Amsterdam

I have started traveling a bit outside of Belgium and I LOVE IT. I have also decided that I have moved to the wrong European country/city. I instantly feel an amazing energy as I get off the train in Amsterdam. I think it is the city's history with water and boats that draws me to it.

I took the train to Amsterdam which in itself feels very European to me. I spend my Saturday morning wandering the streets. I find a fabulous open market with everything from meat to furs, they are showing the many uses of a dead animal.

After walking around on my own for hours I made a friend. If you know me you know that it is not uncommon for me to find a local to show me around their town. And that is exactly what I did. We went to a local bar/cafe for coffee and beer. He then took me to a crowded smoke filled local thai restaurant for dinner. We of course went through the obligatory Red Light District stroll. It is exactly what you would expect it to be. The bars were crowded but I did not mind squeezing in with the locals. We parted ways early in the night and I took a ferry to my hotel.

I was greeted at my hotel with a warm smile and cookie, what is there not to love about this city!

The next day was rainy and cold but I made the most of it. I grabbed a cappuccino and a croissant as I waited for the ferry to take me back to the main square. The rain kept me from wanting to walk around too much so I popped into one of the many museums to spend my time inside and dry. I decided on the Maritime museum to learn more about the Dutch history. There was an incredible exhibit on whales that I spent most of my time walking through. After my time warm and dry I continued to walk along the canals. I passed vegetarian restaurants, street performers and shops with crystals/geodes in the windows. All more reason to love that city.

And for those of you who are wondering, YES they do all ride bikes. I was secretly hoping that my new friend would let me ride on the back of his bike while he showed me around but instead he just walked alongside his back as we made our way around.

Now for some pics so you can see why I love it so much.

Sorry for the delay

I know I have been gone for a while and I have A LOT to update on but for now let me say that I am safe and ready for things to get back to normal.

Twee maaden

So today marks two months in Brussels for me. I have learned very little French, slightly more Dutch and quite a bit about myself. Moving to a foreign country is like nothing I have ever experienced before. I have lived away from family for the past 12 years but none of my cross country moves gave me everything I needed to prepare for this adventure. I would say each move gave me a little piece that I would need but none gave me all of them.

I am going to sound like a twelve step program for a moment but they have the right idea when they say, "one day at a time".

The biggest lesson I have learned during this two months is to appreciate the little things. Each day I try to take a moment to appreciate something, someone, anything. Here is a short list of of some of my "little things":

Finding a craft store 5 minutes from my house

Making mochi and tasting Hawaii for a week.

New yoga pants (bonus: came form a package from my mama)

Crazy cheap (good) beer

Fall Colors

Kinder Eggs!

My daily struggle

Once again I lead you to Buzzfeed to understand my life in Belgium, Popsicle Life

One potato. Two potato

Last week we went on an outing with the boy I am working with over here. It was just a trip to the grocery, nothing exciting. The exciting part came from the drive. We drove outside the city to get a different shopping experience. On the way there we saw fields of corn and potatoes being harvested. The dad told me that in France it is law that once the farmer is done harvesting his/her field the fields become fair game for anyone to come harvest what is left. I am not sure if this is true or not but I think it is a fantastic idea. The produce that is left behind would rot and go to waste. Instead it can be used by anyone who has the time and patience to sort through the remains.

We do not know if this is true in Belgium but we did not care. We passed at least 4 open potato fields that had been harvested earlier that week. We took this as fair game for us to go find us some potatoes of our own. If anyone said anything we decided to claim dumb American that was using this as a 'teachable moment'.

I have not tried any of the potatoes but everyone loved digging through the dirt sorting through the good, the bad and the ugly.

Island girl buys a coat.

So it is starting to get cold here. The other morning the family that I work for said they saw frost on the grass when they woke up in the morning. It is currently 13 degrees Celsius here. I will let you do the conversion yourself so you can have a moment in my shoes and daily mathematical conversions.

Due to these dropping temperatures it has come the time that I need to buy a proper coat. I have been trying to cram as many layers under my jacket as I can every morning but it is no longer enough. I have met a very nice Canadian over here that has offered to take me coat shopping, he seems to think living in Canada makes him a coat expert, I would agree. Unfortunately he is away this week and I need a coat NOW.

I went out with my head high and my body fully caffeinated. There is a local street that is known for shopping so I felt that was a great place to start. I got off the metro after a long day at work and began my hunt for the coat that would keep me warm during my first proper winter in years. I walked in and out of more stores than I can count. I was greeted by several "bonjours" as I made my way down the street. I tried on a few coats but none of them seemed like they would keep me warm enough. I finally found something that seemed like it had enough "weight" to it to keep this island girl warm. Unfortunately it was significantly more than what I was willing to pay for a coat. I would just have to continue my layer technique that makes me look like a New England Patriot linebacker.

I started my walk back to the metro feeling defeated and cold. I kept my eye on the stores as I walked by them. None of them called to me until I saw the love child of Ikea and the Dollar Tree. I can not describe this store to the level it deserves so please see what BuzzFeed has to say about it.

I never thought I could love a store this much.

It is not a very large store but I took my time to observe EVERYTHING they had in there. I walked out with things I needed and things I did not know that I needed. I love the idea that they get new things every month. I can't wait to make biweekly trips to this store to see their new merchandise.

Een Maand

It has been one month since I packed up three suitcases and moved my life to another country. I will be honest and say that things have not been easy. The language barrier makes everything an extra struggle. If you think you don't like doing laundry try doing it with this machine:

I attempted to google translate and came up with "bow tie dry" and "cabinet dry" I have always been a fan of bow ties so that was the obvious choice.

The language barrier struggle has carried over to the grocery store. Luckily the cheese and beer here is delicious and language does not hinder the decision process. The square near my apartment (flat) also has a fantastic market every Sunday morning. I walk down and get my produce for the week at a good price.

Win for being vegetarian.

I am getting closer to being less of a tourist over here. I am forcing myself to learn one new word a day in either French or Dutch. I am meeting more people who speak French so that is my preferred language at the moment. In addition to learning a new language I now have a metro card. I am not longer the woman that has to purchase a metro pass every morning. I feel so much more "local" when i just swipe my card as i walk past the gate in the morning. The crazy part was that to get a card I had to get a picture and go to a designated office. It felt like the DMV. I had to pull a number and wait in a lobby with a bunch of other people feeling like they were wasting their Saturday. I think this was a rare moment when I actually did not feel like I live in a foreign country.

 Keeping positive thoughts that it will begin to be less of a challenge and more normal.

Mayonnaise.

So I will be back soon to fill you in on some of my newest adventures. For now I leave you with this thought: MAYO.

Do you love or hate this creamy condiment?

I myself despise this addition to food. It does not thing but ruin a meal and force me to place it directly in the rubbish bin. Belgians have a different opinion on the condiment. They feel like it should be added to EVERYTHING. Their favorite thing to add it to is frites (fries). I know this is not completely uncommon but it still makes be gag every time I see it. I purchased a caprese sandwich the other day thinking I would be safe, I was wrong. They slapped mayonnaise all over that beautiful baguette. No food is safe.

Love it or Hate it or Hate it

Belgain Beer Festival

I am learning a little bit about Brussels everyday. What I learned this weekend is that the LOVE festivals. This weekend alone I was told about 4 different festivals. There was the cartoon, balloon parade, thai food and of course the Belgian beer festival.

It was my goal to make it to the beer festival and also the balloon parade. I met up with a neighbor of mine that had been to the beer festival the day before and was going to be my tour guide. This was going to be a day of firsts for me and I could not wait for the adventure to begin. I mean there was a festival of beer how could I not be excited.

I will tell you now before you get too excited that we missed the balloon parade, it gives me something to look forward to next year. And when I saw balloon parade think Macy's day parade without the high school marching bands, bad C list pop stars on floats and off Broadway numbers.

The beer festival however was EVERYTHING that I wanted it to be. My list of firsts started before we got to the festival. As you know I frequent the metro. I had not been on the bus yet. We took the bus to Grand Place, the centre of Brussels. This was another first for me. The archieticure in the area is divine. I can't wait to go back and see it without the rows of beer tents. I am not saying the rows of beer tents were not a beautiful sight. I do not know how many brewers were there but we bough enough tokens so we could try 4. I would love to tell you which ones we tried but of course when you are at a beer festival you do not remember what you are drinking, that is a sign of a good beer festival.

Grand Place

 I know that I enjoyed every beer that touched my lips. In hopes of seeing the balloon parade we went to get a coffee and walk to the next town center. He suggested Starbucks and even though hesitant I was looking forward to something familiar. This is when I learned that my name sounds like Juri to Belgians.

With coffee in hand we went on our merry way. This next town was so lively and playful. The streets were closed and we found people playing "lawn" games. There was giant chess, ping pong and petanque.

Since we were in search of the balloon parade we felt like we were on the right path when we kept seeing little old ladies about to float away like the house from UP.

The research that we did online told us that we had until 18h for the balloon parade to reach us. This left us time for more beer! We navigated our way through some very narrow streets until we found the Delirium cafe. If you know beer this should sound familar. We each had a delicious pint and head off to satisfy our inner child.

Even with missing out on one of the days activities I went to bed feeling satisfied with my Belgian beer adventure.

PROOST!

Morning Commute

So I have quickly reverted back to my city girl ways when it comes to getting to work in the morning. I take the metro to get to work which is their subway system. I start my morning with a walk to the metro with my coffee in hand. Depending on which way I walk my commute is more interesting. On one occasion I passed 5 men(soldiers) with automatic weapons protecting buildings. I live near the European Union so now need to worry about the fact that I walk by so many armed men. I try to smile at them like a true southern lady but they do not return the gesture.

I sit on the Metro for my ten stops either reading my kindle, listening to music or my Dutch podcast. People like to come on the Metro and panhandle on the cars. So far I have seen a woman rapping into a speaker on wheels covered in duct tape and an older man playing a melodica.

Once I have made it my ten stops I get off the Metro and begin my next walk. This time through a more country town and a quaint neighborhood.

Total each day I walk about 4km 300m, pass two frites stands and more coffee/patisseries than I can count.


AND now for my commute in pictures:

 

Metro escalator goes FOREVER

Even the street signs are different.

The houses are too cute for words

Walk through the greenery.

Does a hobbit live here!?

The Adventure begins.

As most of you know I have started a new adventure in Belgium. It was a challenging move to get myself form Hawaii to Brussels. I made a short stop in Florida to replace my slippers and bikinis for boots and jeans.

My first attempt to leave the country was delayed due to weather. This was a blessing in disguise. I was allowed an extra day at home with my mom AND got upgraded to first class on the first leg of my new flight. I also met the nicest United employee ever changing my flight. She hooked me up with exit row on my international flight. The legroom was on point.

Once I arrived in Brussels I had to collect all my worldly belongings from the luggage carousel and go locate a tall stranger to take me to his house. It was not until later that I realized I agreed to go live with complete strangers for a week while I try to locate an apartment of my own. It was not as bad as it sounds. They were quite kind and had a coffee machine that allowed me to have multiple lattes a day.

 

It took several emails to try to find a place to call home. After 5 days of spending hours online looking at pictures of apartments I found something I wanted to visit. I fell in love with the first and only place I went to visit. I feel like a real grown up now. I don't have roommates and I have matching dishware.  I would like to welcome you to my new European flat:

And I can't forget to tell you that I have had a waffle. It was better than I could have imagined.