I am dumbfounded

We have all learned this lesson: "If it seems too good to be true, then it probably is". And what about trusting people that you don't know at all....I'm notorious for being too trusting and getting burned. Well, maybe you can explain to me what happened....

This morning at around 9am there was a knock at the door. I thought to myself, "who in the world could that be?" Sure enough, a stranger at the door. He only speaks Flemish. But with hand motions and a stray word here and there I figure out that he wants to know if I want my magnolia tree trimmed.

"Oh, no, thank you. I have a man that I use."

But he insists. And says it is for free.

"Free? No way! Why?"

I couldn't understand his explanation. AT ALL.

But I shrug my shoulders and tell him that it is ok. I'm thinking to myself, I need it trimmed. What is the worst that can happen? He'll whack it to the ground? It will still grow back. Is he just casing out the house, hoping to look in windows to see if there is anything he wants to steal? The other robbers came while we were sleeping in bed...this guy can come too if he wants I guess.

But he gets started and knows what he is doing. Has the ladder, and the saw, and string to tie up the debris of branches.

What reason in the world would somebody come to your house and trim your tree for you for free? I am stumped. Dumbfounded.

I took down his license plate number. From NL. That confused me even more.

I left for yoga and some errands and came home to find the tree nicely trimmed and shaped, as you can see in the photos. He took all the trimmings with him. So I didn't even have a big mess to clean up.

What just happened????

92 euros and 14 cents

That is what it cost me today to fill up my car with gas. 92.14 Euros. So in dollars? That would be a whopping $126.21. I forgot to see exactly how many liters that was, but about 60. Which makes it about a 15 gallon tank. Bottom line, gas is approximately 6.12 euros/gallon or $8.38/gallon.

Now I'm no genius in math. I might have all this wrong, but I don't think so.

And why cry about this now? It has always been expensive to buy gas here. But for some reason, our gas rations have been axed considerably. When we used to be able to get the gas rations for about $3.50/gallon it wasn't quite as painful to buy gas. It doesn't help that most people are fine on their gas rations.... but then they don't travel 2 hours for Stake meetings on a weekly basis. And they don't have 7 hour visiting teaching routes. And they don't have to travel 2 hours to take youth to a Stake dance. Most don't have the temple a 4 hour r/t drive away. Because most aren't mormon!

But then again. Lots have it worse. I'm just saying.....

And now it's been 22 years

I find this crew really hilarious. Today is our 22nd anniversary in Belgium. Before we left Virginia, I bought all the kids these biking pants. I guess I figured we would all turn into super bikers or something. (I would say a couple of them did!)
Anyway, here we are 22 years later. I wonder if I could please ask those kids in the picture to come back....even just for a few days, please! Where is Colie I wonder? Probably taking a much needed nap. Oh, and sorry Natalie that I got your pants way too big. Probably the store only had those big sizes.
I think we were all excited/ scared of our new adventure. I see a few packing boxes in the background. That would have been the air-shipment. Man, it brings back so many memories. And the dream continues.....

Just to Finish Up

A few more pictures just to finish up the story.
We did go shopping at the week-end market. Found some good deals, but ran out of money fast. Always amazing no matter where you are in the world....lots of people looking for good deals!
We took some pictures of the food stalls. That is where we ate most of our meals: from the stalls.
And to finish our adventure with this great story:
We were flying on Qatar Airlines. On Jan 31st they flew their maiden voyage from Doha to Brussels. Every passenger received a gift: a leather wallet. Then as we entered Belgium, the pilot announced that we would be escorted by two F-16's flown by the Belgian Air Force. And the plane pictures show our escorts. We thought it was pretty cool. When we landed the ground crew and newspaper crews were taking pictures. We felt like celebrities.
It was a great trip. Colie and I both know we are spoiled!!!