Victory

Two days after I posted my plea for help I found these little guys in in a trap.

Sadly there were two of them which I can only assume meant a family somewhere.

It has been a week now and none of my traps have caught any more mice so I am closing this case.

In other news, it has been a while since I have talked about Stella and her French preschool.  For a while I thought that what everyone had said about kids picking up language quickly was a lie.  I heard stories of kids talking after seven weeks.  Stella wasn't.

Truthfully Stella rarely talks at school as far as I can tell.  However, she is coming home and saying complete sentences.  She is learning slang French which makes it that much weirder to me and also lets me know she is really learning it.  She really likes her school now, although she is quiet in the class and doesn't have any special BFF, she does enjoy going to school and was sad when I didn't take her all day yesterday.

So my assessment of this experience half way through it is they do pick it up, it isn't easy, and every kid is different in how shy or outgoing they are in practicing the language.  So before you throw your kid in a new language school each year remember that it does stress the kid out and it is a lonely experience for a few months so think long and hard about it before you take the plunge.

In other news I started going to the gym again and Tiger has been going to the Army gym daycare.  His first day there he discovered they have a little sink just his size.  When the teacher wasn't looking he went into the sink area and made a water slide with his arm from one sink to the next.  He was completely soaked and since it is January he wasn't allowed to go outside with his jeans, socks, and shirt completely soaked; instead, for recess, he had to clean up his mess.  That's my kid.

Mort à la Souris

This past weekend is what I consider a golden holiday.  A holiday that we as American celebrate, thank you Dr. King, but Europe is clueless to.  This means that everyone is at work, school, or doing normal everyday things while we are on VACATION.

So we took advantage of that and went to Park Molenheide.  Park Molenheide is sort of a soft-camping (cabin) indoor waterpark and playground children's paradise.  It is really close to Holland and in the woods but really only about 45 minutes from our house.

We got there at 10, played in the pool and waterslides for two hours with some other Americans.  Then we got some lunch that was overpriced and slow but, you know, I am getting used to this pace, and even liking it.  Once the kids ate up they played for another two hours in what could only be described as child paradise.  Philippine friends think 12 Active Funs, American friends think 20 Chucky Cheese and 12 Little gyms wrapped up with so many giant climbing structures that you can't climb them all.  It was paradise, and we were the only people there.

Awesome.

I came home buzzing.  I have sort of had a happy buzz since Christmas.  Things have been great, so great I was nervous something was going to kill my buzz and it did.

I went into the garage to let the kids jump on their bounce house, yes folks, the bounce house still lives in Brussels.  Anyhow, as I moved it I found mouse poop.  RODENT POOP.

Bigger problem: my food storage is mostly in the garage.

Now, as of yet I do not see any mouse evidence that they have gotten to my food storage.  It is on shelves up high.  However, these little buggers are smart and it is only time before this mouse or one its progeny figures out how to climb my food storage shelves.

I did what any reasonable trailing spouse would do.  I gave my husband a very loud and clear message to get the work order into the embassy STAT.  Which he dutifully did and received a response in less than 10 minutes with a message that it is my problem.

In my mind the message went as follows:

Ha, ha, you have a mouse.  And you have to deal with it ALL. BY. YOURSELF.  Welcome to Europe $!^#*, BWAHAHA.

The reality is it was an auto-sender email.  We are going to petition the real people and find out if they really mean it.  But until I get a human who comes to my home with traps I am an unhappy camper.

Of course this is not welcomed news.  Just as I was ill-equipped to deal with a calcified spigot, I am even more ill-equipped to deal with a rodent problem.  Maybe I don't give myself enough credit but I don't want that credit.  I don't like killing mice, spiders, or other vermin.

 A mouse is a pest that causes a lot of destruction.  They eat through things, they eat walls, and they proliferate.  It frustrates me beyond all belief that they think they are saving $10 for a few traps when they might really be causing thousands of dollars in damage by not taking care of it.

Boo.  And it was such a good start to the week.

Ne Souriez Pas

Vacation is over.  School is back in session.  Life is returning to a schedule.  It feels good.

Brussels is easily becoming one of my favorite places I have lived.  It is just beautiful, and I am writing this in January, when the days never become true days, just varying shades of darkness.  In spite of this, it is just beautiful.  The parks are never ending and exciting to explore.  I am getting used to the way of things and I like it.  

The other day I was in the park near our house and I saw a woman with blonde hair.  She had a child and they were swinging together.  Before I heard any word out of her mouth I knew she was American.  I knew because she had a huge smile.  The fact is more than footwear or clothing style the bigest tell-all for Americans is their smile.  Belgians are far more reserved about smiling to strangers, making small talk, and really being open.  When I first came here I thought everyone was mad because no one smiled. Now I get it and try to expose my grins sparingly.  I get the impression they think I am a big faker because I smile.  Little do they know I just like to crack jokes often, and perhaps I smile when I get nervous.  Not that being in a foreign country and not speaking any of the two local language would make a girl ever nervous.

Either way, it doesn't matter terribly because the locals are shy when it comes to strangers.  If you want to get to know the Belgians you have to actively pursue them because they keep to their selves.  My goal before leaving post is to break this barrier with at least one family.

Dream big.

Christmas, Sethmas, New Years Au Revoir 2011

This past Christmas was about as perfect as they get.  We were cozy in our home, our home that we are now settled into.  Our four and two year old still believe in Santa and they were working it as best as they could to get on his nice list.  Yet, they aren't old enough to wake up before 7 to open gifts.  We got up around 7:30 (forced them to get church clothes on BEFORE gifts because we knew there was going to be some serious separation anxiety when leaving the new toys to go to church), opened gifts, ate breakfast and have just enjoyed Christmas.

Stella got a doll for Christmas.  Love.

Gifts were exchanged.  It was too early to skype with grandparents or American relatives so it was just us and as I was there with my little family a thought occured to me, "this is my family."  Of course my parents and siblings are still family but MY family is my little family of four.  It was a nice day.  The kids didn't even fight us about having to leave their toys and go to church.  It was so nice.

Sunny in Paris 2011

After Christmas Seth and I decided to take a trip to Paris without the kids.

Merry Sethmas

I love my children (see paragraph 2) but Paris is 10,000x better without them.  I was relaxed and not giving someone water or crackers or yelling at them to not run away or to walk faster or to whatever.  It was Seth and me, the beginning of this family adventure, and it was nice.  It was the most gorgeous day, no wind, lots of sun.  We walked a lot, talked a lot, shopped.  Pretty much perfect.  Then we took the train home and were back in time to put the kiddies to bed.

Then we had New Years.  Off with the old on with the new.

We saw the creepy toy museum of Mechlen

Seth has taken some time off and we have just been doing family things, seeing Brussels, and loving it.  I am so grateful for everything in my life and all I have been given and excited to see what 2012 brings.

Puddles in January (or any month really)