Sunday, October 31, 2010

Halloween... In Belgium

It is Halloween. And I am in Belgium. Where they don't really celebrate Halloween. But I have to say, I don't really understand it, because they acknowledge the day as being Halloween, and there have been a couple Halloween-themed parties, with jack-o-lantern lights and scary posters advertising them, but it's not a big deal like in the States, and there's no trick-or-treating. Which is really different for me, because Halloween and trick-or-treating has always been an important highlight of my year, since it is the one day every year that my best friend, Kaitlyn, and I are guaranteed to get together and make crazy costumes of crazy things from scratch and have a great time carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating together. Nothing has ever kept us from doing that. Not even Kaitlyn going to the hospital because of a hot glue burn the day of :)

So you see, nothing keeps us from celebrating Halloween.

Except being in Belgium.

Last night, Talia and I attended a Halloween-themed "Horror Night" in a big barn, where we watched a horror movie. The Scouts organized it and we went to it. I do not handle horror films well at ALL. And I didn't watch much of the movie. Instead, I contented myself by keeping my head in my lap for the majority of the time. It's not so much the gore and the blood that bothers me. I mean, yes, it's disgusting. But I'm not scared of that. It's the concept behind it that is so psychotic and just insane that I can't handle that. But it was still fun to spend time with the other Belgians. Then Talia and I stayed up until about 4am just talking. About very intense things. But we had daylight savings happen last night, so we got an extra hour of sleep in there! And today is Halloween, and I spent it bumming around with Talia and eating the candy corn that her parents sent her. Fun, right?

I feel like this post is spiratic. I hope it made sense though. Right now, I'm waiting for dinner and I'm hungry. Bonne nuit!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Birthdays In Belgium

Ok so everybody better really appreciate this blog post because I am writing it on an AZERTY keyboard and it's incredibly difficult for me and it's going to take waaaay longer than usual. But I can't help it. I can't connect on my laptop right now.

Anyways...

Yesterday was Wednesday. And like every Wednesday, we all got out at noon. Yesterday was also the birthday of one of our friends here, Aymeric. He goes to a different school along with about half the people that were coming to celebrate with us, so after school, Talia and I headed over the famous "Mister Patate" to wait for everyone. Of course, we expected everyone to meet us there. When we got there, we did meet up with a couple of the guys from school, but they had to eat and jet because the one guy had to be back at school for detention. So Talia and I waited, and after a while of nobody coming, we decided to do what we do best: eat. Talia ordered us a "pain Mister Patate". Which is probably the biggest, most fattening sandwich I've ever seen in my life. And that includes the BigMac. It's a huge baguette that is filled with two hamburgers that have been cut in half so they fit, lettuce, and special sauce. It is massive. Thank goodness we were splitting it. All the Belgians say that the best food is at Mister Patate. And don't get me wrong, it was very good, but wow I could feel my arteries clogging just looking at it.

I'm getting used to this AZERTY thing...

After finishing up at Mister Patate, we decided to spend some time chilling with our other group of friends while waiting to figure out what was going on with Aymeric. So we headed over to the usual hangout café, Copain. On the way over, we came across a couple of our friends and we all waited and had a drink until everyone else got there. Eventually, we were all there and Aymeric arrived, and after the usual rounds of bisous, we began the festivities.

In the States, it's normal for a friend's birthday to treat them to lunch and maybe a movie, eat cake and maybe do something a little out of the ordinary. But what does one do for a birthday in Belgium? Well, first you find the center of town. If you're lucky, there will be a random concrete pad next to a a parking lot with a gazebo and some steps. You proceed to sit on the steps and pull out the basket of goodies that the birthday person brought. In this basket, you will find a bottle of champagne, a half empty bottle of Christmas beer, some crackers, chips, and plastic champagne "glasses" that snap apart for easy and convenient storage. Then the party begins, and you spend a good 45 minutes in the middle of town, at 1 in the afternoon, sitting in a random spot out in the open, sipping champagne out of plastic cups without a care in the world. And when the Belgians want to smoke and nobody has a lighter that works, what do you do? You find a random boy on the street and he gives you his.

I'm not joking.

We then proceeded to go BACK to Mister Patate so that the people that weren't there before could eat. Talia and I just sat there and watched because there was no way we could've eaten more of that. But of course, eating is just a formality. After this, you recommence with the typical Belgian birthday celebrations, which include bar hopping to get your free drinks. But because we live in Hannut, our "bar hopping" consisted of two bars, one being the Copain. At the first one, we went in, got our drinks, and retreated to the far room where we all squeezed around a table and showered Aymeric in gifts that included a poster covered in pictures of him and his friends, brownies from Talia, and chocolate chip cookies from me. So needless to say, we stuffed ourselves with sweets. Then Talia pulled out the candy corn, which the majority of the Belgians thought was gross. The bar tender then brought us another bottle of champagne with cups that were not clean. So what do we do? We pull out the plastic cups from before, resnap them together and save some natural resources. We spent some time there, eating, talking, laughing, and playing with Silly Putty. Then we all packed everything up and migrated over to the Copain, where the atmosphere was much better and familiar and Aymeric got his drink there. Which was huge and orange and apparently was mostly vodka... We spent a ridiculous amount of time there eating more cookies and brownie, talking, laughing, and signing Aymeric's poster. I wrote every other word in French and the others in English. But he speaks English very well and he understood it all :D Oh and I bonded with Gregoire over "How I Met Your Mother". It was a beautiful moment.

Around 5, Talia and I caught a bus to Geer where my host mom met me to pick me up and I went home. I ate dinner which was, guess what, hamburger. But without a bun or anything. Just the meat. And broccoli that had been mixed with potato, which was delicious, and a veggie salad. And then, I had a chocolate eclair. I thought I was going to burst. But since there was no internet connection in my room, I did my homework right away and was sleeping by 9pm. Which was beautiful.

Today was average, but I have one comment. We had some speakers come in today and talk to the sixième class about university. Which was completely irrelevant to me, but I did catch one part of it... There is someone that helps them all out with the process and they are called the P.M.S. And because I am immature, I found this incredibly hysterical and laughed through the last 15 minutes of the presentation. Just thought I'd share...

I am never blogging on an AZERTY keyboard again.

Dinner time and then dance tonight. A demain!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Cookies And Shrimp Eyes...

I'm still having a hard time motivating myself enough to write posts. But I think my reasoning is acceptable. It's just a difficult time and it's difficult to write about things other than death and despair.

However, I must plow on.

So I will write about my dining experience last night, because I really enjoy writing about food. Last night, I sat down to dinner and was served fish that had been baked in a casserole with some leafy greens and a cream sauce. It was wonderful, big fillets of white fish that had been simmering in a delicious white creme sauce and was just covered in some sort of green vegetable. I'm not entirely sure what it was, but it was so warm and comforting and just yummy. Then my host dad served me some pasta with it that was in a lighter sauce with shrimp and other vegetables. I could smell it all up in my room while they were cooking and I couldn't wait to eat it. My meals are always good here but every so often we have something that just knocks my socks off. And I look forward to those days! And last night was, for sure, one of those kinds of meals.

Until I got about halfway through my pasta, turned over a piece of shrimp and was stared straight in the face by a pair of black eyes. My heart must have jumped up out of my chest and ran away and I think I might have stopped breathing for a couple seconds, I was so surprised. But I contained myself and gave no visible reaction. (I'm really good at that) That's when I realized that the other big piece of shrimp that I had been saving still had it's head and it's little legs and there were pieces of shrimp antenna scattered throughout the dish. I guess I hadn't been paying very close attention to what I was eating because this was quite the realization for me. Which is actually odd, because I'm very picky about things like that. (Things like fat or gristle, or... shrimp antenna...) Again, I made no reaction and just was very conscious about what I was putting in my mouth and just left the shrimp on my plate.

After dinner, I took my plate into the kitchen and shared my surprise with Karine, who immediately took this opportunity to broaden my culinary horizons. She chuckled at me and bit and then showed me how to eat the shrimp. Turns out you have to deconstruct it yourself. Which means pulling off the head, pulling out the little legs and peeling off the shell. Which I don't mind doing, but let's face it. I'm American. We buy our shrimp pre-mutilated. So I ate my shrimp then and it was really very delicious. But then I realized that if you deconstruct the shrimp yourself, nobody has cleaned it, so it hasn't been deveined... For those of you who don't know, that "vein" that runs down the back of shrimp that you're supposed to remove? Yah, that's not a vein. That is the digestive tract. So I then realized that I had eaten that and was thoroughly disgusted. Again, I'm picky about stuff like that. But I just tried to shove it out of my mind as I enjoyed my Liègois dessert. It's like pudding, but it's coffee flavored and has whipped cream on it. And it comes in a convenient little cup, like Snack Pack :)

Life is continuing as normal. I go to school, come home, go to dance, run, workout, talk to people, write letters, etc. Today I made cookies, yet again, and I'm sure they'll be gone by tomorrow afternoon. The Belgians love 'em. It makes me feel good about myself.

I hope everyone enjoyed my food blog. I mean, come on, what's more important than food??

Sunday, October 24, 2010

I Got Through This Week...

So I think I finally have the energy to post again. Even though I really feel like after everything that happened this week, anything I post with just be something pointless and trivial. Death really puts things in perspective.

But I will quickly write about my week anyways.

Last weekend was fantastic. I spent it with Mikayla, baking, talking, and just overall having a great time. Monday, we went to see an exhibition in Brussels all about America's historical connections to Europe. Sounds kinda lame? Wrong. It was, by far, the best, most interesting exhibition I have ever been to. It was full of great information, really moving stories, wonderful artifacts and interactive exhibits. It was so well put together and I was very, VERY impressed with it. Not to mention everything had an English translation, so that was nice too.

The week was difficult and not much happened that is out of the ordinary. Talia and I did a little shopping on Wednesday afternoon in Liège and ate a wonderful Hawaiian pizza and spent a good chunk of time wandering around trying to seek out the best waffles in Liège. Which we did eventually find, and thoroughly enjoyed.

This weekend, I went to a David Guetta concert on Friday night with some other exchange students and had a great time. I met some new people, danced a lot and just overall really enjoyed myself. David Guetta only played from 2am til 4am, but the other DJs were great! Hadley (another American) and I left around 3am and I slept at Hadley's house. I didn't wake up the next day until 1pm, which is really uncommon for me. I met my host mom at the Liège train station around 5pm and we went to mass. Which I didn't understand. I then went home, changed, and met up with some people in Hannut for some food and then we all went over to our regular café. And I drank fire. Quite literally. It was a drink that was lit on fire and you drink it through a straw and the fire chases it down. It was actually really cool and it tasted great. But my throat was burning a little afterwards because, hey, I drank fire! I spent that night at Talia's, eating ice cream and watching "He's Just Not That Into You". I didn't get to sleep until about 5am, cause I couldn't sleep. But then we woke up today around noon. We ate and talked and spent sometime with another Belgian and now we're at my house and Talia is spending the night.

I realize that this isn't quite as well-written, thought out, or thorough as my posts usually are. But I'm sure you all understand how difficult this is and how hard this week was. My mind isn't really entirely into blogging right now. But I hope you enjoyed hearing my antics for the week. I'll try to get back into regular posting soon. Bonne nuit.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

For All Those Affected By This Tragic Loss...

I have no words left for you.
I wish there was something I could say.
I've scoured my brain for the right words.
Something. Anything. Just to make you realize

How much I love you.


I've sat alone and pondered,

Reflected, with nobody but myself.

Wandering around the vast emptiness of my mind

Searching.

For Something. Anything. To show you

How much I love you.


To be separated by time and space

At this time of tears and grief

Is such a cruel trick of fate.

But my thoughts have been exhausted

Of Something. Anything. So that you understand

How much I love you.


So I am left with one thing.

There is only one word left.

This word that is always there.

Overused and underappreciated.

One word, cliché and old.

That holds the only truth I am sure of.


Love. I Love you.


I know it is not much, but it is all I have.

And I hope you see

How true it is.

And forgive me for my lack of creativity,

But I have nothing left.

Life took it all.


And here I stand, with one word

To make you realize, show you, so that you understand

How much I love you.


L.


O.


V.


E.






Nick, I love you. We are all going to miss you so much. But you are in a better place now, wrapped in the arms of our Lord, and he will keep you safe, for the rest of your eternal life. You were like a brother to me. And though this loss is tragic and we are all grieving, we wait for the day when we can see you again. In the meantime, we enjoy our lives because we know that is what you want. And when that day comes, and we meet again, I am going to give you a hug. Because I will miss you. And then we will all be happy, together, forever.


Dessoffy family and friends. I love you. All of you. So much. And I promise, even though I can't be there for the funeral today, I am sending all of my prayers, thoughts, and love your way. At this moment, the funeral is beginning. And I have never been more serious when I say that I am with you in spirit. And you can come to me at any time. Literally. 3am works for me. I am ALWAYS here for you. You are my family, and you come first. And again, I love you. Big hugs from Belgium.

Monday, October 18, 2010

The Saddest Day...

It's amazing how quickly good, even great, days can change. How one tiny email can completely throw your entire mood into reverse.

In all honesty, today was great. Last night was great. This weekend was great. I had the day off today. And I went to Brussels with my host mom and Mikayla for an exhibition about America.

But I can't blog about that today. Because when I got home, I got some terrible news in an email from my mother.

I don't know how much I can disclose at the moment, but I think I can give the bare minimum of information. A person in my life died last night. They took their own life. My best friend's brother. And I found out about two hours ago. And I have never felt more lost, more alone, more helpless, more useless, or more empty in my entire life. I can't even describe what I'm feeling right now. It's taking so much effort to even write this post, because I find that I can't even finish sentences. My brain is mush. I am in utter shock and I can't handle this. I can't even imagine what everyone back home is feeling. If there was one thing in the world that I could have right now, it would be that I could be home, comforting my loved ones as we go through this incredible loss. I wish that I could be with my best friend, because I know if it were me, I would want her to be there for me too. I wish that I could be there for her. I wish that I could be a comfort to her. I wish that this hadn't happened.

But as we all know so well, wishing is useless.

Because nothing ever changes.

And I'm stuck here in Belgium, wishing.

And nothing is changing.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Day 2 Of A Fantastic Weekend

This is Mikayla and Emma weekend. Yesterday, I spent the day at Mikayla's. And I slept there that night. We spent the day vegging out, eating, trying out different makeups, and drooling over her fantastically attractive host brother. I mean... eating cookies... Actually the cookies did turn out magnificent, and we gave one to the FAHB so that he could be saved from his previous assumptions and opinions about the super fail that was chocolate chip cookies (Talia and Mikayla attempted before, and from what I hear, it didn't go well, and I am the best. Just kidding... Sorta...) However, he found them to be too soft. What do I have to say to that? You're insane. Everyone else loves them, and they are perfect. Bleh.

Anyways, it was a very calm night. The family was gone for the night, as her host mom is currently at the hospital, her host dad had a party to cater, and the FAHB was at a party. So it was just me and Mikayla, chilling, raiding closets, playing dress up and making food. We had a few moments of patheticism (yes I made up that word) and feeling sorry for ourselves, as we had no party to go to. But in the end, we were really able to bring the fun.

Of course, you know that I am now going to elaborate on the food that we made. When it came time to have dinner, we went down and tried to find something to make ourselves. This turned out to be more difficult than we expected. Finally, we came across some tortellini that was filled with spinach and ricotta cheese. We decided that was a good idea. Then we decided that we needed a sauce to go with it, and we chose a light lemon butter sauce. However, as I began making it, it quickly turned into a rich creamy cheese sauce. It's the same thing, right? Well either way, it turned out to be quite delicious, though I could not tell you how I made it. It was a completely spontaneous type of sauce-making experience. I enjoyed it. And the end result was enjoyable too.

We ended the fantastic night with Mikayla cutting her hair and then watching the movie 27 Dresses, which turned out to be quite a complicated adventure of Googling and streaming. But in the end, we got to watch it and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Now we are back at my house for what promises to be another great day! Expect more blogging later.

Friday, October 15, 2010

The Best Sleepover Everrrrrrr

My host dad wore red pants today.

Today was an average day at school. I had quite a few hours of study because a lot of the teachers are gone on the retreats with the students. So that was pretty boring. But it was also good because I managed to write a whole 2 and a half page long letter to my French teacher back in the States. All in French! I was really proud of myself. Yes, thank you, I know I'm amazing.

Just kidding.


Also, an interesting tid bit, Mikayla found that she was wearing the same shirt as Edwardo today. Just a button down shirt from H&M, but we found it very amusing and decided that it was picture worthy.






After school, Mikayla came home with me and we stopped at a woman's house to get some fresh vegetables. It was pretty cool because it was like a grocery store in this woman's backyard. Interesting right? I thought so. Afterwards, we stopped a bakery where Mikayla and I each picked out some delicious little cakes for a snack. When we got back to my house, we ate our cake and then decided to make ourselves useful by introducing the Belgians to the wonders of pumpkin seeds. They never eat those here. My host mom conveniently had decided to make pumpkin soup part of our meal this evening. So Mikayla and I spent a while removing the goo from the seeds and then threw them in the oven for about a half hour. And they were delicious. My host family was amazed.


We then spent some time in front of the television and computer, watching MTV in French and not understanding anything, but being a little bit shocked and appalled at how disgusting MTV can be. No surprise there. We then had dinner, which was pumpkin soup, followed by a meat with the delicious Liègois sauce over rice with beetroot (I don't expect anyone to recognize that. We don't seem to have it in the States. It's a vegetable) in a cream sauce. Wonderful dinner. Although right after dinner, we discovered that my eye had turned a lovely shade of red. And was beginning to hurt. So I took out my contacts and took off my makeup and I have no idea what the problem was/is, but it's slowly returning to normal.





Mikayla and I then decided it was time to put my expertise to work and make chocolate chip cookies. Which turned out PERFECTLY. I am the best. Well, at cookies at least. Arnaud, you'll be glad to know that these won't make you cry. They are perfect slightly warm with cold milk. Even my host mom agrees. Hopefully, there will still be some there for us in the morning.

Now, we are going to figure out which movie to watch, and then it's bed time. Tomorrow, we're thinking French toast for breakfast. Yum. Bonne nuit.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Sick No Longer!

First order of business: My host dad wore normal pants today.

Second order of business: My sore throat is officially gone! It's amazing what a four hour nap can do. Normally, when I'm sick in the States, I go about my life that normal, and it takes a good week to heal. But there is in fact logic to the concept of "rest and lots of fluids". I am living proof! I've never gotten over a cold in one day! Fantastic.

Today, I had one class. Well, I also had my first class with Père Boly, but we spent that on a mission to find Talia coffee. Which we did find, and it was apparently terrible. I'm sorry dear. We also got our school pictures. I actually kind of like mine. It doesn't suck. So anyways, I thought I would have two classes today, but it turns out that my Science teacher was gone too, so I had only History. Which I was ok with, since I worked really hard on my homework and actually wanted to turn it in. After that, I went into town with Mikayla, Talia, and Edwardo. We got lunch and hit up the grocery store. And then I realized that I had left my wallet at home. Idiot, I know. But tomorrow is another day. After realizing that there really was nothing else for us to do, we retired to the café, which is normal for us, and just sat around for a while. My host mom picked me up around 1pm and I accompanied her while she took an old woman to the doctor's. The woman was very nice, but I fell asleep in the car, as I am still a bit foggy and sick ish, and slept through the entire thing. After that, we went grocery shopping, where I actually spoke up for the first time and picked out some things that I wanted, like BabyBell cheese and apples. You know, I really really enjoy grocery shopping. I don't know what it is about it, but I guess it has something to do with my incredible love for food.

Speaking of which, I have put myself on a diet, and it has only been a couple days, but I've been doing pretty well. I resist the Nutella every morning and I don't buy anything from the vending machine. I had a couple pieces of chocolate today at my house, but it wasn't too much and I had two hours of dance after.

Which was fail. I don't know why, but I just was not on in my class at all today. I think part of it was because I really am very tired still, and I'm still a bit sick. Plus I wasn't really into it today. I was zoned out. Hopefully Saturday will go better.

Dinner consisted of chicken sausages, which I found very interesting, but I don't know if I would ask for them again, potatoes, brussel sprouts, which I surprisingly enjoyed, and homemade applesauce, which I love!

Ok there wasn't much substance to this post and it was all over the place, but I just needed to have an upbeat, not so depressive one. I apologize for the sadness that had swept over my blog the last couple days. Hopefully, it's gone for a while! Bonne nuit!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Better Day. And Orange Pants.

I'm going to start a list of the interesting colored pants that my host dad owns. Today, we add orange to the list.

Today was rough. But better than last night. Last night, I had a major breakdown. I haven't cried that much since before I got here. It was pretty bad... And Belgians don't seem to believe in Kleenex so I was blowing my nose in toilet paper. Lovely, right? But I didn't do any crying today, though I came close once or twice when I got really frustrated with life.

Good news is that it is Wednesday and that means that it was only a half day. Now granted, the three hours of real courses that I did have (the first was Père Boly as usual, which doesn't count), all we did was take notes while our substitute teacher lectured. And this was incredibly frustrating for me, as she talked very fast, and everyone was speed writing and I just could not keep up, though I tried. I have found that if I just listen, I can usually understand, but the minute I start writing, my focus is split and I fall behind extremely quickly. It's not good. Plus, I'm sick. I now have a full blown sore throat and I am exhausted. Good news is that it seems to be just the throat. My head is fine, my nose is fine, I don't have a fever or a stomach ache. So hopefully this will pass soon. I slept for about four hours after school today (after a wonderful lunch of vegetable soup and omelet) and I'm sure that I will still sleep a full night tonight. After that four hour nap, I did feel much better, though I just sat around like a couch potato all afternoon and all night. Which I'm ok with.

Tomorrow, I only have to go to school in the morning because my afternoon teachers won't be there. Yay! So I will probably sleep more tomorrow night ha.

Today, I read a lot of posts on other blogs that I follow about body image. It seems to kind of be a theme for today. And it was so incredibly helpful. I'm quite grateful for it. Because that is what my entire breakdown last night was all about. It's funny how God works, eh? Through blog posts :) But I am being very cautious about what I eat now. And there is Belgian chocolate in my room and it is taunting me. I was supposed to run today, but I think the fact that I'm sick is a good excuse. Besides, it's so dang cold! But I do have dance tomorrow so we'll see how that goes...

This blog post is really spiratic and ADD but hey, that's me. It's 9pm now and I am going to do some homework and then go to bed. Bonne nuit tout le monde.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Bad Day

I don't know. Today is just bad. Something is going on with me and I don't really know what it is... I just don't feel good. About anything. Slightly depressed. I'm not going to write much today, because nothing really happened. I went to school, I got lunch, I danced, I went back to school, I went home and napped, I ate dinner, I went to dance, and now I'm back home.

Also, I have a sore throat so I'm getting sick.

Marvelous.

I don't want anyone to freak out. I'll be ok. Promise.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Exercise, Letters, And High School Drama

You know, I had almost forgotten that being in high school included being surrounded by petty drama all the time. I'm not going to disclose the details of said drama, but you know, I just find it completely pointless. What do you achieve by talking about someone behind their back? And what advantages are there to starting rumors? And answer me this: What do you get out of immature insults and comments?

I realize that this makes it sound like something monumental happened today. Just to clear the record, it didn't. These are just the types of things I think about. I wasn't really involved in the drama of the day, but I watched it happen and just thought, dumbfounded, how stupid is this? I thought I was done with all this when I graduated high school. I guess I'm just now realizing that I have a whole 'nother year of it to deal with.

Ok rant over. Now I have another topic to write about: The fact that I have had more fat moments in the past week than any person should ever have in their entire lives. Ok that's exaggerating a little bit, but I just feel so bad about myself physically lately. And I realize that's kind of a personal thing to be writing about on a blog, and no I'm not fishing for compliments, but I treat this blog kind of like an outlet and sometimes I just need to write. Anyways, I realize that I probably am gaining some weight, for multiple reasons, the biggest one being the amount of chocolate and bakery and I have been consuming. But seriously, if you were in my position, what would you do? Everything here is so delicious! Another big part of it is portions. It's completely normal to have two or three croissants on a Sunday morning. One with chocolate, one with cheese, and one with jam. How does one not gain weight like that? So I have decided to set a goal for myself. It's not a very specific goal, and doesn't have anything to do with numbers or inches. I just want to eat better and exercise more regularly for the next month. No more Nutella sandwiches in the mornings. No more midday runs to the vending machine for chocolate. No more going after school to get a pastry. More running, more biking, and more dancing. I think I can do it. And in a month's time, I should be able to get myself to a better state.

I'm on a letter writing craze, once again. I have a million people to write letters to. I don't mind though, because I really enjoy it. I love writing letters and folding them up and sealing the envelopes with a fresh stamp and sending them off to my loved ones. It's a good feeling. I just wish I would get some mail in return :/

This post was a little odd... But it worked for me! Tomorrow is an average day. We'll see what I come up with for blog material :) Bonne nuit!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

RE: The Most Fun Weekend Yet

So it seems to be becoming a pattern for me to not blog on the weekends for the simple fact that I just don't have the time because I don't spend much of them at home... Which I have to say is a good thing because it means I'm being social and spending time with Belgians! Yay!

This weekend was honestly the best weekend I've had in Belgium. Let's start at the beginning, shall we? (This is going to be a very long blog)

FRIDAY:
Friday, I spent the day at the preschool again, for the last day of the retreat. Friday was less fun than the other days, for the pure fact that there was nothing for us to do. The other days we had gotten to play games with the kids, do crafts, and help with the little chores around the classroom. But we were in a different class on Friday and there just weren't things for us to do. So we spent the day observing and watching the kids play. Of course, if it weren't for the language barrier, I would've gotten down on all fours and played with the kids. But they don't understand a word I say and I barely understand them, even though my French is improving immensely (I'll talk more about that later). However, they played outside a lot and there were many accidents involving little kids falling down, kids bullying other kids, and lots of tears. And I felt awful because I couldn't really help since I didn't know how to say what I would've said in English.

After school was over, my host mom picked me up and I went home for a couple hours to run, shower, and pack up my stuff to spend the night at Talia's. However, before I left, I made... Ready for this?? GRILLED CHEESE. I was so excited! We had found a Laughing Cow cheese that came just like Kraft singles and the package said "with cheddar". However, that was not cheddar cheese. That was good old fattening American cheese. And I made my wonderful grilled cheese sandwich on delicious Belgian bread. If only I had had applesauce...








So anyways, Karine then drove me over to Talia's, where I got ready for the giant techno party called KickAss. Talia and I got all dolled up, ate dinner (spaghetti), and around 9:30pm, Talia's host mom drove us into Hannut for the party. When we got there, there weren't a whole lot of people there, so we hung around outside for a bit and then went in where the DJ was set up on the stage and strobe lights were going. Nobody was dancing yet and it was kind of that socially awkward stage when everyone is just standing around. But our friends trickled in and before we knew it, the whole sixième class was there and we were dancing and having a great time. Every hour, they switched DJs, so the style was changed up a bit. Talia and I spent the time going between the dance floor and outside, talking to friends, meeting new people and taking TONS of pictures. The Belgians dance very differently than Americans and they aren't very wild about it. So Talia and I had to contain ourselves a little, but it was still so much fun. I absolutely love dancing! Of course, we're in Belgium, so just about everyone was drinking, but it was nowhere near the type of intense drinking like people were doing at the Fête de Wallonie. But because it was a dance party, beer was sloshed out of cups left and right and it basically covered the floor. Not to mention I ended up getting splashed more than once with beer and stepped on multiple times, so by the end of the night, my feet were gross and beer had dried on my legs. Which is, yes, disgusting. But I didn't let that stop me from having a fantastic time! Most of our friends left around 1:30am, but Talia and I stayed until 3am with some others that we knew, and some we had just met. At 3am we met up with our friend Gregoire, who's mother graciously gave us a ride home. We creeped into the house around 3:30 and headed up to Talia's room where we immediately crashed (after washing off my legs, of course).

SATURDAY:
Saturday morning, Talia and I had to wake up around 7am for a Rotary outing in Namur. Which means that we got about 3 hours of sleep. We very quickly got dressed, grabbed our lovely Rotary blazers, ate some breakfast, made our lunches and then we were out the door, in the car, headed to meet up with Gaby to go to Namur. I didn't even have enough time to throw makeup on my face or do something to make my hair presentable, so I did my makeup in the car and just left my curls from the night before. And I have to say, I'm pretty skilled at car makeup and I found that I can do my mascara blind and not get it all over my face. I was impressed with myself.

After driving about twenty minutes, we met up with Gaby and her host dad on the side of the road, as is the Belgian way. We then got into Gaby's car and we all went the rest of the way to Namur. We met the other exchange students at the train station, and then all walked about fifteen minutes through the streets of Namur, which I know very well by now, to the city commune. We checked in there and then all went inside and waited for things to start.




During this time, I met a couple new exchange students, one who was from Argentina, and another from Finland. I can't get over the fact that all the exchange students that aren't from the States or Canada speak English so well. It makes me feel like us Americans aren't ambitious enough to learn more languages than just English... Once everyone was finally settled in, Rotarians talked to us about a number of different things, including rules and the trips that are happening throughout the year (again).

After that was all finished, we headed outside where they gave us something to drink and we just chilled for a while. I went outside to meet up with Rèmi and Talia, and proceeded to get yelled at for something. I have no idea what I did wrong, but all of the sudden one of the men there was yelling at me to get out. I was dumbstruck and just kind of said uh uh huh? And he yelled again, saying, "I asked for one thing, you go out now!" And I just said "Uh, uh, ok ça va," and went back inside. I was very upset about that for about five minutes, and then we all left that building and went to take a group picture. Group pictures always take longer than necessary.

Finally, it was lunch time. They gave us a little over an hour to either eat what we brought, or go buy food. Of course, we decided to do both. So I went with Rèmi, Talia, and another boy from Ohio named Matheus, and we all walked into town. All of us except Matheus had brought sandwiches, so we ate those on the way, and since I'm a nice person, I shared with him. We then searched for a place for other food. We came by a bakery where Rèmi got a really delicious pastry that came with a cool little wooden spoon that we were all amazed at, cause, ya know, we're all just 4 years old inside. We then went to seek out some substantial food for Matheus. We scanned just about the entire city when we finally walked back the way we came and saw that there was a sandwich shop that was right next to the bakery that we had stopped at earlier. It was definitely a "here's your sign" moment. So we stopped in there and Talia and I decided that we were still hungry so I got a sandwich too for us to split. She asked me to choose so I went with brie cheese, sirop de Liège, and pearl onions. If you don't remember, the sirop de Liège is the molasses type syrup made from apples and pears. It's very tasty, but very strong and it's best when it's with other things. It's a bit sweet also, so with the brie, it hit the spot. Of course, we're in Europe and it is typical for there to be music when you are just wandering the streets. There was a man playing the accordion outside the shop, and it was like a movie moment. The sun was shining, the temperature was perfect, we were standing in a little cobblestone square of town outside a cute bistro with accordion music. It was wonderful. We even danced a bit. After the accordion player finished, we went to check out the inside of an old church, and then proceeded to make our way back to meet with the rest of the exchange students.





We all met by the river and boarded a ferry for a ride along the river. It was absolutely gorgeous. The weather was perfect, the river was calm, and the scenery was to die for. We spent the time talking and taking pictures and just really having a wonderful afternoon. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. After maybe an hour or two on the ferry, our time with Rotary was over, and I went to go search for something to occupy myself with. I met up with Brittany, Hadley, and Oakley, and ended up making plans with to join them for bowling with Brittany and Hadley's Rotary club, and then stay the night with Hadley.

We had some time before we had to catch the train, so we did a little shopping in Namur. As I promised last time, I didn't spend a single penny. But it was fun to go with them. Actually, that is a bit of a lie... I did buy makeup remover wipes, but that is only because I was out of them and that is really beside the point and you didn't need to know that... But that was the first time that I was given attitude for not speaking fluent French. The man at the register was not nice to me.


Anyway, we then made our way to the station, but stopped for a few minutes to watch some streets performers dance, which was really cool. Upon arrival at the station, the drama of the evening commenced. I had no cash on me, and there wasn't at ATM in sight. We had to get the train right then because otherwise we would miss it, so I was forced to buy a ticket on the train. Somehow, the ticket from Namur to Liège is around 8 euros, and it is another 3 added on because I am buying the ticket on the train. Normally, they don't actually charge you that extra 3, especially once they find out you don't speak French. However, this controller was in an awful mood and made me pay 11 euros for the ticket. Which is outrageous and something must've been wrong there, but I couldn't figure it out and besides, I don't speak French. Also, this was 11 euros that I didn't have. Now Brittany had lovingly given me a ten to pay with until I could find an ATM. I had thought it would for sure cover it, and there was no way that this short ride could cost more. But there I was, with 10 euros, having to pay for an 11 euro ticket. Luckily, there were a bunch of other exchange students standing right there with us and Jonathan, from Texas, was able to lend me the other euro. Crisis averted. We then found out that Oakley had been charged extra also because she had forgotten to fill out her GoPass before we got on the train. The fine is normally 60 euros, but he only made her pay about 8. So I suppose that was lucky for her too. Finally, we made it to Liège and I went to find an ATM. This is where I found out that Rotary had not given me my allowance for the month yet, and I couldn't withdraw anything from my account. So I was forced to use my Visa, and I am anxiously awaiting to find out what kind of ridiculous fees I will be charged. By this point, I am super frustrated with life. Then we find out that our host parents had talked to one another and changed our plans around, so I was staying with Brittany. This wasn't really a big deal at all, but we were extremely confused on how this had happened. We then went to catch our second train to Vervier. I decided that I didn't want what happened on the Liège train to happen again, so I quickly ran downstairs to buy a ticket. As Oakley and I were heading back up to the platform, the others were running down, saying they had changed our train. So we hurried to another platform, where we waited, and I found out that I had bought the wrong ticket, and the stop we were getting off at was actually Welkinrodt (spelling is wrong, I know). So I hadn't paid for enough zones and the controller could fine me. So we decided that when the controller came around, I was going to pretend to be sleeping, since they hardly ever wake people up. However, we lucked out and nobody ever came to check the tickets.







Brittany's host dad was there to pick us up at the station, and we headed over the bowling alley. It was the nicest bowling alleys that I have ever been to! There was the part for bowling, of course, but then there was also a nice bar, a place to sit down and eat, a part with some games and pool table, and then a glass wall which separated all that from another part of the building with a giant structure of tubes and slides for children to play on. Plus, there was no smoking allowed in the building, so it was really nice. We didn't even have to pay for our game because Rotary was hosting the event. When we got there, we met up with one of Brittany and Hadley's friends, Antoine, and then another girl, Laurie, met us later as well. Thais, an exchange student from Brazil, was also with us. (Poor Oakley was with all of us French speakers, and she is in the German part of the country, learning German, so she was lost all night) We donned our lovely bowling shoes and headed over to our lane to play. We didn't have much time, and we only got to frame 6, but I won with 59 points. I know, impressive. But we had a great time! After our hour of bowling, Rotary treated us to dinner. So we went over to the restaurant part of the building and sat down to a pizza dinner. I got Hawaiian pizza with ham and pineapple. I have recently discovered how brilliant it is to put pineapple on a pizza. After we finished eating, we spent a couple hours just telling stories, speaking French and laughing a lot! Oakley and Hadley left early, and then Brittany and I and the others left around 11pm. We swung by Hadley's quickly to pick up some of Brittany's things, and then headed to Brittany's house. Everyone had fallen asleep in the car, and Brittany and I were exhausted when we got up to her room, seeing as how we had each gotten about three hours of sleep the night before. So after quickly setting up a place for me to sleep and getting some pjs of Brittany's to wear, we crashed for the night.

SUNDAY:
Sunday morning was much more reasonable. Brittany and I awoke around 9:30am and went down to breakfast. It was the first time since I've been here that I lounged around in my pajamas. Breakfast at her house is wonderful. There was melted chocolate for baguettes (which beats Nutella), pain au chocolat, breakfast rolls, sirop de Liège, more chocolate, and the cheese de Herve (which is the city where she lives). I was a total piggy and had some baguette with chocolate, a roll with the sirop and cheese, and a pain au chocolat. With coffee and orange juice. Oh and when her host mom offered me a piece of chocolate with hazelnuts, I had that too. I mean, it would be rude to say no, right?

After breakfast, Brittany showed me around the house and then we went outside and picked up walnuts that had fallen off the tree in their front yard while telling stories and just having some girl chat. In our pajamas, by the way. Who knew picking up walnuts could be so much fun? We then went back inside, ate some of the walnuts, and watched a ton of YouTube videos. She introduced me to a new comedian, Eddie Izzard. If you don't know his work, you need to go look him up. He's a British man who dresses in drag for his act, and he's absolutely hysterical. We also took a look at the bus and train schedules and decided that I would catch a 3:08 bus to Liège and a 4:20 train to Huy. So that was all taken care of. Her host mom then called us for a light lunch outside. I met Brittany's host grandmother at this point, and sat outside and ate together. It wasn't really a meal. There were bowls of cashews, chips, cheese, mussels, mini sausages, carrots, and cauliflower, and we drank champagne. They do this every Sunday because of eating such a big, late breakfast. Brittany's host family is very very nice and they were pretty impressed with my level of speaking. So I felt pretty accomplished. After lunch, Brittany and I went back inside and continued watching videos until about 2:50 when I decided it was time for me to finally change and get to the bus stop. I went outside to say goodbye and thank you to her host parents, but they wouldn't let me leave without giving me some cake, so I sat down for a couple minutes and had a small piece of cake, which was delicious. Brittany and I left the house a couple minutes after 3, and had plenty of time to get me to the bus stop.

More drama commences. I got to the stop around 3:04 and waited. And waited. 3:15 rolls around and still no bus. So Brittany and I head back to the house to figure out what the problem was. Turns out we had been looking at the wrong schedule and the bus had come at 3:01. So her host mom helps us and we find the right schedule. Now I have to catch the 3:58 bus. Ok no worries, but I can't take the same train. So we look at that schedule and there is a 4:50 train to Huy, and then next one after that isn't until 5:50. Now it's a 45 ride on the bus, so I will have to book it to make the train. But we figure that's the only option, so I'll go with that. So Brittany and I chill for about another half hour and then go back to the bus stop. The bus shows up at 4:02, and I get a little worried that I'm not going to make it in time to catch the train. But I trust that God will get me there, so I just put in my earbuds and try to relax.

The bus gets to the train station at 4:52. I was super angry. I ran up to the platform to see if maybe the train was late, but alas, it had come and gone. And now I was stuck. So I look at the schedule and find that there is a train leaving in a few minutes for Waremme, which is also close to my house. So I call my host mom, run down to buy a ticket, then run to the platform. But I find that platform 5 is not running a train to Waremme like the schedule says. So I run back down the stairs and find that they had changed the train at the last minute, and my train is now on platform 2. Thankfully, I made it in time, though I didn't completely trust myself and was afraid that I was on the wrong train. But I did make it to Waremme in one piece, completely shaken, but alive and well.

My host mom picked me up from there, we stopped at Talia's to pick up my things from the night before, and then went home where I ate some apple pie, worked out, had dinner, and now am waiting for the shower.

So, to wrap up a ridiculously long, dramatic blog post, this was a fantastic weekend, despite the mishaps. I had a great time, I spoke a lot of French, and realized that my French is rapidly improving. Everyone I talk to says that I speak very well, my accent is good, and I can obviously get myself through tough situations. I met some great people, and I had A LOT of fun! Tomorrow, I have school, of course, and things will go back to boring. I hope you all made it through the post, and enjoyed my antics. Until tomorrow! Bonne nuit!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Retreat, Day Two

So remember how I said my host dad wears purple pants? Well he wore them again today, because Belgians where the exact same outfits for multiple days in a row, and I realized that they are more of a red, rosey, purpley color. Just updating everyone.

Today, I went back to the school to spend my day with les petits enfants. And I realized that yesterday I said it was a primary school, when really, I'm at a preschool. I guess my brain just didn't make that connection before. I had a good time, but it was very tiring. It's so hard for me to communicate with the kids, since they just barely speak French, and I speak English... And when I make a mistake, or my pronunciation is off, they don't understand me. And half the time I don't understand them either. I mean, even in the States, sometimes you can't understand when a child speaks, because they jumble words and don't always know how to say things. So you can imagine what it's like trying to figure it all out in French.

But I was still able to have a lot of fun with them and play games and go to gym class and do art work and of course, take tons of pictures. However, the teachers asked that we don't post anything on the Internet, so you'll just have to imagine what it was like.

There was one child that I especially bonded with today. And that is because he is in the same boat as me. He came into the room crying, this little three year old Chinese boy, because he doesn't understand anything that anyone says to him. He only speaks Chinese and he has only been in Belgium for three months. I felt so terrible, because he just cried and sat alone, and couldn't understand a word. Since I understood exactly how that is, I decided to befriend the child. And I just told him, in English, so he didn't understand me either, that I understood what it was like to be completely lost. And somehow I think he kind of understood what I said to him because after that, I put my arm around him and he just kind of clung to me for the rest of the morning. He didn't say a word, but I knew he was finally comfortable with someone. Which made me feel really good inside :)

I then went grocery shopping with my host mom, maybe found a good substitute for American cheese, bought some great Belgian chocolate, came home, took a nice nap, ate dinner, and then went to dance class, which I nailed. I have to say, these are the days when I remember why I want to be a dancer!

Tomorrow is going to be a long day. I have my last day at the preschool, then I'm heading over to Talia's to get ready for a big fête in Hannut called, ready for this, KickAss. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be vulgar, but that's the name of it. In English and everything. Basically it's a big electronica dance party at a club in Hannut and everybody is going. So that will go til about 3am and then the Saturday I have to be in Namur at 8:30am for a Rotary outing! Yay for not sleeping! As for now, I wish to sleep. Bonne nuit!