All in a weekend...

So, I was just so excited I had to post a picture of my garage sale find! Yes, a garage sale…a true rarity in these parts, but every now again you can find one posted on expatica.com (expat=American living in Europe) where people like us are coming and going and leaving lots of stuff. This one was actually thrown by an English couple who raised their kids here and are ready to go back home. I got this entire tea set (service for 12 minus one teacup) with two plates per cup, a sugar bowl, creamer and cake plate for 30 euros! (about $35) Not something you see around America too often!

So now it is time for hidden pictures! Look closely at the picture…can you find evidence of Belgium versus the toddler round 2? (Round one went to Nancy, she bested the tiny, twisty stairs that might fit better in a doll house…or one of those funny houses with the mirrors that make you look skinny…and didn’t fall once despite many different apartment searches) Unfortunately, she lost this round when we learned her sandals (and energy level) and cobblestones DON’T mix. She has matching battle wounds on her knees. OUCH! Don’t worry though, when I was done with them the cobblestones got the worst of it…

Next, can you find the potato chips? I let Nancy hold them so I could offer a bar of Belgian chocolate to whoever can guess the flavor. I’ll post the answer at the end of the blog…and if you guessed it (we’ll do on your honor) I’ll bring you home a bar.



So, another funny thing about the photo. The location of the garage sale was in Waterloo. Daniel and I were half way there when we were like, “huh, could this be THE waterloo?” On entering we saw a sign with a picture of Napoleon and a cannon, so this was it! We checked out a location commemorating the epic battle that ended Napoleon’s legacy. There is a hill with a lion on it. Information (compliments of Wikipedia):

The hill is surmounted by a statue of a lion mounted upon a stone-block pedestal. The model lion was sculpted by Jean-François Van Geel (1756-1830). The lion is the heraldic beast on the personal coat of arms of the monarch of The Netherlands, and symbolizes courage; its right front paw is upon a sphere, signifying global victory. It is a symbol of the allied victory, rather than as pertaining to a single individual.

I think Daniel said it was where one of the relatives of the Netherland royalty was shot in the shoulder where they decided to build the mound, but I can’t find where he got that, so don’t quote me. Six euros a piece to get to climb to the top, so you get a faraway picture cause I thought they should pay me that to be willing to hike it with two little kids.


More fun Waterloo pictures...The eagle statue was just another one there...Nancy is being an eagle and Tori and I are hiding :)



The mushrooms were actually pictures taken at the church...we haven't seen a lot of bugs (thank goodness!) but I've never seen so many kinds of mushrooms!

Sorry, I can't figure how to format pictures well, so these are just thrown in there. Below is a fun pictures of Tori. One more picture: the box I made for my primary lesson on tithing. I was subbing and it was only my second time at church, so I didn’t have any of my stuff yet because it doesn’t get here until later this week. So I was rather proud of myself for pulling this together…the tape was a last minute addition to luggage by Daniel to help organize cords in the apartment and the scissors on the box are what I used to make the whole thing. FYI, most of the class spoke English, so the class was considerably easier than I thought it would be.

So, that’s it! We’re loving it here, we really feel like we are at the cross-roads of the world. I’ve met people from England, Germany, Czecholslovokia (nice grandpa in the park, shared sand toys with Nancy), Italy, Albania, Nigeria (and several other countries in Africa I can’t pronounce), Albania (that one scared me, she was cleaning our apartment and talking on the phone and I was like, “I don’t understand a word!!!! I’m never going to speak French!!” but it was Albanian, go figure ), El Salvador, Venezuela, and all over the United States. And I’ve only been here two weeks! What an adventure!
Ps. So the chips are Lays chips, flavor Thai Sweet Chilli. The other bag were Mexican peppers and cream. They were gifts. I’m sure they them in the states, but I’ve never seen them!
Pps. I have been corrected…Kiss & Ride signs are all over the east coast! And I had to come here to learn that!