Sunday 12-13-09

After a long day in Bastogne, and an incredibly late dinner with some friends, I was exhausted. I was sleeping soundly until about 9:30 A.M. when I was jostled awake by Pauline, who came into my room to tell me that Mazie was on Skype asking for me. I quickly calculated the time difference and realized it was only 3:30 A.M. in South Carolina. "Did she seem upset?" I asked. She said yeah, she thinks so. I rolled out of bed and threw on some clothes. As I walked into the living room, I saw in the corner of my eye that the family was all standing next to me and I swore I saw someone I recognized, but I shook it off and glanced at the couch (where the computer would normally be if Skype was running), but there was no computer. I began to ask were the computer was while turning around, and there was everybody; Laurence and Philippe, Pauline recording the scene with her cell phone, little Olivier and Caroline with the widest smiles on their faces, and the most amazing thing I have ever seen: my twin sister, Mazie.
Everyone said I did a double take. I just remember seeing her smiling from ear to ear and wearing her (RED) outfit and looking adorable and much thinner than I remember her being and just thinking thank you thank you thank you.
It goes without saying that I was a bit in awe. I couldn't fathom the idea that my twin sister, really my other half, was in my world. My little Belgium world. In my house. With my family. It was surreal. It was really a moment that I look back on now and think just how bizarre the whole scene was. I see now that I had completely separated my two selves. My USA self and my Belgium self. We are different people with different siblings, parents, interests, friends, homes...It was strange to see my two worlds together in the same room.
We took a walk into the town centre and talked and just benefited from being together. I remember being really disappointed when she insisted that she had to take a nap after not sleeping on the red eye. I watched a movie with the family to pass the time, then woke her up to have lunch. I can hardly remember the rest of the day, besides being awe-struck and that we had the dinner I had picked out with Laurence two days before on the way home from IKEA.

Monday 12-14-2009
Mazie and I took a small tour of my town, La Louvière, then we started our baking frenzy. In the states, Mazie and I would bake together all the time. While I've been here in Belgium, I like to make a weekly bread or pie or cookies, or just something delicious for my host family. So when Mazie came, she happily jumped into the routine, only this time, we were making something almost every day. On Monday we made banana bread. We decided not to tell my little brother, Olivier (who "hates bananas"), what was in it until AFTER he tried it. Of course, as soon as he tried it, he fell in love with it and ate more and more and became without a doubt the biggest fan...then we told him what was in it. The facial expression he made is nothing I could ever explain in words, but it's something I will always remember with the most profound hilarity.

Tuesday 12-15-2009
Tuesday we took a day to go shopping in Mons, a town close to La Louvière. We met up with another exchange student and each had a Real Belgian Waffle (Mazie was a newie to this experience and I believe that she was thoroughly impressed).

Wednesday 12-16-2009
We took it easy on Wednesday and just hung out and made some cookie-brownies. It was really hard to find all of the ingredients because a lot of things we find pretty simple in America don't exist in a simple grocery store in Belgium. Sometimes not even in the biggest grocery store in town. But we were determined. However, determination hardly mattered because we cooked the brownies too long anyways, so they turned out way too tough to enjoy. OH WELL. It was fun anyways.
That night we hung out with some friends from my school. It was neat to see everyone interact with my sisiter. They were all trying and failing to speak English, but that only made it more fun.

Thursday 12-17-2009
My host uncle, René, and my cousin, Germain, drove Mazie and I to Namur to discover the city (this was my first time, too) and the Christmas Market. We ended up finding almost all of our holiday gifts here. She ended up bringing all the gifts for our family in the States back home with her in her suitcase. We found the perfect gifts for everyone; I'm so glad she was there to help me-I would have never been able to do all that alone.
When we got back from Namur, we made two incredibly delicious apple pies (our grandmother's recipe). Big hit.

Friday 12-17-2009
We took a trip to Liège to visit my mother's host parents. It was really great to see them again. We had dinner and talked for a while, planning my mother's visit. It will be good to be all together at the same time.

Saturday 12-18-2009
We all took a trip to Brussels together; the Gossarts, Mazie, and I. Mazie told me later that this was her favorite trip while she was here, and I have to say that I'd agree. We had dinner, watched a light and building spectacle, ran through a scary maze with all the kids, watched the younger kids go ice-scating, drank a lot of coffee and ate a lot of doughy foods. We had to show Mazie the Belgian art of Fries in a Paper Cone; they were delicious, of course, and we made them even better by eating them with the most scrumtious fries sauce in the world; Brazilian Sauce.

Sunday 12-19-2009
After a great night with the family, we slept soundly and were ready for a long day in Bruges. It was snowy and gorgeous and was the perfect winter day for visiting the city. We found a few more gifts, ate a delicious lunch, and visited the Salvador Dali expo. Unfortunately, because of the snow, the canal ride was closed. But we were a little short for time anyways, so we caught the train and headed back to Brussels where we met the family to see Avatar in theatres (in it's original version). We were blown away. What a beautiful movie. I was so glad I had Mazie to discuss it with afterwards.

Monday 12-20-2009
The time had gone by so fast! This was our last day together and we decided to just hang around the house and be with eachother. Laurence and Philippe threw together a great going away dinner with the family. We had a GREAT time together. All that really sticks in my mind from that night is a bunch of laughing and the dessert. Mazie and I made our family's traditional winter dessert "Sugar on Snow". It's made by boiling "Real Maple Syrup" (that's only made in northern NY and Canada-and maybe a few other northern states in the US) and then pouring it onto a bowl of pure snow. The syrup hardens and forms a wonderful sticky, candy-like deliciousness that's impossible to resist.

Tuesday 12-21-2009
After an incredibly late night staying up with Mazie, we woke up incredibly early to drive her to the airport. She said goodbye to the family and we fumbled lazily into the car with Philippe. Mazie fell asleep on the way there, but I couldn't no matter how hard I tried. I was still amazed that she was even in the car with us. We waited with her until the last minute when she had to walk through security to her gate.
It was difficult to say goodbye, but I was so happy that she had been able to come. I couldn't thank Philippe and Laurence enough. How they had gotten the idea, made it a reality, then kept it a secret for so long was beyond me; but I am thankful out of my mind.
I swear I have the best host parents in the world.

Thank you Philippe and Laurence who planned the trip, paid for the trip and made the whole thing happen. Thank you.

belgium smiles