Dernier Weekend

Hello lovelies! It is my last weekend here in Belgium, and I am so excited to go back to the States! I’m so glad I did an exchange year in Belgium, but it’s time to go home, ya know? I of course have missed my family and friends this year, but not in a need to see them right now way. Sometimes this year I did cry, but it was more in a ahhh having a hard time, feeling out of place way and consequently I felt homesick, but I wasn’t really crying for my family. But the other day I thought about my mom and I started to cry thinking about her, even though I’ll be seeing her in only a few days! The closer I get to my arival date the more anxious I get to see my family, which I guess explains the tears. Phew. Emotions are complicated.

Yesterday started with some 30 Day Shredding. I’ve been seriously slacking in the strength training department. I’ve always been more into cardio, and I kind of got into a habit of thinking that the 30 Day Shred is only 25 minutes or so, what difference does it make? Well then I realized, 25 minutes is a heck of a lot better than no minutes, and can certainly do some good. So glad I welcomed that crazy mofo Jillian back into my life. Afterwards I was starving for my bowl of Swiss oats with the European version of Light and Fit vanilla gunk yogurt.

This bowl included medjool dates, chopped cashews, the most delicious cherries ever, and diced banana. And thanks for the bowl compliment Janetha! Host mama MC doesn’t have a lot of dingingware options, but you’ll see new bowls when I’m finally chez moi, and hopefully pimped out ones when i go to Anthro and Target!

I had a few more errands to run including, unfortunately, another trip to town hall because they forgot to give me some papers, which ended up costing a few euros. But I ain’t complaining, at least I don’t have to go to Atlanta! (though I would love to go one day, but not after flying from Europe after staying there for a year and I just want to go home and not wait at some consulate for papers for customs). Then I got some shoes repaired and dropped off some German books at school. I know, you’re all thrilled right now. But I did see these beauties during my travels:

I’m not a big fan of hydrangeas, but I just loved the rainbow of color here. Literally this house’s entire front yard is hydrangea haven.

I lunched on a huge jass salad and baguette:

I have to say, you can’t usually find carrots like that in your average American grocery store.

My salad included my new favorite dressing: creamy herb blended with 1/4 of an avocado:

My salad included shredded carrots, chopped tomatoes, chopped red pepper, cucumber, spinach, and the dreamy dressing. I topped my multi grain baguette with raw goat cheese.

Look ma! I ate almost all raw without meaning to!

Then I took the train for the last time (whoah bizarre) to Brussels, because July means les soldes! The major shopping sales in Belgium are only in January and July, so when its soldes time il faut en profiter, meaning grab your wallets, ladies!  My exchange student friend met me there and I dragged her she accompanied me to the stores of Rue Neuve (equivalent to Fifth Avenue). She only complained a little that I shopped for 3 hours and only bought one shirt, but in my defense it was cute and only 8 euros.

Shopping tires a girl out, so I snacked on the fruit I packed:

The famous Wépion strawberries with canteloupe. Then my friend dragged me I accompanied my friend to buy Belgian souvenirs for her family. We were both b!tching at each other like none other, but it was the fault of our tired feet (but at least well pedicured feet) and we’re basically sisters, so we know we still love each other. While searching we found these huge crazies:

A couple of beers gets me kind of tipsy already, I can only imagine the damage those would do!

We met up with another friend and they had Thai food while I kept them company. I had my own dinner plans, because a friend of my family’s works for NATO in Brussels and, as I’m interested in international affairs and political science and all that jazz, we meet up for day trips and dinners. He has lived one CRAZY life. He worked in the foreign service and basically lived and travelled everywhere, including Kenya, South Africa, Haiti, Kazakstan, Kosovo, Bosnia, Croatia, and so many other countries. I always hear new stories when we meet up. I didn’t photograph dinner but it was Moroccan and cooked in this:

a Tagine, which apparently moistens food. My dish was like a vegetable stew with couscous, very good though the appetizers disappointed me a bit with the dry pita bread. NATO man told me he admired my year in Belgium, and I thanked him, but later on during the meal he told me about the time he worked in Kosovo in the 90s and worked 120 hours a week for 10 months. He slept 4 hours or much less a night and worked basically non stop on organizing teams and crisis resolving. he survived on coffee and lots of cigarettes. When he came home to the States after his tour he slept for 4 days straight. And homeboy admires me!? Let’s just say he’s lived quite a life.

While looking for my friends NATO man and I found some Medieval reenactment going on in the Grand Place. I didn’t really get what was happening, but it was cool to watch.

Those were the best pictures my camera could manage, and trust me I tried my hardest for all you lovelies.

When I was six my family had an AFS exchange student from the Dutch speaking region of Belgium, Flanders. He now lives in Brussels and we reconnected before I came to Belgium. I spent the night at his apartment, as he lives near the Grand Place. I’ve been sleeping so intensely lately with crazy dreams, I think it’s because of the anticipation of going home soon. I gave host mama MC a blueberry plant for Mother’s day which suffered from some disease for a while (it’s better now!) and last night I dreamed that MC’s backyard was next to my house and the blueberry plant became all green and giant. My mom explained that she took care of it. The blueberries were as big as apples (too bad this isn’t real life here). I guess this symbolizes the fact that no one can fix a situation like your mama? When I woke up this morning I was surprised by how sore I was, then I remembered my session with Jillian yesterday? And that my friends, is why we do strength training. Lest I ever forget. Anyway, today my Flemish friend and I went to the Magritte museum.  I am a wannabe art buff and I was so excited to see this new museum, especially because I love Magritte. He is a Belgian artist and this museum has received a lot of hype recently. This is my favorite painting of his,

entitled Les Amants and this is one of his most well known works,

which is often referenced to. Unfortunately, the museum really disappointed me. The paintings didn’t have any explanations, which means you had to buy an audio guide if you wanted to understand the paintings better.  The collection didn’t include his best works, which I’ve seen at MOMA in New York. I can spend hours in an art museum and we were out of there in less than an hour. I’m glad I went though. Probably my favorite part of the museum was the exterior:

I remembered seeing an Ethiopian restaurant and my Flemish friend had never tried the cuisine so I said faut y aller (we must go). We took almost two hours walking around to find it, which was fine because it was a wonderful walk and we were starved when we did find it.  I also don’t have any photos of this meal, but try Ethiopian food, it’s very unique. It’s served on injera bread, made out of teff flour. It’s sort of like a crepe but with a sourdough, fermented taste. You eat with the injera by scooping the food and there are no utensils involved. Ethiopian food often includes lentils and lamb. Our meal included lentils, fish, stewed cabbage+carrots+potatoes, and spicy goat cheese+spinach salad.

I took some last photos of Brussels:

At the Grand Place.

Also a Grand Place pic.

The Bourse, the Belgian Wall Street. A very convenient meeting place by the Grand Place.

King Albert's humble abode! Brought to him by the wealth of the former Belgian colony, the Congo.

So strange to think this will be my last time in Brussels for a while!

My train ride home included some more coma like sleep, and host mama MC and I went to her parents’ house for some champagne. We also picked cherries and raspberries, and had some of her mom’s delicious vegetable soup. That and cherries will probably be my dinner, Ethiopian food is always a big feast for me and my tum is still enjoying all that injera goodness.

Tomorrow is my last day en Belgique. I can hardly believe it. This year feels like a long nap and I’m only now waking up.

Enjoy the fourth of July with your family and friends, I’ll definitely be thinking of mine! We usually spend the fourth at my mom’s best friend’s farm, with beautiful scenery, absolutely delicious food, and my dad’s attempt at fireworks. I’ll be there soon enough!

A toute à l’heure!

Maya