Day 85-92: Sadness and Waffles

Well, I'm no longer in Estonia.  It's very sad and devastating but it's true, and not changing anytime soon.  


My last few days in Eesti were great, but really sad too... everyone was asking how I felt about leaving and the answer was always the same... "Bittersweet... sad to leave this fantastic place, but glad to be done with school and be able to be home for the holidays too."  I didn't know how to react really to the fact that I was leaving... it wasn't real until I was on the plane the next morning.  Leaving Karolina was the hardest, and we didn't bother saying goodbye until it was the absolute last minute of the last day we were going to see each other.  It was so sad, and there were a few tears on each side, but I couldn't really cry and get it out, because I had so much packing to do.   So, I packed, and couldn't sleep so I kept packing and then tried to sleep and ended up watching tv on the computer for a while.  In the morning, I finally got the last few things in my bag, and got to the airport, about 10 minutes later than we'd wanted to.  It was the same basic scene as coming to the country, except this time, only half in my language, and all of the stuff had to come on 5 flights again, instead of 1.  So we took enough stuff out that I didn't have to pay as much for it (it would have been close to $500 if I hadn't taken anything out) and finally rushed through paying, security, and getting onto the plane.  As soon as I got into my seat, I lost it.  I just silently cried and cried and cried until I got so many sideways glances from my seat partner that I couldn't keep going, and I was done anyway.  The flight attendant thought I was afraid of flying, I think.  


Anyway, I had a six or seven hour layover in Riga, but got food, knitted, read, and napped.  I got to Brussels in good time, and after an amusing series of trips up and down halls and stairs, I finally found my train platform and made it to the Dunlap's house.  It's been fantastic being here, but weird to be in a country that speaks French again and reverting back to French only, instead of Estonian.  I keep mixing them together.  But anyway, Melissa and I went to downtown Brussels the first day I was here, and saw the Grand Place which was GORGEOUS, the Manneken Pis which was TINY, a few other cool sites, and had a REAL Belgian waffle with chocolate sauce.  YUM.  But the BEST thing we did was go to the MIM (Musical Instruments Museum), which has really amazing displays of all different kinds of musical instruments.  The coolest part is they give you headphones and then in front of each case, there's a sound clip that accompanies the instruments you're looking at.  VERY COOL.  It was a lot of fun.  


Today we went to Waterloo and learned about the battle that happened there.  It was a really cool place, but was really really rainy, so we were drenched.  Afterwards, we came back and got some food and then went to the SHAPE base where Kyle works and looked at a Christmas market that was there.  It was a lot of fun, and they had Christmas music playing and lots of cool things.  I got a cute little thing that cannot be disclosed as someone shall receive it soon, but it was an overall very fun thing to go to.  We went shopping on base, and then came home and had TACOS.  GLORIOUS TACOS.  YUMMMMM.  It was great.


I got to Skype in and give the quiz for 80's quiz night at Erin & Eric's tonight, which was great, and I got to see some of my teacher friends.  We're now tasting different Belgian beers and hanging out!  Tomorrow, I'm off to Bordeaux to see Laura again!


Talk to you soon.
Maintain,
Virginia