View from the top!

Here is the view from our window in the attic apartment! When we move to the permanent apartment on the 2nd floor, our windows will open up to this-providing a nicer and larger view of the River!

Our Temporary Apartment

We had a fun night last night with the hotel bartender and his girlfriend. We met her at a restaurant he recommended, but didn't realize they were together! They are a very fun couple! There was a Bike Race (not pro's, but they ALL thought they were Lance Armstrong in their tights!) that started and ended in Liege, and a lot of the participants stayed at our hotel. We got to hear a bunch of different languages, and managed to close the place down! Dido, the bartender, learned how to make a lunchbox (Edmond boys--be proud!) and Stephen had yet another nasty local drink--Jack Daniels and Beer, called a Crazy Dog! It was a little rediculous! Dido went to pick up his girlfriend, Aurore, at her restaurant and they came back and hung out with us for a while! We are excited because we will only be a few doors down from our hotel at this new apartment, so we can stop in and catch up with our new friends whenever we want...and they SPEAK ENGLISH!! Woo Hoo!! (Small victories people!)


This morning we moved into our new house! We are temporarily renting the attic apartment, as you can see in the pictures. We will hopefully move into our permanent apartment Oct. 1st! That is the goal at least! We are pretty excited, although I'm going to miss getting our room cleaned and new sheets everyday! Tonight we are having our spaghetti dinner, hopefully Stephen will be full for once! Tomorrow the MARKET is outside...so he's already excited about his Brat! It's going to be really neat living here, and it's not half bad! You have to understand though, from looking at the picture, how excited we are to have our bed! Maybe they'll speed the boat up if we pray hard enough!


Everything is getting better...I just need a routine, and I think a job will help that! We are getting more accustomed to the city, and the people...although I still feel like I'm just here for a vacation. I guess the reality of it will hit me...you might get a crazy blog when it happens! We miss all of you...hope everyone is doing well! Remember, you can all download "Skype" at http://www.skype.com/, where you can talk to us directly with video for free! We'd love to see your faces!


Ciao, a bientot!
The Dotson's

The Pitfalls of saying "Oui!"

Stephen and I went to this store/mall called Cora. It's a lot like a strip mall attached to a Costco! Brilliance in my opinion. It was late in the afternoon, and we hadn't had lunch yet! So we decided to go there, grab some groceries for a spaghetti dinner, and have a snack at one of the many restaurants! I also wanted to check out the bike scene and price compare! They are quite expensive. Right inside the entrance we see a sandwich shop. We discussed our options, and decided to play it safe and get jambon avec frommage (ham with cheese). We get up to the counter, and before we can even order she's looking at us like we're crazy. Stephen orders, and then she starts going OFF in French. We just kept saying "Oui!" (sorry Veronique...you definitely taught us better...we just froze). So, we ended up with the sandwich below. We took a bite or two, and it was TERRIBLE! So we saved it simply to show you the pitfalls of saying "Oui" in a moment of confusion! We chalked it up to 4 euros for a laugh!! Enjoy :)

Stephen WILL NOT like this...

It's been a while since our last post...I apologize for not keeping you all updated. The main reason is that not much has gone on in the "entertaining" sense. Monday was Stephen's first day of work, which went off without a hitch. He's really enjoying his new job, and loves the people he works with! That's such a blessing! Monday was also my first day alone in the big city! I think I did well...I was able to get all my errands run this week without too much drama, and I've been able to order lunches as well! It's getting less intimidating every day. Keep the prayers coming though--it's a different world around here! Very different! With that being said, we've been so blessed with everything! We're getting a big car to cart everyone around in when you visit, we've found a place to live, and we're adapting as well as we can to the city and the language!

Today, Stephen, myself, and the HR lady at his office are meeting with the landlord to look over the place before we move in...just to ensure everything is OK. If everything goes well, we should be able to move in at the end of the week! That will be nice! Stephen got a cell phone, so I went and got one on his same service so we can talk easily-that was an adventure in itself, but I did it! And we have a nice rental car until our car is ready (the pictures-for you Brian), probably next week! Well, that's it for now! Ciao!

BBQ and Flea Market...Can Life Get Better?

We woke up this morning, had breakfast and decided to venture outside to see the flea market our new landlord told us about. I must say we didn't have very high expectations! As we walked out of our hotel, we were welcomed by hundreds of vendors, selling everything from meats, clothes, lingerie, pasta, frites, electronics, flowers, LIVE ANIMALS. You name it, they had it! It was awesome! We've decided that we can purchase a weeks groceries at the market...for less than the grocery store! From what we've heard, the market goes on every Sunday, rain or shine, sleet or hail! I'm excited because of the fresh fruits and vegetables, and Stephen is excited for the fresh brats! Make sure when you come visit you are able to stay for a Sunday. It's eye opening!

Tonight we went to Gill and Christophe's house for a BBQ. Gill is Stephen's new boss at PFS here in Liege. We were again curious of what to expect at a Belgian BBQ. We had chicken kabobs, lamb burgers, sausages, ribs, potatoes, salad, bread and sangria. She even had a strawberry tart and tea/coffee afterwards. I must say we were impressed, and really excited to have food we liked :) Hopefully in the new apartment we can purchase a grill. We hadn't realized how much we missed it until tonight!

Well, it's off to bed! Stephen's got to get up tomorrow for work. And I have to figure out how to buy an alarm clock and contact solution! Ciao!

Pretty Stops on a Long Adventure

Yesterday we decided to visit the train station, hoping to get acclimated with the area, times of trains, and how much it would cost us to visit other places around here. We got a map from the concierge, but didn't think we needed verbal directions (stephen was sure we could read a map). To make a long story short, we ended up in the ghetto, completely read the map wrong, and went about 45 minutes out of our way. When we finally got there, we were able to see the train station for a minute or two before we needed to head back for dinner. It was nice, but the best part were some of the things we saw on the way. All pictures are from the town "Centre" and there are more beautiful things to see...you'll just have to come see them yourselves :)

The first picture is of a floral peacock. The body

is made of bronze, and each tail is full of flowers. I thought it was charming! The next picture is of St. Paul's Cathedral. It looks burned, we're not sure what is going on there. Most of the people work or shop around the cathedral and eat lunch around it as well. It's a nice little area with pretty gardens. The final picture is of a man selling balloons. I don't know why I found it so interesting...I just did! Enjoy!

Everything here is going well! Stephen starts his job tomorrow, and although I'm excited for him, I'm a little nervous of life on my own here. We'll see how it goes--I'm a tough cookie! My only problem is I think that if everyone looks like me, they speak English! I'm VERY wrong on that!!

Updates!

Well, we've decided to take the floor in the house that we mentioned earlier! Thank you to everyone that responded for help on that issue! We have told her that we will live month to month in the other apartment while she fixes ours, and will move into the one we want when construction is complete. We've given her two months to finish the reconstruction of it, and if it's not done by then we'll continue to live month to month until we find another place. We are confident, though, she'll have it done and everyone will be happy!! Yeah!!!


As for the car...we thought we had decided on an Audi A3. A hatch-back (or wagon Brian) that we could zip around town with. But as of today, the rumor mill has stated we might be getting the VW Touran. To save you all the time of looking it up, I've attached a picture.

Those that know me well know that I SWORE I would NEVER drive a mini-van. Ha the irony...all kidding aside, we are completely grateful that we are getting a car, especially one with soo much room! All of you that come visit will have a seat! Can you believe it? We can't wait to drive it...plus, we saw one today, and it's really cute in person :)