Over the hump?

I've been told by some friends that all these posts about illness and hospital visits and difficult transitions to a new country/language/school/schedule make them very not envious of notre grande voyage a la Belgique. Well, in many ways I think we are now over the hump. Jojo and Amelia are both (relatively) physically healthy and both are definitely enjoying school. Wednesday of this week was Josephine's first actual playdate with a friend. The pictures are posted in the week 3 slideshow. Double click on it (I think) to go to Picasa and see the captions. Jojo's new friend is another 4 year old named Ellie. Ellie is in the *other* Deuxieme Maternelle class but they have outside playtime together and, as you might imagine, both speak English. Jojo and Amelia and Jenee and I went to Ellie's house with her mom (Sarah) and younger sister Tiggy (short for Ingrid) Wednesday at around 1 pm and stayed until almost dinner time. We had a snack, played with blocks, did an art project, went to a nearby park with a playground... It was great!

Tomorrow, if everyone stays healthy, Jojo has a birthday party to attend, which I hope also will be fun. This classmate does not speak English but there should be other kids there who do. In any case, I will be there. Presumably, that will raise her comfort level and might even help my French skills limp along. I still haven't figured out how to get better more quickly. I keep toying with the idea of devoting an hour or two each week to language study but haven't done anything more than bat it around, comme un chat avec une boule de file (yeah, had to use Babel Fish).

Things for me are going well at work. I spent a good portion of the week analyzing data for a Brussels collaborator, the one I took the train with to Amsterdam. I was supposed to meet with him today and tour his lab but I cancelled because it turns out I have -- wait for it -- strep throat!! I'm happy to report that I was able to call a doctor, see a doctor, get test results and get antibiotics all in one day for the low low price of 30 Euro. The way I paid was kind of funny... I knew a personal appointment with the doctor was 30 Euro and cash was appreciated so I gave her a 50E bill. She opened her wallet and gave me change! Pretty fancy accounting system, huh? Anyway, they are very nice at this office, which is especially good given the amount of time Dan and I have spent there. This is the same doctor who visited Josephine for her ear infection at our house. Anyway, so my Brussels collaborator and I met over the phone and discussed the data analysis. Dan and I are going there for dinner tomorrow and I assume we'll talk more about it then. Also next week, I am having one-on-one meetings (tete-a-tetes!) with the students of my Gent collaborator. I look forward to learning more about each of their projects.

Also, it's been pretty easy keeping up with my group in Madison. Every Wednesday at 8 pm we have a teleconference via Skype. They're all in one room with a wide angle camera and sensitive mircophone. I'm here at home with my headset and logitech camera. They've gotten google documents to work so we can view the same slide show simultaneously and discuss methods, results, interpretation, etc. It's great! They're making good progress without me. Maybe I never needed to have weekly meetings with them after all!