Light it up

Tonight we took the kids to the Grand Place to see the Christmas light and music show. 

The buildings of the square are lit up to music and the place becomes magical. Add a hot chocolate or a vin chaud to make it just right. 

Oh Christmas Tree!

The tree is up! The kids worked hard to “build” the tree. 

The house is beginning to look festive.

Christmas kick off

This weekend marked the beginning of the Christmas season with the opening of the Christmas market in the Grand Place. In fact most Christmas markets across Europe opened this weekend.

We took the kids and some friends down to see the tree and have a hot chocolate. 

A really big tree and so many choices for hot chocolate! 

Bring on Christmas! 

Nations united

One weekend every year, all NATO nations and partner nations pull together to put on a bazaar. Nations sell goods from their homelands and serve food (and drink!) in their national cuisine. 

Being on the board this year gave me a behind the scenes experience (and access to pre-sales) 

It’s a favourite time of year and kicks off holiday season. More than shopping, it’s the ultimate cultural experience. 

We will remember them

This past month had been very busy. All of the regular school activities filled the schedule leading up to a special visit from grandpa. 

Today marked Remembrance Day (Armistice Day here). We attended a ceremony at Brussels cemetery, one of the many commonwealth war cemeteries nearby. 

In the weeks leading up to today we were privileged to visit two very important sites for the Canadian war effort. 

Essex Farm Cemetery is the place where John McCrae wrote the famous poem “In Flanders’ Fields”. There, Emily collected wild flowers to lay on the memorial while Calvin walked the rows of grave markers. This cemetery is the resting place of the youngest soldier killed in the war. 

And we also made the trip to the Vimy memorial. A stunning monument to the Canadian effort in the Great War. Solemn and noble. The preserved battlefield and underground tunnels spoke of the drawn out battle. No man’s land showed how close the two lines were. Today the fields are tended by sheep, so as not to explode any remaining munitions. 

Loo laughs

I’ve been meaning to post about this for a while. The toilet paper here is one of the things I love. It’s so bizarre and yet makes you smile. 

It’s getting hot in here

Yesterday I went to a glass workshop with a friend. Working with 1100 degree furnaces and shaping glass. So much fun. Can’t wait to see the final product when we go back to pick it up ... after cooling in the 500 degree fridge! 

Pumpkins away

We trekked our to the small town of Kasterlee for a unique event. 

Home made catapults and trebuchets launching pumpkins as far as they can. It was rainy and muddy and very much an experience. 

 We rescued a few pumpkins and then enjoyed a spontaneous thanksgiving dinner with friends 

So much to be thankful for! 

Fairytale village

A little over an hour from Brussels is a little German  town. Monschau. 

We toured around for the day with friends, exploring the quaint houses and random festival. 

Flute

Emily has decided that she wants to play flute. She seems to have a real passion for it, playing for everyone who will listen. She even thinks she hears flute in pop songs (Taylor Swift's Look What You Made me do - for example) 

One can only hope her enthusiasm continues. 

Pitch perfect

Today was try an instrument day at school. It's a chance for the kids to try the instruments and see if they want to learn anything. It was fun and very loud. 

 

    

In the end, Emily is very keen on flute. Cal liked the tuba but is committed to rugby. And Sam was disappointed to be too small for electric guitar. 

 

Hit the books

The kids have been back to school for nearly a week now. They started on Friday thanks to a standard school year that starts September 1, regardless of what day of the week that is.

 

The kids got new European style backpacks this year. Basically a file folder with straps! But hopefully this will reduce the crumpled up notes I find at the bottom of their bags. 

Everyone likes their teachers and new friends have been made. They are the veteran kids now and have been asked to buddy some of the new kids to help them adjust. 

Activities start soon and then we are full on into school year schedule. Calvin is joining rugby again, Emily is continuing in gymnastics and Sam is playing football (soccer) again this time with one of his new friends. 

The birth of cool

This weekend we took a day trip to Dinant, a bout an hour outside Brussels. 

 

While it is the site of several bloody battles through history, and an important battle site for Charles de Gaulle, it seems most proud of its title as birthplace of Alphonse Sax. Inventor of the saxophone. 

The kids had a good time finding saxophones and picking their favourites. 

 

 

Romanian roadtrip

We just got back from ten days driving around Romania. It was a true vacation. There were no tour buses to fight (mostly) and very little commercialism cramming tourist knick knacks in your face. The pace was slow. The scenery beautiful. The people friendly.

As luck would have it we hit both a heat wave and an extra long weekend for government employees. Everyone was getting out of Bucharest and into the mountains. Aside from traffic, this meant that we had the chance to vacation like the locals, with the locals. Towns were lively but not overly crowded. It felt like summer.

Bucharest was an interesting city. Beautiful old architecture, worn with age and interspersed with modern attracted (read exotic dance clubs). This was a bit of a shock at first but soon the beauty won out. From Belle Epoque restaurants to ancient churches, the city surprised.

The 36 degree was too much though and we were happy to hit the road to the mountains. Brasov was our first stop. Close to Bran castle, Peles castle and more we fell in love with the little town square and discovered a park near a natural spring nearby. It seems that this is where the locals go to roast garden vegetables and enjoy long social lunches. The kids frolicked in a waterfall and enjoyed the cool of the mountain forest. 

Our next and last stop was in Sibiu. Our airBNB host made this stop extra special. Cosmin showed the kids how to crack and eat green walnuts, let them play with his dog and play in the woodpile under the stars. The house was in a small ton called Sibiel and we came home to find cows tethered by the wells. 

One special find in Sibiu was the local salt lakes. These were pre-Roman salt mines, now abandoned and collapsed into salt lakes. The water was so salty it was impossible not to float! One lake had black mud that was supposed to be therapeutic. Whether or not that was true, it was fun getting dirty.