Back from Belgium!

What a fun weekend! Daleena and I just got back late last night from spending the weekend with Jessica and Kristy in Ghent. It was so fun! Before we left, though, we had dinner with Pieter and Levent. We all met at Levent's house, then walked to the center for some Turkish food (simply because Levent, the one in the middle, is from Turkey!). Afterwards, we went back to Levent's house for some coffee and chocolate. Seems I might become a coffee addict after all. Levent invited us to the movies on Friday, but since we were going to be gone, we're going to go with him on Monday night.

So Friday morning, we took the train to Ghent. We arrived half past 10, to see Jessica and Kristy waiting. Then we spent the whole day touring! The city is extremely beautiful, with amazing architecture all throughout. There is a place in the city where there are 6 cathedrals extremely close together. We were able to go through one, and it was just humongous. I can't even explain how fun it was just to see the city - SOOOO different from Oklahoma! Don't even try to ask me which picture is what...I couldn't tell you! But I thought I would post several pictures so you can see it for yourself!! The bus system in Ghent is a little messed up...but other than that, the day went pretty smoothly. Anyone we asked for help was more than willing to give it to us. At the end of the day, we went to see Mission Impossible III. I definitely slept through half of the movie. Tom Cruise is exciting and all, but not enough to keep me awake after all that walking!


Saturday, our main goal was to go on a canal ride and eat a Belgium waffle. Thankfully, we were able to accomplish both! The weather was insane, though. I was crazy enough not to bring a jacket to Belgium, so I just about froze when it started pouring rain and hailing. Yes, hail...for no reason. And then it was sunny again. Crazy weather! Fortunately, we were inside eating panini sandwiches for lunch and drinking cappucino when this happened. So we were able to wait it out. Then we went on the canal ride. It was cheap, fun, and extremely informative! We were told about several of the important elements of the city and what different buildings represented and were used for today. Here is the canal we rode down. Under the bridge you can see a covered boat. That's what we rode in! After the canal ride, we got a belgium waffle - my favorite! If you come to Europe, you must go to Belgium, for the waffle, if nothing else. While you can get over 30 different toppings on the waffle, the plain one is my favorite. Don't even think about the IHOP belgium waffle. It does not even compare.

We got back late Saturday night and took a taxi home. Church service this morning was extremely good. William taught class on the battles of sin and Remco preached on God being our Shepherd. Rene took us out for a spin in his car afterwards to buy time until Bertine came to pick us up. Bertine took Daleena and I 30 minutes away to Papegaaienpark. It's basically a parrot zoo, which I had never heard of before. The birds were gorgeous! We got nuts at the entrance, so were were able to feed them all throughout. Although it was a parrot zoo, there were extremely random animals there, as well. I believe there was a kangaroo, a ram, a deer, goats, flamingos, and much others. It was a lot more fun than I anticipated, and a great place to take Veerle in the fall!

Anyway...Marlo was supposed to stop by tonight, but something came up and he wasn't able to. Lucky for Daleena, I volunteered our cooking services to him for Tuesday night dinner. Seeing as how he is allergic to cheese, we're lost as to what to make. Cheese makes the dish! We'll figure it out. It'll be nice to see him again. I met Marlo my first summer here and we've been good friends since. He's 24 and speaks great English. I had a few reading sessions with his mom last summer, but she got to busy to come towards the end. We should have fun again.

Well, I have so many pictures I want to post, but not enough room on this site. So soon I will put them in albums on shutterfly and send the link your way. Hope you all are doing well!!