to the two people we love dearly! Wish we were there to spend the day with you...
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Like a waterfall in slow motion, Part One
2 years ago
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Guess this guy wanted a shorter 'do for the Spring. Unfortunately, he missed a spot! Michael, this might be the first entry in our "European Hairstyles" blog.
Monday, Jeremy, Lindsay and I headed to Maastricht for the day. I let Jeremy drive, which I think he enjoyed, and he drove better than me! Once we got into Maastricht, Lindsay wanted to head to the castle where she went to school 7 years ago while in Baylor. Based off her memory, she got us within a street before we had to ask for directions. After 7 years...pretty incredible. The castle was gorgeous...I can't believe they got to live there while going to school and touring Europe. Pretty cool! Afterwards, we went into town and grabbed lunch.
We did a little shopping in the main square, and were able to pick up my niece Mackenzie some cute duds. She will love her parents if they buy the same amounts when she's in High School!! Before we left, Jeremy decided to get a gyro after all the hype Andy gives them. Apparently, you HAVE to get gyros while in Europe, so we let Jeremy handle it. If it hadn't been for his miscommunication over whether or not he liked garlic, I'm sure he would have enjoyed it! The garlic sauce looked, and from what I can tell, tasted disgusting.
Stephen and I had our first official language classes Monday night, so we headed back from Maastricht early afternoon to make it. When we were done, we headed back to Maastricht for dinner. Jeremy and Lindsay treated us to a nice dinner, which we appreciated so much! We decided to eat at an Argentinian restaurant Lindsay and her parents ate at a few times while she was here in school. It was awesome. We got steaks and Jeremy got the "All-you-can-eat Spare Ribs." The poor little waitress had no idea what she was about to witness. Jeremy ended up throwing down 5 racks...and we only helped with a few ribs :) Not sure he felt so hot the next morning, but he LOVED them that night!
The next morning, I rode the train with them to Brussels, saw them off (SADLY) and then spent the afternoon in Brussels myself. I hate goodbyes, and it's always so emotional for me to say goodbye to family! I really hate it! But we had such a good trip, and memories to last a lifetime!
We woke up a little bit earlier on Saturday, due to the fact that Jeremy was very interested in purchasing a chicken to kill, pluck and make chicken tenders out of from the market. Fortunately, he decided not to follow through, but we still had a great time people watching and admiring all that the "La Batte Market" had to offer.
It was very warm and crowded, so we decided to throw in the white towel in the middle of the market. From there we decided to grab lunch, which consisted of "Boulets Liegiose," or Liege Meatballs and a Carlsberg. It was gorg
eous outside, so we ate and watched a few mapris walk by (that's man Capris for all of you that don't know). When it gets a little warm here, the clothes get weirder and weirder.
After lunch, we made it home and grabbed the car to head to Brussels. A friend I met blog stalking invited us to a Quatro de Mayo party at her place. She's originally from Texas and is living in Brussels, so it seemed a perfect way to spend our Sunday afternoon. Once we arrived, the ritas and Corona's were on ice and the sombreros were waiting for Lindsay and I to don. We had fajitas, refried beans, tacos, chicken enchiladas, queso (J&L sent Velvetta and Rotel, we did it right), and even sour cream. It was awesome...something we haven't had in at least 8 months! SOO needed. Once everyone (there were about 15 people there) had their stomachs full and palates wet, we decided to fire up the Wii. Stephen and I had never played the Wii, so it was AWESOME to play golf, bowling, and tennis! Stephen was good at tennis (of course) and I was good at bowling. I guess all of those Thanksgiving Colorama games helped me! Who knew?
We left Cindy's and drove again to the Grote Markt in Brussels to get Jeremy and Lindsay a Belgian Waffle. The got one with bananas and chocolate, and I think they loved it. We ended the night with a few episodes of the Chappelle Show (thanks Kelly) and again slept quite soundly!
If you get a chance, check out Cindy's blog, she's hilarious: www.newtobrussels.blogspot.com
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We decided to sleep in on Saturday after our night of conversation and fun. What we didn't realize is that we were sleeping through most of the river tours in Germany. Once we realized we were on a tight schedule, we hurried out the door and made our way to Bonn. Since we were making up time, it was VERY convenient that we were on the autobahn...it was not that great since our VW only got up to 190km or so (120 mph) but Jeremy still really enjoyed it (I think Lindsay might have wanted to throw up). 
We arrived in Bonn and made our way to the River Tour companies. After we realized we wouldn't be getting on a boat (we were too late and they stopped running the later ones because of the firework show later that night), we decided to walk along the river, enjoying the scenery and people watching. We decided to stop at a little restaurant on the water and have a drink...and that's when Jeremy smelled the sausages. We decided we had to have one, I mean we're in Germany. We made our way to the sausage stand and each got one. We were so excited you would have thought that we h
ad won the lottery. Jeremy didn't really speak, just ate. They were pretty darn good!
After our sausages, we decided that we had enough time to drive up and down the B9 (the scenic route along the Rhine) to see some castles. Once in the car, all we could talk about was how good the sausages were, and how we might need to get one for dinner. Very healthy. On our drive, we spotted some really pretty castles and some awesome views, and then we spotted something really cool! A chair lift going up the side of a mountain. We decide ve
ry quickly that we kind of need to check this out! After parking, we agreed that if it was more than 10 euro we wouldn't do it. I found a man driving a shuttle train and asked him how far away it was. He showed me the direction of the chair lift and said it was a thirty minute walk, and 6 euro. Although that seemed like a long walk, it was a beautiful day and the hillside was amazing...so we decided to walk. We arrived at the ticket stand 3 minutes later, and laughed at how LONG our walk was.
The chair lift ride was awesome. We saw the river and the castles and villages from an aerial view, and it was truly breathtaking. Gracie would have preferred a closed gondola ride, but she got over it once we got up to the top. They had walking paths at the top leading to various scenic view spots, and we chose the one with a restaurant. I'm glad we did, not because of the chicken wing/nuggets made with real chicken that we snacked on (you think I'm crazy, but this is a feat...REAL chicken) but more so watching the Paraglider's take off and land 15 feet from us on the side of the mountain. It was really neat. 
We decided it was time to head to the fireworks show. To save money we decided to pick up our own drinks beforehand and just eat snacks we brought and hopefully another sausage when we got there. Jeremy and I went inside a gas station and pretty quickly spotted a pony keg in the refrigerator section. That's rig
ht...already COLD. We agreed on a price we would not go over, and again it exceeded our expectations! It was 10 euro, and the funny thing was when the Jeremy handed the guy the PK and the money, he asked what I was going to be drinking. I laughed and said it was for four of us...he laughed and said, "That is for one person, no problem. We're German." We laughed about that for a long time!After getting lost a few times we arrived at the "fireworks show" to find that it was in fact an entire FAIR. There were stands for food, beverages, sweets, clothes, jewelry, knick knacks, rides, ferris wheels, etc. It was packed, too. People had camped out, brought their own grills and made food, had tiki torches around their
blankets...they were doing it right. We found our spot to sit, conveniently 20 feet from the sausage stand (do you see a trend here?) and Jeremy and I went to get our loot. We walked away with 5 sausages
(no, not one for Gracie, although she would have dominated it...Jeremy wanted 2) without getting too fired up about the crowds. We had various instances where people would cut in line during their trip (really, every time any of us were in a line, someone cut--so Europe) and Lindsay and I had this happen to us when we went to get sweets. But, as true Kampen's do, we dominated the poor man and cut him off hard core. Nice! It's so frustrating. If I knew German I would have said something while giving him my shoulder in his gut...but instead I said "The line starts WAY down there," in my best Texan attitude-filled voice. :) 
The fireworks were supposed to start at 10pm. It was nearing 10:45 and we were getting tired. We were full of sausage and goodness, and kind of wanted to go to bed. We decided that at 11 if they hadn't started we would head home (which was 2 hours away). Sure enough, at 11 nothing was happening so we got our stuff together with our heads down and walked away. Almost out of the park the fireworks starting shooting off. We stopped, turned around watched from the hillside. It was awesome! From where we were at the time, there weren't any lights or anyone around us. It was perfect. Halfway through the fireworks, though, in true European fashion, three people walked up and stood DIRECTLY behind us. There wasn't anyone within 50 feet of us, anywhere they could have stood, but no, they stood behind us. AND lit up a cigarette. So frustrating. I love that people were here to see the madness of personal space deficiencies we experience here. I now just laugh when it happens, but it made me chuckle hearing Lindsay say "of all the places to stand, RIGHT behind us." You feel my pain. The fireworks were incredible though, set to music we couldn't really hear...but judging by the crowds where we were sitting, I'm not sure if we would have heard them there either. Shoot, who am I kidding...they would have been in German. I wouldn't have understood a thing anyways! We enjoyed the whole experience, and our day was truly amazing. I'm glad we got to see some fireworks in the end, it made our late night worth it.
Here are some of the fireworks:
Finally, on our drive home, we decided to stop in Cologne to show Jeremy and Lindsay the famed Cathedral. I wasn't sure how it would look in the dark...but it was gorgeous. They were really impressed...but also ready to get home. We took some pictures, then headed back to Liege. We got home at 2:30am or so...and I think I speak for all of us when I say we slept well!
Two videos that I think you will enjoy:
To see all of our pictures, use the link on the right~
Below is what you might see waiting on the flight from Venice to arrive...
(I know the first picture is blurry, but you need it for the full effect--he caught me...
he probably wanted to kill me)
Yep, that's a jacket and no shirt. He rolls hard! Now...below is what I was VERY excited to see waiting for the arrival of the Venice flight!
That's right! Jeremy and Lindsay are here. Yesterday we toured Brussels and then had a great time laughing and talking over Chinese food. Lindsay and I made Won ton soup (this time with appropriate won ton wrappers), Spring Rolls and Szechuan Chicken. It was great, but the company is so much better! Today we plan on going on the Germany Rhine River tour to see the castles, and then a FIREWORK show! I'll fill you in when I can...
Well, one nice thing about Belgium is the random national holidays. I know that May 1st isn't necessarily random (Labour Day here) but it's nice to not have to work. Who am I kidding...I'm still not working. But it was nice for Stephen not to have to go to work. We slept in, had breakfast and then headed out to find 'something.' We figured being a holiday there had to be some sort of festival or parade. There seems to be a festival or parade most weekends somewhere, regardless of a holiday. There had to be one today, right? Well, there was. But it was really disappointing. We posted up at our "spot" and had a drink while watching the parade pass directly in front of us. Let's just say we were really happy that we had a seat and a drink, cause if I was standing to watch this I would have been complaining. It was pretty lackluster. But, we shouldn't complain...no work, free entertainment, and relatively sunny weather. May day isn't too shabby.
I volunteered with "The Well," the church we've started going to in Brussels this past Saturday for their Spring "Serve the City" day. I took the train to Brussels, then made my way through Metro's and trams to the meeting spot. We got t-shirts and our assignments, prayed and made our way to our destinations. I was assigned to work with a group of elderly people, helping with their social lunch and giving manicures. Once we arrived, the ladies that work there literally put us to work immediately. I did manicures and dishes, avoided the "can you cut my hair" question the best I could, and averted the "can you pluck my eyebrows" to another sweet girl volunteering with us. The ladies really loved us being there, and the men loved watching the shenanigans while sipping their beers. While walking back to our meeting point, we strolled through the park to see the fountain...and there was a BEAUTIFUL rainbow. Incredible. It was a great day, and I'm looking forward to "serving the city" this summer.
UPDATE: Poor man was hit by a truck, dragged for a distance, then left while the truck drove away. Very sad!
Stephen has been taking me to a cafe most mornings on his way to work so I can read and do a devotional or two...mostly just to get out of the apartment and "do something with my life." Well, today we noticed the traffic was pretty bad, so we went the backway towards the park where Gracie and I play (and where the Big Top is). Well, as we approached we saw a fire truck and an ambulance and quite a few cop cars. As we got even closer, we realized something terrible had happened. You don't just pull out the tents for a fender bender or traffic violation. So what do I do? Document it for the blog.
Now I'm really curious. Did someone die? Get murdered? What happened. We discuss how terrible it is and Stephen drops me off at the coffee shop. I go in, and a few minutes later a group of people come in discussing it. I didn't catch everything they were saying, but I did catch "dead" and gathered it was by stabbing. By gathered I mean this one lady with fire red hair was making a stabbing gesture and saying how terrible it was. So terrible that she ordered a coffee and kissed everyone at the bar before lighting her cigarette. I sat down in my normal area and went on as usual. Three hours later it I had completed my book and decided to leave. I walked across the park, checked out the admission for the circus and then headed home. But the direction I was headed still was roped off and hadn't changed much from the pictures above. So, I kind of lingered and watched what others were doing. Do I cross the roundabout (cars were blocking so no one could drive through) or go on the crosswalk (see pic on right above) that everyone else seemed to be using? I stayed back and watched a large group of people use the crosswalk, in between the fire truck and the tents mind you, and no one yelled at them and nothing "popped out" at them...so I figured it was safe. As I started across the crosswalk, a heard a huge "whoosh" as the fire trucks' hose began to POWERWASH the street. About the time I get to the curb, huge amounts of VERY bloody water begin to crash against the curb, on its way to the sewer opening in the street. I jump across, narrowly missing a foot-in-blood-that's-not-mine ordeal. I turn around to see if the guy did it on purpose. Not sure what I would have done, but I was intending to give him a dirty look when I see something chunky being washed to the sewer grate. In my head I think it's brains, but I'm sure it was gauze or something used by the paramedics. Either way, I was about to dry heave when a huge gust of wind came and misted myself and the crowd of onlookers with dead body juice. It happened so fast, but I ran just as soon as I realized what was happening to the shelter of a corner store to avoid getting drenched. Completely disgusted, dry heaving and standing in disbelief, what do I do? Document it for the blog.
After I collected my thoughts and "wiped my face clean" I moved over to where I could get a better look. You guys know I'm nosey, don't act surprised! As I watched, a homeless man started to reenact his story of what happened. Apparantly, two people treid to walk across the street and were hit by a truck, then rolled to their current locations. He was pretty animated, and his story was believeable. But, in the end we don't know what "really" happened. I can tell you that, after I felt I knew all the scoop, I came home and washed my face :)
So, most early afternoons during the week the greater geriatric population of our street go the neighborhood grocery store. It is not rare for me to walk by and smile as they make their slow but determined trek two blocks down the street to store up for their weekly needs. Most of them have these "backpack on wheels" contraptions to place their goods in...which are pretty handy for those that can't carry heavy goods. But most of them also have canes or walkers, and a select few have the "old person hunch" going on which makes the walk a little longer and more tedious than your average person.
Now, the grocery store has it's own little crew of beggars out front. I say beggars, but some of them are actually useful. Sure, you have the one lady schlepping her child in exchange for a few euro-cents, but there is one "family" in particular that actually DON'T ask for money and just sit outside smoking and greeting you as you walk in. I've had the particular luxury of being in the store near closing when this "family" (not sure if they are related, but three or so of them are always around each other) does their shopping with the days revenue. Although they buy junk food and soft drinks, they are a jolly and well-mannered bunch. Well, as of today they've upped their game. Now...they offer door to door services. Yes, you heard me...they've become little entrepreneurs. They will take the elderly's groceries and walk them home for them, to ease their load and simplify their lives. GENIUS...and I'm sure they are making more than the toothless "Bon jour" they were offering up last week.
They had a whole group of people waiting to use their services, some geriatric and some just plain lazy. Of course I risked my life to take the picture once I got across the street for the sake of the blog...the lady in the front was none too pleased. Thought I was going to get jumped...but for all of you out there worried about my well-being, I still would have blogged it. As for the new business in town...I'm going to shake their hands next time I see them and say, "Well done, well done."
The teachers went on strike in London...nice. The kids had the day off, and the parents had to take vacation days to care for them. They wanted a 4% raise, not sure if they got it but I love the acronym for their union...NUT: The National Union for Teachers.
This reminds me of a familiar Snoop Doggs song, "Lay off these N-U-T's 'cause you gets none of these, at ease"
Despite a debilitating case of meningitis, ahem, crick in my neck, I made it out for a walk with Gracie. She was not too happy that there were a bunch of children at the park (she doesn't love little kids) but she was very intrigued by the "barnyard smell" coming from some of the trailers set up near the Big Top. Yes, the circus is still in town. We were able to enjoy the beautiful weather...and as you can see, I have on RAINBOWS. I had to reteach myself how to wear something that didn't require two pairs of socks, but it all worked out nicely. I still had on pants and a long-sleeved shirt...but NO jacket and flip-flops! Progress...we're making progress!
Ava (friend who works at PFS) has taken me/us under her wing and made sure we are socialized. She threw a dinner party for 20 or so guests a few weeks ago, including us in the soiree. It was so nice to be able to meet with different people we normally wouldn't have met (who spoke English mind you), and although we were dubbed the "Oil Shakes" from Texas, we had a great time :) Ava prepared home cooked Indian Food, and when I say prepared, I mean 6 different dishes that were AMAZING. We had Shrimp, Chicken, and Beef curry, Lamb with Saffron Rice, Bread, Tomato and Onion Salsa and various Chutneys, a chickpea dish and a vegetarian curry. It was awesome. I had never really had too many Indian dinners in the past, and definitely not any home cooked and THIS good! It was great, and she even made a chocolate fudge cake with vanilla ice cream and strawberries. We were in heaven. Stephen really liked the lamb and rice, and tried the shrimp and chicken curries and of course INHALED the dessert. It was so nice!
This past Friday we had a girls night, we being Ava and Francoise (another coworker/friend). We had appetizers, spaghetti and dessert...and a lot of conversation and music. It was so nice to be able to get out on my own and interact with other women. They have been lifesavers, even if they are making me fat! Thanks girls!
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