I fell in love there

To get around my sister's part of Belgium, we used bikes. She and Sven kindly borrowed (and bought!) enough bikes that we could all ride around.

One day we visited an amazing bike shop. I test-drove this incredible cruiser. It was like driving a vintage Cadillac, only with a bit of the 21st century thrown into the mix. (Several gears - but hidden in the rear hub, for example.) The bike was made by an American company, but I forgot which. The shop was filled with "upright" bicycles - but not many mountain bikes. That style is very popular in Belgium, as there aren't many hills to contend with - at least compared to Colorado!

Alas, it did not fit into my budget or our luggage.

My sister lives in Belgium

Yes, Amy lives in the beautiful country of Belgium. She married Sven, who was born there. (If I tried to live in Belgium, it might take an act of Congress to get me a working visa.)

As you can tell from the pic, bicycles play a much greater role than they do in the States. (Every time I fire up the minivan here, I think of how many barrels of oil are meeting their demise.)

Anyhow, we stopped in Belgium on our way from Kenya back to Colorado - back in June. (There are no direct flights from East Africa to the States.) It was excellent to re-connect with Amy and Sven - as well as their son and new-to-us daughter. It was also fun to pat Amy's tummy - their third kiddo will arrive in November.

Heather and I both thought Belgium is a perfect country. Maybe it was the contrast after leaving Kenya. (Now don't get me wrong - I love Kenya. But my brain is hard-wired more to be comfortable in Europe than in Africa.)

Everything was so clean. Small cars were everywhere. Small European cars. New small European cars.

(The only small minivan available in the States is the new Mazda 5. And that doesn't fit our budget. So there go more of those oil barrels.)

Great quote

"With tea, when the water gets hot, the flavor comes out."

This was from yesterday's sermon. The obvious application is that when you encounter trials, your true colors show.

More culture shock

This time it's over prices.

In the Sunday paper, there was a 4-page stand-alone ad for Ted's Montana Grill. We celebrated our anniversary there maybe five years ago. Their prices must have gone up. I was stunned - buy a $100 gift card and receive a $20 card as a bonus?

I guess I find it hard to spend $100 on a meal - when rural families in Kenya who are affected by AIDS could live on that for two months or more. (See Heather's post.)

And there is a feature in the ad about how great the chain is because they use paper straws instead of plastic. Micro-good, I call that.

Don't get me wrong - if someone gave us a $100 gift card for the restaurant, I'd somehow find a way to use it.

Culture shock, still here

Yes, I had another round of culture shock the other day. We've been back in the States about two and a half months. (Who knows how much longer it will last. Thankfully, the effects are showing up fewer times.)

The other day, I had lunch with my favorite human (my wife, Heather). We went to the fancy establishment known as Arby's. A mainstream radio station was playing over the speaker system.

First, the kind of music was not to either of our tastes. Second, the commercials were obnoxious. And frequent. I had forgotten how fast those guys can talk. (Gotta squeeze in the maximum number or words into 30 seconds!)

At some point, my filters will be stronger.

More reduction

It sounds like "toilet seat for hounds" - but it just is a simple doggie poop bag. The bag is green plastic, of course, since most Europeans (and this American) are into "green". In this case, the plastic itself is not biodegradable. But it looks better than an orange bag if the user throws it away in a nearby hedge.

Made in Austria - for a Swiss market - but not for the French-speaking part, I guess. If you look at the two pictures, you can see that I shot pix of both sides - one German and one Italian.

My buddy Jim gave it to me after he made a trip to Europe. (Thanks Jim!) He knows I like unusual items - as do the faithful readers of this blog.

What's the "reduction" part about? Well, this little jewel is no longer in a box in my garage. And our dog Sparky will be an end user, of sorts.

Buy magazines today!

Jay and Ben, my two sons, are both selling magazines to benefit their middle school.

So if you're in need of any magazines, put your contact info as a comment & I'll get you hooked up.

Better yet, you can order online here. The school code to enter is HELPEUCLID. At some point, you should be able to specify that it is for Ben Merrill. (Only one kid can be registered - but Jay will get the brownie points too.)

They're pretty good deals. We're subscribing to Time: 84 issues for $31.

A wonderful thing is that this is their only fund-raiser all year.

Coffee

Faithful readers of my previous blog* will know that I love good coffee.

I fired up my trusty Braun coffee grinder recently. Not out of a desire to have freshly ground coffee - but rather because the only coffee in the house was beans. (I am way too lazy to grind my beans each day. In this case, I ground the entire half-kilo all at once.)

In this case, the coffee beans are from Rwanda. Not from a supermarket with "Rwanda" on the label - but the package, beans & even the roasting were from Rwanda. My sister in Belgium gave them to me, via our cousin David, who bought them in Rwanda. He has an exotic job that takes him to many far-flung corners of the planet. (Thankfully, he was able to visit us two or three times while we were in Nairobi.)

By the way, the coffee is great. It's pretty dark, but that's the way I like it.

* Go here to read about coffee from my old blog.

Perfect

Two or three days last week provided perfect conditions for rainbows. One evening, the whole family saw this perfect rainbow. We all remarked that it was the best rainbow we had ever seen. There were even two complete rainbows!

It was not just a reminder that God wasn't going to flood the earth again. We took it as a reminder that we're in the right place.

Sometimes I miss it

Leanne lives in Ghana. You should visit her site.

(I miss the random takings-out-of-context that are part of life overseas. Colorado is not like that. I haven't seen a Kenyan flag flying at any used car dealership.)