day seventy-three: leaving belgium is harder than you think...

well, at least for this traveler and her traveling companion it was. let me explain...

first off, I was wicked excited to be off to belgium: see sarah vaux de roeck (at some point the name won't seem so long), hang out with her husband kris, roost about in their flat, see a bit of antwerp, have a real, wonderful thanksgiving dinner...the list goes on and on. after waking up early on friday, a feat in itself, kate and I set off for belgium. with a minor delay on eurostar, we missed our connecting train to antwerp-centraal but hey, we're good travelers. so instead, we took a train to antwerp-berchem and then made another transfer to get us to centraal. after a bit of looking about, kate found sarah and we were set for our big weekend in antwerp. kris picked us up from our tram dropoff and, after arriving to s&k's super duper flat, kate, sarah, and I set about for five hours of talking. (and lots of snacking...) we went out to dinner, where sarah showed off her budding dutch skills for the first time, and then met kris and his friend for a drink.

saturday morning started early early, as there was lots to be done for the thanksgiving feast that sarah had laid out. her mother-in-law, lizette, came over to assist (greatly, indeed) while the rest of us did what we could to pull dinner and the thanksgiving ambiance together. after a nice nap, I woke up shortly before the guests arrived (two couples and one very cute baby) and helped put the finishing touches to the meal. the night was great. it was fun to share a tradition with the belgians, who had never really sat down and announced to their friends what they were thankful for. though I was quite sleepy towards the end of the meal, I bounced back to do some major dancing with ms. vaux de roeck. awesome.

sunday morning meant crepes with lots of nutella...mmm! after a bit of chatting and lounging, we set off to see kris's football match, only to learn that he had been injured earlier in the game. boo. nonetheless, standing about in the freezing cold hearing random bits of encouragement (or beratement) of the players in dutch was quite fun. after a dinner of chinese takeaway, kate and I packed the last bits of our belongings to go to the antwerp-centraal station and say our final goodbyes.

after locating a suitable train car, we put our bags up and got back on the platform to hug sarah and kris one last time. a bit of a movie montage ensued, in which the four of us mocked dramatic goodbye scenes in train stations. the whistle blew, we gave the couple a quick hug, turned around, and the doors shut. we all began screaming, kate started running off towards the conductor, who popped her head out of the engine. I, still holding onto the train doors trying to open them, thought that the conductor must of seen us as was going to stop, as did kris and sarah. alas, this was not the case. off went the train, with our bags in tow. kate, very wisely, had her purse with her. me: well, I saw everything pull out of sight.

the four of us sprinted to kris's car, with plans to beat the train to brussels. in the car, kris called the station to ask them to call the train conductor and ask if someone would guard our bags. unfortunately, this request had to be made in person at antwerp station, so back we went. listening to the station chief with his heavy reluctance for helping us was awful...just because I don't speak dutch doesn't mean that I couldn't read that he was in no way interested in interrupting his dinner to do his job. finally, he relented and radioed the train conducter. kris and I sprinted back to the car and we were off to brussels. after locating the station, we ran in, spoke with a man at the information desk who said that we should check the platform. I ran up to the platform and, finding no one with our bags, located another train conductor to see if he could help. after explaining the situation in english, I had to do so again in french. (definitely need to do a refresher course before the next journey across the channel.) he referred me back to the info desk, so off we went. in dutch, the man told us that our bags probably wouldn't be found, something that I didn't learn until after the incident, as well, I don't speak dutch. sarah and kate went to check the baggage area again while kris and I waited in the info center for the train conductor to be contacted. while we were there, kris's mobile rang and, moments later, the three of them returned with our bags....yippee! my tears (did I forget to mention I had been crying this entire time?) subsided as kris relayed that the conductor and station chief had rang the number on sarah's empty suitcase (which I am taking back for her to chicago). all of our bags were there and nothing was missing. awesome awesome.

by this time, we had missed all eurostar trains to london. luckily, the eurostar rep listened to our story and allowed kate and I to return to london on any monday train without having to pay any fees.

while we didn't mean to, we were able to spend another day with sarah and kris! it was quite the long, dramatic, and unpleasant experience, but we got to spend more time in antwerp, so the end result was superb.

after a nice lunch and a bit of a walk near the cathedral, kate, sarah, and I boarded a train to brussels, where kate and I made our connection to london. (sarah wasn't taking any chances on this trip!)

so, all in all, the story is fragmented and, at times, the sunday night adventures seemed a bit surreal. nevertheless, I had an excellent time in belgium and am so pumped to go back! now, I'm back in london and am forcing myself to catch up on past readings and focus on developing a paper topic for my postcolonial course. there is much to be done in the next two weeks (term ends december 10), so it's bound to be busy. but what would I do with myself if I wasn't?

hope this long, rambling story finds you all well. loves to all.