I am laughing.

Laughing because for the last 10 minutes I have been pining for.... the Brazos River.

I have never in my life even thought about the Brazos. Today all I want is to see it.



Sigh. Muddy Brazos, I miss you.

It is true that we have pretty cute rivers here.



But I do miss my Texas.

(Of course, sweet faces like this help take the edge off :)

Kevin.

It's been quite a week around these parts. Few things rock our Belgian boat more than when a teammate leaves, and Kevin's 2 years were up this week. On Wednesday we waved so-long to our dear friend.

He had his rounds to make saying his good-byes, but we made sure to snag him for some last-minute team time. We spent a lot of the afternoon talking to airlines and checking flights wondering if he was going to be able to get out at all with the ash cloud hype. Such stress. We had a good time just being together though.



A few months ago I found some really pretty white beans at the grocery store that I used as little place cards for one of our weekly team lunches. I since planted Kevin's bean which sprouted into the cutest little beanstalk which then became a most appropriate centerpiece for our going-away lunch. The rest of us, you will notice, are left as beans. We have a little while longer to call Belgium home.



The church youth group had a going away party for Kevin as well. Here he is with our friends Katrine and Pascal.



Parties here become costume parties more often than not which explains Kevin's monk robe and shaved head. Clay and I decided to attend dressed as "Americans."



One last barbeque together.



Early on Wednesday morning, our little team shivered all the way to Kevin and Josh's house to say our last goodbyes. The boys had stayed up all night packing Kevin's bags, so Kevin shared a little quick-energy secret with us: 2 raw eggs, honey, and a little milk will apparently have you ready to rock n roll in no time.



And with that, he was gone. There is a void now and we miss him. 2 years well spent. He reached into the church and the community like no one I have ever seen. He taught us a lot and went through a lot with us. We love you Kevin. Eat some American food for us. Punk.



I must note that amidst all the sadness, several things made this week pretty fun in other ways too.

One, we figured out how to make pretty darned good breakfast sausage. A seemingly small thing, but trust us, little patties of gold they were.



Also, there were fun animals to brighten my days:

Sam and Nathalie's goats.



And a curious milk-cow at the farm. (The farm where Amy took me to buy raw milk that tastes so close to American milk that I want to do nothing else but drink glasses and glasses of it all day long.)




So, quite the week. A tough one but a good one.

The rest of the story.

Last week Josh and Anna were here. I just got a hold of the pics Josh took during their trip and I LOVE them! Here are a few of my favorites. Thanks Josh for documenting that sweet time for us.



I love this next picture because I is so "us." Me with my REI purse, North Face jacket, and my wild short hair, while Anna's sporting Anthro, a lady-like handbag, and gorgeous locks flowing down her back. Such friends! It makes me laugh! I am so thankful for her and the way we compliment each other.



Someone at church commented after meeting them that Josh and Anna are like the "opposite Clay-and-Megans." They are both tall with a lot of hair while Clay and I are two little guys with no hair! I am still laughing.

Lots of eating and just hanging out went on that week.



And Clay really enjoyed getting share his love of Belgian beer with Josh. I think they managed to try every Belgian Trappist brew- even the elusive Westvleteren.



I just liked having my dear friend there every time I turned around. Even doing the dishes is fun when you are talking a mile a minute.



Lots of games of course. We love those Peltier gamers.



We enjoyed showing them all around Huy.




One of my favorites. Aren't old friends wonderful?



Love you guys!



Sincerely,
Your Little Opposites

Ew. Alien egg.

Well,



I recently cracked my first egg with 2 yolks inside. It made me kind of sad... Twins! A little grossed out, too.

Have any of ya'll back home ever seen this?

Yesterday we went to an outdoor Belgian history museum with Sirin and Xavier. I get really into museums. This one was super fun.



There were lots of houses and barns to peak into. And you never quite knew what might be looking back out at you!



Sirin was very brave at the chicken coup, though I can now totally condone her fear of chickens. Where she grew up in Denizli, Turkey the chickens grow to be about waist high! No more teasing her. That is a legit chicken.



Clay made a new friend.



And I did too. Only I would stand so far away from a chained goat. When Clay took the picture I imagined myself looking a lot braver.


This a dog wheel outside of one of the houses. The wheel is connected to a big butter churn inside the kitchen. American dogs have no idea how good they have it. Look at the little doggie gate at the bottom- can you imagine? It made me laugh.



I think Clay's favorite part were all the neat fireplaces. That boy sure likes his fires.



One of my favorite parts was the felting lady. There I was thinking that felting was this new American trend. Turns out it's been a craft for like 1000s of years. I wanted those red shoes on the bottom left so bad.



Here's Sirin and Xavier walking up to a house that was actually brought from the village where his grandmother is from. Wow.



Such good pupils.





I am so thankful for our friends who bring us along on these fun little trips. It is so much fun to learn things about Belgium with Sirin since we are all foreigners here. And it is so great to do it all with Xavier who can share so much with us about his country. Dear friends. Fun day.

A little trick.

I've been hunting silverware at different flea markets over the last year and recently noticed that my little stash had tarnished (Be careful what you store your silver NEXT to. Lesson learned.)



I found this trick online and gave it a whirl.

One sizzling sink later...



...and pretty forks again! They aren't perfect, but, like most things, they kind of look better that way anyways.

Visitors!

Guess who came to see us?



I think that in the last week I have talked and laughed more than in the last year combined. What a wonderful visit! These are the only pictures I have since I was too busy soaking up our friends, but Josh brought THREE cameras with all kinds of fun, fancy lenses and attachments so I will try to get some of his fabulous shots up soon.

We really just did a lot of laying around. Day one was spent mostly in our pjs watching catch-up episodes of Survivor and eating. True friends. We also walked around town a bit over the next few days and celebrated Easter in a Belgian home.

On Monday we went to Brussels. And enjoyed a Belgian delicacy: Frites. Did you know that French Fries are not French, they are Belgian?



We also spent some time at Delirium, where the boys poured over the beer menu that boasts of over 2000 kinds to choose from.



Anna and I then split from the boys for a fun night in Brussels. We stayed at the sweetest b&b you have ever seen, watched movies, ate bread, cheese, and chocolate, and laughed and talked late into the night. I can't tell you what time spent with my good friend did for my heart.

We bravely managed the trains back to Huy the next day.



We were planning on playing some games in the Grand Place, but the wind was just a little too strong. No matter. We opened our windows and enjoyed the beautiful sunny day with a few rounds of Ticket To Ride.



Yesterday our friends left Huy, and we were left on the train platform so thankful for their trip. It really refreshed and encouraged me.

On the walk back to our apartment, I was very excited to see the chickens had arrived to the market!! I love spring! And oh how I love chickens!! As soon as I have a place for you to scratch, you shall have a home with me, little friends.



Oh, and you may have noticed my new haircut. Yes, they have done it again :) It never really does turn out quite how I imagined, but it's not too bad. Each morning I get a little closer to getting it styled right.

Here is right after it was cut:



And after I washed it the first time:



Haircuts here make me laugh. They do a good job of rooting out vanity I didn't even know I had. Which is totally worth a few weeks of looking like a pinhead.