If a plane crashes at Brussels Airport, it will be in my backyard...

Bienvenue à mon blogue! This will not be earth-shattering stuff, but a running commentary of anecdotal observations and narrative of my life in Belgium as an "expatriate" American. Our daughter Sophia and I arrived here on August 26, 2009 to join my husband, Vladimir and son Alex who have already been working and studying in Brussels for one year. The pretext for our move is Vladimir's employment with the European Commission in the sector known as SANCO, dealing with public health and safety issues within the European Union. My job? So far, I am chief cook and bottle washer, head gardener, la femme de mènage, French tutor, litter pan cleaner, etc. You get the picture...

Since I am new to blogging, I have a few tricks to learn, and I need to start carrying my camera around (much to my chagrin) so that I can illustrate my blahblahblah with some actual photos.

Friday, September 11, 2009

It has been seventeen days since Sophia and I (and Samora, our cat!) arrived in Belgium, and we are beginning to settle into our routines here. Since I am not working outside the home at this point, I have to create my routine, as without some sense of order and purpose, I would end up sitting around in my bathrobe all day, eating bonbons...(which could get serious in a country famous for producing Godiva!)
Our rented house is red brick, built in the 1950's, and has a sizable yard which is mostly grass. We need to invest in a mower, as the little hand push mower I sent from the U.S. isn't quite up to the task. For my gardening friends, we do have two large lilacs, a huge rhododendron, and the most fantastic lavender-blue colored hydrangea hedge (yes! I said hedge!) I have ever seen, let alone dreamed of possessing...
We can walk ten to fifteen minutes to the nearest metro station, Stockel, which connects us by public transport to the rest of Brussels. There is also a tram stop down the street which takes the rider into the center of Stockel. Stockel is like a little town unto itself, where all the necessities of life can be taken care of. I have to admit that I have only ventured into central Brussels a handful of times since arriving, as we have mostly been busy here at home trying to get our household in order.
And what does the attention-grabbing title refer to, you are wondering? We live in proximity of the Brussels airport at Zaventem, and jets fly over frequently. The other day, I was sitting on our patio, eating breakfast al fresco, when a jet loomed over so close I thought it was going to land in our backyard! From your perspective, though, this proximity has a certain charm, as the ride from the airport to your lodgings when you come to visit will be blissfully brief! Lately, though, for some odd reason, people have taken a fancy to traveling in and out of Brussels late at night, and we have heard jets as late as one am....
My big accomplishment today (other than setting up this blog) was walking to the KAM (cultural center) in nearby Wezembeek-oppem and signing up for a beginning Dutch class. I start next Tuesday at 9:00 am! I'll have some catching up to do, as the course started two weeks ago, but since they only meet once a week, I think I can handle it. Belgium is a bilingual country, divided linguistically into the northern Flemish-speaking half, and the southern French-speaking half. Brussels itself is linguistically divided, and though our neighbors on Schoneluchtlaan (Avenue Bel Air) seem to be mostly French-speaking, when I cross the highway to Wezembeek-oppem (a cute little blink-of-the-eye town), everyone there speaks Flemish (a.k.a. Dutch, known as neerlandais in French). Curiously, I have always wanted to learn Dutch since I was a little girl, and my father would recite a Christmas rhyme in Dutch that he had learned from his mother. My paternal grandmother, Pauline Sophia DeKorte, emigrated to America when she was seven years old from her birthplace, Goes, Netherlands. Now I have a chance to learn some Dutch, and I hope that I will be able to eventually read some of the books and documents I have collected about Goes and Zeeland.