Bits from Belgium - Week 10

~ Psalm 71:14-17 ~

Bonjour les amis et la famille!

Week 10! For those of you with wearied eyes from reading my last 9 weeks of updates... here's some good news! There are only 2 more "Bits from Belgium" before I'll be back in the United States, (plus one from that last 1/2 week as well probably!). Then it will be up to you whether you would like to delve into my verbal stash of memories and stories or view the 100+ pictures and video clips I've garnered during my time here!
Looking backwards, I can't believe 3 months could fly by so quickly! I remember when I got here I thought it would be like forever! (I can read my journal to prove it! :-) Sometimes I feel like I just got here, and the more I see, the more I realize how much more there is to see! That said, I am perfectly content and thrilled with all I have seen and experienced. If I get to see and experience more of Europe before I leave... GREAT! If I spend the next 19 days here in the Petrie house in Genval, I have no doubt that that time will be just as rich and filled with knowledge and experiences to be brought home and carried through the rest of my life. Either way will be.... GREAT! :-) It's been a busy week and I seem to have been even more long-winded than usual on my daily bits, so I'll get right on to the not so bitty bits from Week 10!

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Jeudi - 13 Septembre , 2007 - BEAUTIFUL weather today! It was sunny most of the day and the temperature was lovely. Rather typical day here. I got to sleep in this morning again after doing the midnight turn for the third day in a row. That's the longest stretch I've done midnights for, but it's actually been fine, and I've not been very tired at all! In the afternoon I did some flower picking and arranging for Rebecca... something I don't consider myself very skilled at! It was kind of fun to try to be creative and use an "eye" I don't have (the "flower arranging eye!) I laughed at myself as I realized I was adding yet another thing to my list of "things I don't do at home" or "haven't tried before" that I've found myself doing here! This was even more meaningful to me as I had read just hours before in "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren, "You have dozens of hidden abilities and gifts you don't know you've got because you've never tried them out. So I encourage you to try some things you've never done before. No matter how old you are, I urge you to never stop experimenting... When it doesn't work out, call it an "experiment", not a failure..." So there's another Belgium "experiment" to add to my list! ;-)

Vendredi - 14 Septembre, 2007 - Beautiful day! Not a cloud in the sky this morning (doesn't happen very often here!), and then gradually clouded up as the day went on. Warm, but breezy and just LOVELY! Nothing new or terribly exciting to report... just another day to be thankful to be alive!

Samedi - 15 Septembre, 2007 - The weather was GORGOUS today. We ate lunch and dinner outside. It was chilly, but SO sunny! The day was pretty quiet and typical. Annie should get back tomorrow night after visiting Paris for a few days. She doesn't get a break very often, so it worked out well for her to go visit family and enjoy some time off this week. After having Paul gone all last week, I've gotten used to being pretty busy, and it hasn't worn me out, thankfully!
The Petries have a pear tree (also a couple plum trees!). The pears have been ripening for the past few weeks and are finally about ready to be eaten. Some are falling onto the ground and are easily picked up (if you beat the birds, the dogs, and the bacteria and fungus to them! :-), but most are still on the tree, just out of my reach. I am hoping to make a pear tart thing from a recipe I received from the Petries' friends from Israel about a month ago. I've been slowly collecting pears that I could reach, but finally came up with the idea of "pear ball" to "harvest" some of the higher ripe pears on the tree. The game goes something like this... 1. find hard, good sized, icky pear on ground and pick up. 2. Toss pear into tree aiming for pear of choice. 3. If lucky, thrown pear will hit hanging pear and knock it to the ground where it will be picked up and brought inside. It's kind of a new version of poole or boche ball! :-) When you're 5 foot, 2 and 3/4 inches, sometimes it takes creativity to get what you want or need! :-)

Dimanche - 16 Septembre, 2007 - I got up early this morning and got picked up by friends Hans and Norma (the same Norma that took me to the kringwinkels and Waterloo!), who took me to a flea market in Waterloo. Apparently this flea market goes on just about every Sunday. It's in a huge supermarket parking lot and takes up almost the whole place! It was quite a sight to see rows and rows and ROWS of furniture, dishes, nicknacks, clothes, beautiful (and not so beautiful) artwork, housewares, jewelry... and junk. It's definitely a place where "one man's trash is another man's treasure" and vice versa! Picture one big garage sale in a great big parking lot with people speaking 3 different languages (English, French, and Flemish/Dutch). A LOT of the shoppers and sellers had dogs as well, which added to the allure for me! One interesting thing I've noticed here in Belgium is how many purebred dogs there are and how much variety of breeds. In the states there seem to be more crossbreeds and the purebreds tend to be one of a few of the most popular breeds. Here I've seen some really "unusual" breeds in the states, like a Dogue de Bordeaux (hmmm... it's French... maybe it makes sense for it to be here?! :-), wirehaired pointing griffon, etc. I've seen some Belgian malinois as well, which is kind of cool considering this is their home country! :-) Sorry to stray from the topic at hand... the flea market! So, we walked up and down rows and rows looking at various things and trying to decide what, if anything, to buy. I enjoyed another chocolate filed croissant (Mmmmm), but didn't end up taking anything home from the flea market... other than some photographs on my camera, much more knowledge about a lot of things related to flea market shopping (thanks Norma!), a great new experience, and some WONDERFUL memories to add to my Belgium experience! :-)
Hans and Norma then dropped me off back "home" in time for lunch and a nice afternoon nap. Shortly after that, they called back. They had been to a street festival (Hoeilaart Grape Festival!) in their town (7 minutes away from the Petries) and had run into a booth of a guide dog organization from near here. They had actually seen signs for this organization before and told me about it, but didn't realize they would find them at this festival. Anyhow, they wondered if they could "steal me away" from the Petries again so that I could meet these people and also see some people making lace by hand. The Petries were very gracious and allowed me to desert them once again... second time in one day! :-O Norma and I went back to this festival and walked through it heading for the guide dog organization's booth. We passed many more street vendors as well as small stage with couples dressed up and square dancing (to English songs!). Norma introduced me to the people at the booth, who actually spoke relatively good English (as well as Flemish/Dutch and French!)! I spent over a 1/2 hour just visiting with them, asking questions about their organization and guide dogs in Europe and Belgium, and also got a "big dog fix"! It was WONDERFUL! There were 3 Labs there (one who reminded me SO MUCH of Jen!), an Australian shepherd, a Bernese mountain dog pet, and another shepherd mix. The dogs were great: very sweet, obedient, and beautiful. The dogs are trained in French and/or Flemish, but thankfully communicating with them isn't much different with or without a language barrier! :-) The people were very nice also and very patient with me hanging all over their dogs (with permission first, of course! :-)
The organization is tiny, as apparently most are here. They have about 10 puppy raisers and 23 graduates and purchase their dogs from breeders. ) For those interested, you can check out the website at: www.scaledogs.be . The only problem is that unless you understand Flemish/Dutch or French, you probably won't be able to understand much of the website! :-O
I definitely did not come here expecting to get to meet people like this or learn about assistance dogs in Belgium. This was SO neat and SUCH a gift! Thank you God!

Lundi - 17 Septembre, 2007 - Another warm, sunny, beautiful morning, but it gradually clouded over as the day went on and was misty and rainy in the evening. One thing about Belgium... you sure have no idea what he weather will be one hour to the next! Apparently being a meteorologist is not a very encouraging occupation out here! The Petries have a guest from Finland here tonight and tomorrow. He and his wife adopted two kids from India... the world keeps getting smaller and smaller! :-)
The Petries are having some internet problems, which thankfully don't affect the laptops and wireless computers, but do affect the internet phone that I call home on. Because of this, it's been at least a week since I called home. Sorry Dad and Mom!

Mardi - 18 Septembre, 2007 - Today's weather was about the wackiest I've experienced here or in Ohio! According to the Petries, this is "true" Belgium weather. The day began with early morning showers. By the time I got up the sky was blue, clear, and it was sunny. "Oh yeah," I thought, "Another lovely day!" Wrong. About an hour later, more dark clouds rolled in and it proceeded to downpour for about another hour. Never fear though... as soon as the downpour passed the sun was back, the sky was blue, and there were just a few white, puffy clouds in the sky. The sun sparkled on the wet flowers, trees, and bird bath in Rebecca's garden. Now imagine me taking the above and repeating it here about ten times, and you will have today's weather. :-) By lunch time I had given up counting how many times it had rained and then the sun had come out. It continued to be this way throughout the rest of the day! Do you have any idea how many times you must be thankful on a day like that if you are one who likes to thank God for the sun and the rain?! :-) Hee-hee! Anyhow, it was pretty unique to me!
The only other item of interest for a few of you is that while I was out walking I walked over an area just COVERED in nuts and old nut shells. I didn't pay much attention the first time, but on the way back I looked closer and was amazing to find that the nuts were BUCKEYES! Buckeyes in Belgium? I couldn't believe it. :-) Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me at the time, but if you would like I will return to that location with my camera and photograph the sidewalk COVERED in what I thought were only Ohio-native (grin) nuts, buckeyes. Anybody want me to bring home some Belgian Buckeyes? ;-)

Mercredi - 19 Septembre, 2007 -
I had the day off today and have been planning for the past few weeks to get up enough nerve to go into Brussels, as my Mom would say, "all by my lonesome". After my first visit into the city of Brussels, I knew I wanted to go back again before I left Belgium, but wasn't sure how or when it might work out. This week it worked out. :-) I had a quiet-ish morning sleeping in a bit and catching up on e-mails. I then grabbed some lunch, my camera, some money, train schedule, map, and a GSM (cell phone) and headed to the train station. Other than stuttering out my French request for a ticket, which the man thankfully somehow understood, everything went fine and I boarded the right train at the right time without any problems! The 1/2 hour ride into Brussels was relatively uneventful, although at one point I had some guys sitting on the same seats with me who were chattering away in French. I wonder if they realized I could only understand a word or two in each sentence? They probably just thought I was anti-social... or maybe just typical, since people here don't interact with strangers the way people might in at least the midwest U.S. Actually, since I already realize how very little French I know, it was kind of encouraging for me to realize that unintentially "eavesdropping", I could actually pick up a lot of words they were using, even if I couldn't quite follow the gist of their conversation! I THINK it had something to do with soccer teams though... :-) I got into Brussels without any problems and wondered around the train station area a bit. There are about a billion (okay, maybe a few less) exits and entrances into the station, with each one going a different direction. One goes to a large, covered mall (apparently one of the biggest in Europe), so I walked through that and then around a bit more of the train station before heading down to the Grand Place. I was very relieved to find everything as I had left it a few weeks ago after my visit with Melissa. :-) Everything was where I remembered them to be, and I had no difficulty re-visiting some of the places that I really enjoyed seeing last time... like the Grand Place and a lot of other places that I don't know the names of. :-) In addition, I wandered through the King's Garden... the garden across from the Palace, which used to be the king's hunting grounds! I found more buckeye trees there and tons and tons and TONS of buckeyes! This time I had my camera and got a few pictures. :-) Speaking of pictures, I took 177 pictures and video clips throughout my Brussels visit today. There are quite a few that won't be there after I get through editing, but I can tell you how very much I love having a digital camera on days like today! :-) I didn't really have anybody else to share the day with other than my camera, so I tried to take pictures of just about everywhere I went that left an impression so that I can relive it when I come back home and share the stories with you! :-) There are a lot of English speakers in Brussels as well, which makes for a nice change. :-) I'm afraid I really am going to be in some reverse culture shock when I get home. You mean I will be able to understand and communicate with almost everybody around me?! No way! :-D You don't realize what a privilige that is until it's gone! (just another one of those things to add to my list! :-) In addition to re-visiting some spots, I also walked further throughout Brussels and discovered some beautiful churches, gardens, and views that I had not seen last time. Brussels is so neat, as you can walk down various streets and suddenly come across incredibly beautiful sites that you had no idea were there or were totally not expecting! I also did a bit of shopping and enjoyed the free taste-testing while in the chocolate shops. One could almost make a whole meal out of chocolatier shop stops! :-O I had intended to stay in Brussels for just a few hours and then head back to Genval, thinking I would get bored. The time went quickly, however, and I ended up staying for over 4 hours! I was on my feet almost the entire 4 hours walking throughout Brussels and had not realized how tired I was until I came home this evening. Now my feet are telling me I must have walked miles... it's a good kind of sore though. :-) I took the 17:25 (5:25 p.m.) train back to Genval. Here's another unbelievable story... I walked into the incredibly crowded train station to take the train home. It was about 17:00/5:00... one of the busiest times there I think. People were EVERYWHERE! I was able to locate what platform the train needed would be on, and headed that way. As I arrived, there following shortly behind me down the stairs was Hans (husband of Norma) and a friend visiting from Albania! Okay, so tell me, what are the chances of me running into one of the approximately 4 people I know in the country of Belgium (other than those that live in the Petrie household!), at the train station in Brussels getting ready to hop on the very same train as I?! God sure knows how to impress me! :-) He also knows I love a little human company. :-) At any rate, it turns out Hans and this friend from Albania had missed the train they had intended to take and were therefore going to take the same train I was! And so, once again, I had most excellent company on my ride back to Genval! (They got off the stop before Genval). To some, this may not seem like that big a deal, but considering the size of Brussels, the number of people I've seen today, and the fact that neither of us had ANY IDEA that the other was in Brussels for the day, I have to believe that was a divine "coincidence"! :-) The rest of the evening here has been fine and quiet. All in all a lovely day filled with new experiences and more "growing up" opportunities! It has been nice to have the day off, and I'm looking forward to picking back up where I left off tomorrow!
p.s. The internet and phone is fixed, so I was finally able to call Mom! :-) Yeah!!!

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Blessings in Belgium:
* The amazing people I'm getting to meet and learn about!
* The giving of time and self from other people, which has allowed me to see and do what I have!
* The knowledge and experiences I am gaining here in areas so different from those I had at home
* The ability to communicate with "all ya'll" at home and throughout the U.S.!
* The beauty of this place and the world we live in!
* The amazing privilige it is to be here in this place, doing what I'm doing, with the people I'm with!
* The surprising enjoyment I have found in the challenge of learning and practicing a bit of the French language!
* God's faithfulness and grace each and every day...
* God's little and big miracles I've gotten to experience and grow in faith through
* The ways I've been "pushed" to grow up and do things I may not have dreamed of doing before this!

Prayer Requests:
* That I can be humble and serve the way Jesus has taught and demonstrated
* That I might decrease so that He might increase
* That I can love, be a light, and bless those I interact with
* That I will be in tune with and always seeking and listening for His guidance throughout each moment and day
* That I will be able to begin mentally preparing myself for my "re-entry" to life with my wonderful family in Ohio
* That I will be able to, "treasure up all these things and ponder them in my heart": that I can take home with me the lessons, changes, and experiences I've had here and use them throughout the rest of the life God has given me...
* That my dear friend Jessica H., who will be arriving in 2 weeks (!!!!!) will have smooth and peaceful preparation for coming here and a safe trip here! I can't wait to see her! :-D
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It is 3:44 Ohio time, 9:44 Belgian time. I'm about ready to go read for a bit and then consult my pillow for the evening.

It's been another week for me and another week for you. How are you doing? What's new with you? How can I be praying for you?


A la prochaine,

~ MB


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"I am, by nature, selfish. I think most about me. That's why humility is a daily struggle, a lesson I must relearn over and over. The opportunity to be a servant confronts me dozens of times a day, in which I'm given the choice to decide between meeting my needs or the needs of others. Self-denial is the core of servanthood..." - Rick Warren "Purpose Driven Life"