Back in the Land of Smurfs, Waffles, French...er...Fries and Beer

Flashback to August 1983: I was a nerdy teenager who went to Belgium to live for a year with a family whom I had never met. The family's name was Dupuis and they lived in Waterloo. There was a maman, a papa, a son and three daughters--a close-knit family that laughed often.

Fast forward to August 2008: La famille Dupuis has grown as families do over the years. The children are adults with homes and lives of their own. There are grandchildren for the bonne maman and bon papa to dote upon. But they are still close and laugh a lot when they get together. Their smiles and laughter are infectious even if one doesn't always get the joke's punch line as it speeds past one's ears in rapid French. It's been a quarter of a century and I still feel like part of the family.

I "flew" from London and Brussels on the new Eurostar train; the trip lasts just two hours. It used to take the good part of a day to travel by train and ferry boat between the two countries. The Eurostar speeds along at 186 mph and goes right under the English Channel in the Channel Tunnel. Twenty minutes under ground and you barely notice you're moving. Amazing!

My first night I stayed with my Belgian brother X and his wife and sons. They live in a small rural village in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant in an old farm house that they've renovated largely themselves. I enjoy spending time with this family, talking over old times and new situations. I've seen their sons, now teenagers, grow up during my sporadic visits to Belgium. It was fun to hang out with them a bit. They are fans of the American TV show Desperate Housewives and we whiled away a few hours watching some episodes on DVD dubbed into French. The youngest boy also went with me on a walking tour of the university city of Louvain-la-Neuve where I spent 1987-88 studying and sharing an apartment with two Belgian guys.

The rest of my nights were spent at the home of M. and Mme. Dupuis in the Walloon community of Braine-l'Alleud, not far from Waterloo where they'd raised their family. They built their retirement house about ten years ago amid farm fields and pastures; the backyard looks out onto corrales with four horses. There's something very calming about watching these beautiful animals in the distance all day.

Mme. Dupuis is an amazing cook and I probably gained 5 lbs eating her food. There is almost always a soup course, a delicious main course and some dessert that she just whipped up. It was good to spend some quality time with the parents again. We visited a museum dedicated to the works of the late Belgian artist, Jean-Michel Folon, and attended an interesting outdoor concert at a beautiful 18th-century château near their home. And they hosted two family dinners so that I could see everyone again.