American Women's Club of Luxembourg (AWCL)

One of the first things I did upon moving here was to join the American Women's Club of Luxembourg.  This is a club for English-speaking women of any nationality and has been an invaluable resource for me already.  The Facebook group is particularly helpful, as you can ask almost any question on almost any topic--shopping, travel, recycling, repair services, restaurants, events, etiquette, doctors, on and on--and someone (or lots of someones) chimes in with an answer.

The AWCL "clubhouse" (converted apartment) just a couple blocks from our place.  Here, they hold gatherings such as welcome coffees and nights out.  They also carry some American groceries (think Jiff and Cheerios), and stock American/English books and DVDs to check out.  There's someone woman-ing the front desk several hours a day if you have a question or need a chat (in English).  There are also sub-groups you can join based on your interests, such as cooking, hiking, scrapbooking, and French conversation to name just a few, which often use the clubhouse as a meeting space.

at one of the monthly Welcome Coffees

shelf of groceries in the kitchen

I am amazed and thankful that such a resource exists here.  I've met lots of interesting and amiable women already through the group, and between the AWCL and the similarly acronym-ed ANCL (All Nations Church of Luxembourg), I am keeping one foot solidly in the English-speaking/expat world.  The tricky part continues to be planting the other foot in the immigrant/non-expat world that we more technically "belong" in, with Pete's indefinite local work contract and the kids in the local schools.  We'll be working on that one for a long time before we really feel comfortable.  I think once people return from their summer holidays (they city's sort of emptied out right now) and the kids more fully integrate into school this coming fall, it will get a bit easier.  And as I learn more French.  Ack.

Oh, and there's a British Ladies Club of Luxembourg as well!  Haven't checked that one out yet.

Flight Recommendations - Portland (PDX) to Luxembourg (LUX)

Just a brief post in case you're thinking about a trip to Luxembourg.

Which we hope you are!

As far as we know, here is the easiest way to get to Luxembourg from Portland (if that's what your aiming to do rather than stop here on the way to somewhere else or as part of your grand European tour):

Delta Airlines has a flight from PDX to Amsterdam.  Balpark 9-10 hours.  Then KLM (Delta) has a flight from Amsterdam to Luxembourg that's about an hour.  You can do the whole trip in under 13 hours (basically no layover).  Going back is pretty similar.

Price: Of course this may change over time, but as of this writing, and based on the couple of flights we've done, if you can get the tickets for under $1000 each, that's probably a pretty good deal.

Of course, if you make it out here, you've got your lodging and food covered, so all in all it's not so bad, eh??

Here's a screen shot of a sample Delta flight.  As I somewhat randomly chose a few dates between now and next summer (when I'm betting you can't get tickets for under $1000!), this was representative of about the best I found:

So, if you're considering a visit, keep any eye on those flights!!

P.S. Extra incentive: 2 hr high speed train to Paris from here!!  Germany, Belgium, and other countries also within spitting distance.

Summer Arrives in Luxembourg

We had a streak of warm weather this past week, so it felt like summer finally came to our corner of the world.  This of course was a complete fake-out by Luxembourg - today it's rainy and cold again.  But enough about the weather, it's really a topic I quite detest and I've already been mentioning too much.

The kids and I started really living our no-car lifestyle, which, I'm not gonna lie, was difficult and frustrating at times and induced some not-so-stellar parenting on my part.  It's amazing how many things can go awry on a walk-bus-walk-shop-walk-bus-walk outing to the grocery store with kids.  

But we got out and about this week and survived, so I'm counting it as success.

retail outing in the city center for sunglasses and swimming shorts

we got library cards, picked up a few books in English, CDs/DVDs in Luxembourgish!

took bus trips to various parks (hats courtesy of care-package from Grammy)

and enjoyed some local wildlife

A friend from church had told us about a great pool called Les Thermes, so we set out to find it on the bus. 

Front of a spaceship.  Actually this is the pool.

Unfortunately, for reasons of which I'm unaware, I was told I could not take photos of the kids in the pool, so here are some stollen from their website.

photo credit

photo credit

photo credit

It's got a couple of slides that start inside, run outside, and then pop you out back inside.  You can also swim back and forth between the inside and outside pool.  There's a wave pool and a kiddy pool and such as well.  It was 10.50 Euros for the 3 of us for 1.5 hours, so not too bad, really.

Anyhow, that's summer in Lux so far.  How's yours going?

(Probably a rhetorical question by default, but I'd still like to know if ya care to share!)

2 Months, Bye-Bye Car, and Finally a Castle

July 23rd marks 2 months in Luxembourg and our first day without a car.  We returned the rental car last night.

If we tell people we're forgoing a car for now, almost without fail, we are immediately informed why they need their car or what they use it for.  Can I just make a general statement that we are fully aware of the many uses of cars and why it's very inconvenient not to have one?

Thanks.  Moving on...

Yes, it's starting to feel more like home here, although it's difficult to miss out on what's going on back in the states.  Pete's doing fine at his job - he seems to be enjoying it, but of course it is intense as he continues climbing the learning curve.  This past week he was in Munich, and the kids and I enjoyed the first week of summer break here while all our windows were being replaced with a more energy-efficient set.  We love the new onesl and especially that they can open on the top, like this:

The old ones could only open straight out into the room, which can be quite awkward with no screens (they don't do screens here)

On our last day with the car we decided to take our first real trip outside the city (besides to IKEA just across the boarder in Belgium).  We went for a drive through the northern part of the country (not too dissimilar to parts of Oregon) and stopped briefly at the castle in Vianden near the German boarder.

We walked up but didn't go inside - decided to spend the money on ice cream a the bottom of the hill instead.

Daphne took this one

Month three - here we go!!

Please Send Pictures!

If you ever visited our house in Oregon you probably remember this art wall in our dining room that we started when Daphne was about 3 1/2, and which morphed over time with the kids' new creations.  We have dedicated the kitchen wall of our Luxembourg apartment to kid art, but we'd like to start something new as well - a photo wall on the adjacent cabinet.

But we need YOUR help!

humble beginnings...

We love getting snail-mail from friends and family, and we would love it even more if you could send pictures - of yourselves!  They can be pictures us together or pictures of just you; pictures of your own adventures or just doing normal, everyday activities.

Emailed pictures are okay too, but it's SO helpful if they are already printed, and of course that means we receive something in our physical mailbox which is always extra special.

And really, the kids are still quite young and not always great with names, so it's very helpful to have the opportunity to remind them who you are ;)

According to the typical path of culture shock, I think we are about to hit a few months of "homesickness" and perhaps even some depression.  I know it will helpful to see your smiling faces and remember there are people routing for us back in the US (or UK, or wherever you may be).

Send me a Facebook message or let me know in the comments if you need our address.

Thank in advance!

A Few Photos from Church

Night of Wonders

Saturday afternoon, the family of one of James' school friends invited us out to a "Nuit des Merveilles" in Bettembourg, a few kilometers south of the city.  We were completely worn out from a 3 hour stock-up trip to the store (we give back the car in a week...ack!), and it would put us out way past bedtime, but we decided to go for it anyway.

You see, for the last few weeks the weather has been, as the British like to say, "rubbish." There was a bit of a break that evening, so why not take advantage of it?  And can you really say no to a Night of Wonders?

The Night of Wonders was sort of a little circus in the park.  Various acts took place under the trees, and part of the fun was spotting where the next act might be.  Some of it was was a bit strange and ponderous for our taste, but the kids seemed to enjoy the acts and it was fun to be out with some "local" friends.

And what Night of Wonders is complete without...

wandering eyeballs on stilts making Darth Vader-esque breathing noises.  Daphne hid from them, afraid they would look at her.  Understandably.

Worth a "second look."  I did mention strange, didn't eye? Ok, you can stop rolling your eyes at me now!   Heehee.

We were about to grab an over-priced bite to eat and go home early (the thing went until midnight) when very suddenly it started raining buckets.  The deluge completely snuck up on us, I guess because we were under the trees and didn't notice the storm clouds rolling in.  

But really, it's no surprise.  "Sudden Buckets of Rain" seems to be Luxembourg's signature move.

taking cover in a doorway while Pete ran for the car.  he was 100% drenched.

It did make for a scenic drive home as the storm tapered...

view from our balcony

A memorable night.  Of wonders.