Observations

Hello! It is Monday morning here in Belgium. So, it is the middle of the night for you guys back home. I thought I would write a little about observations I've been making about Belgium since arriving, to give you a little better idea of what it is like. The landscape in Beligum seems very rural to me, kind of reminding me of Iowa in alot of ways. Between villages/towns there are many farms and fields. I've seen alot of sheep here, and horses. The landscape is more hilly than Iowa terrain though and the roads are not straight like those in Iowa. The roads wind all over the place, and they are much narrower than American streets. Much of the time they are only big enough for 1 car at certain points so you have to watch for on-coming traffic. There are also many trees around. The architecture here is amazing. Driving along you see many old homes that are very cool looking. Gas prices are just out of this world. They price the gas by liter and it's around 1.47 Euro, so you multiply that by 4 to get a gallon and then convert it to US Dollars and it equals like $8 and some cents!!! That is only for 1 gallon!! Most European cars are small, and most Americans that are here on the Airforce Base and Nato Base drive Mini Vans! That is a problem at the Base chapel parking lot, because that parking lot was not built for large vehicles! Toilets here seem to all flush from the top, either by pushing down a button or pulling a knob up. Belgium has amazing sandwiches at their restaurants, better than any Subway I've been to. I've only been in a couple restaurants, and they have been small, but the food is good, and most of the time cheaper than American restaurants. While driving around, most stores, restaurants and gas stations happen to be European, but every once in a while you'll see something familar, such as a Texaco Gas station, or a Shell gas Station. I've also seen a Dominos pizza just a little ways from where I'm living. I will keep posting observations as I make them and later today I will post some more about what I've been up to in the last week.