surprisingly normal

Jet lag is no fun and my Flemish is really rusty, so I'm continually aware that "we're not in Kansas anymore" (which I said to Elisabeth yesterday eliciting a response of "I've never been to Kansas," which isnt' true, but she made her point in true teen form).  But even in that awareness I am experiencing things as feeling surprisingly normal.  Elisabeth doesn't remember anything but some things look familiar from photos.  I should say she doesn't remember anything significant.  She actually remembered the bread slicer in the grocery store we visited.  She asked if we have seen one since moving back, and I sure don't think so.  I guess it must have been just scary enough to lodge itself  as an episodic memory.  I walked past the machine without even turning my head.  To me it was virtually unnoticeable... surprisingly normal.  

Some of the significant places we saw on our walk in Ghent yesterday (including the house we lived in for three years) struck me as... surprisingly normal.  There was no visceral reaction from Elisabeth.  I would say she showed more interest than the typical tourist seeing something for the first time (but with the knowledge there is something special about this place to our family).

[3 days later]

Yesterday we spent our second day in Ghent.  This time we took a train from Kortrijk.  From the station in Ghent we walked to the city center.  We did some shopping along the way (some thrifting and some department store, and a few things in between).  But the amazing architecture of the city hall, cathedrals, and so one felt familiar, but not surprisingly normal.  Those are pretty impressive buildings.  We took the tour of Gravensteen Castle.  That seemed to be one of Elisabeth's favorite experiences of the day. As we walked around I told Elisabeth about the first part of this post.  Almost recited it word for word.  But I told her how grateful I am that our InterVarsity South Dakota twinning partnership with Ichtus is adding a wonderful dimension to my work at home and giving me opportunities like this moment to serve here in person.  She's grateful for this opportunity, too.

Maybe I should buy a loaf of bread so she can run the slicing machine.  I doubt she would find the experience surprisingly normal.