Thanksgiving, Belgian Style and Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet

What started out as a simple Thanksgiving dinner with another American family, turned into a somewhat large celebration including some of our Dutch friends. My friends Amelia and I had been working all week planning the right menu and dividing up who would make what. Our biggest obstacle turned out to be the turkey. We knew that we would be able to order a turkey from a butcher but could not stomach the idea of having to pay the equivilent of about $8.50 a pound. I even tried to see if the food store could get one in for me but was told they would not have have them until Christmas. We were told that a German food store chain carried frozen turkeys, so Amelia and I set out to the closest store in the bordertown, Aachen to get some. We were able to buy 2 - 6.5 pound frozen turkeys for about $2.50 a pound. The next day, I almost lost it when I went to the food store down the street and saw huge fresh turkeys in the case. 

Getting dinner on the table was a little hectic but convincing 9 little pilgrims to sit down and eat was easier than I expected. Our meal turned out great and it was so nice to be able to share some of our Thanksgiving traditions with friends who had never experienced it before.

The next day, we sent the kids off to school and went to Brugge. We didn't have much time there, but were able to squeeze in a brewery tour, which we would never have been able to do with the kids.

Saturday, Campbell's hosted Sinterklaas and his 2 of his Zwarte Piets. The event was really nice with pancakes (crepes), ice cream and candy. Campbell's gave us a choice of gifts for the kids. All of the options were very nice. Sinterklaas called each child up indiviually and gave them their gift. Seeing Sinterklaas is always nice but I still find the Zwarte Piets very odd.

The Prince of Swimming and Prince Himself

Colin has been taking private and group swimming lessons since the spring. He has been working very hard everytime he is in the pool and is now starting to swim by himself. I think his teachers voice is really funny. You can hear her cheering Colin on in the background.

Monday night we went to see Prince. He just confirmed the date last week and was able to fill the 14,000 seat area in Antwerp in a matter of days. We found out that a few of our friends also got tickets, so we met up with them to take the tram over to the arena. He must have played for about 3 hours and it was amazing. I think there must have been about 7 or 8 encores. Twice, we left our seats thinking it was over and ended up going back in. It is hard to believe Prince is 52! The concert was fantastic and I hope that I will be able to see him again sometime.





On the way out, we were a little disappointed that the cops were wearing their standard hats and wished they had been issued raspberry berets just for the night. Also, a friend introduced me to Stan who she described as the rock star of Antwerp. I will have to ask around about him because Stan doesn't sound like a rock star name to me.

We were out a lot this past weekend and are looking forward to a few uneventful days.

Happy Halloween!

The kids have been so excited to dress up for Halloween ever since Craig brought the costumes back from the US at the end of September. Colin was a skeleton and Chloe was a garden gnome. The kids were allowed to dress up for school on Friday and they had a parade of costumes for the other students at the end of the day. On Saturday, we went to a Halloween party given by the parent and child group I am a member of. Colin is on a roll because he won best costume again for the second year in a row! I think that Colin forgets that kids in the US trick or treat. I am not so upset about that.

The school is closed this week and half of next week for Fall break.

The New Place, Again.

Here it is! The inside of our new apartment. We are almost completely unpacked, but still have a few more things to organize. We are also waiting to get a few more pieces of furniture from an American couple leaving Antwerp in a few weeks.

It is definitely strange having our things here but very nice! The apartment is more like a house because of the size and the steps. It is not fun lugging groceries up to the second floor, but we are getting used to it. We are still waiting for some plants to be planted along the wall of the terrace. By next summer, it will be great to be up there. What we like best about the apartment is the kitchen. It was advertised as an American kitchen because the fridge and stove are a regular size - or what we consider to be regular. I love that I can actually have 4 liters of milk, my salad spinner and drinks in there all at one time. We also have an ice maker in the door. People here don't use ice, you are lucky to get 2 cubes with a soda. All of the pictures are posted on Flickr.

Our New Apartment!!

We made the move and are finally in our new (and hopefully last) apartment. It is only a few doors down from our old place, but it is so much bigger. It is called an apartment, but most people would consider this a house here.

There are four bedrooms on the second floor, a small den and 2 bathrooms. The third floor is an open living space with the kitchen, living room, dining room, powder room and an area for our desk. The entire roof is a terrace with a sunroom. That is our front door with the small window above it. Once everthing is put away, I will take pictures.

It is great to have the space and not have neighbors living below us. The ground floor is a business.

We live just off a small but popular shopping and dining street - Kloosterstraat. It is mostly known for it's antique shops. We also have a view of the top of the cathedral. When it is clear, I will get a picture.

First Day of School 2010-11

Last Monday was the first day of school for Colin and Chloe. School in Belgium starts at age 2 1/2 but the catch is that they need to be potty trained. Chloe has made the transition from diapers to underwear fairly easily.

Colin told me that his first day was the "best day of school EVER". Unlike Colin, most of the kids in his class live permanently in Beglium so it is nice to see the same group of kids return for school ever year.

Chloe was so excited to go to school. The first day, Colin showed her what to do and sat down with her to wait for class to start. She hasn't cried once and has not had any potty accidents, yet.

Here is the good first day of school picture:

And if you thought that looked forced, here's the first take:

Making the Move - For Real

It took 2 days and a 40 foot container, but we are now (almost) moved out of our house. We are hoping to have our stuff arrive around the end of September, but we do not have a delivery date yet.