Random Belgium Observations...August 8, 2011

There are so many little things I see here daily that intrigue me. I am fascinated by the qualities that I feel make Belgium...well, Belgium. Sometimes these things are not enough for a whole post in their own right, but they deserve mention nonetheless. So, in what is most likely the first in many, here is a collection of some of my random Belgium observations.

1. Ventured into a store a few days ago that looked like it could be the "Sam's Club" of Belgium, but on a small scale. Lots of industrial looking racks stacked high with "bargains"...although very little is cheap here. Loved that the first section you went through was beer and wine. These people have their priorities clear. The aisle then led me past the butcher (a real person!) with a beautifully presented and diverse group of offerings, including lots of variations of lapin (=rabbit). The aisle then continued to the chocolate and waffle section, aka heaven on earth. Here I grabbed some waffles (I have grown fond of the plain sugar variety) and some chocolate bars. I had good intentions to mail some back to the US, but the family decided to test this first purchase of Belgian chocolate out on themselves. Loved that every aisle had unmanned sample stations, including wine! Most of the milk in Belgium is "shelf milk" which is stable at room temperature. It is strange for me to see the milk in a central aisle of the store. In this store I found the milk, right under the feminine protection section. Really? I will be venturing back to this fun store.

2. The cows are everywhere. So are the sheep. A suburban-type street can have a small field of sheep right in between two houses. Whole different zoning system.

3. Fields are mostly corn and wheat, at least from what I can identify and what is us close to where we are staying. This last week or so has been wheat harvest. My oh my, has it been smelly around here!

4. I love living in the land of French. It is a fun challenge.

5. I have to remember to convert the Euros to dollars in my head. They are close enough that when I see a price it is easy to think dollars without even realizing it. "Oh look, this jacket is 60 Euro. Hang on a sec, that is 85 Dollars!"

6. The bread really is THAT GOOD.

7. We headed up to the beach a couple weekends ago. On our way, we happened upon a McDonalds. There are not many here. It was about lunch time, so we decided to stop rather than look for something else. First funny: the Quarter Ponder with Cheese really is called a Royal with Cheese (funny if you have seen Pulp Fiction). Second "funny": Jay tried to get a refill on our drink so we could take it in the car. When he came back to me, he said, "Here. We better drink every drop. That refill just cost 2.23 Euro (3.16 Dollars)!" Third "funny": Our bill was equivalent to 28 Dollars, for four of us, and only two of us ordered drinks. Ouch. I was a little happy though, because this will encourage us to always try to find a better alternative than McDonalds!
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So we finally start our move-in to the chateau apartment in two days. I will be so glad to get out of a hotel, but we still won't have our own bed for another 1-2 weeks. It will be nice to be able to stay in our place before the bulk of our things arrive, however, so as to get a better feel for how to arrange our furniture, etc. Took our dog for a visit a couple days ago to begin to acclimate him to the "smells of the chateau!"

Au revoir for now! Jennifer