frombelgiumwithlove on Xanga

Weblog

Thursday, 07 August 2008

I'm bringing Xanga back - drop a comment if you're with me!

Friday, 27 June 2008

I'm bringing Xanga back - drop a comment if you're with me!

Tuesday, 01 June 2004

as the stench from our cloths slowly infiltrated the church building, we decided it was time to make a trip to the laundromat. (yes, we have washed our cloths but not there.) miranda had a lesson, so the adventure was undertaken by david and myself. we gathered our cloths, money, and books and stuffed them into my suitcase, which we slowly lugged down the street. our extensive dutch vocabulary of 20 or 30 words was our weapon to defeat the machines. we thought we could just waltz in, wash it all and be done with the job. we thought it would be simple. we thought wrong. our little adventure soon turned into an epic war that was going to be fought to the death. the machines quickly took a staggering defense that was not to be conquered, long words which meant nothing to us. after only a few minutes of fighting, imminent defeat was in sight. it was only by grace that reinforcements galloped triumphantly into the battle. they were experts in cloth-washing strategy, veterans of laundromat dominance; we could not have asked for better warriors. they reminisced of battles fought from long ago, defeating the machines with what they called "francs." they were unstoppable. they were grandmas, or so we assumed - they spoke no english at all. as they rattled off long battle strategies in their foreign tongue, dave and i would just smile and shake our heads in agreement. we stood in utter amazement as they defeated the evil washing machines with what seemed no effort whatsoever. occasionally a simple "amai" (wow) or "dank u" (thank you) would escape our lips, but that is all we could do as the wonder-women worked their magic. thanks to them our cloths came out sweet smelling and clean, no longer a health hazard to those around us.

Tuesday, 25 May 2004

after dave and i got done with our 40 minute follow-the-leader run, i called up my mi familia and talked with my dad for a bit, and now i sit in the night store down the street that i have claimed as my own. the same man works here everyday, as far as i can tell, and he watches the same sounding television show - something loud, continuous, and completely foreign, indian i think.

but i hope all you wonderful people are having an excellent summer thus far, as i am. but i really have no idea who all reads this other than those who have left comments or emails, both of which i greatly appreciate.

anyways, it turns out that parts of belgium are how i imagined. last weekend dave and i journeyed with the brazles for "workcamp" at their church camp located about an hour and a half southeast from antwerp. Creeks wind carelessly through the rolling hills of green that are filled with pastures of cows and sheep. at this camp there is a sleeping area and a recreation/ eating/ cooking area with a small creek nearby. after supper friday night we went hiking to the "love tree," a camptime favorite, where a bench is strategically placed at the top of the hill over-looking the valley and nearby village; it is an excellent view. on the return trip i decided to take the creek back to camp because i had some rubber boots on, and nothing is better than leaping from one rock to another as water rushes quickly by. to make a possible long story short, because of my bad sense of direction, i was about stranded in the middle of a foreign country without knowing the language and no one around, almost died . well, at least it seemed that way. but i did experience something from a dream or movie where you gracefully prance through an open field, that is completely and uterly green i might add, as the rain gently beats against your face. oh it was great! definitely worth the risk of death. but i got soaked (fell in the creek many times) and cold, brutally cold all weekend actually, and i did not bring enough clothes. but i must go, shop is closing up. God Bless you all!

From Belgium with love,

Nathan

Wednesday, 19 May 2004

one of the best, if not the best thing about belgium, and probably most of europe, is the fact that people are actually out and about, walking on the streets and riding bikes. and yes, believe it or not, we have aquired three beasts to roam the streets of antwerp. two are fairly nice and function properly, but the third that we found in the basemant is a bit older and isn't the energetic, cheerful self that i'm sure she was in her youth. both tires needed replacement and after they were changed, she blew the front tire on her first outing. i was the lucky fellow pushing the pedals and it sounded like a car back-firing, scared me to death. plus she's got some missing spokes and bent rims, so you have this uneasy feeling as you ride that the wheels might collapse and you go tumbling across the pavement. i also would like to inject that the streets here are often made of cobble-stone, which are pleasant to gaze upon, but do not go well with a rock-hard seat on an old bicycle. lastly, on every revolution the right pedal scrapes the metal plate that guards the gears, which gives a concrete scraping sound. something also rubs the tires wrong which produces a small chirping sound, so she sounds similar to an out of tune marching band going down the street, and every-so-often, we get a puzzled look as we pass. viewing all her ailments, i doubt she will be the mode of transportation on future escapades.