When I got here last week, Jan (my mom's cousin, and the wife/mother of the family I'm living with) was on her way back from London. Yvo (pronounced Eevo; the husband/father) picked me up from the Brussels train station, and brought me back here, pointing out sights of interest the whole way back. Jan's mother (my mom's aunt) Wilma was here with the boys, so she made the transition a little smoother for me.
Thankfully I was able to sleep in the first couple of days to get over my jet lag. On Friday of last week, Wilma took me into Brussels for the afternoon where we did some shopping, ate a nice lunch, and took pictures in the Grand Platz. It was all very cool, and I enjoyed her company a lot!
Sunday I was able to attend a Church of Christ in Antwerp (about a 30 minute drive from here), and the whole family joined me. Because of a youth weekend they were having, as well as Good News! from Harding, there were quite a few visitors who only spoke English. The service was done in both English and Dutch so that everyone could benefit from the lesson, however, it lasted 3 hours and we were all starving by the end! Next week I'm hoping to attend a small church in Ghent, located in the minister's house. The minister of the church in Ghent is actually the nephew of the minister at the church in Antwerp and the brother of Karina Brazle. Funny how even in another country the Church of Christ connects people!
Monday started my nannying job. I'm the au pair for two young boys, Nicholas and Christophe, 6 and 8 respectively. Until the end of June they are in school, so my job has been fairly simple thus far. I get them up and ready for school around 7:30, and walk them to the corner at 8:05. Around 4:30 I have to ride my bike over to their "Oma" (grandma) and "Opa" (grandpa)'s house where they go to do homework after school. Yvo usually cooks dinner (a great cook, I might add!) and I get them ready for bed around 7:45. The majority of my day is spent sleeping, working out, watching tv, reading and relaxing. Not bad for free room and board, as well as a nice paycheck every week!
This week there is a holiday on Friday, so the boys are out of school today through the rest of the week. Hopefully this is not a sign of the way July and August will work when they're out of school! Nicholas was quite a load of work this morning. Hopefully things will get better though.
Because of the holiday, we will be going to their apartment at the beach later this week. It's been chilly everyday, so I'm not sure how much swimming we'll be doing, but the boys like to play in the sand, and there are shops nearby. Hopefully it'll be an enjoyable weekend before they go back to school.
Here are some pictures of the house I was able to take:
This is the front of the house. My room is the window at the top.
This is the back of the house. The round part is the dinning room and is all glass so we can look at the beautiful backyard!
This is a picture of my room. Behind me is also a little sink and cabinet so that I can get ready in the mornings in my room instead of sharing the bathroom.
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