Weeks 6 & 7

Weeks 6 AND 7...I am falling behind.  That's because week six included the arrival of our HHG.  Wahoo! 

(Insert Moving Tips)

Label your rooms.  Label them for packers on your departure end, based on the house at the arrival end.  Meaning, boxes will be labeled the way your NEW house is set up, so when you stick up your labels on the arrival side, your stuff will go right into the room where it belongs.  Since we didn't know our new house when we packed out of ND, we had them mark boxes vaguely, like "girls' room," rather than labeling with names. 

My FAVE tip: Baggie all drawers with 2.5 gallon ziplocs. Just slide your clean, organized silverware tray into a bag and this is exactly how it will arrive...neat, clean and ready to use. (I bag lots of things, even linens in the ginormous bags, so that they too arrive clean and ready to use.)

We also crammed in a bunch of in-processing before and after the moving day.  I went on a supermarket tour/how-to-shop-on-the-economy-where-you-can't-read-any-stinking-labels-class. Then we had to spend half a day touring the emergency room/local hospital/clinic and learning all the rules about that jazz.  Fun times.  

This is "Emergency Room" in Dutch.  Yep, that is why we needed a tour!   We'd have never found it!

We spent a day driving down to the nearest base to pick up the car we bought for Alan.  We scored him a sweet ride from an outbound Greek family.  It's a Honda F-RV.  When I called to insure it, our company in the states replied, "You mean, C-RV?"  "No. F-RV"  "Uh, could you mean S-RV?"  "NO, F-RV.  F, like Fargo, Frog, Frank."  *silence*  "It's European."  "Oh!"  It's a hideous blue thing that looks kind of like a civic hatchback, with 3 full seats in the back and 3 full seats in the front.  The stick shift is on the dash.  It's um...so european.  It was affordable, it fits our family and hey, it's a Honda!

Since we knew that the week was going to be FULL and crazy, the kids all went to camp and/or hourly care all week long.  Then we spent the weekend trying to put the house in order.

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Week 7 started off fabulously because it was a Belgian holiday.  Alan had to go to work on the 4th of July, but the Belgian holiday of the same likeness was this week, and he had the day off.  More house-organizing!  

The dandelions and I walked to the market on Tuesday.  I have been driving every week to my friend's commune to the market because that's what she showed me and it was just easier, but I decided we needed to learn to do it here in our town.  Ours is smaller, which was a bummer, but it was a 5 minute walk and there was still a chicken man.  Yum!

At a small, local commune market, it seems you will find: a chicken truck (our fave!) that roasts chickens on giant spits, a bakery truck, a cheese truck, a deli/meat truck, a seafood truck, a waffle truck (it's Belgium!), a produce truck, a flower stand with plants for planting in the ground, AND last but not least, an undies truck.  Yep.  Apparently the Belgians like to pick up their baguettes and brassieres all in one convenient location.  I keep waiting for one of the kids to ask why there are undies hanging next to the chicken man.  

See the little shopping bag on wheels that Dandelion #1 is pulling?  I think the ownership of said shopping cart-ish thing makes us truly european now.

On Wednesday evening I hosted 19, yes...nineteen, people for dinner.  Our house was decently put together, so why not?!    

We also spent the week gearing up for helping at the upcoming VBS, exploring the local Trocs, and playing at the park with new friends.  Oh, and of course there was more paperwork and in-processing.  It never seems to end here.  It's Belgium.  We're not stationed at a base and nothing is in English...it makes this experience super fun and truly European, but also makes the transition so, so challenging. There is still so much to do that it feels like we've only been here for a few weeks, but it's been almost two months!