Hello From Brussels II

We haven't been up to anything too exciting, but I decided to write an email anyway!

Dylan had a good trip to Sweden last week - he said it reminded him alot of home and I think made him a little homesick! I enjoyed the time he was away as well - had a great day with Alison - went shopping, bought some books, new coffee mugs and a broom. We went for sushi for lunch - which was good - but not as good as Momoya at home!

Last weekend we walked around Brussels to see the city again. Friday night we went out for supper to a little Italian pizzaria in our neighborhood (ever since eating pizza for 2 weeks in Italy, we have become pizza addicts) - then walked all the way downtown - which took about 2 hours. It was a beautiful night and was great to walk through the communitites that we had never seen before.

I'm not sure if everyone knows, but Brussels has a red light district - something like Amsterdam's. On Friday night, we walked through it which was packed with cars and men - I was definatley the only woman walking the streets that night - was funny!

On Saturday, we went to Ikea and bought some household stuff that we were missing from home and 2 new pillows - our best purchase! All the pillows here are square. The other favorite purchase is the shower caddy for our mini shower. When we got home, we realized that 2 things we bought - cutting board and can opener - were not in our bag. I'm convinced we were robbed (mostly b/c i was in charge of packing the bag), Dylan thinks I forgot the stuff at the store - we will never know....
At Ikea they have the already set up rooms so you can see what all the stuff looks like....well, even in the kitchens they have set up, there are only MINI FRIDGES.....apparently there is no such thing as a regular sized fridge here......it was weird! All the sinks were really small too - I guess the europeans don't give as much attention to food as we do at home (I hope I get in that mindset before i leave)....

Saturday afternoon, we took off for downtown again and picked up a few things we needed - Dylan got some contraption to try to watch our downloaded shows on the tv (doesn't work yet) and a SIM card for my cell.
Sunday we went to what we call the "cheapie neighborhood" by the red light district about a 10 min walk from downtown. I didn't know what to expect, but it is a huge strip of stores where everything is especially cheap - like a big sidewalk sale.
We bought enough oregano and garlic powder for about 10 years - what do you do with a kilo of spices?

This week has gone by really fast!! We are both REALLY excited for Dylan's sister, Tara, to come next week - we have lots of exciting things planned for her trip!!

Some things about Brussels that I've noticed so far:
- all subways smell like pee.....you have to pay 40 cents to pee at any public place - subway station, mall, McDonalds....so instead of paying, ppl pee anywhere.
- dog owners don't have to pick up dog poop - which is gross. It is everywhere!!!
- at 12degrees, the Belgians think it is winter. Dylan and I wore sandals on the weekend (he also wore shorts) and ppl were staring hard at both of us. I walked to the GB yesterday afternoon with my birks on and everyone stared at my feet.....i stared at their parkas and stocking hats too.....who wins?
- the ppl who beg for money are relentless - they aren't friendly and nice, they hollar at you when you walk by and ignore them - it's a little scary.
- we bought a deck of cards on the weekend and on Tuesday night we decided to have a few games of crib....when we opened the cards, we realized that they were french.....so instead of a K, Q and J - there was a R, D and V.....try to get used to that. It was funny - thank goodness they had pictures on them!

Well, that's about it for now! thank you to everyone who has replied or sent me a message!
Hope all is well - hear the weather is amazing in Halifax - it's pretty chilly here!