Tough Decisions

Decisions! Decisions!

Let the fun begin!

I was not given much time to let the dust settle after the end of the school year before I was needed in Belgium to assist in planning our future.  All too quickly, time came to Jump the Pond and help initiate decisions about the school the girls would attend, finalize our banking arrangements in Belgium, tour the house Ryan chose, and attempt to sort out the whirlwind change our family needs to grow accustomed to for the day to day living in a new country.

Ryan arranged a taxi and yet a carriage (stretch limousine) arrived to take us to the airport.  As we headed east to Belgium, the girls were headed to South Hilton Head (Hilkin Head as Chloe calls it) for a little sun, biking, and swimming with Nana and Papaw.

Upon our EARLY morning arrival, a day of sight-seeing was ahead of us since our early hotel check-in is not an option.  The next day we met with the relocation representative making our first stop at the International School of Brussels (ISB).  Ryan and I toured the beautiful (and much different than our American) facilities.  The school was quite different and offered a great deal of academic and extra-curricular options for our children.  I was amazed at the MIUCH smaller class sizes, being a teacher with not only more students, but also more classroom real estate to work with. 

Building in Brussels

Next stop?  The bank.  What we thought would take 15 minutes took more like an hour.  Let me just start by saying, banking is quite different in Belgium.  Sure, the banks look the same and appear to operate in the same manner, but the devil is always in the details.  Keeping up with the rules and practices of utilizing little machines that have to attach to home computers was enough for me to think I will let Ryan work through the banking.  In addition to the little computer attachment and the fees for everything from depositing and print out your statements, or get charged for NOT getting your statement at the bank.  We signed our life away.  Seriously, I think I signed more forms for a bank account than I did when we bought our house.

The third stop was the next International School, St. Johns.  This school was a much smaller and more intimate school than ISB.  Ryan and I really enjoyed the relationships the students had with their teachers and the opportunities the girls would be given, albeit a little further bus ride for the girls.  The school's curriculum is different than that of our current American School, but I think it will be good for them with the right amount of challenge.  After much thought and discussion, we felt this school best fit the personalities of Rylee and Gwen.  I am secretly excited about the fact the girls will have uniforms and I won't have to have future discussions about what they have to wear (at least until middle school).

FINALLY, the moment arrived that I had been waiting for ALL day, the trip to our new home.  The second Ryan found out he had the position he started looking online for homes.  He had to have looked at hundreds of homes daily and just not finding something he loved.  Things changed when he saw this house, as he fell in love immediately given its large land space, castle-like outdoor appearance and wood beam interior.  To be honest, I did too.  The home was built in 1945 and looks like a European home imagined while reading of fairy tales.  The house sits on 2.5 acres fully lined with a huge wall, gated entrance, mature trees, beautiful hedges, and a tennis court.  We were a little worried the house would not be available before I could join Ryan to see it, so I told him to take a look on his own- if he loved it to go ahead and sign for the house. As soon as we pulled up, I knew this was the one.  Our relocation agent was sure I would hate it and I had to laugh when they told me this.  Apparently, Europeans are drawn to the more modern interior style of home, while we were looking for the exact opposite with a more traditional style.  

A chance to walk in someone's
shoes?  No, just a canal ride.

The remainder of the trip was mostly trying to figure out where the stores were located, the types of foods we could buy, and the cost of living we would soon encounter.  For some reason, we thought this would be a great opportunity to make our first trip to IKEA.  (I think could write a whole blog on that experience alone!)  I can't tell you how many times we got lost and we were on sensory overload the entire time.  There came a point when Ryan and I felt like we weren't going to make it out alive.  

Overall, if I were to put this trip into one word, it would be "reassuring." While the point was to make decisions and try to figure out our new life, I felt comforted by the fact this move was not an impossible task.  If we can't move something we own, we can find it there or buy something completely different.  The girls will have a great education and we have a new pile of bricks and mortar we can make our home.  

Coming home to moving will be a new task to obsess and worry over.  I was thankful for the time I had with Ryan to make for our family and the time the girls had making memories with their grandparents.  We are going to have a different type of life than we have had here, but an exciting one full of possibilities for sure!