Book Worries, Nervous Classes, Real Chocolate, and Memories :]

Hello, everybody!  No need to be worried about the lack of posts, I AM alive :] (and so is Tyrel, in case you were wondering).

This past week has been exciting and nerve-racking for me.  Tyrel's book "Reed All About It" came out last Friday!  It's a very strange feeling to know that people will be reading a book all about my husband's life with quotes from me in it.  It's silly to think that I'm worried what people will say about my comments and stories.  For one, I won't even know the vast majority of people reading the book! And two, does it really matter?  I am me no matter what people think of my comments or the book; still, I really hope people will enjoy reading the stories Tyrel told.  Amazon allowed people to pre-order the book online and it is also sold in many stores around Kansas including: KU Bookstores, Kansas Sampler, Dillon's, and Hoover's Thriftway.  I'm sure there are other places as well, along with Barnes and Noble online (not sure if it's in any B&N stores in Kansas).  I haven't seen the finished product, but I did go over a few things when it was still in the editing process.  I'm excited to actually see it soon!  Also, Ty will be having "diary entries" posted in some of the Kansas newspapers;  his editors contacted him and wanted him to write about his experiences over here in Belgium and what Europe is like.  The first one has already come out so keep yours eyes open for them!

Here's the cover of the book (image from Amazon)! 

Last Friday was also a really fun and interesting day for me.  When at basketball games, I frequently talk to the man that does all the announcing, Gerard.  He is very kind and knows KU basketball pretty well!  He said he loves to watch US college basketball and always watches the NCAA tournament.  Anyways, Gerard speaks really great English and goes to a school a couple days a week to further his understanding of it and perfect it.  He asked if Alec and I would like to come to his school some time and talk to the students and the teacher.  He said this would allow the students to get a chance to practice their English more without the luxury of explaining something in French when they don't know how to say it.  We both excitedly agreed and we visited his class last Friday.  I was actually pretty nervous because I didn't want to say something stupid and them have a bad experience or opinion about Americans.  At first, the class was a little shy and needed a little prompting to ask questions, but by the end of the class it was a very easy flow of conversation and they were asking if we'd come back!  I definitely would; it was a great experience and so nice to meet different people.  The class was very welcoming and their teacher is so sweet.  It was really cute because she had learned British English and when she spoke English she had a sort of British accent along with her French accent!  The combination was pretty neat.  I had asked how long the students had been learning English and one of the guys had only started learning it a year or two ago from the INTERNET and his English was very clear.  He must be very determined; he was also a huge sports fan and asked us a lot of questions about basketball and the NFL.  One of the guys in the class was a little bit disappointed to find out Alec and I were both married, but he did say at the end of the class that his new goal was to find a nice, American wife! HAHA!  One question that I asked the class was to tell me what their opinions and feelings about Americans were.  I told them not to hold back and to say both the good and the bad; whatever came to their minds!  I was astonished to hear such nice and encouraging words from all the students.  They really did have kind things to say about us as a whole and that made me feel a little better.  Usually you hear about people from other countries not liking the US and having negative feelings toward us, but it was refreshing to hear that we do have some redeeming qualities in the eyes of others!  Gerard brought the class a box of chocolates to share during the break and one of the other students brought some homemade apple juice from his sister's orchard!  Everything was delicious.

Here's a picture of the outside of the "school".  I'm not really sure if you can call it a school, but there are many language classes taught here.  It may look like an old house from the outside, but it truly looked and felt like a school on the inside.

Gerard bought Alec and I boxes of chocolates as a thank-you for coming to his class!  It was very nice of him and I thoroughly enjoyed my gift.

He really did get us a TON of chocolate.  They are all delicious and I had a hard time not eating them all at once.  We may not be able to get authentic Belgian chocolate in Kansas, but I think Andre's in Kansas City by the Plaza comes pretty close.  If you've never been there, you should check it out!  I went there 2 years in a row with my French class in high school and like to visit when I can.  You can never have too much chocolate in your life ;]

Since it's fall and the weather has definitely cooled off, I've been in baking mode (not like that ever really changes!).  And I've been REALLY wanting to make pumpkin muffins, chocolate chip pumpkin cookies, pumpkin cinnamon rolls, pumpkin, Pumpkin, PUMPKIN!  But guess what...they do not sell pumpkin puree here!  I even asked Gerard and the class and they had no clue what I was talking about!  Isn't that crazy!?  Alec and I have walked to every grocery store in town (even in the cold rain) and haven't found any.  I know, I know...I could go get a pumpkin and bake it and make my own puree, but I really don't feel like it.  Canned pumpkin is just so easy to use.  If it comes down to it and I can barely make it another day without pumpkin, I guess I'll break down and bake me a stinkin' pumpkin.  I saw a sign at the store that said "potiron" (pumpkin) was like 68 euro cents per kilo or something, so I guess that's not too bad.  

A couple weeks ago, Tyrel finally got a haircut.  I'm surprised he even went so long without one!  This guy probably got a haircut every 3-4 weeks in the States, and he had gone months over here.  But I'm not going to lie, it's probably the best haircut he's ever gotten.  We went to this little barber that all the guys go to, Tyrel showed the guy a picture from our wedding (the guy didn't speak any English), he looked at it for about 2 seconds and off he went!  It was really interesting watching him because it was different than how guys get their hair cut in the US.  He took a longer time and did it layer by layer instead of immediately cutting it to the short length at once.  It was weird seeing Ty with such short hair after it had been crazy long for a while!  But the barber was really cheap (only 6 euros) so I'm sure Tyrel will go back to him regularly.

Getting work done :]

A couple weeks ago, we got a care package from the Simiens!  It was very sweet of them to send us so much stuff!  We opened it up and layer after layer we kept finding great things!  Katie put a lot of spice packets and cooking stuff in there for me and Ty got a lot of gatorade powder mixes.  

Magazines, gatorade, baking cocoa, peanut butter, vanilla, teriyaki sauce, and vanilla chai latte.  I had never had a chai latte before, but it is SO good.  I think I may become addicted to it :]

Speaking of care packages, my mom recently sent us one and it made it to Belgium last Wednesday, but we still haven't gotten it!  The tracking number says they tried to deliver it to the office we get packages sent to but no one was there so they left a slip for them.  Well, guess what, there wasn't a slip!  You pretty much have to have the slip to go get your package because it has a barcode on it that they scan.  We're trying to figure out if we'll be able to go to the post office and talk to them (haha...if anyone speaks English!) and try to pick it up or get it re-delivered.  It's been very frustrating knowing it's here but we don't have it.  This happened to a package that was sent to us from Cole and Britt, but we were never notified it was here or to go get it, so they eventually sent it back to the US! I really hope that doesn't happen to this one.

I recently found my older camera that I brought over here just in case something happened to my new one.  I didn't realize that there were still many pictures on it that I never downloaded to my computer.  It was really exciting to see all the pictures I had forgotten about.  Here are some that I had taken over the summer:

Everybody was Kung-Fu Fighting...

That would be my brother flying through the air :D haha

Natalee running to Ry

Colorado :] SOOO pretty. I miss it!

Ty getting some fishing in after our hike :]

:]

HUGE! He was so close to us.  Not gonna lie...I was a little scared, but we had an exit strategy just in case.

Old gold mine we visited

Me and Nay just hanging out

Have you ever found pictures you forgot about?  These all made me smile :]  I can't wait to see my family in less than 2 weeks!  I've been making a list of food I want my mom to make when I come home haha 

Tyrel has another away game tonight and I hope he doesn't get home too late.  The last away game they had he didn't get home until 2:30 :(  My sleeping schedule is still messed up from waiting up for him!  

Hope you all have a great week!  If you've gotten Ty's book, let me know what you think :] And be honest!  

Lots of love.