Brussels and Beyond: Day 8- Groceries conquered.

Throughout my life I have heard people make fun of Walmart. I have made fun of Walmart myself…I have even visited peopleofwalmart.com and laughed…a lot. Because of yesterday…never will I ever ever again make fun of Walmart. It may just be the greatest thing that exists.

Yesterday, Maddie and I didn’t have much to do , but we decided we wanted to pick up some school supplies and find more groceries. We have several markets that are located next to us, but only have a few options for food. We assumed a large market (Walmart kind of thing) would be close to us, so we started out on our journey.

We left the house around 2PM in our Northface jackets, boots, jeans and longsleeve shirts. Who would have thought that at the end of August it would have been 50 degrees and raining out? I didn’t think I could miss St. Louis humidity…but again, I was wrong. Anyways, we were told that the large market called “Carrefour” was just down the street, two bus stops away, so we boarded bus #1. After getting off, we found the Carrefour and were shocked to see that it was a “Carrefour Express” which had nothing but local produce. We asked the clerk where the “large” Carrefour was in boken French. He then told us to go to the next metro station and take it to the “Delta” stop. Excited we had new directions, we left quickly and forgot to ask where the next metro station was. We aimlessly walked about a mile to try and find a metro stop, stopped in a few stores…asked where the Carrefour was, and had a lot of people laugh at us and tell us we were very very very far away from there.

By now, it is around 3pm, and we are a good hour and a half away from our house. We still have no idea where the next metro station is or where “Delta” is. Thankfully, my roommate Maddie has more direction sense than I do, and she actually looked at a map at the next bus station. I sat next to her practicing how to say “Where Am I”, and “Help, I just want to find some food” in French while she did the practical thing and got us to the next metro station. We ended up boarding bus #2 that took us downtown, another 20 minutes away from stop Delta. The bus stopped downtown close to a metro station. Next, we boarded this metro, switched lines and got off on stop Delta. By now it is around 4:30 PM and I don’t really remember why we went out in the first place. So 2.5 hours into our quick stop for groceries, we had taken two buses, two metro’s and walked about 3 miles.

By the time we reached Delta, I was ecstatic! WE FINALLY DID IT. I just knew that Carrefour was going to be just around the corner because of course the guy telling us at the first Carrefour to get off at Delta was correct in his directions. We get off at Delta, asked one of the first, quiet, normal, non “Taken” looking people, for directions to Carrefour. And sadly we get, “Ohhhh I have no idea where that is, but it sure is a long way from here”. At that point, I almost punched the woman and thought that the Lord must really want me to not have school supplies. So what do you do after that? Do you get back on the metro and try and go back an area you somewhat know? Of course not…you get off at the stop and walk. Then you walk. Then you walk some more, then you take a picture of a funny looking Belgian statue, then you walk. Then you ask the nice lady with the doggy where Carrefour is. Then you walk. Then you are afraid you don’t understand her directions so you ask her to walk with us for a little so we don’t get lost again. THEN YOU FINALLY SEE THE SIGN FOR CARREFOUR.

After seeing the sign I almost starting doing backflips down the road. We were thrilled! It was about 6PM at this time and we had no memory of anything before this trip. We walk towards the sign and realize that the large Carrefour sign just leads to an empty parking garage. Before I almost sit down and cry, Maddie calmly leads me to the back of the parking lot, where a massive Walmart looking building, housing a PizzaHut, Burger place, grocery store, clothing store, and much more, is located. It was one of the prettiest things I have seen since being in Belgium.

We walked in and began to look around…the first aisle I turned down was divinely the “soda” aisle that had sodas from each country…including the United States. And there, in bright colors was a sign for my first love, Dr. Pepper. And in that moment, I could see God looking down on me, chuckling but also smiling and saying…I’m still here Bailey. I know you, and I love you…even if you’re crazy sometimes.

So I bought the largest bottle of Dr. Pepper I could find, as well as some ham, two types of cheeses, crackers, a few notebooks, highlighters, pens, cereal, juice, and a beautiful loaf of freshly baked Ciabatta bread. The bread aisle amazed me…for a girl who doesn’t like chocolate, but could eat her weight in carbs…that aisle was the place for me. Kinda looked like Disneyworld.

We checked out, and headed back with our large sacks of groceries that we brought from home (thank goodness someone told me that they don’t provide you with bags…or I would have looked hilarious trying to carry stuff in my northface). From the grocery store we found a metro stop really close by…but it was not named Delta. So we took another metro, then switched to a tram, then walked another mile, up three flights of stairs…and sat on our beds and didn’t speak for about 20 minutes.

Later that night, we were out walking around trying to meet up with some friends, and we passed a large super market located approximately three blocks from my apartment called DelHaize. I laughed so hard I almost cried.

Even though, my day was long and a bit stressful, I got a great walking tour of different parts of Brussels, and got to drink a very large glass of Dr. Pepper in the end, so I must admit that all is well in the world.

I’ m about to head to my first class in a few minutes…a little nervous, but kind of excited (being the nerd I am). Anyway…thanks again for reading this! Hope my life can keep all of you entertained for a few minutes each day. Remember that your heavenly Father is always watching and with you (Isaiah 41:10), and that even if you seem lost, He will lead you in the right direction and the reward will be great (maybe even better than a Dr.Pepper haha). Love you all!

Bails