Adventures in Expatriating: Day 2

I meant to wake up by 9 but woke up at 11:15. It was pouring and the rain sound was like Ambien. Considering I hadn't slept the night before, I don't feel at all guilty about sleeping for nearly 15 hours.

Today is a much better day than yesterday. It has been a day of self-made familiarity. Doing familiar things made me feel less like a stranger in a strange land. I had yogurt and raspberries with my muesli, and now I want to make my own muesli. I went for a run despite the rain, albeit a slow one. I made some brown rice and had rice and eggs for lunch. The eggs were amazing, with bright, rich yolks the color of a clementine. I walked to Place Flagey again, twice, and I didn't hesitate on the route home. I tried the other grocery store and found nearly everything on my list except the steel cut oats. When I got home, I found a live stream of football and cooked dinner. My husband is currently stuck in Heathrow, his flight delayed repeatedly due to mechanical bullshit. I popped open the Lambic because I'll be waiting for quite a while.

Running in the rain was much less miserable than I'd anticipated. In fact, it was kind of great, and after the first mile I stopped caring about how stupid I looked in my bright yellow jacket and cycling cap. I was out running, after all, not at home on the couch sulking and wishing it was sunny. I followed dirt paths around the ponds, into Abbaye de La Cambre, and out onto Ave. Franklin Roosevelt (I supposed the Brussels version of an FDR). I passed a turnoff onto Avenue Victoria but decided to keep running on Roosevelt. Dumb. The sidewalk pavers on that street are like ice in the rain, and even in my trail shoes I kept losing my footing. Not wanting to break my neck, I turned back and went onto Victoria. Fear of getting inexorably lost in the park kept me from entering, but after a bit I decided to try. It's like the Golden Gate Park of Brussels in there. I love it. The dirt paths were the perfect place to run in the rain.

First day of work tomorrow. I wish I had a day to spend exploring the city with Koshi before I started but there's always next weekend!