Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, Belgium

When I asked my first roommate, Jolien, where she was from, she answered, "Sint-Pieteres-Leeuw" (Saint Peter's Lay-oo) and I said, "WHAT?!? Can you spell that, please?" Little did I know our future European tour would change and we would end up as a cast in Jolien's home town! I'm so glad we did, because it's very fun to see just where she's from!

We had a very short trip from Mol/Oud-Turnhout to Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, but in that short trip, I had a great bus date with our lighting technician, Andrew. He's a Wyoming boy through and through! =P

We arrived in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw and had a lot of time for internal work - so we had home team time, lunch, and then an education workshop presented by our education interns, Hunter and Sofia. We had time to appreciate how others in our cast have shaped who we are now, and it was great to get to share our appreciations with others and hear what others had to say about us! Before we knew it, it was time for our host family pick-up. I knew two things: 1) I'd be rooming with our Cuban student, Lis and 2) Our host code was De Smurfen (aka...the Smurfs). What I didn't know was just how darn cute my host family would be upon pick-up!!!

Daan had his outfit, blue face, and even strawberries (they were DELICIOUS!)

We enjoyed drinks in the cafe attached to our host pick up location, and I tried my first Belgian beer...a fruit beer called Kriek (it's cherry). I don't like beer, but this one was tasty!

My hosts for the week were the Keymolen family: Bart, Goedele, Daan (6) and Wannes (2). I learned that Bart is EXTREMELY busy as he is a potato farmer (and he has cows), AND he started a 6-year term serving on the City Council just this past January. We pretty much never saw him except for sporadic meals here and there. If he wasn't at a meeting, he was out in the fields working, or vice-versa. Goedele is my sweet, sweet host mom who works for agricultural distribution and has her hands full with two very active boys! Daan was so much fun to be with this week! He's full of energy and LOVES to be with me. He asked me the first night I was here to sing a song to him (LOVE!). From then on, he's followed me everywhere, has been my little helper, and loves to play games with me! Little brother Wannes wasn't so sure, I don't think. He never really warmed up to the idea of having us around. Oh well, I hope we didn't terrorize him too much with our stay! =P

He would always ask to see my computer because he LOVES the orange silicone cover I have over the keyboard

Tuesday we had study abroad day and got a lot of work done, including watching Little Miss Sunshine as part of our Interpersonal Communication class. Truth: there's a ton of great character development and interaction in that movie.

Wednesday, my castmate and fellow Coloradan, Mallory, and I had time off in the morning to go to Brussels with our mutual host-sister Clara from Cast A 2012. I hosted Clara during staging in Denver, and Mallory hosted her when the cast hit the road and toured up in the Fort Collins area. We were thrilled to see her again and see HER city! Only problem was...I was SUPER sick and I didn't know it yet! I didn't truly enjoy the morning because I was too worried about not getting sick in the middle of Brussels.

Colorado sandwich! Mallory (CO), Clara (Belgium), Amy (CO)

 The city was gorgeous, the weather was perfect, but my body decided to hate me. Once we got back to our show facility to meet up with the cast, I said goodbye to Clara and hello to my host mom. I didn't want to miss the show, but there was NO way I was well enough to stick around and perform. I came home and slept as best as I could. I stayed home sick the next day, too, which I HATED because I missed the community impact I was most looking forward to: going to an international school and teaching songs. Turns out they didn't actually do songs, but they still got to work with elementary school kids and play! =(

I was all sorts of better by Friday, which was our cast regional learning. That day was the epitome of perfect, so it deserves a post all its own! 

We had a great show on Saturday, and I enjoyed a very relaxing host family day in our village. We enjoyed a BBQ fundraiser put on by the local scouts (if you didn't know, scouting is HUGE here in Belgium. Everyone does scouts - it's a cool thing to do!) and we took in the sunshine! I said hello to the family cows, took a nap, enjoyed some peace and quiet, and packed.

Fun Fact: the calf standing up is named Uppie because our promotion representative Jolien, Isabel, and Linnea were at my host house making UWP posters a few weeks ago when he was born, so they named him!

Now we're off to Tielt and to explore Bruges, and before we know it, we'll be off to Mexico for the last leg of our tour! My how time flies!