Byrd Week in Review (of Sorts)

Thank you to all who have sent sweet notes to us, encouraging us on, commiserating with us, and offering to send us food from home. As some of you have found out, it's EXORBITANTLY expensive to send a package quickly. Plus, I found that we have to pay a customs tax (or something) on it when it arrives (it's not much, but it seems silly to have to pay and pay and pay for a box of treats!) I discovered this week that boxes are delivered by the TaxiPost company (not the mailman, who rides his bike), and if you're not home, they'll send you a letter (in French and Dutch) asking you to come pick it up or call for a redelivery date. And you think the cable company is bad -- I was given the hours of "between 9 am and 7 pm" for a redelivery.

Amelia
Amelia is definitely picking up on them speaking differently here. She's making up "definitions" of words. Just now, we were talking about going to today's market to pick up new tulips. She said that she would point to the ones she wanted. Then she said "hine -- that means point to the flowers you want." It's very cute. She's made up lots of new words and definitions, but she doesn't remember them. She's occasionally said "merci" and will try to repeat some of the french words. Yesterday, we saw a My Little Pony video in the grocery store, and she kept repeating "Mon Petit Poney" (which is what it read on the video).

She also learned how to write her name this week, and she also wrote Mom. Hooray!



She had a terrible choking incident last week with a banana -- I can hardly bear to write about it. She couldn't breathe or cough or anything. I'm trying to Heimlich her while trying to dial the emergency number. She finally coughed it out and immediately forgot about the whole incident. I was fine until that night and then couldn't sleep. I ended up sleeping at the foot of her bed just to make myself calm. So she and Jack are getting the same bite-sized pieces!! :)

Banking in Brussels
Did you know they don't use checks in Brussels? It's all electronic. So you use your debit card for just about everything. It has a little chip on it, so you stick the short end of the card into the reader and enter your PIN. And you don't automatically get statements from the bank -- you have to go online to do it or can go to the bank, where they have 10 little kiosks in the lobby where you sit down and get information on your account. I'm a little skeptical (I like my paper statements), but we'll see how it goes. Paying bills is also electronic -- instead of sending checks, you'll fill out electronic transfer forms at the bottom of your bill and send that in. I still haven't figured that out yet.

Also not figured out yet is the Proton card, which is part of your debit card. But for the Proton side of it, it's more like a gift card. You load a set amount of money on it (say, 50 euros), and you'll use that to pay at places that don't accept your debit card or if you want to pay for a little something at the bakery without cash.

We just got a credit card too, which is different. Again, you insert it with the short end and have to enter a pin. It's not very widely used, which is unusual, and there are no rewards cards. Also, your bill is automatically deducted -- in full -- from your checking account each month. Quite different than home!!

Now Accepting Visitors
Our furniture was delivered today, and we're overwhelmed with boxes. Everything seems to have made it, but we have a lot of unpacking to do. I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight!

For those of you planning your trips well in advance, I can't wait to see the flower carpet in the Grand Place in August 2008. Here are some links for you all to look at:

http://www.worldeventsguide.com/event.ehtml?o=758
http://www.flowercarpet.be/fraccu.htm

It appears that they do this every two years, but I'll have to research more. It looks amazing! (Madelyn -- I'm sure you'll love this especially!!)

Link to map showing about where we live -- this map (should) show about where Ste. Alix (our town square) is in Brussels. Just north, you'll see my walk to Stockel Square, and you should be able to scan out even further and see where we are in relation to the city of Brussels proper.

Other Oddities

• They charge you for ketchup and other condiments
• Lots of things close at lunchtime (like from 12:15-2:30), and almost everything is shuttered by 7 pm
  
• We have no garbage disposal. You can't imagine how much this stinks (I mean figuratively, although it will probably stink literally one of these days, too).
• I have not seen one travel mug of coffee. Ever. No take-out coffee (other than a little dixie cup full). How do these folks function??

Overall, the kids have adjusted wonderfully to the change. I have my ups and downs -- often on the same day. I was so excited today to get our things, but at the same time, it means we're committed here, which is still a shock. Even though many people speak English, it's the one time where they don't speak English and you can't speak French that is most frustrating. I've been in tears once or twice after some of the encounters. So I'm trying to learn my basic French and hope to set up some lessons soon.

I made it to the Carrefour (like Wal-Mart) for some basics and was quite pleased. Just stocked up on some European appliances (clock radios, hairdryer) and some other things. Had to buy swim caps for the kids and I for the local pool (apparently, you're required to wear swim caps -- infants too -- and boys/men must wear Speedos, not swim trunks. TJ is horrified, and I can't fathom how I'll get a speedo over Jack's swim diaper.) But apparently the Speedo rule is easing at some, but not all, pools. I just hope our pool is one that allows the swim trunks.

Below are some photos from the Stockel market.

More Belgian Oddities

Laundry and Drycleaning
Bought a big box of laundry detergent, and read the instructions for how much powder to use in the laundry. Then dug through the box (literally. with my hands first, then with a pasta scoop) to uncover the plastic measuring cup. Never found it. Learned yesterday that they don't actually include the scoop in the detergent (Belgium, if you haven't figured out from my other posts, is very "green" and doesn't like to be wasteful.) But if you want the scoop, you call the company and they will mail it to you. So in the meantime, I'm using my measuring cups for laundry detergent (so, Deb, I can't tell you how excited I am to be awaiting your set of measuring cups that I can actually use for cooking!!)

Speaking of laundry, drycleaners are few and far between -- and quite expensive -- here. Shirts are 3 euros, and pants are 5. And I don't think there's same-day service. So I tried throwing TJ's shirts in the (mini) washer, and they actually came out quite wrinkle-free. Thank goodness for those no-iron materials. I think I'll pay myself 2 euros a shirt to do his dress clothes, and then I'll take myself to the spa (actually, I read that Spa is a town in Belgium upon which the whole spa concept is based).

Other things
The kids and I went to our neighbor's house Friday afternoon for coffee and waffles. They are German, by way of Ireland, and have 6 kids, the youngest of which is 4. Amelia and Jack had a great time playing there, especially when they found out that 2 bunnies also lived there. They have a 16-year-old daughter, too, who we found out does some babysitting. So TJ and I are excited to possibly have a babysitter next door!

I noticed that Jack started doing a lot of coughing while we were over at the neighbor's house, but didn't think much of it. Then around 10 Friday night, he started in with a croupy cough and some wheezing. Fantastic. So Jack and I bundled up and made 25 minutes worth of lazy circles around our porch in the cool night air, while TJ researched online to make a diagnosis between croup or an allergic reaction to rabbits (which, we found, cause more allergies than dogs). After a restless night, Jack woke up on Saturday with a cold (from, no doubt, the creche -- the nursery -- he and Amelia stayed in while I took my Hints class). We all enjoyed our few days of good health, and now we're back to being sick.

Lunch at Pizza Hut and Car Shopping
We went out car shopping Saturday, and first stopped at Pizza Hut for lunch. It was packed (making me feel good that the Americans have contributed to European society), and Amelia was thrilled to have a pepperoni pizza. We all enjoyed it -- it was nice to have something familiar to eat. We still haven't gone to McDonalds (actually, we're not sure where one is), but give us time.

We also went out car shopping. Didn't buy anything, but we soon will. The Toyota dealership had a moonbounce inside for the kids, which Amelia loved, and they had chocolate-dipped cookies, which Jack loved.

We're not sure how the car buying process works (do they haggle?), but at least we got some good ideas. I'll probably end up with a smaller car (European streets and parking lots just aren't built for minivans!) -- I'm not even sure a double stroller will fit in the trunk. But given that we don't do much buying in bulk here, I'm sure it will work out just fine.

Cell Phones
I went out to buy a cell phone yesterday -- just a basic pay as you go plan, since at this point, I have only TJ to call. In Europe, you use minutes only for the calls you make, not the ones you receive. So I bought just a basic 5 euro a month plan, which gives me 20 minutes of talk time and 200 minutes of text messaging. So I plan on texting TJ "call me" whenever I need to use the phone. All in all, not a bad deal, considering the phone will be just for emergencies right now.

I walked to the cell phone store, in Stockel, and by the time I left, it had started to drizzle (no surprise). It was actually rather pleasant (something I never would have imagined myself saying back in VA -- maybe I'm acclimating to the weather), and I took the opportunity to pop into a patisserie and pick up chocolate brioches and this decadent looking chocolate and banana dessert. The bakeries here really are to die for. An amazing assortment, and everything we've had is just heavenly.

Today is Sunday, which means everything (mostly) is closed. We don't really know what to do with ourselves on Sunday. We're so used to doing things around the house, or running errands. We usually just drive around on Sunday, trying to figure out where places are and getting familiar with the roads.

Hope all is well in the US -- we miss everyone terribly but hope to be receiving visitors once our furniture arrives in a week or two!

Learning More and More

I've been taking a "Hints" class for living in Belgium, and it's been reassuring. I've met some other women who are new to Brussels, and we've been learning a lot. Today's class was all about cleaning products (the water is very hard here, so you need to add salt to the washer and the dishwasher. Plus the washing machines heat their own water, so a cycle takes forever to run.), driving in Belgium (they have some very odd rules), and how to get rid of trash (you think it would be easy, but it's not).

You buy special bags for your regular trash (slightly expensive), bags for your paper recyclables (less expensive than trash bags) and bags for your cans and plastics (also less expensive than the trash bags). So the idea is, you don't want to spend all your money on trash bags, so you'll recycle as much as you can. For bottles, you have to take them to a special bottle bank (they're located all around town) and you drop them off there. If the trash men see something in your trash bag that doesn't belong, they'll put a red sticker on it and will leave it. Then it's up to you to figure out what you did wrong. So far, we haven't had any trouble, but I know we will.

We found a local pediatrician today for the kids that we like (Jack got his all-clear after his ear infection), so that's good news.

My folks did a mission of mercy for me today, getting our marriage certificate and my birth certificate apostilled. We've had all sorts of trouble with those documents, and my parents took it upon themselves to get it done, and they did so with grand success. So that means we can register in the commune (the town) and get our residency card.

Our water shipment is well on its way and should arrive Jan. 29 in Antwerp (2 days early!), and should be down to us a week or so later. Keep your fingers crossed. Last week, you may have seen pictures of a similar container ship that ran aground off of England, and many containers washed ashore, spilling their contents. TJ and I envisioned people sifting through our container, wondering what they would pilfer... Luckily, our ship is still sailing well.

These past two weeks have included probably been the least amount of shopping I've ever done. Shopping has only been grocery shopping or buying our wireless modem. There are lots of shops in Stockel, which I hope to visit one Saturday when I can leave the kids at home. By law, there are sales only 2 times a year in Brussels (didja hear that, Macy's??) , and now is one of those sales. Of course, I don't know what a good/bad price for things is, but I'm sure willing to go out and look.

Amelia is excited because I told her that there are zebras by TJ's office (it's some sort of animal park that is a breeding ground for the Antwerp Zoo), and she is just beside herself to see the zebras. We've been driving with TJ to work on Tuesday and Thursday so we can have the car to go to my Hints class, and she keeps telling me to keep my eye out for zebras. With luck, we'll be able to take her there one weekend soon.

Tomorrow (Friday) is the Stockel market. I'm hoping that the weather will be warm enough to walk down there. Amelia really wants to buy some white tulips for her ponies (and at 3 euros, how can I say no?).

The weather has definitely turned colder (in the 30s today), but supposed to warm back up to the 40s tomorrow. The radiator heat is keeping us warm (we have no forced air circulation nor any AC), but the radiators still take some getting used to.

That's all for today. Hope all is well with everyone. I've included some pictures from our house -- one of the park across from our house and one of the "skyline."

Starting our Blog...

Instead of writing so many e-mails, and for fear that I'll forget some big piece of drama here, I'm going to try my hand at blogging. Not sure how it will work, but I'll give it a try. Hope everyone enjoys it.

Week 2 in Brussels
So here are some of the idiosyncracies I've noticed:

• No garbage disposal
• No take-out coffee
• You pay for your trash by the bag. Regular trash bags are more expensive than bags for recyclables (hence, the more you recycle, the more you save by using fewer trash bags)
• Few processed foods, and few food mixes (no cookie dough, brownie mix, cake mix, rice-a-roni)
• Everyone brings their own bags to the grocery store, and you bag your own groceries, and you have to pay 1 euro for a cart (which you get back at the end when you return the cart in line).

The grocery stores sure aren't like the ones at home, where you can buy light bulbs, medicine and other non-food things. There's very little of that sort available at the stores here. There is a store called Carrefour (which I guess is like a Wal-Mart) and one called Brico (like Home Depot) that aren't too far away and that cover those other things we need for the house and daily living. We haven't been there yet, and I've heard the lines (even on a good day) are an hour long.

We got good news that our water shipment is on the way and should arrive in Antwerp on the 31st. We've gotten along quite well without most of our things, but there are some things that I can't wait to get (trash cans, some baking dishes, The Little Mermaid, the iPod dock, a cozy sweatshirt), but we've been pleased at how well we've gotten along without everything. (Makes us realize that we certainly own more than we need to.)

We've gotten along rather well with just one car. I can walk with the kids to the grocery store when needed (though I can't pick up that much). People buy a lot of "shelf milk" and "shelf juice" because there just isn't much room in the fridge for the fresh stuff. So I buy a few small containers (no gallon jugs over here! or even quarts, for that matter) of the fresh stuff and more of the shelf drinks to keep on hand. The good news is, with the shelf drinks, we should never be out of milk. No skim milk here, either. We finally found 1 1/2%, which is about the best we'll do.

Cooking
I made my first "meal" last night -- an improvisational "dairy dinner" (a big comfort food from home -- kindof like a lasagna). All the ingredients here were slightly different (cheddar cheese is hard to come by -- no shredded cheddar at the grocery, but all the cheap emmenthal and gruyere you could want), but it turned out to be a reasonable facsimile.

Luckily, with the market (rotisserie chickens, ribs, quiches) and with Jose the Mexican Food Delivery Guy (he will make and deliver a full mexican meal to us once a week for just 5 euros a plate) -- so I may never have to really cook!

I heard that the cuts of meat aren't as good as at home, but that the Belgians love their sauces, and that really makes the meat. So I'm going to pick up a Belgian cookbook and try my hand at some local meals.

Weather
The weather has been OK. A lot of rain, but mild temperatures (it's getting colder now -- into the 30s). We have radiator heat throughout the house (which is annoying, because one is always going out, and a "3" setting on one isn't the same as a "3" setting on another). But it seems to do the trick. No air conditioning here or any sort of central fan. Despite the rain, I think it's dry in the house, as Jack consistently wakes up around midnight coughing. A shot of saline spray and the humidifier seem to help.

Time to let Amelia watch "The Little Mermaid" tv show on Slingbox, then it's off to the Ste. Alix market for cheap flowers (20 tulips for 3 euros), fresh fruits, hot waffles, and tonights meal. I hope to take pictures and will post them later.

The two pictures below are of Ste. Alix church/square and today's market in the square.

The Way it Began

If you all are finally getting this, it means we've finally gotten online. As I write this, it's been a week since we've been in Brussels, and we haven't had access to phones, internet, tv, Starbucks, blah, blah, blah.

So if you've been thinking about us and been envious of our grand adventure, I can tell you this: DON'T. Although things are looking up now, it's been a true disaster of a first week. It's too terrible to believe, honestly. But it's actually so terrible that it gets funny. We could honestly do no more than laugh every time another illness struck.

Long story short, let's backtrack to the few days before we left.

1. children start spiking monstrous (103-104) fevers in middle of night. Absolutely fine with no symptoms during the day. After 2 nights of this, we take Jack to a nighttime peds clinic (we got new health insurance starting Jan. 1 and had no pediatrician). He is diagnosed with double ear infection. We ask if he'd be OK to fly in a day, and the ped. says yes. The next day (the day we're scheduled to leave), we take Amelia to another clinic, just to make sure (since she's still running a night fever). Although a strep test comes back negative, the ped. says her tonsills are infected and declares she has strep. So both kids are on antibiotics but are cleared to leave.

2. We depart Maryland on Saturday (1/6) with our 8 giant checked bags and the kids and sit at the gate on the airplane for an extra 1.5 hours while they load late luggage. Children are hungry and tired. They fall asleep (finally) after a dinner of ice cream (thanks to a kind flight attendant who knew they wouldn't make it to the dinner) and sleep great. This, in retrospect, was the best part of the trip. Couldn't have asked for the kids to do better on the plane! We arrive at our hotel, where we are to stay for 2 nights, and TJ and I decide that we, too, are coming down with something. There are no stores or restaurants open in Brussels on Sunday, so we find an open minimart, but some basics and go back to the hotel.

3. Rainy. I wake up Monday (1/8) with a stomach bug. Luckily, it passes quickly. Not so luckily, Amelia comes down with it later in the morning and throws up all day long. Knowing her history for dehydration, I spend the day frantically trying to find a pediatrician. We finally find a doctor, who agrees to see us at 7 that night (we find that many drs work from home, which makes later appointments easy). By now, she's vomiting some old blood, and I am not liking Belgium one bit. The doctor sees her, decides she DOESN'T have strep and prescribes an anti-nausea medication, which thankfully works like a charm. But we have to find a pharmacy that is open (only one pharmacy per neighborhood is open past 5, and that pharmacy rotates). We find one, have to pay a premium on the medication because we're buying it after normal business hours (worth every penny!), and are back to the hotel..Both TJ and I have fantastic colds going on -- coughing and sneezing and all the fanfare.

4. Tuesday (1/9). TJ getting worse; kids getting better. But it's raining and raining, and terribly windy. On the plus side, we get into our house and our air shipment arrives. Kids are happy to see their toys. I make my first trip to the grocery store. Milk and juice was sold in just quart containers (that's the biggest size), so my whole cart is nearly filled with juice. Which is OK, because I can't read the labels on anything else. I end up with Paprika Cheetos, deciding to pass on the Lay's Barbecue Ham potato chips, or their Roasted Chicken and Thyme chips. I end up with things that I think might be butter and yogurt but can't really be sure. But it doesn't matter, because no one is hungry anyway.

5. Wednesday (1/10). More wind and rain. TJ much worse. Declares he's "too sick to call the doctor" but then is up all night because he's is coughing so violently and having trouble catching his breath. I have no idea how to operate any appliances, so cannot cook, wash dishes or wash clothes. The kids are eating lots of sandwiches. Officially known as my worst birthday ever.

6. Thursday (1/11). A thankfully sunny day, so I finally take the kids across the street to a playground. TJ calls doctor first things; gets appointment that afternoon. He is diagnosed with pneumonia (to be diagnosed, first we go to the doctor. He sends us to the hospital for a chest x-ray. The hospital gives TJ the CD to give to the doctor. The doctor reads the x-ray). So now he's on antibiotics.In the evening, my right ear all of a sudden plugs up (as if from pressure change on an airplane). By 1 a.m., I'm in tears with pain. My ear is killing me.

7. Friday (1/12). My turn for the doctor, where I'm diagnosed with an ear infection. ("Hmmm." the doctor says "Very unusual for an adult to get an ear infection like this.") I'm the final member to go on antibiotics. But TJ is feeling better, and the kids just want to play.

So today is Monday (1/15), and we're all much better. We've had 2 days of sun in a row and have been able to get outside. We haven't seen too much of the city, other than medical facilities (which, I must say have been very impressive. And a relative bargain -- our visits have cost us about $35 each, and that's with no insurance.)

Another nightmare has been Jack adjusting to the time change. We had a really hard time getting him back on schedule (it's just been the past 2 nights -- Sat. and Sun. -- that he's been back on track). He'd go to sleep at 8 but then wake up at 10 and want to play or eat until 2 am. No cajoling or pleading could convince him otherwise. TJ and I were exhausted and could do nothing but watch Jack play. I tried boring him by singing "99 bottles of beer on the wall" but to no avail.

On the plus side, we now know how the medical system works and have found some doctors we like (did I mention that I think one of my fillings has come out??). Amelia and I did a stroll around Ste. Alix, the town square 2 blocks away and have found a nice fruit stand, Chinese restaurant, bakery, cheese shop, kids clothing and shoe store, hair salon, and a few other stores. We're also located the Carrefour (Wal-Mart-like), the Brico (the Home Depot) and Quick Burger (where you pay for ketchup). Have been surprised at the lack of fast food restaurants (Quick and Pizza Hut are the only ones I've seen -- we haven't even seen McDonalds), but maybe that's a good thing. Apparently restaurants aren't very family-friendly and aren't quick, so taking the kids out for dinner will be limited. Luckily, we've found a few sandwich shops in Stockel ( a 5 min. drive) that work well with the kids.

We hope to have our furniture in sometime in February and would love to start having guests. We should have things completely disinfected by then. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday, jan. 21.

We're up and running, in more ways than one. My ear is still blocked and I have a mild case of Bell's Palsy from the swelling in my ear (really, it does just get comical after a while, doesn't it???), but I'm now the only one suffering any ill effects from our disastrous week. We've had some adventures out, visited the markets several times and are actually starting to feel like part of the world again. We're starting to learn our way around and have learned that the chicken man at the market makes a fantastic rotisserie chicken, plus he gives the kids candy. Chocolate croissants are the best way to start breakfast, and their coffee is like espresso. Very dark and very strong.

All in all, we're adjusting well. We have our slingbox set up and can now watch all our DVR'd TV shows. It was so nice to be able to watch the Office and Earl last night.

More on our adventure as it happens. But we are all healthy and happy and excited to start learning all about Brussels!!