Adventures In Belgium.....

We are definitely having some interesting adventures here in Belgium. On Thursday evening after dinner we went for a family walk/scooter ride. Every time we mention going for a walk the girls start begging to ride their scooters instead of walking. So on this night, we said yes to the scooters. We went in a different direction than we have ever gone in before and walked quite a distance, perhaps 30-40 minutes from our apartment. Along the way we met some young American travelers from North Carolina and Up-State New York. We chatted with them for a bit and then started back home. Stig looked up to the sky and said, "we better get back before the rain comes". At that exact moment I felt the first rain drop! We started off and the drops began multiplying very quickly. As the sidewalk became wet, it was also getting slippery. Isabella was wearing her crocs that are old and have no more traction left, so she could no longer propel her self on her scooter. So, I picked it up and started walking hand in hand with her and then Adriana wiped out on her scooter because of the slippery sidewalk. Thankfully, she was not hurt and just got up and "scooted" off.

We were trying to stay next to the buildings to keep from getting too wet, but unfortunately, I am wider than the 1 inch dry patch that the buildings were offering! I had to hold Isabella's hand to keep her up right. We kept moving along as quickly as possible and the girls thought that riding their scooters in a rain storm was pretty neat stuff...mommy, not so much. We were still about 15 minutes from our apartment when the thunder and lightning started. I was getting a bit anxious now because Stig now had Isabella's METAL scooter on his back and Elena and Adriana were riding METAL scooters! I started praying for God's protection to get us all home safely. Prayers were answered and we made it back to our apartment, although quite wet, we were safe. Everyone had a hot shower or bath and got tucked into bed. What a walk.

The next day I decided to be brave and take the girls to their new school via the tram system. We wanted to go back to the school library to return some books and check out a bunch more for the summer. So we loaded one of our rolling duffel bags up with a lot of books and also included a blanket and some turkey salomi to have a picnic. First, we stopped at the store for a baguette of bread, blueberries, and tiny tomatoes. This was going to be a great lunch. (I also felt the urge to purchase some baby wipes so that we could clean our hands before eating.) We were ready for our picnic and headed off to the Tram stop across the street.

I knew that we needed to take the #94 tram and I also knew what direction we were to be going on that tram. So we stood and waited for the tram to arrive, going in the correct direction. Well, a tram for the opposite direction arrived, and we continued to wait. Yeah, here comes another Tram going in the direction that we need. Oh, no it is not stopping at our stop...why? Oh, it is stopping across the street! DUH! If it is going in that direction it will be on the track ACROSS the street! We started running with rolling duffel, other bags, water bottles, and a 4-1/2 y/o carrying Bitty Baby! The doors shut just as we made it to the other side. No problem we will just wait for the next one. So about 8-10 minutes later a tram arrived. We got on the VERY CROWDED tram with all of our things. Let me just say, NO ONE CARES THAT I HAVE THREE CHILDREN BY MYSELF. So, we are on and holding onto poles crunched up next to people we do not know. The tram stops and as people are getting off this lady behind Adriana makes a beeline for the empty seat. I thought her back pack was going to take Adriana's head off. The mother bear in me was about to come out, but I stayed quiet and held my tongue. Guess it wouldn't have mattered anyway since she probably wouldn't have understood me!

We continued on the tram being very careful to watch for our stop. When we reached our destination we got off of the tram and looked around and said, "now where do we go"? I had thought that it would be obvious which direction we should go in to find the school, but it was not. This city is constructed in a circular shape and the streets are like snakes going in every direction. I just tried to follow my instincts and headed off. I was soon to realize that this just did not "feel" right, so we turned up a side street. Again, not "feeling" right. We head back to the main street and walk back toward our tram stop. Now guess what? Isabella has to go potty! Perfect! We were headed in a direction of some stores and restaurants so I asked her to hold on while we sped up. Thankfully, this little Italian restaurant was willing to let me take her to the potty. When she was finished I asked them for help finding the school. Now, this is a very well known popular private school here in Brussels. They looked at me as if I had two heads, they did not understand a word I was saying. I am not sure if they were French, or possibly authentically Italian. I did have our tram map with the school circled so I showed them on the map what I wanted. They "pointed" me in the direction of the school. We were off again with bags and books in tow.

We walked until we found ourselves in an area that was sort of like a triangle with streets going in all directions. I had no idea which way to go. I decided to call Stig at work and ask him for help. Of course he needed to know where we were, and I could only locate one street sign. He said he would try to get his English speaking secretary to help him look at a map and would call me back.

As I was waiting for his return call, I noticed two park workers across the street and decided to ask them for help. Again, they did not seem to know what I was talking about. I got out the tram map, which by the way did not have streets labeled as it was merely a tram route map. Ah, yes, International School of Brussels, that is up there on the left toward the lakes. Oh, thank you, thank you. We headed in the direction that they showed us and were soon across the street from the school, just as Stig called us back. He was just as happy as we were that we had found it.

We walked up the big hill to the school. Now we had been wondering around for about an hour trying to find this school. We were all tired and hungry. We found a little patch of grass in the school parking lot and spread our blanket out and had lunch. We were so relieved to have a break and food. Our lunch looked so cute with the bread, salomi, tomotoes and blueberries. I wish I would have brought the camera. One of the librarians we had met earlier in the week came out to her car and said, "oh, you look so beautiful having your picnic here"! "I wish I had a camera to take your picture."

We finished our lunch (those wipes were a good idea) and went into the library. We checked out another pile of books. Isabella was able to participate in the 4 y/o class story time and every one was quite content!

Since we had some banking to take care of, Stig came to the school and picked us up. We did not have to walk back to the tram. I kept trying to talk the girls into the idea that this was a fun adventure. We should be proud of ourselves for finding the school. It was a tough sell, but I think in the end I won them over.