Opportunity

As a mom, I have been very attuned to what Allen and Kyra are missing back in the United States.  On the one hand there's all kinds of stuff we gladly leave behind - the traumatic years of being a girl in junior high,  extensive drug and alcohol abuse (it's here just not on as large a scale), American self-indulgence, Northern Virginia traffic, etc.  And on the other, I cringe at what we have lost in being away from a Fairfax County education, its level of excellence and diversity of classes.  I miss opportunities for Allen and Kyra -  big and small.

And in the midst of these "woe is me/ woe is my family" pity parties in breaks a reminder of how fortunate we are, how what we have here might never happen had we not picked up our lives and settled in rainy, foggy Belgium.

Such a moment happened last night.  Last night was the fall sports banquet.  It was a potluck in the school cafeteria.  I can sense you are jealous already.  But wait there is more - six teams, their coaches and parents were present and we got to sit and listen and clap for six teams (with their middle school, jv, and varsity divisions) passing out participation certificates, awards and gifts.  All this in an echo-y cafeteria with a not so great sound system.  I hope you are getting the picture.

As awful as the evening was, there was one shining moment that made it worth sitting through all over again.  Allen not only received a varsity letter for cross-country but also a certificate for athlete acadmic achievement.  Would Allen eventually letter at Lake Braddock? Probably, but not until his senior year and certainly not as a freshman.  In a smaller school, with more individual attention and less fierce athletic competition, Allen has really stepped up both academically and athletically.

Had we stayed in the US, Allen would not know the joy of being on this cross country team (which is a great group of kids, their camaraderie is evident), competing in some notable places and reaching a level of achievement he (and his parents) can be proud of.  

Even in the midst of the damp and clouds every now and again, a bit of light shines through

European Championships

 The Department of Defense schools held their European Championships for Cross Country in Heidelburg Germany on Saturday, October 30th.  All schools could send their team, but only their top six runners.

The course was through a local wooded park and it wound up hill and down.  It was laid out in such a way that with a short walk spectators could view the race at several different points.

It was interesting to watch the race progress and see how the runners went from a pack to individuals.

There were 172 runners in the boys' race.  Allen finished 103rd.  Not bad for a freshman in his first year of running.

Now Allen starts his winter training in anticipation of the track season...

sprinting for the finish

Our European Vacation

Disclaimer - It is my intent to share information, my thoughts and in general let you know about my life here in Belgium.  I wish to share not brag.

Over the next few days, I'll be blogging about our recent family vacation.  In many ways it was similar to vacations we have taken in the US, except this time what is close to us is Europe.  So - if this is coming off as bragging, I kindly request that you don't read this blog for a few days.  In case you think life is glamorous here, I'll remind you I do not have a garbage disposal, the toilet lid falls down on me every time I sit, it is cloudy most days and because my washing machine is small, I'll be doing laundry continuously for three days to recover from this vacation.

And now on with the show..

All Saints' Day is observed in most of Europe as a holiday.  In the kids' case, as a week break from school.  So with a week off of school, our choice was to travel.

Allen's cross country season finished with the European championships held in Heidelburg Germany on Saturday, October 30th.  He traveled there on the team bus and Kyle, Kyra and I followed in the car Friday evening.

Allen competed Saturday afternoon (separate blog).  We then started our drive to Barcelona which was our cruise port.

We did a week long Mediterranean cruise which stopped in Naples, Rome (sort of), Pisa (sort of) and two small towns in France.

The picture is of our cruise ship taken through a window of a fortification in southern France.

We docked again on Sunday morning and then drove for over 13 hours to get home in time for the kids to return to school on Monday.

We had a great time and made some wonderful memories.  The most remarkable things weren't so much what we saw but what we did together.

Away Meets

I'm dragging a bit this morning.   Allen's bus for his away meet left at 3:45 in the a.m.  Within the DOD league there are only two schools relatively close to us - both are in Brussels and are about an hour's drive away.  All the other schools are spread throughout Europe.

Throughout the course of the cross country season the team has travelled to England, other places in Belgium and to Germany.  They have competed against teams from England, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.  That's a lot of passport traveling for a lot of kids.  Often it has meant overnight trips departing mid-day on Friday.  Yes, Allen has had to miss half days of school, much to his dismay.

As pleased as I have been that Allen has enjoyed cross country, I am also pleased that the season is ending.  We'll have a bit of a break before track starts in the spring and the whole crazy travel schedule begins again.

Cross Country Meet at SHAPE

 Today was a more traditional cross country meet for Allen.  His uniform and warm-ups were clean and dry so he wore them to the meet.

Today's meet was notable for two other reasons -

1.  The sun was shining

2.  The meet was at SHAPE - a home meet.

It was nice not to have to carry an umbrella or break out my Alaska rain gear to watch Allen run.  It was also nice not to have to devote an entire day (or more) to watching Allen run.  Kyle is giddy contemplating what errands he can do today.

The course wasn't overly thrilling.  It was simply a loop around the track, football field, gym and surrounding grounds.  The runners had to circle three times before crossing the finish line at the 50 yard line.

I helped monitor the course so I was able to watch Allen run by a few times before going to the finish line.

Allen finished in the middle group of runners and then enjoyed hanging out with friends.

Cross Country Meet - Allen Style

 1.  Attend youth group lock-in the night before

2.  Play outside in the rain in your warm up suit

3.  Get warm up suit so wet and dirty it can not be worn to the meet the next day

4.  Wear street clothes instead

5.  Hang out with friends while waiting for race to start


6.  Eventually warm up a bit

7.  Remove street clothes, change shoes and prepare to run

8.  Go to start line

9.  Begin to run

10.  No matter the terrain, the rain, the mud or the incline, keep a steady pace throughout the race

11.  When encounter obstacles (there were some thigh high rails that the runners had to weave around) jump over them rather than run around them.

12.  At the end of the race pour on the speed and pass other runners in a race to the finish (Allen passed four runners on the track and three in the transition from path to track)

13.  Finish 63rd among 108-120 guys running (count of total runners unconfirmed)

14.  Hang out with team afterwards - the best part

Cross Country Meet

allen is the most obscured runner in this photo

Saturday was Allen's first cross country meet.  As the meet was significantly far away, I did not attend.

Significantly far = kids boarded bus at school at 1pm checked into hotel in England around 9pm.  Kyle attended as the male chaperone so he was there for Allen and to take photos.

This past spring (before breaking his arm) Allen decided to take up running.  One night he said, I'm going to go running.  As it was dark, I made him stay in the neighborhood - he put on some shoes and for three hours circled the neighborhood.

For the months when his activity was restricted due to his arm, he was anxious to get back to running.  So when we got to Belgium (and the months of restriction elapsed) Kyle and I encouraged him to give cross country a try.  He has been running daily with his team and training.

According to Allen his best skill is consistency of pace.  Running around the track his laps time the same.  He doesn't slow down he doesn't speed up.  His coaches like this and encourage this consistency.

 On Saturday, Allen got his first taste of American high school competition - in England. The course was in a local park close to Alconbury air force base.  It was a 5k course.

Kyle says there were about 40 boys running.  At about the 1k mark Allen was in the last quarter of the pack and by the 2k mark Allen was towards the middle.

In the end Allen was the fifth to finish of the boys on his team.  He finished 16th with a time of 22:13.  Allen says he was neither tired nor winded so next meet he's going to go for a faster pace to see if he can improve his time.

I look forward to seeing him run soon when he'll be a bit closer to home.

Allen and Kyra's Extracurricular Activities

Being products of their Northern Virginia up-bringing Allen and Kyra can not simply attend school, return home, do homework, eat dinner and spend quality family time with their parents.  This would be too slow of a pace not enough variety or social interaction.  Just living overseas in another culture and not speaking the language is not enough of an adventure.

We've been here now about six weeks and they have already begun to find their social groups and their extracurricular activities.

Both kids are involved in the chapel youth group which is called Club Beyond.  Club Beyond meets on Tuesday afternoons for Fellowship and some study.  They also meet on Wednesday for small group and Bible study time.  As it is associated with an ecumenical military chapel, this group is non-denominational by which I mean Baptist and conservative.  This will mean we'll be having some conversations about what Mom and Dad believe and how we live out our faith.  I can't complain too much, as Club Beyond is a quality ministry and is fruitful in nurturing faith in the kids.

Allen is running cross-country.  Actually at this point he is training to run cross-country, meets don't start for a few weeks yet.  When the meets do start, he'll be running internationally, as his school will be competing against other Department of Defense schools in Europe.  Traveling across Fairfax County (if he makes the Lake Braddock team) for a meet will be nothing compared to some of the overnight trips he'll be on this year.

Kyra is dancing - what else would she do?  I've found two studios for her.  One is Dance Center and the other is called Attitude.  It looks like she'll be in six classes spread over 4 days of the week.  This will be a decrease over last year's nine classes spread over 5 days of the week.

Add that to homework, spending time with friends and travel and they have a pretty full schedule.  And what extracurricular activity do Kyle and I have?  Driving them to and fro.