Huis Ter Geul Valkenburg

... considering your application, possibly...'

So, short of diverting through Hong Kong and getting very little time in the UK as a result, and spending a whole lot more money only to possibly still not get a visa, my only apparent option was to courier my passport home to the waiting Courtney, who would get my visa express there and send it back. Upon leaving Spain, I resolved to do this upon arrival in Belgium, since I would have 2 weeks in that country to wait for my passport ...

... and we had a good time bowling.
We also got to try lots of new foods and enjoyed some of our favourites that we hadn't had for a while. Luckily for me the Strous family feels the same way about chocolate as I do. In the mornings I had chocolate spread on toast and after dinner I had chocolate custard! Delicious!! We tried multiple new types of cookies and the Bami was very good- I will have to get the recipe and give it a go myself.
On Monday Steve and I ...

During our stay in Spa we had the most scary, horrible, unpleasant experience ever in a restaurant.

The restaurant to avoid is "Le Bouchon Gourmand", the owner does not hesitate to insult customers, lock them into the restaurant if there is a dispute on the bill, and claim more money than is due.

See more on www.bouchon-gourmand.blogspot.com

... nice and made me feel good. Then, when I was cooking some dinner, she came up and gave me a blanket, sheet set, and some tea candles. She also has given Nil a wooden spoon, a strainer, and two dish towels for me. Isn't that sweet??? I thanked her tons and gave her a hug when she left. So now I have a few less items to buy to make my new place feel like home.

Well Nil just got home and she is going to eat a bit of food with Markus and ...

After popping into and out of Germany, we were now back in Belgium. It was beginning to get a bit dark, and we still had at least 200 miles left to drive.

Gaz's motor was struggling, and threatening to overheat, so we stopped to let it cool down.

With the vehicles all decorated with stickers, we attracted a bit of attention, and a Belgian couple took our ...

Once in Elsloo, we stopped to find postcards (having completely missed the observations again), only to find that the only card shop was closed that afternoon.

Up the road a bit, and Kieran was dropping a card into the door of a Landy enthusiast they had met on the recce. The guy turned up at that moment, and so we were invited in for a refreshing cold drink. The Landyprikkers overtook us at that point, and went on their way. We then ...

... to continue our discussions. Then I left for eastern Belgium to make some visits to church members, one whose mother had recently died, and another who had just learned that he had a tumor on one lung. It was a long, full day, and I believe helpful to the people who received visits. I'm not able to visit here as often as I would like, often only coming once a year.

Well, me and Cheryl caught the train at 8:30pm yesterday evening from Centraalstation to return to her university stomping ground here in Maastricht. She had important lectures to go to today so it was the right point to leave, even if I felt I had barely scraped the surface of the place - I don't know if it's the way Italians are in their way of living in cities or it's the physicality of the cities themselves, but you can go and stay in an Italian city for very ...

... edge of the town centre there were a number of different animal statues set around the bottom of an old concrete enclosure. After coming across a dog-like creature with a striped back, we jokingly pronounced it to be a Tasmanian Tiger, looking up at us in recognition of spotting two of his own. Despite the uncanny resemblance we dismissed it as something more European, like a fox or a wolf or something, until with ...

... natuurlijk een jaar lang niet zien. Ik vraag me nu al af hoe het gaat zijn als ik terugkom. Vooral naar studiekeuzes van vrienden, hoe mijn broers en zussen er gaan uitzien over een jaar, ...

Ik ben er dus volledig klaar voor. Koffer is gepakt (en ik hoop dat ik ook alles bij heb) en zit niet over de maximum limiet van het gewicht. Moet je ook kunnen: een jaar weggaan en maar 20 kg meenemen. Al zou ik het liefst met al mijn hebben en houden ...