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.

Spring's here.

Spring has arrived in Antwerp and the rest of Northern Europe. The trees are blooming (a street near the Museum in Antwerp) and people are out any minute they can spare to soak up the first warmth. This is a wonderful time of the year here as everyone is happy that the winter is finally over and the sun-craving Northern-Europeans nearly sacrifice themselves to the Sun god. This picture is just one of many I could have taken, this one in Breda and not in Antwerp though, since we happened to be in this Dutch town when the first sun came down on us all. All the restaurants throw open their doors and put tables outside. Their cozy innards of winter now remain desolate and dark. No one wants to sit inside any more. Antwerp is now far more pleasant than when we arrived a few months ago.

I actually counted the months on my fingers yesterday. Has it really ONLY been three months? It feels like six. Austin seems so incredibly far away. I try to think of our house there, the streets, our habitual places... I have barely even thought of Tex-Mex food! I've been too busy, too preoccupied. I guess that's both good and bad. We are still in the apartment, and will sign on for another month. We are tired of it. Tired of the street, the place, the furniture, the bed most of all! I have certainly learned the importance of a good bed.

Work on the house is still moving along, not as steadily as I would like to see it, but it's moving. They have sanded the old floors and they are looking pretty good now. They are lighter than we thought they would be, but we like it. This week the painter is checking in to see how dry the walls are, which should tell us when he can start painting. That will be exciting! And on May 9th the kitchen will be installed. Pictures of that will follow. I am hoping that the last structural job will be completed this week as well. Robert and I have changed our mind about the glass floor/ceiling in between the ground and first floor. We have decided to put in standard wooden floors and leave a small opening to connect the two floors. The glass would have taken away too much floor space on the first floor. So that framework still needs to be put in. When that is done, it is only finishing everything off. I am so ready to get to that stage...


And meanwhile life goes on. Evelina is doing really well in day care and beyond. She is well on her way to be a "big girl" and "grote meid" without diapers. She is very happy to be free of those bulky things. And, she has a boy friend. A tat earlier than we expected, but the paparazzi shots proof that it is indeed so. They were spotted this sunday at the Zoo. His name is Lucca, he's a few years older than she is and is bilingual as well. We will keep you posted on how this goes. Lucca is leaving on vacation this week as there are several holidays coming up in Belgium. I guess time will tell whether he will prefer Spanish girls or not.


One other tid-bit of news. I have been teaching English through the University's Institute for Language and Communication. I am teaching English levels 1 and 2. It is a very diverse group of students, from Japan, Russia, Belarus, Georgia (not the state of course ...), Poland, Congo, several Latin American countries, and Spain. No, no Belgians. Teaching this beginner's level is a challenging job, especially since all of the students are at a different level in understanding and speaking. It is not a job I applied for, and not what I ultimately want to be doing, but once I am in the class, I have fun. I have enjoyed meeting all these people. Several of them have already taken the Dutch courses and are quite fluent in Dutch, so to get to know each other I break the rules and allow them to speak Dutch-English to me during the break since several cannot yet express themselves with English alone. These people have interesting stories. Belgium is not the Belgium we left 15 years ago. On the streets we hear more Russian and Polish than ever, Arabic too is very prominent, depending on the neighborhood. We used to hear the Antwerp dialect. I am not surprised that the Flemish Nationalist Party has its head-quarters in Antwerp (this does not imply that I agree with what they stand for.) I do think the world is becoming smaller.... but even so, my (past?) life in the US seems so very far away.

We'll keep you posted, lots of love from Antwerp.

Happy Birthday to Evelina!

Yes, our little one turned 2 last Saturday. Check back to the entry I posted last year for her birthday to see how she has changed. Wow. The baby is all gone. She has become a little girl (although she prefers to say "big girl.") I had wanted to be able to celebrate

Evelina's birthday in our new house and make it a housewarming party as well, but that of course did not happen. Maybe for the better I did not plan anything big, because little Evelina got sick on Thursday and was still having fever on Saturday. Because she was sick Thursday night we kept her home from day care on Friday since we did not know what condition she would be in during the day. She was quite well luckily, so we took advantage of that and the nice day to make our first trip to the Antwerp Zoo. Evelina loved it and we will be going back regularly. Now I am not all together a proponent of animals in captivity but I also realize that in this complex world where animal extinction reigns there is no place for unrealistic ideals regarding animals living in the wild only. So I tried to share the wonder of seeing all these various critters with my daughter. The world truly is more beautiful through children's eyes and minds.

The Antwerp Zoo was founded in 1843 and has recently undergone quite some renovations. They are still enlarging it at the moment by constructing a better and larger area for the giraffes. Now, the great but also limiting aspect of the zoo is that is situated right in town. In fact, one day Robert and I were driving around (when on a quest for schools for Evelina) in a previously unexplored part of town when we suddenly at the end of the street saw three giraffes! Now, we know the zoo lies smack in town, but with our heads elsewhere and not completely fully aware of our whereabouts at that moment, this sorta came as a surprise when driving around. But yes, several residents can see the giraffes when looking out of their windows. One side of the zoo lies adjacent to the station with this superb architectural structure recently restored to its full splendor, this causes for some great views from within the zoo.

The zoo is also a great park for the city. Due to its buildings it still provides a turn of the century feeling. Plus, in a city any green is much appreciated. In fact, we bought a membership (courtesy of my father! Thanks!) so that we can go back over and over again without paying each time. Here are some views from that day.











On Saturday of course we had cake and presents. Lina had a great day, despite the fact that she was not entirely well. She is crazy about the birthday songs and candles, so she enjoyed that. Whatever was bugging her caused her not to want to eat, not even the cake, so no pics of Evelina with a chocolate-covered face, alas ... But she was very excited with all of her gifts: a big swing and slide in the garden at Moeke and Baba's and a play kitchen with pots and pans etc. for helping mama and papa in the real kitchen.























On Monday then she was celebrated at day care where they made a crown for her. That too she loved. Attention, attention... And I of course love taking her picture!











I also shot a little video of her. Now, shooting video of Evelina is no small feat because she loves watching herself so much that as soon as I point the camera at her she starts grabbing it and says "Lina see it" over and over. So all of my (very) short videos of her end with a child's hand approaching the lens, a cute but demanding voice and then a blur. So this time I tried to film her while her she was also watching Ratatouille (which she loves.. get the connection? cooking? truly she loves to watch the kitchen scenes! This is promising, no?) So it worked partially, she did not grab the camera, but was also only focussed on my request to sing along for 50%. Can't have it all mama. In any case, we tried. It does not truly capture her excitement for the birthday songs though. But maybe by midweek she had had enough of it too! (Still trying to get this one posted to Blogger--Check back!)


Other news. I accepted a part-time teaching job at the University's Language and Communication Center. I will be teaching English to adults. It is not my first choice of a job, but it is not bad either. The center has a high reputation and I will be on the University's payroll which of course has its benefits. And from experience (I did this in Italy as well) I know that this type of teaching is fun as well. My students will be from all over the world and from many walks of life. So I do look forward to that. Robert on the other hand is starting a course in Dutch. He took the entrance exam and was placed in a high level. So he is looking forward to that as well. He intends to become fully fluent! (Maybe it is the fact that Evelina is already correcting him, ha!)


Keep checking for updates. The house is looking good, and more pics of that project soon. Much love from Antwerpen.

A very random selection of impressions (1).

Because I am a visual person and love to take pictures I will start posting pictures taken on random walks through the city and elsewhere. They will not necessarily be illustrations to anything that I write, but they will merely serve to bring some of "our" Antwerp to all of you who are reading this. Some of you have never been here (but I hope will come visit!) and some of you have been here in the past (and hopefully will come back). So whether you recognize or just see for the first time, I hope they will make it easier for you to "picture" the city we live in right now. We are rediscovering it ourselves. Antwerp has changed a lot since Robert and I lived here last (in 1992-93, when we met!) and so have we. So we are getting to know each other again, and so far it has been quite pleasant. She has a lot more to offer now. So here goes.(And Thank You, Charles, for mentioning that Firefox does a much easier job on posting pics than does Safari!)

Here is an image that ought to confirm that we are indeed living in Belgium, the land of lace and tapestries. There is lots of this to be found in Brugge (Bruges) but this little shop is right here in Antwerp. It has been there for as long as I can remember so the tourists must still be buying this stuff.


One of our favorite places to go for a drink or an authentic Flemish meal is "'t Elfde Gebod," which translates to The Eleventh Commandment. You all know the 10 first ones by heart right, this one is was left out of the OT but the Flemmings feel it is essential to life, "eat, drink, and be merry." The place is jam-packed with statues of various saints, the Virgin, and Christ, so when eating and drinking one is in good company. The place is cozy and inviting, especially on a wet and cold Belgian evening. In the weekends tourists flock to it, so it is best to stay away then. I have often taken pictures of the place inside but the other evening walking by it, I realized that I had never taken pictures from the outside looking in and it is exactly this view that is so inviting. This night too as it was once again a wet and cold evening. But Robert and I were on our way to the tram, so we walked past without going in.(Rachel, these are for you!)











Antwerp is, as you know, situated near the river Schelde. I promise pictures of the river and the "boardwalk" later on this spring, when it is actually pleasant to be walking down there. Today, Robert and I walked down to the tunnel that connects the city with the "linkeroever" or left bank, a residential area that was popular a few decades back when high-rises providing apartments with views of the city (at least on one side of the buildings) were built along the shore. These (in my opinion, quite hideous) buildings are coming back in vogue now with the hip younger crowd who are buying the apartments and completely gutting them to turn them into more contemporary dwellings. I suppose the view might be worth it. Apart from these, Linkeroever is also home to several tiny residential suburbs. So the tunnel is actually used quite a bit. It was built in the 1930s and is strictly pedestrian. You go down two original wooden escalators and then walk for over 500 meters underneath the river. For some reason this tunnel has earned itself a mention into most guide books on Antwerp. Now that I think of it, I ought to take a picture of its exterior structure as well as it is a nice piece of 1930s architecture. For now, here are some views of its guts. I must say that this is the only wooden escalator I know of.











More pics of Antwerpen in the next issue of "A very random selection of impressions." Also, I will say happily that the house is looking good! A big hooray for the Polish wall plasteres who worked with speed as well as great care! It looks good. I am now arranging the pouring of the subfloor for the ground floor. Once that layer is dry the new hardwood can be laid and then the kitchen can be placed! Yeah. Then it will really start to look like a house. In the meantime the bathrooms can be worked on further. These still need to be plastered because the contractor and plumber were not quite as efficient as the plasterers. I am starting to think we should have had everything done by the Polish guys... More on that actually later.

For now, many greetings of a slightly sunny (yet still cool) Antwerpen.

Happy Birthday to Robert

We all get older every day and then once a year we get reminded of it. It was Robert's turn this past week, so we tried to make him feel better about it all with a nice dinner, presents, and cake and candles. Ha. I hope it worked. We will have to have a birthday bash next year for the BIG one! Oh dear. All invited!

Evelina LOVES candles, and blowing them out. (In fact, she did not like it one bit that in the church in Brugge where there were so many, she was not allowed to blow them out. I will admit that although I am not a church-goer nor an adherent to any type of organized religion, I like to play it safe and place many bets... if you know what I mean. So no way would there be any candles placed by believers with wishes blown out by my child! So instead we placed a few coins in the box and lit our own candle. That seemed to work for Evelina as well.) Anyway, so on Tuesday my parents came over to celebrate with Robert and we had the birthday cake (which was bought, since the oven in the apartment is defect and I obviously do not have a new kitchen just yet! darn.) with many (yet not quite enough) candles. She loved it so much her cheeks were flushed. Totally adorable with her papa.

Then on his birthday on thursday we woke him up with singing (terribly cute, in two languages, she knows it all) and she insisted we bring him a candle in bed. She wanted to take it to him, but I managed to convince her this was probably not a great idea. Then, because it was a special day, they had breakfast in bed and she loved snuggling with him in the big bed.








That night the three of us had a nice dinner and he got some of his gifts, for use in the new kitchen. Since Robert and Evelina love making pizzas together Robert got a new baking stone and they both got rolling pins. We can't wait!







We still have an adult evening out in town planned this weekend when Evelina gets to sleep over at Moeke and Baba's. So we are looking forward to that as well. I might make some more pics of the streets of Antwerp and post them later. Plus, we definitely need to procure Robert's blog of some visuals. If you haven't looked at www.frieswithmayonnaise.blogspot.com yet, you must!

Anyway, here are some more pictures of the cutest of our family. Always ready for some action. She chooses to dine with her friends sometimes instead of with us. And then she likes to try on mama's boots. And I love the one of her staring out the window at the snow falling. Why is it that at this age a little protruding belly is so adorable?










Next week Evelina turns 2. It is hard to believe that our baby is (almost) not a baby anymore! There will be more on that!

With love from Antwerpen.

Happy Easter to all

It is late, and I am tired, but I wanted to post some pictures while all is quiet before going under the covers. The Easter weekend brought sunshine, snow, and hail, at times all together it seemed. The weather was as weird as it can be in Texas. Evelina had her first Easter-egg hunt and she enjoyed it very much, especially the eating of the chocolate afterwards. It is all hidden in the cupboard now and will be doled out sporadically. This child does not need her energy level revved up by chocolate! She is plenty active without it. But it is, I must say, a wonderful sight to see her enjoy eating a piece of chocolate and hear her exclaim with all her passion "mama, it's VERY good!"

Today we made a little day trip to Brugge (Bruges) to remind up how close it is to us now. We met with hail on the way over there, yet had sunshine while there, as well as a brief but ferocious snow storm while in town. I just wanted to share a few pictures from today with you all, since I haven't really provided any visual evidence of that fact that we really are living in Belgium. Evelina loved all the horse-drawn carriages that parade through town. We also went inside the church where she was amazed by all the candles. And she saw her first Michaelangelo sculpture in person. It thought it was appropriate this event should take place in Belgium, ha.












I promised pics of the house too. The team that is working on plastering the walls is moving along great. They make a huge mess (if we had not already decided to have the floors redone we would now!) but they are also leaving a result that finally is starting to make the place look like something we could actually move into. It has taken a long time.... However, still lots to be done. Hope you all had a nice easter.

1st briefing from the homeland

Well they say that it takes 2 months to get one's bearings after a big life change and I suppose it is true. I left Austin on January 19th and here we near Easter without any notes on the blog. I had planned to write at my one-month "anniversary" back in the homeland, but alas, it didn't happen. That 1st month was hectic, chaotic, stressful, and felt like a bit of an emotional roller-coaster ride with more dips than climbs, ha. Robert arrived (cum felines) 2 weeks after Evelina and I did. I spent that time with my parents while I took care of finding us an apartment. I also made sure that everybody associated with the house knew that I was back and here to stay so that they could contact me from now on. Or in other words, I set free my parents from this burden. It sure seemed like a burden at first, when problems kept popping up here and there. At times I just wanted to get back into the plane and go back to our Austin house. But... of course by then that house was not our house anymore! That is good news of course, the fact that our house did sell in probably the worst market slump since we owned it. Anyway, it is probably a good thing I did not write sooner because the detailed reports would have been quite dreary. When the 1st month was over I remembered how Robert and I actually had celebrated our one-month completed-date in Italy. There we had cooked a nice dinner with goodies bought at the Bologna market and some wine and we had congratulated ourselves on pulling it off and toasted to new beginnings. Here we were just stressed and tired.

When Robert arrived he was exhausted from all the work he had put in to get the Austin house empty and ready for the new owners. That too had been a bigger (much bigger) beast to fight than he had anticipated. We have lots of pics from his final packing and emptying, but they are sad to look at.... Plus, I want for our friends who remember us in that house to remember it full and with us, and not as the empty shell that gawks back at us in the pictures. So I will not be showing these.... Robert came with the cats and with Rebecca, his sister, who was wonderful enough to come along so that he could bring the 2 cats (only 1 cat per person allowed!). Unfortunately, the weather of course was dreary and we were both too exhausted from all that lay behind and before us to make good hosts. So we will have to make it up to her next time she comes! Luckily she is an independent soul and explored on her own and with my guiding she also discovered the city's most famous jewelry designer and went home with a bit more glam on her finger than she came with. Ha. Well done!

So now two months have past since arriving. I have pretty much taken care of all official things that needed to be taken care of. I applied for ID cards for Evelina and I, got us insurance,I found and compared day cares and we got her registered, etc. It doesn't sound like much, but all this took several weeks. On top of this came the fact that we had to get Evelina registered for kindergarten which she will start in November. In Belgium a child can go to KG at age 2,5. Day care ends at age 3 so unless you have your child enrolled in school there is no other option. For the majority of schools enrollment started this year on March 3rd at 8:30 am. There are many schools in the city, of various quality. Unlike in the states (in general) a child can go to any school regardless of where it lives. So as soon as Robert got here we started visiting schools to get a sense of their value and pedagogy and also to find out whether there were spot available for the upcoming school year. And this is where the problem lies. Children who have siblings already in the school get to enroll in January. Then several schools have to comply to a regulation that gives priority to children who are "opportunity-challenged" (I am not sure how else to translate it) so in essence children from immigrant families, etc. Several spots need to go to these kids and these are filled in February. As a result, by the time the March enrollment comes around, there are often no spots left. Especially so for the better schools, since 2006 actually had (among the white middle-class families in Antwerp) a baby-boom. The problem is aggravated by the fact that many families with young children want to live in the city again, versus in the suburbs where the problem does not occur. So.. what does all this mean? Many schools we liked simply had no spots left. Others had 6 or 7 left.

So how then do you guarantee that you make one of those 6 spots on Monday morning 8:30 am? By being there early, and by early I mean the NIGHT BEFORE!!!!!!!!!!! Case in point: Robert and I had visited the Freinet school which is the only one in Antwerp and happened to be very near our house. Freinet has an alternative pedagogy (as does for instance Steiner which we also investigated but voted no for) and we liked it very much. There were 7 spots left to be filled that fateful morning. ( I use this term fateful with sincere intent, because it determines where your child will go to school until 6th grade! Children actually go straight from KG class 3 to 1st grade within the same school. So enrolling your child in another school for 1st grade is even more difficult!) Since we had heard the horror-stories of people camping out all weekend Robert drove past the school on Saturday but found it empty. He drove by on Sunday, still nothing. I was with my parents where I had dropped off Evelina since we could not have her with us if we were going to take turns camping out somewhere. At 6 pm Robert went by the school again, nothing. At 7:10 my train arrived from Hasselt and we went straight to the school thinking that we would probably be fine going over around midnight. When we drove by we saw several people and a tent. I asked and bam! Slap in the face, there were parents for the 7 kids born in 2006 -- with them the spaces would be filled. We were too late at 7:20 pm the night before.

We had 2 choices then: camping out there regardless to be the 1st on the waiting list (in case one of the parents would change their minds and send their kid elsewhere. This IS done... parents bet on several schools and send anyone they can to go camp out so that they are sure to have at least one secure enrollment. Often they make 2 schools and then pick their favorite so that at one school a spot opens up for someone on the waiting list. ) OR, we could gamble all on our 2nd pick and go sit there all night. I must say Freinet is a very popular school and this most likely was the reason for the early show of these parents. We drove past the other school and found it still deserted. There were more spots too, so we were safe for a little bit. We ate, got blankets together etc. and Robert was there at 11 pm as the very first one! Only a little bit later he send me a text message: "I am no longer alone." He had a long and cold night and if you want a full report of this I refer you to his very own blog. I am sure that this night will be one that is featured on there. I walked over around 6 am to take his place so he could catch some sleep. He had to teach that afternoon! At that time all the 12 spots available were spoken for, so the parents who were not so well prepared and just came "early" (i.e. at 7 or 8) were too late. At 9 Evelina was registered for school. It was a BIG load off of our shoulders and I did not care one bit that people stared at me holding a large comforter and pillow in pink sheets on the tram during morning rush hour!

Evelina had a bit of a rough month too with all the adjustments, but she is doing very well now. We eased her into the day care by leaving her first for 1/2 days and that was quite hard on all of us. Once we left her the full day she did great. (Oh no, now that I write this the thought occurs to me: what does this say about us, her parents???) The reason must be that this is what she is used to from Austin and of course that it takes time to get to know the care givers and the routines. They all love her there by now and see now that she is not a cry baby but a fun talkative child with a sense of humor. She is doing GREAT with Dutch and even knows the difference between English and Dutch. "Mamay says ... " and "Papa says..." In stead of being slowed down in language which we expected, she has accelerated. She makes full sentences now and is constantly talking (or singing.)
She has also made an Italian friend -- Salvatore, he owns a great little Italian restaurant in our street (where we live now) and we try to go once a week (to have wonderful pizzas, speak some Italian, and be reminded of our previous ex-pat experience). Evelina knows he calls her "Bella" and that he gives her a lollipop after dinner. We are not so crazy about the lollipop-part of it all but we did let her have it the first time (and of course that means every time now!) I am teaching her that these things are not good for her teeth and we will actually refrain from going for a while. But she feels quite pleased when she is enjoying her little treat. See for yourselves:



I will devote the next entry to the house so as to keep this one from being way too long for anyone to want to read. After 2 months there is so much to report on. This one covered the main reasons why you had not heard from me. Also, as I said, Robert has started his own blog in which he will report from the land of Fries with Mayonnaise as a true ex-pat. His will be open to all so no invites necessary. His URL is:http://frieswithmayonnaise.blogspot.com/
I hope to be a regular again soon. For now until then, groetjes van Antwerpen with love.