Update on the House

I write at the end of a long weekend. May 1st is the Feast of Labor here, so no one does. In fact, since the next weekend is also a holiday weekend (Pentecost)many Belgians do not work for more than a week. I got out of only 2 teaching evenings, but having last Thursday off was very much appreciated. As it will be next Monday. Luckily, the Polish men working on the plastering of our house were willing to keep working through the weekend. They did as much as they could and in fact, might be finished. Robert and I were at the house Saturday when they were still working. We covered the newly-sanded floors on the top floor with the stuff they make drink-cartons out of so that the painter can start up there on Monday! I will post some pics of Robert working on that, as well as of the new (old) floors. Now sanded and varnished they look like new, almost too new... but their light colors really lighten up the house again. Tomorrow too the contractor and carpenter will work on finishing the new roof on the new construction adjacent to the kitchen and they will fill in the large open gap between the ground floor and 1st. We will have to wait on the new wooden floors for there for quite some time, but at least we will get a sense of what that space will look like filled in. And the ceiling in the kitchen will finally be able to get done. At the end of this week (if all goes well!) the kitchen will be installed. But we will cover it all up again immediately so as to protect it while they finish up the rest. But we are moving along... fingers crossed still for a move in at the end of this month???? No, maybe June. Here are some pics...












And then there is the news that I got a brand new bike. We added a little child seat on the back so Evelina can ride along. On our first outing with the three of us we immediately met up with a hailstorm! But we persisted and Evelina was a trooper, all soaked we stopped in at Antwerp's famous waffle and pancake place Desire De Lille and fueled up. After that the sun came out and we had a wonderful afternoon out with the bikes, riding along the shore of river and around town. Evelina loved it. And she loves her helmet!



More soon as things are changing rapidly now! Lots of love from Antwerp.