I'm a curse I tell you!

10 years or so ago, I moved to North Carolina. It was the fall, and I was thrilled to be moving just in time to avoid the misery of another Maine winter. North Carolina, after all, has very mild winters with hardly any snow. Or it did, until I arrived. Just a few short weeks after I arrived, we got the kind of storm that the locals will tell their grandchildren about for years to come - 28 inches of snow fell over the course of 2 or 3 days!

I've done it again, though luckily to a lesser extent. Its been below zero for several days here, which is rare. And it snowed through the night and all of this morning, and we've gotten more snow than my husband has seen here in a long time. We are currently peeking out at the mess and hoping it will melt, because we do not have a shovel to clean the walk. He went out this morning, but the hardware store is out of shovels. Its only a couple of inches, but it will suck if it turns to ice.

We have stayed in so far this morning, as we were waiting for the plumber. He was supposed to be here by noon, it is now 12:51. G will have to go out soon, because we have nothing for lunch or dinner, so he'll have to write a note to the plumber, as all I can do is unlock the door and say "Goedemiddag" and smile like I'm deranged should he arrive. Keep your fingers crossed that he arrives, we are both thoroughly sick of cold baths.

Enjoy these images of the front and back yard covered in snow!

Market Day

G told me yesterday that Thursday's are market day in Landen, and since he had the day off today we decided to go. He told me that every town has a market day one day a week, and asked me if I knew what he meant by market day. To which I promptly replied, "Of course, just like in Beauty and the Beast!" LOL

The walk, even on the way into town, was HARD. I don't know why it was so much harder than it was just a few days ago. Perhaps it is because it is colder, or perhaps I slept poorly. I am not sure. But I was slow!

There were sellers of all kinds of things, everything from the expected fruits, vegetables, fish, and meats to the unexpected clothing, shoes, and pet supplies. The entire main street is blocked off, and the vendors drive their large trucks right in and open them up to show the displays. The scariest thing for me were the meat vendors, where whole skinned rabbits and large slabs of horse meat were for sale. G asked me if I liked horse meat and I just looked at him in horror, LOL. He likes it apparently, but I think he saw from the look on my face that I am not likely to cook it anytime soon. We didn't find that the prices were any better on the meats or produce than they are at the supermarket, so in the end, all we bought were speculaas cookies and waffles from the bakery truck. The speculaas were disappointing, very dry, but the waffles were fabulous.

After we viewed the vendors goods, we went into two of the shops there that sell household things, and got a number of things from my neverending list. So many things we have to get to make a house a home! Today's haul included more kitchen towels, including a number of white lint free towels I can use for everything from drying dishes to cleaning mushrooms; a bunch of plastic food storage containers, a silverware tray, a toaster... Its not a very exciting list, unless your me! I was happy!

By the time we finished in those shops I was completely exhausted. We stopped at a cafe for a rest, but it wasn't enough. I asked if we could call a cab, but G hadn't brought the telephone number for the taxi company, so in the end we walked. It took me about three times longer than usual and every step was hell. I had back spasms and leg cramps the whole way. By the time we got home, G said I wasn't going to do that again until the baby comes. To which I promptly replied that I was NOT staying home for the next 2 months. So he agreed I get one more chance before I'm benched. LOL But I did suggest that we never again leave the house without the taxi cab number!

I rested for awhile and then we ate some of the Kraft macaroni and cheese I brought from home. After lunch we fought with the damned wardrobe again, which I will not discuss in detail as it stressed us out enough for one day. But it is further along than it was, and hey, at this rate, I may be able to unpack by July! LOL It is not G's fault, it is HUGE and monstrous, and I am convinced that one of the circles of hell involves putting together cheap furniture from China for all eternity.

I made a new pork recipe for dinner, and it was super delicious. We both left the table with happy tummies. Luna seems to have liked it too, as she's been dancing for hours now. Tonight we've been watching tv while snuggling on the couch, and as soon as the new towels finish washing and I hang them up, I am going to bed!

The mysteriously missing post - January 26th recreated

In reviewing my blog this morning, I discovered that an entire post seems to have been eaten. Did anyone get a chance to read my post from the 26th about our trip to the doctor? Regardless, it is gone now. I do not have it archived anywhere, so all I can do is try to recreate it, stealing from emails I sent out that day. I've learned my lesson, I will try to remember to archive things from now on. I'm actually posting this on the 30th, but hopefully it will show up where the 26th should be.

Our trip to the doctor went fine, other than the fact that it was unusually cold that morning (-7 C, which is 19 F) and we had to walk to the station in the dark (it doesn't get light until 8:30 here this time of year!!). Sint Truiden is only a short train ride away, and the city is larger than Landen but smaller than Leuven. We took a cab from the station to the hospital.

We registered at the hospital, but we didn't sign up for any assistance I don't think. Apparently we can request reimbursement once my insurance kicks in. The doctor was really nice, and spoke excellent English. She went through the records I brought with me and transferred the information into the little booklet they use here. They seem to do the same sorts of tests and everything, as she didn't request any new tests and she kept nodding and saying, "Goed, goed."

They do ultrasounds every 4 weeks here, so we got one while we were there. The doctor does it herself, right there in the office. We still have a girl, thankfully! LOL I got one picture, but its really crappy so I won't bother to scan it - little Miss Luna had both her hands AND her feet covering her face! She really wasn't feeling photogenic after we made her get up so early. :) The doctor measured her head, legs, heart, kidneys, stomach, and bladder and said everything is growing as it should and she looks very healthy. That head looked awfully big to me!!! She has definitely grown ALOT since the last ultrasound, and her estimated weight now is 3.3 pounds. We will have another ultrasound at our next appointment in 4 weeks, hopefully next time she will show us her pretty face. They do have the 4D imaging they can turn on, but she only snapped it on briefly because we couldn't see anything anyway with her weird position.

They do not make me go to the doctor any more often than in the states, it is every 4 weeks up till 34 weeks, and then its 3
weeks, then 2, then weekly. Similar to at home. So our next appointment is 23 February.

After the doctor appointment they sent us to labor and delivery for a tour of the facilities, it seems very nice. They have a whirlpool bath you can labor in if you want. I said, "Oh look dear, I will finally get a hot bath!" LOL The baby gets to stay in the room with you, but there is also a little glassed in area right in the room you can put the baby bed in for extra quiet. They said I will have to stay in the hospital for 5 days after the delivery, which I think is a bit longer than at home.

The childbirth classes here are usually started around week 20, so I am very late starting, but they said we can go to the last 2 classes if we want to. The first one will be next Thursday at 8:30 AM, which means getting up by 5 AM. Ugh! We're not sure yet whether or not we will go, obviously it is optional, and it will be a lot of hassle to get there.

So anyway, both mama and baby are doing well, and I now have the doctor's card to carry with me and I know where to go and who to call if there is an emergency.

Home Improvements

We've been trying to pull the house together to resemble a home. There are some challenges, to say the least.

What will be weirdest to most of my American friends is that we do not have lighting fixtures in most of the house. We have ceiling lights in the kitchen, the bathrooms, and the garage, but the rest of the house is pitch black at night and we navigate it by flashlight. It is normal in Belgium to take the lighting fixtures from a rental property and bring them to the new place when you move. G didn't have many in the old place, so we find ourselves with the daunting task of purchasing 6 to 8 ceiling fixtures and having them installed. Usually they are installed by the renter themselves, but the wiring in this place isn't quite normal and the wires are not color coded like they should be. So we need to purchase all of those lighting fixtures, and then we need to hire an electrician to install them. Though we have not gone anywhere to search for lighting since my arrival, G searched locally before I arrived and could not find any for less than a hundred euro EACH. With our savings nearly gone and a million things left to buy for the baby, we can't really afford them right now. So its flashlights for us, and anything requiring light needs to be done during the day. Its bizarre for both of us.

G bought a bunch of basic furniture before I arrived, but it is all of the "straight from China must be assembled" variety. He had put together most of it before my arrival, but he hadn't put the wardrobe together. The wardrobe is very very necessary, since there are no closets here, so after several days I am still living out of a suitcase, and G has commandeered a cupboard in the utility room for his clothes. He tried to put it together yesterday, he made a truly gallant effort. I attempted to help, but I cannot bend over, I cannot easily get up and down from the floor, and I am not supposed to lift anything over 25 pounds, so I did not exactly make a lovely assistant. I sorted screws for awhile, and then he very politely suggested I check to see if the laundry was ready to be hung yet. :D His first road block came a couple hours in, when three pieces simply refused to go together as they were supposed to. He could easily put piece A and piece B together, or piece B and piece C, but the three simply refused to attach together as they were supposed to. Not sure what he eventually did to fix the problem, but it did eventually go together. Just in time for road block number 2, the one that stopped production. This wardrobe is MASSIVE, and the base of it had three cross pieces that were supposed to be screwed to the underside with brackets for added support. Logical, really. However, there were no holes drilled anywhere! He was apparently expected to screw little cheap screws into the "wood" (particle board, just like at home!) with nothing but a hand screwdriver. It went about as well as could be expected. In the end, we lost light and he had to stop for the evening, frustrated and muttering curses. This morning he purchased a power drill, which is currently charging. While it sucks that we had to spend money on a drill, he does seem to be proud of his brand new power tools. LOL

We called the plumber this morning, but they don't even bother to tell you when he might come by. You just sort of add your name to a list and then hope to hell your at home when he decides its your turn. In the meantime, we continue to be blessed with truly miserable bathing experiences. My first bath here was the worst, because we were in a rush that morning and I did not give the bathroom the hour or more it requires to heat up, so the room itself was cold. The bathtub is narrow, which is not a good thing when you're a double-wide pregnant woman. I suspect that one of these days I will just stick in there like a cork! It is for that reason that I only bathe when G is at home. The bathtub is cold, being porcelain and in a room that is not heated all the time. Because of the way the wall is angled, there is no room to stand for a shower, you must sit in the bath. I am short enough so I can stand for a final rinse down with the sprayer nozzle, but there is no way we could hang a shower curtain, so a true shower is unattainable. The sprayer nozzle does not stay on by itself, it is constantly falling down and the sprayer turning off. I have found that if I wrap a washcloth around the knob, I can keep it from falling and maintain the sprayer. And the icing on the cake is that the knob to control the bath temperature seems to be broken, so there is only one temperature. It starts at ice cold and goes up to comfortably warm, but then it cuts back to icy cold and all of the in between temps. So essentially, your freezing to death the entire time you are trying to get clean with lackluster water pressure. I cried the first day, LOL. Now I know enough tricks that it is simply miserable instead of truly wretched! Keep your fingers crossed that the plumber fits us in soon!

We do, at least, have a nice cozy and welcoming kitchen to hang out in. The rest of the rooms all still have boxes to unpack or furniture to reposition or assemble. We're working on it. It will be a home eventually, lets hope it doesn't kill us first!

And now a note on Miss Luna Bean. She is doing well as far as I can tell, which is mostly judged by the number of parties she throws each day to make my belly bounce and jiggle. She seems to be pretty happy in there, and just loves to knock out messages to us in morse code. Its great, except when she uses my kidneys to knock on! G is enjoying talking to my belly, and has been rewarded with several solid kicks. However, when G called the doctor this morning to inquire about me becoming a patient, they were truly horrified I had not seen a doctor since January 11th and insisted it was urgent that I come in at 9:30 AM tomorrow morning. Were I still at home, I wouldn't see the doctor again for another couple weeks! But apparently things are done differently here, and they insisted it was urgent enough that we must come in and are sending us to register for the assistance for people without insurance since mine has not come through yet. We will have to get up at 6 AM to make it in time, and if it takes too long, G will likely have to leave from there to make it to work on time, meaning tomorrow will be the first day I have to navigate my way home alone. Without a cell phone, apparently, because we cannot recall the pin code for the one we set up last time I was here and G did not have time to go buy me another today. So tomorrow's adventure is the obstetric/gynecology practices of Belgium!

An American in Belgium

Its official, I am an American Mama in Belgium. Or at least an American in Belgium, perhaps I don't qualify for the "mama" title until she is born.

The trip was quite as bad as I feared, but it was definitely made worse by the airline I flew (Iberia), which was way less comfortable than others I have flown. I was relieved to find I didn't need a seatbelt extender, but the tray tables wouldn't fold down over my belly! LOL I had to eat balancing my tray on my mostly nonexistent lap.

We made it home to the house without incident, and I was so happy to find that the house is even nicer than the pictures led me to believe. It has some issues, but so does every rental property I have ever lived in. G is frustrated by all the things that are wrong, but I don't think its that bad. Unfortunately, some of the issues are going to cost us money, like the bad taps in the bathtub that will require a plumber, and the old fashioned wiring that will require an electrician when we get some lights to install. In the meantime, we try to get as much accomplished as we can during the day, because by 5:30 its too dark to see in most of the house. LOL Its kinda like camping in your own house. We have lighting fixtures only in the kitchen, bathrooms, garage, and laundry room. The rest of the house requires a flashlight to navigate safely. G is still mostly not unpacked, and we still have some furniture to assemble, but I've been doing what I can to make it homey. At least the kitchen is put together and is cozy - G said I must be magic because he left me alone for an hour and when he returned a kitchen had emerged from the mess. :)

Last night was my first attempt at cooking here, and it went ok. I have so many challenges to face with cooking that it seems like I am learning anew. I need to learn what G likes, since I have never cooked for him frequently before. I have to learn what products are available here, and what products are affordable. I need to learn this stove, which is very difficult. And I need to deal with having only the bare essentials in kitchen things until my shipment arrives. Nonetheless, the honey mustard chicken was quite tasty in the end, served with boiled potatoes and tossed salad. It just took a bit more effort than usual. Today I am making pasta with meat sauce - ground pork being the meat, since I have discovered how phenomenally expensive ground beef is here (9,98 euro, almost $14 a pound!!!). It made perfect sense once G pointed out there is no space to raise cattle in most of Europe, but it caught me by surprise. Pork is the cheapest meat, followed by chicken. So I'll be adjusting a number of recipes.

It turned out to be a very good thing I got a Visa D before leaving the states, it saved a whole lot of hassle. Instead of having to deal with residency cards that are only good for a couple months at a time, I will immediately get my 5 year card. I got the temporary card on Friday, and as soon as the police come to the house to make sure I live here, I will be issued my permanent resident card which is good for 5 years. Unfortunately, there is one policeman for all of the foreigners living in several cities, so it can take a few weeks for that to happen, and I do not qualify for health insurance until I have that resident ID number. The woman at city hall was pregnant to, so she put a note on my file to let the policeman know it was urgent for me to get healthcare because of the baby, and she told us to come and see her if he still has not come after 2 weeks. She also printed out the contact information and bio of her obstetrician for me, which was a lifesaver. We plan to call tomorrow and get me set up with her. Even if I won't have insurance right away, I need a doctor to call if I have a problem.

Everyone has been very friendly to me so far, and most seem to enjoy the chance to practice their English. I am learning a few new words here and there, but I am too shy to use any of my Dutch in front of anyone but G so far. About all I say to strangers is "dank u" (thank you). I definitely need to start trying harder, and plan to work on it on my own some of the nights this week while G is at work. Its hard to escape the feeling that I am speaking in pig Latin or some other childhood made up language, I feel like I am making up words and nobody will possibly understand me. It could be worse, at least I don't have a heavy accent of my own to overcome.

Miss Luna Bean is doing well, I think, as she continues to wiggle and kick with gleeful abandon. She was awake for a good part of the trip here, I think the vibrations on the plane were disturbing her. G has gotten to feel her kick several times, but has yet to observe my belly bouncing like it does sometimes. He likes to talk to my belly so she is getting to know her Daddy's voice. He seems to think I am SMALL for 7 months pregnant and even expressed concern that the baby would be small because of it. LOL All I can say is no wonder I married him! :P The extra weight has made walking to town a lot harder than it should be, but I am proud to say that I have survived two shopping trips with only mild discomfort. Its not nearly as hard as I had feared, which is a relief, because I'd go nuts stuck in the house until the baby comes. As long as I take it slow and rest frequently and don't stay out too long, I am fine. G seems to think I am superwoman for doing what little I can do, so the encouragement definitely helps. Wonder how he'll feel in a few more days when he has to help me put my shoes on all the time!? :)

Tick tock tick tock

One day. Tomorrow morning I will climb into the car and begin the trip to the airport. I still have a bunch of things to do to get ready. I am so nervous. I don't know if I slept at all last night, I was awake at 1 to pee and ended up tossing and turning until I finally turned on the light and read until 3. I fell back asleep, but was awake again at one with reflux and a sick stomach and unhappy bowels. Anxiety, I know. Finally got back to sleep, but for the rest of the night I was slipping in and out of sleep.

Today is all about the last minute To-Do list and the dreaded goodbyes. I had to say good bye to my Aunt Mel yesterday, that was rough. Tonight I will have dinner with Grammy Neal one last time, that is going to be a very rough goodbye. I sort of wish I could fast forward through the next 48 hours, but I know I would regret those missed goodbyes.

Tomorrow morning I have to be up early, not that I expect to sleep at all to begin with. The shipping company is coming, supposedly by 8 AM, and they are supposed to be out of here by 10 AM. My mom should be back from class by then, and we'll load up and head to Augusta to meet Dad and Roxanne. They will be driving me to Boston. The weather may be a bit dicey - sounds like we'll have just enough snow to make the trip to Boston nasty but not enough to interrupt the flight (I hope). I need to be at the airport around 3:30, my flight leaves at 6:30. Those three hours of waiting will suck, I expect I will be an emotional mess by then, not to mention very overtired. My first flight is to Madrid, where I have a brief layover before the flight to Brussels. If all goes as planned, I will be arriving in Belgium around 11:15 AM on Thursday. G seems to have things ready for me, and he was able to get a few days off following my arrival, so he won't have to go back to work until Monday.

I better get to work, there is so much left to do!

The Adventure Begins

Hello, I'm Heather. I am newly married, 7 months pregnant, and in 8 days I am moving to Belgium to finally be with my husband.

I met G in Second Life last October. I was unhappily married at the time, and in fact left my then husband right around the same time. We talked almost daily, and in February 2009, we met face to face for the first time. He flew from Belgium to spend 9 days with me in Boston. Real life turned out to be even better than Second Life. I visited him in Belgium in June, and he visited me in Maine in July. Everything was going really well, and we were starting to talk about one or the other of us moving so we could be together.

And then the pregnancy test came back positive. Since that day in early August, our lives have been on fast forward. We are thrilled about the baby, but she was definitely unexpected. The last 7 months have passed in a blur as we have rushed to get our lives together in time to welcome our daughter to the world. We were married in October on Halloween. G found a new house for us to rent and has been working to get it ready for us. I've been working to get things tied up here and to prepare for the biggest move I have ever made.

The clock is ticking down. In 8 days, I will board a plane and will wake up the next day in a new country, ready to start my new life.

Let the adventure begin!