OK, New Years Resolution #1–be a better blogger. Sheesh.
It’s been a packed few weeks for us. We traveled back to the States to see the Seaton clan and friends in Philly for the holidays and had a wonderful time (i.e. we ate more cookies than all the Keebler elves combined, and the women beat the men in the annual holiday Seaton bowling tournament. What else do you need, really?)
It was great seeing everyone in the U.S., but it was a little odd being back. I took a quick day trip to NYC to see my friend Laura and it was jarring to walk around a crowded city and hear everyone speaking english–I kept wanting to say hey, that guy over there in the Disney World sweatshirt and fanny pack is American–but then I realized, duh, everyone is American and speaking english (and, sadly, dressing poorly). Here in Brussels, we encounter Americans so infrequently that when we do, Dan and I nudge each other and whisper “American” whenever we come across someone comme nous.
We have been back in Brussels for a little over a week now and are settling in and thawing out. There have been record-setting cold temperatures here over the past week as well as snow, and the Bruxelloise haven’t known what to do with themselves. We had 2-3 inches of snow–which in our former New Hampshire home would have meant summer was on the way–but here it caused major problems. Because it was so cold, the 2-3 inches of snow did not melt like usual, instead it stayed on the ground for over a week and made all Brussels streets and sidewalks into ice-skating rinks. Apparently people here do not own shovels, so removing the snow was a problem. I saw people using brooms, window squeegees and, my personal favorite, garden tools to remove the snow. (I actually saw a man down on his hands and knees with a garden trowel trying to chip ice off his sidewalk).
It is warming up though and we are thankful because our heater has gone on the fritz again. Surprise! I’m not going to bore you with the details, but we lost heat for a couple days, it got down to 50 degrees in our house, and we wore all our new sweaters and sweatpants. At the same time. Moving on.
This week we are going to another new country! Dan has a conference in Switzerland (and is there now, Hi Dan!) and I am going to join him at the end of the week for a cross-country skiing/sledding/winter hiking adventure in Interlaken, Switzerland. We are excited to explore mountains again and see more than 3 inches of snow. If anyone has any Interlaken recommendations, please let us know!
This past Sunday we had America day. We cooked homemade Mac-n-cheese (Thanks for the recipe, Seatons!), chocolate chunk cookies (chocolate chips have to be imported, are too expensive and, frankly, inferior to Belgian chocolate. Sorry, Tollhouse), and watched American football with friends. When you live outside the U.S. you can purchase NFL games through nfl.com and watch them online, which we did this year. Fortunately, one of our football teams actually knows how to play (hint–it’s not the Kansas City Chiefs) so we’ve been able to root for the Philadelphia Eagles all season and dang, if they didn’t make American day great!
I think that’s all for now, Happy 2009 everyone! Go Eagles!
One Comment, Comment or Ping
I hate to say it….but you are failing miserably at your New Year’s Resolution. How are we supposed to live vicariously through your European adventure if we don’t know what’s going on?
January 24th, 2009
Reply to “Bonne Année!”