HAPPY HOLIDAYS 1997 FROM THE RANDALLS IN BELGIUM

It is hard for us to believe but the Randalls' invasion and occupation of Belgium is about half over. We have managed to see much of Belgium, and several places in Europe: The Netherlands, Switzerland, Paris, Germany(several trips) , London, Rome-Florence-Venice, and Prague. We hope to see much more in 1998. We have had several visitors: Carolyn Baldwin, Ardis Goode, Nancy and Sarah Mills, Bill and Vee (John's parental units), Nick Economou, Evelyn Hu, and (very briefly) the Flanders.


Ian in Verbier, Switzerland.
 IAN'S INTERESTS: Ian (now 8) has adapted to life in Belgium very well. He has many buddies in the 2nd grade at the International School of Brussels who we see fairly regularly at the Randall Belgian Household. Ian is doing Cub Scouts (see section on John The Den Mother) and is playing soccer. Ian's soccer team is a very good one, they won the beginning of the season tournament and took 2nd league play. Despite mainly playing defense, Ian scored 6 goals and led his team in trips to the bathroom.
ABOUT ASHLEY: Ashley has just become a TEENAGER! (Noooooo! I must be hallucinating! Tell me it's not true!) We don't want to overstate the importance of this event but will say that her 13th birthday coincided with a rare alignment of all the planets. She has taken up field hockey and is the youngest member of the Varsity Squad. She fell in love with the game after finding out she could whack boys (one in particular) in the head with a hockey stick. On the more genteel side Ashley switched from the oboe to flute. Besides meeting other expats from the US, Ashley has made some wonderful friends from India, England, Germany, and Israel. Ashley made a page of observations about life in Europe. She has learned enough French to cuss at her father in a foreign language.

Ashley and Max.

Some of Patrice's handiwork.
 PATRICE PERFORMS: Patrice has been busy. She started with a completely empty house. She bought furniture, assembled much of the same, bought tapestries, bought material and made all of the drapes in the house. And that is what she did in her spare time. Her major duties include driving the Randall Midgets to soccer, field hockey, dance lessons, etc. , paying the bills, feeding the Randall masses (which include our 2 four legged fur producers Isis and Max), and keeping her 3 kids (Ian, Ashley, and John) out of trouble. Patrice has made several good friends in Belgium who have been a big help. For fun, she studies French and plans our many trips.
JOHN THE DEN MOTHER: John was sent to Belgium by TI to study the effect of invisible lines on other lines that are not quite invisible. Really. He does a few other things. For instance, he talked himself into becoming a Den Leader (it's not really PC to be a Den Mother anymore) for Ian's Cub Scout Pack. Yes they have Boy Scouts of America in Belgium but anyone can join. For example, in John and Ian's den are Ziad from Oman and Seungho from Korea. So far John has taught his troop to make paper airplanes, draw a cat, and shoot rubber bands.

THE RELATIVITY REPORT: John's parents visited in the summer. Other than that, we don't know much. They all live on another continent.

THE RANDALLS' RAMBLES AND TRADE MISSIONS: We are doing our best to explore as much of Europe as we can and support the European economies. We traveled to and brought back from: Paris - furniture; Holland - pottery; Italy - leather; Germany - wine glasses; Prague - crystal, London - imitation Crown Jewels; and Switzerland - ski bruises. Several future Trade Missions to Spain, Greece, Austria, and Scotland are in the planning stages.

LIFE IN BELGIUM: The Randalls miss Texas, but are having a good time in the land of Beer and Chocolate. We were over-prepared for gray rainy weather, so when the sun comes out (and it does) the weather seems wonderful. Not everything is familiar, but when things seem strange, we can always get a taste of Americana by visiting the local McDonalds. We are reminded however, that we aren't in Kansas when the Golden Arches menu includes beer and wine. In Belgium you can pretty much get by on English, and whenever we run into someone who refuses to speak anything but French we simply smile and think of Waterloo just 10 minutes away.

PET PERFECTIONS: Max and Isis are doing fine. They seem to be getting along ok with Isis as the queen of the upstairs, window sitting, and bed adorning and Max as the king of the downstairs, floor dirtying, and fur dipensing. Isis is now 15 years old, and has seen better days, but seems to be all right. Max is now 2 years old, and is the guardian of the Randall castle. Max is so obssed with protecting us all, and his territory that he is not popular with some of our neighbors.

THE GREAT POPCORN FIRE OF 97: One quiet afternoon this spring, Ian wandered past the kitchen and noticed it was full of smoke. Having been well trained for decisive action in emergency situations, the family sprung into action. Ian yelled that the house was on fire, Patrice dispatched Ian to safety next door, sent Ashley to inform our next door neighbor who happens to be our landlady that her house was burning down, and then called the fire department, and John continued to drive home with an odd and unexplained anxiousness. The fire department arrived in minutes and quickly discovered the source of the smoldering inferno: it seems Ashley, desiring some popcorn and unfamiliar with our new microwave, programmed 5 minutes at full power and left the room. After approximately 3.5 minutes the popcorn bag burst into flames and rapidly used most of the available oxygen; however, the microwave continued to pour in 1KWatt of power into very lean combustion and produced a prodigious amount of smoke. The fire deparment congratulated us on our rapid reaction, suggested a more conservative setting for the microwave, and left after declining our offer of a toasty popcorn snack.

NEW email: John.Randall@village.uunet.be

John's work email: randall@imec.be

Back to Randall Home Page. - - - 96 Letter - - - 98 Letter