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.