Over the Hump

Whew, I am glad this week is over.  Rob came home Friday after being in Ramstein, Germany since Sunday.  Based on my last post it was pretty obvious I was dreading it.  Besides the fact that we couldn't talk on the phone (thank goodness for Facebook) and I swear something was trying to get in our house every night, it was a really good week.

Starting last Saturday, we went to a going away party for one of Rob's assistants.  I am actually really sad she is leaving because I think she would have been a great to get to know better. When half the room is crying at an army going away party (they happen all the time) you know she made an impact. The party started at the St-Feuillien Brewery in Le Roelux which is about 15 minutes from our house.  It was a great group of about 40 of us from army, navy, air force and Belgian civilians. The tour was 5 Euro which included 2 beers at the end.  Since Europeans are unbelievably laid back, it is pretty safe to say everyone had more than two beers.  But not everyone got behind the bar and started serving beers like this girl. It's probably time I work on my Belgian beer tolerance.

hhhhhoooppps

Couldn't stop staring at this staircase, pic doesn't do it justice

Round 1- Black Saison (newest beer) and Cuvee De Noel- my favorite

Me and the hubs

Behind the bar, Christmas pic? 

It was a wonderful night and we got to meet a lot of great people which I think we were both craving.  At some point in the night I agreed to wake up at 6:30 am on Sunday to go to the Waterloo Flea Market. I am SO glad I did! It was so much fun and there was so much stuff to see.  Getting up early was so worth it.  The experience was made complete by eating McDonalds breakfast, don't judge. So while I was busy buying us a new dining room table Rob was on his way to Germany.  Pics or what I bought:

New dining room table 

Hanging shelf with hooks for coffee mugs- hoping to paint soon

As weird as it sounds, Rob being gone kind of forced me to get out and do things on my own. So this week I drove to the Ikea in Brussels and spent about 2 hours there.  It had its challenges including employees that spoke french and others that spoke dutch. Its amazing that a country the size of Maryland can't pick a language. I also went to another furniture store down the street from us that was pretty cool- comparable to Crate and Barrel.  These may sound like easy tasks but when you don't speak the language and you are determined to try it is very humbling to go anywhere.  I also got a lot of stuff cleaned out of the house and started cooking and baking more.  I made Rob a "Thank the lord you are home, oh and look I bought a dining room table" dinner.  It was delicious and amazing how long we can sit and talk when we haven't in 5 days.  Ramstein sounds pretty neat and offers all the American things we will miss eventually...Taco Bell, Macaroni Grill, Chilis, etc. etc.

The weather is still great here.  It's been in the mid sixties with very little rain for a few weeks.  Soon the sun won't come up until after 8 am and will go down at 4- I'm not looking forward to that.  Here is a pic from our yard, I can't take credit for the flowers but I can take credit for not killing them, right?

View of back of house- the dirt patch is for our future garden

I finally feel like we have gotten over the transition hump and are starting to feel settled.  There is still plenty to do to the house but we are in no big hurry.  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend- Oktoberfest pictures to come soon!