Moving In

Well, the day has finally come. As much as we love staying at Hotel Malpertuus and enjoying the friendly people and their delicious breakfast, we finally get to move into our new house! Joël agreed to let us start moving some of our stuff in on Sunday since we have such a tiny car and big luggage bags. This is a big help.

On Monday morning, Adam and I are up at 6am (waaay too early! =). We have to be at the house by 8am  because we are expecting to have our unaccompanied baggage delivered anytime between 8 and 5. Oh, joy *sarc* I wake up and get ready. Adam makes several trips to the house before the kids are even awake. They're none too excited about getting up early, but at least they're cooperative. We head downstairs to enjoy one last delicious breakfast. I get one last croissant, some of the delicious cheeses, and a roll on which to spread some delicious jams and jellies =)

Once we finish eating, we have to get going. We're already late! Adam packs a few more things in the car. He'll come back later and get the rest of it. The kids are loaded up in the Peugoet. I get to walk Shasta over, so we get going. Adam and the kids pass us as we're walking.

This walk feels soooo good! I love my kids, but it's nice to have a break from them once in a while. It's hard to do anything when I have to take along two kiddos wherever I go. This morning it's just me and my dog. I am really missing my gym time. I bought a new pair of gym shoes several months ago, and they still look brand new! Today, I get to use them. Shasta needs the exercise just as much as I do, so we walk fast. I can feel my muscles working - it's been a while. The air is crisp; the sun is shining. Oh, I wish this walk could last forever!

Shasta and I arrive at the house about a half hour later. The kids are already playing in the house. It's pretty empty except for some bags, some luggage, and a dining set and living set Joël has left in the house for us to use. The kids and I stay at the house, exploring our new place. Adam heads back to the hotel to get the last of our stuff and check out. Then, we wait for our stuff to show up.

And we wait.... and wait.... The Telenet guy shows up and installs our Internet. Goodness! I don't know how I survived without it for 4 hours! =)  Adam goes about setting up all the electrical stuff, wireless networks, transformers, and the Du@lPhone. The Du@lPhone is awesome! It works as both a landline phone and a Skype phone. For a few bucks a month, Adam was able to get a Cottonwood, Idaho, telephone number for his Skype account. Now, our parents can call us overseas by dialing a local number! Cool!

By the way, we're still waiting. We've called some of our grandparents from the Skype phone just to say "Hi." It's 4:30, and our stuff still isn't here. Now, it's 5:03. Adam calls the delivery people. Oh, guess what? Our delivery was cancelled! Really? When were they going to tell us that? We could have stayed at the hotel another night and slept in real beds, dried off with real towels, cooked dinner with real cookware, and eaten our food with real utensils! He has some choice words for them and tells them they will have our stuff at our house tomorrow morning! We go get a pizza at Tekin. I get to talking with the Tekin guy. He says this kind of thing happens all the time. Stuff usually comes two or three days later than when they plan. Time over here is different, kind of rubbery and not always set in stone (this might be hard to get used to! =). Lutgard and Joël come over and ask us how we're doing. Lutgard is kind enough to lend us some towels for the morning. They ask if we're ok sleeping for the night. We say "Yes, we have a plan." We don't want them to have to fix our problem. We take the cushions off the chairs and couch and put sheets on them to make beds for Rachael and us. Zach has his Pack 'n' Play.

Honestly, we sleep pretty well. The cushions are rather comfy. It's not too bad. Poor Rachael though. Her cushions split apart during the night, so she ended up sleeping on just a sheet over the floor between the two cushions. But, she seemed to be ok. Poor kiddo!

Adam and I ate cold cereal out of a red plastic party cup with plastic spoons this morning =)

As I'm getting her and Zach ready this morning, I hear some commotion going on downstairs. Our stuff is here! Yay! As we're opening up the boxes, it seems like Christmas. We'd forgotten some of what we'd put in this shipment, so it was nice to see a few unexpected things. The nicest part was just having our stuff! Not hotel stuff, not borrowed stuff, but our actual possessions. We're finally settling in!

Later today we get our loaner stuff from the Army. They have a program that will let us borrow a table and chairs, some beds, and a couch until our stuff gets here. They also let us have four wardrobes, a washer and dryer, and an American refrigerator for the whole duration of our time here. It is a fabulous program that saves us and others in our position the money and hassle of trying to find these things just to have to get rid of them in a few years.

Things are returning to normal. The kids and I are getting back into a schedule. I can make our meals at home now. We have a place to stay that we won't have to leave for several years. It's good. We're still missing the majority of our items, but we're making do. The neighbors are fantastic, so very friendly. The area is quaint with cute little houses and farms. And the beauty of Europe is all around us, just waiting for us to discover it all. What a fantastic opportunity we have been given. Thank you, God!

Pictures of Our New House

We went to the house again last night to sign some paperwork. We talked to Joël again and met his family. His wife Lutgard is wonderful. Rachael loved playing with their almost 12-year-old daughter Jill, and we met their 14-year-old son Bole, too. The neighbor lady on the other side came over. Her name is Andrea (on-dray-eh), and her daughter Hannah is 10. She also was playing with Rachael. Together the two older girls took her around all over, looking at the horses and the fishes and just had a grand time. We fell in love with the house all over again and are thrilled that the neighbors are so nice. I think we're going to have a wonderful time living in our new home!

By the way, I had my camera with me and, this time, I had two new batteries in it =) So, for those of you eagerly awaiting a glimpse into our new abode, I give you my first photo blog. Enjoy!

The Exterior

   

 

  

 

This picture is looking into the verandah. These doors can be opened up on a nice day to let in some fresh air and make you feel like you're sitting outside on a patio. It's lovely!

The car is parked in front of the verandah doors and is facing Joël's stable.

Sorry, Shasta. No single house we looked at had exactly everything we wanted. Our compromise kept the family comfortable, but Shasta was left without a fenced in yard. This is what she gets. But, we did just buy a jogging stroller for me to use. Giving Shasta the exercise she needs will be my motivation for going out and running, or jogging, or just walking really fast =)

 The Verandah (My favorite!!)

Looking into the verandah from the living room.

It has a skylight! Big windows + skylight = light, airy, wonderful room!

Ok. This is a little odd. Just off the verandah is a toilet in one room and a sink and the only standing shower in the other room. Just kinda weird. =)

  The Kitchen

On the far left you see a handle which is attached to the fridge. I really don't know how these people eat. The fridge is so small. It has no freezer. Just above it is a nook with a microwave. Thankfully, Joël agreed to put in a oven/toaster oven/microwave 'whole concept' machine to at least let me do some baking. Bye, bye, Pampered Chef bakeware =( I guess the base will give us an American fridge to use, as well as a washer and dryer and wardrobes, too. That's good news.

A built-in dishwasher is a rare find in these parts. Awesome!!

 

The Living Room

Nice little gas fireplace =)

Cool lights from Ikea. Joël pronounced it Ee-keh-ah.

 

 

 Garage/Basement Stairs/Entry/Main Stairs

Oh, man! This garage is so Short! Joël's head was almost touching! There is no way the Odyssey will fit in here! Looks like our new Nissan Primera will find its home here instead.

These railings really make me nervous with Rachael and Zach. They are definitely not kid-proof. We'll have to address that quickly!

 That Very Interesting Flooring Upstairs that I Mentioned

(PS: I kinda like it now. It's tiny little black shiny rocks. Very smooth. Kinda neat.)

 The Bedrooms

Master Bedroom. PS: We have Air Conditioning! Also a very rare find over here =)

Rachael's bedroom. Love the paint! Hers is the only room with built-in closets.

 I meant to take a picture of Zach's room, but everyone was congregated there. Then, I forgot to snap a quick pic when they all left.

The Bathroom

I just don't understand why these people don't believe in stand-up showers. I have very long hair. It's going to be so hard to wash and condition it when one hand is holding the wand and the other is trying to clean it. I really hope we can do something about this soon because I don't want to be traipsing through the cold house naked to get to the shower downstairs!

There you have it! This is our new home. We love it. None of our furniture will match. The house is modern with very cool colors; our stuff is very warm with browns and reds. But, whatever! We love it, and we'll make it work! We are so excited that we finally have a place to call ours, to do our own laundry in, and to just really start getting settled in. We will move in on May 23. Hopefully our unaccompanied baggage will be available by then. We'll be taking a trip to Ramstein to check out the mall and buy rugs, towels, sheets, pots, etc. - all that good stuff a real house needs! I hope you liked the tour. More to come later! 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!