The 26th of August through the 31st !

Bonjour a tous,

I'm having such a wonderful time here its hard to find time to write on this blog. On sunday or the 26th, in the morning I went with Voisin to his choir to sing, and I will be doing this every Sunday now. My host mom Nathalie, her boyfriend Voisin and I went to "la dousse d'Ath" which is basically a celebration in the town of Ath. We went there and for two hours we watched a parade pass with giants and marching bands, each representing a piece of history. It took a long time because just down the street everyone stopped and had beer, and then continued. Here beer is drunk like soda. It was great however. All a long the streets of Ath are flags with the colors purple, white and yellow, which are the colors of Ath. You can even buy necklaces and bracelets to wear as well. Besides the parade, there were numerous carnival rides, and I had my first corne of frites or cone of french fries !!! And crustillons. They had so many different things you could put on the fries from ketchup to tarter sauce to fish sauce. And crustillons are a specialty in Belgium which is just fried batter balls sprinkled with powered sugar. They also deep apples, bananas and pineapples in the batter and deep fried them as well. Overall it was a great adventure.
Monday or the 27th I went to my rotary counselor's house and rode horses with his daughter. It was fun, but weird for me because we rode English saddles and I had never done that before.
Then Tuesday I went to the Coast with my counselor and his family. The beach here is a huge boardwalk, at least the one I went to. WE rented a huge bicycle slash 4 wheeler and rode all up and down the boardwalk. Then we roller skated up and down it and finally just walked along the beach. Xavier the small boy of my counselor just went and ran into the cold water. We were lucky though because it was beautiful and sunny the whole day. Then we went and had famous ice cream from a famous shop that starts with a V oops... And we also got Babeluttes which are sticks of candy made only on the coastal areas. That night they took me to a Tuisinain restaurant where we order couscous and it came in a huge bowl of plan couscous then we had to add vegetables which consisted of turnips and carrots. Then you add meat and sauces to each individual bowl, it was wonderful!!!!! What a great day !
On Wednesday I had a Rotary meeting in Bruxelles where we went to the Royal Palace and then to the Senate and I meet the President of the Senate and talked to him ! Not even my host family has seen the senate. There is about 300 exchange students in Belgium from all three districts. It was a lot of fun meeting some many people from many different countries. I took the train there and back. Then Wednesday night Voisin's god father and wife and daughter Virginie came over and we all dinner together. Christine (the wife of the god father) just bought a brand new Chihuahua which she named pee wee and he is only three months old ! So cute yet so small we call him crevette or shrimp.
Thursday Juliette (my host sister), Voisin and me went into Ath and walked around the Thursday market until around noon, when Juliette and I took the train to her father's house. It was his birthday Thursday so we went to celebrate it. He father will also be my second host family. He and his wife Anne ( Juliette's step-mom) have four girls living with them. Three of which are from Anne's first marriage: Aurelie (14 years old), Deborah (11 years old), and Virginie or Titi (8 years old). Then Camille who is two and a half. (and adorable) So we cooked dinner and appetizers for his birthday. It was a lot of fun, and we ended up staying up till 1 or so.
Then today or Friday, Voisin and me went to my school and got information on my school. I start on the 9th of September but for half a day to get registered for classes and stuff. I will be in 5 th grade ! (the have a different way of counting). I'm really excited to start school and begin making friends and improving my French. Well that's it for now. And for my photos it is really hard to put them up on this blog so I put them on another called Facebook and then links are below.

Bises,

Lizzy



Ath pictures:
http://hs.facebook.com/album.php?aid=49624&l=8f94d&id=803190472

Bruxelles pictures:
http://hs.facebook.com/album.php?aid=49968&l=df5ff&id=803190472

Other Pictures:
http://hs.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48419&l=2bf59&id=803190472

Neighborhood

My neighbor Hugo and his tractor Joseph which he talks to regularly ! The other day he brought over some pictures to show me especially because they were of my house when he was little and how much it has changed since then.

Wow, already three days in Belgium don't worry I'm alive !!

Salut,

It has already been three days since I have been in Belgium and what an adventure it has been. To start with my plane from Portland to Minneapolis was delayed two hours because President Bush decided to go and shut down the whole airport, and then they were doing construction on a runway. Arriving two hours late into Minneapolis: Clarissa, Ian and I missed our flight to Amsterdam. But we got on standby and waited and as we waited we meet two other Rotary Exchange students Ernie and Emily both from California. Also we met two other Rotarians going to Belgium to see there old host brother and go on a biking trip across Europe. After making it to Amsterdam, we missed our other flight from Amsterdam to Brussels by an hour because our plane was yet again delayed. We got on the 5 o'clock flight, so we didn't have to wait too long. We also saw a picture you would never in the U.S airport and portrait of a womens naked breast, it jsut shows how open there culture is.After an exhausting day, we finally arrive in Brussels, and since this whole voyage no one else knew French I was the leader of the gang, so when our baggage was not in Brussels when we arrived, we had to fill out claim sheets which I did for most everyone because they couldn't read the form. After our house families waited for us for 5 hours we finally arrived. My family is very nice there is Nathalie (the mom), voisin or Pascal ( the boyfriend who lives in the house), Juliette ( my host sister who is 16), Alix (the huge dog), Parilene (the girl donkey) and pom pom Pipou( the male donkey). Not to mention the neighbor Hugo who speaks to me in Wallo ( old French) and has shone me pictures of the house from back in the days because he has lived across the street his whole life. And also his tractor Joseph which he talks to sometimes. My house was built in 1734 and the barn was built in 1840. The town I'm living in is called Silly, Belgium and has a population of around 7,000. Our house is centrally placed because a couple blocks up the street is many fields of beets and corn and forests, then down the other direction is the center of town. Last night I went to m first Rotary Club meeting and everything was great, it is a very small group of around 38 members. I love it here! Today was my host mom's birthday and the Godparents of Voisin came and gave me my first box of Belgium chocolate and mmmm it is soo good!!!

Culture differences:

It seems that everyone here smokes even my host family (inside) but I am developing ways to avoid it. Even kids my age are smoking and know one really cares.

Most everyone drinks alcohol with everything, we were just having juice and they offered me some alcohol flavored stuff to put in it. Drinking here is natural to everyone and is common among young people. ( don't worry I only tried a sip of voisin's beer cause he said I had to try but I don't like alcohol at all and I know it's against the rules as well, even though most kids look at me like I'm crazy when I say no alcohol please).


* I have attached pictures of my town, the airplane trip and my family.

3 Days Before Departure

So today will be only three more days until I leave. Yesterday, Elisabeth an exchange student from France arrived. She will be staying with my family for a period of three months. Seeing her in her Blue jacket (our Rotary Youth Exchange jackets required blazers) made me realize that in only I few days that would be me, arriving in a completely different country and a foreign language. Watch her makes me feel excited yet nervous inside. I am ready to go, yet I don't want to say goodbye, or actually see you soon or later. I haven't been able to sleep much either, I don't really feel anxious or anything but each night I got to bed late and wake up really early. I am now looking at leaving as something amazing, but I think the hardest par tis boarding that plane to leave and actually flying over there with all your anxieties. Thankfully I will be flying with other students as well. I will be leaving from the Portland airport at 12, but I have to be there 3 hours in advance ! and then I fly to Minnesota to Amsterdam to Brussels. My host family and counselor already has people from my club as well meeting me there at the airport. I know that this will be a great trip, but I'm really split between wanting to leave immediately and wanting to never leave. Even though the wanting to leave side is bigger. And I find as I say the "see you soon's", it really and truly becomes a lot more clear and into perspective for me.
Well you can never predict what will happen, jsut hope for the best and jump right in.
Goodnight,

~ Lizzy

Two Weeks Before Departure

So now it's officially two whole weeks until I leave. I have already begun shopping and gathering items to take with me. It still seems to me in a way unreal, and I doubt that it will hit me until I am actually on the plane. My first host family seems really nice and I will attach some of the photos they sent me. She is a single mom who just sent her 18 year old daughter to India, and she has another daughter who just turned 16. I think that it will be great! I just received an email today, saying that on the 31st of this month (august), I will get to go to the palace of King Albert's II and then after dinner meet the ambassadors of each country represented in Exchange at the Federal Parliament. It sounds like so much fun! And as excited as I get, I try not to think of those certain French words that I don't know, or how much I think I will miss everyone. The Exchange student coming from France to stay with my family is named Elisabeth as well as me. I think that it will be great to meet her, and we are already planning some get togethers. The fact that I'm going on a exchange is exciting and at every moment I get I tell people where I'm going and what I'm doing. I only hope that this Exchange will be exciting and a great new adventure. And for all of you who don't know, I will try to write in this blog once a week and record all the adventures and stories and pictures I experience during my year in Belgium. So subscribe to this blog and I will also send a email each time I write. Best Wishes,
~Lizzy