I wrote this towards the end of August but just realized that I never published it...
When you are new to Belgium people tell you that summers here are very quiet. But I don't think anyone can prepare you for just how quiet they are, especially when you come from a place that has lots of stores open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Our first summer here was a real shock to the system. Our dry cleaners shut down for a month (but luckily they warned us early and often about it so we got Kyle's suit out in time). We always had to have at least two to three restaurants in mind for dinner because there was no telling which one would be closed (it is very common for restaurants to close for a whole month at a time). Traffic is really light, parking is easy, but the trams also come much less frequently. (To clarify, not everything shuts down for the exact same amount of time, but many stores and restaurants will be closed for some large portion of July and/or August).
I recently spoke to a woman who was experiencing her first summer here. The funniest part is that as she was telling me about her shock and disbelief that an entire city could shut down for so long it reminded me that I too once thought like she did. But just like everything else, Belgium has worn me down and now I love how quiet the summers are! I have time to catch up on things I have been putting off and the city is so easy to get around. I have also widened my group of friends enough to make sure that I always have someone to hang out with, no matter how many people are on vacation. As school is starting and the Women's Club is getting going again I find myself wistful for the quite summer.
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