Good-Bye To Kleine Brogel

Well, this is it.  One last fond farewell to our lovely little base called Kleine Brogel.  We are really leaving Belgium.  I can't believe how fast the last three years have flown by.  We are so grateful for the opportunity to have been stationed here, and to live in such a warm and wonderful country.  I remember when we first got orders here, and I had to look Belgium up on the map to see exactly where it was.  (Geography is not my strong suit.)  One look and I was hooked.  Who wouldn't be excited to spend three years in the heart of Europe?  It feels like that was just yesterday.  And now it's all over.  I will miss the train trips, walking around the weekly markets in the Centrums of local towns, sharing cappuccinos, waffles and smiles with great friends.  I will miss the pottery and chocolate making classes with the ladies, where we might have talked a little more than we created.  I will miss traveling to amazing destinations that I'd only read and dreamed about in the past.  (Our trip to Ireland with the Smiths will be a memory I will cherish forever.) And there are so many more memories that I will hold in my heart.   Thank you to the wonderful ladies and gentlemen that we had the honor to be stationed with at KB.  You were our family while we were living such a long way from home.  And thank you to the friendly locals who tolerated our attempts at speaking Nederlands, and welcomed us into their country and community.  We will miss all of you.  Thank you to our friends and family who followed us along on this fantastic adventure by reading my silly little blog.  I still haven't decided if I will continue this tradition by starting one when we move to Florida.  I'll post a link on here if I do.  Good-bye lovely Belgium.  We loved being a part of your life, even if it was for such a short time.  Tot Ziens!

Busy Busy Busy

 I've been really horrible about posting lately, and I'm sorry about that.  But in my defense, things have been more than a little busy lately.  In the last week or so, we moved out of our lovely home and into an apartment/hotel in another town near by.  We've come full circle once again, because these are the apartments that we staying in when we first moved to Belgium, 3 very short years ago.  This is a difficult move for me, because as happy as I am to be going back to our friends and family in the states, I'm sad to be leaving the beautiful country of Belgium.  I know the odds of us ever getting to come back here are pretty slim (practically non-existent), so I'm trying to take in and enjoy every last minute that we are here. 

 So here is our last week in a nutshell.  We went to a nice little carnival in Peer.  It looks pretty empty here, but we walked around a lot when it first opened, and the crowds came later in the evening. 

 I paid one last visit to my favorite antique store, Slegers-Heise, with some friends and shared a few laughs.  I really do love this place.  You never know quite what you will find there.  I really wish I knew the history behind this grouping, don't you?  By the way, you'll be very proud to know that I didn't actually buy anything there!  (Of course, the fact that my household goods are shipped and they didn't have any new scales might have helped a bit on that one.) 

 I attended a couple of local weekly markets with friends as well.  I'm going to miss these so much.  It's so much fun to walk around, buy fresh produce and other interesting items, and then have lunch in a small cafe and chat. 

 One last trip to Achel Abbey with friends as well.  Heavy sigh.

 I have started organizing our belongings at the apartment in preparation for our flight out.  I'm sure the airlines won't have a problem with our 700 pounds of stuffed suitcases.  Maybe I need to organize a little more. 

And last, but not least, I've probably gained 10 pounds with all the eating out I've been doing with friends this week.  (There is a waffle buried under all that ice cream and fresh fruit.  The fruit makes it a healthy meal, you know.)  I'm going to add a Belgian waffle maker to my Christmas Wish List.  My booty won't thank me for that, but my heart will.  It will remind me of my time spent here, and that will make me smile.  It's so hard to say goodbye to the friends that I've made here at KB.  There are some really fantastic people stationed here, and they made our Belgian experience just that much better.  One step closer to home.

She Creaks, She Sighs...Our Belgian House Says Good-Bye

We are completely moved out of our Belgian house.  It's exciting, but it's also very very sad. This house was our home for the last three years.  It's hard to let her go.  I ran a couple of errands and automatically headed back to her.  I was almost there when I realized that it wasn't my home anymore.  She was a big part of our lives.  I spent a lot of time in this house.  Just me and my friendly ghost.  You know the one.  He turned on the GPS occasionally when I brought it inside, slammed a couple of windows in the attic, and made a few noises here and there to let me know I had company.   I rather enjoyed my ghost.  It was all part of our Belgian experience.  I have many happy memories that I will be taking with me when we leave here:  biking and walking along the canal, parades through the centrum, listening to the bells of our beautiful church chiming out the hours of the day, getting pralines and hand made ice cream at Leonidas, and shopping at the local grocery store and bakery.  Those are just a few of the highlights.  There are many more.  We were blessed to have lived here.  Thank you to our wonderful landlord and the kind neighbors on our street who treated us like part of their community.  We will miss you.