November Happenings

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It's been a minute since I wrote... but life has been busy. Busy recovering my strength and trying to kick this cough and also hosting visitors! 

My sister Rachel visited the weekend after I got back from the USA. Sadly I was still pretty weak and feeling awful, so it was a lot of sleeping and both of us working from home rather than doing things. We did manage a few of the Luxembourg City highlights when I had a bit of energy, and a lovely time at my favorite coffee shop here (where the owner gave us free orange cake because we spoke German to him). Two other friends joined as well; one I knew and had met before in various cities in the US, and the other I had heard off. We had a drink at the Sofitel, which normally boasts the best rooftop bar views, but sadly the darkness killed that plan. It was followed by a seafood dinner at a restaurant I walk by often! That was the extent of my interactions with those friends, as they came during weekdays, but I was able to recommend some of the city highlights to them. 

The following weekend found good friends from Boston in town. Luckily, they speak French :) Coincidentally, it worked out that daughter studying abroad in France could meet up with dad from Africa! It was a wonderful weekend also exploring Luxembourg, but also doing a bit of grocery shopping to try to find some hard to obtain products to take back to Africa. Daughter is living with a vegan host family, so it was a nice opportunity to maximize our consumption of meat. We had lamb, chicken, beef, and sausages over the course of a few days! B and I intended to head to Vianden Castle, but cancelled trains interrupted our plans. Instead, we found ourselves at the International Bazaar. Many countries have stands, all with a food area and then with a dry goods area. It was interesting to walk around, but it was quite full of people which I found annoying. We got stroopwaffels and then shared some grompe (the Luxembourg potato pancakes) at the bazaar. Then we explored a few new places for me in the city, before we headed back for orange cake at my favorite cafe! 

The coughing knocked me down for a while, but I'm grateful for the support of my church here in Lux. My Monday night ladies group insisted on bringing me chicken soup, and arrived with a tub of amazing soup, along with a giant bag of oranges, bread, and cookies. A lady from the events team brought a second round of chicken soup and cookies a few days later, and the pastor's wife arranged for me to get another meal from a church lady. I never feel like I need meals, and always felt weird accepting them, but I was so grateful not to have to spend extra time braving the elements to buy groceries and then cook lately. 

There was the tiniest smattering of snow today. The weather feels like it should be blizzarding though. The Christmas markets open this Friday, and everyone is super excited about that. 

I'm hosting a baby shower this Saturday for a Brazilian friend, then American Thanksgiving the weekend after. The days are full, but I'm grateful for the community here. And also very grateful for the friends in the USA, from the occasional Whatsapp messages, to the friend who regularly schedules calls, to the friend who sends piles of reels to open my day with, or the friend who messages daily on IG- thank you all for not forgetting about me. 

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