Random Musings

So it's been over two weeks here in Belgium and Jess, the boys, and I have experienced so much already. Some of it is absolutely amazing, and some of it just makes us scratch our heads. 




Amazing: First and foremost, the history. It's all around us. The country is dripping with it. We live about 40 minutes from Waterloo, site of Napoleon's defeat to Britain's Duke of Wellington, Prussia, and Austria. And more interestingly, and right around the corner from my house, both the first and last shots of WWI were fired. On 22 Aug 1914 the Royal Irish Dragoon Guards happened upon a German scouting party. This skirmish preceded the Battle of Mons (the main city we live near) by 24 hours and was thus the first battle in the War. Ironically, on 11 November 1918, a Canadian Battalion was involved in the last action of the war within meters of the place where the first shots of the war had taken place in Casteau. There are two plaques on the Rue de Grande (the main road outside my place of employment) marking the place of the first and last shots of the first World War. Also, the Battle of the Bulge, which took place at the end of WWII was fought in the Ardennes, just southeast of us.



The Beer: There is not much else one can say about the beer here. They are all so good, and there are so many to choose from. Our favorites thus far are ChimayRouge (red), Leffe(brown or blonde),Grimbergen(brown), and Duvel. The only problem with these and pretty much all the beers is the alcohol content. For the first time ever today, I found myself shopping not by name or type of beer, but by alcohol percentage. Thankfully my favorite beer, Leffe Blonde, weighs in low at just over 8%, whereas Grimbergen comes in at over 10%.



Things that make us scratch our heads: As much as we remind ourselves to appreciate the differences in people and cultures, there are some things which don't completely make sense to us. Most Europeans do not have closets in their houses. I'm still trying to get a satisfactory answer to why this is the case, but have yet to stumble upon a reasonable answer. Our house is only three year old and yet it does not have closets. So we have five wardrobes, which are now at full capacity. Needless to say, we will be making a stop at Ikeain the next few weeks for a couple new wardrobes.



No Screens: We have awesome windows in the house. They are thick and energy efficient and the either tilt in or swing open all the way, and even have electronic roll-down shutters on the main level. Very nice. But they are not replete with screens. So when we want to enjoy a nice Belgian evening, we let in flies. Being in the country with cows nearby, there can be quite a few of them. In a few weeks when it starts to cool off I am told they diminish quite a bit.



No Air conditioning: We knew that going in. Not many Europeans have AC as most of the northern part of the continent is so far norththat their summers don't warrant the expenditure. However, it has been quite warm ever since we got here. My work is especially warm, but it's not a big deal.



Ohh, and we found a very easy way to translate temperatures from Celsiusto Fahrenheit. Double the Celsiusand then add thirty. So it has been quite warm lately and Sunday is supposed to hit 30 degrees Celsius. Double it and you get sixty and then add thirty and it is approximately 90 degrees Fahrenheit. This doesn’texactly work when you get higher, so for the purposes of the oven and cooking that formulate goes out the window. Thankfully we have a handy dandy cheat sheet near the oven giving us the conversion between degrees in Fahrenheitand Celsius.