Here's an e-mail update that was written about 6 weeks ago but never
sent- oops!  One thing to add is that I bought myself a toy - a digital
camera - so we're slowly going multimedia. We'll eventually have a
Gruen home page, but until then, point your browser at:

	http://www-cs-students.Stanford.EDU/~gruen/
	
to see a few pictures. As always, we'd love to hear what's going
on with you.

Mat, Margaret, David, Mary, and Benjamin Gruen
	

> Well, it's still "raining on our parades" here in Belgium, but
> we're continuing to enjoy ourselves. Here's a long overdue
> update on La famille Gruen...
> 
> First, let me start with an excuse. The reason I didn't send
> anything out was that we were waiting to finalize an extension
> to our stay here. All indications were that it would be done
> before Christmas, but in fact, I only signed the papers in early
> February. (What about the next month+? Lemme get back to you.)
> My assignment with Sun should now go through June, 1999. My
> manager indicated that there would be no further extensions, and
> right now, one more school year sounds about right for us, too.

Mat is a little wordy, so I'll add my bit here.....

Spring is starting and I can really use a dose of sunshine!   Otherwise, I
am still enjoying this quasi-european lifestyle.   The kids are having fun
too!  David is moving into baseball season.   (He told me yesterday he
thinks he can make the Stanford team!??!)  His french is improving too - 
more than mine!  Mary enjoyed turning 4 this month.  She really got to have
a "birthday month" - celebrating before Mat left, at school and even a
little on the actual day.   Her current favorite activities include
dressing up, ballet and barbies.    Ben continues to be "Mr. Independent". 
He will lay down to protest anything, anywhere.   It can be quite
inconvenient.  Lately he has even taken to laying down in the tub.  He is
turning into a real book lover (Maybe even more than David)  A quote he
loves to say from a favorite book "he grew and grew and grew until he was 2
years old.  ... He threw all the books off the shelves....  His mother
says, this boy is driving me CRAZY!"   Mat drives me crazy too, but I've
learned to live with that.  We're almost halfway through our stay here and
it will be tough fitting in all the activities that are available.   But we
will try hard to!   -   Margaret

> When last you heard from us, Benjamin (and the rest of the
> family!) was recovering from his broken arm which resulted in a
> Friday-Tuesday hospital stay. Well, he's no worse for the wear,
> but I think it marked the beginning of a mindset shift for
> Margaret and me - more later. In early November, we welcomed
> Margaret's parents, Jack and Barbara Merrigan for a 2-month
> visit. Now, I love my in-laws but...it worked out well! They
> took side trips of a few days to a week several times, and they
> proved to be invaluable assistants to Margaret when my workload
> picked up. 
> 
> Grandma and Grandpa went with us on a few nice trips. We drove
> through the Ardennes when the colors were changing. For someone
> who's only lived in New Orleans and the SF Bay Area, it was
> quite impressive. One day, Jack and I went fishing in
> Luxembourg's "Little Alps" area. The scenery was more impressive
> than the catch, and I'm happy to report, that we were able to
> receive the portion of his custom made rod that I managed to
> cast into the water. :-/
> 
> We also took the whole family to Aachen in Germany for their
> Christmas market. Some colleagues at work had warned me that you
> really had to look out - most items weren't hand made. In fact,
> we were pretty impressed with most of what we saw - certainly a
> few levels above WalMart! They certainly know how to get the
> atmosphere right, too: Lots of wooden stalls covering several
> squares, with bright lights and a brass band. The traditional
> warm Mull Wine (sp?) also added to the holiday cheer. This is not 
> to say the kids likes it - it was cold and there weren't many
> toys for sale, but they're starting to get used to getting
> dragged around from time to time in the name of "culture" or "the
> experience". Margaret and Barbara went another day to Koln
> (Cologne) to a much bigger holiday market. They went on a
> chartered bus with the American Women's Club - Margaret said all
> some of the members wanted to do was go to The Gap in Koln
> (Brussels is a very mall-challenged area).
> 
> The week before Christmas, we went up to explore Holland.
> To reward the kids for putting up with their parents, we stayed
> about 40 km outside Amsterdam in Leiden, reknowned (sp?) in
> ex-pat circles for its Holiday Inn with Holidome. In fact, the
> children would have been happy to spend the entire vacation in
> that Holidome, with its pool, miniature golf, ping pong, and
> climbing area. True to our nature, however, we forced them to go
> up to Amsterdam on a very cold day to ride on the canals and get
> some culture. Speaking of which, I was *floored* when David,
> upon hearing that one option we were considering was the Van
> Gogh museum, said, "Oh, he's the one that painted the
> sunflowers. Can we go see that painting?" (As we later discovered, his
> first grade art teacher slips a little art history into the
> class.) Needless to say, we went and we saw. Classic image:
> David looking at "Sunflowers" while listening to a tape recorded
> guide talk about it - what was sinking in? Well, what Margaret
> and I now realize is that the last name rhymes with Bach.
> 
> We also went to Delft, which as we all (now) know, is where they make
> the famous blue china. I think we all appreciated the tour of the
> factory and the samples, especially Barbara, whose hobby is china
> painting. I've got to admit I probably got a little overanxious when,
> at the end of the tour, we arrived in the gift shop. During the
> tour, all the china was beyond reach - either in a recess or a
> case. In the gift shop, of course, it was not. I'm happy to say
> that the final cost of the tour remained FREE.
> 
> Early in 1998, we had a visit from our French friend, David
> Alliot. One day, we took him to Aachen, which he prefers to call
> Aix-la-Chappelle. This was his first foray into Germany, and we
> think it was good for him. :-) It was nice wandering around the
> old town when it was not as crowded as during the Christmas market.
> This was also Charlemagne's capital, and lest you forget, they
> have placed his (very impressive, gold-figured) sarcophogus 
> in the middle of the church where he was crowned. David, Mary,
> and Benjamin were more impressed with the Apple Strudel.
> 
> A few weeks ago, during the school's Winter Break, we spend
> several days at a hotel in the Ardennes. When we planned this
> trip, the idea was to go play in the snow. In fact, one day it
> got up to 20 C ( 68 F) and there was no snow to be seen. But we
> had a wonderful time, exploring the old castles of Bouillon,
> Belgium and Vianden, Luxembourg, going through a wild animal park,
> and spending an afternoon as the only people in a children's
> discovery center. Most everything was uncrowded since the
> Belgian schools had the next week off, and any self-respecting 
> ex-pat was skiing in the Alps. The highlight for Margaret and me
> was the truly gourmet meal we had at our hotel. Because we were
> the only guests, we could let the kids run everywhere while we
> actually stayed at the table for 2 hours!
> 
> People sometimes ask me if I'm fluent now in French (or Dutch).
> One incident at the animal park reinforced that my French skills
> are "functional" but not fluent - As we reached the farthest end
> of the walking tour, we came across a moose whose antlers were
> tangled in some barbwire that had come loose from the fence. The
> animal did not seem to be badly injured, but he was
> uncomfortable. Of course, David and Mary wanted me to run back
> with them (did I mention this was in the hills?) and report the
> problem. When we arrived out of breath, the best I could manage
> was "The animal bigger than a dear has his (hold fingers over
> head) caught in the son of the fence". (Wire and son sound
> similar in French, at least when I'm talking!) But, I am happy
> to say, the point got across, and Mary, David, and that moose,
> no doubt slept better that night...as did I, after our little
> run. As for my Dutch skills, let's just say that moose should be
> happy he's living in the French-speaking part of the country!
> 
> The week after our Ardennes adventure, Margaret went back to the
> U.S. for her brother Jack's wedding. The day she left happened
> to be the Sunday before Mardi Gras, and as it turns out, several
> communities in Belgium and Western Germany celebrate Carnival,
> too. Sooo, being a New Orleans native and always looking for a
> good carnival party, I coerced my American colleague at work, Joyce
> Monard, to come with the kids and me to the Sunday parade in
> Aalst near Brussels. When we arrived at 11 for the 1 PM start,
> the weather was exactly like what we had encountered in Brugges
> for last year's Holy Blood Procession (as previously reported),
> raining and about 45 F. Just before the start time, though, the
> skies cleared, the crowds showed up, and the parade began.
> 
> As in New Orleans, everyone was out to have a good time. 
> Unlike in New Orleans, where the parades typically have floats
> separated by bands, drill teams, etc, this parade was just a
> collection of diverse groups - some had only a few people
> dressed in silly outfits carrying a sign, while others had put a
> lot more into it, such as the group of men dressed as gypsies
> who did drill numbers to rap music. Also, unlike the innocent
> themes of Mardi Gras floats, most groups were making a statement
> related to local or national politics which we NEVER understood. The
> one that we did understand [WARNING - RISQUE MATERIAL] was the group
> dressed in red, white, and blue, marching behnind a tractor on which
> was a boom box playing the Star Spangled Banner. On the front of the
> tractor was a giant penis, with an American Flag sticking out of it.
> The sign on the tractor simply said "Lewinsky". I'm happy to report the
> kids didn't notice. Well, we only lasted a little over an hour for this
> 3-hour (!!) parade, but I'm glad we went. Next year, we'll have to try
> one of the other venues.
> 
> I'm now back in the U.S. for 2 weeks of meetings and seminars.
> It's hard to believe we've been in Belgium a year - this is my
> first trip back. Our next trek will be to Portugal for Spring
> Break. We're looking forward to sharing that trip with John
> Coats, who's agreed to leave the comfort of the bayou for
> the bright lights of Lisbon and the relaxing ambiance (maybe not
> with three small children!) of the Algarve coast. It should be
> fun!
> 
>