Antwerpen Twerkin

Hi everyone!

How are you? I feel like it's been so long since I've last posted even though it was only 8 days ago. It's hard to find the time to sit down and write all the things that I want to say.

So where did we leave off? Last Tuesday. So I had my French class that evening like normal, and the evening passed without anything too exciting. On Wednesday, the girls had a half day of school, like normal, and Emma's friend Elsa came over and had lunch with us. I played outside with the girls on the trampoline for a while, and of course, on the wii. On Thursday, I had an exam in my French class. The first one since I have been there since I missed the first half of the class. It was not hard but it was also not easy. I felt only so so about it. But it made me feel better to know my fellow classmates felt the same. We still haven't got the results back from the test yet though, so I'm not sure what my grade is. Technically, the grades don't even matter. There's a final exam at the end of June and that's the only thing that counts to pass or fail the course. So as long as I pass the final exam I will pass the course. And even if for some reason I fail the course, this again doesn't really matter. The class is more meant for me to learn for myself.

In any event, Friday came and was a bit difficult because the parents were going out town overnight to a friends house for dinner. So the afternoon was super busy with my picking up the girls from school and dropping them off and picking them up from all their activities. However, it all ended up okay and I made us pancakes for dinner, which they loved!

On Saturday morning, I got up early and made pancakes yet again for breakfast, at the girls request, and then I headed out to walk to the train station. I left on Saturday morning to meet Brent for a short one night two days in Antwerp, a large city in the north of Belgium.

The train ride thankfully passed without problems or delays this time! It took me four hours to get to Antwerp from Arlon. I met Brent at the Centraal Station, and we set off to explore right away! Fortunately, we had beautiful weather. Almost too beautiful since walking around with our backpacks in the sun made us really hot! I went into a store and bought a sun dress and ditched  shirt and pants.

Antwerp is truly a beautiful city. The architecture is gorgeous. It is in the northern part of Belgium which has the Flemish culture and is Dutch speaking, so it's different from where I live in the southern part of the country which is culturally more French.

We walked around and just took in all the sites of the city, and of course had to have some Belgian staples: fries and beer! After walking along the river for a while, we finally made it to our hostel in the early evening to check in and rest our feet for a moment. We had some beers at the hostel and I used Brent's computer to finally get some photos up, since I've been having trouble doing it with my tablet. There's more photos to come, I promise! Soon!

After drinking our beers, we left our hostel to walk through the city to the top of the history museum which has a lookout over the entire city. It was a long way up, and thankfully there were escalators. But the view at night was worth it. To see all of the twinkling lights of the city and the indigo river bending through the night, dotted with house boats.

After making our way down from the top, we slowly made our way back through the city and back to our hostel, where we slept.

On Sunday morning, we got up early and had breakfast in the hostel. The food was fine but the coffee was awful. We left around 9:30 and went to find the tram line that would take us to an outdoor modern art park that we wanted to go to, but it was too far to go by foot. Getting on the tram was no problem, but once we got off, there was no tram stop close to the park, so we had to walk for quote a while still and we got slightly lost. Thankfully, the weather was once again nice.

We finally made it to the park and walked through it for a few hours admiring the modern art sculptures and enjoying the weather. When we were ready to leave, we had the same problem as we did getting there. We had to walk forever to find a bus stop, and once the bus came, it was packed the brim with school children (on a Sunday, why?!) and so it was very hot and crowded and we had to stand until they all finally got off. We went back to the city center and got some lunch at an Irish pub and then had some iced coffee and sat for a while. We walked to a park close by and laid in the grass and watched people playing soccer and enjoyed the sun.

Shortly after, we made our way back to the train station and once again, went our separate ways, north and south. Even though we will see each other again next weekend, just 8 days away, I always find it hard to say goodbye to Brent. I can never not be a little bit sad.

Thankfully, my train ride home also passed without problems, and I got back to Arlon at about 9:30 and Sebastien picked me up from the train station. Although I was tired, I got to Skype with my family, which was very nice to see and talk to all three of them. I went to bed very tired but also happy.

On Monday, I intended to run but my legs were super sore from running Friday and then walking all weekend. Mondays after traveling are always hard because I am tired but I still have to get up and function like normal and make lunch and take the girls to all of their activities. I made meatloaf and mashed potatoes for lunch, because they had never had it. They liked it, but it wasn't their favorite thing. I'm glad they at least ate some and tried it, but I probably won't make it again.

After school, I took Elise to her English class, and I got to have a lovey chat with Michelle, her American teacher. She is so kind. I think we are going out together sometime this week.

Tuesday I woke up early and went running, and I prepared chicken cordon blues for lunch. How very frenchy of me! Later in the evening I had my French class, which went well. I have two friends in class now, which makes it even better to go of course.

Today, Wednesday was less than ideal. I cut my finger open slicing carrots. Then after the meal, I broke a glass casserole dish into a million pieces on the floor. And the girls were in cranky moods and they had a lot of homework. So today has been less than ideal!!!
I'm trying to keep my head up and remember that bad days happen no matter where you are in the world and no matter what you are doing. I know things will always be more complicated living abroad, no matter how adjusted I get over time.

Tomorrow, I hope I will find out how I did on my French exam. I also think I may see Michelle afterwords.

This weekend, the parents are going away for a few parties, so the girls and I will have to find some ways to entertain ourselves. I think it will be okay!

I love you all and I miss you very much! I hope everything is well at home :)
XOXO