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Travel to Belgium and England 2010

Wednesday, July 14, 2010, Latvia

What a day, and what a trip. Only one day away from home and already so much has happened, and not only because everything is new. The killer was getting up at 1 a.m. In order to catch a 5:20 plane. I tried to go to sleep early but laid in bed like a lump until I gave up. Going to sleep for a second time at 10:30 wasn’t sufficient, and I paid for it later. I probably wasn’t alone in that, as the airport was absolutely bustling with activity. Just under 20 planes were scheduled for takeoff around the same time, and the airport was a series of long lines. But everything went smoothly and we were through in an hour. We did all our shopping, getting presents for the grandkids before we left for the trip. Check that off our list, and they’ll be waiting for us when we return.

Baltic Air earns its cheap fare with airplane seats so small that even I was hard pressed to fit in them. I sat between Sheldon and a tall, lanky fellow who fell all over me as he slept. I fell right back into him, and all three of us dozed our way to Latvia. There was no food service to interrupt our beauty rest.

Negotiating the Riga airport was easy. After storing our heavy backpacks a helpful information desk worker suggested we take a boat ride down the river or canal in an effort to beat the infernal 33 humid degrees that made Jerusalem seem like a summer paradise. The canal was indeed pleasant, and a good choice for our day.

But I could hardly enjoy it. I had thoughtlessly put my precious iPhone in my back pocket, and after getting off the city bus in town, discovered it gone! Sheldon was so devastated for me that he had to sit down. I stayed cool, thinking that an upgrade to the newest 4G version would be a pleasant, albeit expensive treat.

I found it interesting how the universe orchestrated the day. Thinking it imperative to somehow cut off my Sim card from outgoing calls, we stopped in a bicycle tourist company--basically an open doorway with no real reason for it to be helpful. It had nothing to do with anything I needed, but the young woman working there, Karin, was more than accommodating. She let us use her computer to try Skyping, and then emailing Cellcom, and then Keren to follow up. It turns out she has relatives in Rehovot and has been in Israel twice! Small world to find a connection in Jewish-devastated Riga.

Karin in turn directed us to the nearby synagogue, the whereabouts of which the helpful airport tourist info woman had been misinformed. We had a moving, poignant tour with Yerachmiel Frydman, the shul beetle who explained in great detail the history and sorrow of Baltic Jewry. It was an exquisite modern shul refurbished beautifully in vibrant colors and good taste. We went away impressed and somber. 70,000 Jews had been eradicated from Riga alone. The Latvian government today barely teaches Holocaust history, preferring to focus instead on the hardships of the Soviet regime. The Nazi’s were their liberators--for a time.

I felt the blow hardest when we tried to buy another phone at the local shopping center. The well meaning clerk informed us that there are none to be had in all of Europe (I think he actually said “Universe”) as the new 4G hasn’t arrived yet and the previous 3Gs were all sold out and no longer stocked. Not only that, but all iPhones are now sold with a phone contract, making it impossible to buy one outside one's home country. Buying an iPhone in Israel would be expensive, take many months, and duplicate the phone contract I already had. That was hard to hear.

After the somewhat calming influence of the placid canal waters, I rendezvoused next with a man in the Radison Hotel, where we stopped in to cool off from the sultry weather, who was working on his IPad. I was encouraged that perhaps I could get a cheap cell phone and carry around the iPad from now on, even though I don’t really find the iPad very convenient to cart around. Plus having two devices is cumbersome. Then on the airplane from Riga to Brussels I sat next to a businessman who was working on his iPhone. Talking to him, I knew for sure that I had no recourse and no chance of replacing the stolen one.

After a long train ride from the airport to Antwerp and a short taxi ride to the International School of Shiatsu, we finally arrived at our destination. At 10:00 pm. it was still amazingly light out in this pleasant rural campus not far from downtown. We were offered a beautiful dinner cooked by the inimitable Mark Hanna of macrobiotic cruise ship fame. Sheldon enjoyed it in the company of several students, but I was so wiped out that it was all I could do to lie myself down on the paltry cot in our little dorm room after pattering down the hall to the common toilets (don’t say “bathroom”--you’ll be directed to the tub). I slept like a baby, or maybe like a rock.

Thursday, July 15, 2010, Antwerp

The sleep revived me body and soul (OMG, Body & Soul is our gym in Jerusalem where we will have to pound our muscles back into shape after this 6 week hiatus). The brisk morning weather discouraged us from joining the outdoor exercise class of hearty Belgians. Instead I took the long overdue shower that I couldn’t manage last night. The shower stalls are less than convenient with no place to hang dry clothes and nowhere to undress in the coed facilities. It’s a problem. The school grounds where we stay are a boarding school during the year for children ranging from age two (!) to eighteen. Every summer the shiatsu folk run their program on the premises. The study week including our teaching was scheduled to start on July 18; we opted to arrive early due to Mieke's warm invitation to come whenever we wanted to, and an opportune cheap flight on the 14th. That gave us a few days to explore Antwerp on our own before the scheduled school week.

Breakfast was invitingly macrobiotic--an industrial-sized pot of miso soup, porridge and greens. Just like home, only I didn’t have to clean up afterwards. Mieke Pieters, our friend and school director together with husband Jan Vervecken, showed me pictures from her stay in Abu Dhabi, where she cooks for the princess. She said after a week to get over the splendor, she found the palace boring and imprisoning. She preferred when the princess came to Switzerland and they put her up there in a 5-star hotel.

Three hundred meters from the school is an amazing tunnel that runs under the river into the heart of old Antwerp. The tunnel houses double wooden escalators that run deep below the surface. Most of the pedestrians were on bicycle, high fiving us with outstretched hands as they raced past. It’s about a ten minute claustrophobic over 500 meter walk from one end to the other, connecting grassy fairgrounds with bustling downtown shopping. Our jaws dropped at the splendor of magnificent guild halls in the Great Marketplace and a resplendent cathedral that charges an entrance fee. We were wowed by the beauty around us.

Mouths agape, we struck up a casual conversation with a woman who admired Sheldon’s camera. Since I had dropped his backpack at the airport (hi), his lens filter had broken, and we hadn’t found another one in Riga. We asked our new friend, and she took us by the hand to the perfect photography shop where they had just what we needed. They in turn directed us to the nearby Apple store on our quest for an iPhone replacement.

The Apple store clerk was friendly but had no phones to sell. I practically kissed him when he explained that Belgian law prohibits “coupling” the purchase of one product with another, and phone contracts cannot be made obligatory with buying an iPhone. Moreover, he knew where I could purchase a 3G iPhone! Ecstatic, we went off on our quest, stopping only at a health food restaurant we found on the way. I made Sheldon take his soup to go, anticipating a victory celebration.

We walked quite a ways down the high-fashion shopping street until finally we found our store. One other mobile phone store on the way also sold iPhones, and had just sold out their last one. When we finally found the promised shop, lo and behold...there it was waiting for me! My new 3GS 16 gig brand new iPhone! Hallelujah and praise the Lord!

Back “home,” Mieke had put aside two meals for us, and we enjoyed eating them in the kitchen with Mark and Heidi Hanna. I feel so special to have these wonderful opportunities. I agree whole heartedly with Mieke when she says friendship is what macrobiotics is all about. It’s surely the best part.

We stopped in on Marc Vervecken’s shiatsu class but didn’t stay long. Sheldon took a long nap, recovering from our sleepless night of travel while I began this journal.

Mark Hanna made another delicious dinner for everybody, this time with tempura nori strips. It was a real treat. Mieke has asked me to teach a mini palmistry course this evening, and it went excellently. It was the students last day of classes, and many of them stayed especially for the class. It was an interactive class full of information, and they all followed well. Then Mieke drove us to her home. They’ve added on a straw bale dojo to their country farm house, an eight bedroom antique that houses them and their six kids! I’m enjoying getting to know Mieke more and more. Coming back to the school, we found a bunch of people sitting around and joined them for an organic beer called Maya. I’m not an ardent beer fan, but this was delicious! Unlike most beers, this one has no sugar, so it doesn’t give one that unpleasant feeling the next day. I got the idea that we could make a kosher kitchen next year and invite some of our group to attend or even teach.

I can’t believe all this happened in only one day! It’s after 1 a.m. and I am falling over from fatigue...happy, happy exhaustion!

Friday, July 16, 2010

Only our second day at the shiatsu school, and already we’re establishing a routine. We got up, dressed and were at breakfast by 8:00am for another hearty miso soup, Chinese cabbage and porridge, plus yesterday’s leftover tofu salad and some great homemade jam. A pleasure. The students are all nice and interesting.

We walked into town once again, passing through the tunnel under the river and up into the Old Town. This time we wandered aimlessly around until we made it to the pedestrian shopping mall where we stopped at the iPhone store again to find out why I couldn’t activate the phone. It turns out that the whole thing is useless without a Sim card, so we bought one for 8 euro. It will come in handy.

From there we hoofed it to the central train station, a gorgeous edifice with vaulted ceilings and magnificence beyond description. We discovered an airport shuttle bus there that we can take to return to the airport when it’s time to pick up our rented car. There was no time for our planned visit to the zoo, so we headed back for another delicious lunch and good company. I had arranged with one of the students to receive a shiatsu treatment, a “shiatsu treat.” I was in heaven for sure. The shiatsu class after that was not as good as a first level student poked and prodded me into sore ribs and great discomfort. Well, we all have to learn, and I learned not to do that again. It’s a strange feeling to sit in a class and understand virtually nothing as it is all conducted in Flemish.

Wanting a break, Mieke took me out for a beer at a fisherman’s restaurant along the river front. We talked about possibilities for next year and came up with an excellent program for our religious crowd: a Way to Health week with one or possibly two free positions of teaching or assisting, including a kitchen kashrut supervisor. The price Mieke set was 500 euros for a shared dorm and 600 for a private room. The date would be some time in July as part of the three week summer school. It could be a rare opportunity to offer kosher macrobiotic study.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Up early today seeking some privacy for a shower, and then successfully synching my iPhone. What luck that I brought my computer with me after all. Everything’s back the way it was on my iPhone. Yea! I’m restored!

We set off for our adventures today and immediately turned back. It was too cold out! By the time we bundled up in sweatshirts and coats it had started to rain, so instead we passed the day doing readings for the students. Not a bad alternative! Tonight we’ll go out to the Fisherman’s Restaurant with Mieke and Jan since there is no dinner in between the current school session and the one we will be participating in. That also is good.

Big scoop--Mieke and I further discussed the exciting new project that we agreed upon a couple of days ago--a kosher Way to Heath week-long program for next summer! It will be the first time religious Jews can get 1st class kosher macrobiotic training! The price will include everything but airfare--room, full board, and all instruction. The lodgings are simple, but adequate, and the location couldn’t be better. The school is in a quiet, pastoral setting within walking distance of the center of Antwerp. It’s an ideal setting. The food is excellent as is the level of instruction. It will be a full macrobiotic program with theory classes, hands on cooking, exercises, and lots of fun. At last we will have a kosher macrobiotic residential summer school. The dates are not determined yet, but it will be during the first couple of weeks of July, 2011.

We're having a blast. It couldn't be better, and yet it increasingly is. The first part of the summer session concluded last night with the requisite picture taking and fanfare. All the students expressed satisfaction with their course and departed amid hugs and promises to stay in touch.

Afterwards Jan and Mieke took us out for dinner together with their two year old grandchild. If there ever was needed a proof for macrobiotics, this child is it. Like Idan Carlier, our Israeli friend's macrobiotic child from birth, this little one is precocious, well mannered and entirely appropriate. She sat in her little highchair throughout the entire dinner, ate her food and watched the whole scene with avid curiosity. What a sweetheart.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Having the building almost to ourselves between sessions, we came down lazily this morning about 9:00 am to find that not only were there a few other people still around, but that two of them had prepared both breakfast and lunch for everybody. It’s a good thing we didn’t come down earlier to fend for ourselves. Our purveyors were two women from the Philippines who are here as personal servants of no less than the Princess of Abu Dhabi. Of course this is one of five adopted princesses, kind of back up royalty in case any ill should befall one of the five real monarchs. Anyway, these women live in the palace for two year stretches between visits to their families. They say life in the palace is exceedingly boring. There’s nothing to do but shop, assuming they can find a male escort and a driver to bring them to the mall. They do it to support their children’s education, who will one day do the same in turn for their children. One has been in Abu Dhabi for 7 years; the other is only 6 months into it. They cook for the Princess, who suffers from allergies. Being unaccustomed to foreign eyes, she takes her meals away from us common folk.

We spent our free day today exploring more of Antwerp with a pilgrimage to the remains of a nun who died 100 years ago and lies un-decomposed in the Holy Heart Basilica. We never found the church, or if we did it was closed, but we had a nice long trek there and back. We passed through a haredi (ultra-religious) neighborhood on the way to an area with beautiful art deco buildings set among idyllic street scenes. Lunch was delicious. Dinner back at the ranch was the simplest meal we’ve had here as the kitchen regroups for the new session. We had an early night munching on peanut butter cookies brought from home and watching a movie. Nighttime is very confusing here as it doesn’t get dark until after 10:00 pm. The light just lingers on, diminishing so gradually that you think you’re in the north pole. It must be a long Shabbat in these parts.

What a full day! We slept with all the windows closed, preferring stiffling heat over myriad mosquitoes. It worked, but it wasn’t pleasant. We’ll have to come up with a better idea.

Monday, July 19, 2010

The day started off with a Do-In class attended by about 50 people. I had a lot of resistance to stretching, rolling, rocking and moving, grumbling to myself with each movement. At the end I felt very virtuous, but not very inspired. Breakfast was the usual salty miso soup, bok choy and porridge,

The first class was amazing, incredible and unlike anything I’ve every done. A wonder woman with Popeye muscles set up fifteen large Japanese drums for a weeklong workshop in the art of Tai-ko, percussion from the hara. With a wide stance and guttural explosives she coached us to smash those bodhráns as if our lives depended on it. We learned cadences and patterns in syncopation and throbbing pulsation as the booms and measured silences pulsed through our bodies. My arms feel like a mass of jelly right now, but it was exhilarating.

The next class was Mieke teaching about healthy bones. This was a stimulating class in both structure and content. She first contrasted Western medicine’s approach to osteoporosis (a partial approach of adding supplementation and reducing carcinogens) to a holistic understanding of improving digestive ability, lifestyle and attitude. Then she demonstrated black sesame condiments, pickled tofu for those still addicted to cheese, a soybean stew, natto and a hiziki dish. The class flowed easily thanks to outstanding fluid translation whispered in our ears by An, Mieke’s daughter, a professional interpreter. She was amazing. I was inspired.

After lunch I prepared a bit for my class (i.e. I put on my tie die shirt with a big hand in the middle) and made my way to the classroom where I taught. I had a nice turn out and did well. My lecture on a comparison of baby to adult hands was not quite as inspiring as it had been with a slide show on the cruise, but overall people seemed engaged and interested. Afterwards several people came for private readings. With yesterday's readings, we are well on our way to paying for my iPhone.

Our friend Doris Steinbatz from the 2007 Abraham Mediterranean cruise has moved from Ireland to Brussels and came across our name on a flyer for the summer program here. She came last night to spend the evening and to invite us to stay in her empty apartment in Dublin. I would love to accept, but Sheldon is hesitant. We would both love to go to Ireland, but Sheldon isn't sure that this opportunity is practical.

Sheldon got a better idea about how to sleep. We erected our tent on top of the bed and slept inside the netting (see me in there?). It was breezy and pleasant, and I had a good night’s sleep. Sheldon was a little less comfortable on the crack between the two beds. I was a little put out when I turned over during the night and the tent slipped off the edge. No matter, anything is better than mosquitoes.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The second day of summer school, and what a great program it is! We started out with an herbal walk with Mieke. She took us around the grounds pointing out flowers and weeds with medicinal and culinary aspects. Nothing escaped her attention and her knowledge is vast.

After breakfast it was day two of Taiko. What a class! The teacher had us pounding those drums until our arms were falling off. The stick goes straight up in the air and comes down with a smash in a circular rush. Bam, bam, bam--pause--bam-hup-pause-bam….The rhythms vibrate your whole body and reverberate around the room. It’s exhilarating and exhausting. Pow, bam, hup, pow. My arms are killing me.

The second class was a cooking with Carine Vanhalst, our friend Pascal’s first macrobiotic teacher. She is graceful and precise, and her food is delicious. I sat with her at lunch afterwards and then offered her a palmistry reading together with Mieke. I saw that she

feels it very important to be well prepared and on time, and she told me that she had misjudged the train schedule and ended up being late. So I could understand how uncomfortable that was for her. She has a long thumb, making up for any other weaknesses on her hand, whereas Mieke’s thumb is short, creating some frustration considering her large capacity and potential.

Lunch was another gourmet feast featuring tempeh cooked in a shoyu, mirin and water glaze. Together with Carine’s delicious food, it’s quality victuals around here. Then a lecture on how to age gracefully, although I chose to nap to recharge my batteries a bit. After a nice dinner, some opted for ginger compress (not sure why they practiced putting it on their legs) while we went to clown school. We do have fun.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Another wonderful day! This summer program is a quality experience. The day started with breakfast (I skipped chanting the Heart Sutra), and then our morning Taiko class. What a workout! It's grueling in short spurts, and phenomenal. We bang those drums like our lives depended on it. The teacher is a true believer--when she discovered Taiko at a concert in Japan she knew this was her life goal.
She has never wavered, and is now in search of a disciple like herself. I think she's got the wrong class for that dream, but we sweat and grunt and pound and perspire. It's the highlight of my day along with Mieke's cooking classes.

From there I dragged my sweaty body to Sheldon's numerology class. He couldn't
compete with Anna MacKenzie's dessert session, but the few who did come were
fascinated. He gave a good class, and I had a good snooze. The Taiko teacher was student #1, and this evening she had a two hour private session with Sheldon. Powerful stuff for a powerful lady.

After a pleasant lunch chatting with all our new friends, I did another palmistry reading (we're in hot demand here) and then went to Mieke's amasake class. She's a lot of fun, and I don't really care what she teaches--it's always interesting.

The evening program was yet another highlight. A European shaman beat his tom tom, danced around in a circle, spoke in tongues, had us make like a bear, called in spirits, and generally let loose with foolishness. I let myself enjoy it, and soared in meditation, grunted like a beast and swayed to the rhythm. This place rocks.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

The penultimate taiko class was a stretch for tired arms and calloused hands. Yesterday the thundering drums brought out the police who responded to a complaint by neighbors in the nearby high rise apartment houses. The compromise was to close all the doors and windows of the dojo, creating a real steam bath that keep our muscles loose.

I was lucky enough to get a massage today from the master himself, Marc Vervecken. Jeanne van den Heuvel, a counselor from Lier Belgium that I was consulting with at the time, used to take us to him, and both Sheldon and I had several treatments. Today I got one as an exchange.

One of the students here, Erik, has expressed an interest in coming to Israel to visit, and within minutes Sheldon and Mieke concocted a plan for a week long program of touring and study. What a great idea! We'll wait for Erik to propose a date and see what we can do.

The rest of the day was pretty usual--we had 8 readings between us, enough to pay for my iPhone.

Friday, July 23, 2010

This just in! The princess of Abu Dhabi bought both our cookbook and my Food, Faith & Healing book describing the use of macrobiotics for health recovery. (Mieke told me that she was going to give them as a gift but they were all sold out.) Mieke had printed out three copies of both of these books for her bookstore. Meanwhile she has invited Grete, the Taiko lady, (as well as Mark Hanna as cook) to teach in the royal palace for 10 days next September. I asked
Grete how on earth she could transport her drums there, and the answer was that she has been given carte blanche to purchase whatever drums she needs! That's tens of thousands of euros for seven of the best made-in-Japan instruments by the top Taiko masters in the world. Grete is fainting, and wants to know where exactly Abu Dhabi is. I assured her that I don't know myself. I don't think I'll find out either.

I had two more palm readings today, one of which was to a young woman who came with her mother. I saw immediately that there had been poor infant bonding with her mother, but chose not to say so. The girl was too young to know what to do with that information and the mother would be too hurt. I didn't see the point. I don't know if I did well or not, because afterwards the mother told me that she had a difficult relationship with her daughter, so maybe that's why.

Today there was a tofu-making class and a beer making class. This is on top of miso-making yesterday and amasake the day before. It's a quality program, and Mieke is constantly thinking of new possibilities. They are clearly the most active macrobiotic center in Belgium, and perhaps Europe. Next year they want to
bring together long-time teachers as a sort of reunion. That's not a camp to miss, and both Mark Hanna and the Taiko teacher promise to return.

Lunch was a simple affair today in anticipation of the big party tonight. The kitchen was busy all day preparing shish kabob, sushi, papa dams, stir fry, and, in short, a feast for kings. I thought I had died and gone to macro heaven. There are about 85 to 90 students and 45 staff here for three concurrent programs including shiatsu and the summer school. They were all encouraged to invite their spouses for dinner at 25 euros each. So it was a hot time in the old town tonight.

Miss Taiko gave a wow performance that left her panting and us slack jawed. The
teachers were awarded bouquets of flowers--which we later gave away--and Mieke gifted us with a full box of food products for us to take on the road. How generous she is! Others got bottles of organic wine. We all danced past midnight to a professional DJ. What a send off after a great week. They really know how to put on a party!

Saturday, July 24, 2010--Last Day at the International Summer School

All things must end, and today everyone is packing up and putting Humpty Dumpty together again. I spent the morning packing up the kitchen supplies, a pleasant job for me. Any leftover odds and ends went into our travel pack. Mieke certainly treats us well. The kitchen was scrubbed clean, including walls, refrigerators and ovens. Lunch was leftovers from last night plus tempura lotus root, rice and soup. Mark is so easy to work with in the kitchen, always kind and accommodating. The princess left with her entourage of fifteen servants,
cooks, porters, helpers, and assistants. And she's only the substitute princess,
adopted just in case.

We walked into Antwerp after brunch to do errands and buy some things for our camping trip, and trudged back home again. The pedestrian shopping street was packed with so many people that it made Times Square look empty. Everyone was out and about.

We're entirely alone tonight in the whole school complex...a little eerie.

Sunday, July 25, 2010--Ghent Day

We took a cab this morning with our heavy luggage (full of cabbages and carrots, tent, sleeping bags, clothes, books…) to the central train station in Antwerp where we got a shuttle bus to Brussels airport to pick up our rented car. We're on the road now, so conditions are quite different. Those dorm rooms may not have been luxurious, but now we are adjusting to no water, electricity, or amenities. It's really not difficult. Sheldon says car camping like this is the epitome of freedom and versatility. Each day we stop to sleep, or cook without any plans, and go wherever our instincts dictate.

We drove leisurely to Ghent (Gent, Gand, Gant ), a gorgeous, refined, gentrified
gem of a city. Triangular stepped roofed home line graceful canals. We were put off only by the masses of locals thronging the town to enjoy the annual Gent Fest teaming with hullaballoo, circus rides and drunk revelers. Dinner was a lot of fun with a bunch of friends, including Mieke, Jan, Mark and Heidi all destined to the Taiko concert in a nearby church; and, good food at Avalon, the macrobiotic restaurant run by Tine, daughter of Marike de Konneck in Dover. I had a tempeh reuben, one of my favorite dishes, and Sheldon got tofu lasagna.

From there we all walked over to the Taiko concert. It was amazingly in a church with the big drums arranged on the stage. In addition to Grete there was a Japanese taiko drummer who was absolutely out of this world. She has been playing taiko from childhood, and practically jumped into those drums with each stroke. I never saw anything like it. The duets she and Grete did were awesome. There was also a soprano, cellist and flutist, all wailing away with some kind of avant post modern disharmonies. But the overall effect was mesmerizing.

From there we said our goodbyes to our new friends until next year. We drove out of town and found a place to pull off the road in an industrial complex. I was snug as a bug stretched out in the back of our station wagon, but Sheldon tried sleeping on top of the car and jumped off when it started to rain, bruising his arm and leg. After drying up the gushing blood, he transferred to the front seat at about 70 percent discomfort, he said. We'll need a better system tonight--either our tent if the sky clears, or I have an idea to move both suitcases to the front seat and us to the back.

Monday, July 26, 2010--Brugge Day
I can't write everyday now as we don't have electricity or a set schedule. I hardly even know what day it is. Let's see, oh yes...today was Brugge day (alternately spelled Brughe, Brugges, Bruge, and Boogies). What a charming, lovely, exquisite city. It is lined with canals--some call it the Venice of the north. The central square is bordered by enormous ornate buildings comprising the town hall, guild halls, cathedral, etc. It is thronged with tourists, and we even saw a large group of Israelis. It wasn't hard to find our way to quieter areas, and we were delighted by the sights as well as the sound of the water lapping against the canal banks.

Our cooking is going fairly well. We find a suitable place to set up a kitchen and cook the grain on one burner and vegetables/protein on another. I have various condiments like mustard, tahini, and rice syrup in addition to the usual staples, so hopefully I can make tasty food. We do our best.

In the evening we were invited by Sabine Martens for dinner. Sabine was a student of Jeanne who I first met many years ago during my studies there. Then I saw her again at the Lisbon teacher's conference last year. She lives and teaches macrobiotics in Brugge, and greeted us warmly. She enjoyed a numerology reading from Sheldon after dinner and I enjoyed a soak in her tub. It was a good exchange.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010--The North Sea

Today we are exploring the sea coast of Belgium along the North Sea A combination of high season and grey skies create an impression of great potential but dead. We passed through an impressive nature reserve before finding a shipping dock to prepare our food. Today is rice with almonds, shiitake and dried tofu vegetable stew, and greens with grapes. Dinner was noodles with tahini-mustard mushroom sauce.

We drove along the entire Belgium coast from Knokke to Veune. It's standard shore communities, nice places to visit. As the day progressed and the weather
improved, the towns became increasingly congested until traffic was crawling. The highlight for me were the massive dunes planted with wild grasses to hold back the sea.

We stopped randomly to take a break and found ourselves outside the spiraling tents of Cirque du Soleil in Oostende. Unfortunately they were just setting up the show and wouldn't open for another two days. That put a damper on our excitement, but perhaps we'll return.

Dinner was enjoyed by us and a thousand mosquitoes. They swarmed over our heads as I ran around from place to place to avoid them. Somehow I didn't get bitten. Maybe it's the flat staircase roofs that harbor pools of water for them to breed that makes them so plentiful. It's a national plague.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010--WWI Day

We've developed a comfortable routine for sleeping and living in our car-home. We transfer the two big suitcases into the front seat of the car and stretch ourselves out in the back on our air mattresses in sleeping bags. We are both short enough to stretch out completely, and sleep extremely well, and with car camping we're flexible enough to stop when it is convenient and not preplanned. If there's a public fountain around, that's the best, but otherwise we carry water with us. It's turning out that we only used our tent in our dorm room to serve as a mosquito net. There are mosquitoes in the countryside too, but I bundle myself up in my sheets and don't eat fruit, so I'm fairly confident of itch-free living.

The British military cemeteries we've been visiting are sobering, somber places filled with thousands of soldiers. Rows upon rows of upright identical tombstones stand at attention, each with regiment number of the soldier, name, position, and date of death. Some also have their age--19, 22, maybe 25. The graves are landscaped with fresh flowers, an incredible effort to provide a peaceful ambience. Later, we found that American cemeteries are quite different, with crosses or a Star of David on each grave, and devoid of all flowers. It was a devastating war which I ashamedly knew nothing about. In Belgium--and France-- soldiers on both sides dug into trenches with enormous human sacrifice for years accomplishing the conquest of scant meters of territory, later given back when the other side counterattacked. It was living hell, and this entire generation of young English, French, and Belgians died like flies. It's unfathomable.

We visited the Flanders Fields Museum in Iepers, a state of the art exhibit of how the war unfolded and developed. The museum depicted the horrors of the battles that took place in the area, and there was a special exhibit about the role that Chinese immigrants played in the war. We were profoundly impressed.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Our destination tonight is dinner at Mark Hanna's and Heidi's house in Antwerp. We have been looking forward to this treat since we received the invitation. They are the nicest people and we were assured of a good dinner.

We traveled via Gent to see it again without festival revelers, meandering there through back roads we found on our map. We stopped to picnic at a roadside table that turned out to be someone's private home. An elderly woman appeared grinning with delight to have us as "guests." She took me into her house to fill my water bottles and give me a picture tour of her dead relatives. She prattled on and on in Flemish with me nodding and throwing in a word or two whenever it seemed appropriate. Before she bicycled away she gifted us with a package of plastic cups, spoons and knives. She must have run out of forks.

Our day in Gent was overcast and drizzly and our impression similarly downcast. We enjoyed most of all the endless churches, one more magnificent than the other.

Friday, July 30, 2010, Mechelen and Leuven

Another fine day! We left the warm hospitality of Mark and Heidi heading south toward Mechelen. I appreciated the indoor accommodations, running water, electricity, and toilet more than I can say. Do without something and it's value is made abundantly clear.

Mechelen is a lovely city. We found parking easily right on the main square in the shade of a tree with no one else around--too good to be true. We bought a meter ticket for our dashboard, and began to explore on foot. Our first experience was an amazing Cathedral. I wonder if each city competed with each other for church design opulence. In any case, this Mechelen cathedral would surely be in the top ten for grace and grandeur. What awesome beauty!

Just outside the cathedral was an active archeological dig with four or five young people participating. There were many exposed skeletons being dusted and picked over with spoons and brushes. It was impressive.

We discovered next the stately town hall, housing the tourist information office. There they told us of a section of the city called the Beguinage, an area taken over by wealthy Catholic spinsters seeking asylum from unwanted men and poachers during the 15th to 19th centuries. In Lier this area was just outside the town perimeter; here the women simply erected a gate and forbade all but the priest to enter. The small streets still held their charm and a helpful pair of locals gave us our bearings together with some historical background.

From there it wasn't far to the main reason for our visit--the Jewish Museum of Deportation and Resistance. Mechelen was the main jumping off point for transports to Auschwitz. In 1940 there were 70,000 Jews living in Belgium. Once the Nazis took power in 1940, they deported 25,000 to the Death camps. Of those, 16,000 were gassed on arrival and only 1,218 survived. The museum itself is a wing of the former assembly point for Jews about to be deported. The pictures and exhibits were wrenching. 28 train convoys carried Jews from this antechamber of death to the gates of hell. I wept.

The most amazing thing was the synchronicity that enabled our museum visit. When we arrived to the museum door in the early afternoon, we were surprised to see it closed to the public. Apparently it closes for Shabbat and Jewish religious holidays in the early afternoon prior to these holy days. We shared our dismay with a sympathetic neighbor who could only say how sorry she was. Lingering at the doorway and feeling our disappointment, the entrance door suddenly swung open with the cleaning ladies standing there shocked to see us. We told them with signs and sighs how far we had come and how much we wanted to enter. To our surprise, they opened the doors for us, turned on the lights and let us in. We toured the entire museum while they finished their work and waited for us at the entrance. What a testament to allowing and acceptance! Seeing them waiting for us when we finished was a moving experience that I'll never forget.

We came back to the car and voila! A parking ticket! We had no idea why this happened as we didn't see any signs prohibiting parking. On closer inspection, the ticket didn't have an amount printed on it, and local passersby were unable to clarify just what was expected of us. So we found our way to the police station and explained our situation. As it happened, we had in fact bought a parking ticket for the car. Of course we were hours later than the expired time, but the incredible part is that the ticket was issued before our time was up on the grounds of it being a no parking zone. When we pleaded our ignorance to the clerk at the police station she called the sergeant who incredibly excused the fine. The clerk was so nice we couldn't believe it. She whispered to us not to tell anyone that the fine was excused, then gave me a hug. What an extraordinary experience.

We continued driving from there to the City of Leuven. This is a university town, with streets lined with outdoor restaurants. The energy was electric and the place buzzing and alive. We walked down street after street enjoying the scene, and gawking as well at yet another magnificent cathedral--closed to the public by this late hour. Its outside design was over the top, indescribable splendor. It's ornate turrets and towers cannot be encapsulated in words. It was a fairy tale incarnate.

Exhausted, we left to look for a place to park ourselves for the night. We found a great spot not far out of town and prepared a delicious dinner of pasta with fried onions and white beans along with boiled vegetables. Then we bedded down in our lovely home on wheels for another good night's sleep.

Saturday, July 31, 2010, Deist, Hasselt and the Vandeuren Farm

We headed for the small town of Deist this morning after a nice miso soup and a
porridge of quinoa flakes with dried fruit. Before we got to the city center, we found a large park with a windmill and hiking trails along a river for a good morning hike. It sure felt good to be out in nature after so many cities. We even got lost a little bit, which added an element of surprise to the experience. Then we found the beguinage, this time a charming segment of streets outside the historic center. I could just imagine all the women cloistered behind those high walls.

We found an expansive health food store in the city center with everything a natural girl could ever want. Mindful of our limited luggage space, we only bought a few items like cookies and seitan rolls. Coming out of the store we saw the meter man just ready to give us a parking ticket, and once again avoided a parking fine.

Hasselt was next, a large city with too much going on and too many people. We had bypassed Brussels because we just weren't up to urban energy, and found this just as draining. We walked around a bit and then went back to the car for a snooze. Someone woke us up to sign a petition for God knows what, and we took it for a sign that we'd had enough of Hasselt. We called our friend Ellen Vanmeert from the summer school program and asked if we could take her up on her invitation to visit her sister on their nearby farm a day before Ellen was due to arrive there. No problem, like everything else with Ellen.

What great intuition that was! We drove out to this estate in the tiny village of Opheers for a royal welcome. Ellen, who will join us here tomorrow, couldn't be nicer, and her sister Wincke is of the same gene pool. Wincke and husband Edwig, an interior design architect, live in this rambling farmhouse compound with Edwig's father, two brothers, their wives and children, five horses, a dog, a cat and multiple chickens.

They gave us a tour of this amazing place, refurbished and partly under construction. It was originally the largest female abbey in the area of Liege. The main building was constructed in 1639, can you imagine? Farmers renting land from the abbey paid with a tithe of their crops. During the French Revolution the Belgian government confiscated the land and sold it to a farming family for 99 years. Afterwards it changed hands a few times until the father and three brothers bought it for their family architectural firm. Today it houses a state of the art showroom and sample products.

We made dinner all together including Edwig and Wencke's three happy, healthy children, while Sheldon gave Edwig and Wencke numerology readings. Their specialty is healthy homes, and they are exemplars. What fortune to be invited here. And since it's midnight, it's time to crawl into the tent they are lending us and lay down.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

By the time Sheldon finished his numerology readings and the last glass of wine (our present to our hosts) it was almost 1:00 am. That's late for car campers who usually are asleep by 10:00 pm, when the sky is getting dark. We slept in the family tent but I was so excited and wound up that I couldn't sleep. Suddenly I heard nearby neighing and then a steady crunching and munching. The horse and two ponies had somehow escaped their stables and were roaming over the open field where we lay. In addition, the air mattress was steadily leaking, and each time Sheldon turned or tossed I sunk a bit lower to the ground. Someone was listening to heavy metal music, and it started to rain. The final straw was when the horse stuck his head in the doorway to our tent. It was 4:00 am when I gathered up my things and made it to the car. It felt like a surreal nightmare as the ponies nuzzled me on my way. I slept until 9:00; very late for us!

Sheldon got up when I did and worked till dawn on his photo editing. Then he made rice porridge and miso soup for everyone to mixed reviews. I guess it's an acquired taste.

Wencke led me around the courtyard on one of the bareback horses and then went off to do our laundry while we drove over to the antique fair in the neighboring town. We weren't sure quite where it was and drove around wondering if we should turn back. Suddenly there it was, just waiting for us. Sheldon rested in the car while I made the rounds, buying a small plate as a gift for Ellen who invited us here to her sister's farm. Our gratitude is immense.

Back “home” Sheldon continued to catch up on his white night and I played games with the children. We all colored next on a large drawing vellum to be used a wrapping paper for Ellen's present. I think the children's drawings are more precious than the plate itself. We ate our leftover lunches and Ellen arrived with John in tow, an English friend from the summer school. We have many new friends now.

We just got word that Healey will give birth on August 25 (by C-section), and so have reserved our flight back to Israel from Gatwick on Air Baltic on August 23rd, arriving early the next morning. Our six-day London pass concludes one day before, and this will give us time to recover from the red-eye flight. It worked out perfectly, particularly because the One World Tuscany camp never materialized for us. Good thing!

What a hoot this afternoon was! The family has a carriage for hooking up with two horses for buggy riding. Edwig actually took driving lessons to pass a licensing exam. We piled in to the cart and the children who didn't fit followed behind on their bikes for over an hour's ride through narrow country roads, paved and unpaved. Sometimes it was a trot and sometimes a gallop, and I found out that holding the reins is not an easy task. Left on their own, those horses will really take off, and you have to constantly pull them back. It was wonderful. Our whole stay here is a major highlight, especially for the new friendships.

Ellen and John prepared a scrumptious dinner for all the adults while the children went to the neighboring farmhouse for pizza. There was an apple salad with raspberry vinaigrette that was amazing and pesto sauce mixed with cooked quinoa, giving it an interesting texture. I also loved fried tofu sandwiches marinated in balsamic vinegar. And the miso soup this morning was delicate slivers of zucchini and a slice of lime.

I finished off the evening with a group palm reading for everyone. It's such interesting and personal information, and it was a lot of fun. In short, this has been a highlight of highlights.

The Rice House