Rommelmarkt

What a beautiful day! The sun was shining, the skies were blue, and the temperature was just right! Adam and I got the kids together and we went for a little drive, running errands, looking to buy a bike, and just enjoying our time in beautiful Belgium!

The major purpose of our drive today was to find me a good second-hand bicycle. The one I have I was given as a kid. It is old and is a mountain bike, not a street bike. When in Belgium, do as the Belgians do, and they ride bikes everywhere. And, everyone rides them, too. Not just kids and young adults. Even the old folks still get out and pedal around. =)

I've told you about the Kringwinkels before, the second-hand stores around here that work with the trash system and Belgium's version of the Salvation Army or Goodwill (see my post: Garbage). Adam researched addresses for four Kringwinkels in Maasmechelen, Genk, Hasselt, and Bilzen. Though the only bikes we found were absolutely fugly and not at all worth getting, we had a really great time driving around our local area. We have created certain paths that we take to travel to the few places we go. It was nice to break free of these ruts and dive into the many little villages hidden out of view of our normal day-to-day passings.

Along the way, we actually found a Saturday Rommelmarkt! Almost all of the antique and garage sales around here on set for Sundays, which is the day we spend going to church. By the time we are done with church, so the rommelmarkten are done as well. (Since most of the population here is Catholic, when do these people go to church themselves?! =) Anyways, we stopped in to see if someone might just have the bike for me. Alas, no one did, but I found something even better!!

These antique markets are not much different from the ones they have in the States. People come selling their junk, expecting too much money for it because it's 'old.' There are the collectibles for sale: vinyls, toys, etc. People sell their homemade crafts and baby stuff. It's all the usual. I was walking past a big blanket laid in the grass. It was covered with old, worn out silver and bronze vases, cookware, and similar items. I was so bored with it all that I almost missed seeing my new prize!

Amid the silver and bronze were these two beautiful, colorful vases. I wanted them! BUT.... only for the right price. My Nederlands language skills being what they were, I still tried to talk to the owner about the pieces. I picked up the small vase and said "Hoeveel? (How much?)" His reply sounded like "Fijftig (50Euro)." I raised my eyebrows and repeated the word. I wasn't going to spend 50Euro on this little vase. "Nee, nee, nee, nee! (That actually sounds like "Nay, nay, nay, nay!) Fijf-tien! (15Euro)." "Ahh, much better!" We both started laughing. With some halting language, I learned also that he was asking 25Euro for the bigger vase. About halfway through the transaction, when I struggling to ask about buying them together ("Kopen samen?"), the man finally asked me if I spoke English, and we finished the transaction in English. I ended up paying 35Euro for the pair, getting 5Euro knocked off for buying them together. I didn't think it was too bad a deal; the prices were decent to begin with. Now, I have a beautiful set of vases I display proudly on top of my curio cabinet in my living room. They are cute, and I think they make the place just a little bit more homey, and a little bit more Belgian =)

After driving around, seeing the towns, buying my vases, and finding no bikes, Adam brought us to Lanaken, a town we drive through almost every day. We found, just off the main road, a beautiful, wonderful, vibrant shopping center, full of people and shops and goods and foods. They were obviously setting up for a party. The bandstand was out, roads were blocked off. (They're always having parties in Belgium!!) We found a cute little chocolate shop -- Leonidas Pralines -- and stopped in. They obviously ran a good business because they had tons of pralines (molded chocolates) ready to be sold, different kinds of candies all over the shop, cutesy stuff all over. It's definitely a place most women would like to visit =) We bought a 250gram box of mixed chocolates and some waffles. Zach had his first waffle, and he loved it! =) We headed back to the car and continued with the rest of our day.

Some of the Americans at the NPC had suggested that they all get together and go out for a movie. We met up several of them and their families at a huge theatre. The best part of this theatre was the concession store (Yes, I said 'store.'=). The usual Belgian favorites were for sale: Hoops, bottled beverages, chocolate bars, sweet popcorn (yuck!!). They also had a bank of candy bins like you'd find at the store filled with all kinds of gummy candies. Fill the bag, weigh it, and go! That was fun (though their gummy candy here, for the most part, is really just tasteless and hard to chew!). The best part (to the Americans, anyways) was the offering of fountain drinks and salted popcorn!!! We all grabbed what we wanted, filed into the showing room, and enjoyed Captain America.

These are the kinds of days I like best. Spending Saturdays and Sundays with my wonderful husband and kids, going out into our world, experiencing things together, and making memories. These kind of days make all the other days, the struggles and frustrations, melt away and help us truly enjoy the goodness we have been given. I can't wait for the next one.... Ta ta!

Adam's Technical Sergeant Promotion!!

Adam got promoted... finally! I wanted to blog about it when it happened, but the guys at the security desk took away my camera before we could enter the building where the promotion ceremony happened. They did have the military camera there, and Adam just sent me the pictures of his special day!!

Around the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010, Adam was spending a lot of time on the computer and listening to his training material every day driving to and from work. He was determined to make Tech on his second try. He tested in March 2010, and in June 2010, he found out that he had made it! Not only did he pass, he earned the top score of everyone testing in his career field. Awesome!!! However, because he had such a short time in service/grade, his line number for promotion was very large. So large, in fact, that he would be tacking on his Tech stripes with the very last of the group for that year. Lame-o! He had worked so hard, but those Staff Sergeants who'd spent 10-, 12-, 15- years failing their Tech tests and finally passed (because their time in grade numbers were finally high enough) got the first line numbers. Anyways, 13 months after finding out he passed, Adam had his Technical Sergeant promotion ceremony on June 30, 2011, at the NPC in Glons, Belgium. Yay!!!

I still don't know all of the guys' names that were there, but Major  Estrada was the presiding officer, Sergeant Hughes narrated (?) the ceremony, and Sergeant Maynard and I got to 'tack on' Adam's new stripes (aka: punch him in the shoulder! =).

We had just received our shipment of goods the Friday before, so the kids and I actually had some nice clothes to wear. Adam gave me a beautiful bouquet of roses for all my help while he was studying for his test. After the ceremony, we ate cake from Schinnen. What a great day!

Adam, congratulations on your promotion. You earned it and absolutely deserve it. I admire you for the service you provide your country, and for everything you do for our family. You are amazing, and I love you, and I love spending 'forever' with you!!!

Here are the pictures of Adam's Technical Promotion Ceremony!

Major Estrada and Staff Sergeant Adam Schumacher entering the room

Technical Sergeant Adam Schumacher putting on his new jacket with 5 stripes!

Wife Beth Schumacher and Technical Sergeant Maynard 'tacking on' Adam's new stripes! =)

After the ceremony: Major Estrada, Tech Sergeant Maynard, Little Rachael Ann, Tech Sergeant Adam Schumacher, Little Zachary Schumacher, and Spouse Beth Schumacher

'Goofy' Schumacher being goofy after eating blue icing=)

Rachael being, well, Rachael! =)

What's VHS?!?

This was a question Adam and I just knew we would be hearing from Rachael and Zach at some point, the same way we asked our parents, "What's an 8-track?" Heck, we live in the 21st century. Our media comes to us on little plastic discs, tiny memory cards, or magically over wireless connections straight to our computers and TVs. Why on Earth would Rachael and Zach ever have a working idea of a VHS cassette or a Hi-Fi VCR with 'Tracking'? Why would we ever find ourselves searching for said cassettes and machines at the Schinnen Thrift Shop within a few weeks of our arriving here in Belgium? Well, I'll tell you!

The US military has a program that allows them to show first-run shows in theaters on their installations, in the US and abroad. It's kind of nice, and definitely cheaper than heading downtown if you're willing to deal with a few little quirks to see your shows. Well, as I've stated before, the NPC at Glons is a GSU, a Geographically Separated Unit, of SHAPE Mons, which is about a 2-4 hour drive away, depending on traffic and road construction. So, they have another nifty little program for us. The movies that are playing in the theaters on SHAPE are available to members at the NPC.... on a VHS cassette! Oh, my goodness! I laughed myself silly when Adam first told me this! "Really, they're making new VHS tapes with new shows on them for you guys to use?! Ha hahahah!!!!!" We often joke that over here, things are about 20 years in the past or 20 years in the future from what's going on in America. Apparently, this is one of those 'in the past' things! =)

Adam set me straight and told me not to laugh because the program really is great. We have seen many new shows that are being seen in US theaters, such as Battle LA, Due Date, Arthur. We've even seen some before they were released to video, like Rio, Hop, Gnomeo and Juliet, Green Hornet, and Arthur.

So, since we were going to own a VCR anyways, why not find some shows for Rachael to watch on it? That is how we found ourselves in the Thrift Shop on Schinnen, buying a $13 VCR and 3-for-$1 Disney shows on VHS. The great thing is, all these shows are ones Adam and I grew up with as kids. Watching them with Rachael brings back a little nostalgia from our childhoods and a little pride in getting to pass these great Disney shows on to the next generation.

Who'da thunkit? It may be weird, but it works. I am grateful for the services the military provides for us, even when they do go about providing these services in unusual ways. Thank you, and Ta ta!

Day Trip to Ramstein

We took a trip down to Ramstein on Friday. We've been wanting to go down there for a while now to get some household stuff, some clothes, and a few other things. At least, that's what we told ourselves. Actually, we really just wanted to see the Mall! =)

We got up really early because we thought we would have to spend 4 hours driving down there and 4 more coming back, and we wanted to have some time to actually do something as well. As usual, the kids weren't too happy about waking up early, but that was ok. They had a long car ride in front of them that they could spend sleeping.

To get to Ramstein, we had to drive right past Bitburg and Spangdahlem. We've been there before. The German country side is gorgeous, so the ride was pleasant and familiar this time. Since Spang was about the halfway point to where we were going, we decided to hop off the motorway for a quick break. Adam is sooo glad we did!!!

Back in Salt Lake City, Adam and I would go to this cute little Austrian restaurant called the Vienna Bistro. It was way too expensive, but the spaetzle was to die for! Adam is not a huge beer drinker, but we had tried earlier the wheat beer Budweiser was touting for a while. He decided that particular beer wasn't too bad. So, at the Bistro, he saw on their beer list an imported wheat beer and ordered it. It came out in a dark brown bottle with gold foil on the top and a picture of a monk on the label and a glass to pour it in with the same monk on it. He loved it!

Well, what do you know? At the Shoppette on Spangdahlem AFB in Germany, while Rachael and I were taking a potty break, Adam found a whole case of his Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse, and one even had taped to it the same tall glass at no extra charge. You bet he snatched that right up!

We got back in the car and continued our journey. We made it to Ramstein in just over 3 hours total, instead of the 4 we had expected. That was a nice surprise. More time for shopping!!! Anyways, I don't know if it's because we've been seeing so many small installations or what, but Ramstein just seemed huge! And, oh my goodness, there were cars everywhere. The whole place was busy, busy, busy.  We found our way to the mall (which, by the way, wasn't hard at all because it's so huge!). I've talked about BX's and PX's before, the base and post exchanges for the Air Force and Army. They are part of AAFES - the Army and Air Force Exchange Service. When we got to the mall, it only said, in BIG, HUGE letters: EXCHANGE. No 'B,' no 'P.' It is just the 'Exchange.' And it's big! Like any other mall, it had a food court (with many AAFES restaurants, like Burger King, Anthony's, Baskin Robbins, Taco Bell). I think the Romano's Macaroni Grill was even in there (I don't know, we didn't even get to see the whole place!). It even had a few local German eateries, too. There were vendors down the aisles. Lots of vendors! And little stores. Then, the biggest part of the mall was the actual Exchange, which rivaled many large Wal-Marts in the amount of space it held.

We spent quite a bit of time in the Exchange. We found some clothes for the kids and for me. We bought some towels and kitchen accessories. Of course we had to get some electronic stuff (I like clothes and home stuff; Adam likes his electronics =). Before we left the states, we had been looking into getting some of those expensive foam pillows for ourselves, the Tempurpedics. Well, they had some Serta ones for about half the price that we really liked, so we got two of those. Oh, we had so much fun spending money!!

The mall had 4 theaters showing first run movies. We ate some ice cream at the Johnny Rockets and headed upstairs to catch Kung Fu Panda 2. And, guess what?!?! The movie was spoken in English, aaaaaand there were no subtitles!!!! The movie itself was really great (I even think it was better than the first one, but that's just my opinion =).

These are 'Kissing Bears' because there are two flavors of bears stuck together in each set =)

We headed back downstairs and walked around some more. There were several German shops sporting their wares. Adam and I ogled at the beautiful, intricate cuckoo clocks, promising ourselves that we would get one as a souvenir when we actually did some sight-seeing in Germany. The candle-powered windmills were so fascinating. One shop was like a Christmas market the whole year round. That one was hard to leave!! A vendor in the aisle had so many wooden wall-hangings, plaques, etc. that he was personally engraving right there with a branding iron. It was so fun to watch him! A lady selling gummi bears offered to let us try a few. I agreed (oops!) and ended up buying a bag for too much money. But, I don't regret it, because those fruit juice flavored German gummi bears are the best gummi bears I have ever had!! I also bought a beautiful statue of Mary from another vendor. What a wonderful day!

We drove around the base some more and eventually ended up at the Chili's restaurant. What a treat! We hadn't eaten at a sit-down American restaurant since a week before we left. Of course, it was delicious.

After dinner, we let Rachael and Zach play in the park we found on base just to burn some energy off before the long ride. It was fun and they enjoyed it. But finally, the time came that we had to leave.

The drive back was nice. The sun doesn't go down around here until about 10:30 at night, so we had daylight the whole trip back home. As we were driving, we saw these fields on rather steep slopes, and we just couldn't figure out what they were. As farmers of wheat and barley, who understand that combines can work on slopes that are only so steep, we were rather confused. Eventually, we got close enough to some and found that they were rows of vines. Vineyards!

We enjoyed the rest of our trip home, with the kiddos crashed in the back. Adam had picked up a brochure for Octoberfest running the last week of October somewhere in the Kaiserslautern Military Community. Heck, we might back sooner than we planned. Yay!!! Ta ta!

Our New Church

Wow. We are really getting settled in over here. We have our house picked out (moving in May 23); we put a deposit down on Adam's going-to-work car (an old Nissan Primera to be picked up next weekend); and today we found our new church, which we love!

Originally, I wanted us to attend a local church ministered in Dutch to almost force us to learn some of the language. Adam didn't really want to do that, and now I'm glad he didn't.

The nearest English-speaking Catholic mass for us is located at Joint Force Command (JFC) Brunssum, about 45 minutes away in the Netherlands (near the NATO Air Base in Geilenkirchen, Germany). Getting to JFC Brunssum was awful. Nearly every road leading to it off of the motor way was closed due to construction. When we finally go on the installation, we were thoroughly perplexed because of all of the one-way roads, especially since we didn't have an exact address to give Jill so she could tell us where to go. It was a mess. But, we did finally find the chapel and make our way in.

We were truly spoiled in Utah. We had been going to a brand-new, million dollar Catholic church about 2 miles away from our house. It was gorgeous and plush and fancy. The church at Brunssum is nothing like St. Mary's in Roy, Utah; but it still had everything you'd expect: chairs with kneelers, an alter, a crucifix hanging at the front, an Easter candle, a music section, and more - everything you need to run a church. We walked in and found our seats.

Now, we had built into our schedule plenty of time to get to Brunssum and find our way to the chapel. We were about 20 minutes early. There were not a whole lot of people in the church. The bulletin we were handed walking in noted that the attendance for last week's mass was 83 people. With such a small community, any newcomers would stand out; and we did. A wonderful lady came up to us, introduced herself as Cathleen, and asked if we were new (Yes.) She started telling us about the church and its programs and I just fell in love. They have a women's group, children's education classes, and a book study!!!!! (I think she saw my face light up when she told me that =) Before church had even started, I had plans to be back at Brunssum on Wednesday and had already been introduced to several members of the women's group.

During mass, well, the first half of it anyways, the musicians were playing and singing traditional music like Grandma and Grandpa and the rest play back home at St. Anthony's parish in Greencreek, Idaho. Cathleen came up to me after mass and was delighted that we knew the 'new' music and were singing it because they didn't know it yet! =) This week the Catholic mass was supposed to be clearing out of the church ASAP as the Polish community would from now on be celebrating their own masses about a half hour after ours. Well, that didn't really happen for us today as another member of the church behind us began asking Adam about his job and Cathleen introduced me to more important people in the parish.

We walked to the car after mass feeling elated and filled with such a positive energy. We have found our new spiritual home, and we already feel so very welcome in this new church. What a wonderful feeling! I can't wait to get involved in all the groups and really start connecting with other people. God has given us such a wonderful opportunity, and we are grateful to have a place where we can continue to worship and be a part of such a close community. Thank you, God! And, God bless you!

House Hunting =D

I don't know what it is about Adam and I, but when we go house hunting, we find 'our new place' on the very first day of looking. When we bought our house in May 2007, we looked at seven houses in one day. We knew House #5 was promising as we drove up. We fell in love with it when we walked in. And we knew we wanted it to be ours before we finished the tour. We looked at Houses #6 and #7 because it never hurts to look, and our realtor had already set up these appointments. I didn't really see them, though. In my mind, images of a beautiful tri-level home in Roy, Utah, kept flashing over and over. We put an offer in that night and the rest was history.

Well, yesterday, we went looking for 'our new place' here in Belgium. A lady at the NPC who helps newcomers find their homes set up four appointments at four houses for us to check out. (There are not a whole lot of rental homes available in the area we are scouting.) We have in our minds an idea of what we want and are aware of some of the amenities we will be giving up that we have been so spoiled with in Utah, like: forced air, carpet, dishwashers, 30 inch ovens, disposals, stand-up showers, closets, and overall space. We know we can look forward to radiator heating, wood and tile flooring, hand-washed dishes, itty bitty microwave/convection/toaster oven combos, picking potato peels and junk out of the kitchen sink, taking showers bent over in a tub using a flexible wand, wardrobes, and tiny rooms all over. That's all ok. We both grew up on farms; we can do this!

I fully intend on taking pictures of each house to help us compare and contrast and make our decision later. I also know that my camera's batteries are almost done, but the light has been blinking for a while now and it's still working, so.....

We pull up to House #1. The brick is new. It looks really nice. Ms. Ingrid meets us at the door and shows us around. She tells us she's been cleaning, and the place smells of paint. There's a fresh coat on most walls, and still work to be done. She tells us to use our imaginations as it's still a work in progress. I ask if I can take pictures and she agrees.The living room is finished, though, and it's wonderful! It's huge, and the fireplace is gorgeous!!! The kitchen, weeellllll, that's another story. I try to take a picture. Whoops! My batteries are finally dead, for real. We'll just have to go by memory. Anyways, they've redone so much of the house because the previous tenants practically destroyed it, didn't clean it for the two years they were there, or so she tells us. The kitchen, however, has not been redone. It looks old, but functional. Even the oven works, she says. Her husband disconnected the timer, so now it turns on (the other tenants never used it). She promises it works. But, its energy comes from a set of propane/gas tanks sitting just outside the window. She starts rambling on about how the tanks will have to be changed and some other stuff about it that we didn't really understand. Wow, we're getting kinda leery about this. There is a yard for Shasta. The bedrooms are roomy, and the upstairs bathroom is brand new (she said that room was really bad). I love it! We head to the basement. There is lots of storage - good. Then we walk into a room that has this huge green tank in it. The oil tank. It holds 1200 litres. The house and water are heated with oil. We were warned about this by Ralph. He said to avoid oil if you can. We really don't want to be buying 1200 liters of oil off of the economy anyways. We say good-bye, we'll contact you soon, and move on to the next house.

House #2 is house number 26 in its street. We're driving around and see this beautiful house with topiary and greenery and beautiful wood. It's 26A. Is this the place? Uh, nope. Bummer! House 26 is connected to it. It looks simple: white with grey trim. Yard maintenance out front is zilch. It's all decorative rock, which is nice. We pull up into the drive and meet Joël. He shows us around, and we looooooove it! The kitchen has a dishwasher. An oven can be arranged. It's heated with gas. It has A/C!!! The whole place has a very modern feel, nothing like the houses we expected to see. And then there's the verandah! Oh, joy of joys! The verandah is a haven, with a beautiful skylight, big glass windows, so light and airy. I am in love. To top it all off, he has a beautiful black mare with a one-week old colt in the meadow behind the house, and he says he'd be willing to let Rachael ride every now and then!  =D!! The only drawbacks are this super weird flooring that he has upstairs. (This guy has a thing about flooring - he showed us the thermal flooring he just put in that day for one of his horses.) This floor is made of tiny little shiny smooth black pebbles, it looks similar to a very nice rubber running track. Also, there is no fenced in yard for Shasta. But everything else is so perfect. We say thank you, we'll contact you, and move on.

House #3 is a waste of time. Marina, the lady helping us from the NPC, made sure to ask each prospective landlord if they would allow pets. Apparently, this lady didn't catch that, and only after going through the whole house with her did we ask about Shasta and she told us 'No.' Anyways, she was very proud of her very old house with some 2-year-old updates. And, she just seemed nervous that we would even have kids on her wood floors. Whatever. We won't be entering that house ever again.

House #4 is also a bust, though it was promising at first. We've been living in Hotel Malpertuus on Tongeresteenweg since we arrived. Just down the road are four brand-spankin' new houses that we've been noticing. We were surprised when Marina set us up with an appointment to see one of these. We've never lived in such a new house. How exciting! We get there; the landlord shows up late. We can't hardly understand him, and he doesn't even know how parts of his own house work. We check it out. It has everything we want, except.... the living space is so small and it's right on a very busy street that I definitely don't want to be backing my Honda Odyssey out onto, especially with the way folks drive around here. The whole appointment is just very awkward, and we leave.

So, while we were driving around and also while waiting for the landlord to show up, Adam and I have been talking about our options. There's not a whole lot to choose from; we've pretty much seen what's available to us in the locations we would be comfortable living. Our decision is coming down to House #1 and House #2. I really like the first one. It's homey, it has a yard for Shasta. The fireplace is gor-gewah. It has oil; we can live with that. The oven/gas situation is super freaky. Adam was glowing about Joël's house before we could even reach the car after seeing it. It has everything except a place for Shasta. I think it's kinda man-ish and the flooring is weird. I'm also a little uncomfortable living so close to our landlord (like sharing two stories of wall with him!), but he seems like a great guy and the previous tenant also worked for the NPC, so he's already worked with this system. We decide that we can buy an invisible fence for Shasta and choose Joël's place as "the one." We leave the 4th house and head straight for his. He's got one of the black horses saddled up, giving a little girl a lesson. We tell him we like his place, talk about the oven, shake hands, and drive away floating on Cloud 9. We've found 'our new place,' our new home! Oh, I can't wait to get inside again and take tons of pictures and show you all what a wonderful place we've found! I guess I'll save that for another post. Until then... Ta ta!

Our First Adventurous Weekend - Benegerm?

Thank the Lord! We finally have a car! It may be just a rental, but it has 4 doors, 4 wheels, some seats, and an engine!! We finally get to go exploring! Our spacious hotel loft was quickly closing in on the kids and me over the last few days, and we are grateful for finally having some freedom!

This is our Peugeot Oxygo. It's tiny, but most of the cars around here are, so it fits in. Even though I can drive a stick shift, I don't think I'll be driving this car, or any car around here, any time soon. The people here drive way too fast on super narrow roads with no shoulders, just bike paths and sidewalks that are way too close to the speeding traffic for comfort. We are so very grateful for 'Jill,' the GPS unit Adam got from his parents for Christmas. She has unlimited European maps updates, and she tells us what lanes to be in, to keep right or left, and how to navigate through these crazy streets with no names. I don't know how anyone new to Europe ever figured out how to get around over here without a GPS.

Anyways, we have a car. Adam's been riding around with Ralph and other guys from his group, so he understands a little bit about driving and has already been so several places, like SHAPE and Schinnen. I'll tell you more about how wonderful Schinnen is in all its 50's Army glory in another post. Just know for now that it is a US Army Garrison. We drove up there on Friday, and it was our first stop on our day trip on Saturday.

Benelux is an actual term used around here regarding Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxemborg. They joined together to kind of start the first European Union-ish. You can read more about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benelux. I guess you could say we took a day trip through Benegerm (not a real term used here, but one I like =): Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany.

Like I said, we started out at our hotel in Belgium and headed to USAG Schinnen. It's in the Netherlands, about a half hour away. The borders are open over here, so the first time I crossed into the Netherlands, I didn't even realize it. The only indication that you're crossing a border is just a sign along the road.

Most of the freeways are lined with trees, making seeing the countryside difficult in many places, like you're driving through a green tunnel. When you do get a chance to look out, you can see the beautiful green countrysides, with groves of trees all over, planted fields, cattle grazing in pastures. It's mostly flat with soft hills all over. The cities are very different, with no spaces between the buildings, and crazy roundabouts and street patterns. On one street in Tongeren, where opposing traffic was making left-hand turns, there was one lane of oncoming traffic, one going our way making the left, another for oncoming left-turners, and the fourth going our way again, but straight. Scary!!

Ok, back to our trip. After doing what we needed to do at Schinnen, we decided to head down to Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany. We knew it would be about a 2 hour drive, but we had nothing better to do and someone else's gas in the car. (Yes, we know we'll have to replace it, but still, we needed to go somewhere!) This drive was so nice. We headed south from the Netherlands back into Belgium, which we thought was odd, but Jill said to go that way, so we did.

Apparently, Belgium is running an ad campaign against drunk driving, so we saw these billboards all over. They have a picture of a driver with a coffin for a head and two statements. The Dutch one asks something like: "Hungover this weekend?"

The German one asks: "Will the alcohol be the nail in your coffin?"

There are also many, many windmills over here. Huge ones, gigundous ones, all over. I love it! And, Rachael likes them, too =) Yay, windmills!

We crossed into Germany. Now, let's talk about drivers in Germany for a minute. Granted, we only spent a few hours driving through Deutschland, and we have only heard about the Auto Bahn and have not actually driven on it ourselves, but we began to notice a trend. Adam was driving the Peugoet over the posted speed limit to keep up with the slow drivers in the right-hand lane. Yet, we were getting passed at ferocious speeds on the left by so many other drivers. Might it be that they think they're still driving on the Auto Bahn, rather than just a European Interstate? Who knows? Continuing on...

We made it to Spangdahlem Air Base. Adam said it reminded him of Lackland AFB. There were so many familiar American restaurant chains. Pop-Eyes, Taco Bell, Subway, Burger King, and many more. I couldn't help but think of my friends who had spent four years here, imagining them going to the Commissary and driving on these same roads. We saw so many of the same services as are found on Hill AFB (but where's the BX?), just with different numbers in the names. Hill's buildings were mostly tan and brown; Spang's were more yellow, but still had the same feel. Then, I thought of my other friends who will be moving here in March 2012. Will they like it here? I had to see what housing is like!

I'm not sure what I was expecting. It turned out to be typical military housing. Lots of horrible apartments, and some duplexes, the exact same house right next to the other, sometimes with a different paint scheme, lots of plastic kids' toys in the yards. I was surprised by the lack of fenced in yards, but otherwise, it was nothing less than it should have been. What really got us was: 'Where are the people?' It was a Sunday, and the whole base seemed pretty empty, rather un-busy. Hmmm......

We continued our journey. We weren't planning on visiting Bitburg, but it wasn't much of a detour on our way back to the hotel. So, we drove by. We didn't really know what Bitburg was, we just knew it was a town with some sort of US military presence. After some Googling later, I found out that it was another Air Base, home of the 36th Fighter Wing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitburg_Air_Base). We didn't know that, though, and we couldn't figure out where the gate was even if we wanted to get in. We ended up driving all the way around it, discovering that we missed an exit at the first roundabout that would have taken us right in. Regardless, we could see into it. Again, it was sterotypically military. We saw the Commissary, knew there was a BX in there (we had asked at Spang where theirs was and were told SPang's is tiny and the better one was here at Bitburg). It had that same dirt-colored look to all of the buildings. So, that was that.

Then, leaving Bitburg, on the way back to the freeway, we were driving through more scenic countryside and just couldn't help reveling in the beauty of it all. The landscape reminded us so much of home, the flat Prairie, with young green crops of grain, yellow canola/rape seed fields, and fallow ground all intermixed. What a wonderful last sight before the long drive back.





A map of our trip:











On Sunday we did a little house hunting. We had not talked to anyone about actually entering the houses, but Adam had found a few on the websites that he wanted to look at, so we drove around a little. The houses here are so cute. They're small, but they have character. I can easily imagine us living in several of the ones we looked at. They don't have all the amenities found in most American houses, like dishwashers, window screens, disposals, or even stand-up showers, but they're so cute it just doesn't matter =)

We ended up passing through Tongeren after looking at the houses. And, though we've been living near Tongeren for the last week, this was the first time I had been in the town. It is cramped and tiny with wall-to-wall brick buildings hovering over narrow streets, but I loved it! It was Sunday, and the famous Antiek Markt was just wrapping up (http://www.antiekmarkttongeren.be/). All through the streets vendors were packing up their tables and wares. Ooh, this is something I will definitely have to check out more thoroughly this summer. It runs only on Sundays, every Sunday, from 7am to 1 pm. When Adam told one of his commanders/captains/? that we would be living near Tongeren, he said his wife would kill to be going with us because of this Antique Market. Thankfully, I'm not dead, but I'm here! And I'll let you know what I find when I do eventually get down the the Antiek Markt =)

So, we had a pretty good weekend. The kids and I got out of the hotel. We saw some of the most beautiful countryside I've ever seen and drove around in countries I've only dreamed about visiting. We've started our house hunting, and hopefully very soon we'll find one we can call our own, for a few years anyways. All in all, we had a pretty wonderful weekend, made even sweeter by a Mother's Day breakfast of Adam's yummy pancakes and Rachael's super sweet "Happy Mother's Day, Mom!" I don't know if life can get any better for us, because I feel like we're in heaven. Ta ta!

The Big Move

Well, it's Sunday, May 1, 2011. The Big Day. Adam and I wake up at 5 am in TLF. There's still so much to do, and the shuttle will be at the house at 8 am. We get ourselves ready and pack up the carry-on bags (the checked luggage is already at the house waiting). We wake up the kids, who are less than thrilled to be up at 6 in the morning, and get them ready. Adam loads up the Granny car and we all pile in. We're heading off base for the very last time before 7 am--we're early.

Speaking of last time, there have been a lot of 'last times' for us lately: last time to eat at our favorite restaurants, last time to see our friends, last time to drive around our familiar stomping grounds. We realize this will be the last time we drive off Hill AFB. Again, I surprise myself by not being very weepy about this. I feel rather Zen about it all. It's actually kind of creeping me out, but, whatever... I have more important things to be thinking about today.

As we're driving to the house, Adam has me call the shuttle service just to make sure someone will be there at 8 am to pick us up. I call. My heart stops. The lady on the other end says they have no record of our request. "What's your confirmation number? (Dunno) ...Your telephone number? (###)... I'm sorry. We don't have you scheduled. Let me check something. Can you hold?" Adam and I immediately start planning contingencies: Will Heather help us take stuff to the airport? Jerry and Julie can pick up the Granny car there instead of at the house? How will we get all that luggage down there?! The lady gets on the line again: "Oh, yes, we have a driver scheduled to pick you up at 8 am at your home. Is this correct? (YES!!!!!) Ok, then. (BTW: What's he driving?) A Toyota Sienna. Sorry about giving you a mild heart attack. Bye!" My heart resumes beating; then Adam and I look at each other: a Toyota Sienna?!?!?  But it won't all fit! Adam told them we had a large dog crate, loads of luggage, four people, and a driver. How the **** will it all fit?!...

Whatever... we still have Granny car if we need it. I call Heather a few times. (Do you have Shasta? All her stuff? What about a scale? Heather? Heather?!) We finally make it to the house, do some last minute stuffing of crap into the checked bags, continue freaking out about the shuttle, and finally have nothing left to do but wait... Heather arrives with Shasta, and her stuff, and even a scale. We weigh the luggage. Three bags are under 50 pounds (Yay =), and one is over 60 pounds. NBD. Adam's allowed a few up to 70 pounds. Perfect. The animals are all set. It's 7:58. Where's the shuttle?! At 8:00 am on the dot, it gets here. Somehow or another, the driver gets Shasta's kennel, Steve's kennel, four huge luggage bags, and a Pack'n'Play all in the back. Amazing! Everything fits! Heather gets her last snuggles in on Zach and Rachael. As we're climbing in the van, I give her a quick hug (quick, because I know I can't handle anything more). Well, apparently, I can't even handle that. She's walking to her Jeep; I'm climbing in the van. I'm bawling. This is so hard. I'm leaving everything, including Heather, whom I've known for seven years now. I knew this was coming. Why did it have to be in the shuttle with a stranger to see it? Well, the guy seems rather unfazed. I guess he gets this all the time in his line of work. He usually has tissues, but not today. No worries. I've got my shirt sleeves to wipe away these massive tears. This is it. We're on our way...

The people at the airport must think we're nuts when we arrive. Adam has to get two carts to help us move all our stuff. I'm wearing one diaper bag, one huge backpack, and one baby, pushing a cart carrying a huge dog crate and a cat. Adam had the other one, piled so high I have no idea how it doesn't all come crashing down at some point. Our zoo of a family comes walking in to the Delta terminal. Thankfully, they have people there watching out for nutzos like us, with kids and animals and crap. They fast-tracked us to the desk, where everything actually went pretty smoothly. We off-loaded a couple hundred pounds of stuff and said good-bye to our animals. Poor Shasta is whining. She has just been returned to her people. Are we abandoning her... again? Poor thing.

Security is difficult. Everything we have strapped to and hanging off of us has to be taken off, sent through the scanners, shoes, belts, bags, everything. Thankfully, they recognize that we are not terrorists and let us through un-molested. We put everything back on again and head to the gate.

Rachael is very excited when she sees her plane pull up to the jet-way. The four-hour plane ride from Salt Lake City to New York's JFK is pretty easy, except for another momentary heart failure. As we're sitting on the plane waiting to leave, an attendant comes up to me, sitting in the middle seat with Zach by the window in his car seat, and says we have a problem with his ticket. Apparently, he is supposed to be about 10 rows back. How could that be? Adam had all this taken care of. How did we miss this? She says, "Don't worry. I'll make sure you'll be seated with him." Then she leaves. Crap! Adam and I are going to be split up, but we'll make it to the next stop, so we'll just suck it up. Well, the attendant never comes back. Common sense prevails. I guess the guy with Zach's seat number took the other one instead, and we were off!

When we get to JFK, it's a zoo. Go figure. We walk about a mile and a half from Gate 26 to Gate 10, heavily loaded down with kids and crap. We only have to wait about a half hour to get boarded on the next flight. Perfect! The animals are below us again. And we fly. Oh. My. Word! The eight hour flight from JFK to Brussels seemed to take FOR. EVER. We leave about 7 pm New York time. The sun is still up, though it gets dark soon after. They keep the lights on in the cabin for WAY too long. We should be sleeping to start working on our jet lag. No such luck. The meal isn't bad, though. Adam's sitting with Zach this time and they seem to do ok. Rachael won't sleep, with the lights on or off. She can't get comfortable, can't lay down, can't sleep. Thus, I can't do any of those things either. She gets very whiny for several hours. I'm exhausted. Will the flight ever end? Eventually, she falls into a restless sleep; then the plane lands. It's daylight again, 8 or 9 am in Brussels. That was the shortest night I have ever seen. We're in Belgium! In Europe! I can't stop smiling. Even tired Rachael is running down the (empty? where is everybody?) concourses, pulling her little Trunki around behind her.  
I can't believe this is actually happening! A Coke machine in the airport is big and red and has an image of a baby statue peeing a fountain of glorious Coke. Only in Europe!

Picking up our bags is fun. The place is a zoo! Everyone is going everywhere at lightning speed. This old lady in black with a long skirt over pants comes up to Adam, seemingly frantic, and asks for something in some other language. He starts waving his arms around (sign language? =) and says, "I only speak English." She walks quickly away. Adam gathers up the luggage, and we start wondering how it is we're going to get our pets. Remember the import license freak-out? Today is a Belgian holiday. Their Labor day was Sunday, the first, and they are celebrating it today, Monday. Does this mean we'll be dealing with the hard-core security folks willing to work even on holidays, or will there be so few working that they'll just pass the animals through? Maybe neither. We find them sitting in the over-sized luggage zone next to the carousel. Just sitting there. Waiting to be picked up. Did they even go through customs? We don't know; we don't care. Let's get them the Sam Hill outta here, Quick!

We now have three carts. I have one, and Adam's trying to drive the other two out of the secure area. People are just staring at us like we're crazy, or they're busy trying to walk around us as quickly as possible (jerks! =). Finally, someone kindly helps Adam by taking charge of the third cart. Thank you kind woman!

We're met on the ground by Ralph, Adam's sponsor, the guy Adam's been e-mailing for several months with many Belgium- and moving-related questions. Ralph is great. He is so laid back and easy going.  He tells us Osama Bin Laden's been killed. "You mean Gadhafi, right?" "No. Bin Laden!!" How crazy is it that, after 10 years of searching, this horrible awful person is finally destroyed while we're up in the air? Odd, but, whatever...

Anyways, we load everything up into the next shuttle--a much bigger van than the last one we were in! =) We drive for about an hour, hour and a half. My eyes can't take in everything! It's so Beautiful, so Green! Everywhere there are neat little fields with perfect rows of dirt and plants, little farms, cows and sheep. Ralph calls them 'villages.' I am in love! All the while, I can hear Ralph in the front seat talking to Adam in the second row about everything and anything we need to know. I catch about half of it. Belgium is small, everything in Belgium is small, and everything happens slowly. All the conveniences we're used to just don't exist here. Stores close early. In fact, there is a niche market called Night Shops that are open from about 4 pm through 4 am selling whatever you absolutely have to have, for about double the price you would pay during regular hours. This should be easy for us, right? We're from po-dunk Idaho. It almost feels the same, seems to run the same way. I guess maybe we got a little spoiled living in Utah where we had five--count them, five--24/7 Wal-marts within a 15-minute radius. Somewhere along this drive it hits me: This place is going to change us.

We get to the hotel and walk up the stairs, and up and up. (What, no elevators?) Ralph has found for us a loft apartment to rent. I really like it now, but upon entering, I was totally shocked! One room leads to the next. At the top of the stairs, turning right, you come to the living area, then the dining area, then the kitchen, all separated by glass doors. The kitchen is green; the fridge blends into the cupboards. The largest cupboard is actually a wine rack. Turning left at the stairs is a hallway. Walk down it to the first bedroom, the only one with a double bed. Continue walking to the second bedroom, then the bathroom. Then, keep walking down to the master bedroom, with two twin beds and a sitting room. The bathroom is huge, with some steps in it, two sinks, a tub, and a weird shower. Then, I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but I have to yell at Shasta: "Don't drink out of the bidet!" Then, an even weirder thought crosses my mind: I need to Google  "How to use a bidet."

Anyways, here we are, in a hotel in Belgium, completely exhausted. We are so glad to finally be living with our animals again, and even gladder to have a place to lay down. For the last couple months, Adam has been buying transformers, adapters, cords, etc., all in an effort to make our gadgets work over here. He starts testing his stuff. Lo and behold, it works! Ralph said you can't get Netflix streaming over here; we beg to differ. Adam has us set up with a VPN to give us an American IP address. We get Netflix. We can plug in our electrical stuff using the transformer and some other stuff. The Vulkano, set up while we were in Idaho, records American shows at his parents' house and allows us to watch them here! I don't know how he does this or where he learns about this kind of stuff, but he does, and it's awesome!

So, we're getting settled in. Shasta and Steve are 'playing' with each other. Steve gets cornered between the wall and one of the glass doors. She runs smack into it. Adam and I just bust a gut laughing about it. Minutes later, Zach does the same thing!  It's hilarious! I sit there just thinking, "Man, I really love Belgium!" And then I start looking for the bed.

By the way, I still haven't figured out how to use the bidet =) Ta ta!

Getting to Belgium

My Dear Friends and Family,

As many of you know, I was reluctant at first to join Facebook for many different reasons: I already was on MySpace, I'm leery of sharing my personal information on the Internet, I didn't see its value, etc. Now, I'm a huge fan of Facebook because of the connectivity I now have with all of my wonderful friends and family, whether they are 10 miles away or 1,000. Now, we are the ones thousands of miles away from you. I don't know much about blogs, have definitely never written one myself, and really have no idea what I'm doing. But, I want to share with you our adventures as we explore Belgium and the surrounding areas during our 4-year stay while Adam works at the NATO Programming Centre. This will also serve as a record for me to look back on and reminisce about our Belgium adventure long after we're gone.

With that said, let me tell you a little about how we got here!

Adam took a job in February 2009 with the 367th Training Support Squadron at Hill AFB. It was promised to be a four-year controlled tour, meaning we could not ask to leave and the Air Force could not make us leave before the four years were up. Ha! Military guarantees being what they are, new leadership came in and removed these controlled codes from the profiles of the guys in Adam's shop, including his. That left us in a very uncomfortable place, though well-known to many military families. Our future was undetermined. Would the Air Force make us leave Hill in the next couple months? Would we spend the next couple years in Utah wondering if the Air Force would make us leave Hill in the next couple months (several of our friends have lived this way for 7 years!)? We had just bought a house in May 2007 at the height of the market before everything crashed in 2008-09. We weren't sunk on our house, but we didn't have any equity in it either, even after Adam put several thousand dollars of work and materials into finishing the basement.

Adam and I sat down and looked at our situation. We didn't want to live in limbo, but we didn't want the Air Force sending us somewhere we weren't too excited to go. So, Adam went looking at the listings for special assignments to see what he could find. There were three positions open and available to him: two in Germany, one in Belgium. He applied for all three. The day he called me telling me he got the Belgium job, I was jumping up and down, screaming, laughing, crying, and so elated I just didn't even know what to do with myself (all while still on the phone with him! =) We were moving to Belgium!

...Or so we thought. The next few months are a blur of anxiety, anger, and frustration as we scrambled about gathering medical records and doctor's letters trying to prove to some less than understanding (I'm being very nice) powers-that-be that my two prematurely born children and my liver-transplanted self were stable enough and healthy enough to make this move and not strain the overseas health care budgets. Long story short, we made it work that the whole family could go over.

Now, the big decisions have been made: we're moving, and we'll try to sell the house (or at least rent it out). Adam drove the van--my van, my very dependable vehicle that I always have filled with whatever I might need while toting around myself and my kids--to the port of Los Angeles on April 10th. We won't see it again until sometime mid-May through early-June. The Mustang served as the family car for a week and a half. Wow. Two-door sports cars were never made for running errands with two kids in car seats. And, we are definitely a two-car family! But, we managed! =)

We made one last long trip up to Idaho April 15-24. My good friend Heather took Shasta for us while we were gone. We packed up a Budget truck with everything we wanted to keep but couldn't take with us (and baby stuff from our kids to pass on to our sisters' kids). The trip was long, but never long enough to see everyone and feel like we've fully reconnected before heading back. Leaving Idaho is always hard for us; this time was worse. We knew we would not be back for 16 months (if we come back any earlier, it will be far worse because that will mean someone we love will be gone). Each time I got sad thinking about leaving, whether it be Idaho or my home and friends in Utah, I would remind myself of what fantastic adventures we'll have and the amazing opportunity this will be for our children.

We returned to Utah on Sunday, April 24th. It was Easter, and also my birthday. We will be forever grateful for Jerry and Julie lending us the Granny car for this return trip and remaining days in Utah. I can't imagine what that trip would have been like in the Mustang, or how we would have moved around trash and luggage with it. With our departure scheduled for Sunday, May 1, only a week away, we spent the next few days scrambling about, dividing our stuff into unaccompanied baggage, items to be sold, items to be trashed, items to be shipped. The movers came, boxed up the house, put it all in crates on a big semi, and took it away. My house was empty. I surprised myself by not being upset. With everything gone, it really wasn't even mine anymore. It was getting hard not having our animals, though. We cleaned the carpets in early April and relegated them to the basement to keep the floors clean and hair-free. Then Shasta stayed with Heather during our Idaho visit and up through the day we left Utah to keep her comfortable instead of being boxed while all the movers were coming and going and while we were in TLF (temporary lodging facility).

We spent the last couple days in Utah cleaning up the house, living in TLF, catching one last movie (Hoodwinked Too!), and saying good-bye to dear friends. We met a lot of great people during our 7 years in Utah, and it was hard to leave them behind. My friend Anne is a realtor; she's helping us sell our house. Michelle loaned us her car and let us print stuff off her computer. Tiffany watched our kids for a day. Heather watched Shasta, hauled her around for us, and took away some stuff we couldn't in the Granny car. Everyone else offered their help and support whenever they could. Thank you all for helping us through those last few days, for enduring my frantic phone calls, for being there when we really needed you!

When you're moving, something's bound to go wrong. Thankfully, Adam is so good at all this logistical stuff. (The moving office was very often less than helpful, even though their job is to help servicemen through the mess of moving. But, whatever...) He took care of the passports, flights, and so much more that I'm not even aware of. I don't know how he does it, but he does. And for that, I am so grateful! The biggest glitch came about because of the animals. No one told us, and in our early research we did not learn by ourselves, that animals being imported into Belgium require an import license and processing fee of 41Euro each. In his last minute research on Tuesday before we left, Adam finds this out. He gets to work printing forms, filling them out, trying to fax them to the proper authorities. It's supposed to take 10 days to get these licenses. We don't have 10 days! What are we supposed to do with the animals?! Take them with us? There will be a fine, probably animal detainment until we get the licenses. Leave them in Utah? Someone has to take them in Utah for another week, Jerry and Julie will pick them up, the vet has to clear them again ($140 more we don't have!), the USDA has to clear them again ($70!), and they have to go to Spokane and fly as cargo (mega extra $$$!). We talk it over and decide to just take them with us. Delta won't have a problem flying them over. We have evidence that we tried to rectify the situation. We've done everything else right regarding the animals. We'll take them with us, and hope for the best.

So, the car is shipped. The crates soon will be. Our bags are packed. The animals are coming with us. We are ready to go! This leads us up to the day of our departure, which is a story for another post... Ta ta!