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!