Perhaps I've been a bit lax in posting lately.... though I've had plenty to share, I just haven't taken the time to share it!

Here's the short of it:


The weekend after my brother came to visit, Katie, Cass, Jen and I took a little Belgian road trip in our really cool rental car. We explored the southern parts of Belgium. We saw the Ardennes forest, cows, farms, trees, trappist monastaries where Belgian beer is brewed, a re-enactment of an American army camp in honor of memorial day, a castle, a great restaurant in a tiny tiny town, a lot of other tiny towns, some bigger towns, and many kilometers of road. We even headed into France for a bit, and only got lost once:

It was great to just drive without a real destination in mind! Here's a few images from the trip:








I spent the following week in Trier, Germany on a field trip with the fifth graders. It was a really great trip! I had fun chaperoning and hanging out with the other chaperones as well. It was nice to be back with the older kids - many of whom are as tall as me, of course!

The bus got back to ISB at about 2:30, and at 4:15 we left for Dublin! (We in this case was me, Cass, katie, Jen and Amy - 5 out of the 6 interns, and the first time we'd all traveled together!) The weather was beautiful, and we spent a lot of time hanging out in the sun, enjoying the English being spoke all around us. We had a beautiful apartment for Friday and Saturday nights and spent Sunday night in the airport before flying out at 6:30 on Monday morning - the beauty of a long weekend. We toured the Guiness factory, of course, and visited the art museum and the statue of Oscar Wilde that has some great quotes on it. We also rode around on the big tour bus and drove past the major churches and monuments.









The following weekend I did something I never thought I'd do in Belgium - go to a wedding! A Romanian wedding, to make it all the more amazing! Cristian, our friend and favorite bartender from Maison, the brasserie down the street that we frequent, is Romanian, as is his wife. getting married in Belgium is a process! First the Bourgmeister (like the mayor) of the commune performs a short ceremony at the commune, (in French, of course), going through the proper protocol and also dispensing marriage advice. Then, after driving to the church, the priest performs the religious ceremony. This was a Romanian priest, who uses part of a Belgian church as the Romanian church of Brussels. THere's nothing better than a cool church on a hot June afternoon, standing barefoot on the smooth stones, smelling the sweet incense, and listening to a Romanian wedding ceremony. Of course, after more than an hour of standing up, listening to a language I didn't understand, I was ready to go! We went back to Maison for the reception. We danced in a circle outside to Romanian music before going in, and had a great time hanging out in one of our favorite places...



World cup fever has hit, and you can tell who won the game by who's carrying on in the streets, honking and cheering and waving flags... and as the teams are eliminated the games are getting good... and the few sports bars in Brussels have their big screens up and are making a killing selling beer and burgers to people from around the world who come together to watch football... it's a fabulous thing!


School is over... and it was hard to walk away from. I don't think it's quite sunk in yet that I won't be seeing those fabulous kids of wonderful teachers again for quite awhile, if ever again. However, I'm excited for what's next - some time to spend in Belgium with my friends, going home to see much-missed friends and family, and a new adventure in Dubai....