a saturdays exploration

saturday morning we headed out to the market at stockel. it was a rainy fall day. the leaves were falling and changing colors. the flowers were so beautiful and they even had pumpkins there! they also have the very best waffles there...and I can't stop thinking about going again next week to get some more.

we were very excited when we saw this FroYo sign because it reminded us of back home. FroYo is our most favorite frozen yogurt shop.

the old bourse (stock exchange) in brussels
cutest chocolate shop
loved this park. in back of me you can barely see a church. it's the 5th largest in europe

the interns

friday night we had a fun dinner we all of the interns. after we walked to the grand place to see it at night. the other interns are so much fun and hopefully we are all planning to go on a few trips together while we are here.
welcome to walking the streets of brussels...it's usually accompanied by rain

and this is us on the metro

and this is why i love this city

discovered handbag heaven today

i got an email from max stating that i urgently needed to bundle up and head out to the town square ( a few blocks away from our house) because there was a market...with lots of bags

so i quickly threw on some warm clothes and headed out.....to literally handbag heaven...i about died...especially when i found out they were all under 20 euros!!!! it only took about 45 minutes to decided which one i wanted...but i got one...the bad part is it's for my birthday so i have to wait.

also at the market they had lots of clothes. hair accessories, jewelry, food and just everything. i spent about 2 hours there and just loved it...i love seeing the things that makes brussels so different...i love seeing the different people...i love looking at the different pasteries...i love seeing the different candies and cookies they have...i love exploring the shops here and just looking at the different things they have. i LOVE this city.

we haven't really gone out exploring lately because it's been raining (last night the streets literally had turned to lakes...we had to go to the church for a missionary discussion and came with wet clothes and very ruined shoes...) anyways today was finally sunny so we decided to take a walk before institute and discovered this beautiful view of the city......

{click on the pictures so you can see more details...it is so beautiful...i love looking out and seeing the red roofs...the cathedral spires...it's beautiful..}

the internship

husband officially started his internship today! he looked so dashing in his work clothes...but he wouldn't let me take his picture!

he is already really enjoying it. the people he works with are really nice and good to work with. he works for the U.S. government and on embassy grounds. they have a store downstairs with american food, which is awesome for when we get homesick.

he has already become the excel how-to guy. his co-worker will yell his name across the office for help printing excel documents.

yesterday in front of his work there was a huge protest demonstration of dairy farmers protesting milk prices. they had traffic backed up so bad, and Belgian drivers are the most impatient people ever, so you can imagine the chaos. the demonstration was filled with tractors and even a lone cow, that happened to get loose. they also were pouring gallons of milk all over the streets. max filled our milk jugs...saved us 3 euros....

click here for a link to the story

also yesterday we bought tickets for a world cup qualifying game this saturday..belgium vs. turkey...we are so excited!

the eu

max and i explored the european union the other day. the european union is like the united states of europe and the capital of the european union is in brussels.

this arch was built to celebrate the 50th anniversary of belgian independence. this and the park around it were commissioned by King Leopold II.

the belgian flag

picture from my favorite park
this is the european parliament building. its comparable to the capitol building in washington d.c.a random cottage in the middle of a park

the food of belgium

here literally all the eat: waffles and fries...

i thought they were just kidding when we were reading about belgium and they would talk about how popular the fries and waffles...but they so weren't

fries come with everything. every meal you order has fries. even a salad. we finally tried some the other day and they were pretty good. the thing that makes them good however are the many many sauces they have for fries. mayo and curry ketchup are really popular here.

waffles are the other big thing here. which they should be given that belgian waffles is such a familiar term...i had heard they were good...but now i know...they are FABULOUS...i am always craving them. crispy on the outside...but soft and warm in the middle...topped with powered sugar and strawberry syrup...oh my gosh...they are to die for. they also sell pre packaged waffles in the supermarkets that are actually quite good and quite inexpensive.

our flat

the outside of the flat. there are four other flats in the building. oh and thats only half of the building. thats our window
our living room
our kitchen with the fabulous huge window. my favorite part.
our kitchen that thankfully has a stove.
and our bedrooma view of our street. my sticking my hand out the window with the camera...hence the crookedness.

we really like it here a lot. there are lots of fun shops and restaurants around us. it's about 15 minutes to max's work. and we have the nicest landlady. we were really blessed to get this flat.