Belgium

Honestly I was a little nervous not knowing what to expect from my "family" in Belgium. Before I left Mom gave me a list of all her Aunts & Uncles, their kids, and their grandkids so I would know who was connected to who. Most of my mom's cousins children are about my age. They graciously offered to pick me up from the airport (at 6:30 am!) and host me for the night. I actually had met the family back in 2000 when I took a trip with my high school to Europe and Mom, Steven and I continued onto Belgium for a quick visit. So I really shouldn't have been nervous. Boris had visited the USA two years ago and he met me at the airport with his Nebraska shirt to make sure I would recognize him. He drove me around for most of the day, stopping by family so that I could say hello. I met mom's cousin Willy and Marlene (they visited us when I was quite young).

We visited Liesolot at work.

I don't know how you can work in a bakery like that and not eat everything in sight. She sent me home with some chocolate :-) We drove through Hansbeke and stopped by Uncle Antoine's grave.

Finally we ended at Boris's house where they let me take a two hour nap on schedule with Zoe his 17 month old daughter. I had been up since 4:30am our time so a little nap was much needed.

Then we stopped by Walter and Rachel's house. They are relatives from my grandma's side.

In 2000 they took us all around so I remembered them well. I am amazed at the life and energy this couple has! Walter was showing us the latest internet radio gadget while texting his daughter. Seriously, what 75+ year old knows how to text? Both of them were sharper than a tack! We spent our time looking at pictures from their previous visit to the USA and Christmas cards and letters that have been sent from us over the years. They even kept printouts of my brothers blog in their book! That evening we went to my Grandmother's brother's house and visited with Uncle Marcel and his wife Clara.

Clara was very hospitable and I think I ate half of the pastry because the plate kept passing by.

For dinner we got together at Annelies and Peter's house.

She is the daughter of my Mom's cousin Marnix. Her brother (Boris) and sister (Liesbeth) also joined us for an amazing pot roast and french fry dinner. Annelies has two little boys who are full of energy and lots of fun. (Thier youngest looks very similar to my cousin in South Dakota!) I guess they kept asking their parents when the "African lady" was coming. Africa... America... they are close. They also enjoyed seeing thier cousin Zoe.

That night we were supposed to meet at a local Pub, but we were already late and Liesolot called saying no one else was there so we opted to stay at the house and I practically fell asleep on the couch. I slept until 10:30am on Saturday!
Saturday we drove to visit my Mom's cousin Jenny at the store which they run.I got more chocolate there!

We had lunch then visited Aunt Madeline in the nursing home.

This was probably the most difficult get-together for me, since she didn't know ANY English and I only know my toes names in Flemish (Yes, toes have names, but that is a different topic all together). So I basically spoke in English to Peter, who translated for Madeline and then she said something to Peter who translated for me. And then it was off to the train station.

It was too short of a visit. The family was all so very nice and I felt like I could have stayed for quite a while still.... but Ken was waiting for me in the train station in Paris.