Our Local Star and Bal van de Burgemeester

Every year one of the local papers, Gazet Van Antwerpen, prints pictures of most of the Grade 1 classes throughout the Antwerp area. This year they photographed 1208 classes! Today was the day and Colin's class went to the news shop to buy their copies!

This past weekend we ate at the oldest bar in Antwerp. Not sure how this slipped by us until now, but we are sure to be back. The bar, Quinten Matsijs, dates back to 1565 and is named after the painter who worked in Antwerp. After dinner, we head over to the Bal van de Burgemeester or Mayor's Ball. It is common here for the cities/towns to throw a public birthday party for their mayors. We attended the party last year so we knew what to expect. As usually, we attracted and had some interesting times with some odd ball locals.

With Tracie and one of our new friends.

Soccer, Red Heads, Dogs and more...



Barbara and Roman



We are just coming off a busy week and a half.



Friends of ours from Atlanta came to visit with their 2 kids, Roman -5 years and Beatrice -17 months. Both of their kids have red hair and I was able to lure them to Belgium to attend the Roodharigendag (Red Hair Day) in Breda, The Netherlands. It was definitely a site to see. There easily had to be 2000 red heads that gathered for a weendend long festival that included taking an aerial group shot of the attendees. Antwerp was also celebrating their liberation from the Germans in WWII all weekend with different events around the city. The four of us managed to get out 2 nights in a row without the kids for dinner, drinks and the Liberation Ball.



Getting ready for the group photo

On Tuesday night, we attended the Belgium vs. USA soccer game in Brussels. When Craig bought the tickets, he had to declare who we were rooting for because they seat similar supporters in the same section. It was clear that we were the visiting team because we had a seperate entrance that was far from parking and at the back of the back of the stadium. It was my first soccer game and the American supporters were able to fill up almost an entire section. We went outfitted with our USA soccer gear that Barbara brought from the US. Unlike the Belgian sections, the American supporters were standing most of the game and definitely demonstrated the proper way to do the wave when it reached us. We even had Captain America, the Statue of Liberty and Uncle Sam sitting by us. The US lost but it was nice that the team walked over to our section after the game and thanked us for our support.

The American Section

Colin and Chloe also started  school this past Monday. Like last year, I was the most excited for the beginning of the school year. This year, Colin is required to wear a uniform. They were both very happy when I picked them up at the end of the day. Colin was excited to let me know that there is a girl in his class from New Jersey named Lauren!

KG1 and Grade 1

Barbara, Todd and the kids left on Friday morning and we decided to have a low key weekend and rest up for the Bollekesloop 5K run we registered for on Sunday. If the name of the run sounds familiar, it's because it was hosted by the De Koninck brewery who also hosted the Bollekesfeest from my previous post. We met up with a group of friends and cheered on the kids as the completed the 1K Kids Run. Colin was giving it his all until he ran into someone and hurt his knee. He finished the run, but cried his way to the finish line. Craig and I ran the 5K and both completed it with record times - Craig 29:00  Me 29:13. You know you are in Belgium when at the end of the race you have a beer and a cone of fries instead of a banana or an orange.

Colin and his fellow competitors, Liam and Olive.



Runner #9222



We also had a surprise visitor for the weekend. Our friend Andrew's dog - Aussie! The kids didn't leave him alone all weekend, but I do think he liked the walk around the city we took.