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.