http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/The-Levins/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from The Levins en-us Sun, 03 Jan 2010 21:09:52 +0000 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 21:09:52 +0000 Hi Everyone I know these blog entries seem to come few and far between. We are finally feeling settled here and it has been a very busy summer. For those of you have been asking for an update here goeshellip.We are really enjoying Brussels and living in Europe. This expat lifestyle is a never ending learning experience most of them great a few not so great but we will focus on the good stu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/Brussels-Capital-Region/Brussels/blog-441748.html Pictures of our moving day into our apartment in Brussels See Blog entry titled We are finally settled for a bit of a narrative about our experiences on moving day.... http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/Brussels-Capital-Region/Brussels/blog-411943.html Pictures of our apartment in Belgium.... http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/Brussels-Capital-Region/Brussels/blog-411903.html I have been so busy unpacking and settling in that I have not had time to write or post an entry to our blog. Consequently this will be a long onehellip.. so be prepared with a cup of coffee glass of wine box of chocolates or whatever tickles your fancy because here goeshellip..Yes it is really truehellip. after 7 months of living out of suitcases we are finally settled with all the movin http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/Brussels-Capital-Region/Brussels/blog-411900.html Hi again everyone Things are going really well here and Marc is settling into his job. He has been working long long days and is quite busy so he had to hit the ground running. He has been in lots of meetings with people of so many nationalities French Dutch Brits etc... that his meetings with only the Japanese are looking like a piece of cake Still he seems to really be enjoying it http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/Brussels-Capital-Region/Brussels/blog-399124.html Hi EveryoneWell we are finally here in Belgium and the first thing I have to say is that......THE WAIT WAS WORTH IT We are loving it here. A run down on our activities so far....We arrived on Monday morning about 8AM Brussels time. There was supposed to be someone from the relocation company to meet us at the airport but no one showed up. Then again we only decided to fly over on Friday after t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/Brussels-Capital-Region/Brussels/blog-395483.html Hi Everyone...We are sitting in the airport in Huntsville waiting on our fllight to Brussels via Atlanta. It has been a whirlwind 2 days. On Tuesday we received word that Marc's wrork permit was being fedexed to us from Brussels and that once we received it we could go to Atlanta to submitmit the papterwork for our visas. We made plans to go the next day not that we were anxious or anything http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/Brussels-Capital-Region/blog-394098.html Hi Everyone I know it has been a LONG time since I have posted a blog entry so please forgive me. This entry will update you on everything with Marc and I and for some of you with whom I have more regular OKhellip regular for me correspondence some of this will be a repeat so I hope you can bear with me. First Marc and I have been back in the states in Huntsville Alabama since mid Nov http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/Brussels-Capital-Region/blog-393105.html Hi Everyone I know I know it has been a LONG time since I have written a blog entry It is just that Marc and I have been so busy and wersquove been traveling a lot. Marc has been very busy at work. No two days are the same for him as he has meetings everyday in different places. I have been busy toohellip shopping taking classes and just exploring our ldquonewrdquo home. Even th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-189267.html Hi Everyonehellip. I know it has been a LONG time since Irsquove given you an update but the truth is we have both been so busy that we just havenrsquot had the time. In addition now that we have settled into our ldquoroutinerdquo life here there is not as much to write about as when we first arrived and everything was so new. We do have a few things to tell you about so here goes http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-162565.html Hi Everyone Note you can click on any picture to see a larger version of it I have a lot of things on my wish list to do while we are here in Japan but without a doubt at the top of the list was to see the cherry trees in bloom in the spring. Last weekend they were at thier peak and it was glorious Marc took friday off and I skipped my Japanese lesson so we could go explore. There are che http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-145605.html Hi everyonehelliphellip I know it has been a long time since I have posted but they are still having problems with the email notifications on the blog website so I havenrsquot felt as ldquopressuredrdquo to post an entry. In addition as we get more and more settled we are going out exploring more and more which leaves less time for sitting at the computer. Marc has become reall http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-141472.html Sapporo Snow Festival PicturesnbspAsia raquonbspJapan raquonbspTokyo By The LevinsMarch 24th 2007These are the pics from the Snow Festival. The narrative of our visit to the Snow Festival is included in the previous Blog entry. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-141473.html Hi everyone I am sorry I havenrsquot posted a blog entry in so long. I seem to start every blog entry that way donrsquot I A few weeks ago the blog host site lost its email service so it could not send email notifications to our subscribers. Thus I thought I would wait to post an entry until the email service was back up but that STLL hasnrsquot happened so I am going to post thi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-132228.html When we first rented our apartment the realtor arranged to have a technology company called Asist Solutions which does a lot of work for them and the expat community to provide an estimate on phone internet and satellite television connectivity. They came out the day of our walk through to provide the estimate forInternet set upWireless router set upTwo skyperfect tv for Japanese tv ante http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-120952.html I am sorry I have not written a blog entry in so long it is just that wersquove been busy with the holidays and all that. I have to thank all of you again for the wonderful comments and messages Marc and I have gotten on our blog. The comments and messages make us feel so connected to all of you ldquoback homerdquo and all of our friends all over the world Mac Mary in Isle of Man for http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-117760.html In my last blog entry I was telling you all how well I have learned the train and subway systems. I guess after today I need to eat my words a bit. When the subway stops the conductor usually opens the exit doors on one side of the car and waits for everyone to get out before opening the boarding doors on the other side of the car. One of my shortcuts has been to not get off when the exit http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-116425.html This is Marc with my first attempt at a blog entry. I am not near as good a writer as is Arlene so please bear with me. Trains and Subways When we were searching for apartments one of our goals was to keep my commute to one hour each way. It is close. In the morning I walk down the hill and around the corner a few minutes to Azabu Juban subway station. Then it is down three staircases and a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-115103.html Hi Everyone FINALLY.... by popular demand... pictures of our aparmtent in Japan. Let me know if you have questionsMore later...... http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-114840.html I am so sorry I have not written sooner we have just had so much going on. My back is now back to 100 and I am feeling great. Usually my back acts up like that about every 3 4 years so the way I look at it I am good for a while nowWe have moved into our apartment and we really like it. We are also starting to find our way around the Roppongi Azabu Juban areas as well. Marc is settlin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-112868.html