September
September has come and chopped the tail right off of summer. A clean, cauterized slice that seems to have robbed us of the last lingering warm, still days before autumn sets in. On September 1st it started raining and it’s rained every day since. The wind is racing through the crooked streets and pushing the blankets of clouds through the sky. The temperature has dropped by about 20°F and I’ve had to put a sweatshirt on once or twice to go shopping.
The change is welcome, I suppose, or at least it always used to be for me in Pittsburgh. I loved the fall season and the tapestry of changing leaves, the smell of woodsmoke in the air, the excitement of Halloween and the cozy comfort of Thanksgiving. I’m not a huge fan of cold and snow but September and half of October was usually right about where I liked to be. Jeans and sweatshirt weather, maybe with a light jacket on top.
In Belgium, on the other hand, September and October mean rain, rain, more rain, and oh, yeah, did I mention rain? And since Flanders is industrialized and flat, the symphony of colors from trees dropping into hibernation never really occurs. The leaves end up gray and sopping in the gutters instead. There is a half assed commercialized attempt to have Halloween, but it falls pretty flat and obviously Thanksgiving doesn’t exist (unless my mommy is here visiting), so really, I find myself feeling quite the opposite when it comes to the autumn season.
More often than not I find myself staring through a rain blurred window chanting “rain, rain, go away…” in my head for basically the entire span of September and October. If you don’t believe me, go ask Goofball. She’s Belgian and hates the fall season here even more than I do! But anyway, moving on, there is a silver lining to the giant raincloud that is the fall in Belgium: Christmas!!!!
I love the Christmas season, but in Pittsburgh it was always sort of a conflicted love. The lights and foods and smells, the trees and decorations and colors and music; I love it! But the freezing cold and snow? Haaaaate it. The commercialization and advertisements and stories of parents lined up at Walmart at 3 am and trampling the elderly just to get to a certain type of video game or elmo doll first? Hideous! For as much as I adore so many of the aspects of Christmas in the States, the adoration is nearly balanced by the repugnancy of American consumerism at it’s peak.
But Belgium? Belgium has pretty much fixed most of that. Here in Western Europe, or at least parts of it, they celebrate Sinterklaas and in Belgium, it’s celebrated on December 6. No decorating or marketing can be done for Christmas until after Sinterklaas, so the anticipation actually gets to build here, as opposed to Stateside where you want to hit Nat King Cole with a flaming bag of chestnuts by the middle of November because yes, they have been playing Christmas music on the radio since the day after Halloween and it will.not.stop. until New Years Eve. And the stores? Hah! We’re in Europe baby! Ain’t no way stores are opening before sunrise just so procrastinators can get their shopping done. Most toy stores will be open on Sundays in December, but that’s about it. People either buy their gifts when they can or they blame Santa for carelessly knocking the X-Box little Wim was wishing for off the sleigh mid-flight. No trampling the elderly here…especially not when part of everyone’s salary goes to paying for their medical care. Oh, and both winters I’ve been here it has snowed a total of 5 times. Combined. In two winters. So that whole aversion to snow and cold thing? Not even a third as bad as I had it in Pittsburgh.
But that’s not all! Here every town has a Kerstmarkt! Woohoo! Outdoor stalls with all sorts of different clothing and jewelry and crafts and books and toys and food and my favorite: glühwein! I love, love, looove Christmas in Belgium!
And I’m a “count downer”. I’m always counting down till the next big…whatever. For example, it’s 3 weeks till CB and I have a wedding to go to for one of his coworkers. It’s 8 weeks until I get to go home for my little sister’s wedding* (and Halloween! Squeee!). Sadly after that there’s a big gaping maw until Christmas, but that’s okay! Visions of the Kerstmarkt dancing in my head will hopefully get me through November and most of December, and then after that it’s about 6 months till the wedding…and…
I think I’ll stop counting for now.
* No, I don’t have a secret sister I never mentioned. I’m in a sorority and I have a “little sister” from there. And obviously I have good taste in little sisters cause her wedding is on Halloween, cause she’s awesome like that.
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