Whew! Finally in Valenciennes... awake at 3:56 am... But it's great to be here. And it won't be necessary to haul suitcases around for two more days!
Getting here was quite a thing. It was funny hauling giant suitcases through tiny french doors. It was awful parting ways with Sarah. I now know the heartache of watching two train doors hiss closed right in front of your nose. And then not open when you push the button. Repeatedly. This happened once this morning. But it ended up alright. Because I missed that train, I got to take the next one and sit by a lady with an adorable maltese puppy named kiko :)
It's cold here. 14,5 C to be exact. Maybe in the 50s? People don't mess around with cold here. They are all wearing down jackets already.
Antoinette (the teacher responsible for me) and her husband Phillippe came to collect me at the train station. They are so wonderfully kind! They captured my heart with friendly smiles and Leonidas chocolates. We had lunch at their house, and then left my bags at a place I can stay until Tuesday (some sort of housing for young people?). She sent me with some food to eat tomorrow (everything's closed here on Sunday), but only essential things (bread, milk, etc) because I'll be moving so soon. One essential thing? Two different kinds of cheese-- as if they couldn't fathom a day without cheese. One of them was unpastureized. As Phillippe said "This is not legal in the United States, but as you see...we are still living."
By the way, I just got to video chat with my family on skype. Fantastic!
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
Een blog maken | Hello Brussels
Nieuw bericht
Haha this site opened up in dutch! How grand. We're safely settled in a Brussels hotel room for the night. Our flights went off without a hitch. The only mildly troubling part of the day was waiting for the hotel to pick us up (this involved standing outside with a sign made out of the back of our boarding pass in orange highlighter).
It was a tease flying through London and not getting to really go there. Not even for a passport stamp. Just long enough to almost miss our plane (they didn't announce it was boarding--a nice girl just asked us if we were going and told us to get in line). God's been watching out for us.
The most fun was this evening walking around the Grand Place with a video camera. Tonight we feasted on warm waffles covered in tiramisu ice cream. Pictures to follow.
Also, just so everyone knows, doe het zelf is "do it yourself" in dutch.
Haha this site opened up in dutch! How grand. We're safely settled in a Brussels hotel room for the night. Our flights went off without a hitch. The only mildly troubling part of the day was waiting for the hotel to pick us up (this involved standing outside with a sign made out of the back of our boarding pass in orange highlighter).
It was a tease flying through London and not getting to really go there. Not even for a passport stamp. Just long enough to almost miss our plane (they didn't announce it was boarding--a nice girl just asked us if we were going and told us to get in line). God's been watching out for us.
The most fun was this evening walking around the Grand Place with a video camera. Tonight we feasted on warm waffles covered in tiramisu ice cream. Pictures to follow.
Also, just so everyone knows, doe het zelf is "do it yourself" in dutch.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
It's TOMORROW
Hello dear readers!
There are no words for right now. So that makes this difficult to write. The great news is that logistics are falling smartly into place. You are reading this. Skype is up and running. The farewell tour lent a sense of completeness. I am now almost tired of barbeque, mexican food and fried chicken that is actually 'finger-lickin good' (things that don't exist in France). The hotel's picking us up from the Brussels airport. Antoinette Veron (the teacher 'responsible' for me) will collect me at the train station in Valenciennes on Saturday, then we get to eat lunch together and see the appartment and schools!
The sad side is missing all the fantasticness of home. Family. Friends. Church. Texas A&M. Hay bales. Cornbread. HEB. Monday Mornings. Really cheap cell phone minutes. When I get home, it will be time to paint. The other day my mom was thinking about how lots of paintings in museums were of everyday things. We think of them as unusual because we don't live in Europe or the 18th Century. To the artist, this stuff was just sitting around. It's funny how you start to savor every unique image of a place when you know you're about to leave. Maybe that's why people like to travel so much. It's a constant sense of alertness and discovery.
So praise the Lord, O my soul! The adventures is about to begin.
Please keep me updated on what's going on with you! I'll try to be faithful in replying and posting. If you download skype from http://www.skype.com/, you can talk to me for free. Look for me to be online Sunday afternoon (central time).
Much love,
Laura
My toothpaste is almost out so, I guess it's time to move.
Simultaneously, I also wish that waking up in the morning would bring another month at home.
There are no words for right now. So that makes this difficult to write. The great news is that logistics are falling smartly into place. You are reading this. Skype is up and running. The farewell tour lent a sense of completeness. I am now almost tired of barbeque, mexican food and fried chicken that is actually 'finger-lickin good' (things that don't exist in France). The hotel's picking us up from the Brussels airport. Antoinette Veron (the teacher 'responsible' for me) will collect me at the train station in Valenciennes on Saturday, then we get to eat lunch together and see the appartment and schools!
The sad side is missing all the fantasticness of home. Family. Friends. Church. Texas A&M. Hay bales. Cornbread. HEB. Monday Mornings. Really cheap cell phone minutes. When I get home, it will be time to paint. The other day my mom was thinking about how lots of paintings in museums were of everyday things. We think of them as unusual because we don't live in Europe or the 18th Century. To the artist, this stuff was just sitting around. It's funny how you start to savor every unique image of a place when you know you're about to leave. Maybe that's why people like to travel so much. It's a constant sense of alertness and discovery.
So praise the Lord, O my soul! The adventures is about to begin.
Please keep me updated on what's going on with you! I'll try to be faithful in replying and posting. If you download skype from http://www.skype.com/, you can talk to me for free. Look for me to be online Sunday afternoon (central time).
Much love,
Laura
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