Week 39 - 20th birthday and Christmas!

With Familie Peeters and  Zuster Smets (oldest member in Turnhout) on Christmas Eve! 

 #heisthegift #hetgeschenkdoorgeven 

Where we slept Christmas Eve.. with the best Christmas present pillowcase!!! Thanks. 

 The VanGijsels found out it was my birthday when I was talking to Emilie and she asked how old I was and I said "19.. wait, no, 20!" and they got it out of me that it was today.. and then surprised me later that night by singing and candles and cake and deliciouslyella-status super lekker (but healthy and veg) cupcakes aw. (: 

 Zuster Janssen!.. she has 5 cute little boys who are adorable/ crazy (but they sometimes just stare at me like I'm crazy when I try and talk to them)

Boardwalk inside the Wintermarkt.. good thing getting secondhand drunk isn't a thing.  Recognize that Decathlon store sign? 

 The Wintermarkt (not quite up to par with the Deutsche Weihnachtsmaerkte but still really cute and fun) in front of the big Catholic church right near our house

A picture of a picture of our cute neighbor, "onze lieve Mia" / Let's play I spy owl trinkets (she's like me with my penguin collection.. but with owls and 60 more years to collect). 

 Service project in Antwerpen (giving out free clothes to less-fortunate).. the highlight of that for me was coming home with 2 kilos of dates (the kind you eat, just to clarify) that nobody wanted (but I love- does that make them pity dates ha ha? I mean they weren't even pitted, soo "pitty" I guess?.. okay, too far) and using my two months of college French to contact a lady and get her number.. I said "je ne sais pas" a lot but it still worked (Dad, you were just asking about whether I ever get to use French in BE) 

 It snowed!!! 

Our street. Turnhout is so pretty with the snow covering the cute brick houses and old churches!  

 Yes, those are bike tracks in the snow haha

  Classics in Dutch!  

  2 of the 3 VanGijsel boys on Christmas with the Elders

 We got stranded somewhere in between Leuven and Tienen trying to get to district mtg.. but it was pretty! 

 let's just say that I discovered one way not to have to pay 50c for a public restroom in Europe.