0:00

The other night, I was up late, trying to put together some travel plans with Brian's parents. Eventually, I crawled into bed. I looked at my digital alarm clock and did a double-take. "0:00" is what it said! My first reaction was that there was something wrong with my clock. Then I realized that it was just 12:00 am/midnight. They use "military time" or a 24-hour clock here, and I bought this alarm clock here in Belgium. Although their method of telling time is going to take some getting used to, I have to say that there is a definite positive aspect to using the 24-hour clock: no am/pm mix-up when setting your alarm!

Au revoir

Today, Roberta (AKA Grandma), John (AKA Grandpa), Sam, and I were leaving a WWII museum store, and the clerk said "bye-bye" to Sam. Then she said "Au revoir," which means "Bye" in French. When the Belgians say it, it usually sounds more like "auvoir," (oh-vwah or oh-uh-vwah) because they run the words together. Well, Roberta said, "Say 'au revoir'," to Sam, and he said "oh-wah". I suddenly felt a little faint, because I realized that this is one of his first words. He has quite a vocabulary developing now, but I never thought a French word would be towards the beginning of the list! Crazy!

Oh, My Darlin'

I love clementines! They are better than oranges, because they are easier to peel, tend to be sweeter, and don't have so much of that annoying, white membrane. I don't remember finding them in the store this early when I lived in the U.S., but maybe you all have seen them already. All I know is that they seem to be pretty popular here (maybe due to our proximity to Spain), because you can get them in the boxes (like you can in the U.S.), or you can pick out on your own one-by-one. This is the first time I have found a clementine with the leaves attached. ...And how did it taste? Delicious!

I Miss...

I don't want this blog to be overly negative, but if it is, it might just be a reflection of my personality...and quite possibly the stage of adjustment that I am going through as an ex-pat.

There are a lot of things that are really good here. I am glad to be in Belgium. That being said, there are a lot of things that I miss from the United States. Here are a few of them:

1) My family
2) My friends
3) The familiarity of Illinois
4) English
5) The grid system (roads)
6) Certain foods: provolone cheese, shredded cheddar cheese, Arby's roast beef sandwiches, skim milk, black beans, Reese's peanut butter cups, Mountain Dew, American-style Chinese food
7) The babysitters we had established.
8) Chili's, Applebee's, and similar restaurants. They are great for kids.
9) Closets
10) Being able to hang up a wet towel and have it be dry 24 hours later.

All Apologies

Maybe it's because of the language barrier, but...so far, I haven't noticed the Belgians to be very apologetic.

Maybe I just noticed it because it seems that a lot of Americans tend to be overly apologetic, especially when it comes to business. Today, I had to call the credit card company, because my account was flagged for fraud. I'm not surprised. It comes with living here and making purchases that I would not have made back in the States. Well, both of the people whom I talked to were so nice and gave great customer service and said "sorry."

When the phone company here skipped out on three appointments, they never said sorry to us at all.

Well, let me fine-tune my observation... There have been a few times that I've noticed the Belgians saying sorry. I guess it has mostly been with our more personal encounters. Last night, we had our first French class. Our teacher was quite late, because she couldn't find our house, and she said "sorry" several times. Also, our landlord said "sorry" a couple times when our heater broke and when I told her about the leaks in our house.

It should be interesting to see if my view of Belgians changes as I live here...or if I will find my initial observations to be true.

Belgian Supermarket, Part 3

I don't think all of the supermarkets are this way, but the one I usually go to has a specific way that you must prepare your produce. Most items must be weighed on the scale, and then you have to print out a sticker that has a bar code and the price of your produce on it.

I have had to learn a few tricks with this system, as it is not the same for every item. Most prepackaged items that already have a barcode on them do not need to be weighed. However, pineapples have turned out to be an exception. They usually already have a tag on them, but you must still weigh them. Kiwi (kiwis?) are sold by the piece, so you don't need to weigh them. It's kind of fun to print out that little sticker, especially for little kids who are interested in helping out at the grocery store. It's also good for finding out the price of your item, especially for big items like pumpkins. (I have seen limited numbers of pumpkins here.) I saw one huge pumpkin that was rejected...it was still in the store with a label on it already... The price said 15 Euros!! (a little over $20 USD) Yikes!

Party in the Potty

Brian, Sam, and I were getting ready to leave downtown Waterloo (next town over), so we could go to the 5:00 pm mass in Brussels. We decided we needed to go potty before departing. Conveniently, there were some toilets in the parking garage. "Smart," I noted, "If you don't give them toilets, they're just going to pee all over in the underground parking garage." So, we went inside this unisex bathroom. There were two stalls, a urinal, and a sink. When we entered, the bathroom was empty. When I came out of the stall, there was a line of women out the door. Wow! What a change! I walked over to the sink, and noticed that the urinal, which was only a few feet away from the sink, was now occupied by a middle-aged man. Lovely. I somehow just cannot imagine this scene happening in the U.S.

I Just Need Some Space

I was about ready to scream in the bookstore on Saturday. These crazy Belgians definitely have a different sense of space than what I'm used to. I was crouching, looking at a book in a bookstore, and a guy and a gal came up behind me...*right* behind me and were looking at the top row of books above me. When I stood up to look at some different books, I had to be careful not to brush up against them... In the U.S., what they did would be construed as a very rude thing to do. You just don't get in someone's space like that. But here, it is an everyday occurence. I'm not sure why, but I think it might have something to do with their limited space here. For example, when you are driving on the road, you often have a lot less room than you do on roads in the U.S. But, then again, I am from the Midwest, where it is pretty roomy. Maybe the East Coast (in the U.S.) is a little bit different...and maybe people get a little bit closer there. All my East Coasters....and people who have been to Europe....can you weigh in on this one for me?

Absurdities of the Day

1) English isn't their first language. Many of them don't know any English at all. So, why is it that the grocery store plays ALL English songs? Am I the only customer who knows what these songs are about?

2) How can Sam not like bananas anymore? That used to be one of his favorite foods. Now, he turns his nose at them. What is going on?

When it Rains...

My head was spinning this past weekend. Why is it that when something breaks, tons of other unfortunate events often immediately follow?

At the end of last week, Sam became ill with a nasty cold that he is still battling. Then, I found out that I need to have my car looked at. Then, our heater wasn't working properly. Then, I found out that we need to get a broken light in our driveway fixed. And...we have two leaks from the incessant rain, and no one can figure out why they are occurring. Oh yeah....and did I mention that I'm living in Belgium, and not only does getting something done take three times longer anyway, but I also have to speak French to get these services?

Well, today the heating guy came, and it's such a relief that he spoke some English. Also, he was such a nice and caring person. Tomorrow, the electrician is coming to fix the light. He was also very nice on the phone.

Maybe in the next few days, I'll have a pouring down of good experiences.

Langue

I actually don't know which French word to use. In my translation dictionary, langue and langage are both listed as meaning "language." Anyhow, I have been noticing some cool breakthroughs recently.

Today, when I was changing the laundry, I realized that I understand two words on the washing machine that I didn't know when I first moved here. It was an awesome feeling, because these two words were next to each other, so now I understand what the button I had been ignoring is for. I actually looked up the words when we first moved here, but I forgot them about two minutes afterwards. I was so inundated with new vocab when we first arrived. Another cool thing about these two new words is that I can remember how I learned both of them. Each new word is like a little trophy to me right now.

Samuel has also been having his own speech and language breakthroughs. He is getting so much better at imitating the words that we say. He is like a little sponge right now! As a speech-language pathologist, I can't help but revel in his emerging linguistic skills. Each new word in his vocabulary is also like a little trophy to Brian and me...and to Sam...because it helps Sam express himself better. It helps him to comment on his world...and request his wants and needs.

Sam and I are both going through an explosion of language, and it's hard for me not to notice and compare our development. Right now, I feel like a toddler of French. I am excited to learn how to express myself more clearly.