Our Week at Home!

Last weekend started off great...as our new friends Barbara and her son Mateo came and spent the day with us. They came over to hang out at our apartment that morning...and then we headed out in the gorgeous fall day for a walk to get some lunch and meet up with one of her friends Georgia. They introduced me to Mama Roma pizza which I now LOVE!! It's a cute little pizza shop that you can order a few slices and a soda for an easy quick lunch! I'm thinking we might even have to go back this weekend so Jacob can taste the yummy pizza! After lunch we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping, walking, and talking! It was a fun day with new friends!

On Saturday we decided to take the tram down to my new favorite park!! Unfortunately it's a few miles away from here so we rode the tram to save some time. The park is in downtown Brussels across from the Palace and is fabulous for kids around Autumn's age. She has a great time running on the ramps, climbing on the stairs, and playing in the sandbox...I wish it was a little closer so we could go there all the time, but for now we try and venture there at least once a week. Here are some pics of the sights we passed along the way and Autumn at the playground.

The Museum of Musical Instruments

Check out the guy blowing huge bubbles!

Kinda hard to see, but it was pretty cool in person!

The Royal Palace

Weeee!!!

Then Sunday we headed to church and then off to the American Food Store...AGAIN! I know, I know...I need to embrace Brussels and just get used to not having some things...hopefully we'll get there some day...and then it will probably be time to move home...ha!

On Monday we headed over to Maren's house again for playgroup and lunch! It's great having all these playgroups to keep us busy over here! It's a great way of meeting new people and just nice for Autumn to get out and play with other kids. I'm really enjoying them and think if I end up staying home when we move back to the US I might have to try and start up something similar back home!

Tuesday we had another playgroup with the BCT and this one was at OUR house! Autumn had a great time showing off all her toys and it was nice getting to meet a few new people. One thing we have learned is that people here really like their warm beverages...something I have never been particularly fond of. So when the coffee pot we bought basically for this occasion didn't work with the coffee we bought I felt terrible. It is after all supposed to be a "coffee morning" group! Ali was nice enough to run home and get some instant coffee and tea for us though...thank you Ali...so it wasn't a total disaster! Ha! What am I going to do when they move back to the states in just over a month!!

Then our Tuesday ended with quite a scare. Autumn and I had run out just before 5 to the grocery store to pick up dinner. Thanks to the time change it now is pretty much dark by 6 PM. We were returning home just before 6...and as we got off the elevator I noticed our front door was WIDE open! I stood there a second in shock not sure what to do next. Trying to remember definitively closing it...but we're in and out so much, of course I couldn't. I decided it best not to tempt fate and to just head back down in the elevator and look for help. As we got back in and pressed zero and started our decent, the light in the hall clicked on and I heard foot steps running down the stairs. My mind is racing!! I'm thinking the burglar had heard us and is now fleeing the building...or WORSE...is hoping to greet us at the bottom and threaten us for money or something! Of course as soon as we near the bottom floor, the young twenty something man does too (our elevator is the kind with gates...so you can see right through it...it is not enclosed). He starts to dart out, but then turns and says something in French...and kind of opens the elevator door for us! I am FREAKING out!! In my head this guy just robbed us! I don't want to look at him...don't want him to think I saw his face...so I mumble something like "it's ok, it's ok" and kind of gesture him away, to which he turns and quickly leaves. I am literally shaking at this point...I don't know what to do. I don't even have my phone to call Jacob. I head to the lobby...quickly lock the outside door that our "burglar" has left open and frantically push the concierge button. No one answers. I'm reeling, trying to figure out which of my neighbors to disturb when a young man unlocks and comes through the front door. I ask if he speak English..."a little" he says...I ask if he lives here...trying to hold back my tears..."yes" he says. No more holding...here they come! I'm sobbing and trying to explain that I think someone was just in my apartment..."what should we do...should we call the police?" I can't stop shaking. He tells me he's the concierge son and he goes to get his Dad. They call the police and tell them to come (in the back of my mind I'm thinking I hope they speak English).

As we wait in the lobby the concierge arrive and they begin to check the doors...trying to determine how anyone got in (we have two locked doors you have to pass through just to get in the building). One door knob is loose, but not totally broken...so we are not sure. We decide to go ahead and head up stairs and see what if anything is missing. When we arrive we begin flipping on all the lights, checking all the rooms, etc. And everything is EXACTLY how we left it. Not a thing is out of place! Now I'm starting to relax and think logically...it does not appear anyone has been in here. Maybe I did, in fact, leave the door open...maybe the man running out was just bad timing on his part...and my fear and imagination got the best of me. I'm not sure if we'll ever really know (I guess unless I see the "burglar" in the building again...yikes!). But for now I think we are just going to take this scare as a lesson and learn to be more careful. Although Brussels is a relatively safe place to live (probably quite a bit safer than St. Louis...especially for violent crimes)...it is still a city and there are still bad people here...and we just need to be mindful of what we're doing at all times! And hopefully that will be the closest thing to a burglary that we'll EVER see!!