Quelle Journée !!

Well today was... interesting, to say the least. Actually, it turned out to be quite a good day. Let's start at the beginning, shall we? After all, it's a very good place to start.

I woke up this morning around 10am, because I could. See, I have this really cool shade in my room over my window that blocks out all light. Every single smidgin of light is gone. So I wake up at 10 and it feels like 6am. Which I don't mind because I could never seem to sleep late at the other house because of the light that came in the window, whether it was sunny or rainy. Anyways, I woke up and went downstairs and ate the remainder of the Special K in the box, which ended up being about half a bowl, so I also had a half of a sandwich with cheese and jelly. That is really insignificant, but in case you wanted to know my breakfast this morning, that was it. I then left for my first ballet class in three weeks, since I obviously didn't go Thursday. Dance went very very well today actually. I think I did particularly well today, and I felt much stronger. I'm sure that has a lot to do with the working out. Of course, the tights and leotard aren't exactly the best morale booster, but hey, I look at it as more motivation to keep going to the gym!

After dance, I waited about a half hour and caught a bus to the train station at Landen where I met up with Talia to go to Liège. We bought our tickets and checked the train times and were on a train ready to go by 2 35pm. The thing about Landen, though, is that it is just over the border in the Flemish part. So everything there is in Dutch. I had heard the conductor say over the loud speaker something about Aachen, which concerned me, but then looked out the window and realized she had said Alken, so I didn't worry. However, it didn't even cross my mind the fact that I had never seen this train station before in my life. But, after about 20 minutes, I looked out the window and realized that I didn't recognize a thing. Now I've been to Liège and back so many times, I could list off the stops in the correct order if I really wanted to. And I had never seen these stops before in my life. Plus, everything was in Dutch. So it was around this point that Talia and I realized that we were on the wrong train headed in the wrong direction. We even texted Aymeric, who so lovingly confirmed that. So we decided to get off the train.

But knowing us, we got off the train at this little dinky ghetto stop. With no station, no building, nobody to ask what we should do next. There were only two tracks, one for each direction. So we made our way over to the other side and looked at the schedule. Thank goodness that some words are the same in Flemish and English. We found that the next train taking us back to where we came from didn't come for another forty-five minutes. So the next thought was to try to walk back to the last station, since it was a pretty big one and was in the same city. So we started walking, and came across a bus stop, thinking maybe we could catch a bus there. But we were out of luck with that, though there was a map. But that wasn't very helpful either. So in the end, we walked back to the little ghetto stop and waited for the train. It wasn't super cold out, but the wind bit a little. Eventually, though, a train came by. We got on that one and made our way back to Landen, though we had to pay for another ticket.

At Landen, we managed to get a different train to Liège, even though by now we had discussed whether or not it was worth it, now that it was two and half hours later than the first time around. But we did manage to get on the correct train the second time, and we finally got to Liège. We half walked/half sprinted to the Mediacité, because by this time we were starving and all we wanted to do was find the sushi place. Talia had been craving sushi for a while, and I had never had it before, so I was excited to try it. Around 5 45 we got there, and we saw that the restaurant that I knew about for sushi was closed between 3 and 6pm. So for those extra 15 minutes we walked around and took a look in a few stores. We were a little disappointed because we had originally wanted to do some shopping today too, but it wasn't a big deal.

By 6pm, we were back at the restaurant, and we sat down to eat. The concept of the place is really cool. I was impressed. What happens is, you sit down at a sort of bar, and then a conveyer belt that loops around the whole restaurant passes in front of you, carrying all kids of different little plates with food on them. There are pot-stickers and wantons and fried things and little mini eggrolls and sushi and all kinds of different things. And you pay one price and you take as much as you want as it passes by you. We started off our meals with a sort of soup, which had tofu in it. I had never had tofu before, but I have to say it was pretty good. Other things of note that I tried this evening: Seaweed salad. A little spicy, but I liked it. A variety of fried and stuffed crunchy wanton type things. Very good. Typical Chinese. Orange chicken. FINALLY. Sushi. First time of my life trying it, and I have to say I'm a fan. I really do enjoy the textures and flavors and I really like the rice! :) They also had fruits and desserts going around, and Talia and I ate until we were completely stuffed. Of course, this was sometimes difficult as we would see something coming down the conveyer from the other end, anxiously awaiting the point where we could snatch it up. Unless of course, someone else had the same ideas and got it before you did, which happened often. But we still managed to taste everything we wanted to and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. And I tried new foods!

After we finished our dinner, we ran back to the train station to catch our train home. Due to some technical difficulties, we ended up on the wrong platform at first, and when we got to the right platform, the train was just barely beginning to pull away. So, we missed our train home. Which totally went with the theme of the day. But again, it was no big deal. We considered going back to Huy instead of Landen, but after talking with Talia's host mom, we ended up just waiting at Guillemans for another hour until the next train to Landen came through. We sat around just talking and such. We met someone who was very eager to speak English with us, which seems to be typical of Belgians. And eventually, we did make it on a train home. We got back to Landen around 9 20pm. Then Talia's host mom came to get us and she dropped me off at my house, which was only maybe ten minutes away, if that. Then I ate lots of chocolate...

Also, tonight is the Winter Formal dance back at my high school in the States, and my sister is going. So I was lucky enough to be able to Skype a little bit with her before she left and I even got to talk to her date, who is one of my friends too. She looks amazing and she's going to have a great time! And my Christmas package made it home today too. So I got to see Olivia open her gift, which was a turquoise Ice Watch. She loves it! Then she left for her dance and I watched as my parents opened their gifts too. My mom's birthday, as you know if you read regularly, was the 6th of December, so I had a birthday and Christmas gift in there for her. For her birthday, I got her a German scarf with all kinds of browns and maroons and burgundy colors in it, which she loved. And for Christmas, I gave her a bag of little Galler chocolates with all the different flavors. For my dad, I got him a hand made Belgian ceramic house for his Christmas village. I also got them a gold ornament with a little jingle bell inside of it that says Noël on it. I also got gifts for the rest of the family and they should be getting those things tonight as well. After talking to my family, I Skyped with one of my friends for about an hour and now I'm going to get some sleep.

Overall, the day was hectic, but it was an adventure, and it surprisingly did not stress me out at all. I actually had a lot of fun! I like crazy adventures that keep me on my toes here in Belgium. It's stuff like this that makes it fun. Now I just need to find a way to do my shopping... But for now I will focus on sleeping. Bonne nuit!

NOËL

Joyeux Noël tout le monde !

It's Christmas. December 25th. The day that Jesus was born.

Well let's start with yesterday. So yesterday was Christmas Eve. Obviously. The day started off pretty much like any other. I was supposed to go to school in the morning to pick up my report card, and I woke up late so I ran around getting ready really quickly so that we could get to school before 10 30am. But the snow was really bad so my host mom said no let's wait a bit and see if they come by to plow the roads. So I sat down to eat and then went upstairs to finish the present for my host parents. My host mom then came upstairs. She had gotten a text from school saying that they were going to postpone the report cards until January 10th. So no worries. I finished up my host family's gift and went down to lunch. It was a nice lunch. We had salad with little fancy meat thingys and big heaping portions of delicious wonderful melted cheese resting on top. It was so delicious. I love cheese so much. Then Benoit came home. He actually had class on Christmas Eve. So he ate lunch too with us and then I went to work wrapping all my gifts for my family and putting together the Christmas package to send home. It took me a while, but I did finish. And then I cleaned my room and got ready to go to my host mom's parents' house for Christmas dinner.

Around 5 30pm, we all got in the car and put on a Christmas cd as we drove to pick up Damien from school. Cue the beginning of Emma's homesickness. Although I sang along to the songs anyway since they were mostly in English. But after the first half hour I just stared out the window and listened to the music and thought about home. We got Damien from school and then eventually made it to my host grandparents' house. We walked in to a warm welcome from them and my host mom's brother and his wife and kids. They have four children, three boys and a girl. The oldest is seven, the next is five, and then there are two three year old twins, one boy and one girl. They are all so adorable too. We said our hellos and Joyeux Noëls and took off our coats and such. And I learned that mistletoe here is a New Years tradition, not a Christmas one. You kiss someone under mistletoe at midnight on New Years. Interesting.

Everything was warm and sweet and pretty. That house is so full of warmth and love, I can't take it. It reminds me so much of my grandparents' house in the States. And my host grandparents remind me of my own grandparents. It's nuts. We all sat down in the living room and talked and such. And then out came the appetizers. All kinds of little things stacked up on mini crackers. The specialty of grandma. There were some with crab, anchovies, salmon, egg, ham, all kinds of things. I tried anchovies for the first time in my life. I didn't like it much. But I also tried caviar for the first time, and that was wonderful. I have expensive taste I guess. I also drank quite a bit of champagne and couldn't turn my head too fast without a little bit of dizziness. But nothing at all to worry about. They just kept filling my glass before I could say no thank you.

Then it was gift exchanging time. I didn't expect to receive anything, but I did get a few things, and it was very sweet and I felt bad that I had left my present for my family at the house, under the impression that we would exchange on Christmas day. From Damien, I received a nice big bottle of Kriek, which is that cherry flavored beer that I do in fact like. My host parents got me a turquoise Ice Watch, which is very Belgian. I think I'm going to swap it out for the green though. I'll explain why in a bit. My host grandparents got me a nice little dainty silver necklace with a rhinestone peace sign pendant. And my host mom's brother's family, who I had just met that day, gave me chocolates. A nice pallet of little sample sizes of all the Galler flavors. And a little box of "chacolat" which is a box with a few chocolates in it and a comic strip starring a cat (cat is "chat" in French). I was touched by my gifts and liked them very much. Everyone got some nice stuff too, including a GPS for my host dad.

By this time everyone was ready for dinner. So we sat down to our first course, which was a sort of log of pureed lobster and vegetables with a white sauce. The sauce also had little pieces of vegetables in it. We had rolls with it also. It was absolutely delicious and the sauce was so creamy. I was already full by the end of the first course. I helped clear the table and get the next round of plates ready. Each person got their own little tiny cornish hen. They were seriously the smallest eating birds I've ever seen. Each person got one, along with some vegetable that is called "chicon" and a couple of these deep fried potato type balls. It was all covered in a wonderful thick gravy. That was truly delicious. Of course, the kids all got something else to eat, and by this time they were all sitting in front of the television watching some Tinkerbell movie. I could not finish all my food. I thought my stomach was going to burst. But we still had dessert! We took some time in between the courses though. I was drinking wine with the meal too! Which is very different for me. I had a glass of white and of red. And I have to say, I did enjoy it. The first time of my life that I enjoyed drinking wine. Anyways, we took some time now to just chill out. I played with the kids a little and talked to my host brothers. But then it was time for my death: dessert. There were two cakes. They were the yule log type cakes. One was ice cream, and the other was an actual cake that was mocha flavored. They insisted that I take a little of each, so I tried them both. I can't believe my stomach didn't burst. But then they brought out the macaroons, and I was obligated to try one of those too. And then the chocolates, but I passed on those. Then we took some family photos. By this time, it was about 11 30pm and it was time to go. We packed up our gifts and drove home, stopping about halfway to change drivers because my host dad was sleepy. We got home, I showered, watched about half of "The Incredibles" and fell asleep with my homesickness.

This morning I woke up with 20 minutes before the Christmas mass. I hurried up and got ready and then me and host parents went to the church behind the house and Benoit met up with us. It was probably the saddest Christmas mass I've ever been to. There was hardly anyone there and the music was very depressive. But it was a Christmas mass nonetheless, and although I didn't understand much, I kept up as much as I could. When it was over, we went back to the house and had a breakfast of bread and Nutella and jelly. Which my host brother thought was especially strange. I then went upstairs to take a nap, but instead ended up writing a bit more of my novel, applying to another university, sending a few emails and writing a letter to Ryan. Then it was lunchtime. We had pheasant, though I had chicken instead (I'm not sure why), grilled mango, cooked cinnamon apples, and roasted potatoes. We were supposed to go today to my host dad's sister's house for Christmas dinner, but because of the snow, we are going tomorrow instead. Then I Skyped with my family for 2 hours and read the story of Christmas with them, watched them open their gifts, and talked with them about things going on in life. I then amused myself with Skype and StumbleUpon, since my host parents went out and my host brothers were each in their rooms doing their own things. Very odd Christmas. I was feeling pretty homesick. But then it was dinner time, which was just fish soup with shrimp and cooked oysters, which I didn't eat. But the conversation was very good and I gave my family the cookbook of American recipes that I had made them for Christmas. We flipped through it together, and it turns out I didn't make that many mistakes in it! I had translated all the recipes from English to French and converted them from US to metric. It took a while, but it was worth it because they really liked it and appreciated it.I spent a good chunk of time downstairs afterwards talking with my host mom and a little with my host dad, and then I Skyped with the whole family, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents, for about a half hour. And then I showered and now I'm blogging and my eyes are closing. It's time for Emma to go to sleep.

Tomorrow, we continue Christmas. Bonne nuit !

Quick Post

You know what I've realized? I go through my whole day thinking about what I'm going to write about in my blog that night, and then by the time I get to my computer and lay down for the night, I have forgotten everything that I was going to say. So let's just recap my day.

I actually had a freaking fantastic day in Belgium today :) It started out with me waking up pretty late, because I didn't have school today, and going down to the breakfast table. And what is awaiting me there but a package. Now I love getting mail, especially when I'm not expecting it. And the last thing I expected to see in my place this morning was a package. I thought it would be from family or maybe Kaitlyn, but I looked at the label and it was from Ryan's family back home! Which I just thought was the sweetest thing ever. So I frantically ripped it open and a bunch of little individually wrapped Christmas presents fall out, along with a card. First Christmas presents in Belgium! I received a shirt that says Hope on it, a few pairs of socks and a pair of gloves. Which I'm grateful for because all the socks I have here are ankle socks and they just don't cut it with the boots. So that was basically the best surprise ever.

After breakfast, I went back upstairs and went hard to work on crossing the 50 000 word finish line of my novel. AND I DID IT!!!! I wrote 50 000 words in 30 days and I am so proud of myself! The book is nowhere near done, but I set a goal, and I achieved it. Now, I'm going to get to work on finishing the actual first draft of the book and then revising it. Because honestly, with some serious polishing, I really do think it could be publish worthy. Which excites me :)

I spent the afternoon with my host mom and Talia. We went to a MALL. This is a big deal. There are like three malls in all of Belgium. Ok more than that, but you get the picture. They're hard to come by. It was so American I couldn't take it. I bought a pair of ear muffs, some pretty earrings, a winter hat and some ridiculously soft, lined leggings that will be super warm. I was on the look out for Christmas presents, since I have begun my search, but no luck today. I also found an absolutely adorable pair of suede gloves that were lined and warm and wonderful, but they were 25 euros, and I just could not justify that. Although they looked lovely.

I came home and Talia stayed for dinner and then I had three hours of dance, the first of which was a mini rehearsal for the show that I have on Saturday. You know, the one with the blue fabric tubey-thingys. And then jazz. But I really started to feel sick during my jazz class. Sort of heartburn ish. Not fun at all. Now I'm at home, ready to make it an early night. Sorta. It's already almost eleven. But I took a shower, so that ate some time. Ok well I'm rambling now. I need to sleep. À demain!