Quality Mall Time

Apollo mall in Dnepropetrovsk.

In all the malls there are large grocery stores, in one called Varius I found frozen apricots!

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 Buying seafood and chicken is different from the way we do it in America.....

You pick up your own fish or you can have them clean it for you.

To buy chicken you put a plastic bag over your hand and put the pieces you want in a bag.

In Dnepropetrovsk there is a coffee shop "Coffee Life" chain similar to Starbucks. The coffee is yummy and Dior loves coming with me to use the wifi internet.

Mocha! I always have pictures of me drinking coffee!

Adjusting to Dnepropetrovsk

Its now October and after a rough start we seem to be adjusting. We've been learning how to take public transportation and thankfully haven't ended up on the wrong street. The buses here are very small and don't have designated stops just specific routes. You can pretty much walk out to the street and wave them down. Then when we are ready to get off we simply tap the driver and say STOP please. We are trying to learn how to say it in Russian but sometimes we forget.

A bus on a main street in Ukraine.

Dior's team had their first home game and WON! The gym is small which I actually like because it makes the fans really loud.  Their team plays again at home tomorrow night so I'm hoping we come away with a second home win!
 

Dior's Team- DniproAzot

Here We Go Again...

I could not have asked for a better summer! I spent my summer with my family and friends who did a great job keeping my mind off the inevitable future of returning to Europe.

Little love of my life!! I hope she stays tiny until I get back.

Road trip with mom and cousin Len to Yosemite!

  After having the best summer with my family and friends we are now off to start a new season in Ukraine. I arrived a couple days ago and words can not explain this country. Ukraine is a place that can only be understood when you actually see it but I can try... Cars make up their lanes on the (bumpy) road so your better off taking a local bus or taxi, people are always walking outside day and night, the apartment buildings look run down on the outside but the actual apartments are quite nice on the inside, NO ONE SPEAKS ENGLISH, the malls are immaculate (complete with a ton of American brand stores!) and the currency conversion is much more in our favor than in Belgium. We went to the grocery store and bought everything we needed for the apartment for about 760 hryvens which is about 94 dollars! I will post pictures soon :)

p.s. Dior and I are ENGAGED now!!! :)

Bears in the Playoffs!

Our first season overseas is now coming to a victorious end! The Leuven Bears have made it to the playoffs! We secured the last spot in the playoffs when we beat our rival Pepinster on the road. Last year the Bears were a last place team so we are definitely the underdog for the first series of playoffs. The first round is a best of three game series, we played the first game last night on the road and lost. Tomorrow we play at home and I’m confident we’ll do better on our own court.

In all honesty making the playoffs and losing in the playoffs is a win-win situation. If we win then we have the potential of getting a championship! On the other hand, if we lose I’m that much closer to going home (A little selfish of me). There has been so much excitement surrounding the team and all of the players are pumped to be in the playoffs. The fans have rallied together for the team from making t-shirts to taking several fan buses to the away games. I can only imagine how exciting tomorrow’s home game will be!

Birthday and Resurrection Day!

Happy Belated Easter and Birthday! During the last weeks of April we have had the best weather! Dior and I have been taking full advantage of the sunshine and have been spending most of the days walking around town. We discovered a new coffee shop that makes yummy iced drinks so we usually head there in the morning before Dior has practice. While all of you Americans were paying your taxes we spent our April 15th celebrating our birthday! We went to see a movie for our birthday and the next night I had a girls night out!

Malu and I.

Jamie, Hailee and Malu :)

The night before Easter we spent time hanging out with the Tofi family. The Tofi family is from San Francisco so I’m very much looking forward to seeing them back home in our natural habitats! Easter Sunday Dior and I spent a relaxing day together with a good meal and movie night. However, Easter Monday is also a holiday in Belgium so we headed downtown for dinner with Dior’s teammate Cass and his girlfriend Hailee. We had the biggest sushi dinner imaginable!

Round 1 of the endless sushi!

Hailee and I look tiny.

Dior’s team is neck and neck with a team named Pepinster for the last spot in the playoffs. The anticipation is killing me! Interestingly, our last regular season game is against Pepinster so I’m hoping the playoff spot is decided before that final game. Before I forget, I would like to say that in America I had never been alcohol breathlyzed and in Belgium I’ve been breathlyzed SEVEN times. The drinking age in Belgium is 16 so perhaps that has something to do with all the testing. hmmmm.

Oh the Places We'll Go

After a whole season of waiting for their visit my parents arrived in Brussels! Dior and I couldn’t wait to take them everywhere and anywhere. Their visit was for two weeks so I pre-planned our trips to make the most of every day. My mom fell in love with Paris and surprisingly my dad loved Amsterdam!

The three of us flew to Milano and took a city tour that included a visit to the Last Supper by daVinci...

From Milano we took a train to Rome where we spent three days walking every inch of Rome.


Trevi Fountain



Vatican

We visited several cities in Belgium: Antwerp ( the diamond capitol), Brugges (the “Venice of the North), Charleroi and Brussels. Of course they spent a lot of time in Leuven (where we live) and said it was definitely one of their favorite cities.



Brussels

I loved all of the sightseeing but (so cheesy) more importantly I enjoyed spending quality time with my parents. We were only missing one thing... TURI!

James and the Red Light District.

Our friend James (he's a lawyer at the office I used to work for) came to visit! He traveled to Wales with a couple of his friends and decided to take a quick flight over to see us :)  Having James around really made me miss my old coworkers... wondering what crazy shenanigans their up to. James used to live in Amsterdam so we decided to take advantage of our free tour guide and take a day trip. Dior had never been to Amsterdam so I was excited to show him a city that I think tops Paris. Amsterdam has a reputation for being just a weed/hooker city but its so much more than that. The city of Amsterdam is full of so many things to see that I can't wait to take my parents there when they arrive.... THIS MONTH! :)


James and Dior in Leuven Center.

Having dinner in Leuven.

Amsterdam.

James' first Belgiuan waffle.

James and I in Brussels Grand Palace. (my crazy earwarmers)

Familiar Faces

My friends Jessica and Kim had been telling me they were planning to visit me in Belgium for about a month. I tried not to get my hopes up because I know a European flight is not the easiest thing to attain. I was surprised to receive an email from Jessica letting me know their flight number and if I would be able to meet them at the airport. I woke up very early and had one of the other girlfriends here drive me to the airport to pick up my friends. As I stood waiting in the airport with my Starbucks in hand I still really didn’t believe they’d actually be walking out of the baggage claim. It was the best feeling ever to see their smiling familiar faces!

Right off the plane we started sightseeing, first stop was Brussels where we visited the giant Atomium.

After I showed them the Grand Palace in Brussels…. Then we visited St. Michael’s Cathedral in Brussels.


Once we finished up in Brussels we came home and dropped off their luggage. I could tell Dior was also really happy to have familiar faces in Leuven too. Next we drove to a city called Liege where we went into St. Paul’s Cathedral. There a million cathedrals in Europe to visit.

Having macaroons in Liege!

Happy New Year 2011!

Happy New Year!! After a much needed trip home for the holidays we are back in Leuven. I am so happy I was able to spend the holidays with my family. The best part of my trip home was baptizing baby Sofia. I love her so much!

Dior and I spent New Years Eve in the center of Leuven in "old market." We met up with Dior's teammate Ade there. There was a DJ and the center was packed with people dancing. At midnight there were fireworks but they were a little hard to see through all the clouds. Lucky for us it didn’t rain that night! :) We tried to go into the bars/clubs but since smoking indoors is legal here it was difficult to breathe in there.  This was definitely my best New Years, it felt surreal to be experiencing it in Belgium.








I am planning to go to the coast of Belgium this week but still not sure since there has been a lot of rain. We are now in the second half of the season and have so much to look forward to! My parents are coming to visit, my friend Jessica is coming to visit, Uncle William is visiting and with these visits comes a lot of traveling! (Plus in 4 months I will be home sweet home!)