2 Pizzas for the price of one...best weekend ever

This weekend we had some of the most beautiful weather since I have been here, it was almost 70 degrees and sunny everyday, which makes a huge difference compared to the usual rainy and cloudy forecast.

Saturday morning I went in to the city around noon and was able to walk around the farmers market for a while and enjoy all the fresh produce and beautiful flowers.  After buying some strawberries and baby artichokes (for Eleanor) I decided to do some exploring and try to find some parts of the city I had never been to.  So I walked around for about an hour and found some really pretty old buildings as well as a really nice canal that mad me feel like I was in venice for a about a minute.  I ended up on a park bench where I indulged in some strawberries and Harry Potter four.  After some time with Harry I was walking back to the bus when I decided to stop for lunch at a little Italian to-go ish cafe and I asked for a margherita pizza and the guy told me he would reduce the price if I got the two he had left and he was like "ah one pizza is 4 euro 50 but i give you two pizzas for 4 euro 50" I was like "Yes please!" And then I ate my two pizzas for the price of one while I waited for my bus...i love this place

After some time in the city I went home to meet the family and then we headed off to Stiensel- for an apple picking festival.  The orchard was so beautiful and they had some tents set up with different apple treats.  We picked two big crates full of apples as well as some delicious black berries and got to enjoy fresh apple juice and apple donuts.  Once we were all appled out we headed home for steak, baby artichokes, and potatoes.  After dinner I went to the cinema with Rachel and two friends-Mark and Manu where we saw Wall-E which I really enjoyed and would reccommend to all. Not only was it enjoyable in the Disney sense but also a witty commentary on our generation that really makes you think.  

Yesterday, I started off the day with a really good church service then went to lunch with some friends after church, to a really cute Italian restaurant right in the city center.  After lunch I ended up going ice skating with some friends which was so fun and I actually surprised myself with my mad ice skating skills, I think I am going to try to go more so I can be doing double axels when I come home at Christmas.  After ice skating we got some Subway (pretty popular here in Lux) and went over to another friends apartment where we ended up watching a movie and just hanging out.  So it was a great weekend overall and I am really enjoying making new friends and getting to know all the people I have met so far.  I feel so lucky that I was introduced to such good people because it makes the whole being so far from home thing a lot easier.

ps- It was brought to my attention recently that about 90% of this blog has revolved around food, and it was suggested that I title my blog "eating you way through Europe"...I just cant help it..i like to eat and if you don't want to hear about it, i'm sorry

The Farmers market in the city center that happens every 

Saturday and Wednesday

They have so many beautiful flowers

A picturesque canal that I stumbled upon during my walk on Saturday

Nathan and Colton testing the first apples

Lovely view at the apple orchard

So many apples so little time

Delicious freshly picked blackberries

A butterfly I found while picking berries

The extremely compilicated process of making fresh applejuice...basically they just throw a bunch of apples in this big crate, press them down, and out comes a sweet nectar of the gods

Some peeps at the apple festival

Incredible apple donuts

Colton enjoying some scrumptious apple treats

A view from my new favorite spot in the city

Another view, I frequently sit on these benches to enjoy a little 

Harry Potter and European pastry, plus the view isn't too bad

Some friendly Luxembourgish goats

So stinking cute!

me and a MASSIVE dog that we met at the kayaking place

what a face

yeah, huge!

This is the river that we canoed on and a bridge between Luxembourg and Germany

exploring lux

this is a pic I took while exploring some of the hiking trails by my house.
A really pretty chateau I saw on one of my walks
Cute house with a cute cat
Artistic window 
Historic window

I am joining a women's club...my life is so funny

I cant believe that I have almost been here for a whole month, time is flying!

The past couple of days have been really good.  Friday night I went over to Elizabeth's apartment and we made pizza together (my favorite!) and then watched pop star (the german version of American Idol...hilarious!).  Then Saturday I actually spent the whole day kayaking with the youth group from the church that I have been going to.  We kayaked down the most beautiful river that was right between France and Germany, I wish I had pictures but I didn't want to get my camera wet.  Anyways, it was great to get to know the kids and to be able to do something fun and outdoorsy here in Lux. I think I am going to go camping with them in a few weeks which should be really fun!

Then Saturday night, I had the boys while Eleanor went to a concert so I made a scrumptious dinner of fish sticks, corn, and mac and cheese then we watched Shrek 2- soooo good!  Sunday morning I went to Church and then over to Elizabeth's with some friends for brunch and a rousing game of catchphrase.  Then we had a very sporty day which included going to see a soccer game and two basketball games because Elizabeth and two of her good friends all play on Luxembourg national teams so we got to watch them all and it was a lot of fun. 

Something funny in my life is that I am going to sign up to join the American Women's Club, i know it sounds like a lot of old ladies sitting around playing bridge (which is partly true because they do have a bridge club) but they have a ton of activities during the day (like a cooking club and a hiking club on fridays, which i am really excited about) that will keep me busy. Okay, that's it for now, kisses from Luxembourg!

I had a request for more pictures with me in them so this is a picture of Rachel and I on one of our first days exploring the city.  

ps-note my new very European scarf 

(which goes quite nicely with my new purple coat)

Everyone needs a purple coat

Greetings from the chilly city of Luxembourg where it is presently about 8 degreed celsius (I dont know what that is in farenheit but who cares because it is darn cold) and I desperately miss the hot sun of Chicago.  But besides the wheather things here are quite pleasant.   These are some recent updates in my ultra glamorous European life:

1. I have been doing a lot of driving alot lately which means that I am actually beginning to sort of learn my way around (and by this I mean I have gotten lost so many times and driven around in so many circles that it would be impossible not to have some understanding of where things are...mind you i even have a GPS in my car)

2. I went shopping with Rachel on Monday in the city and I bought an amazing purple coat, which leads me to my next point that I believe everyone needs a bright purple coat at some point in their life, seriously it is so fun and I feel so edgy and vibrant when I wear it...I think it will be my Europe coat.

3.  I am afraid I am turning in to a mom (or maybe just a responsible adult) But here is some evidence: 

a)I frequently call the boys by the dog's name 

b)yesterday I actually said to Colton "Do you really think the living room table is the best place for this sock?"

c)I am starting to become a neat freak and I wipe down the kitchen counter about 5 times a day

d)I frequently have to tell Nathan to turn down the volume on his video games because it gives me a headache, and am starting to believe that they really do fry your brains

4. I found a church that I REALLY like and am going to volunteer with the youth group.  My first outing is this Saturday, I will be joining them for a canoeing adventure in Northern Luxembourg so I am really excited to meet some cool people and enjoy nature!

I guess that's all for now.  I will be going to the military base with the family tomorrow to get some yummy American groceries , so that should be fun.  Hopefully I will have some fun pics from my adventure on Saturday! 

Updated Contact Info

Ok, so I just learned that if you want to send me a letter or package the family I am living with has a AOP address which means that since both parents work for the military in some way or another when you send me mail you just pay for it to go to New York then the military sends it overseas for free.  So it is a lot cheaper if you send it to this address you just have to make sure you DONT put my name on it anywhere so they don't get in trouble for using the address for someone else.  SO this is what you should write on letters or packages:

Eleanor Summers

PSC 9 Box 7500

APO AE

09123

So just put Eleanor's name (not mine) and she said if she doesn't know the return address she will just assume it is for me and not open it.  So since, it is so much cheaper I will be expecting lots of mail!

scenes from lux

I am so good at public transportation!

Wow so much to say since my last post...

Well most importantly, i have been swept away by Harry Potter and have already finished the first two and am 100 pages in to the third.  I don't think I have ever read this much, I love it!  And the boys are so cute about it.  Every day after school Colton runs up to me, gives me a big hug and says, "Did you finish it yet?" "Where are you" "Omigosh that part is so good!!" He's so cute!

This weekend was pretty good.  Friday night I went the fair with Rachel which was funny because it was pouring rain the whole time.  But we did manage to eat some really delicious food (highlight:belgian waffles covered in strawberries, cream, and chocolate sauce) and drink some good beer.  After the fair we went out with some of Rachel's aunts young co-workers to this really posh bar/lounge in the city and talked about differences between Luxembourg and America and politics with some brittish guy for a while, which was pretty funny.  Then decided to call it a night and found the bus stop after some wandering around the city and I managed to make it home on the last bus, so lucky.

Saturday morning I went over to Elizabeth's apartment to prepare some food for the BBQ she was bringing me to that night.  First we ran to the grocery store (where I swooned over all the delicious bread and bought a pack of like ten individually wrapped chocolate crossaints, only in Europe).  Then we proceeded to make a delicious carrot cake and watch some Grey's anatomy before she had to go to basketball practice (she coaches at the international school where she works).  After baking, i went home and vegged for a couple hours then went to this BBQ with Elizabeth where I got to meet some of her closest friends from church.  They were all really nice and it felt good to hang out with a group of other young people (instead of being with the family all the time, not that i don't love that too). 

Sunday was good, except I was feeling like I was in a little bit of a funk, in terms of missing home.  So I decided to take a walk before dinner where Marc had told me there were some really nice trails, which ended up being awesome.  It was right around sunset and I was listening to some wonderful Hope College Chapel music, and I think I just needed to remind myself what a great adventure this is and that it is only one year of my life.  So I felt a lot better after taking some time alone to think, pray, reflect, etc.  

Yesterday was great because I took a little nap after taking the kids to school and then decided to go for a bike ride on the trails that I found.  It was so beautiful and i stopped on a bench by some stables and got some good reading in.  And when I got back to the house I figured out how to use the TV and I discovered that since Marv works for the Navy they get the Armed Forces Network, which means the commercials are all really low budget commercials for the military but there are tons of American shows and the Today show is on every day at 1:00, so I don't have to feel quite so out of the loop.

 Then today I decided to go in to the city so i took the bus around 10:00 (which I am getting sooooo good at) and walked around by myself for a bout an hour then met up with Rachel.  We shopped around for a while then found a great cafe where I had one of the best tomato mozzerella paninis I have ever had then we obviously had to get gelato.  THat was about it for the day.  So things are really good here.  I am hoping to plan/take a trip soon, so we'll se about that.  But for now, i need to get to bed b/c it's going to be an early morning, goodnight!

It's official...I have given in to Harry potter

So today was pretty uneventful, had to get up at 6:30 to take the kids to school early so that Nathan could sign up for band.  When I came back I was so tired that I went back to bed and ended up sleeping till noon, oops.  Then I got up and had lunch and read some Harry Potter (the boys are obsessed and I have decided that since I have all this extra time I might as well read all seven books-I am half way through the second).  Then I cleaned my room and somehow spent the whole rest of the afternoon looking at pictures on my computer and reminiscing about good times from college.  Then I picked the kids up from school, helped them with HW and made dinner and put them to bed (since the parents had a date night tonight) and now I am about to turn in.  I am really looking forward to getting out of the house more and taking day trips because I am starting to feel a little lazy sleeping and being unproductive all day.  One funny thing that happened today was that Colton tried to teach me French (both of the boys are basically fluent) but he got frustrated when I couldn't make the hacking sound right so he gave up on me, hopefully my real french classes will go a little bit better)

I am also really looking forward to this weekend, Friday night I am going to the schuberfour with Rachel which should be funny because Eleanor said that at nightime a lot of young people go there for evening festivities, then Saturday night I am going to go to a BBQ with Elizabeth (she was the au pair for the family before I was and she went to Hope) and a bunch of her friends to watch American football.  I guess that's it for now.  Goodnight!

i need to learn french or german ASAP

These are pictures form the fair that I went to.  In the second picture you will notice that the booth's name is condom mobil and there are condom hats that you can win.  Eleanor and i spent a while trying to figure out what the purpose of this booth was, which we never did find out but we both decided it was worth taking a picture.

Wow, I cant believe that I have already been here for one week, crazy!  The past couple of days have been really good.  On Monday, I went with Rachel to Luxembourg City to hit up some big sidewalk sale, which was really fun.  I think the funniest thing about the whole day was the fact that Rachel and I both speak zero french which made reading bus schedules, maps, and talking to shop and restaurant employees pretty hilarious).  So we started sort of on the outskirts of the city (where the stores aren't as expensive) and walked up a down a bunch of streets and i bought a lot of really cute clothes.  Once we were all shopped out we headed toward the city center and walked through this beautiful park (I kind felt like I was in Narnia) it was really green with big hills, trees and rock formations with really old big buildings in the background.  Then we went in to the city which was sooooo cute and exactly what I pictured of Luxembourg- lots of historical buildings that look like castles, outdoor cafes everywhere, delicious gelatto, big stands selling huge sausage like hotdogs...you get the picture.  So we walked around there for a little while and then had to catch a bus so we could make it home to pick the kids up from school.  However we did manage to get off at the wrong bus stop and walk like an extra twenty minutes which was pretty funny since neither of us had any idea where we were and couldn't really understand the street signs.   

Then yesterday, I decided to venture down to the mall which is like a twenty minute walk from our house.  The first mistake I made was that I pushed on the revolving door, not realizing that here they revolve automatically, then I walked to the main grocery store to buy some toiletries which was really funny because all the labels were in German so I stood there for like 15 minutes trying to figure out what was shampoo and what was conditioner and if i was buying a face wash or a face mask.  It was also interesting how all the bottles were much smaller and they had much less variety of things than in the states, i guess we american really are mass consumers.  Then I was browsing the food section and stumbled upon a nutella section about the size of a Christmas tree, I was so happy I actually started laughing to myself.  It was also funny that there were these booth like "bars" set up in the middle of the mall for wine tastings and there was a huge bakery with delicious fresh pastries so i just had to get a chocolate croissante.  That's about it for the past couple of days, things are good with the family and I am feeling pretty comfortable in the house.  More to come soon!