Life is beautiful

Well this week has been pretty uneventful, which was nice.  It was a very relaxing week that was not too busy. During the week I was able to spend some night just skyping with people I don't talk with often and reading some of my book. I am trying to read Eat, Pray, Love before I go home so I can see it soon in theaters. It is a great book and really makes me think a lot. Just the other day the book inspired my sister, my mother and me to make a list of ways to indulge. I am realizing the importance of me time taking time to do things like read, take a walk, take a bath and just enjoying little things. My favorite quote from the book so far that I really love is "You were given life; it is your duty (and also your entitlement as a human being) to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight." Now that I have settled into life here I am really trying to work on this. I think I already know life is beautiful and am able to find joy in the little things, but I can still work on finding everyday simple beauties and pleasures. One things she is working on is alone time in the book. There could not be a better time in my life for me to work on this and to learn to enjoy being alone.

This is our cone sushi we started with

On Friday night my roommates and I were too tired to do much so we decided to stay in and make sushi while we watched some Sex in the City! It was the perfect girls night in. Making sushi was super easy and very yummy! We all needed to just relax and catch up on some sleep.



my master piece, and wonderful photograph taken by Ashley



Today I went to one of my favorite places, the market at Midi station! It is such a large market full of all different kinds of things and so chaotic, I love it! I got all my fruits and veggies for the week and prepared some meals when I got home. After the market I went to a restaurant with my roommate Ashlee to study French. We are trying to make this a habit so we will study and see new restaurants. During the week we went out for a glass of wine and some amazing gelato around the corner. Today we just got coffee and probably the best hot cocoa (chocolate chaud) I have ever had! It is so nice we can just go sit for hours in a restaurant and they won't rush us out, we can just sit and drink and study. It was a wonderful day. Now I am going to read a little more. This coming week should be pretty busy, we have our Halloween party for all of ISB faculty at our apartment on Saturday! I will be sure to post about then next weekend :).  

Have a good week love and miss you all at home, but see you soon!

I have so much to be thankful for...



All of the happy people with our feast

Well this Monday was Canadian Thanksgiving and since my roommate is Canadian we hosted Thanksgiving on Sunday! It was so wonderful, everyone brought a dish or two and we had the place all clean and rearrnaged. We had ten people, six Canadians and four Americans. The food was delicious and the company was great. It really felt like Thanksgiving, however we could not get any football on t.v. but it was a great day. Then after everyone left my roommates and I cleaned up. I went to bed with a full belly, a lunch for Monday, a clean house and a big smile on my face.



My decorations of leave from the ground and a candle :)
Again photo by our personal photographer Ash





My contribution was this amazing salad with goat cheese,
apples, dried cranberries and walnuts. yum!









I have also been trying to explore Brussels more and walk around as a tourist. I discovered the EU the other day, the European Parliment and some great parks. I love just getting out and walking around here, there is always something new and amazing. The weather is already starting to get cold though so that will be difficult. I already bought a new winter coat to prepare.



As for school things are great. I am technically supposed to be co-teaching in my room so I have been trying to work my way to that with my teacher. I am making progress and started doing some of the morning meetings during the week! They have been going very well and I have lots of ideas for us. I also plan to do activities in the hall with small groups to do more activities. While I love my little two year olds I am enjoying the older grades that I work with in the afternoons as well. They are so much fun! The other day I went in during a math lesson and the kids weren't quite getting it. I was able to explain it a new way and they began to understand. I felt so helpful and really think I see myself with a little older kids in the future.



I also have been able to talk to Maddy, my neice, a lot lately which has been amazing. We talked about letters the other day becuase she is really into writing. When we were naming things that started with C she said "come to me". It was so cute but broke my heart because I cannot go to her. We had some good converstaions though and the other day she wrote me an e-mail! It was too cute, she was naming all of the things she wants to do when I visit and told me I was still her best friend. I am really starting to look forward to my next visit home. Things are great here but it will be nice to see everyone.

I will add pictures of Thanksgiving and adventures soon!