(Well 3) Holidays down and a move…an update!

Sorry it has been so long since the last time I blogged, but a lot has been going on. We of course had 2 (technically 3) holidays pass and then there was a major move involved and there was really no time that I could seriously sit with my thoughts and write until now.

HOLIDAY #1: Thanksgiving

Obviously Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Europe at all, but I haven’t ever gone without celebrating so I decided to bring the trimmings to Belgium. We invited over the in-laws who have never celebrated Thanksgiving ever (husband came to the US last year to celebrate with my family). I bought a small turkey from base which I made along with green beans, cornbread dressing served with cranberry sauce, macaroni and cheese, ham, and yams. My in-laws were very intrigued, but they really enjoyed the food especially the ham. I split the meal into courses and we also served a cheesecake for dessert. I found a great video on the history channel website which explained Thanksgiving to them and overall it was a great day. I will post pictures on my American Chocolate facebook page.

HOLIDAY #2: St. Nicholas Day

In Belgium and a few other countries on the 6^th of December St. Nicholas Day is celebrated.  We went over to my in-laws for a small meal and exchanged small gifts. Here is a link to a page to tell you all about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas

A CHANGE IN SCENERY

So on the 17^th of December we were set to move from our apartment to our new house across town. Everything was going to plan until Wednesday the 14^th. My mother-in-law came over to help get some things ready for that Saturday and she received a call from the moving company that they would be unable to move us on Saturday due to they were attending a funeral, but they couldn’t move us on Friday and Thursday THE NEXT DAY was the only day they could do so. At this moment we went into panic mode and started just throwing things into boxes. My husband and I worked late into the night to get things packed and brought over to the new house.  The next day was crazy and we moved 2 days ahead of schedule which worked out quite well because it ended up snowing that weekend. We are very happy with our new house and it is nice to have a lot more room.

HOLIDAY #3: Christmas

We celebrated Christmas in our new house. My husband’s family does Christmas Eve dinner and so we went next door to his parent’s house for Christmas Eve dinner and opening presents at midnight. We received some great things which are very helpful to have in the new house. I bought my husband the full bluray collection of Star Wars and he has started turning me into a Star Wars nerd.  Pictures from Christmas will be on the facebook page soon.

Overall things are very good and the new year is upon us.

I also received some sad news from home. My neighbors who live next door to my mom back home in California lost their youngest son the Wednesday before Christmas. Keep them in your prayers.

Hallow”NOT”ween and Dog Sandwiches!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. A lot of things have happened and this post has been planned, but I never got around to it. Things have been moving along with us getting ready to move and therefore we have been just a tad busy. I am super excited about the move especially after I went by the new house yesterday and I saw how beautiful it looks. My in-laws definitely put a lot of time and money into this house. There are only a few things left to be done on the house and next month we are moving in. We have gotten quite a few boxes of things out of here and they are in waiting at my in-laws house since they do live right next door to the new house.

One thing I got to experience was my first Halloween in Belgium and I experienced it in two very different ways. First, I went to work on the base and therefore it was “Halloweened” out because it is an American base. Normally I don’t work on Mondays and in fact the food court is normally closed, but due to it being Halloween and there was an event going on in the evening we were open for business. The base had what is called a “Trunk or Treat” instead of the traditional Trick or Treat. What they did was have a street filled with parked cars which had their trunks all decorated and they handed out candy from each trunk to the kids. There were also carnival rides and games. Because EVERYONE with access to the base seemed to be there work was the busiest I have ever experienced it. I remember I was so excited when 6:30 rolled around and it was time for me to go. I hightailed it out of there as quickly as possible and made my way back home. On the drive home I experienced Halloween in Belgium…EMPTY STREETS! Well while driving through Attre I did see a group of maybe 4 kids in costume. Also back in our town I swear I saw a girl in costume as we made our way to the grocery store. Other than those occurrences the street was beyond empty.  I did learn that during the weekend Belgian kids will Trick or Treat in a large group with their school if they do anything. Belgium was a glow with the spirit though during the month of October. We went to restaurants that had cute little decorations and my in-laws even had a few along with a pumpkin they grew sitting at their front door (not carved though). There was also a man selling pumpkins every day in the town of Ghislenghien, I would see him setting up on the way to work all the time.

DOG SANDWICH is the name of a sandwich shop I discovered on the way home from work one day. It is located in the town of Ghislenghien on the same street as the guy who was selling the pumpkins. I was driving one day and I swore I saw a banner that said “Dog Sandwich”. I figured that I must be mistaken, but a few days later I decided to look a little harder and there it was as clear as day. I knew most likely they were not making sandwiches with dogs. Every day I would look to get a little more information and I saw on the window that they sold sandwiches, fries, and other snacks. I think it is a sandwich/fry shop (which in French a Sandwich shop is a sandwicherie)…Belgians LOVE their fry shops and I do too! I wonder if they sell hot dogs and that is what the whole Dog Sandwich thing is all about. I will definitely have to attempt to try it out one day.

One day I did have a little fun taking some pictures of what fall looks like here in Belgium. There is a little park and lake near where Oli's grandma lives so I took my camera when we went for a visit and this is the result...

This is my favorite of the pictures. The rest can be found if you "LIKE" my American Chocolate facebook page.

Fall is in the air

Well it is obviously fall as most of you can feel with the new chill in the air and the new colors coming to the trees. It was weird how fast the change happened here in Belgium. One day it was hot and humid to where we were sleeping with the fan on and the next it was windy, raining, and bone chilling cold. I have spent summers and winters here in Belgium, but never the fall. During the move I threw out a lot of clothes and I guess I was in a summer frame of mind because I realized the other day that nearly all of my clothes are summer clothes, but when I really thought about it the clothes I have are the types of things that I wear all year long.

 I am a girl from the California Bay Area and fall/winter for us is our normal weather with an added chill, some extra wind, and rain. I normally wore jeans or tights with a shirt or dress and when it was fall or winter I wore the same exact thing with a hoodie. In the past few years it has been my Simpson University hoodie that I bought during my year attending the school. I did have one big winter coat that normally I only wore that one day a year when we would drive to Tahoe and play in the snow for a day. That coat did come in handy last winter when I visited Belgium, but that was only after my first winter in Belgium from December 2009 to March 2010. I arrived with my adorable wool peacoat thinking I would be perfectly warm…I was very wrong and I froze my butt off. I also had my $1 gloves from Target which when I actually wore gloves at home they worked perfectly…wrong. I ended up being taken to the store by my now husband’s parents so they could buy be a proper winter coat. During the winter I still wore my Target gloves, but two pair at one time.

This winter I felt like I was going to be prepared I had left a few sweaters here, but I knew I needed more. I think I maybe own one long sleeve shirt that isn’t a PJ shirt which is my 2^nd one.  I think in the moving process I got rid of too many clothes. Many of them I could have worn this fall and winter. After my 2^nd paycheck from work which was way better than my first I decided some internet shopping was needed and I recently purchased many more long sleeved shirts. I am now a resident of Europe and in this season I need to start dressing like one I suppose and try to not freeze my butt off.

During the whole wardrobe issues I have been working very hard at my job on the Air Force base. I have nearly mastered the cash register and so on the busiest day I was assigned to cash register all day. By the end of the day I felt like my mouth was tired of talking. I am working hard to be the “bread buyer” in that my income is that to buy the groceries for our little household.  We are on a “eating more healthier” kick and we have been doing pretty good especially with that I am mixing American foods and Belgian foods into our week’s menus.  Yesterday we had homemade Philly Cheesesteaks while today we are having salad with grey shrimps and shrimp coquettes. The healthy eating kick is part of my journey to lose weight. I want to lose the weight mainly for my health because truthfully I find nothing wrong with the way I look. I feel beautiful in my own body, but losing weight would help reduce health complications such as high blood pressure which I am currently on medication for.  I am also on this journey because my husband and I would want to have a baby someday and it would be best for my health and the health of our future fetus that I lose weight. It would be great to be off the blood pressure pills by the time I have conceived. I know that overweight women can get pregnant and have successful pregnancies, but there are more life-threatening risks with being overweight such as gestational diabetes. I just want to check all my Ps and Qs before we attempt to bring a life into the world.

NOTE: Please pray for an extended family member of mine Javonna who is in the hospital in pretty serious condition. We pray that she recovers and gets well soon.

A Disclaimer of Sorts

I just wanted to make a quick clarification about something I said in yesterday’s blog titled:  Have it Your Way, I made a comment about one of my supervisors stating, “the one supervisor chick scares me a little. She is nice and all, but she just has a really strict demeanor about her.” I want to make a clarification due to in today’s world people are losing their jobs over blog, twitter, and facebook posts and sometimes they are what they feel in their heart or it just might be that it came out in the wrong way, therefore I am making a clarification so it comes out in the right way. I stated that she is nice and she really is a nice lady and has been nothing, but nice to me. I said that she scares me, but not in a negative way. Her strict demeanor is a positive attribute and I applaud her for being in a setting where she most likely has made friends, but she keeps it strictly professional and makes sure that everything is done the way it is supposed to be done. It is easy to be in charge on a job as a woman and be strict on your employees and be given the title of “bitch”, but she has been able to be strict without over exaggerating her position and she is nice. She is a bit scary in that when she is around even though she is nice you know that she means business and your work should be done the way it is to be done. I personally really do like her and it made me smile today when she mentioned how hard I have been working in only my 3 days. I had a previous jobs a few years ago and one supervisor girl was scary in the sense in that she truthfully earned the “bitch” title in that she was strict and to a way where it seemed like she went beyond out of her way to be so overbearing.

In conclusion I wanted to say that a woman can be stern and strict without being a “bitch” if she does not go beyond out of her way to just be overbearing on people and is just strict the way it needs to be and still be kind. I just wanted to clarify that I really do like my supervisor and even though I said she was a little scary I think that if she wasn’t that way maybe I wouldn’t work as hard as I have been working and I appreciate her stern manner and I appreciate that she is also quite nice.

...I kind of feel like I rambled on a bit towards the end, but I think I got my point across that I like the supervisor lady and I just wanted to be clear on my thoughts and not have my previous statement taken the wrong way. 

Have it Your Way...

Yesterday was my first day at my new job. I am working at a Burger King on the Air Force Base. It obviously isn’t a glamorous job at all. I can’t say I love it, but at the same time I can’t exactly say I hate it. This job is purely for the $$$ and I am doing dollar signs because I am making that dollars not euros since it is an American base.  On base they use US Dollars and some places like the Burger King will accept Euro, but they give the change back in dollars. Everyone at work seems pretty nice; the one supervisor chick scares me a little. She is nice and all, but she just has a really strict demeanor about her. A couple of my co-workers are like me; they met a Belgian person online and ended up coming to Belgium to be with them. Overall the job really is just okay. I of course started at the bottom and therefore I get to be the person to get the trays, clean the trays, and take out the trash…that kind of stuff. Driving to work is okay, it only takes me 25 minutes to get to work and there is never really traffic on the road I take.

            I also took time after work to check out one of my favorite benefits and that is shopping at the commissary which is AMAZING! After being in Belgium so long you nearly forget the wonders of an American grocery store. I walked into the commissary and there everything was, the things I love from back home. I of course had to buy things like a 2 liter bottle of Root Beer (which is not sold in Europe because Europeans don’t like the taste. They think it taste like medicine.), crystal light, peanut freaking butter (Jif of course) with Smuckers jam (which Oli calls Smugglers), and a few other things that I felt like I just had to buy. The prices are also GREAT!

           

            The job also really pushed me to work towards being healthier, working out, and trying to drop some more weight. I had to buy a shirt in the store because I couldn’t fit any of the uniform shirts that they had on site and they are ordering more in a larger size so I could have an official shirt. Kind of lame :(. I also had to hem my pants because they were actually too long on me and yesterday I was stepping on them. I am happy that I am working the max number of hours next week so that means more $$$ in my pocket, but I work a lot and I don’t get a day off until Monday which means I won’t get much time with Oli over the weekend. Oh well we are both benefiting from my long hours so we must endure it.

            Off to bed for me…I have work in the morning…at Burger King, "Have it Your Way!"

A Late Night Attack and some good stuff

I will get to the exciting stuff later, well actually everything is exciting. I will start with going to Lille, France for the flea market. My suggestion is that if you can deal with millions of people you would enjoy it. I enjoy going to flea markets, concerts, etc, but when there is something like 2 million people it just isn’t my cup of tea. I am not a person to deal with lots of people which is why back home in the US I would do my best to avoid places like Walmart on the 1^st and the 15^th. One could barely walk around there were so many people. It took us seriously 15 minutes to walk a short block. We drove to a metro station on the outside of town and caught the metro into the center of crazy. Due to the fact that it was a very hot day and we could barely move outside we decided to go inside of a bookstore where we spent a lot of time and I left with 3 French cookbooks. After cookbooks we decided to find a place to eat and of course Oli wanted mussels which is a big part of the flea market because the restaurants compete to get the largest pile of empty shells outside. I enjoyed a steak and fries while Oli chowed down on mussels. After, we fought through the crazy crowd to get to the crowded metro. On the way home we were listening to the radio and the news flash said because a huge storm was coming they were evacuating the flea market, we had left just in time. The next morning I baked a beautiful cake for my mother-in-law since it was her birthday and I gave her one of the cookbooks that I bought in Lille.

One night early this week Oli and I had just settled into bed and we were both about to drift to sleep when Oli starts screaming and he turns on the light. There is a HUGE black spider in the bed with us. It apparently had fallen on Oli’s head. Oli tells me that the spider is now playing dead and that I should watch it so he could get paper towel. I saw a scenario playing in my mind of the spider moving while Oli was away so I immediately refused and decided that I would get the paper towel. I know if I had been in the room alone with it I would scream until everyone in our apartment building was awake. I went and got what we needed and when I got back the sucker then decides to get up and move, Oli killed it after I screamed, “Kill it! Kill it!” a few times.

So more good stuff, yesterday I went to Chievres Air Base to fill out paperwork for my new job as a Food Service Worker with AAFES. My HR rep took me to SHAPE for my first time there to get my United States ID card so I am allowed on the base. The only issue I have is because I applied for a Belgian ID as a foreign resident I cannot get a card to be allowed on SHAPE only Chievres…oh well. I then met my supervisor and got my work uniform. I officially start work on Tuesday. So far I am loving the benefits of my job that include shopping on base at the commissary which is cheaper because everything is apparently in US dollars and also I have a APO mailbox on base which means I can order things online from stores at home like Walmart and Target that don’t normally ship internationally, but will ship to APOs. Next week I will be making money! Oli and I have been talking about our finance plans with the fact that I will be working and things are looking good including the fact that I can save towards playing off my student loan. The countdown until Tuesday is on! Now Oli and I head out to get fries for dinner.

Things are happening fast

So I actually wasn’t planning on blogging again until next week, but something exciting happened yesterday. I got a call back from the guy about the job on the base and amazingly my Background Check came back in just a day and so he emailed me the link to my paperwork like my W-2 form and all that jazz. I get to go to base for the first time on Wednesday and technically that will be my first day of work and I will even get paid for Wednesday. I am so stoked to have a job, it is not the most glamorous job like I was expecting, but none the less it is an actual job where I will be making actual money.

This weekend Oli and I are actually going to France. In Lille, France there is a flea market and it is supposed to be the largest in Europe. It only happened for 2 days in September every year so we decided to give it a try. From where we live it will only be about a 45 minute drive. I am excited to see what kinds of things we can find especially since the move into the house maybe coming up.  Things are happening fast and it is a good thing.

Here is a link so you can learn more about the flea market. If you are in this region of Europe you should check it out... http://www.lilletourisme.com/cultural_events_lille-1-0-98-gb.html

Already Shedding Blood

Today seems to be an eventful one starting with a craving of Spicy Salt & Pepper Chicken Wings from my favorite restaurant back home Szechuan Chinese Cuisine in Vallejo, I seriously want some so bad right now with some shrimp fried rice and I will be even happier than I already am. I am happy because this morning I received an email about a job I applied for just yesterday. I have been applying for jobs in the last month and I had heard I was eligible for earlier jobs, but then nothing. I emailed the contacts for the two jobs I was eligible for and I received emails back. One woman was very helpful and yesterday told me to check out this other site that offered jobs to US Citizens who are overseas and not dependent on a member of the military which I am not because Oli is Belgian and not US Military. I applied for a Food Service Work position and today I received an email about my application. I was given a number to call and I did. The guy said he wanted to interview me and it would only take a few minutes and since I wasn’t near the base at the time we would do it over the phone. It wasn’t much of an interview and more of him asking when I could work which for me is all day, every day. He told me I would receive a call no later than next Tuesday and Friday at the earliest.

                Ok so not even a whole hour after my phone interview I am in the living room and my cell phone rings. My cell phone is in the bedroom and so I go running to answer it. I then slip on the floor and fall banging my stomach into the bed frame which is where I shed blood by cutting my stomach. I am now in pain, but I still manage to answer the phone and it is someone calling for me…OBVIOUSLY…and it is a different guy from before, but he is offering me the position and of course I ACCEPT! I will be working on base and I will be allowed American Base Privileges like shopping at the commissary. There is also a movie theater, rec center, and a few other things on base that I will have access to. Starting pay isn’t that much, but it is more than I would make working minimum wage back home in California so I am happy. I am mostly happy that I won’t be feeling like a mooch anymore and I will contribute to the household and it won’t just be Oli alone paying for everything; I am contributing now. My background check is in the process and I was told I will get a call Tuesday about what is next.

                Something else fun that actually happened yesterday that is a stepping stone is that I made my first alone trip to the grocery store. There was some laundry to get done that included the bed sheets so it was important and I sat at Bubble World for over an hour getting that done before I drove to the local Delhaize which is the grocery store chain here in Belgium and I did some shopping that we needed to get done. To do that alone was a pretty good accomplishment. Me and our car (Luna) are like BFFs now.

A Tale of Lightning and Urine

You might be a bit taken aback by the title of my blog, but I assure you that in the end it will all make sense. I will start with the Lightning. On Monday night Oli and I went to sleep to the sounds of thunder and the flashes of lightning; we expected the storm would pass and that would be it, but we were wrong. BANGGGGG was the sound that woke both of us up out of a dead sleep just past 4am on Tuesday and there were bright flashes of lightning that lit up the entire bedroom. The storm was still going and harder than when we went to sleep. We did our best to get back to sleep and we woke up just past 6 to start the day. I started working at VBS (Vacation Bible School) on Monday and I had a great time working with the kids and I was excited to have my 2^nd day. The storm was continuing when we woke up and being new to Belgium I didn’t want to take the chance of driving in the heavy rain and the storm when I didn’t know the roads that well and I despise driving in the rain anyway. I called the woman who is in charge of the VBS and left her a message telling her to inform my Games Station partners that I would be unable to attend. I am happy that I didn’t attempt to drive in the crazy. There was A LOT of flooding, mud slides, fallen trees, and everything else that comes with a crazy storm.  At one point the sky had gotten darker than at night it was intense and the thunder rumbled most of the morning until the afternoon when it suddenly got hot and sunny like there hadn’t been a storm at all.

Today was a nice day. We awoke to a calm atmosphere and the day was nice with spots of sunshine. The kids at VBS are so funny. There are the younger kids who are 4-5 years old and then there is the older pre-teen group. We have to change some of the games around to accommodate the younger ones who would just be confused and for the older ones who would just be bored. The little ones can be crazy when playing the games, but so attentive when it comes to the lesson. The older ones were more into chatting. I am enjoying being out of the house and I am quite proud of myself making the long drive to church. The only issue with the drive is that there is major roadwork being done on one of the freeways I need to take and that really slows it down. It should take me 30 minutes to get there and today it took me an hour. Getting home Monday it took me 2 hours to get home, but today only an hour.

Speaking of the drive home I saw a man pulled over today while I was in traffic and he was literally urinating on the side of the road not even trying to hide what he was doing. He was the 4^th person I saw urinating in public in Belgium. The last two times I was in Brussels I literally saw it happen 3 other times and they were all not discreet at all and just peed. Today after I saw that I knew I had to write about it and then later today more pee. I was loading the laundry into the car and an older woman was sending her grand child who looked to be about 4 over to the bushes so he could pee. I figured that it wasn’t something that was discouraged because if a grandmother is letting a little boy pee in public then the people of Belgium really must not care. I asked Oli about it this evening and he said even though it is illegal most don’t care and if they have to go they will just pee and don’t mind being discreet at all. To me it is the lack of public toilets. At home in the States you can just walk in a store and use the restroom as long as there is not a sign stating that it is for “Customers Only”. Here most stores seem to not have restrooms and when you do find a public toilet there is an attendant and you have to pay for it. You literally have to pay to pee! I guess I have to get used to this peeing in public thing, it is super odd just to see someone being so brave and peeing in public. So that is my tale.

Roadtrippin' Euro Style

This past Sunday the 14^th was my wonderful husband’s birthday and he decided to celebrate by planning a trip to Luxembourg and it would be a roadtrip. We packed up Friday night the 12^th to be ready to leave Saturday morning. We left about 9:40 on Saturday morning down to our first stop. I made a playlist on my ipod that included some Wizard Rock, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and more. I was making sure that we had some tunes to keep up going, especially me since I was the one to start off driving. I drove over an hour down to Namur, Belgium where we took a tour of the Citadelle de Namur which was a great way to start the trip. After our tour we sat down in the parking lot with sandwiches I made before Oli took the wheel and we went to our next stop. We made our last Belgian stop in Bastogne which is in the general area where the Battle of the Bulge in World War 2 took place. Here we had a proper lunch had a fry shop and watched a wedding processional as we were right across the street from the Hotel de Ville (City Hall). We then drove the short distance to the Mardasson Memorial which is a memorial from the Belgians to the Americans who fought.

The real adventured started when we left the memorial. Oli was driving and we were going to head into Luxembourg and there was a freeway entrance pointing to Luxembourg and Oli passed it. We ended up off course for about 45 minutes as we drove through the deep countryside. I had a good laugh at Oli as we figured out way out of the countryside and onto a freeway that would take us where we needed to go. Finally on track we made it to the border of Luxembourg which was excited for me because it was another European country off of my list. It wasn’t far to the city of Clervaux where we were staying at the Hotel du Commerce. We checked in at the hotel and during check-in we looked at the brochures of places to visit which included this orchid garden/forest and we thought it would be cool to visit. Since we had been driving we decided that we would get some rest and then get dressed for dinner. We went to dinner at the hotel restaurant because it was included in our stay for the first night. After dinner there was a concert going on in  the town square just under the castle so we went and enjoyed some songs before heading back to the hotel for the night.

The next day was August 14^th and Oli’s actual birthday. (HAPPY 37^TH BABE!) It started to rain and the smart person I am, I forgot my hoodie back home in Belgium. We decided to figure out how far the orchid place was by putting the address in our TomTom. We couldn’t for anything find this city in the TomTom so I told Oli that he should use his phone to get onto their website. As we went to do that we realized the address was (dot)de which meant the place was in Germany. We knew we were not too far from the border and when we found it in the TomTom it was only 45 minutes away so why not give it a try. We went to head out on the journey of the day and we got to the car to realize that Oli had left the driver’s side window down all night long. Luckily it is a nice quiet safe town so nothing was missing, but the problem was it had rained all night long. Oli’s seat was of course wet so we put his safety vest on the seat for him to be able to drive without getting wet. We decided to go to a mall about 25 minutes away and have lunch at a place across from the mall that Oli’s parents had suggested. From there we decided to make the journey to Germany to find the orchid place. I was super excited to go to Germany for the first time. We made it over to the border and headed towards the place where there was a sign that apparently said in German that the road we needed was closed due to works. Oli luckily knows a bit of German. We decided to take the alternate route which was soooo long and took us through winding forests and farm roads. Finally after an eternity of crazy roads we made it to the orchid place. We get there and it is the lamest place EVER. Someone took their house and made it into an orchid shop basically with a restaurant upstairs. There was really nothing exciting. There were orchids everywhere to be bought and that was pretty much it. We slipped out of the place and went to head back to Luxembourg. When we returned to Clervaux we walked around the town taking pictures and having 
a waffle at a little café. We had a nice dinner at the hotel that night. 

The next morning it was time to pack up and check-out of the hotel. It took us about an hour and we drove from Clervaux, Luxembourg to Luxembourg, Luxembourg the capital. Due to it being a holiday most places were closed and so we just walked around taking pictures before we took a little motor-train tour which was fun. After that we went back to the car. Because we went west it was only a matter of minutes before we were over the Belgium border. We then pulled into a rest stop and I took the wheel and drove us the rest of the way home with a few tiny car arguments over the annoying driving rules of Belgium. Overall it was a FANTASTIC trip and Luxembourg is my new favorite country. It is just all over beautiful and so different from Belgium in that everything isn’t all brick, but very individual and colorful. I also love their crazy language of Luxembourgish which seemed to be a crazy, but workable mix between French and German. It was funny because on the way down to Luxembourg city we stopped at a gas station and the people who worked there did not speak French and only Luxembourgish and it was a funny situation trying to figure everything out. A great time and Oli had a fab birthday.

Just a few notes:

I want to extend my prayers and thoughts to the families who lost loved ones during the music festival stage accident here in Belgium. The death toll rose to 5 today. I can say from personal experience that the storm that swept though was quick and it was expected, but unexpected at the same time. It was only minutes and it 
was crazy.


I am also wishing my cousin Hakeem and his fiancee Dena luck on their wedding tomorrow. I love you guys!

Also wishing a safe labor for my family friend Byquesha who is currently having a baby girl. I hope to hear news soon and see pictures of the new baby girl Jazalynn. Top of Form

BREAKING NEWS!

I received a call this morning about one of the jobs I applied for here with the US Military as a civilian living in Belgium. I am STOKED! Pray for me I really want this job. Of all of the jobs I applied for I felt my skills were best suited in this position and I have worked  in a similar position before. I am beyond excited!

Okay back to your normally scheduled lives already in progress. 

#WINNING

I have been living in the country of Belgium for 2 weeks now and I can say I am very proud of a few things I have accomplished so far. So the first thing I am proud of myself at doing is driving. At first I drove more with my husband and we would go to the grocery store or his parent’s house. I drove alone one afternoon to go to his parent’s house to get some zucchini they had for us. One day early this week Oli calls me to tell me that there was an issue with his train and he had to catch a bus; problem is the bus doesn’t get him close to the apartment so I would need to pick him up. I managed to drive to where he was and to pick him up. Yesterday was the day where I was pretty proud of myself; We needed to do laundry and of course the laundry mat not far from the apartment closes not long from when Oli gets home and therefore I needed to go alone. I packed up the laundry as well as the detergent and I loaded up the car…off I went. I went to the laundry mat and I did the laundry before going home. I am getting pretty decent at this driving thing at I have driven some pretty far distances with Oli of course. I drove home from church one day which is 30 minutes away and another day I got to drive us home from the mall. I have learned that pretty much driving is driving no matter where you are. Yes there might be a few rules that are a little different between countries and the speeds might be in different units, but still driving is driving. Plus we just have the cutest little car. We drive a 2011 Opel Corsa and I LOVE IT! 

Today is the most proud of myself I have been since living in Belgium (for 2 weeks). I caught the train to Brussels which involved buying my own round trip ticket. In Brussels I met up with some women that I know from home. They were kind enough to bring me a few things I left at home and some medication I ordered and my mom was able to get it to them for me. I was able to show them around Brussels for a bit and I even got to use my French. I was able to find us a bank as well as ask about some shoes in my new favorite store SHOE DISCOUNT. OMG so I have a chick with big feet, I wear an 11 which is a 42 here in Europe and it is pretty hard to find ladies shoes that size here and Shoe Discount had shoes my size. I bought the cutest flats that I am very happy with. I then found the trains we needed to leave and I got them back to Brussels-Midi to catch their train back to Paris and then I kept going home. I made it home all in one piece. So far things are going pretty awesome I am guessing.

Starting on the 22 I am going to help out at VBS (Vacation Bible School) at the church we attend.  I am hoping I can make some friends and really do something big without Oli, as much as I LOVE having him with me I need something my own and I think it is healthy for me to have something my own. I am very excited to help out since back home in California I helped out with my church’s version of VBS. To get prepared I bought a pair of Khaki pants because it is a Jungle Adventure theme and all the helpers are asked to wear khakis and something adventureish.

This weekend we are going to celebrate my Oli’s birthday with a roadtrip to Luxembourg. I am pretty excited because it will be my first time in that country. The hotel we are staying at seems pretty nice and I am sure we will have a great time.

Wedding Pictures!

I thought I would add some pictures from the wedding

Me and my Great-Uncle who walked me down the aisle

Saying our vows

Me and my girls

We jumped the broom

Outside the reception location

A lot of things up until now...

So much has happened since my last post and I haven’t had ANY time to really sit down and be serious with a blog post. I guess I will go through things as a list.

The moving process started… 

I started the process of moving with getting my visa. It was a whirlwind driving around to get all of my documents. I had to go to Fairfield to get copies of my birth certificate and then I had to go to Sacramento to have them authenticated to be used outside of the United States. I did this while I waited on my FBI document from back when I had my fingerprints done. Finally I had my documents and I mailed them all to the Belgian Consulate in LA (Don’t get me started on the consulate…I will later) with a check for nearly $300. Then there was the waiting game of a few weeks when I finally got an email from the woman at the consulate saying I needed to come to Los Angeles for a personal interview.

Luckily we know a few people who work for an airline so we were able to get cheap tickets quickly. I went to the airport for 4am flying standby. I check my ticket and realized that it is for me to fly into Ontario and not LAX like planned. I called my mom who then made some phone calls. My Great-Uncle was originally going to pick me up at LAX, but Ontario was just too far. Luckily I have another Uncle who literally lives just minutes from Ontario Airport and it just so happens he had the day off of work.  He took me to LA for my interview with the consulate lady. So this consulate lady and I have a history over email. I like to be very précised especially when taking care of IMPORTANT business. I would ask her very detailed questions and she would answer very rudely and vaguely so when it came to meeting her and having an interview with her, I for sure wasn’t looking forward to it. I had no clue what was to be asked and I went in there totally blind. She asked about how I met Oli and what I was doing with my life. She asked about what he did for a living and if I knew his birthdate, it was a mix of random questions and I felt at one point I totally stumped her and she ran out of things to try and trip me up with. In reality the interview was only 10 minutes and I came all the way to LA. There ended up being crazy with my standby flights and I ended up in LA for 2 more nights, but it was okay because I was with family and I had a good time.

THE WEDDING!

Family started arriving the week before including my younger cousin who I hadn’t seen since I was 14 and he now has a fiancée and baby. By the way I feel in love with their baby. We all had a great time and then Oli arrived which I was stoked about since I hadn’t seen him since January and it was July. There was a lot of business to take care of while we prepared for the wedding. All in all the wedding came out perfectly even with the hiccups I won’t forget that day. We stayed in Napa for our wedding night and hung out there the next day before returning to my house. That week my visa arrived!

HONEYMOON!

We honeymooned in Orlando, Florida at LEAKYCON 2011!!! Which if you are not a nerd is a Harry Potter fan convention which was AMAZING! There was even a private event at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (The con was at the Universal Resort at the Royal Pacific) and they closed the park to the public and it was only con attendees who had tickets to the event. There was all you can eat food and all you could drink butterbeer and pumpkin juice.

THE MOVE!

Coming back from Florida we had a week back in California where we failed at seriously getting packing done. We in reality packed at the last minute. In total we had 6 suitcases and we had to pay a weight overage fee on one of them plus $55 for the extra luggage. I pretty much got all the crap I wanted to Belgium. We got here and went to city hall because my visa instructed me to report to the municipal authorities within 8 days of arriving in Belgium. I got my paperwork done and then I was told that police would come to the house to check if I lived here and stuff. Well the police came yesterday, but she is coming back today because Oli was at work and there are papers for him to sign. When this police stuff is done I can go back to city hall where I can get a real ID card that says I am a foreign resident.

I have been getting used to being here again. I have been using the language a bit, I am glad I took those 2 semesters of French in the last year…Thanks Madame Marlow at Solano… I have been doing pretty good at understanding what is being said and reading signs. The only thing I need to work on his speaking more and really forming my thoughts into French words. I have been driving and I love it. I have realized that driving is driving no matter where you are even if some rules are slightly different. Our new car “Luna” is awesome. The relationship with the in-laws is doing well and the new house is going to be freaking amazing when it is all finished. Right now we are in the apartment. I have yet to meet up with my friend, who is here, but I have been busy and she has been also settling in. I signed up to help with vacation bible school at the church we attend so I can have something to keep me occupied for at least a week.

So far things are shaping up and we will see if they continue to be smooth. The next step is seriously finding a job.

A PROMISE ... Post will now be regular since I am in Belgium now. I am thinking at least every week.

Blessed on Purpose

A little, but a lot has gone done in the last day. So I have a friend, we went to high school together for my last two years. We have been decent friends, not really close, but I consider her a good friend. We meet up every once and a while for lunch and we have good conversation. Yesterday I get a facebook message from her that says she is going to be in Belgium in July. I immediately sent her a message back demanding details. She is going to be working with missionaries in Brussels from July until December and the cool part is AFTER December she will return to Belgium in January to stay permanently as a missions worker. This started my best of all of my freakouts over moving. I was so stressed about being there alone. My soon to be husband will be working full time and I won’t be able to work right away because I have to wait and go through the work permit process. I was afraid of being stuck at home with virtually no friends. I have made a friend who is in Belgium full time and she goes to school and I have another who is an ex-coworker of Olivier, but now I have virtually a piece of home. Grace and I grew up in the same city and practically around the corner from one another and we have known one another since we were 16. Nobody understands how excited I am. I told her we are going to have some great adventures. It was amazing how much stress I felt lift from my body when I realized I was going to have someone I really knew not far from me. It feels so good. Hopefully I can maybe get in with this missions thing because since I was 14 I wanted to be a missionary. It is like God saw my desires and my fears and worked it all out. I feel blessed!

I also just realized it is 100 days until the big move!

No Criminal am I, Sir

So I finally got ahold of the consulate for Belgium here in California about this whole visa thing. I felt like the lady was annoyed with all my questions I kept emailing, but I needed to ask them. I want to make sure I have all the proper documents so I won’t be deported or anything crazy. This morning I think we finally got everything set and I am on the prowl for my documents. Since I have my list my mom and I started with getting my fingerprints for my FBI Criminal Record search, which I have no record. My favorite thing about this trip was the guy couldn’t pronounce my name and then while he is doing my fingerprints he says to me, “You are good at this, have you been fingerprinted before?” Like I am some criminal or something. Yes I have been fingerprinted once before, but never for breaking the law or anything, it was for some simple paperwork that needed to be done for a job. Next up going to the county building and getting a copy of my birth certificate.

Today was also a day of last minute plans. A friend of mine won tickets to a Lady Gaga concert tomorrow. Someone else was going with her, but that girl couldn’t so therefore I get to go. I am excited because I really want to enjoy my last few months here in California. I will be in Belgium sooner than I know it and I really just want to break free and have some fun before I am a married lady taking care of a home in Belgium. That is something else I learned. I will be a housewife for a bit because I won’t be able to work immediately until I can get everything done for a work permit which can take months. I think Andy Cohen from Bravo should cast me in a new housewife show…The Real Housewives of Europe or just Belgium…I like it! This journey is taking a new shape nearly every day and I am as scared as I am excited.

July 25, 2011...

…is the day I am officially moving to Belgium. I woke up this morning with a text message from my fiancé Olivier telling me to check my email. Inside of my email was a confirmation from US Airways for a one way plane ticket on July 25^th leaving from San Francisco to Brussels, Belgium. WOW!

So hopefully I can get in contact with the Belgian Consulate to answer my questions about getting my visa.

Let the Countdown begin…Love,

American Chocolate

What up Consulate, I'm a Hoarder

So I am trying to start the process in getting my Belgian long-term visa from living with a Belgian partner and I have some questions. I decided the people who can answer these questions are those at the Belgian Consulate. The consulate office in Los Angeles handles visa applications for the west coast and therefore I called them. I get a recording about how the office is open from 9am until noon and to leave a message. I left a message one day hoping they would call me the next day…so let’s fast forward to the next day, no call. I waited a couple days and then I called again and left another message. After a couple days I tried calling in hopes of reaching a person and I continue to leave messages…NOTHING! I am starting to get frustrated because I just have a couple simple questions about the process. I will continue to call in the hope of reaching a person about applying for my visa. I need it by July.

I really need to start cleaning my room and getting rid of a lot of things because with my move to Belgium I will officially be moving out of my mom’s house. I realized that since it hit me I really have been buying things and not getting rid of other things. I did a big clean up a few months ago and got rid of clothes and such, but now I am in a place where I am scared to even start. I think it finally hit me that I am moving for good and to another country. I am scared and I know things aren’t going to be horrible or anything, but still I find myself not being able to do this whole getting rid of memories thing. Most of these things I know don’t hold HUGE memories, but letting them go makes me feel like I am letting go of so much more. I am going to have to force myself into this mode of just knowing they have to go because they can’t stay here and there is no place for them in Belgium. I hope to start with my closet this week…

Until then...Love,

American Chocolate

Still in America

So here I am sitting in my room hoping that the Belgian Consulate in Los Angeles calls me tomorrow about my visa questions. I’m not in Belgium yet, not for another 6 months, but it is time to get serious. I’ve been serious for a long time; I started taking French at my college in August and passed French 1 with an A. I now find myself in my 2^nd week of French 2 hoping I can keep up as I did in French 1.

Every day I have a moment where I get a little nervous. I am moving to a completely different country. I have spent a lot of time in Belgium in the past year, but nothing compares to being there fulltime with no return ticket to San Francisco. I love my fiancé so much and I know with him I can make it, but everything can be a bit scary. I mean my only family there would be his and we didn’t get off to the best start; even though with the new year we decided to put things behind us I still don’t know about being there full time with these people as my only source to turn to.

Other things to be nervous about is the prospect of finding a job. I have looked into jobs and I even applied for one of them. There is another I am looking at on the SHAPE military base. Off the base many of the jobs I found some jobs, but they all require English (easy), French (eh—I can) and Dutch (WTF?!), that’s the thing with moving to a country with 2 national languages. We will see how this job thing works.

The exciting part is that my fiancé bought us a new car. I am not one for driving a stick as he learned when he tried to teach me and because his car is a stick and it was old and he got his money out of it, he bought us a new car that is a automatic -- http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a318/moonyangel7/car.jpg Isn’t it cute?

Part of my current journey is finishing school. I graduate on May 25 if this semester goes well. I am trying my hardest, math won’t be fun, but I have to do it! I am applying to the Global Studies Program and San Jose State to get my next degree. It is totally online and the cool part is that you have to do an overseas internship…will already be overseas. Another current journey is planning this wedding, which most of my posts will be about until July 9. I sent out a third of the Save the Dates and I can’t wait to send the next batch.

Until Next Time…

Love,

American Chocolate (still in America)