I Ate Twice My Weight Today...

It's Saturday. I really feel like all I did today was eat. It's almost 1 30am too and I'm so freaking exhausted I can barely keep my eyes open as I write this blog. So it may be a little less detailed than normal.

I woke up at about 10 45 this morning, but that was after not getting to sleep until 3 30am. But I got up and got ready and went to dance for 11 20 as is customary on Saturday mornings. And it was a terrible class. I did not do well at all. I'm pretty sure it's cause my whole body is sore and tired from working out all week, not to mention that I have not been getting enough sleep (as I write on my blog at 1 30am). So things just did not go well at dance today. Afterwards, my host mom picked me up and we went back to the house quickly before going out to Liège to sell oysters with Rotary. On the way home, Karine was driving slow, as usual, but she somehow got off the road for a second and when she got back on, the car slid and did a nice 360 turn, landing in some branches, just missing a telephone pole. It was fine and we were fine and there might have been a few scratches on the car, but that was it. The Belgians really need to discover snow tires.

Anyway, we got back to the house and I ate lunch as my host mom and Benoit went out to get the other car's tires filled, since the one was almost completely flat. I had three little sandwiches on baguette: one with a soft cheese and apple jelly, one with the soft cheese and the sirop de Liège, and one with ham and American cheese and mustard. The baguette today was especially delicious. And I was pretty darn full after.

My host mom and I then went out to Liège to meet up with my Rotary club. My host dad was already there. We were supposed to be there at 3, but with the snow and the fact that there was nowhere to park, we ended up being about a half hour late. We got there and said hi to everyone and then the Rotary people tried to get me to eat an oyster, but I couldn't. I really do want to try new things here, but I couldn't bring myself to eat that uncooked, raw, slimy crustacean. Which, apparently is a shame because everyone was saying how delicious they are. But then there weren't that many people coming to the stand, so my host mom told me I could go for an hour and do my Christmas shopping. So I did, and I came across my host brother and his girlfriend in the process, but I was able to find some good gifts and I'm happy with them. But I'm not quite finished and I think I'm going again on Monday. Oye shopping.

I then returned to the stand and was able to stay in the shop that was behind it where they were preparing the food in the warmth. Which was a plus. There wasn't really anything for me to do though, and I just ended up talking with my counselor and such. Christian wasn't there. But eventually we got to talking, and I have been invited to go with him for 2 weeks on vacation in the south of France!!! We would leave the day after Christmas. Now this isn't positively for sure, but it's a good chance that I would get to go and I'm so excited!

Anyways, we stayed there til about 6 30 and I had been snacking on these little chip things the entire time. But we returned to the house again, just for a minute to pick up my host dad, and then we were off to Namur for dinner with some family friends. By this point, it was already 8pm ish. We got there and I met the couple and their daughter and her boyfriend. They were very very nice and really funny and the house was warm and cozy and a little eccentric, which I appreciated. And they had a dog. A huge one. Like a bear. Really furry too. But it stayed outside the whole time.

We first sat down in the living room where they brought out some appetizers like little bits of sausages and such. But then it started getting fancy and the wife brought out some more little pre dinner foods that had garnishes in little porcelain dishes with itty bitty spoons and other fancy stuff. There was pate with some caramelized onions, but a very tiny portion with the smallest spoon you've ever seen in your life. Then she brought out this other one which was a skewer of a special kind of Belgian meat and a piece of a warm apple. Delicious.

Then it was time for the oysters. My host parents had bought a box of them from the stand and brought them with us. So the man of the house sat with us and spent the next fifteen or twenty minutes opening the oysters. I didn't realize that that is all the preparation that goes into eating oysters. You just open them. Ew. But they were all on a plate and the shells are pretty. Once they were all opened, we moved into the dining room to eat this first course of the giant meal. I did take one oyster, but the minute I opened it and saw it, I just lost my appetite. I really do pride myself on always trying things, but the fact that it wasn't cooked... If you know me, you know I have a fear of puking, which leads to my other irrational fears, such as roller coasters. This also includes my fear of raw meat/seafood. So I just couldn't eat it. I wanted to try it, but I couldn't. My body was rejecting it before it was even in my mouth. But the family understood and we all just laughed about it.

The next course was the main one. We had some sort of meat, which I think was lamb, green beans, and cheesy potatoes. Although the meat was kinda fatty, and I had to trim it a lot, it was really good and had a wonderful flavor. The potatoes were amazing. The best cheesy potatoes I've ever had. Technically, they were potatoes au gratin, but I like saying cheesy potatoes because it's more fun. And they were cheesy, and they reminded me of home. And of course, I love green beans, so that was good too. But by this point, I had so much food in my stomach, I thought I was going to burst and I couldn't figure out how I was going to finish what was on my plate. And then everyone started taking seconds and I felt bad saying no thank you, but I was beginning to feel sick and I couldn't eat anymore. But I did manage to clean my plate, except for the meat trimmings. They cleared away those dishes and I really did begin to feel ill. Which was not good. But it passed very quickly. That's when my eyes began to droop. We must have already been there for two hours.

Then they brought out the next course. The cheese. I couldn't figure out how I was going to do this. But I took very small portions of just a few of them and the smallest piece of bread that was in the bowl and ate just enough to get the tastes of the cheese. One was a brie, the other was another similar soft white cheese, one was a gouda type with bits of violets in it, and the other was a goat cheese that was covered in different kinds of crushed flowers. We ate it with a pumpernickel type bread that had nuts and such in it. The cheeses were delicious. I wish I could have had more.

But the food didn't stop there. They cleared those plates and fifteen minutes later, it was time for the last course. The most deadly. Dessert. The daughter brought out a platter of cookies she had made, some chocolate macaroons, lemon macaroons, and other really thin crispy cookies. I took one of each, even though at this point my stomach really was full to bursting. I successfully finished my cookies without any major problems. You think that was it? Oh no. There were also two cakes. One chocolate one with raspberries on it that made me want to die and go to heaven so that I could eat that all day long. The other was a crumble with red berries inside. That one looked rich and decadent also. But I couldn't eat anymore. Ten minutes later I asked for the crumble. I took half of a piece that my host dad had taken the other half of. I was halfway through the crumble when I really started to feel like I couldn't take another bite. It was so delicious. It was a crust, then some sort of custard, then raspberries and strawberries and cherries, mixed with a red berry mousse and topped with the crumble. I let myself rest for a couple minutes and then somehow, with the help of the Lord, finished the cake. And then I stared at the half of a piece of the chocolate cake, but successfully stopped myself from taking it. By this point I couldn't believe how much food I had eaten, but it was all so good. SO GOOD.

Then we left and it was midnight and I fell asleep in the car. We got home, I took a shower, and now I'm blogging and I want to go to sleep. Goodnight all.

Host dad's pants for today: red.

Sore Day And The Cookie Mountain

Can anyone guess what day comes after exercise day? You guessed it! Sore day! Ok, truth be told, it wasn't that bad. My arms were really the only part of me that was in pain. My legs ached a bit and my chest and shoulders too, but my arms were horrible. But Talia and I stuck it through and after our very easy morning, we went for day 2.

Our morning consisted of our English exam. The exchange students had to give a presentation of everything that the class had covered over the course of the semester. This pretty much included topics like why language learning is important, why English is important, the different songs they studied, "A Christmas Carol" and the presentations that some other exchange students had come to give. The prof gave us the first 2 hours of the exam time to prepare while the rest of the class was taking the first part of their exam. So Eduardo, Talia, Mikayla and I worked on the presentation. We had decided to put on a little skit where Talia was the teacher and us three were the students who were in an English class. So we wrote the script and then at the beginning of the second half, we put it on for the class. And it was a big hit! We even got some laughs. And afterwards, the prof could not stop raving about it. She thought it was absolutely excellent. She used the word "extraordinary". Go us! So I think we passed.

We finished our skit in about twenty minutes and then the three girls went over to the GB to look for a pumpkin for Mikayla. We couldn't find that, but she bought some Pringles and I got a little pasta thingy for my lunch, along with some Christmas cards and a new white out. We then went over to the café to eat our brown bag lunches and relax before Talia and I were scheduled to be at the gym at 1pm.

Around 12 20, Talia and I started heading over there. We stopped at the GB again to grab a water bottle, and then we were back on our way. We got there close to one, changed, and then had another run through of the circuit, this time with a guy showing us around. He had us do basically the same things as yesterday, with just a few changes in the exercises and adding a machine or two. At 2pm, Géraldine, Talia's host sister, came up to the gym to join us and do the workouts with us. We stayed until almost 4pm, and I have to say, I had a blast! We had fun talking and joking and laughing with the gym guy, even though I thought I was going to die from time to time due to my very sad lack of arm strength. Tomorrow, we do just cardio.

After we finished at the gym, I went home to begin my next adventure: Cookies! I decided to do cookies for Christmas gifts to my friends at school, and I spent the entire evening making two batches of my famous chocolate chip cookies. You see, in the States, every year for Christmas I make chocolates. All different kinds. Peanut butter cups, peanut clusters, chocolate covered marshmallows and pretzels with different sprinkles, all kinds. My specialty is a chocolate covered pretzel rolled in peppermint pieces. I was a pro at my chocolate making. Even my molds were special. I had all different colors of chocolates and I would make the molds very artistic. The teddy bears would get red hearts. The snowmen were white chocolate with orange carrot noses, colorful hats, scarves and buttons, and black for the eyes and mouth. I was very meticulous about my snow men. I even had little paper cups for the clusters that had holly leaves on them. And then I would take a bunch of the chocolates and put them in little cellophane bags with snowflakes or Christmas trees or holly or whatever decoration on them and tie them up with red and gold Christmas cord. They made wonderful gifts and everyone always loved them. But since I'm in Belgium and they don't seem to be really into that kind of stuff and there's no cake/confectionary store nearby, I went for cookies. Also, all the Belgians rave over my cookies, so why not? I made them a bit smaller too. And since Belgian appliances are considerably smaller than American ones, I could only make nine cookies at a time. Talk about time consuming. But I spent the time in between batches talking to my friends back in the States, catching up with my sister and trying not to raise my arms too high.

By the time I had finished all the cookies, which was after dinner (that pasta dish that my host dad makes with the shrimp... The whole ones... That you have to dismember yourself... The ones that stare at you), I had formed a small mountain from the 143 cookies that I had made. Of course, occasionally Benoit would come downstairs and steal some, and I ate way too much dough and cookies and chocolate... Kinda defeating the purpose of today's workout, but I confess and I will try harder to get back on my diet!

However, the fun did not stop there! I then spent the next couple hours making little satchels for my cookies out of red napkins and plastic wrap and tying them up with gold ribbon with Christmas trees on it. But then I ran out of plastic wrap. So I put a paper towel on top of the red napkin and wrapped that up instead so that the red was on the outside. But then I ran out of paper towels. So I used foil. But only for like two or three of them. In the end, I had forty satchels ready to take to school tomorrow. And now I'm in bed after a lovely hot shower and I'm ready to sleep.

Oh and my host dad wore his red pants today.

Bonne nuit!

Bruxelles À Noël

Today, my host mother woke me up at 8 20am to tell me that they were taking me to Brussels to see it all decked out for the holidays. Needless to say, at 8 20 in the morning, I wasn't too ecstatic about this idea. But I rolled out bed after my six hours of sleep anyway and got myself dressed and ready to go as quickly as I could. Not really, I took my time. But I still managed to get myself downstairs for breakfast around 9am. There was some wonderful bakery and cheese on the table, and the minute I left my room I was greeted by the most amazing smell of cinnamon and sugar. This was because my host parents had been hard at work making the traditional Belgian cookie, speculoos. I've talked about speculoos before. It's like a gingerbread type cookie with cinnamon and almond. And it's wonderful and the scent is to die for.

So as I'm sure you can tell, I broke my diet and ate a couple cookies along with some wonderful breakfast pastry. And some cheese on a roll. And then my host mom made me tea. I was set for the day.

By the way, my host dad wore his red pants today.

We left soon after that and were off to Brussels by car. I sat in the back and read a book on my iPod as we went. I got through almost 50 pages on the way there. I was pretty content, and it's a wonderful book (Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging. Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louis Rennison). We parked the car and ventured out into the rainy Belgian city. It warmed up a little today, so the majority of the snow was gone and it was raining instead of snowing. I have to say, I prefer the snow. I hate carrying around an umbrella.

My host mom and I separated from my host dad for a while, and we walked through the city, going into a few shops here and there and looking at all the great window displays. There were chocolate shops everywhere, all with speculoos in the windows, molded into the shapes of Saint Nicholas. Everything was so warm and wonderful and they all smelled amazing. She took me into the Grande Place and I saw the decorations for Christmas there, which featured a huge Christmas tree in the center, all lit up and sparkling. I imagine that it's ridiculously beautiful at night, all lit up and glowing. But alas, it was rainy day, so as beautiful as it was, it was still a little bit sad looking. Hopefully I'll get to go back.

We met back up with my host dad in an art gallery. Ok I'm going to diverge a little bit here. What is with the Belgians and this ridiculous level of comfort with sex and nudity??? I just don't understand! Everywhere you go, there are paintings of naked women or people just going at it or just things like that. They're everywhere! Like yesterday at the Village de Noël, there was a stand where you could buy a license plate and have it engraved. There was one that had a cartoon guy giving the viewer the middle finger while in the process of certain activity that requires a female partner. And there are things like this all over the place. And I'm so not used to it. And what was worse in this case, they were all pictures of the painter's wife. That poor woman... But I suppose that's culture, so whatever. I just find it a little discomforting with my naive American mindset. walked through another shop that specialized in kitchen and bathroom design, and marveled at all the different furnitures and such. Don't laugh at me. I enjoyed it! I like stuff like that. And when I told them that the typical American oven is about three times the size of the typical Belgian oven, they were amazed. But it's true! Belgian appliances are so tiny. I can only do one batch of 9 cookies at a time in the oven here, when in the States I could make two dozen at a time. It's a little annoying...

Anyways, we then went to this wonderful Italian restaurant for lunch. Wow! We started off with a sort of appetizer, where they brought us a big plate that had a bunch of little quantities of vegetables all around the edge and a little pile of beans in the center, all drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Some of them were stuffed with cheese, others were spiced, and some were buttery. But they were all delicious. We all just went at it with our forks and it was gone before we could blink twice. Then we made like true Europeans and sopped up all the vinegar with the bread that they brought us. That was delicious. Apparently that is very Italian. For my entrée, I decided on one of the specialties, the gnocchi with a tomato basil sauce. My host mom got a ravioli in a white marscapone sauce and my host dad got pasta that was really spiced and served with mushrooms and a sauce also. They brought us our plates and I thought it was a pretty small pile of gnocchi. Until I started eating it. It was really, really wonderful. Flavorful and authentic, but definitely heavier than I remember in the States. Although now that I think about it, it did fill me up pretty quickly there too. I also tried some of each of my host parents' meals, and they were rich and wonderful as well. I somehow managed to eat all on my plate, and I was completely stuffed. But that wasn't the end of the meal, no. My host dad insisted on getting dessert. Although he didn't have any... But my host mom and I both got the panne cotta (sp?). It was served with strawberries and a strawberry syrup to pour over it and my God... It was so delicious. Creamy and light and flavorful and just really wonderful. I don't know how I managed it, but I ate the rest of that and I was so full.

Our day did not end there. We went to buy some speculoos from the best shop in Brussels, and then we went to the best chocolate shop in Belgium. This place was nuts. You'd think you walked into a fine art gallery. This was not just chocolate, this was true art. There were two floors. And it was just... Exclusive and luxurious looking. And delicious. And my host dad insisted on buying one of the biggest boxes of chocolates you can get. All different pralines and truffles. He spent 37 euros on one box of chocolates today. Not joking. But man, they are really amazingly tasty. I tried one that was infused with Earl Grey tea. Wow. New favorite chocolate. This might be a problem when it comes to my bank account...

We then attempted to go see an art exhibition but it had ended already for the day and we were too late. So we resigned to going to the car to come home. I ended up falling asleep for the majority of the ride. And now I'm sitting in my room, really cold even though my heat is up all the way, waiting to be called down for a dinner that I'm really not hungry for. But that is ok! I had a good day, and a good week, and I'm pretty happy. Plus one! :)

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!