Lessons in Leuven

Yesterday I spent the morning exploring on my own while Todd went to the office. My plan was to get myself thoroughly lost and then figure out how to get back to the B&B. The fun part of this is I knew where we were the entire time our realtor drove us around in the afternoon. Leuven isn't very large and is wonderfully walkable. If I'd known where to rent a bike I could probably even have toured the neighboring towns!

I will post later about our search for a place to live, for now I'll share a few things I've learned.

All of the churches in Belgium are Catholic. The Netherlands is Protestant. Something to do with the Spanish ruling Belgium? What?! OK. I'll do more research and let you know what I learn... I have also realized how much I have missed the sound of church bells living in the outer reaches of Austin... I really love hearing them here. ♥️

One thing I'm seeing a lot less here is birds. Austin, particularly in winter, is overrun with grackles. For the non-Texans among you, think VERY noisy crows. They are everywhere and there are a minimum of a dozen in any place, so you never see just one. Anyway, I saw TWO birds yesterday. They were pigeons. It will be interesting to see what comes back as the weather warms.

I successfully made an international phone call yesterday. I called Eric, our realtor. The man is fantastic! He is friendly and has a wealth of knowledge. I am generally nervous making phone calls, so this was a giant step for me.

They sell avocados 🥑🥑🥑 here!!! 

I won't swear to how good they are, but it's at least possible to purchase them. I toured a grocery store yesterday. There were 2 small shelves of Old El Paso mix packets and some bottles of Texas Pete. I think we're going to survive here! (Yes, I am enjoying the local cuisine, but I need to know I can get my Tex-Mex fix).

Last night, one of our crew ordered nachos at a bar. We got Doritos, a bowl of warm tomatoes (not bad), and a bowl of premade queso. Lesson learned. Ha ha ha!!!

If you follow along on social media, you will happy to know I learned how to open the door to the B&B... Apparently I wasn't pulling hard enough on the door before pushing...

The final lesson I learned yesterday was a personal one. I can, if absolutely necessary, walk through a bookstore, browse every shelf, and leave empty-handed. I *think* this is because they were playing the theme song to Mission Impossible in there background, but I'm not sure. It felt like it was Impossible! I thought of so many of our friends from Treehouse yesterday. I wish you could have seen all the displays in the bookstore. It was wonderful!