PTC

La la la

I just had my last (of 24) parent teacher conferences of the day with 14 still to look forward to tomorrow. I am still reveling, my head still swarming, my adrenaline still pumping, from what an overall success it was. I get such a looming picture in my head before all of these firsts (day of school, open house) but when finally faced with it it as never as traumatizing or scary in real life as I had imagined. In fact, in my last conference, we spent half the time discussing Harry Potter and which of the series were our favorites and how many minutes we spent crying during the last book and why they are so valuable for children to read.

Any year after this is going to be a rude awakening, I fear. This is just way too fun.

What happens when the sun comes to Brussels

1. Take a trip to a spa...in Spa

Last weekend, during which I celebrated my 24th (whoa!) birthday, my friends and I found ourselves basking in the sun of the most beautiful weekend we have seen in Brussels since our arrival. For 48 solid hours the sky remained cloudless, the daytime completely filled with sun.

We had the good fortune of timing this glorious weekend with a day trip to the town of Spa, Belgium (the city afer which all other spas got their name) to treat ourselves to complete rest and relaxation. At one point, after our "relaxation massage," one of my friends and I actually found ourselves sunbathing outside on one of the spas decks. In Belgium. In October. This is a rarity to which I cannot give an explanation justice. It was the most glorious way to spend a day in the sun.

2. Birthdays and books

To celebrate my birthday, I continued my restful weekend by spending the afternoon in one of Brussels' many parks with my dear friend Megan, my Ipod, a book, and an ice cream cone (though the ice cream's presence was rather short-lived). Having left all of my school work at school (my birthday gift to myself) I had nothing to think about but what was going to happen to Sal, Peeby, and Sal's sweet grandparents in the book Walk Two Moons (okay, children's literature, but it wasn't entirely for school). My blissful day was made complete with a phone call from my family (see photo) and a delightful dinner back home with my sweet friends.

Overall, I couldn't have imagined a better way to celebrate my birthday in Belgium.

PS:

I am using blog-writing right now as a means to procrastinate writing the parent-teacher conference notes looming over my head that need to be finished before Thursday. But I promised myself I wouldn't devote this entire blog to something school related...for a change.