has reformed and assessed itself so many times it has lost its connection to the original idea--and I say this as someone who studied toward teaching certification as an undergraduate, and studied the history of the American educational system in grad school.

We walked into the school, and JieJie was beaming with excitement. First of all she had us all to herself, since MeiMei was playing at a neighbor's. Then she saw that they had a name tag with her name and picture on it, a nice touch that says "we know you and this is your place." Then when we took our seats in the cafeteria, her little friend Sara (funny that there's a Sara on this end too) ran over and hugged her, saying "I missed you so much!" and normally reserved JieJie said "I missed you too Sara." It would be so sweet if they end up in the same class. I looked around at the diverse crowd (Harrisonburg's school district goes back and forth with Arlington near DC for the title of most ethnically diverse school district in Virginia) and then the principal introduced the translators who were able to assist parents who speak Spanish or Kurdish. There was a positive feel in the room.

But then...the principal didn't wait for quiet before she began speaking. COME ON! I'm thinking, this is her first opportunity to set a tone, and she's talking while scattered groups of people in the room are still talking--and it wasn't just the murmuring of translators. Oh well, I think, it's different here, and we'll all get the information. Then she talked a lot to the kids about having fun and making friends, learning new things (yay) and about lunch. Then she spent the remainder of her time going over the security protocol for the school, so that no unauthorized people are able to come in and endanger the children. In Antwerp, the front door was locked all day and if you wanted to get in, you rang the doorbell, which would be answered either by the principal or the secretary, both of whom knew who belonged in the building and who didn't, 'nuff said. I know, I know, fire codes and practicality. We couldn't just lock the door.

So okay, we go to the rooms where the kids got a chance to see the classrooms they might be assigned to. In the first room, one of the teachers read a story. Several boys in the front row snickered after every sentence, though the teacher ultimately made eye contact with them and they got the message. Then another teacher presented a coloring activity where each child was supposed to color a person-shaped cutout. Great - JieJie loves coloring, especially in restaurants (ha) but then the American detail emerged: each person would be decorated with a sticker that said "I AM SPECIAL." Is it me, or do kids see right through that stuff after a while?

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to say that I was in the first generation of kids who were smothered with self-esteem language, which in a way starts to give people the idea that we are all just so fragile that we need to be told that we're special every day...it becomes empty words. I was born in 1970, grew up on Sesame Street, and when we moved to Edina, Minnesota from our (in my memory) more down-to-earth neighborhood in South Minneapolis, I had quite a surprise. One day a teacher I didn't know showed up in my classroom and wrote on the board Project ChARLiE, which stood for Chemical Abuse Resolution Lies in Education. She had all of us wear these signs made of cardstock and tied around us with yarn that said IALAC, which we were told stood for "I Am Lovable And Capable." I remember thinking about some of the other kids in the class and wondering why they were allowed to wear the signs (what a weird kid I must have been), because I had certainly experienced their most unloving behavior!

But back to kindergarten orientation. We finished in the first room and went into the next room where the kids were going to do a science activity, planting a pumpkin seed (which JieJie is watching over vigilantly and watering almost too much, hoping to see a sprout). I liked that activity because, since they chose a pumpkin seed, I bet you some of the kids are actually going to be able to bring in a pumpkin this fall that they grew themselves. JieJie has already decided she wants to make hers into a pumpkin pie.

So all in all, it was a successful night, but one that certainly pointed up the differences between Here and There. Oh--and did I mention that the principal at JieJie's new school does a "stunt" at the end of every year? Last year the students voted that she should spend the day on the roof. This year she will spend a day on roller blades. Harmless fun, you say. And I'm probably just being cranky. But Juv. ("Yuf", meaning Ms.) Hilde from the girls' school in Antwerp would never.

Away again, then home again

So what do you suppose the Globetrekker family would want to do after five months of go-go traveling? That's right: we went to New Jersey! We were home for a week (much of which I have no recollection of whatsoever) and a week ago we headed to Point Pleasant, New Jersey, John's home town. There were a number of reasons for the timing. We hadn't seen my in-laws since Thanksgiving, for one. Second, looking at their summer plans and our summer plans, if we hadn't gone last week we'd be looking at sometime in July. Finally, considering the Jersey Shore is a prime summer destination, the difference between a motel room last week and this week was about $200 per night. We basically got three nights for the price of one by going before Memorial Day weekend.

It was a good visit, and the Amethyst Motel worked beautifully. It's two blocks from the boardwalk. Rooms are clean and quiet. There is a pool in a center courtyard somewhat protected from the chilly winds. JieJie and MeiMei spent quite a bit of time in that pool, and where JieJie used to sort of float-hop while moving her arms in swim-esque ways, she actually seems to be swimming underwater now--exciting to think where she'll be with that by the end of the summer. I was also pleased to see that her little sister, who wants so much to do everything her big sister can do, displayed basic common sense and limited herself to the pool's steps instead of insisting that she was tall enough for the 3-feet deep (both girls often think the numbers are for age, not depth..."I'm 3! I can go there!!").

We didn't do many earthshattering things at the Jersey Shore, just the usual. We played skee-ball and some other arcade games, and I got lucky on one game of chance, winning enough tickets (325 points!) to get the girls something beyond the usual bamboo finger trap and plastic ring. We ate at Brielle Omelet, which has to be the best breakfast place in America bar none. We also ate dinner at the Shrimp Box, which has a nice view of the Manasquan River. Food was nothing to write home about, but then we are SO spoiled.

When we got home, I said a silent prayer of thanks that we are not going much of anywhere until maybe August. We're not sure where we're going yet, but we are strongly considering returning to Peaks Island, Maine, which is one of the resort islands in Casco Bay / Portland area. Peaks Island is great because once you're out on the island the pace is very slow, walking or biking...there's a restaurant or two, and a little grocery for necessities, a family beach for playing and swimming, and the rental cottages are quite reasonable. If you crave city activities, you just take the ferry to Portland for some of the best shopping anywhere. There's Portland Green Grocer, the Whip and Spoon kitchen store, Foreside Company catalogue outlet, and a whole indoor shopping pavilion that reminds me of Quincy Market in Boston.

More later

Back in the Shenandoah Valley

Well, we're back. And it's good. And it's not. I can't tell if I have jet lag still, or whether I'm just plain tired from our adventures, or some mixture of both. We've been home a week and I don't really have coherent memories of things I've done or conversations I've had since we got here.

You know that scene in the movie "Poltergeist" where they get the little girl back from the underworld and she and her mom fall out of the ceiling and land on the living room floor covered in glop, and everyone's there to catch them and wipe the glop off? Let me tell you, thank goodness we had people to catch us when we landed and help us make the transition from one world to another. It was a hard shock, mentally, physically, you-name-it-ally. Truth be told, at this point I just want to go back to Antwerp.

To backtrack a moment, here's how we got home after our lovely time in Estepona. We flew from Malaga Airport to Brussels Airport on Friday the 11th, then stayed over at the Holiday Inn Brussels Airport. I chose the place because it has an indoor pool that the girls could play in for hours before they'd be cooped up in a plane for hours. Mom and Dad stayed with us there too, so we had some more time together before they flew back to the Twin Cities. Mr. K met us there (SO NICE TO SEE HIM!) and brought some bags we'd left with him. He agreed to join us for dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, which actually isn't all that expensive, as hotel restaurants go. Would you believe we all ordered burgers and fries? We had had so many multi-course Fantastic dinners that we just wanted some grub, and it was good. Another sad goodbye to Mr. K, and then a truly sad goodbye to my mom and dad on Saturday morning. I wish they lived closer (HINT HINT) so we could see them more often.

We got into Dulles about 9pm last Saturday and all of our luggage made it safe and sound, except MeiMei's car seat, which somehow didn't make it from Malaga to Brussels. We still don't have it. They (SN Brussels Airlines) called to tell us it had been flown to Atlanta, and did we have it yet...no we don't. So we have an extra one to use for now. Whatever.

A nice lady from the JMU motor pool was there to meet us and drive us to Harrisonburg, thank goodness. The girls nodded off and I went to the back seat of the cargo van to do the same. I was in the twlight zone bigtime. When we got home it was almost midnight. That's six a.m. Belgium time. So we'd been traveling almost 24 hours straight. Ouch.

What did I think of home when I got there, after being gone so long? If you live in and love Harrisonburg, PLEASE don't be offended. I've lived here myself almost twenty years, but I have to say, as I rubbed my eyes and sat up all groggy in the back seat of that van, I caught sight of a gas station and a cinder block grocery store, and the first thing that came into my head was I live here? Talk about the bubble popping. John said he had much the same reaction. We had come to take spectacular architecture for granted and all of a sudden we're back in sort of mish-mosh American exurban vernacular, a little Victorian here, a little 60's boxy there, a little coordinated-facade strip mall over there. Blah.

How did the girls react? Well, they are at totally opposite ends of the spectrum. JieJie (the five-year-old) remembered everything from home. When we got in the house, John saw her march straight over to MeiMei's "treasure box," pull out a harmonica she'd gotten for Christmas and walk it over to her own treasure box--and as she went, John heard her mutter to herself I thought I left that there. Scary! A few days later we went to Kroger to grocery shop and she asked if she could have animal crackers, then promptly informed me which aisle they are in.

MeiMei on the other hand (almost 4) seemed to remember nothing about this house. She said "Mommy, I need to go potty. Where's the bathroom?" and as she sat on the toilet she said "is this our new house?" The next morning she asked me if we were in a hotel. She also refused a toy because "we won't be able to fit it in our suitcase." She doesn't like to let me out of her sight, although that's getting better. Both of the girls had to stick so close to me for safety's sake while we were away...for the first several days I had little shadows! I was afraid I was going to step on someone by accident.

We measured our girls yesterday on their growth charts and they've each grown an inch since we left...wow! On Tuesday JieJie had her kindergarten registration meeting too, since that had already begun. We're excited that we didn't miss the orientation night at her school.

So slowly but surely, our family and friends have gathered around, dropped by, checked in, and we are re-integrating into the lives we left here in January. Strange: our Christmas card basket was still on a bookshelf in the tv room and our holiday tablecloth still on the dining room table, though our irises are in full bloom around the front porch. Anyway, tomorrow morning it's back to church, and our calendar is starting to be dotted with picnics, meetings, etc.

Still, some permanent changes will take place as a result of our time in Antwerp. We are more willing to pay more for better quality food at the grocery or farmer's market. We are less likely to go out to eat (why be disappointed??). We are more likely to walk where we need to go. We are much more conscious of the amount of electricity we use and have been near-obsessive about turning things off when not in use. Same goes for water. We realize that our old (ok, antique) toilets are just guzzling water. In Europe it's really common to see dual-flush mode toilets, where you can choose a small flush for liquid waste and a larger flush for solid waste, and we are already planning to replace our toilets (especially the one that seems to run constantly) with these more water-wise contraptions. I'd like to start composting again, and I'd like to set up rain collection barrels to use for watering the garden and stuff like that. In Belgium, all of the houses out in the country are required to have a cistern for collecting rain water, and I believe Mr. K and his wife L told us it has to hold at least 500 liters. That would be a great policy for new construction here too. It makes no sense to let all that rainwater just go into storm drains and out to rivers and oceans, when it could be put to use around the house.

There are water shortages in the Costa del Sol (no wonder, since they are building there faster than in Vegas, it seems) to the point that the townhouse renter's manual asked us to consider putting a watering can under the tub faucet while we adjusted the water temperature for a shower, and then to please use the water for the plants on the balconies. We take for granted that clean water will be there whenever we turn the faucet, but I just read that the average American toilet uses more fresh water in one flush than some people have available to them in a day.

Something to think about.

I'll write more in the days to come as I work through the aftermath of our time away. I seem to be having sort of reverse culture shock. Ah well, better to have gone and come home than never to have gone at all, eh? :)

Exit behavior

So we are leaving. Whoa. Of course, to make it less painful, we are leaving in stages. We´ve extricated ourselves from Antwerp, and JieJie´s Nederlands (Dutch) is already fading! She forgot how to say "balletjes", or little meatballs, and looked to me for help yesterday. So sad. Her class spent a whole morning making them and she used to ask for them in restaurants, and suddenly there she was saying ball...ball...what was that mommy? My heart cracked.

So first we are leaving Spain´s costa del sol and the Estepona Townhouse. It has been just lovely, especially the roof terrace and rooftop kitchen. We´ve eaten our fill of spanish olives, paella, pulpo (octopus), calamari (MeiMei now asks for it by name and wolfs it down like it was candy) and gambas (huge shrimp with the lovely sweet taste of lobster). We haven´t seen a whole lot more since I last wrote, just the lovely little white village, or puebla blanca, of San Roque, which overlooks the bay of Algeciras and the oh so recognizable Rock of Gibraltar. How cool that we can look right across the strait and see Africa! And how cool too that the girls see it and say to their daddy, "take us there someday!" John and I went to San Roque while the girls had their afternoon lay down time and we had a great lunch, he with an entrecote (rib steak) and me with another local specialty, fried anchovy fillets.

Last night we celebrated my mom´s 66th birthday and what a great evening it was. First we went to a chiringuito, one of the many beachside eateries that dot the beaches of Estepona. We had a lovely seafood dinner and mom and I each had a tinto de verano, or red wine of summer, which is a lovely drink, just red wine and lemon soda over ice. You should try one! Then for dessert we went to a local ice cream place or heladeria and there was an accordionist playing fun music, an adorable active 18 month old boy making the rounds of the tables, and then to top it all off a huge pomelo sized citrus fruit suddenly fell on a nearby table, sending the entire outdoor clientele into gales of laughter. I have a picture of the almost-victim with the fruit, which she was planning to take home and eat, sweet revenge. Mom is laughing in one corner of the photo.

The girls have enjoyed playing at the beach, collecting shells, rocks, jumping in the just-beginning-to-warm-up water, and all that lovely beach stuff. Still, their stamina is wearing thin and they are clearly eager to get home.

Which brings me back to my point. Tomorrow we pack our stuff and ourselves into our VW Caddy and set off for Malaga Airport to return the car to Amigo Autos - Europa Goldcar. We fly to Brussels, where we will take a shuttle to the Holiday Inn...or Mr. K will pick us up...we´ll see when we get there I guess! We are hoping to be able to take him to dinner one more time. The girls will as usual treat him like the second coming of Elvis. We will find someplace to spend our remaining euros on Belgian chocolates to give as gifts when we get home. We will swim in the indoor pool (a must before transatlantic flights!!!) and then Saturday morning we´ll wish the grandparents bon voyage, then get ourselves to the airport for an early afternoon takeoff, then connect at Heathrow for our flight to Washington DC. By the time we get home it will be late Saturday night. We are hoping and praying for a quick recovery from jet lag...

It seems only yesterday that we were just beginning our Belgian adventure, waiting for the stroller to arrive...the stroller that has now been sold. Looking forward to so many things that are now in the past. I´m sad in a way, but so many things have turned out so well, and the girls have had such an amazing adventure, I have no regrets.

Looking forward to a summer by the pool. Hasta la vista, dear readers.

Quick note from Estepona

I found a place to write from Estepona. Because so many people have cellphones these days, our house here doesn´t even have a phone. Actually, it´s not bad as far as having quiet goes, but when we are trying to find information about places to visit, it´s a drag not having a computer anymore.

Estepona is quiet, pretty, affordable, with a well kept beach and boardwalk and lots of pedestrian friendly areas, esp streets that are too narrow for cars anyway, though some locals have the knack and then we step into doorways to let them by.

The Carrefour here...think French Wal Mart...has an amazing seafood section that´s all local stuff. You can buy a whole octopus if you want, and if you know how to prepare it. So far we´ve had flounder, calamari, sole, lobster...paella of course.

We have been thwarted somewhat as far as day trips go. We can´t leave Spain-EU because we have technically stayed more than a 90-day tourist visa allows, so if we went to Gibraltar or Morocco we may actually have difficulty getting back. Alhambra tickets are sold out til May 20 so we are left with either buying from a travel agency and paying their premium or just chucking the Granada trip and heading instead for Cordoba and-or Seville. We went to Ronda up in the mountains last Wednesday. It rained and was cold but we still had a nice time.

Hardest to get used to in Spain is the way the day is structured. Siesta from 2 til 4 or even 5pm is very much observed, and people really do rest up or at least I´d need to because they eat dinner around 10pm, children included! Wow.

Anyway, better go and check on that tour but I have a feeling we´re out of luck this time. Next time we´ll take them seriously when they say order Alhambra tickets as soon as you know you´re going!!!

Bye for now...

A Very Sad Goodbye to Antwerp

This is my last post from the Antwerp apartment, and I am so sad this day has come. We are of course looking forward to our time in Estepona, Spain (will write mid-May with the full report) but man, I never realized how truly sad I would be to leave Antwerp.

The girls' school had a big farewell party Friday afternoon. For the last hour they all played in the green courtyard, all these amazing little kids in their little uniforms, running and playing and singing songs. JieJie and MeiMei were given little flowered crowns to wear, and a class they're not even IN all drew a sheaf of pictures which were presented to JieJie, bound with a ribbon. My mom made chocolate chip cookies with Belgian chocolate chips which got extra melty and all the kids had chocolate around their smiling mouths. All the children hugged and kissed our girls goodbye, their teachers hugged them and kissed them and got teary, I got teary, my husband was close, my parents were really impressed by the whole thing, and the headmistress, who has often been very formal (though not in a not-nice way at all!) gave me the Belgian three-kisses as we left, and we both were about to cry. I'm about to cry just typing this. We promised to keep in touch and they promised to keep in touch. The one moment that really got me was when JieJie's teacher gave her and MeiMei photos of their class waving to the camera and said "these are for you so you will always think of us." I really had to get out of there at the end, because I was going to lose it, and that's not quite the thing to do so I didn't.

Man. We have gotten involved, and that means we have gotten...well, involved, you know? It feels wrong to take the girls out of such a fantastic school and such an amazing community.
I take back everything I ever said about the things I didn't like. I could live here.

Now I'm the Tour Guide!

So today, we dropped the girls off at school for a "long day" (they stay til 3:30) and it was my turn to play tour guide. What do you show someone who has only a few days to see Antwerp? I took my parents to the big cathedral, which we toured, then to the Grote Markt, then down the Hoogstraat and down in the little medieval streets between the Grote Markt and the River Schelde. We stopped for some nice asparagus soup before walking down into the Grand Bazaar under the Groenplaats to do two things: visit the Lijnwinkel (tram store) for two 10-trip passes, and get some dinner fixings for tonight, since we were going out to the JMU final dinner and they were going to be dining with and then babysitting the girls.

An amazing thing happened on the way to get JieJie and MeiMei from school--for the first time ever, I got checked by the Lijn police!!! I had just said to my mom yesterday, "watch, I'll get checked this week when I haven't been checked at all since we got here." Sure enough, the spot-checking finally worked its way around to me, and I'm so glad I had my pass handy!! The doors opened at our National Bank transfer point from the 7 to the 8, and all of a sudden a man was blocking my path out of the tram, speaking Nederlands in a very assertive way. I realized he wanted to see my pass, which he reviewed and handed back. Mom and Dad had their Lijn cards handy too, so it was no problem, but man, the experience definitely made me want to avoid ever being caught without my tram pass!! Our three-month passes expire Saturday, so when we head for the airport bus on Sunday, I will have to remember to pay a fare or else.

When we picked up the girls, JieJie seemed for the first time to be blending English and Nederlands almost thoughtlessly. She dropped something and exclaimed "whooey!" just like her teacher does! Then she told me there was a two-wheeled "fiets" at her school before realizing to whom she was speaking and correcting it to "bicycle." She used the Dutch name for something else on our way to the tram stop. I am willing to bet money that if we were here for just another month, she'd go through the looking glass.

The final dinner tonight was at die Siechel on Venusstraat, the place where the American Club met in February, and it was a great evening. Our students were dressed up, everyone looked so nice, and there was a real air of celebration there tonight. We were presented with the group photo (our girls are right there in front with school uniforms on) and a beautiful coffee table book about Antwerp. And guess what? We ate chocolate. Duh.

Tomorrow is the last Wednesday of the month, a day when all museums in Antwerp are free, so I believe I'll be taking my folks to the Nautical Museum in the Steen and/or the big art museum.

My big excitement today was that the Brabo fountain in the Grote Markt has been turned on, so I finally get to see what it looks like with the water shooting out of it. It's kind of gory when you look at where the water gushes most: the hand of the giant that Brabo is getting ready to throw has water spewing out of where the arteries would be in the wrist, and the giant has like eight spigots in the stump of his arm where his hand was. Ewww! But still, it's a great fountain and I'll bet it's a popular place to cool off in hot weather, because it doesn't spill into a pool, it just splashes right onto the cobblestones, which are arranged in a concave area that drains back toward the base of the fountain.

Not sure how many more times I'm going to be able to write before we head to Estepona, Spain on Sunday, and I have no idea whether I'll have any internet access there whatsoever. If the blog goes quiet for a while, it's because we're on vacation. Tune in in late May for the Estepona story and (I hope) tales of our visit to the Alhambra. Vamos a tener un buen viaje por seguro!

London Rocks!

Well, our last trip with the JMU group was the best yet. How lucky we have been to have such a fantastic group of students. They are everything one would want such a group to be: responsible, inquisitive, adventurous, mature, and just all-around fantastic people. We will see them at a final banquet tomorrow evening (see the American Club entry for photos of the restaurant on Venusstraat) and again Wednesday with girls in tow for a pizza party and tearful goodbye. We already have plans for a reunion bbq Labor Day weekend at our house.

Sorry I don't have many photos of late - my Fuji FinePix died and my hubby treated me to a new Canon PowerShot A460, but I'm loath to load the software onto the university's laptop just for a week. I did find a nice shot of Regent's Park, where the girls spent some serious quality time over the past few days. What a beautiful place to spend a few hours.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First things first: Wednesday, we sold La Stroller and said a grateful farewell to the lovely machine that gave us so much freedom to see and do since January. The buyer was a woman who provides before and after school care for two students at the girls' school, and wants an easy, non-car way to get them from place to place. She saved a pile of money, and we actually made a small profit. Free stroller--hooray!

Thursday morning we took the tram to Antwerpen Centraal to catch a train to Brussels-Zuid, where the Eurostar terminal is. Eurostar is a high-speed train that goes through the Chunnel to London. Ever since Eurostar service began, flights between Brussels and London have dropped dramatically because the train is so enjoyable and affordable. It was very comfy, and the girls settled in to color and play their LeapPads as we glided through the countryside. What a difference from January! Back then they were so curious about all the things on the train, it was like traveling wtih ferrets, but now they know the drill and just settle in for the ride.

We got to London-Waterloo and took the Underground to Warren Street, then walked to "ISH", International Students House, our home for the next three nights. ISH is hostel-like, but it's quite nice and you can't beat the neighborhood--right in Central London, diagonal from Regent's Park! And you don't have to be a student to stay there, though you do have to be affiliated with a university. We had a room with three sets of bunk beds. One scan of the situation and we knew MeiMei would be unable to have or even visit a top bunk. No safetry rails. JieJie has never been a bed-faller-outer, so she was the only one of us in a top bunk and she liked it just fine. The shower room was private, unlike some of the other more dorm-style rooms in the facility. Some mildew in the shower, but that was the only thing about the whole facility that wasn't up to quite a high standard for a mass student residence. It was safe, well maintained, sheets were clean, beds comfortable, and best of all there was a cheap, good cafeteria right down in the basement of ISH that serves three meals a day. London is SO expensive, especially with the current 2-to-1 exchange rate, so having a cheap alternative for meals--especially when the girls so rarely finish all of theirs--was crucial.

After unpacking and resting a bit, we grabbed lunch at Pret a Manger (yum!) and it was off to the British Museum, admission free. The Great Court is quite impressive, a former open-to-the-sky courtyard that has been glassed in a la the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC. The grid-like shadows from the glass roof make really cool shadows on the white stone facades of the courtyard. I took some fun photos of the girls. John headed off on the tour with the JMU students and I asked about family tour options. I was directed to the library to ask for an activity backpack. The British Museum has activity packs for about six different exhibits, two that are appropriate for really little kids like ours. We chose the Africa pack and went to the exhibit. The pack was really great! It includes a globe so you can point out different countries as you look at the various exhibits. JieJie and MeiMei got to dress a velcro/paper doll to match a chief depicted on a bronze frieze. They got to compare little plastic farm animals to animal bronzes. They looked at animal masks and made their own mask using velcro pieces and a velcro swim-cap type thing. They also were challenged to find masks depicting six different animals using photos of the real animal and clues to help them find the answer. I was really impressed with the activities.

After the pack was finished, we saw heiroglyphics, sarcophagii, big stone Buddhas, a totem pole, and various other treasures collected by (or stolen by, depending upon your perspective on this ongoing controversy) representatives of the British Empire past and present. We sat for a cold drink, some students joined us, and I left the girls in their care while I went for a quick duck into the gift shop's children's section where I got a Colorforms-style heirglyphics set for each girl, and two neat books, "All Kinds of Homes" and "All Kinds of Beliefs" about the different ways people do things in different parts of the world. JieJie has had questions about things like why the Hassidim we see in Antwerp wear their hair and clothing the way they do, things like that. It's helpful to have a book that presents an open-minded perspective on the spectrum of cultures the world has to offer.

We had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe near Green Park. It's the original one, and still in the original location. The memorabilia was fun to look at. We were sitting right near a suit Roger Daltrey wore--he's not very tall! We also chuckled to think that the last time we were in a Hard Rock Cafe, we were with baby JieJie in Guangzhou, China (that location has since closed).

That night Mr. K (bless him!) babysat while John and I went to see "We Will Rock You," the show based on the music of Queen. I love their music, and from a music and technical standpoint the show was very enjoyable. The show's book though (script) was hundvlees--DOG MEAT. The plot didn't make sense, people's motivations morphed mid-sentence...it just plain didn't make sense. I felt like we were in the 21st-century version of one of those early musicals where the plot is a series of justifications to get to the next song (usually 'Swonderful) and I thought why have a plot at all? But then again if you don't make a story, you're lumped in with all the other tribute shows, so I understand. And Queen's music is just plain strong enough...good sauce on the dog meat, shall we say.

Friday morning: world's largest ferris wheel! We got to ride on the London Eye and it was fantastic. I highly (ha) recommend it. From the fully enclosed lobby-like cabs, you can see the houses of parliament, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, you name it. JieJie spotted a playground, so we went there after disembarking while John accompanied the students to their next rendezvous point. He came back and found us so we could get lunch together, which we did, at a place called Giraffe at the Royal Festival Hall complex. It's just east of the London Eye after you go under the Jubilee Bridge. Lunch was good but exPENsive...like (after the exchange rate) ninety bucks. OUCH. And we're talking sandwich/salads and smoothies, not filet mignon. Anyway.

After lunch John helped me get the girls back to ISH for some rest time before heading to Westminster Abbey for his next tour. After they rested, the girls and I went to Regent's Park, which boasts four playgrounds, beautiful gardens, a boating lake, and the London Zoo. We never made it past the first playground! For two hours plus, they climbed, went on swings, merry go rounds, and seesaws, played with other kids, had an ice cream cone...it was such a great place to be with them and they really got to have their kind of fun. On the way back to ISH, we went through some of the beautiful gardens and they splashed their hands in fountains. What a fantastic park! I chatted for a while with a woman who was born in China, married a guy from India, they lived in New York for a while, and just moved to London last week to try living there for a while. I can see why. I could absolutely live there--though it's SO expensive (did I say that already?).

Dinner Friday was sort of catch-as-catch-can. I got the girls something from the cafeteria rather early as they seemed pretty wiped out. They fell asleep about 7pm. John and I did the "tag-team" thing, going out for a bite one at a time.

Saturday morning JMU was scheduled to go to the Tower of London. After looking it up in my Take the Kids to London book, I decided to skip it in favor of a trip to Covent Garden. After messing up the Underground transfers (got on the wrong line, urgh) we arrived in Covent Garden and proceeded to have one of the best mornings I've had this whole semester. Covent Garden Market is filled with performing arts treats. We heard an opera singer, saw a brass band play a great Beatles medley (how British--the medley used "Day Tripper" to connect a bunch of fantastic songs), the girls left our outdoor lunch table at Fuel (great pizza, and we got enough for the three of us for under ten pounds) to watch some men do Morris Dances (as in, "I'll be there with bells on!"--the men wear bells on their sock garters) and, the piece de resistance, A REAL PUNCH-AND-JUDY SHOW!!!!! I was so excited for them. And they loved it. All day they laughed about so-and-so getting "whacked on the head." Why is that so funny? But when puppets get angry and whack each other with slapsticks, it just is. The presenter said the first such show was presented back in the 1600's. I guess whacking puppets has been funny for quite some time.

We met John back at ISH, where he was finishing up lunch, and headed for our rendezvous with Mr. K at the Apollo Theatre near Victoria Station. The plan was for Mr. K to take the girls back to the park while John and I saw a matinee of "Wicked." It worked quite well. MeiMei had fallen asleep in my lap, but I know she is so comfortable with Mr. K by now (he's become like a favorite uncle) that I had no reservations about putting her (still asleep, mind you) and JieJie in a taxi with him for their trip to the park. And they had a GREAT time with him. He was going to take them to see the lake, but also didn't make it past the first playground.

"Wicked" was the best show I've seen in a long, long time. The script, the music, the performances, the technical aspects all came together to make a nearly perfect few hours in the theatre. I laughed, I cried, I hope to see it again with the girls when they're old enough. I hope my parents see it. I hope you see it, if you haven't already.

When we got back to ISH, we called Mr. K to tell him we were en route to the room, and he said oh no, just come to the bar, that's where we are! He had bought them sodas and they were happily sipping away, grinning like jack-o-lanterns (and that's including Mr. K). We had reservations for dinner at a Thai place called Blue Elephant out toward Wimbledon, so it was back on the Underground. Blue Elephant was a lovely place with great food. We got the girls an order of Chicken Sate and some rice and vegetables, which suited them just fine. The three adults got the Royal Thai dinner, which comes in several courses. John and I both said, as much as we loved the food, we felt that our Taste of Thai restaurant back in Harrisonburg very much holds its own compared with Blue Elephant and also Sombat, a Thai place here in Antwerp. The only thing Taste of Thai doesn't have is the dramatic decorating that Blue Elephant and Sombat have, but I find that ambeince is most important the first time I go somewhere, and after that it's the food that keeps me coming back.

The girls were well behaved enough to earn themselves praise from the couple at the next table, who said when they saw little ones at the next table they groaned, but that our girls were so good, the couple forgot we were even there! It was so great to see the girls swell with pride at this unsolicited praise. I was just glad they made it through dessert after such a busy day! They fell asleep in our arms on the Underground, and we carried them up to our room and put them in bed, the little angels. We are the luckiest parents in the whole world. Love those girlies.

Saturday morning, breakfast at ISH, then back to Waterloo Station and back on the Eurostar after a too-short trip to a wonderful, absolutely charming city that we can't wait to come back to. Not to mention the weather we had was very un-London: 70's and sunny for three days in a row. We got back to Antwerp (our apartment always seems so huge after we're all together in a hotel room) and all got to bed early.

This morning I went to Brussels Airport on the 7am airport bus from DeKeyserlei and met my parents at their 8am arrival from the U.S. Let the fiesta begin! Grampa and Gramma might as well be rock stars where our girls are concerned, and when they saw my folks after school today, they squealed and jumped and laughed and hugged and squealed some more. Dinner tonight was at the Eleventh Commandment down by Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk--what a place! It's filled with statuary and decorative arts pieces from decommissioned churches and cathedrals. It's so funny to have a beer and some nice beef stew while the saints and angels look down upon you as though they're praying for your immortal soul. They needn't; the food is so good, we were already in heaven.

VA Tech Shootings

We just learned via CNN of the terrible shootings that happened today just a few hours down I-81 from Harrisonburg. We have friends on the faculty there and hope they are ok. Our students have friends attending Tech and are anxiously awaiting word.

I was across the street at a pub tonight and people there were talking about it too. They thought it was significant that there was an airport there and thought it was just for the university. I tried to explain that Blacksburg is an isolated place that would need its own airport, but it's isolated in a way that is hard to explain to someone here.

Anyway, I'm rambling. We're glued to CNN. This could have been JMU. It's so awful.

We survived school vacation!

Wow...three weeks with no school for the girls, and we are now crossing the finish line, as John reads a bedtime story to two very in-need-of-routine little girls.

To recap: last week of March was a bus trip to France. First week of April was spent locally in Antwerp, just taking it easy and going to local parks, things like that. We found a great place, too, thanks to a fellow mom from the girls' school: Nachtegalen (Nightengale) Park, just a 10-minute bus ride from the Groenplaats. In addition to two very nice playgrounds, one for little ones and one for bigger kids, there's a little animal area with deer, a bridge over a brook filled with goldfish, so many nice walking and biking trails, and right there overlooking the playgrounds is the Melkirij, a casual restaurant / pub with indoor and outdoor seating. On nice days, though, you really have to stake out a table because all of the parents are eager to get a spot. It's great, because kids can come to the table and have a swig of a cold drink before diving back into the playground, and parents can settle in and enjoy the beautiful day, while keeping an eye on the kiddies.

Easter Sunday was a bit of a bust. The Easter Bunny part was great! We had decorated some dime-store baskets with extra ribbon, and each of the girls was so proud of her creation. They got some chocolate and some Jelly Bellies, and a K3 DVD (wish there was some way for those to work in our DVD players at home!). The mistake we made (and it was a really dumb one) was trying to go to a High Mass at Onze Lieve Vrouwecathedral, the big one with the clock tower that dominates the skyline. The first hour would have been sufficient, but we pushed our luck and soon had to exit in the midst of a full tantrum. I hate that! Then we tried to turn things around by going on a river boat cruise, but it only got worse, so by the time we got home we were about ready to chuck the whole day. We were both grumbly which made the girls even more clingy...I guess you could say it was a bad case of Family Claustrophobia.

So Monday we set out for De Panne with high hopes, and I'm happy to say that it was truly a wonderful week, a great respite from the pavement and trams and bustle of Antwerp. We stayed at Strandpark which is right between De Panne and neighboring Kokside. We got there via two trains and a tram: Antwerpen-Centraal to Gent St-Pieter, then a change at Gent to DePanne (station is actually a bit inland in Adinkerke), and then the Kusttram (Coast tram) to De Panne - Golfstraat. The Kusttram is operated by DeLijn, so that was free since we still have our three-month passes.

Strandpark is so nice and quiet. If you've ever been to Virginia Beach, you know what high-rises hugging the coast look like. The Belgian coast tends to be like that, but Strandpark somehow managed to stay small, hidden behind the dunes, just one-story motel-like rooms. It's actually a converted motel, and then there are some more recently built larger units. I can't tell you how amazing it was to be there with the girls and just reconnect with the best in each other. We were on the ground floor, had a table outside for meals and coloring and hanging out, the girls could go in and out as they pleased, and of course the beach is just great for kids--they immediately "get it." In no time they were building sand castles, fetching water, looking for shells, chasing and playing and laughing.

John came down with us to help us get settled in, and thank goodness he did because we did have to backtrack a few times to find the place and I'm not sure I could've managed two girls and the luggage on my own. He had to go back later in the day. The girls and I walked to the promenade (like the boardwalk) and got crepes with strawberries on top for "dinner."

Tuesday was PLOPSALAND!!! We haven't really been to a kiddie theme park with them before, though we've taken them to the county fair and to kiddie rides at the Point Pleasant NJ boardwalk, that kind of thing. This was just the most incredible day. I was prepared for meltdowns and frustration but I'm telling you we made it from 10:01 to 18:30 (getting used to military time, and you know it does make things clear not having to worry about the am/pm thing) with only one little glitch just before dinner time, which is to be expected given their ages.

Plopsaland is organized around a group of tv shows produced by Studio 100, including Bumba, Plop / The Wereld Is Mooi, Piet Piraat, Big & Betsy, and of course K3. We saw the whole park, starting with destination numero uno: The K3 Museum. I kid you not. We had not heard of K3 at all before we got here, and now we are surrounded by Karen, Kristel and Kathleen. Imagine the three prettiest, coolest kindergarten teachers got together and made themselves into a supergroup, and you've got a beginning sense of things. Karen is the redhead, a bit mischievous. Kristel has dark hair and tends to be in charge, level-headed. Kathleen is blonde, kind of the sweet girl of the group. They all sing beautifully and their songs are the kind of thing you'd actually like a little girls to sing along with. Songs about how great Grandmas are (Oma's Aan De Top) and songs about making your dreams come true (Toveren). JieJie said "I want the K3 Museum!" so we found it on the map and it was great - a room full of the K3 story, starting in 1999 when they released "Heyah Mama" thinking they could be the Dutch-speaking Spice Girls...but then all these little girls bought the single and they apparently changed their business plan and image to fit their audience. With over 2,000,000 albums sold to date, plus DVD's, a musical (we saw it on Friday and it was great...to think the girls' first musical was in Nederlands (Dutch)!), K3 makeup kits, K3 princess dresses, K3 cookies for the lunch boxes...anything you can get in the US with Dora the Explorer, they have it here with K3. I think we're going to be going through some serious withdrawal when we get home.

So then we went to the Big and Betsy area of Plopsaland, farm related rides. JieJie got to drive a car (on rails) through the farm. The Bumba area is like a traditional carnival with a carousel, bumper cars, that sort of thing. And so on and so on, through the park, through the day. The tilt-a-whirl cups were called the KoffieKopjes and they were Delft blue. I loved how local everything was, how unique to this area and this culture. Come to think of it, there's really not a lot of franchising here. Incredibly, I have not been in or even seen a Starbuck's since January. The food at Plopsaland was just fine, and not even as overpriced as I'm used to at places like Busch Gardens.

By dinnertime, we were hot and tired and the playful "fountainplein" near the entrance was the perfect antidote. We headed to the tram stop that is half a block from the front entrance, and rode back to Strandpark. I had to take turns carrying JieJie and MeiMei a little ways at a time because they were so worn out, but given how much walking and standing in line and fun-fun-fun they did, I was really amazed that they came home with smiles on their faces. JieJie said "that was a really great place Mom...can we go back again tomorrow?" Whoa! Given unlimited funds, I would have said yes. Actually MeiMei was free because she is not yet a meter tall, so I just had to pay for me and JieJie. Strandpark is a Plopsaland Partner, too--we bought our tickets for the park from the hotel, saving us a few euro and a wait in the ticket line.

Wednesday was a beach day. We took the tram to the west end of the promenade and spent the day working our way back to Strandpark. Simple as that! The beach there is really wide and the slope so gradual, like Cape May / Wildwood NJ. It's perfect for kids because you don't have to worry about some rogue wave grabbing your child the moment you turn your back.

Wednesday night John arrived late, and Thursday we tried renting the fun-looking "family bike-cars" you can ride on the promenade. Too stressful with all the people! We turned ours in before we'd used up all our time just to be done with all the dodging and weaving. Perhaps it would be more fun when the crowds are thinner.

Friday we headed back to Antwerp, refreshed and ready for that night's K3 concert at Antwerp's Lotto Arena.

Saturday JOHN FINISHED HIS BOOK! He's been slogging through page proofs since February, and this book (Doing History, with co-authors Michael Galgano and Raymond Hyser) has been in the works since 2003. We went to Nachtegalen with the girls and John had a celebratory beer on the terrace at the Melkirij.

That night we went to Kleine Zavel on the Stoofstraat for a dinner out with another couple we met through JieJie and MeiMei's school. Great meal--we had an appetizer of tempura shrimp wrapped in smoked salmon with avocado on the side, and John had a white fish called Brill for his entree, served with a Bearnaise sauce. I had rack of lamb with an herbed pancake and Mediterranean vegetables on top. We toasted John's book and had a very enjoyable conversation. This couple plans to vacation in the USA next year and we definitely hope to see them and keep in touch. We really hit it off. After dinner, they took us to yet another really cool place (they know all these little hideaways) with a Spanish theme. Tucked back in a courtyard near the Stoofstraat and the Zand, the bar has tapas, port, and my favorite Spanish treat: flan. Some people don't care for this delicate custard, but if done well, it's heaven (hemels lekker!) and this one was great. Wish I could tell you the name of the place, but perhaps you'll find it yourself when you wander around down in that neighborhood.

Today John took his day trip. We had agreed back in January that we could each have a day to ourselves. I took mine on the 4th of this month and went to Delft to meet my friend M. It was a great, great day and we got to spend some much-needed one on one time together. John chose Roubaix, France, the site of the finish line of the Paris-Roubaix bike race. It's a big deal race--you could've watched it on three different tv channels here today. He went with the husband of the couple we went out with last night, and they had a blast. Free seats in the velodrome right on the finish line. I was so glad he had a great day, and the weather is downright summery - 80's and sunny today.

I did not have my favorite day with the girls. We tried to go to a park but by the time we got there it was too hot, I forgot to bring water, the girls were out of sorts and cranky, and we got into one of those blasted negative cycles where everything just feeds everything else until I want to scream and the girls actually do. Oh well. We'll always have Plopsaland...

Starting tomorrow we have the last two weeks of the program, the girls' school, the whole thing. Hard to believe, but we're almost done here already. Wednesday is really our last "normal" day as far as what we've gotten used to here. Thursday to Sunday is London. Monday my folks arrive. A week from Thursday our students depart, some for home, some for a few weeks or months of backpacking around Europe. A week from Saturday we move out of the apartment. Two weeks from today we head to Estepona. Four weeks from today we will wake up in our own beds back in Harrisonburg.

Wow.

Paris Ctd

Just got back from a week at the beach...more on that later but that's the reason for the blackout.

Back to Paris: Thursday was very much a tag-along with the tour day. Friday I declared independence from the itinerary. Saturday the itinerary declared independence from me. Intrigued? Read on.

Thursday we had a full day of touring planned, beginning with the obligatory trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Since it's impossible to get a double stroller anywhere near the Metro without significant assistance (tips on this later), John took JieJie with him and the students (she loves riding trains and trams and had studied the Paris Metro map for days before we went) and I took MeiMei and the stroller to get a cab.

Who says Parisians aren't friendly? Certainly not I. A woman actually gave up her cab so we could get in. My French is good enough to know that she said "I will give it to you, madame, since you have une enfant." Then the cabbie was so nice, he suggested she get in anyway since we were going right past where she needed to go. 25 Euro later (ouch!) we were at Tour Eiffel and we met up with our group. It was hazy and chilly, very hard to see much. I told John the main reason I'm glad to have been up in the Eiffel Tower is that I won't ever have to do it again. I guess I've never been one for going up in tall buildings Just Because. But come on, you have to do it if you visit Paris, right?

Then we caught one of the non-Metro trains that serve the Paris area, en route to Sante-Chappelle, home of the World's Most Beautiful Stained Glass. The girls were starting to melt down a bit and I was sensing that they needed a break, but ultimately a nice guard (see? see? another nice person!) waved us through and we went in. The girls were definitely in awe and appreciated the beautiful colors. I have never been quite that dazzled by a stained glass display as I was by this one. Definitely worth a visit. John bought the girls some coloring books in the gift shop downstairs, one of famous stained glass windows and one of different sights in Paris.

The books came in handy at lunch. We ate in a pleasant, modern pizza/pasta place near a beautiful fountain and plaza. The girls colored while we waited for our food, and John, Mr. K and I talked about various things. Eyeballing the map, I thought it a good bet that I could walk the girls to the Musee D'Orsay for the afternoon tour. The group was going to take the Metro, obviously not an option for us. The inconvenience of the double stroller in Paris led us to the decision to sell it earlier than we'd planned - we may be saying goodbye to LaStroller as early as this Tuesday or Wednesday!

Turns out I guessed right, and the girls and I had a GREAT walk from the restaurant to the Musee D'Orsay, which contains a fantastic collection of Impressionist art including works by Monet, Degas, Gauguin, L'Autrec and my new favorite, Caillebotte (sp?). He did this amazing work of three men refinishing a wood floor that is really mesmerizing. Or maybe it's just that we had all our wood floors done last summer and I have an increased respect for the work...naw, it's really a great painting.

So we walked along the Seine and I quickly realized that with so many bridges going back and forth, I could go across and come back where the museum was. It was a great idea to have the program go on the Bateaux Mouches ride our first night in town because immediately I had a sense of where things were and could recognize the giant clock towers in the Musee D'Orsay, which used to be a train station.

We crossed the Seine at the Louvre and passed by three serious looking guards with automatic weapons. Wow. To my right I saw the famous museum with its new I.M. Pei pyramid of glass. To my left: The Tuileries Gardens. Yay--something I'd wanted to see, and I got a chance to walk through it with the girls. JieJie had fallen asleep (bless the stroller) but MeiMei ran through the entire Tuileries, chasing pigeons the whole way through. She's so cute the way she runs, still stiff-armed and kind of bouncy with her sweet little short hair swishing from side to side as she goes. Hard to believe she's only a few months from turning four, but I can tell by the fit of the clothes we packed in January that time is passing.

We came out of the Tuileries and I saw the bridge to the Musee D'Orsay. And I saw the many steps that led to and over the bridge. DRAT! If I went down and doubled back, I'd be late. Only thing to do was look vaguely meek and helpless and say "s'il vous plait, m'aidez vous?"

And again, Many Nice Parisians. Several people saw my predicament and lent a hand without my even having to ask. One woman said "bon chance!" after she and her husband helped me part of the way. But she was smiling.

We rolled into the museum's waiting area at the same time as the students, and Mr. K offered to walk the girls around so I could go on the tour! I was so grateful. Turned out to be brilliant timing too, because MeiMei fell asleep so all he had to do was take a walk with two sleeping girls on a nice day.

The museum's collection was truly spectacular. Our guide was one of the best we've had. It was a GREAT opportunity, one I'm so grateful for. We came out of the museum just as the girls were waking up, got them some cocoa and figured out how to get the double stroller back to Saint-Mande (don't try this at home and don't tell the Paris police until I'm back in the USA). We waited until someone pushed open the glass exit door coming from the Metro, held it open, and sent John in the exit with the stroller to meet us at the platform. Mr. K and I took the girls through, and it was clear sailing from there. Getting the stroller on the train itself was a piece of cake, but unless you have a really small collapsible stroller, leave it in the hotel room. The entrance turnstiles have a three-prong design but right after it is a double door you have to push your way through (like a saloon entrance) and THAT is the problem.

So. Dinner at La Tourelle again since it was so good. This time I had entrecote with frites (rib steak) and it was the best steak I'd had in a long time. The girls had desserts called Charlottes, sort of a lady fingers / berries / custard sort of affair. I noticed that Strawberry Shortcake is called Framboise Charlotte on French tv--cute!

Took the girls back to the Etap and tucked them in for a well-deserved rest. I had decided that I would not be going on Friday's excursion to the Louvre, no way. The girls deserved a day for them, and being in Paris doesn't mean as much to them now as it may later. They needed something with intrinsic appeal and I found a great recommendation in my Take the Kids to Paris book: Cite des Sciences, at the northeast corner of the city.

After a nice breakfast of rolls and croissants from the boulanger near the Metro (thanks to John who ran out to get them--love that man!) we said au revoir to the group and found our way to the bus, sans stroller. It was shaping up to be a crappy day weather-wise, cold and rainy, so an indoor destination was just what the doctor ordered. In no time we were at our stop. We were a bit late for the 11:30 time in Cite des Enfants, the very popular interactive exhibits for little ones, so we bought a 1pm ticket and got another ticket for the Light and Shadows exhibit.

The Light and Shadows exhibit was so well done! The design of the exhibit rooms was analogous to a house. so there was a parlor, a kitchen, a basement work room, a back patio, a back yard...all very easy for kids to put things in context. And somehow they went from looking at your own shadow to understanding a lunar eclipse. Brilliant work by the designers.

We had a quick lunch downstairs in the fast-food cafe. Again (how many times do I have to learn this?) one kids' meal would've fed both girls, each of whom ate exactly half of her sandwich, fries and drink. Oh well. I was getting text messages on my phone from John and Mr. K who were en route to meet us, their Louvre visit having concluded. I was able to guide them to where we were just before running out of minutes on my pay-as-you-go phone. Dumb me, I hadn't bought an extra scratch card before leaving Antwerp.

Cite des Enfants was SO AWESOME!!!! I can see why my guide book called this museum the most popular attraction for families after Disneyland Paris. We went in the age 3-5 area after assuring JieJie that, although she wanted to go in the 5-12 area, she hadn't actually "learned everything in MeiMei's area." So intense, that one.

I liked that only a certain number of slots are available for each 1.5 hour slot in the exhibits. We had plenty of chances to explore interactive exhibits about weather, the behavior of water, the way grain is grown, processed and turned into bread, the design of machines, and the piece de resistance: a little construction site! Kids don hard hats and vests and go into a kids-only area where they can load foam building blocks onto cranes, conveyor belts, rail carts, and hoppers. They can climb up to a second story to receive shipments of blocks from the crane. They can build walls, staff a checkpoint for rail cars, and move blocks in a wheelbarrow. I watched with the same fascination I feel when realizing that the seemingly random movements in a beehive all have a purpose. It's wild to see kids gravitating toward particular tasks and roles. Some of the blocks are too heavy to move alone, so kids need to cooperate to get things done. JieJie immediately appointed herself Foreman, her too-big hard hat falling over her eyes occasionally as she called orders in English to anyone who would listen. MeiMei tried her best to please the boss, and soon the two of them ended up filling in the walls of a skeleton house.

All too soon our time in Cite des Enfants was over and it was time to meet Daddy and Mr. K, who agreed that we had found a great place. And we didn't even see the IMAX 3D theatre! If you are taking your kids to Paris, do yourself a favor and block out most of a day for this museum and its surrounding park. If you are lucky enough to have nice weather you can even take a canal boat ride from the park down to the Seine.

We capped off the kid-focused day with dinner at the most popular kid-friendly restaurant in Paris, Hippopotamus. It's a chain, and we chose the one at Bastille. Kids get coloring books, balloons, fancy swizzle sticks and a smile from the staff. The food was great too! Mr. K was glad to have a new dining option in Paris. Only sour moment was a grinch sitting next to us who growled at me "atten-DEZ, madame!" when JieJie's arm entered the woman's aura. I can hear her now, planning dinner with her friend: "I abhor children. Let's go to dinner at Hippopotamus!" I mean come on, get real. Not as if there aren't a few other restaurants to choose from IN PARIS. Anyway.

We'd had such a great day, and Saturday promised to be the best of all. The itinerary was BLANK. Free time til the 1pm bus departure meant that we could do anything we wanted. We decided to get breakfast somewhere on the Left Bank and wander our morning away. I couldn't wait for a family day.

I woke up Saturday morning to the sound of John outside in the hall on the phone with Mr. K explaining that one of our students was in police custody for alcohol-related reasons. WHAT?! The student was okay, thank goodness, but our morning together was not to be. I ended up taking the girls to a playground in our neighborhood (Paris has a ton of playgrounds, thank goodness) and then to a mall, shopping. We tried to meet up with John but missed each other and my phone wasn't working. He and Mr. K signed the student out of police custody around 10am. He couldn't find us, so he ended up going to the Arc de Triomphe, buying a few postcards, and coming back to the hotel.

I felt like such a selfish baby for doing it, but I have to admit I looked out the window and cried as the bus left Paris. I was mad that I'd let my phone run dry, mad that I'd been unable to meet up with John, mad that he got to see more of Paris, mad at myself for not being happy for him getting to see at least something, and just mad at the circumstances that took our morning away. I just have to remember: I'm in Europe, touring with my family. Everything else is gravy. We can come back, and we have a foundation now, a sense of what we'd want to see. And the student had a really scary experience. My inconvenience was not much compared with what she confronted. We're glad that things turned out ok for her and everyone involved.

Not the best way to end the visit, but we know we would like to go back to Paris again someday. I think it would be good to do when the girls are maybe 10 and 11, when they are better able to grasp what it Means to be in Paris. Still, they had a pretty good time and we continue to be amazed at their ability to go with the flow.