What am I eating?! What am I doing?!

I cannot get used to the food over here. Thankfully I found my staple, peanut butter, so I can eat lunch. Bread becomes fuzzy after only 4 days and we are talking about bread that I paid 3 euro for! Yesterday at lunch I ordered a Panini Poulet thinking that poulet meant chicken in French, which in my defense it does. However, what was nestled between the bread and mozzarella was pepto pink and resembled bologna, not exactly the chopped chicken that I envisioned. Yes, I did eat the entire thing and manage to keep it down, but not before Alayna and I closely examined the mysterious meat. There is no Dr. Pepper and even worse, no "to-go cups" of coffee. If you want coffee you better allow 15 extra minutes on your way to work or class to sit down and sip it. Somehow, if you can find a "to-go cup" of coffee, there is no station with creamer and you may even receive two stacked plastic cups of warm liquid (plastic and warm substances don't mix, in case you are a little rusty in household 101). Unbelievable. Thank goodness for peanut butter.

On Monday afternoon I took my first trip down to the laundromat with Alayna and Austin. It was absurd. First, I lugged a laundry bag filled with clothes, sheets, etc. to a laundromat that was about 5 minutes away, but took me about 15 because I took a few wrong turns. We spent an arm and a leg on tokens that the machine ate. All the instructions were in Turkish or French (we live in a Turkish enclave) which none of us can read AND the visual aids were worthless. Finally we managed to get the machine to work, added the soap that smelled like a 10 day old pina colada, pressed start andddd... water sloshed around in the machine, but the soap did not filter down. So, we spent about 10 euro to wash our clothes in cold water, something that I could do in my bathroom sink for free. Furmanites, don't complain. You have no idea how easy your have it.

Oh, I went to this exercise in the park yesterday evening before family dinner. Some local fitness center sponsored free aerobics classes in the park this summer, free to the public. Austin, Molly, David, Taylor, and I stumbled upon it last week and Austin, Alayna, and I decided (for some reason) to go and participate. For those of you who don't know me that well, I am slightly uncoordinated when it comes to dancing and the moves looked more like Riverdance than aerobics. I had this fear that I would turn around and see David and Taylor filming the spectacle and posting it on YouTube to embarrass me. What is worse, a group of men were playing futbol on the field next to us and yet I chose to wear my spandex and participate in Riverdance.

Last night, Evelyn and I hosted a dinner at our apartment for about 15 people. It was really fun and easy (at least for me because I opted to clean up rather than cook). For once, my tummy was full of familiar foods and content. On my way home from school yesterday I stopped at the local pastry shop that sells pastries and bread for cheap and picked up several eclairs, baklava, and some mystery dessert-- all of which were delicious.

So, if you plan to visit Brussels soon don't eat poulet or anything with Americana in the name (right Austin and Katy?), stick with the 4 basic food groups: waffles, beer, chocolate, and french fries. Wash your clothes in the sink because the laundromat is worthless. And remember that parks are for running and walking, not public humiliation.

As a side note, forgive me for all the words that I misspell. There might be one or two...