9/24/2017 8 Comments ChangeWow, what a week. So much happens in a week here! We celebrated our one month, started new traditions, Tate had a preseason game, we tried Pizza Hut and McDonald's (honestly pleasantly surprised), tried new recipes, and took a day trip to Ghent. Oh, aaaand I had a couple breakdowns. Stay tuned for more exciting details. I honestly don't know where to start- give you a play by play of all our meals we have eaten? Play by play of Tate's game? Play by play of my breakdowns? I will save you all and give you little cliff note versions. Probably spend a little more time on the food. And Ghent, because it was amazing. Sunday we woke up and walked down to Zeelmaekers- a little bread and pastry shop down the road from us! We decided that our new Sunday morning tradition would be walking down to Zeelmaekers, getting a treat treat, and devouring it while we have our own little church service. Churches seem pretty rare around our town, especially English speaking. So we make the most of our situation and create our own church service. Zeelmaekers is adorable. Everything is so fresh and the pastries are to die for. Tate has gotten different kinds of eclairs, and I always get these miniature donuts. Multiple*** Later that afternoon we headed to Tate's home game! I always love watching him play basketball. Not because I am a die hard basketball fan- but because I am a die hard Tate fan. It is so fun getting to watch him thrive in his element. Especially when baby boy is hitting those threes, amiright?! I have started paying attention to the "game"- not just people and what they are wearing/how they're styling their hair/and cringing things they do- really watching the basketball game. I love discussing it afterwards with Tate. I tell him what I observed and he either confirms or denies my thoughts as accurate. Fun game. ANYWAYS they won! Yay! McDonalds was our choice of celebration. Not necessarily because I was craving McDonalds but because I was curious- and let me tell you- that thing was NICE. They sell macaroons??? What? Monday was a fun day! We went to the grocery store (honestly we both love going- why is that a thing?), Tate got a hair cut, we bee bopped around the Hasselt city center, and had date night at an amazing restaurant. See pics below of Tate's haircut and the amazing cheese board from date night. We are really into cheese right now??? Is that a European thing or are we just discovering how awesome it is? Tate is specifically on a big "Brie cheese" kick. He says it tastes like cake- and he also eats it like cake. Makes me nauseous. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were pretty normal. What is normal? Good question. We both wake up, eat breakfast, Tate leaves for morning work out, I read/journal/spend time with the Lord, he comes home, we hang out and eat lunch, he leaves for afternoon workout, I clean/laundry/run/walk/shower/explore, he comes home, we make dinner (trying new recipes!), and then we spend our night together doing random things! I don't know why, but I don't like the question "what do you do all day?" I think I dislike it for a couple reasons. One, I have no stinking idea what to do all day, and I am still trying to figure it out. Two, it is very humbling to answer. Three, this life is very different from the norm. There is a lot of freedom to just hang out and chill at 1:00 pm on Tuesday afternoon. Or every afternoon. And for some reason we both feel guilty about that!? And we shouldn't! Back to the humbling thing. Change. The title of the blog post. I believe that I am going through somewhat of an identity crisis. Before now, I was working as the Assistant Women's Director at Link Year, I had the most amazing friends, lived with dream roommates, was mentoring teenage girls, was being poured into by wise older women constantly, and Branson was my home for 5 years. Knew that place like the back of my hand. My life was comfortable and consistent. I knew who I was and I knew what my days consisted of. They were full and busy. I had a lot of roles and I wore a lot of hats. Now, I am married, I live in Belgium, I don't have a job, and I don't have friends- Tate is my only friend. I don't really know my way around here, everyone speaks Dutch so I feel like an alien, and I can't drive myself around because I am slowly learning how to drive stick. Everything in my life kind of flipped upside down in a matter of week. I miss my friends! I miss my job! I honestly just miss talking to people throughout my day. I am really having to wrestle through "who I am" and what my roles are now. (I feel like a teenage girl with all these "who am I" sentences- but it's a real thing!!!) I am still a friend, I can still mentor younger girls, and I can make Belgium my home- it just takes time. Takes time. BLAH who likes to hear that? But it is true. I know the Lord is at work in my life- and as mysterious as it is sometimes- I trust him with my whole heart. I am here for a reason, aside from being Tate's wife. I just can't wait to see what those reasons are. I say all this, because living overseas so far has been both a dream and somewhat of a struggle for me. Tate and I get to go explore beautiful parts of the world together, we get to hang out together 80% of our day, and we have so much freedom! It really is so fun. On the flip side, I have been lonely when Tate is off working. I am having to redefine what my life and my role looks like. I need to make friends and meet people. And sometimes that is just straight up uncomfortable! Haha. I know in a month I will have so much to say about all of this, and I can't wait! So for right now, I will enjoy my days that are given to me, I will trust, and I will hold my life with open hands. And I will travel somewhere fun and eat another waffle ;) Now onto the "exploring beautiful parts of the world together"..... Tate and I explored Ghent Belgium yesterday and it was a dream! We both love days like yesterday. Walking around hand in hand, taking in the charm of a new city, and eating all the food. We are FOODIES if you haven't picked up on that. And Ghent did not disappoint. We woke up Saturday morning, hopped in our car, and headed to Ghent. Ghent is about an hour and a half north. Close to Bruges, the last place we visited. We first arrived and roamed for a good hour. There was SO MUCH TO LOOK AT! Cathedrals, canals, charming buildings, old city vibe, cobble stone streets, bridges, and the detail in the buildings. It was so cool to see the amount of detail, even in the largest of buildings. Blew our minds! I had done some research before hand (duh) and had heard about this place called the "Holy Food Market". It was a food market (food court if you will) inside of an old church. Hence the name- Holy Food Market. Pretty witty place. Fun ambiance, string lights, and best of all, THE MOST AMAZING DESSERT. Magnum bars. Vanilla ice cream bar. Dipped in the chocolate of your choice. Topped with three toppings of choice. Drizzled with more chocolate. Like we both are still raving about it. Anyone who wants to come visit- Magnum bars on us!! Tate is paying ;) Be tempted by the photos below. After lunch, we explored some more. The weather was phenom. Couldn't have asked for a prettier day. 65 and sunny! One of my favorite parts, was getting to sit by the water and just take everything in. So many people to watch and so many buildings to look at. Afterwards, we hit Julie's House. Another coffee shop I had researched. I can't describe the amount of charm Belgium has. Everywhere. Every store. Tate and I decided "space" is not a thing here. People just don't have a problem with invading space. Tate went inside to get our coffee, I "held down the table", until a woman walked up and asked something in broken English. "Sitting here?" Yes my husband is sitting there. Then she points to the other chair. "??" Sure you can take that chair! She said "thank you" and sits down at our table. Our tinyyyy table for two. Oooppps. Miscommunication. Honestly it was kind of worth it though, to see Tate's face when he walked back out. And what made it even better was apparently that same lady "shoved Tate in line". Haha! Also, in case you haven't picked up on it, we have a routine when we visit new places. Lunch, explore, coffee shop, explore, dinner, dessert. The plan doesn't fail. Ok moving along, cliff notes Hill, cliff notes. Dinner was Otomat Heavenly Pizza. And it was heavenly. We grabbed a table that overlooked the canal and it was perfect. We spent our dinner date making a list of "10 places we want to go before we have kids". On our brown little napkin. It is so fun dreaming with him. And I can't wait to cross off the list! Hopefully we have some timeeeee :) We ended the night with waffles. What else? Picnic style along the water. Actually, we ended the night with a mile walk back to our car. Anything for cheap parking!!! This blog post accurately describes where I am at right now. One day I am lonely and struggling to deal with change. The next day I am so full and joyful galavanting around Belgium. Life is crazy! It is full of ups and downs, and I really wouldn't want it any other way. The "ups" bring me to worship, and the "downs" bring me to worship. I will now leave you to the 298340380 pictures :) love love hill and tate
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9/11/2017 8 Comments our new life togetherA year ago, if you would have told me I would be married and living in Belgium, I would've thought you were crazy.
About this time last year I was going on my first dates with Tate. I had been single for most of my adulthood life and honestly wasn't putting too many eggs into this basket. However, I did want to get to know this guy and see what he was all about! The beginning of our relationship was really shaky- and it's a wonder we got through that first month. We spent an hour last night dying laughing at some of our conversations and thoughts that first month. Tate was so indecisive (apparently he wanted to break up with me every other day) but somehow I kept him lured in ;) And now we are here. Married and living in Belgium. God is awesome. Tate has played professional basketball overseas the past 3 years in various places, and this year he is playing with Limburg United, a team in Belgium! Hence why we are here. Last year, while we were dating, he was playing on a team in Finland so I got a little glimpse of what this life is like. I even visited him while I was in Ireland with Link Year! As our relationship became more serious, I started envisioning what my life would look like if someday I joined him. This life excited me! Traveling and exploring different parts of the world, all while supporting my husbands basketball career, who wouldn't love that? When he put a ring on my finger, my day dreaming was turning reality. We started planning our life together! When he signed with this team in Belgium during the beginning of the summer, the more real it became. We both were so excited! I would be lying though if I said I wasn't a little nervous. I was leaving my life that I had built in Branson for the past 5 years, my friends, my job I loved, and the quick trip home to see my family. Don't get me wrong, I was more than excited to follow my husband-to-be to this new country, but change can be scary. I knew what his day to day would look like, with practices and games, but wasn't sure what mine would look like. It was all new for me! What will I do? Will I have friends? What I did know was that I was going to be with Tate. My husband. Any worry or fear was worth it because I get to be with him- as his wife! We have been here for a little under three weeks and so far we are loving it! We are getting settled, making our apartment our home, figuring out schedules, and adjusting to the way of living over here. Who knew you needed a specific kind of trash bag in order to get your trash picked up? And who knew you couldn't just pick those up at a grocery store? It was driving me crazy- we couldn't find them anywhere! But don't worry, four stores later, we found some. Everything is written in Dutch here, so Tate and I constantly have our Google Translator app open and are translating things left and right. At dinner, I have my phone hovering over the menu translating everything into English. It really is hilarious and fun! I don't have a bunch of friends yet, and I am still trying to figure out what my days look like, but I am learning to be at peace with that and trust that I am here for a reason- aside from my marriage! But I will say, exploring a new country with your husband, it can't be beat. Speakingggg of exploring.....it's my favorite. I love roaming around figuring out where places are, the best places to eat, grab coffee, shop, go on walks, etc. The first week we got here, on Tate's off day, we explored the Hasselt City Center. It was amazing. We spent hours just walking around, noticing all the cute coffee shops (me more than him), and taking note of the fun restaurants. We also found H&M, Tate's new favorite store, and got the birthday boy a new outfit! Honestly, going shopping with him is hilarious. He acts like he hates it but HE DOESN'T. Don't let him fool you. And he loves it when he finds clothes that he looks "swag" in. Posting pictures below of my swag husband. He does look good!!! We have also found our new ice cream spot. Cremerie Chapeau. It's amazing. And technically it's gelato. They also only take cash- we found out the hard way- rookie mistake. But it is so good!!! They serve their gelato with this little cute crispy waffle thing on top, and their coffee is served with Belgian chocolate. (I am allllll about the details) We have been back a handful of times, but I am trying to chill out because I am 99% sure I am going to start gaining weight with all the waffles, chocolate, and ice cream we are eating. But my favorite day of exploring thus far has been BRUGES, BELGIUM. Oh how I love you. Bruges is about a two hour drive from where we live, so on Tate's off day we woke up and made our way up there! We have had our eye on Bruges for awhile, everyone here has been telling us we must go, and now I see why. It is one of the most quaint, beautiful, unique, and charming places I have ever been! Cobble stone streets, beautiful canals, and buildings with character like I have never seen. Even the most boring stores, like a convenience store, had beautiful flowers hanging outside the windows! I loved it. I researched a ton before making our trip (I am an extremely overly prepared person) so we navigated around pretty easy! But even if I haven't, it really is easy to get around. We had only been walking for 2 minutes when we walked past Lizzie's Waffles and saw people eating these massive waffles engulfed in chocolate. We both looked at each other, "want to eat there!?" So we walked in and grabbed the table by the window (I have learned that you seat yourself here- hostesses aren't a thing) and ordered our waffles. I got a waffle with strawberries and chocolate sauce, and Tate got a waffle with bananas and chocolate sauce. They were so good! After we finished our waffles, I physically couldn't look at the chocolate sauce anymore, so we picked up our things and headed out to explore. I decided to whip out my "nice" camera for this occasion and Tate and I suddenly turned into photographers. It was hilarious. We roamed around, taking in all the beautiful buildings and shops, the museums, old bridges, and the Belfry tower which is a massive medieval bell tower. We are coming back and climbing to the top of the tower next time! 366 steps. Your girl wasn't wearing the right shoes ;) We then stopped at The Old Chocolate House mid afternoon for some hot chocolate. I have heard so much about this place and wanted a cup for myself! You can order any type of hot chocolate- they had really crazy flavors. I decided on Salty Caramel and Tate chose good ole Milk Chocolate. They bring out giant mugs of steamed milk and your flavor of chocolate chips in a chocolate cup! You pour in the chocolate chips to taste. So fun! After I was once again sick to my stomach from all the chocolate, we went to find the canal boat rides! I loved doing the canal boat ride. It was a beautiful and fun way to explore the city. I felt like we were in Italy! I think I snapped 100 pictures during our 30 min boat ride. I was obsessed with all of the little buildings sitting on the water. Side note; lady in front of me had very vibrant blue hair. She managed to make it in 40% of my photos. Why. Blue hair aside, it was amazing. Tate enjoyed it as much as I did! Tate alsoooo enjoyed our mini photoshoot we did! We had an hour to kill before dinner so we started taking "cool pictures" of each other in the little alleys and streets. Why not, right?? Posting pics from our model shoot below. Dinner isn't really worth mentioning....but DESSERT IS! Fred's. Waffles and ice cream. Amazing. Tate has been on this huge waffle kick (like eating 4 a day) so he got a waffle with ice cream on top and I got snickers ice cream! I will let the picture speak for itself. Anyways. This is waaay longer than anticipated. I am hoping to write each week, so that I can keep our family and friends up to date on all the food we are eating! Jk. But honestly this whole thing was about food. Priorities, am I right? Next week I will be sure to talk basketball, since that's the whole reason we are here! ;) love love hill and tate |
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