Hard to believe but we've been here for 6 months already!
To commemorate our anniversary, I thought we should list out a few of our favorite and least favorite things.
Let's start with the bad first:
1. ZERO concept of customer service. I thought it was just me/us for awhile, but have realized it's everyone. I just discovered another expats blogs and one of her most recent posts is a tirade about customer service. Here's a link to her blog post: Lack of Customer Service I identified with it immediately. Ugh, don't even get me started on the mailman. He is a top offender! At least one particular one.
2. Culturally, people are not pleasant. They aren't mean, but they just don't go out of their way to be friendly. There is no saying hello as you pass someone on the street. People don't even look at you. It's definitely a cultural difference. I don't think I'll get to use to it. We still say 'Bonjour' and wave when we pass someone walking. It catches them off guard. Maybe by the time we leave they'll be waving back.
3. Driving is ridiculous. RIDICULOUS. Roads are narrow, people are MANIACS, and just have no courtesy what-so-ever. My road rage is at an all time high. THANK GOD I rarely drive.
4. The weather. It really can be the pits. So gray and dreary. This week is supposed to be gorgeously sunny, but bitterly cold. And on top of the weather, the sun doesn't come up until almost 9am and down by 4:30pm on the shortest days of winter.
5. We were news watchers in Atlanta. We watched the local news and the national news daily. Matt read the paper daily. We have NO local news here; no English news papers. We can't even get a half way decent weather forecast. It's frustrating. We feel like we're living in a bubble and have no idea what's going on around us.
6. The language barrier is hard. Just when you think you've mastered just the right thing to say in French, you realize you're in a Flemish speaking area. I am so bad with Flemish. But I do know that if I really want to talk to someone, I hit the phone prompt for the Flemish speakers and 9 times out of 10 they speak very good English! The French will likely just hang up on you (has happened more then once - see #1 above)!
The good:
1. We were warned that people would not be nice/friendly to children. This really is a 'seen and not heard' type of society. 4 year olds are commonly seen with pacifiers in their mouths. But we have been so pleased to find so many people practically swarm to us and gush all over Grace and Audrey. They love our girls!
2. So not to contradict #2 above, because there really is a cultural difference between Americans and Europeans that is very hard to put on paper, but people have been very kind and friendly to me. Particularly in the grocery store. Recently, I was wearing Audrey in the Ergo, and Grace was sitting in the cart, and the man behind us in line unloaded my entire cart. He didn't speak a word of English, and I thanked him profusely in French (gee...I hope he at least spoke French!), but he was just so kind to help me. And there have been a handful of others.....
3. The food is excellent! The wine is excellent! The beer is the best in the world! The chocolate is DIVINE!
4. We're losing weight! HA! Never in a million years would I have thought moving to Europe would mean losing weight (see #3 above as to why), but living in a 4 story house, running up stairs all day long, walking more instead of driving, no preservatives in our food.... it all adds up! The 'white lie' I told on my license about my weight....is now a lie in the wrong direction!!! :)
5. The parks are amazing! When the weather is good, we're at the park.
6. Our girls have now been to 6 countries. Unites States, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Germany and England. In 6 months!!! That's amazing, and really defines why we're here. They may not remember this when they are older, but I hope it instills in them a passion for traveling and discovering new faces and places!
I was really hoping the good would out weigh the bad. And on most days, it really does - maybe not on paper, but in reality. Some things are more challenging then we ever thought they would be. But we're so fortunate to be living in such a beautiful place, the capital of Europe, with access to so many amazing things.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Actual Event Yesterday
Scene: Grace and Audrey in Grace's room. Audrey on the floor playing
with the barn and doll house. Grace jumping on her bed. Mommy in her
room getting dressed.
Time Elapsed: One Minute, maybe.
Grace (running into my room): She's in there! She's in there! She's in there!
Me: She's in where? [Thinking maybe she's in the book case or doll house.]
Walk into Grace's room, scanning the room for Audrey
Me: Where is she?
Grace: SHE'S IN THERE! [Pointing under her bed!!!]
Me (bending down to look under the bed): OH MY GOD! SHE'S IN THERE! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN!!!!
Wish I had a camera. She was all the way in the middle under a Queen size bed. Wasn't too unhappy about it either until I started to pull her out.
Oy!
Time Elapsed: One Minute, maybe.
Grace (running into my room): She's in there! She's in there! She's in there!
Me: She's in where? [Thinking maybe she's in the book case or doll house.]
Walk into Grace's room, scanning the room for Audrey
Me: Where is she?
Grace: SHE'S IN THERE! [Pointing under her bed!!!]
Me (bending down to look under the bed): OH MY GOD! SHE'S IN THERE! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN!!!!
Wish I had a camera. She was all the way in the middle under a Queen size bed. Wasn't too unhappy about it either until I started to pull her out.
Oy!
Friday, January 20, 2012
This little piggy went to Market...
3 things to note in this picture....
1. Pig tails! I think we've had them every day this week! Love!!
2. Beautiful tulips we bought at the market last Saturday. 6 Euros for 20. And they've looked beautiful ALL week. Love!!
3. EARRINGS. :) Thank you Ley Family for Grace's new STICKER earrings. I think a new monster has been created!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Cookin in the Kitchen
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Milestone Explosion!
So.... what's that saying.... worry for not?
Audrey is now saying MA and BA regularly. I've heard DA and GA now once or twice.
She is also starting to crawl on both knees.
And one tooth has popped through.
All in the last week!
Audrey is now saying MA and BA regularly. I've heard DA and GA now once or twice.
She is also starting to crawl on both knees.
And one tooth has popped through.
All in the last week!
Monday, January 16, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Grace is THREE!
Or if you ask her....FREE!!
We celebrated with a cupcake party. I asked her what kind of party she wanted, and all she could tell me was brown cupcakes with pink tops. Easy peasy! We had a few new friends over, as well as the Rawlings.
The Birthday Girl!
The party decorations!
Stinker Baby Sister!
Pin the Cherry on the Cupcake!
Decorating Cupcakes! Notice that Grace decided she wanted blue icing....
Blowing out her candle!
And after!
Reese and Snow White!
It was a great birthday for Grace. I think she really enjoyed herself and loved her party and having friends over!
The rest of the family.....let's just say, it will be a long time before anyone eats any more mussels in Brussels. Everyone except Mommy, Grace and Audrey was sick. :(
We celebrated with a cupcake party. I asked her what kind of party she wanted, and all she could tell me was brown cupcakes with pink tops. Easy peasy! We had a few new friends over, as well as the Rawlings.
The Birthday Girl!
The party decorations!
Stinker Baby Sister!
Pin the Cherry on the Cupcake!
Decorating Cupcakes! Notice that Grace decided she wanted blue icing....
Blowing out her candle!
And after!
Reese and Snow White!
It was a great birthday for Grace. I think she really enjoyed herself and loved her party and having friends over!
The rest of the family.....let's just say, it will be a long time before anyone eats any more mussels in Brussels. Everyone except Mommy, Grace and Audrey was sick. :(
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Audrey is 8 Months Old!
Oh my! 4 more months till the big birthday!
So 8 things about Miss Audrey:
1. Eating. A lot. I thought her weight would be really increasing at this point based on the amount she's eating, but she's at about 16lbs. She has about half a banana for breakfast, sliced and quartered. She loves picking it up herself. She's eating a modified Belgian Baby cocktail now, since she's eating banana as a finger food. I mix two pureed pear cubes with her cookie crumbled up, and this week, a scoop of diced, cook apples thrown in. We're really moving away from purees. For dinner the past two nights she has had chicken, potato and green beans. Basically what we're eating. For lunch we're doing yogurt....or new this past week, fromage frais, which is much like yogurt, but thicker. She likes it better, I think. It's just the plain/natural flavor.
2. Still in 6 months clothes... She has one pair of pants that are 3-6 months, and they fit ok still. She's just our tiny, little girl.
3. Movement. And the amount of movement must be part of the reason why she's eating so much and not gaining a ton. She is ON THE GO. She can not sit still for too long before she is pulling up on something. She kind of half crawl, half scoots her way over to things. I think she may have thrown the towel in on crawling since it usually led to face plants. And once she's up, she stays up, and gets annoyed and bored when there is nothing to do.....she hasn't figured out how to lower herself down gracefully yet. But she has started to inch her way around when pulled up on things.
3.Sounds. So, still no ma, da, ba sounds. Although we have lots of other sounds, and some aaahh sounds. I called the doctor this week, and we talked about it for awhile, and decided that she does react to noises, and makes the aaahh sound, so we'll keep an eye on it, and she'll evaluate at 9 months at her regularly scheduled appointment. I called because she had told me at her 6 month appointment that she thought there might be a problem if no ma, ba, da by 8 months. So we shall see.
4.Waving and Clapping and Pointing. We're working on waving and clapping. And I've noticed lately that she points. I don't think it's intentional, but she does it a lot.
5. Teeth. The two evil bottom teeth are working their way in. Her gums are swollen and I can see them just below the gums.
6. Huge flirt. Makes eyes at anyone and everyone, especially strangers. And once she gets their attention, just hams it up.
7. Sleep. Night time has been kind of crummy lately. She's finally going all night again, but up early! And since her room is directly across from Grace's, we can't let her hang out in her crib too long before she gets rowdy and could wake up her sister.
8. Loves her sister. Such a wonderful thing to watch. And her sister loves her just as much.... most of the time.
So 8 things about Miss Audrey:
1. Eating. A lot. I thought her weight would be really increasing at this point based on the amount she's eating, but she's at about 16lbs. She has about half a banana for breakfast, sliced and quartered. She loves picking it up herself. She's eating a modified Belgian Baby cocktail now, since she's eating banana as a finger food. I mix two pureed pear cubes with her cookie crumbled up, and this week, a scoop of diced, cook apples thrown in. We're really moving away from purees. For dinner the past two nights she has had chicken, potato and green beans. Basically what we're eating. For lunch we're doing yogurt....or new this past week, fromage frais, which is much like yogurt, but thicker. She likes it better, I think. It's just the plain/natural flavor.
2. Still in 6 months clothes... She has one pair of pants that are 3-6 months, and they fit ok still. She's just our tiny, little girl.
3. Movement. And the amount of movement must be part of the reason why she's eating so much and not gaining a ton. She is ON THE GO. She can not sit still for too long before she is pulling up on something. She kind of half crawl, half scoots her way over to things. I think she may have thrown the towel in on crawling since it usually led to face plants. And once she's up, she stays up, and gets annoyed and bored when there is nothing to do.....she hasn't figured out how to lower herself down gracefully yet. But she has started to inch her way around when pulled up on things.
3.Sounds. So, still no ma, da, ba sounds. Although we have lots of other sounds, and some aaahh sounds. I called the doctor this week, and we talked about it for awhile, and decided that she does react to noises, and makes the aaahh sound, so we'll keep an eye on it, and she'll evaluate at 9 months at her regularly scheduled appointment. I called because she had told me at her 6 month appointment that she thought there might be a problem if no ma, ba, da by 8 months. So we shall see.
4.Waving and Clapping and Pointing. We're working on waving and clapping. And I've noticed lately that she points. I don't think it's intentional, but she does it a lot.
5. Teeth. The two evil bottom teeth are working their way in. Her gums are swollen and I can see them just below the gums.
6. Huge flirt. Makes eyes at anyone and everyone, especially strangers. And once she gets their attention, just hams it up.
7. Sleep. Night time has been kind of crummy lately. She's finally going all night again, but up early! And since her room is directly across from Grace's, we can't let her hang out in her crib too long before she gets rowdy and could wake up her sister.
8. Loves her sister. Such a wonderful thing to watch. And her sister loves her just as much.... most of the time.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Advent Calendar
This year, we had two Advent calendars. One that the Rawlings gave us with cute little bears hiding behind each of the doors. And the other was this one:
I originally saw it on a commercial while we were in France. But when I saw it in the store (in France), it was really expensive. Then one day, I saw it in a store in Belgium for half the price it was in France. So it became ours.
Each day we got a new piece for our nature scene. In typical European fashion, Santa, or St. Nicholas, or Sinterklaas came on the 6th and the Angel came on the 24th.
I think Grace really enjoyed doing it. I know she did. She's asked every night since the 24th if we can do the Advent calendar tonight. We put the whole thing away this morning, but first I wanted to practice what I'm learning about taking pictures in manual mode. My settings were, f/4, ISO 320, SS 1/15. I have some work to do, but I'm learning. :)
Each day we got a new piece for our nature scene. In typical European fashion, Santa, or St. Nicholas, or Sinterklaas came on the 6th and the Angel came on the 24th.
I think Grace really enjoyed doing it. I know she did. She's asked every night since the 24th if we can do the Advent calendar tonight. We put the whole thing away this morning, but first I wanted to practice what I'm learning about taking pictures in manual mode. My settings were, f/4, ISO 320, SS 1/15. I have some work to do, but I'm learning. :)
Sunday, January 1, 2012
The German Caspersmeier's
Seated (from left to right): Grace Caspermeyer, Vanessa and Martina (Caspersmeier) Sander, Verena Caspersmeier, Matt Caspermeyer
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