Jet Lagged But Lovin' It!

Well, I didn't end up going to to explore Jalhay. Instead, Cecile and I went to les bains de Spa, or the baths of Spa. It is this extremely fancy swimming pool with jets built in everywhere to help soothe, relax, and massage people. There were also several different types of saunas, which I could only stand to stay in for 5-10 minutes, a relaxation room, and two pools (one inside, one outside). It was a cool experience and there was so many different things to try that I never got bored. The funny thing is that the actual town is called Spa, and is known as the water city throughout Europe. It was also my first experience with European swimwear... :) It actually was much better than I thought it might be, the women actually wearing pretty conservative bathing suits and only the older men actually wore Speedos (thank goodness). Of course, there was also the "naturales saunas et bains sans maillot de bain" (without swimsuits... yikes) and Cecile and I avoided that...

 Therme de Spa Baths

The Interior (I got the pics off the Internet)

After the baths, we went and picked up Pascale (my host Mom) from her office at the hospital and went shopping for Cecile. She still needed her suitcases! We went to several shops looking for the right one... their shops are a lot the same as ours, but every supermarket is like a Super Walmart, with everything you could possibly offer. And, mnost of them are two stories tall and have escalators that are straight, like without the stairs part, so you can go up and down them with your shopping carts. We also bought a bit of food and it was funny because htey kept asking me that if I saw anything that I really liked that I could point it out and that we could have it for dinner or something.  I don't think they really understood that I love everything! :)  It was nice though because I was able to find my favorite cereal, Golden Grahams, for not too expensive. That's a really good thing for me because I am not much of a breakfast person, but Golden Grahams I will eat every morning! For dinner, we had Sushi. It was actually my first experience with Sushi, and I liked it somewhat. The rolls with cucumber, eggs, and crab inside of them were fine, but I didn't really like the ones with actual raw fish in them. I also poured a lot of soy sauce on top of them.

Today, I got to sleep in a bit as Cecile dropped off Pascale by herself. After breakfast, we went to another grocery store for some more food. It seems like in Europe, you just simply go to the supermarket daily to pick up whatever you need for the day. Simple enough, but I do miss my bulk foods from Costco! It seems like buying bulk is cheaper... One thing that I noticed is that in Europe everyone is very careful to not be wasteful. Every store I have gone to, we have brought our own bags. In fact, I have not seen one store that even offers bags to put groceries in!

After a quick lunch, we went back to city of Spa, which is only like 15 minutes away, and went to the local lake. It was very small, but beautiful. Cecile, her boyfriend, and I rented a paddle boat and paddled on the lake for a bit, and then we went on a walk around the lake.



Lake... Genval?

After paddle boating, we went to un petit restaurant and got my first Belgian waffle! I don't know how they do it, but the waffles in Belgium are sooooooo much better than any waffle I have ever tasted! I guess they would know how to make it since they DID invent it... I am definitly looking forward to eating many more waffles in the near future... And trying some (hopefully white) Belgian chocolate as well.



Yummmmm!

After the lake, we went and picked up Pascale, ran more errrands (which I really don't mind because that means that I get to see more of beautiful Belgium!) and came home for a nice salmon dinner. After dinner, we started to watch the 4th Harry Potter in French, with English subtitles. it was nice because I definitely know the storyline, so I was just able to concentrate on the language. It was weird though hearing Harry and the others not actually having their real voices... We didn't finish the whole movie though, as it is so long and Pascale and Cecile were tired. And now, I am just writing my blog for you all back home... I am not tired though because after we got home the last time I was exhausted so I came into my room and what I thought would be a quick nap turned into a 3 hour sleep... Darn jet lag! Hopefully soon enough I will be perfectly adjusted...

Well, to summon things up, I thought I would mention some funny differences I have experienced:

1) Every single car is a stick shift... Good thing it is a rule that I can't drive, because I would never be able to learn...

2) Much more people take public tranportation and/or walk... but maybe that's just a city thing too!

3) Belgians are crazy drivers... Everyone goes at least 20 km over the speed limit (but I have seen 50 too!), and they really seem to like to drive in the middle of the road, unless of course there is another car. Then, because the roads are generally small, they have to pull way to the side of the road just to passeach other! Oh, and also, there are many impatient drivers that are constantly passing people in front of them when they are already breaking the law.

4) Belgians are always kissing each other on the cheek. You meet someone, you kiss. You see someone you know in the store, you kiss. You say hello, you kiss. You say good morning, you kiss. You say goodbye, you  kiss. You say good night, you kiss. I assume you get the picture...

5) Their juice is weird. Either it is VERY sweet, or you use a little bit of juice concentrate and then add a whole bunch of water.

6) At least at my house, there isn't really a microwave. I mean, it looks like a microwave, but it functions more like a mini oven.

Hopefully, I am not writing too much and boring you... There is just so many different and new things that I am experiencing, and I cannot just write down one! Miss you all and until next time... Au Revoir!