One month

We have been here for one month now and we are doing well - at least we think we are (no one has asked us to leave anyway).  We have had lots of interesting experiences, starting with a connection at Heathrow airport.  It has to be the most confusing airport in the world.  They should have someone help them redesign their signs. We felt lost and unsure until we were on the airplane.  The airport does not tell you which gate the plane will board at until twenty minutes before departure.  Then you scramble carrying your luggage for about a quarter of a mile.

When we arrived in Brussels Kyle was waiting for us with a driver to tote all of our remaining possessions to their apartment until we would find an apartment of our own.  We got everything up to the fourth floor with few problems and then we set off to explore our new city.  We purchased subway and bus tickets and then went exploring.  We saw grocery stores, banks, parks, and what passes for Home Depot (Brico).  The first Saturday we went to the public market in the city square of Stockel.  Elizabeth bought a primrose which is now out on our little balcony and still blooming beautifully.  The vegetables, flowers, meats, fruits and other wares created a beautiful spectacle.

All of the time that we were travelling around exploring the city, we were looking for apartments and taking pictures of signs advertising apartments for rent, as well as looking on the internet.  We narrowed the possiblities down to five farorites and on the second Sunday Kyle and Peyton helped us scout them out.  Then on Tuesday we went to see two of them.  The first one was owned by a very spry 83 year-old lady.  It was pretty much everything we were looking for.  It is completley furnished with utilities included in the rent.  We only have to pay for telephone and internet separately.  There is no laundry though; we go to a nearby laundromat once a week.  We came back the next day and signed the lease and paid the first month's rent as well as a month as a security deposit.  We moved in later the same day.  The other apartment we saw was unfurnished and generally didn't interest us much in person.

Our next major task was to find language schools.  We chose different schools, both downtown near the US embassy and by the European Parliament.  I am in my second week of classes and Elizabeth is in her third.

We have been going to French-speaking churches each week.  We can understand 0 - 50 % of the message if we have the scripture passage.  We have met two influential Belgian church leaders and have had meetings with them.  One of them introduced me and Kyle to a long-time friend of his who he has been trying to influence for Christ.  Kyle and I have begun meeting with this man separately for an hour each week for conversational help with the French language.

A week ago Sunday we made a little letter with our picture, telling a little about ourselves.  We put a copy in each of the mailboxes in our building.  There are about 12 apartments.  The next day, one of our neighbors rang our buzzer and invited us for snacks the following evening.  We had a great time visiting with this older couple who spoke very little English.  Today we met two more neighbors in the foyer.  One of them told us we had made a big mistake.  When we went back and looked at what we had written we realized she was right.  We forgot to include our name on the letter.  Oops!  She said there had been some other recent additions to the building and she didn't know who we were so that she could invite us.

I have also had an appointment with a gastroenterologist, and went last Friday for the Remicade infusion treatment I get every other month for Crohn's disease.  I will post more about this later.