Belgium Smiles

2010-03-06T02:52:00.000-08:00

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

DECEMBER 5/09-12/09

2010-03-01T11:04:00.000-08:00

12-4-09--12-5-09 St. Nicolas Celebration

With the holidays in gear, things were starting to get busy. It goes without saying that Belgian Holiday Tradition is a little different than what I am used to in the U.S. December 1st is the celebration of St. Nicolas, who is the equivilant of our Santa Clause; he is simply celebrated on a different day and in a different way. The day before St. Nicolas was a Friday; the school's celebration took place then. The seniors all had two hours of gym in the morning, afterwhich we all changed into our St. Nicolas gear (the craziest and most colorful outfit you can put together). We all filed to administration to gather the five giant baskets of candy that we would pass out to the entire school. We bombarded into every classroom and sang a song. If the class sang with us, we would pass out a handful of candy to everyone (there really were some classrooms with no St. Nicolas cheer who didn't receive any candy)!

The next day (Saturday), my little host sister knocked on my door at 6:30 in the morning. All the kids ran downstairs to see what St. Nicolas had brought us during the night. I received two books, one of which was Audrey Niffenger's Her Fearful Symmytry, from my host parents, who had just gotten back from London the night before.

12-6-09 Rotary's Exotic Dinner

This was a really neat event. Almost all of the exchange students from districs 1620 and 1630 got together to put on a feast. Each student (or small group of students from the same country) had to bring in a typical or special dish from their country (double challenge: no deserts). Because we had about twenty Americans, we had to all sort of communicate and share ideas because we couldn't all take hot dogs and hamburgers. We had to get creative. A few girls brought chili, another brought penut butter and jelly sandwiches, and the rest of us brought a specialty from our state or family. I ended up bringing Challah, a Jewish bread that is a Friday night and Saturday morning tradition. The guests moved around the tables, taking their pick from Asian, Bermudain, American, Mexican, Australian, and New Zealander cuisine!

12-9-09 Body Balance

After almost five months of being in Belgium, I decided it was time to hit the gym. My third host mom had been telling me that she goes every Wednesday to a place within walking distance from my house, and I decided it would be a great thing to try out. She picked me up and introduced me to the class instructor, Florence, who, upon learning that I am an exchange student for a year, suggested that I come three times a week free of charge! She is wonderful and I took her advise to heart. : )

12-10-09 EXAM DAY
The next day at school, after studying for three days straight, I walked into my four hour English exam. It was the first time I'd been stressed out since I left the U.S. A lot of you might think, "oh, well no sweat, it's just English!" To those of you who have ever taken a foreign language class are familiar with the fact that a lot of your test is done in your mother language. That means translations, vocabulary, listening and translating, essays, etc. This was not easy shmeasy. I had the vocabulary down pat, but there's no cut-and-dry way to study for listening to a text in English and translating it into French. Or translating a text into French. Or writing an essay in French in less than fourty minutes. I took every second of the four hours to finish that exam. I was one of the first ones in and I was the last one out. The studying and my five month experience ended up paying off. I passed. Woot!

Friday, 12-11-09 IKEA with Laurence (my host mom)
As the holidays were starting to creep up fast, I was beginning to think about gifts for my host family. I knew that I was going to get Laurence at least three pairs of brightly colored scissors (she was always losing them), I would get Pauline (17 years old) something to do with tinkerbell (her favorite character), I would find Olivier and Caroline (13 and 11) something to do with Michael Jackson (their favorite singer and performer), and for Philippe (my host dad), I had no idea. When Laurence told me that she was going to IKEA to pick up a few things and asked me if I would like to come, I got all excited because I love IKEA and I hadn't been since I was in the States. When Olivier (who I have a very strong relationship with) found out that I was going to IKEA with his mom, he got all excited because he could spend the day with the three of us. So the three of us hopped in the car and drove off to IKEA (easily one of all of our favorite places to go). We had a very successful day, finding everything we had come out for. At one point, I passed a basket up to my hip filled with colorful scissors bound in groups of three. I saw the basket and tried to draw Laurence's eye away from it, secretly wondering how I would buy them for her without her noticing. Luckily, she didn't see them, but when we went downstairs to the buying area, she saw the basket before I did. As she picked them up out of the basket she did a little hop and said "perfect!" and dropped them in her cart. I sulked. I waited for her to walk a safe distance away from the cart before picking them out and saying to Olivier, "don't tell her I'm putting these back. I'm buying them for her for Christmas." He nodded and sort of giggled as I put them back in their basket without Laurence noticing. At the check out line, I have to admit that I was a little nervous that she would realize that her scissors were not in her cart. Luckily, she was too occupied with the bigger objects that the tiny pairs of scissors slipped her mind.

--As we were on our way home, Laurence happened to ask me what I would like to eat on Sunday (two days from that moment). I said I didn't mind, that everything she makes is delicious (true). But why are we talking about Sunday? What's happening Sunday? She reassured me that nothing special was going on, that she just wanted to know. Even though I was still confused, I forgot about it, temporarily--

When we got home, I sat down to have a bowl of cereal and Laurence began emptying her bags. Caroline came bouncing in to see what she had bought. As Laurence got to the bottom of her last bag, she noticed something was missing; "Wait...Where are my scissors?"

I paused, "What scissors?"

"The ones I just bought today. Did they not put them in my bag?! Oh I can't stand it when that happens...."

"Are you sure you bought them? You should check your receipt..."

Later that night, after fretting about the lost scissors for a little while longer, I told everyone (except Laurence, of course) my plan to buy Laurence a few pairs of scissors for Christmas, and to no longer mention scissors around her.

12-12-09 Bastogne

I got up early that Saturday morning with Laurence's mother and two of her good friends to go to Bastogne, a city in Belgium that hosts a memorial day every year for the Battle of the Bulge, the last Germain offensive in World War II. The Belgians express their appreciation to the Americans with this weekend-long festive memorial. It was an incredible day to witness, my history lessons litteraly came to life. There were US troops and English speakers everywhere. I even helped a little American boy who had lost his mother. He was about six years old and was surrounded by Belgian Police officers who didn't speak English. He described to me the color of his mother's coat and some other minor details which I translated to the police men. Finally, after a few police men had left to go search, the mother showed up and all was well. It was the first moment when I felt really proud to speak two languages. All in all, the day in Bastogne was incredibly interesting, informative, and satisfying. I'm very thankful I was able to experience it.

12-13-09 Surprise

November

2010-02-09T08:03:00.000-08:00

Hello again; it's been a while. : )

I should like to say that I have recently changed computers and transfered all of my pictures onto my external hard drive. Having said that, I went to update my blog and upload some pictures, but the photos have all become way too big to upload. *sigh*

So for now, my blogs will be in written form until I figure out the problem. Any suggestions?

11-06-2009 -- 11-08-2009 London Trip
This was the first planned Rotary Trip that I attended. I have heard that the Rotary trips are always awesome, so I was pretty excited. I came back totally satisfied. The trip included a visit to the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace and the Queen's Jewels, Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, The Tower Bridge, The London Bridge, They Eye, and Big Ben. These were all awesome.
My friend, Emily (an Australian) and I took a walk accross the Tower Bridge during our nine hours of free time Saturday afternoon. Of course, we didn't spend all of our time walking the bridge; we ended up taking a double decker bus (totally cool) to a metro station and getting lost in the tunnels. We walked in circles about three times before we realized everybody speaks English and we could ask where to go without a problem. We ended up finding our way thanks to a nice lady and we headed to the biggest outdoor market I have ever seen. We found many treasures.
Thank you Rotary

11-11-2009 Emily's Going Away Party
Everybody took a trip to Liège for Emily's good-bye party. Because she's from Australia, she came to belgium in January of 2009 and left in November. Sad, but true.

11-12-2009 Champagne, France
The next day, my host family and I hopped on a bus at six in the morning with the Rotary Club of La Louvière to Champagne, France for a real champagne tasting experience. It was a short day trip that was mostly spent in the bus, but the few hours that we were there were a nice break. It was sunny and the food was great, but above all, they served top-of-the line champagne.
When we got home, I was ready for my host sister's 17th birthday party. A bunch of friends from school were there and we had a great time.
A little later that night I went to a concert with my host cousin that my uncle had put on as a fund raiser for the scouts program. The bands were great. But I had to laugh because the singers were all French speakers covering American bands like Green Day and the Cranberries. That means that they hardly new the words, so they had a sheet of paper at their feet with the words written down, but they still mumbled through them. Nobody understood except for me, anyway, so it wasn't a big deal. They had great voices and I applaud them for trying.

11-20-2009 Party with the Scouts
My host family and I went to a party with the Scouts. It turned out to be a sort of end-of-the-season good-bye-to-the-leaders party. Everyone had a great time.

26-11-2009 Thanksgiving Day
I happily spent my Thanksgiving evening at a Thursday night Rotary Meeting. I go to the club meetings every other Thursday and I always have a good time. They serve great food and have interesting presentations every week. When I got home, I jumped on skype, and sure enough, my family was preparing dinner. I ended up sitting at the table with my mother, my sisters, and my grandparents. Lovely company.
When I hung up, I began making conversions from cups to grams, tablespoons to grams, teaspoons to grams, etc. I was up really late.

27-11-2009 Thanksgiving Dinner
The conversions paid off. After completing a long grocery list and a trip to the grocery store, my host uncle came over. He helped to clean the turkey (I tried, but quickly became nauseous) and gave some tips on seasoning before he left to run some errands. My host mom helped me with the rest. I had my grandmother and my mom online giving me tips on what to do first and corrections of recipes, etc. By the time dinner was ready and everyone was at the house (Réné, my host uncle; Elizabeth, my host cousin; Germain, my host cousin; Sebastien, my host uncle; Pascale, my host aunt; little Maxililien, my host cousin; and my family), I was feeling a little nervous. I had made the stuffing by scratch because bread stuffing doesn't exist here, everyone was a little surprised at the idea of mixing peas and mushrooms, I didn't have time to make gravy, I forgot to buy bread rolls, and the pies were still in the oven when we sat down to eat. Not to mention I was tired. But I stayed calm and I have to admit, even I thought it was good. People were taking seconds. And Elizabeth kept going on about how good the stuffing was (thank goodness). Even the peas and mushrooms turned out to be a hit!
Next year I'll come back with my family and make a real super huge delicious Thanksgiving dinner and show everyone how it's really done. But for now, I'm happy.
After dinner, Cathrine Wouters (who was an exchange student at Daniel Island last year and who lives about twenty minutes from my house in Belgium) came to pick me up to stay at her house for the weekend. We saw the second Twilight movie in French the next day. I had neither seen the first movie nor read the books, but I understood almost everything (except maybe a few lines, but the storyline is pretty simple to follow), but at the end, the last line that Edward said, the VERY LAST LINE of the movie, was (now, for those of you who still want to see the movie, just skip over this part)
"épouse moi".
Okay, for those of you who don't know what that means, I was just as confused as you are now. I said outloud "what?"
What's worse, the theater immediately errupted in gasps and sighs and signs of hopeless infatuation towards Edward. And me, totally deflated, leaned over to Cathrine to ask, "what does that mean? what does that mean?!"

As it turns out, it means "marry me".

Ohhh exchange experiences....

belgium smiles

Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Weeks

2009-11-03T14:37:00.000-08:00

These three weeks have been extremely busy. Extremely.
First of all, just after I finished my last blog, a bunch of people started showing up at the house; my second host family, my host uncle, my host cousin, my third host parents, etc. But I hardly thought anything of it, because they drop by all the time.
I was in the middle of making Challah for the family when my host sister, Pauline, told me to come into the living room. I asked her why and she said,
oh you know, just to be with people...
That was strange, because I just WAS with everyone. At least, I was with both my sisters and my cousin.
So, I walked into the living room and everyone started singing.
There were birthday streamers on the wall that said "18" and gifts in my families' hands.
It was a great surprise. However, I don't think I could have been any more surprised after what happened next.
My host father told me that my gift was waiting for me on my bed upstairs. So I took my litte sister, Caroline, and my brother, Olivier, upstairs with me to see what there was. There was a sweet card signed by the family, a bag of sweet bread called Madalines (I knew automatically that these were from my host dad. : )He remembers everything that we ever talk about.), and a music book for guitar. This last gift really made me happy. I had told my family off-handedly that I had wanted to learn the guitar, that I had started a few months before I left the states, but I just became too busy to keep it up. And here was a book that would help me get started again.
I came downstairs to give everyone bisous to thank them, but they were all giggling. I couldn't really figure out why, but I gave them all bisous anyways. I started looking through the music when my third host mother asked me,
Well, how are you going to learn the guitar with just the music?
I didn't really hear the context, so I just mumbled something about how it's no big deal, I'll find a guitar...
then everyone stood up off the couch and was holding a guitar case that they'd been hiding behind them while they were sitting down-that's why they were all giggling when I got close to them earlier-I didn't see a thing.
My family bought be a guitar. I have my own guitar. I've been going to lessons and practicing on my own since then, having a wonderful time with an instrument of my own.
I get more and more amazed with my family every day.

That weekend, I took a trip with the Rotary club of La Louvière to Marseilles. I was in Marseilles that Sunday for my birthday. It was lovely.
To get there, a memeber of the Rotary was nice enough to take me along with him in his private plane (!).
This was the plane, and though it's difficult to tell, it is extremely small. If I stood up next to it, you'd see that the propeller actually reaches to about my chest. I was extremely excited to go, but I have to admit that I was afraid.

The plane belongs to the man on the left. I sat behind him with the only other passanger, the co-captain's (the man on the right) wife.

We took off at about six-thirty in the morning, so I was able to watch the sun rise from the sky.

This was at the hotel. It is well known that Marseilles always has beautiful weather, and this just reminded me so much of home in South Carolina.

The Mediteranean is nicknamed "the great blue" for a beautiful reason.

Marseilles is also known for it's homes all having the same red roofs. This is a great view from very high about a third of the great city.

Old Marseille has awesome character and gorgeous homes.

The next weekend I went back to Liege and had a great time with Mamie, Papie, and Benj. Unfortunately, I was doing so much running around that I didn't take any pictures. At all. It's all in memory, but it makes an empty blog.

The next Friday, I took a trip to Gent, a city in the Flemish speaking part of Belgium, with my English class. I really had a great time with everyone; it was so much fun!

During free time, we came across an extremely long, narrow street with walls literally full of grafiti. This is a guy we watched spray paint his creation.

This hardly captures the enormity of the street.
We walked for about three minutes before leaving the grafiti. It went on forever. Really cool.

Here's a really pretty McDonalds. Almost everyone ate there. Except for, ironically, me, the American (and a few of my friends). Everyone laughed when I said I didn't want to eat there. 8D

There was construction around the whole city which really made it a lot less photogenic, but I did my best. The archetecture was still gorgeous, despite all the renovation.

This is a man playing the harp in one of the churches.

I had a great time with my class in Gent. I hope I'll be able to take another trip sometime.

As soon as I got back from trip to Gent, I zipped up my suitcase that I'd packed the night before, loaded it in the car, and we set off to the Vogges (a mountain range in France) where we spent the weekend in a fantastic cabin (complete with a work-out room and a sauna!) with another family. This was a little vacation for everyone to relax and just hang out.

We did a lot of hiking, and this was one of the views. Beautiful.

This was in one of the towns where we took a tour in a tiny wooden boat. It is one of the most expensive places to live in that region, and, accordingly, it is one of the prettiest.

We found a random door with the Rotary International emblem on it, so we snapped a picture. We aren't exactly sure what goes on inside, but we're sure it's something good!

A lovely little street with typical shops of the Vogges.

On one of our hikes, we reached a lake where Olivier spotted a lone champagne bottle near the water. He pulled it out and it happened to be full and unopened. So we all had a nice drink of champagne at a near-by picknick table.

Haha

A great view from the lake near our cabin.

I had a great, busy and relaxing, few weeks and am looking forward to the next one!

belgium smiles

Two Months!

2009-10-14T06:38:00.000-07:00

This week was a very special week for me for several reasons.
1. Today (10-15-2009) makes two months since I arrived in Belgium! Not yet fluent, but comeing along quite nicely...
2. I spent the weekend in Liege.

For those who don't know, my mother also spent her senior year of high school in Belgium. Unlike me, however, she went with AFS and, accordingly, there are some differences between our exchange experiences. For example, she had only one family that she spent her year with. She ended up growing extremely close with her host parents and when they heard that I was in Belgium, we set up a date to get together. As it turns out, they now have a grandson, Benj, a few years older than me, living with them temporarily. Because "Mami" and "Papi" are in their eighties now, Benj and I spent the weekend together, going to the great spots in Liege.

This is the outside of the house that my mother spent her exchange year in and where I spent my weekend.

This is me with Mami and Papi. This was taken in the kitchen where there is a chair in each corner. Sunday afternoon, we were all sitting in one of the chairs (Mami, Papi, Benj, and me) and talking. I was absent-mindedly looking around the kitchen and happened to look over at Papi. He had been looking at me, smiling. He said (in French, of course, but for the sake of the blog, I'll write in in English), "It's been twenty-five years since your mother sat in that same chair."

This is Benj, on the right, and his cousin (in a way, he's my cousin, too), Axel. I'm in the back of Axel's TINY car. He actually has a different one, and he was really excited to find out that I share the same one with my mom in the States-a Volkswagon Bug.

We took many buses this weekend going from place to place. This is Benj on one of them, sitting across from me.

This is at the top of "the stairs" in Liege. Benj and I counted as we climbed them and found that there are exactly 333.

Even further up "the stairs" there is another set of only about 15 where one can find a great view of Liege.

Benj in front of the view.

This is the view of the stairs from the ground.

In this picture it looks so nice out and you can even see the sun shining through parted clouds; it's funny, because just after we got down, off the stairs, I felt a few raindrops. Benj swore under his breath, and I said, surprised, "what's wrong? It's only rain..." But before he finished saying "oh no, this isn't good..." it downpoured. Still now, thinking back, I don't understand how it happend. How it could have possiby gone from a light sprinkle to a straight downpour in less than ten seconds. We ended up running to a near-by art museum. We didn't go in, but it was a nice cover from the rain before Axel came to pick us up.

I have spent many truely incredible weekends (all thanks to my spectacular host parents) since I have been here in Belgium. I have been to Brussels, to Bruges, to Paris, Holand, to both the seas, and so much more; but this weekend in Liege I finally found something special, a sense of extended family. I can't wait to visit again.

But my week wasn't over yet! The following Tuesday night, the family went out the Brussels to see District 9 in it's original version with French subtitles. This was incredibly nice of my family and I was so happy to see it! We all agreed that it was a fantastic movie, extremely well made, and satisfyingly unique. I advise everyone to see it who hasn't.

Looking forward to the rest of my stay in Belgium!

Seventh Week

2009-10-14T03:52:00.001-07:00

This Friday, we left home as soon as all the kids got home from school to spend the weekend in Paris!
Caroline and Olivier stayed home, but Pauline and my second host sister, Mathilde came along with us.
This is not a great picture of my host mom, Laurence, but we couldn't get a picture where we all looked good. Haha, I love this picture anyways, Laurence is so funny.

Mathilde and Pauline were SO excited to see this limo, we HAD to get a picture in front of it.

The first night we got there, we had a delicious dinner in a nice little resteraunt in town. Mathilde and I got the same dessert; a chocolate cup of ice cream. The cup was edible and super delicious.

This is me in front of the Eiffle Tower! The picture really doesn't portray the excitment, but this was really an incredible night.

Mathile, me, and Pauline

This was my the view of the street from the balcony right outside our hotel room.

The Eiffle Tower in the morning.

As I was climbing the stairs to the second floor of the Eiffle Tower (I'm not sure if one is alowed to climb all the way to the top; but my family thought I was crazy for wanting to climb to the second floor anyways. They took the elevator), I noticed a group of men working on the structure, held up by harnesses.

I've already forgotten who was pictured on the stairs, but I'm pretty sure it was Mr. Eiffle, himself.

A great view from the first floor, but I still had another floor to go....

This was taken after we rode in the elevator "all the way to the tippy top!" of tower. This is only a fraction of the 360° view we had.

My sisters and me on the top.

...

After the Eiffle Tower, we took a short walk over to the Notre Dame. After just being on the Eiffle Tower, I couldn't imagine ever getting more excited. But I was wrong; believe it or not, the beauty of Notre Dame in person was actually more of a shock to me than the Eiffle Tower.

This is just one inside view. It was really incredible; the height of the ceilings, the details in the walls, even the doors were complex iron designs.

Le musée du Louvre

I literally could not get a picture of the whole thing.

Incredible

The entrance to the Louvre.
Inside, I took a few picutres of the artwork such as the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and other famous works that everyone has seen pictures of but that I wanted for evidence for myself. However, after taking so many pictures of things that impressed me on the spot, I realized that pictures don't even come close to what it's like to see them in person.
The weekend was wonderful and I can say with confidence that I will always remember my first trip to Paris.

Looking forward to my next week in Belgium!

Sixth Week

2009-10-06T08:56:00.001-07:00

My sixth week consisted of five days at school and one of the longest Saturdays of my life.

(unfortunately, a lot of these pictures failed to turn when I told them to, so they will stay horizontal. I apologize for any neck-aches I may have caused)

This Saturday I woke up at six in the morning to jump in the car and ride for two hours to Dinaint. Dinaint is a town with a wide canal that leads into the river, La Lesse. I kayaked all day (about six hours) on this canal with friends from the Rotary in Belgium.

There were gorgeous views almost every corner we paddled around.

I know it seems as if it was perfect weather and sunny and warm. These pictures or misleading. It was FREEZING. And WET.

I swear I've never been so cold for so long in my life.

Nevertheless, despite the cold, I had an awesome time.

My day didn't end there, though.

I still had "Décrocher la Lune" (which literally means "to unhook the moon"). This is a major spectacular in La Louvière that is based on dreams and reality and inspiration and imagination. There is a church in the center of La Louvière with a crescent moon on the top where this festival takes place.

This is a picture of a woman literally walking up the side of the church. It was an incredible thing to see.

This is a man who danced in the air, held up only by balloons. Those ropes you see are actually holding him DOWN. Incredible.

Here is a great shot of six percussionists who were raised in the air as they were playing. This was very exciting to watch. you can see how high they are when you compare them to the stage that they are just in front of.

This is another picture of the performers.

This was the climax of the show. The man who reached the moon.

(He's an extremely well-made giant puppet)

Here you can see the man held up by balloons and two other performers who are dancing around a moon in mid-air.

These are two more giant puppets. You can see all the details included in their design. Magnifique.

After the show, my family met up with some friends. My host brother was so excited to show me something new that I hardly had the heart to tell him we have cotten candy in America too. In Belgium, it's called a "Barbe à Papa" ( Dad's beard). Super delish.

This is me eating my dad's beard, my host brother's friend François, my host brother Olivier, and my good friend François.

And again : )

This is the church where the spectacular took place.

This is me with François (right) and his best friend Gaëton.

The folowing Tuesday, I made Challah (a Jewish braided bread) for my family. This was an adventure because 1) this was the first time I attempted using my mom's recipe all alone 2) I had to convert everything to grams. This is harder than it sounds.

Olivier helped me out with kneading the dough.

: )

It ended up turning out great!

The next day, I took the train into Charleroi to spend some time with some Americans from the Rotary at an Irish Pub. It felt great to speak English with some friends my age.

You can see my school in this picture. It's the darker brown one. This was taken during our luch period. We are allowed to leave school during the hour-long break.

No one was ever ready at the same time for this picture, so I chose the best one. Poor Sophie is hiding behind her hair, my good friend Hélène, and me.

I've had a great week and can't wait for the next!

Fifth Week

2009-10-05T09:42:00.000-07:00

My fifth week was spent mostly at school. School consists of lots of listening and even more translating. Fortunately, I have already graduated, so if I become too tired of listening, I can pick up my version of Le Petit Prince, which I've been plowing through; reading and translating. Sometimes this is less tiring than listening and translating. If I'm not listening and not reading, then I am studying vocabulary from my two English classes. These classes have proved to be the most beneficial for my vocabulary.

This week I also took the train alone for the first time to Brussels for a Roshashana service. Being alone, I couldn't get any pictures of myself, but I was able to snap a quick picture of the sanctuary (I was a little nervous because it seemed pretty conservative).

The service was, naturally, in French and Hebrew. However, it was certainly extremely refreshing to hear "SHANAH TOVAH" when I walked in. It might not have been English, but hearing another language that I am familiar with was a huge relief. I'm certainly glad I got the chance to go.

The night after Roshoshana was a major concert called Les Fêtes de Wallonie. Most of the concerts were in a town not far from mine, but my sister and I decided to stick around in La Louvière where we could meet up with some friends.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get pictures of anything close up (like my friends and me with the lead singer of "Peps") because my camera broke and everything turned out blurry if I didn't zoom way in. So I was only able to snap some pictures of the concert itself. But these are still some great souvenirs.

Looking forward to my sixth week!

smiles from belgium

One Month!

2009-09-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

I MADE IT!

It's been exactly one month today since I arrived in Belgium.

I am especially excited to write this blog because it consists of my favorite vacation to date; a weekend at the sea in the north of Belgium, a short visit in Holand, and a day's vacation in Bruges.

This first picture is of the canal shared by Holand and Belgium. In this photo, I am standing on the Holand.

In Holand, there is a great shop with flowers on the first floor...

a waterfall between the first and second floor...

and every kind of fish you could imagine on the second floor (they even sell eal) !

This is a typical cheese shop in Holand.

This is one example of the cheese they sell.

This is a rack of clogs outside a shop in Holand.

This is me outside a gorgeous old windmill that has been restored into a restaraunt.

Apparently I was the only one ready for this picture, but beside me is my sister Pauline and my brother Olivier (unfortunately, Caroline stayed home sick).

This is a street in my favorite city in Belgium; Bruges.

A carriage in Bruges.

This is an old bell tower (The Beffroi) whose bells are still manualy rung to this day.

The sign reads "Salvador DALI". This was my first major suprise; there is a permanent exhibition for countless original paintings, sketches, sculptures, and other creations by Dali, himself.

I am lucky enough to have a host father who appreciates the arts. He took me into one of the most amazing rooms I have ever been in. This is a picture of the exhibition.

Here are just two examples of the hundreds of creations displayed.

A performer in the streets of Bruges.

Bruges is nicknamed "The Venice of the North" the reason displayed in this photo. We took a boatride around the city.

The weather was perfect.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any more beautiful, we passed a family of swans.

I was nearly speachless for the entire weekend we spent in Bruges. It was by far one of the best experiences I have had so far in my exchange. Our next trip to the "Venice of the North" will be this winter; I can't wait!

During this month I have realized how fortunate I am to be an exchange student in such a cultured country as Belgium. Although I still have a lot to experience, I feel that I have picked the perfect place for me.

smiles from belgium

My Third Week

2009-09-11T08:47:00.000-07:00

This week was my last few days of summer and the first day of school. (A picture from the first day of school is shown on the left)

On the Wednesday before school started, we took a trip to the Château (castle) Seneffe in La Louvière. There is an anual flower exhibition at the castle and we were lucky enough to visit for the last day of the expo.

My last day of summer vacation was spent with my host sister, Pauline. We took a train into Brussels to go shopping before the first day of school. It was the perfect breather before my life completely turned upside down.

I experienced the biggest case of culture shock since my exchange began on my first day of school.

I attend the institute of Saint Joseph, which is within walking distance from my home in La Louviere. It is a small Catholic (but public) school; there are about fourty students in my "senior" class. Unlike in the states, we have a schedule based on the number of hours for each class during the week. For example, I have eight hours of math every week; this means that I could have 3 hours on monday, nothing on tuesday, 1 hour on wednesday, etc. Respect is also a big deal in Belgium; in the beginning of class, we stand by our desks until the teacher allows us to sit. Also, if an adult happens to walk in, the whole class stands and the process is repeated.

Without the laws of separation between church and state, there is a Cross on the front wall in every room and we even have a religion course! This does not bother me in the least; however, it is a big change from school life in the states.

The most difficult thing for me at school is balancing making friends when there is a serious lack of vocabulary, and attempting-and failing-to complete assignments in French without making words up. My first class was four hours of French. I remember that the first assignment was a dictation. I completed it, and, after reading it over, I realized I had no idea what I was doing. What I had produced was not French. I must be honest; after realizing how far I had to go, frustration hit, I cried. It was the first time I had cried at all since leaving my family in SC. I don't think anyone in the class noticed, but that was certainly a low point for me.

After convincing myself that this is a normal process, that all exchange students experience the same hardships, and after a good amount of sleep, I was, and am, sure that bearing with school would become easier.

Overall, it was an interesting week and I am certainly looking forward to the next.

smiles from Belgium

Coca Cola is universal (Brussels)

Fast food resteraunt "Quick"

The street to go to shop in Brussels

Flower Expo at Château Seneffe

A "mall" in Brussels

My Second Week

2009-08-29T06:17:00.001-07:00

Brussels

Me with a paper flower that Olivier bought me with a handful of shells he used as money.

The family on velo!

Olivier and me.

Paddy in a purse!

The ladies of the family being silly : ) From left: Caroline, Pauline, Malinda, Laurence, Bonne Maman.

Windmills at sunset in the south of Belgium.

A family outing at a resteraunt in La Louviere.

The biggest boat lift in Europe.

My new home

My second week has been incredible. We spent three days at the sea in the south of Belgium. It was too chilly for me to swim; however, my siblings jumped right in! The time spent with the family on velo is one I will always remember. It was certainly a highlight of the trip; the laughter never stopped! The three days I spent with the family at the sea are days I will never forget.

On Thursday, August 27th, the inbound exchange students in Belgium got together in Brussels for a meeting. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to bring cameras inside the Palace or Parliment; however, the visit will be forever carved in memory. We were even able to sit in the seats of the senate! The history of Brussels is one that I can fully appreciate, but never fully grasp.

I am extremely happy with this week's events and am looking forward to the next thirty-six-or-so!

smiles

My First Week

2009-08-19T08:07:00.000-07:00

It is true, my title, "Belgium Smiles". Upon my arrival in Belgium, the sky was clear and my family gave an incredibly warm welcome. Already, in only five days, my family has taken me to visit L'atomium, La Grand Place of Brussels, The Inclined Plane of Ronquieres, and my town of La Louviere. As you can imagine, I will be participating in many new events this coming year. I could not be happier with my first host family; they are all wonderful. I have also met members of my third host family; they are also lots of fun. On Friday, all three of my families will get together for a barbecue at my new home.
For five days now the weather has been perfect. I love to go out to the yard with my brother and sisters to play with their new puppy, Paddy. We eat all meals outside and every meal has been spectacular.
In the beginning, I was nervous to come to a place where I didn't know anyone; now, however, I feel like I have been here forever. They treat me like family and I appreciate this more than I can express in words.
From Belgium, I am smiling.
Malinda