The Old Apartment in Evere

I am making a separate post for this because 1) there are a lot of pictures, and 2) most people will not know what I am taking about. But here it is:

We went by tram/bus/metro to our old apartment this afternoon. At first I was confused and disoriented - the trees had grown tall and six stories wasn't quite as talk as it used to be. Also, the buildings were shabbier than I remembered, but the neighborhood was nice and very green. But when I finally saw the apartment building, it was obviously the one of my memory. The same red brick, same dark glass balconies where my brother and I made tiny snowmen in the winter, same rooms in the roof where Austin and I once climbed out of our sixth story windows onto the ledge for fun. The same steps where my mother once left the two of us in time out as she drove around that same roundabout, where a bearded Belgian woman approached me to see if she could help. The same basement where we parked and played with remote control cars. The same park around the corner where I had my birthday party. The same bench that I slammed into and slid all the way along as I learned to ride my bike. The same field with the old rusty grill that we played in when we first moved there. And around the corner, the same Dutch school where I had pre-k and kindergarten with Euff Hilda and Euff Christine.

Not much has changed in twelve years.