How the time flies....

Well, it has been a bit over a month since my last post, and I would like to say that the reason I have not been posting was because I was too busy travelling and partying to take the time to update my blog. The truth is that I have spent most of the last 5 weeks here in Luxembourg, staying busy working long hours and settling into a more ‘normal’ life. But I was able to do a few things.

First of all, a couple weeks back I turned 29. Yes I know, I seem so young and vibrant there is no way that I am 1 year away from being in my 30’s, but it is true. While I didn’t have much in the way of a party, I did for some reason make a day trip out to Dinant, Belgium. It is about a 1 hour drive from Luxembourg (on the way to Brussels), and it was such a nice day I just wanted to enjoy the weather and to see a new place. My Belgian friend who suggested Dinant had never actually seen the city (which I did not know), and ultimately had no idea what was actually there (it was described as the smallest town in Belgium, which is both absolutely wrong and really made no sense). Well regardless it turned out to be a gorgeous town on the River Meuse….

And it had a citadel overlooking the whole valley that you could take a cable car up to visit and also go on a pretty cool historic tour.

I finished off my birthday weekend by enjoying a traditional Turkish dinner, which was excellent but honestly seemed like fancy meatloaf.

Secondly, I spent my first Thanksgiving abroad. The only positive to this was that football was on all night due to the time difference, but this in no way made up for not getting any days off or for not getting any pumpkin pie. Luckily I did go out for a turkey dinner with 2 of the 3 Americans I know here and so I got a little taste of home (sorry kids, no pics available).

Last of all I was able to experience one of the famed outdoor German Christmas markets. The first weekend in December a group of us headed out and hit the town of Trier (which you might remember from my last post) and took in the full experience of drinking lots of gluwein (basically hot mulled wine), eating large amounts of sausage and German sweets, and getting mauled by large crowds. Good times.

While the Trier market was pretty cool (and I just got back from making a 2nd trip this past weekend), the market in Luxembourg was like the Island of Misfit Toys in comparison. At least they got the 'have lots of gluwein and food available' concept down.

That is about it for now. I am only a couple of days from heading back to Seattle (for those of you who care I will be getting in on Wednesday the 20th and leaving Wednesday the 3rd), and needless to say I am very excited to be coming home. I hope to see as many of you as possible. But if I don't get to say it to you in person, I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Cheers.