Need. Sleep.

We're officially in Belgium and MAN... it feels good! Sure, we're suffering severe lack of sleep, jet lag and all around disorientation, but still.. IT'S BELGIUM! On Monday (the 23rd), we packed the truck hit the road by 12:45a to LAX thanks to my awesome Dad. He insisted on driving us down to the airport since he didn't want us having to stress out about a rental car. In turn, we got to spend some additional time together, talked about some stuff, and also got his ticket taken care of for when he comes and visits this summer! *woot* He'll be visiting from June 26th till August 4th...YAY!! :D

Got to LAX around 3:45a, unloaded and made our way to the check in counter. Good grief, we needed 4 of those airport roller carts ($5 a pop) because of the sheer amount of luggage we had in addition to the dogs and their carriers. We rolled in with 9 pieces of luggage, 3 carry on dog carriers, a large dog crate, and an additional carry on item for the each of us.Luckily for us since we were on Military orders, they waived the extra baggage / overweight fee's AND they gave us a discount on the dogs fee's. SO, instead of spending $1,400 like we were expecting, it only cost us $600!! YAY!! The only part that made my kidneys hurt was when I went to the Currency Exchange place... for $220 in American dollars, I got €150. Lame!!

The flight from LAX to Washington D.C. started off rathering entertaining since that particular plane was completely booked and people were trying to switch seats. Well, one of the airline Stewarts was already working on accomodating a family of three to sit together(imagine a really really flaming gay man). All the while, there's another Stewart who's French ALSO trying to accomidate people. Basically, Frenchy gave away the seats the gay man had already figured out and they started having a catty fight in the middle of the airplane, lol. It was pretty funny... I guess you just have to imagine a super fem gay man and a snooty french person bitching one another out. Once we got to Washington D.C., we unloaded and made our way over to our connecting terminal, chilled out and made sure Izzy, Cole and Macie were doing good. Ya see, we had to actually sedate them while we were at LAX so they didn't disturb the other passengers. While we were trying to get all checked in, Cole and Macie were screaming and freaking out.. no bueno! In the end, they had to pop some sleepy pills and they were out like a light. Poor things though, when we checked on them...they all looked SO stoned.

In all honesty, the flight from Washington D.C. to Brussels was painful. Literally. I have a problem with sitting still for a long time, not to mention, I have really bad back problems... so a bunch of pain and pressure start to build up and it becomes quite bothersome, ESPECIALLY in tight little seating area's. Between playing Mario Kart DS and rockin' out to my Zune...mildly sleeping and drooling.. the 7 hour flight kinda flew *har har*. We got off the plane and made a bee-line for the passport area, then the luggage area. To my shock & awe, they had already started loading the carosel with bags! DUDE! I've never had an airport be that fast with luggage! All bags were accounted for as well as Cali *whew*. Our Sponsor was already waitin for us as well as 2 of his buddies to help since they were already aware of our rather large following of luggage. Once all the bags were loaded, we were off to our base...the GPS in the car was acting wonky, so we got the scenic tour on the way since it kept giving wrong / last minute directions, lol.

We finally arrive in Peer, get dropped off at our temporary apartment which looks like IKEA ran rampant in here (in a good way). There's a really cool sliding glass door...and yes, I know it's weird to say it's a "cool" door. BUT, you flip a latch on it and it pops off, forward and slides.. i guess it's hard to explain, but it's super cool and we want one for a house, lmao. No carpet (thank god), washer and dryer, furnished and just all around...totally my style :) We'll be here till April 1st, then we'll be moving into a house that Ivo (pronounced E-vo, our mediator) was able to find for us. Seeing how we have 4 dogs, it's rather hard to find a landlord who's willing to allow that many animals in their house, despite not having carpet in the place. Ivo actually popped over this afternoon and we walked over to the house he had found for us (it's maybe half a mile from where we're currently at). While we walked, he showed us different parts of down town, restraunts, businesses...totally cool! Once we got to the house, it's a bit in the country, there's a field next to it with horses (they're huge & pretty!), checked out the house and totally love it...aside from the hideous curtains. Luckily, we can replace those...but for everything else, it's perfect and I totally love it. The owner / landlord is really nice and is actually Mr. Handyman, so if there's anything we need fixed / replaced, he'll do it. He's actually the one that build that house AND the apartment complex we're currently in. How cool is that?

Our Sponsor picked us back up, took up to a near by Army Base (Shinnen) so we could pick up some groceries and dog food since we're carless. Showed us around the base, met a handful of people that we'll get to know pretty well, found the gym *yay!*. Oh, and Eric has to go to work tomorrow *boo* After we were done looking at the house & figuring out what's gonna go where, Ivo wanted us to go out for a drink...so we ended up at this awesome cafe bar. I'm a huge coffee junky, but I can honestly say that was the BEST cappichino I've ever had. Straight up espresso shot, lil' bit of creamer, alotta whip cream and a small wedge of almond cake (it was possibly the size of a post it note). DELICIOUS! Yum yum..Afterwards, we were on our way back to our apartment and we ran into another AF couple that happens to be living in the apartment right above us, chit chatted a lil' bit then went on our seperate ways. Later on, Eric and I ended up venturing on our own to check out the shops, found a cell phone company that we're gonna check out this weekend so we can get some cells, an amazing chocolate place, there's even a cool retro bike store right next to our apartment that I wanna check out. Their bikes look like the old school schwin's, has a front basket as well as two saddle baskets..AND..when you're peddling, it has a light on the front that works when you're riding your bike at night. I'm totally wanting to get one because our apartment and even our *potential* house is within a reasonable distance. Not to mention, it's good exercise and I don't wanna waste the gas in my truck for little errands, ya know? Anyway, in the midst of us looking around, Eric saw a Turkish restraunt that sells." Kabobs". Ever since we've known one another, he's always talked the Turkish Kabob's he had while he was stationed in Turkey...so, when he saw this place, he HAD to have some. Once we got in the place, the other AF couple happened to be there and we all ate together...super nice couple! Definetely hangin' out some more :)

And yes...this has all happened since we landed @ 7am THIS morning! There's pictures, but I can't upload them to this computer since it's the computer that comes with the apartment. Once I get a converter for my laptop, then I can upload everything :)

Here's a funny side note: I'm so used to Vandenberg cause it has missle launches, but you never heard any jets there. Very rarely do you ever hear 'em & when you do, it's usually for a special event. Here at Kleine Brogel, they're flying ALL the time and I LOOOOOVE it!! It's 9:30pm and they're STILL flying! LOOOVE IT !!!