Alright
so I am supposed to writing in a journal or something, and I was going to do
that I promise... except that I don't have a journal. So I figured a
blog is the next best thing! So I guess I’ll start from July.
My
wonderful Great-Grandma Louise passed away this July which started off my
adventures a little earlier than expected. We live in Rexburg, Idaho because
Nathan is going to school there. We were planning on traveling home mid-July so
that I could go to fiddle camp but that just got bumped up a week or so. Nathan
didn’t finish school until the end of July so we were apart for a while
(waaaaay too long). The service for Great-Grandma was beautiful, I was able to
play my fiddle. I got to see a lot of family which was nice. I spent that next
week just relaxing and spending time with family. Then came fiddle camp.
Fiddle
camp was different this year because it was in Moses Lake rather than Kittitas,
WA. It was nice except for the blazing heat. My cousin came to camp with me and
Grandma this year which was great, I am all for promoting Old-Time music to the
next generation! Camp was great, I learned some awesome pieces, saw some
friends, and played lots of music. Also (as every year) my resolve to play all
the time and perfect songs got stronger. My teacher Katrina told us that this
would be her last year teaching which made everyone very sad because she’s
amazing. But then camp ended and craziness ensued.
My
grandmother and I planned a trip to the Oregon coast after fiddle camp. That
trip included 3 female cousins. 1 car. That’s 5 females and all their crap in 1
car. It was awesome (most of the time). We went to the coast, got in the ocean,
saw all kinds of creatures, saw some family, had some frustrations, and I feel
like technically some laughs. ;) Oh and we were camping the whole time so that
was interesting too. And then we drove home (finally).
After
that adventure I spent almost a week waiting for my husband to join me. I spent
some good time with my grandma and the rest of my family. Then Nathan got there
and I went to work. At Plato’s Closet, again. I really don’t know why I did it…
oh yeah it’s because we have no money! It was fine… I just feel sooo done with
retail. Seriously that is all I’ve ever done and to be honest I don’t even like
it anymore. I mean yeah I like clothes and I like getting them for good prices
but I just think I’m done with that. And I don’t really know what to try next
as far as a job goes, so if any of you have any good ideas PLEASE let me know!
Anyway, yeah so I worked 5 days a week and we house hopped between families.
Nathan bought a new suit. Oh and we went camping with his family at the St.
Joe. Camping is always fun with the Blacks! I ate spam for the first time! It
was great! Then we got ready for our road trip!
So
we started early September 1st from Coeur D’ Alene, Idaho. Our first
day was the longest. We made it all the way to Jamestown, North Dakota (home of
the world’s largest buffalo statue).We were going to stay at a campground but
then we realized that it cost money so we ended up just sleeping in the car in
a wal-mart parking lot. J The driving was not as bad as I thought
it would be! The second day we drove to Minneapolis, home of American’s largest
mall. WHICH WAS AWESOME! We started early enough to be at the mall most of the
day. This thing was crazy! There is a theme park in the MIDDLE of the mall.
Like legit theme park, it had like 3 roller coasters, I wish we had more time
(and money) so we could have gone on rides. The mall itself was so great they
had almost everything you could image. Nathan got a tie, I got a dress, and we
spent like $9. After that, we drove another hour or two to a campground. The
next day we drove to Chicago, now that was an experience! As we drove closer to
the city we could see the buildings on the horizon just rise from ground, it
just got more and more incredible the closer we got. Then we got into the city.
Now mind you, I have never been in a big city like this, the closest thing I’ve
seen to Chicago is Salt Lake City. The buildings were gigantic and amazing. The
driving was terrifying! I seriously
thought I could die that day. The parking was crazy, and scary. The people were
scary. The Navy pier was cool, we saw the stained glass museum, the hot dogs
were phenomenal at Chub A Dub Flub. Then we left cause it was stressful just
being in that city! I was so relieved as we left, even though everything there
was incredible. We drove for an hour or two to a hotel… apparently this hotel
had just opened the day before we got there! So I was expecting kind of nice,
new things….no. It was a pretty old hotel that had be RE-opened. Let’s just
say, there was an iron burn in the carpet… yeah. Then it was our last day and
long stretch to DC! Little did we know there would be a million TOLL roads! We
did not budget for that! But we did get to see gravity hill! That was cool!
Then we finally made it to Nathan’s cousin’s house!
They
were the best hosts ever! We had our own room and a nice air mattress. They fed
us! We spent a week there near DC, we got to ride the metro, see some museums,
some monuments, the white house, all the cool things basically. It was SO
HUMID! I seriously don’t think that I have sweat that much ever before. But we
got to go the the DC temple (which is actually in Maryland) and it was so
beautiful! I was so glad we could do that! Then our Belgium adventure began!
We
left the airport at about 11:30 PM on Sept 10th. It was cool because
every seat had a screen where you could watch movies (I watched like 5) they
even gave us little tooth brushes! It was a very long flight though. They made
us keep our window covers down so people could sleep… We got to Turkey at about
4 PM Turkish time. The airport was amazing, a whole shopping mall, a food
court, a hotel INSIDE the airport! But 15 hours of a layover is kind of a lot…
we tried to sleep on the seats but it was difficult, for me at least, Nathan
can still pretty much sleep anywhere. But we finally got on our last plane and
made our way to Belgium! I just watched movies again the whole time.
We
got to Brussels at about noon their time. We were so excited to be there! As soon
as we left the airport and got outside the first thing I noticed was that
everyone smokes! After a little trial and error we found out which bus to take
to get us closest to our flat. Figured out how to pay for it. Not having
service on our phone was tricky. We got to the bus stop and figured out where
to go from a picture of a map on Nathan’s phone. As we walked to our place we
just saw the city’s neighborhood. There are a lot of pharmacies, convenience
stores, and all the building are the same thing, there is just a long stretch
of buildings that are all connected, there’s one door and like 5 doorbells then
they unlock the door for you. Anyway, we were so relieved when we saw the door
to our place! We buzzed our flat and the landlord let us in and met with us.
His French accent was so thick it was hard to understand him. But he was nice
and showed us around our tiny little place. Our bed is the couch. We have no
oven. Our fridge is mini. Our bathroom is as big as our living/bed room. There is
no shower curtain. A clothes washer but no dryer. But it’s nice! We have a
TV!... Jet lag wasn’t very nice though! We would go to bed and not be able to
sleep for hours! Then when we did sleep we slept in until like 3 PM! But we
finally got over it
So
we have explored the Grand Place (pronounced: grawnd plaz) a couple times and
it is seriously so beautiful! The architecture is phenomenal and everything is
amazing. Oh and the sidewalks are all like brick… and I trip over it all the
time! We’ve been to a few grocery stores, still trying to figure out the best
one, there’s nothing here like wal-mart, everything is smaller. Oh and I am SO
glad that we don’t have a car here! The driving is crazy! There’s no yellow
lines on the roads! I would get so confused! We went to church on the first
Sunday but we didn’t know how to get there so we just walked…. For like 2
hours, it was 4 miles. Then right before we got there an African lady picked us
up and takes us the rest of the way, luckily she spoke English! And when we got
to church she told us where to go and helped us, she was so nice!!! So they
translate all of church in French and English and there is a Spanish relief society.
It was so great and everyone was SO friendly! It was awesome! A little too
friendly though because we got roped into teaching Sunday school for the next
two weeks! There were so many missionaries too! A pair of senior missionaries offered
us a ride home and we ended up going to their place for dinner! They are so
cute! The sister gave us a map and told us the best waffle places, the best
grocery store, the cool fountains, and basically everything! It was amazing! So
that was basically the first week
Nathan
started his internship and he is doing really well and he is loving it! He is really
interested in what he is doing which is great! He really likes the guys he
works with! From what I understand he is compiling a list of religious
prisoners throughout the world and this list is going to be published into
their annual report that goes to the EU and helps them make human rights
policies. It’s way cool! Me on the other hand, I’m pretty much a bum. I don’t
do anything all day really. I have started working out! I clean sometimes… I usually
don’t go outside. I probably will at some point, when I get more comfortable! I’ve
been reading up on some things, playing games, and… that’s about it, but I’ll
get more productive!
So
that’s it so far! If I missed anything I’ll edit this or something. It’s been 2
½ weeks so far and honestly I miss the states. It’s just more comfortable for
me ya know. I am loving it here though, I am soaking in all the culture and
having an awesome adventure, but I gotta say I will be very happy when we land
in DC and are home for Christmas!