
Teebs at Soul Gardening posed some questions in the comments box earlier this week: How does Belgium feel to me now that I have an exit plan? What will I miss most? And what am I most looking forward to about life in the States?
From the beginning, we’ve known our time in Belgium would be limited. My husband signed a three-year employment contract with an option to extend to five years. Staying beyond that point would have required re-negotiating terms with his employer and the Belgian government regarding our status. While we considered staying for five years, neither of us seriously considered staying in Belgium indefinitely.
Knowing that our time was limited, we’ve tried to maximize the experience here, treasure it, soak up the details; that’s been the good part. The bad part is that because I’m only here temporarily, I’ve put down shallow roots. I never made the effort to learn to speak Dutch or to get involved in the community. I’m not a tourist, but I’m not a citizen here either, so leaving here will be easier than leaving the U.S. was.
That said, I know I’ll miss Belgium, and I know I’ll come back to visit to see my Belgian friends and relatives. What will I miss most about living here? The architecture—the way the towns and cities look with all of the old brick buildings, red tile roofs, small shops, cobblestones, and brick sidewalks. I’ll miss the stone walls and beautiful gardens, all the window boxes on people’s houses, and the sheer charm of the communities. American towns, even the quaint ones, pale in comparison.
On a related note, I’ll miss the gardens, hedges, flowers, and parks—the way Belgians invest far more in their landscaping than Americans do. I love the way Belgium is green all year round, even in the dead of winter, and I love the cool summers.
The house we live in here has casement windows and we have windows open year round, except in the very coldest weather. I love having fresh air constantly moving through the house, the scent of the rain in my bedroom, the rustling sound of the white birch trees moving in the breeze outside my window. Air conditioning is a necessary evil in Virginia, but while I enjoy the cool air, I hate the way having the house all buttoned up insulates me from the world.
What am I most looking forward to about moving back to the U.S.? Probably assuming my “place” in the world. I’ve felt like a guest in Belgium, and like any good guest, I’ve accommodated my host and tried not to be an imposition on anyone. I’m looking forward to asserting myself again and not being concerned about whether my actions are culturally acceptable. I can’t wait to resume working professionally and driving wherever I want to go, being part of a larger community again, feeling confident about my role.
I’m also greatly looking forward to electing a new president—AHEM—and doing what I can as a citizen to get America back on track. And of course, I can’t wait to host friends from Belgium at our home in Virginia. As we say in the South: “Y’all come!”
August 8, 2007