The end has come

I lost steam on this blog. I'm not sure that blogging is for me. It's too public. Maybe some day I'll pick it up again. But for now, I am taking a nice long hiatus. It was good, regardless, to have a record of my life and times in Brussels.

And now, the obligatory "miss and not-miss" lists (this is mostly for my memory's sake):

Miss:

1) The Well and the Christian community here - it is like nothing I have experienced before, most probably because it is set in such a religiously apathetic part of the world, so that makes you tight.

2) The beer, and the affordability of it. I won't know how much I'll miss it till I've left! American and British ales and lagers will never taste the same.

3) The availability of fresh bread, the bubbly water, the waffles, the frites, the pastries, the chocolate, the french and flemish cuisine, our favorite "thai alley," our local German place that fed us lots of wiener schnitzel.

4) Cafes and brasseries: a la Mort Subite, a la Becasse, la Porte Noir, Cook and Book, le Fauborg, O'Reilly's, Kitty O'Sheas, le Falstaff, and so so so many others. I will miss each of you and the good times you gave me.

5) Park Cinquentenaire and Square Ambiorix. Countless fun times in those places: frisbee, playing with kids, picnics, museums, chilling in the evening light. I will miss them sorely.

6) Cheap public transportation. 'Nuff said.

Won't miss:

1) The lack of customer service, just about everywhere. The locals are just beginning to realize what an asset this can be to their businesses. But mostly, people just put up with rudeness and get on with their lives. Occasionally, this is charming, but usually it's quite irritating.

2) ATMs that don't accept international debit cards. An endless source of frustration for tourists and expats alike.

3) Badly organized supermarkets. Delhaize is generally an exception to this, but it is also more expensive. My local GB gave me vertigo because of its gently lilting floors and shelves lined every which direction.

4) The languages - as good as it is for me to get out of my comfort zone, I will be happy to be able to speak English freely again!

5) People who don't get out of your way when you're exiting the metro train! Why, why, why?

6) Gray walls and dirty streets. Brussels, you can be so much prettier! You've got all that Art Nouveau stuff going on. Why not enhance it? Why are you still building gray buildings?

That's all folks. That's la vie dans Bruxelles.

The sisters came

Laura and Heidi visited for a three day weekend, and despite fighting colds and battling shifty weather, it was a success. Did the inevitable tour of Brugge on Saturday, and on Saturday night walked around downtown Brussels, following our ears wherever they led us during the annual Brussels Jazz Marathon. Sunday there was a 20k race, so after doing some walking around the Avenue Louise/Parc Royale area, we met some folks from our church near the finish line and greeted runners as they came in. Sunday night Lauri's parents came through, so we went out to eat with them and the girls finally got to try some authentic fruit beer. On Monday we did more walking as nothing was really open (it being a bank holiday here) but we did manage to eat an excellent Thai meal and buy some chocolate for them to take home. The whole weekend was about taking in the sights, tastes, and sounds of Brussels, as well as chatting and chilling. I miss them muchly but will see them when I go to London in July.

The last round of visitors comes this weekend in the form of my parents. We will, of course, do some sightseeing, but most importantly we are going to talk through some wedding details, and my mom is bringing me a dress that I will most likely end up wearing, provided it looks all right.

Westvleteren

We got Westvleteren! Here is the proof:

Westvleteren beer, considered by BeerAdvocate.com and RateBeer.com to be the most enjoyable beer in the world, is brewed at the Westvleteren Trappist Abbey in Flanders. Technically, you cannot get this beer unless you actually go to the abbey. But as we were leaving the town of Gent last Friday, we saw a sign in front of a small restaurant that advertised the beer, and mercifully they let us take a couple of bottles out. We were giddy all the way home. We bought the 8% and the recently introduced pale ale 6%. We're saving the pale ale for later. Yum!

On a totally different subject, I recently finished the Harry Potter series, and I wanted to post one of my predictions for the last book before it comes out in July. Snape will die to save Harry's life. I am not claiming whether this will be intentional or unintentional, but it will happen. Mark my words.

Old, New, Borrowed, Blue

Tomorrow is May Day, a holiday here in Belgium. These Belgians sure like their holidays. We've got two more to go in the month of May, one celebrating the ascension of Christ, and one celebrating Pentecost, which just so happens to fall on the U.S. Memorial Day holiday. Most of the western world will be off work that day, it appears. "Except for the Chinese and Indians," one local said, cheekily. "They will work for us."

But holidays also mean visitors, and so does spring! Lauri's parents roll into town today and will be here till Thursday. Some interns from the UK on the same programme as Lauri will be coming on Friday and staying till the following Wednesday. My sisters will come over the Pentecost weekend, the last weekend of May, and then the following weekend (the first weekend of June) my folks and the Dodsons will visit as a stop on their European tour. Whew.

We've set our wedding date as September 22 of this year and it will be in Chattanooga at New City Fellowship. Much has already been accomplished - sites confirmed, dresses chosen, preliminary invitation list drawn up. There's still much to be done, but my mother is gifted at setting priorities, and making sure we follow a timeline of sorts. Let's worry about nailing down a reception site BEFORE I concern myself with, say, how I will include blue in my outfit, referring to the old cliche. Speaking of which, I think I have or will fulfill all of these categories:

Something old: a garnet brooch from Lauri's mom
Something new: uhhh...my dress
Something borrowed: i hope to borrow earrings to match my brooch and ring
Something blue: maybe light blue flats, otherwise can my blue eyes count for this?

I am having a fun and rather amusing time planning this wedding, but all in all I am really looking forward to marriage and the humdrum of life to continue. I'm not one to turn the spotlight on myself, so in all honesty my wedding day could actually be quite difficult. Like my birthday, only a hundred times worse. Still, I look at it as an important milestone and ritual that will create a record to hold us accountable before God and others. I will relish it. It will be a party!

Engaged

Lauri rushed us out the door after the Good Friday service, as we were trying to make our dinner reservations. "What time did we reserve for?" I asked. "7:30," he replied. As it wasn't yet 7:00 I thought we were being a bit too hasty, but I said nothing.

We strolled through downtown from the church to the restaurant. Lauri quietly spoke of his childhood. He normally speaks nostalgically, so I thought nothing of it. He suddenly plopped us down on a bench in the square. I complained about a pain in my side. Without missing a beat, he asked me three questions: Will you accompany me tomorrow to buy a ring for our engagement? Will you honor me by agreeing to marry me? Will you take this brooch as a token?

I had barely responded in the affirmative when an adolescent gypsy boy approached and asked us where a certain street was. Lauri said he didn't know, but the boy persisted, and as he was doing this Lauri felt a tug on his satchel. He turned around and told the boy's friends that there was no money in there. They left as quickly as they came. It all happened rather quickly, and I was thinking, why is this happening now? We just got engaged and someone tried to rob us? The nerve!

We quickly recovered and decided we'd better leave the square to avoid any more unwanted encounters. We had a lovely dinner (duck for me, steak for him), complemented with slivovice, Australian shiraz, and hot chocolate with Bailey's. When we returned to Lauri's house we had a bottle of wine with his parents and then capped it off with some Napoleon brandy. We laughed and talked and called our families. It was a jolly evening.

Apparently I'm a "reliable guardian."

I'm taking off my "activist" hat now and replacing it with my "self-analytical" one. Over the last couple of days the Well team has gone through a gifts assessment using Myers-Briggs, Gallup StrengthsFinder, Leadership Matrix, and Character Matrix. In sum, these were my results:

ISTJ - Introversion (clear), Sensing (moderate), Thinking (moderate), Judging (moderate)
StrengthsFinder Signature Themes (in ranking order): Intellection, Connectedness, Analytical, Input, Harmony
Leadership Style: Missional - meaning I lead best when I am doing work and organizing things
Character Trait: Courage - with the caution of falling into a sense of pride (thinking too lowly or highly of myself)

When my colleague noticed that my introversion measurement was nearly at the end of the chart (out of 30, I got a 24), her response was, "Ohhh, I'm fascinated by you!" And when someone tried to explain that he thought I might be more of a "passional leader," I explained that my sense of urgency and drive towards my goals often emerge out of a feeling of duty rather than a feeling of compassion, which resonated with other folks in the room who were struggling with placing themselves in a category. In fact, I struggled to avoid "boxing" myself throughout all of the exercises.

However, this process did solidify and reinforce that I am primarily introverted, introspective, and find hanging out in large groups of people exhausting rather than enlivening. What else is new? :-)

I'm off Sunday to Slovakia and Hungary for Easter vacation. It's supposed to be lovely and springy next week. As we're flying in and out of Amsterdam, we'll also sneak in a few sights there. I'll post pictures upon my return.

I support Stop the Traffik

In their efforts to prevent the sale of people, prosecute the traffickers, and protect the victims. People shouldn't be bought and sold.

Freedom Day

200 years ago yesterday, the transatlantic slave trade was abolished in Britain. William Wilberforce MP, an evangelical, led the charge in parliament. It was a move that had a ripple effect across the world. Naturally, evangelicals have been marking him as a hero in light of the anniversary. But different groups are also using the opportunity to call attention to the modern-day slave trade, more commonly known as human trafficking. Estimates say that 800,000 people, many of them children, are trafficked each year into forced labour, servitude, and prostitution. But the numbers are only a guess. They could be much larger.

For the past month or so I have been planning our church's program as part of international "Freedom Day" events with Stop the Traffik. It took place last night and it was long, but each part was valuable. We had two women, who used to be prostitutes but are now Christians being vocationally trained by a pastor in Antwerp, sing for us. We learned more about Wilberforce and the fight to end the slave trade. We watched a clip about a TV personality from Holland who got himself arrested for "knowingly purchasing a product (chocolate) that was made by slaves," which is punishable by Dutch law. We had a word from an MEP's assistant who is working on trafficking legislation in both the European Parliament and back home in Ireland. Lastly, we got folks to fill out response cards for different ways that they can be involved with the campaign. Afterwards we had a meal together and then worshiped as a response to what we had just learned. (We even sang "Thine be the Glory," which I was excited about, since we rarely sing hymns!!)

In my next entry I will post a picture of myself with a "Chaga mask," which is Stop the Traffik's iconic representation of a modern-day child slave. They want folks to take pictures of themselves wearing it and then post the pictures all over flickr, blogs, youtube, etc. The goal is to create a movement that people will begin to recognize and that will change public perception about the issue. Go to the website and download a mask of your own.