New haircut and mom and dad visit

Mom and dad got here last Friday and in the spirit of trying to keep them from jet-lagging I did not let them go to sleep- they call me mean but they will thank me later:) So I took them into Brussels and showed them some of the sights. Here they are in front of the arches-we even went on top and got a cool view of the park.

Then Saturday we drove down near Paris and visited Versailles- pretty amazing place. It's hard to imagine it in its hay-day when it was filled with all kinds of royalty. Here we are in the hall of mirrors.

Sunday we got up and drove into the city. Well not really into but outside of and parked our car and took the metro in. It started pouring moments after getting off the metro and so we decided to go in the Louvre first. We saw the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. Our favorite part was sitting in front of Napolean and being art critics for a few moments- like we were in a movie or something:) When we came out of the Louvre the sun was shining.

That night we went and saw the Eiffel Tower with it's lights on. At the top of each hour there are twinkle lights that go on the tower- it was beautiful. Here are mom and dad in front of the tower.

Tuesday we took off from sightseeing- I had to do some work and mom and dad needed some rest:)!! But Wednesday we started back up again- we went to Brugge- only about 1 hour away. The market was going on when we got there so we bought a chicken and some potatoes and sat by the water and ate with our fingers- how American of us. Then we took the boat tour through the canals and walked around a bit.

Today I sent mom and dad off on the train by themselves. i again had some work to do and some fun stuff to do. One of the fun things was going to the European Parlament to eat lunch. A friend works there and she invited a few of us the come check it out. It was pretty impressive being in a place where world changing decisions are made every day. Here we are sitting in the seats before we got kicked out.

Right after the EP I had a haircut. There was a guy interviewing for a job here. Him and his wife are also going to be working with one of the churches here and that is how I knew about it. So I went and told him that as long as I could pull the front back he could do whatever he wanted with it. SO here is what he came up with- I really like it- its fun and new and no one can say they can't tell I got my hair cut!!!

That's all for now- I think it's enough!

Monday in Paris!!

So monday's are my day off here in Brussels. Last week my friend Jessica called me up and asked if I would like to go to Paris for the day on Monday. So of course me answer was YES!! I mean really- paris for the day- how gets to do that?!!! SO we headed off around 7:30 AM- it's a 3 hour drive. Here we are in the car on the way down. And some other fun pics of the trip. As you cansee we got to see lots of good stuff and we even met up with a good friend of ours-Tiffany- who lives there.

Oh what fun!

So it's a crazy time right now-next friday morning I pick up my parents from the aiport. I am SO excited that they are coming. They are going to get to see (and I'm sure spruce up) my place, meet my friends, see what I do over here and even get to travel a bit. Paris, Germany and Amsterdam are on their list- all are withing 3 hours- pretty cool. Not only are they coming but we are trying to wind up the year with YoungLife and WyldLife stuff. I am only here for 2 more weeks before I head back to the states to work at camp!! Which if I haven't told you- I am beyond excited about!!! SO busy busy over here-but lots of fun too.

A few weeks back all the women who work for YoungLife in Europe came here to Brussels for a women's weekend. It was so much fun hanging out and hearing peoples stories. I think all we did all weekend was go from cafe to resaurant and chat. Here's a photo of the group after one of our dinners. Yes 2 random men decided to get in our pictures:)

I have started to get a group of great fun friends here- the sad part is most of them will not be here next year- but that just means I will that many more places to go visit!:) This is our group after a fun day at the flea market!

This is me, Liesl and Nino- he is honestly one of the funniest guys- who knows what he is looking at here but I am sure we were all laughing! Don't me and Liesl look cute though:)!!