A Weekend with an Aussie

Saturday & Sunday, September 24th-25th, 2011

So this past weekend I spent entirely with my friend Becky (the Aussie who I met up with on vacation...) and her amazingly nice host family. The whole thing was a bit weird at first, because all of a sudden Pascale just told me on like Tuesday that I would be going over to Becky's house on Saturday and not coming back until late Sunday. Just because I was staying there for so long, I thought they must have invited me over to do something fun over the weekend with them. But, once I texted Becky, she had no idea why I was coming over either. Don't get me wrong, I definitely had heaps of fun hanging out with Becky, I just didn't exactly understand why I was going over considering neither of us had planned it. I mean, it's a bit weird, having your host parents set up a "play date" for you like when you were little. But it was a really nice and considerate thing for them to do. It was nice having something really fun to do over the weekend and that I didn't have to worry about any of the planning, or working around the bus schedule, or worrying about food and when I was going to eat and if I had cash or not to pay for it (almost no food place here takes credit/debit... and guess who is really bad about carrying around money!!! This girl.). Come to find out, I think Pascale arranged the whole thing for me because she was going to be gone most of the weekend going to car stores and looking for a new one. I think she didn't want me to have to be home all alone on the weekend (I'm not a fan of car shopping unless it is one I know I am going to be driving...) and instead planned a fun alternate thing for me. It really is quite sweet.

When I first got there, Becky and I went for a walk since it was an extremely nice day out. There is this bike path near her house which apparently goes on forever, and we just stayed along that for most of the time. It was nice just getting out of the house and talking with a friend. And I swear that everyone that passed by, whether they were walking or biking, stared at us as if we were aliens for talking in English. It was quite funny. We also walked to the store to pick up some bread and eggs for her host family, and then we made eggs for lunch. It was only the second time that I have had eggs since I got here, and it just reminded me a lot of home and tasted absolutely delicious. But for once, it was a nice reminder. Didn't make me sad, just happy (if that makes any sense... Homesickness is a very strange thing!)

In the evening, becky's host parents told us to get ready because we were going to a friend of theirs to watch a horse show. Turns out it was a pretty big, all day horse jumping competition. The riders compete in three events, grooming, jumping over natural obstacles in the woods, and the regular jumping in the ring. We only caught the very end of it, when they were in the ring. Some people we saw were really good, and watching the competition made me want to buy a horse and ride it 24/7. They are jsut such majestic and strong creatures, I know I am definitely going to have one when I grow up! (If I am rich enough to have the land for it, pay for it and its food, and a person to muck out the stalls... Because I am not too excited about that idea! So yes, I just want to be able to ride horses whenever I want... Haha) When the competition ended, we were looking for Becky's host parents and found them working the little store. They are just such kind people, they would be willing to help out anybody. As everyone was waiting on the scores to be calculated and the awards given out, Becky and I got hungry and ate a delicious meal of fresh pork (straight of the pig, I saw it being cut... Gross.) and frites. By the time we got home, after the awards and then sitting through everyone else eating their meals and then dessert, it was like 11:30 so we just went to bed.

We woke up the next morning to my alarm on my phone that I had forgotten to turn off (Luckily it was set for 9 from the day before... and yes, I DO need an alarm clock for 9. The life of an exchange student is tiring!). We took showers, got ready, and then went to the grocery store with her host mum and sister because she wanted to buy ingredients for a cake. Apparently at home she bakes all of the time, and here she hasn't really gotten the chance to do so. And she had been asking them to buy ingredients for like a month or two, so she figured they wouldn't forget if she were to get them herself!!! :)

After the store we left for their little cabin in the woods that was about an hour away from their house. Becky and I thought that we were going there just for a barbeque with some friends and were told not to eat lunch. But then, the place ends up being an hour away, and it is actually Becky's family's cabin that some friends are just staying in for a holiday. So, there was no food to eat and so Michel and Jane (Becky's host parents...) went to the store to buy some food. Meanwhile, we went on a small hike with their friends to search for wild mushrooms to eat because one of the friends was a mushroom professor (at least according to Michel's semi-sketchy translation...) We were hiking for about an hour or so, still without food. At this point I was both very hungry and my feet hurt because I had borrowed some rain boots to not get my TOMS dirty, and I didn't have any socks so they were rubbing the sides of my feet. So, not the best hike for me, considering i don't even like mushrooms!

We didn't end up eating "lunch" until like 5 that night... As you can guess, I was starving. I had had a bit of the mushroom omelette they had cooked up ( yes, I was hungry enough to eat my least favorite food...), some tarte (pie) that they had bought as well, but decided to serve before cooking the meal, and that's all other than 2 pieces of toast at breakfast time. Needless to say, when the cooked the special cheese and set it down, Becky and I devoured it and the bread we used for dipping.

We got back to their house around 8, where Pascale was waiting to pick me up. We just had chicken enchilada leftovers (I had like half of one because I had only eaten lunch 4 hours earlier...), and then I was so wiped out that I went to bed. It was actually a really fun weekend for me to hang otu with Becky, even if i don't exactly have the best way to describe it...

Master Chef

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

Today was a pretty good day, considering it was a Friday and I was looking forward to the weekend. Plus, the last three hours of the day being art isn't half bad either!!! The weather outside ever since Friday has been like it is summer all over again. So, when the art teacher noted how nice it was outside, she said if we wanted we could bring a desk outside and work. So of course, all of my friends and I brought desks outside and worked on the visages we had started before. It was a lot of fun, being in the sun, doing something you love (well, for me it's just better than any other class considering my skills are minimal and I have like no supplies whatsoever... But for the others, I am pretty sure it's love!), and chatting with friends a bit at the same time. Well, generally it goes that we work for like half the time and then we get bored and just start to talk... And today, the other teacher didn't even come in and make us work on the not-so-great boats that I just can't seem to draw! YAY!

After school, I had planned to make dinner for Pascale (I mentioned it forever ago not knowing that Eddy would be gone making it not as special, but it was still good!). So, we went to the store almost right after school looking for the ingredients to make chicken enchiladas, since they don't have Mexican food here. Crazy, right? It is like the most delicious food on the earth, and they don't even know about it at all! It's quite a shame... Anyhow, we ended up going to 2 different stores looking for canned green chili peppers and monterey jack cheese. We didn't end up finding either of these things, so I just bought mozzarella cheese instead and made the executive decision that the peppers weren't a mandatory ingredient for the enchiladas considering that I never had it with them when I was little... So anyhow, after the shop I was just grateful to at least have tortillas and I made the enchiladas without a hitch. Everything when smoothly, considering I had never actually made them before. Granted, it is a fairly easy meal to make but I was still very proud of it! And Pascale just loved the whole thing... She watched excitedly as I cooked, was shocked when I put the corn in the microwave to eat warm, and absolutely loved the meal once it was finished. I definitely see myself making some more, or even the same meal, a lot more in the future. And if Pascale enjoyed the Mexican food so much, I can't wait to make some good old American desserts for her. Or even better, I can't wait until Thanksgiving when I make the meal to end all meals. Now THAT, that will be a goooood day! Other than it being a really nice day and havign Mexican food, there is not much to report. I guess that school is getting more boring and normal after all! But... I don't know if that is such a good thing after all!

My Sad Little Mexican Dinner

And better late than never... A Pic of the Off-Roading Car!

I'm Gonna Be a French Expert in No Time!

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

Well, that certainly didn't take me long to get behind again... But I had plans for like everyday this weekend, all day, so I guess I have a legitimate excuse rather than I was just plain lazy.. :)

Thursday was my hard day again at school... Honestly I don't really remember school that well now, considering it is 4 days later with a lot of other stuff happening. And also since school has now gone from weird but fascinating to frustrating and boring, I am not really remembering every detail. But as far a Thursdays go, I DO remember that this one wasn't half bad!

But no, the real news is what happened after school: my first French lesson! Before I got there, I was really not looking forward to it. I mean, it's just bascially another hour and a half of learning added to the school day, making it a grand total of 10 1/2 hours of school for me on Thursdays. Not fun man, not fun. BUT... It was fun! The teacher was super nice, and he was a reallu good teacher too. For our first lesson, we just learned about each other through silly games thta involved us speaking French the entire time. It was actually a great way to learn. In my class, there are a total of 6 people. Two aussies, one New Zealander, and three Americans (but there was only 4 of us today...). So, basically half of the class can already at least carry on a conversation in French. But I actually found that that was really nice, because 1) They speak slowly because they have to, and it is easier to understand them because of that as well as their accents and 2)They can help us learn by listening to them and 3) It gave me hope that since I am starting off knowing more than them, that soon enough I shall speak French! Another really nice thing is that I am in the middle of the pack, Frenchwise. I can't really speak it, but I was understanding almost everything that was being said, and the other American there had to keep stopping everyone and either have them explain themselves slowly or say the translation in English. So, I am not the best and feeling like I am being held back, but I am also not the worst, holding back the class on their progress. So really, this whole thing is an ideal situation for me! And at the end of the class, the teacher treated us with a tarte (pie!) that is a speciality of Liege (je pense...). If not Liege, definitely Belgium. The filling is like rice and cream and nummy goodness. I don't really know how to describe it, but it's delicious! (even though for whatever reason I feel like something is weird about it, maybe the texture with there being rice and all, but I still loved it!) So ya, never again will I dread going to French class. I am just going to be sad when this particular class ends (but don't worry thoose of you who are worried about my French, after I get to start a different class! Yaaaaay!).

After the class, i was just feeling happy and it was perfect weather out and I was feeling a bit like a fatty, so I decided to go on a run along my road. Boy, did I forget how freeing and well, just plain amazing running felt. I honestly don't know how to describe how I was feeling, but it was just amazing. I seriously ran for like 45 minutes straight, and generally after running that much I would want to kill myself for ever wanting to do such a thing, but this time I just felt happy. I guess the experts are right, running really does get your endorphins going. And I was definitely missing that feeling after trying to rest for the majority of the summer in hopes that maybe eventually my body will heal from all of the pain that soccer and I put it through... (hamstring, ankles, sometimes quads, shoulder, and the list goes on and on...) Also, my running path was absolutely gorgeous. Imagine a completely abaondoned road, with trees surronding it and the sun just right and running past beautiful houses tucked away just off the road. It was kind of like I imagine a road in Ireland or somewhere green and beautiful being like, a road where movies have people drive down in convertibles with the wind blowing their hair perfectly and them looking all happy. Yep, I get to run down those kinds of roads every single day, if I want. Gotta love Belgium! A large part of me is dreading the winter and the snow that it will bring with it, because I will definitely miss the green. But then again, snow always seems to bring its own kind of beauty with it!

After I got home from the run, I showered and then went with Eddy to a friture for dinner (Pascale had her weekly book club at night...). So much for going for a nice long run to burn of those unwanted calories, because I probably gained them all back right after. But, it was tasty, and Eddy didn't want to really make anything because for him, it was finally holiday and his work week had been crazy trying to prepare for that (He is in Sweden, fishing pike with some friends of his...). Overall, it was a great day that left me just feeling really happy and loving life as usual!

The Belgium School System

The Belgian School system isn't always my friend... I was thinking this today. First off, I am taking a couple of classes that I have already taken and passed with plying colors here. Also known as basic algebra and chemistry... Now the math, I don't mind because it is so easy that I understand it even in French. But Chemistry.... not so much. I had it again today, and at least I didn't have to worry about understanding the teacher. Because all I did was put my name on the test, leave it blank, and stare out the window for the rest of the class. So yes, I am not so proud to say that I have failed the first of (hopefully not, but probably until I improve my French more..) many tests here. It felt so horrible, not even being able to put anything down, but I didn't understand the instructions on the test, much less how to do what the teacher wanted me to do for the test (even though I have taken Chemistry, the teacher is teaching the class this weird chart thing that I have never seen in my life, much less know the function for...). I have alwas been a pretty good student, and leaving the test blank killed me. Because at home, I would at least make an educated guess on as many problems as I can. But here, I didn't even know where to begin much less what exactly it was that I would be guessing. And it's not like I could turn to my friend next to me and ask her to help me out... So yes, boring and wasted period. And I couldn't bring out my notebook and practice French, because we had to have our desks cleared. I am really thinking about asking the counselor to change out of these classes, at least for now. Because I really feel like my time could be better spent in a French class with smaller kids, considering I only have one of those now that I had my schedule changed around.

Ohter than Chemistry all I had today was English. Some learning for me, but not much considering we did a listening activity and then a worksheet that was all in English, without much of a chance for me to learn French. Oh, and Constance forgot the binder she said she would bring. I honestly think the most productive thing I did in school today was correct the English teacher when she made a small mistake with her sentence structure or the pronunciation of a word. And that hardly ever happens anyhow, it is mostly just differences between the American way of speaking and the British way of speaking.

And now for the second way that I have realized the Belgian school system is slightly ripping me off.. So on Wednesdays, I am all excited because I have a half day. But, when I really think about it, we don't even get out of school until like 12:30 or sometime around there, and I timed myself coming home today and after the 15 minute walk to the bus stop, waiting for the bus, the 15 minute bus ride, and the 12 minute walk (it's almost a mile uphill the whole way to my house... :/ ), I didn't even get home until 1:45ish. So really, I am just getting home close to the same time that I would at home! I mean, forgetting the whole time change and all. Students are celebrating going to their 5th and final class of the day just as I get home. Quite frankly, I am not liking the school system here much. It is just confusing with long days and no one around to really even keep track of you... But then again, it is hard to keep track of students when there are like a total of maybe 30 computers in the whole school. Of course, all of the office people have a computer, but other than that I have only seen 2 teachers have a computer (one which I think was the teacher's personal laptop brought from home...) and one small classroom with about 20 computers in it. Belgian schools need to get updated and come into the technology generation! Oh, and they still have chalkboards and hardly anyone has a calculator. Feel like I'm really roughin' it, just like my parents back in the day.. ;)

After school was... well I was alone with only a little bit of English homework (the only class other than Chemistry, art, and PE that I am expected to do something in...), so it was kinda boring. For dinner, we had pike, which Eddy is actually going to catch in Sweden for all week next week, with this Indian sauce and pomme de terres (potatoes...). The pike was ok, and pretty much as fresh as you can get considering that this was fish that Eddy caught last year,  but I think I am discovering that I am not the biggest fish lover in the world. Or maybe it's just the Belgian way of preparing meats, but I just found it a bit plain for my taste. But, if I put lots of the Indian sauce (which is actually a secret Indian family recipe that was given to Pascale's mother who was the teacher of one of their sons. They appreciated her work so much that they gave her the recipe as long as she promised to keep it among the women in her family...) on it, it was fine. And of course, I had the mix of mayonnaise and ketchup that I have become obsessed with here in Belgium with my potatoes. And now, Pascale and Eddy are watching TV (but without noise???) and I am just updating the blog...

Oh and one last thing I forgot to mention yesterday... Along with the other errands we ran, we went to this farm and got some fresh milk. Apparently, if you know the person or whatever you can go there whenever you want, leave some money, and take some fresh milk. I think this is an excellent deal, because we get a TON of fresh milk for only 1,50 euro. And after boiling the milk and taking away the cream, I got to taste the delcious milk today and it was pretty darn good. And it tasted so fresh, it was wonderful (In Europe, it is hard to find milk that isn't warm and tastes fake...). Et maintenant, je suis fini avec ce blog! :)

Some New on Top of the Old

Well, it's official. I am actually semi getting used to school! I am actually happy by this fact, but I worry that if I start to run out of new and exciting things to do, then I might start to get a bit homesick. I really don't want to be too homesick, so I guess my solution will just to always be planning something new and exciting to do!!!

School today was about as exciting as yesterday, except that I actually went to all of my classes. I had art for 5 out of the 9 hours I am in school today. It was actually pretty nice this time around. We continued drawing our visages (faces...) and I just became more confident in my ability as an artist. Now, granted, I am defnitely not as good as over half the class, nor will I ever be. Some people, they are just born with this talent that no one can surpass, no matter how much technical training one gets or how hard they work at it. One of the 2 boys that has art as his option is my friend, Ali (pronounced Uh-lee). And seriously, even his sketches that he whips out in a total of like 2 minutes are far better than almost anything I could draw. Guess that's why he is in the art track, because I don't think that guys really like art unless they are really good at it!

Other than art, I had gym, English, and French. In gym, we played stupid handball again and once again I got to experience how girls here just aren't very athletic at all. Like some of them had troubles throwing a ball over their head with one hand... I also realized that although I never thought I would as I was dying on the floor after working out so much, but I REALLY miss having Goethals weight training class. I miss being pushed ot my limit and actually feeling like I got a workout and that I was strengthing my body, rather than losing muscle as we all wait and watch a group demostrate a simple passing drill for 5 minutes. Belgium is amazing, but women's sports is not a strength for them...

 In English, I once again was really happy by the class and by the fact that I felt like I was learning French through their learning of intermidiate level English. I also had a lot of fun in that class too, because everyone was making fun of the way we say "for sure". a couple of my friends kept saying "fer sher" in their funny little French accents and a couple of times the teacher was trying to clarify something with me and it was very hard not to just crack up laughing. I honestly think I could be entertained by just listening to my friends try and speak English all day...

And finally French. For the whole period, I just continued writing down important words and the translation for the word in French. Today, my friend Constance asked me what exactly it was that I was doing (yesterday I didn't look weird because everyone else was taking notes...), and after I told her she offered to bring in some sort of binder that I am assuming she got in English class quite sometime ago with translations for commonly used words and phrases. I am pretty excited, because that will definitely be better than copying words out of a dictionary (at least I got through the A's today...) and I think it will be easier to learn too. It is kinda cool, because I have the majority of my classes with Constance and we kinda have this agreement that she will help me out when needed for French, but then I can help her out with her English. Even though she is one of my better friends so far, she probably speaks some of the worst English... She's just very good at speaking slowly and motioning :)

Wow, I guess school still is exciting if I have that much to write about it... Anyhow, now to explain the title a bit more. After school, I went and ran some errands with Pascale. She showed me where I would be taking French classes on Thursdays for a while starting this week (and majority of it is speaking... Kill me now!), then we went to a new part of Verviers that I haven't been before. First, we went into this little Turkish bakery. I had no idea what it was that we were buying and I thought it was our dinner, but come to find out they were actually this delicious sweet that we had for dessert. I liked them (well, at least the two that I tried) but when I tasted them I actually thought how my mum would actually probably hate them because they were SUPER rich and sugary. Like a complete sugar overdose... And that's why you can only have two small little treats. If I remember, I will take a picture and post it up tommorrow for you to see why I was confused as to what it was we were actually buying...

The area around the Turkish bakery was actually pretty sad. Compared to the rest of beautiful Verviers, it seemed pretty impoverished. Pascale told me about how that area is where all of the non-Belgian Belgians live. She says there are a lot of Africans (Moracco was country she mentioned...) as well as Turks. And to be honest, I didn't even see one white person walking along the streets. It made me sad, because this area was the first that I have experienced in Belgium. Before, I thought that the beautiful country of Belgium had escaped the differences between ethnicitys and the social class and wealth of others. But when we drove through the area, I got the feeling that this would not be the best place to be at night. And getting this feeling made me sad, because I really thought I had escaped places like this. And, it also reminded me of when I went on vacation to Miami to visit Bolton and there was this one section where we ALWAYS locked the doors... More of a family inside joke, but it made me smile thinking about it and my crazy but wonderful family whom I miss very much!

For dinner, we also had something new. Pascale made a dish traditional to the region of Liege. There was this sauce, which you cooked the meat in, that was made up of lardon (mini bacon bits... YUM!), chopped onion, some water (to make it into a sauce...), raisins, and Sirop de Liege (which is this spread not unlike jelly made of pears, apples, and dates. Sounds kinda gross-ish, but it is actually delicious!). Ok, even the combination of things sounds weird. But it wasn't, it was a sweet sauce but with salty meat and it was just the perfect combination. And now, for the real new thing of the day... The meat I ate was..... RABBIT! I know, I feel so bad. I mean, I call myself and animal lover but I find myself eating rabbit and I am in love with bacon. Even though the idea of eating rabbit almost grossed me out so much that I didn't even try it, I forced myself to because I am on exchange and exchange is all about discovering and trying new and different things, evne if you dont like them. So yes, I tried the rabbit. And yes, I admit to kinda liking it. I mean, it's not like I am gonna go around craving me some rabbit now like I would for a good cut of steak, but I would eat it again, especially served with this num sauce. And just in case you wanted to know, rabbit just tastes like chicken.

So yes, a many a new experience today. Some sad, some delicious, and some fun. All in all, a good day. But now, it is almost 10:30 and I am exhausted, even after having slept all weekend long, as well as going to bed early yesterday AND sleeping in late today (as in I had like 15 minutes to get ready... But don't worry Mom, I got ready in time and wasn't late! In fact, I was waiting on Pascale. Seriously, Belgium has turned me into a new person!!! :) ) Soo... bon nuit!

School without Actually Going

This Monday was pretty crazy, schedulewise. Nope, I didn't change schedules again (thankfully), but today I was hardly even at school! In the morning, we left at the normal time (8 A.M.), but instead of going straight to school we had to go to the administration office in Jalhay for my identification card. Now, the office, like most other government buildings all around the world, is... Well, let's just say it is hardly ever open and makes it impossible for people to get there without skipping school/work. So yes, we sat in this little office for about an hour and a half waiting for this very confused lady to do paperwork, which I am convinced she could have done without us being there. Seriously, the only thing that we even had to do was give her some pictures for the card, and then sign the papers after she took ages trying to figure what exactly she was even supposed to be doing. Apparently, she's never dealt with an exchange student before. But hey, I am not necessarily going to complain because although the lady didn't seem to be the brightest bulb in the pack (but she was very nice! All Belgians seem to be...), I did get to miss out on an early morning French class. I mean, those are the absolute worse! So here it goes...

1st/half of 2nd Class: at the administration:))))

Rest of 2nd Class: I had geography. Yep, pretty darn exciting. It was akward, walking into class when it is already halfway through and all of my friends trying to explain to the teacher that it doesn't really matter why I am late, I am the exchange student. Seriously, it is like "She is an American" are magical words that will get me out of any tardies, absences, and most homework. And I am just gonna let this one slide, at least until my French is a bit more improved. I did try explaining to the teacher in French why I was late, but teachers for whatever reason can never really understand my accent, and when they see my eyes just like a deer's in headlights, well usually they just tell me to sit down and hope I don't interrupt their class.

3rd Class: French.... With 6th Year. Ya, not so much fun. But, I did put my plan into action and copied down some French translations out of my dictionary that I thought would be important. I plan to continue doing that until I am through with the A's at least, and then I will get to work just memorizing them. At the rate I am going, I should have all of the important words in the dictionary memorized by the end of the year! ;)

4th Class: Etude!!! Yep, the easy day just keeps getting easier and easier. Luckily this time, I remembered to leave at 11:45 in the middle of the class, so I didn't have to run down the hill and worry about being late. But, this time, it was Eliza who lost track of time. I literally called her like 5 times before she called me back right at 12, when we were supposed ot be leaving, saying that she just now remembered and was just leaving her school. Luckliy, the Rotary guy that came and picked us up was really nice and waited for her... But we barely made it before the meeting started.

5th/6th/7th/first half of 8th: Rotary meeting!!! :) Now, I can't exactly tell you anything of what was discussed, but I can describe in detail the delcious meal I had and how I was half falling asleep at the table after a late night last night... But ah well, I didn't actually ever get close to falling asleep, and as soon as I ate a bit of food I was fine. Just empty stomach + late night = VERY sleepy Morgan

Last half of 8th Class: Once again, I got to walk into the middle of a double period of English, only catching about the last 1/4 of it. But this class was actually a very good one for me! What they were working on was verb tenses and sentence structure, so they were actually given sentences in French and were asked to translate them into English. For me, this is a very good thing because FINALLY I am able to use my English class like they wanted me to, as a backwards way of learning French. And the teacher was really nice about everything, so I am really actually starting to enjoy and become very productive in my 6th year English class.

9th Class: And now, back to French with 6th year. Seriously, the schedules here are sooooo weird. Not that I am complaining about having French at least seperate hours, because a double class of French 6th Year = the death of Morgan....

And alas, my laptop is dying and I am sleepy. Just wanted to share with you my day where I amazingly didn't even really go to school.... Just like at home, seems like Rotary activites of any sort take priority of other "stupid" things, such as, well you know school or jobs or things you actually need to succeed in life.... But if Rotary gave me the wonderfully amazing chance to come here, I think they deserve some time from my day. And if the continue to take me out of some boring classes, well I am definitely ok with that...

Bisous, Morgan Xxxxx

Just a Typical Lazy Sunday...

Yay, look at who is all caught up on their blog! This girl! Although it may seem unnecessary, the excitement for me is overwhelming because for so long i have almost felt like this blog was a bit of a chore.  Iwas always behind, always feeling bad that my family and whoever else reads this has to wait so darn long for an update. But now, I am on time. No procrastianting or anything for me! Hopefully, it willl stay like this for the rest of the time. But knowing me, probably not...

Anyhow, today was just a lazy Sunday with blog updates and chilling with the family. Eddy translated the school rules that I was supposed to read and sign, saying that I understood them and would follow them. Just like any other school rules, they were a joke.

What I really wanted to mention though was the delicious dinner that I just devoured. After an appetizer of these weird but delicious chips and sparkling cider (Yep, they went out and got me some so I could feel like I fit in when they drank whatever alcohol they were drinking... Isn't that just so cute and considerate?), Eddy said to me that he would like me to help him cook tonight's dinner of Chinese food. I kinda laughed, considering my cooking skills are very inept and the only way I can cook is to religiously follow a recipe. But hey, I am up for anything! Eddy made me a little bet, saying that by Christmastime (when I change families...) I would be able to fully cook any kind of Chinese meal that I wanted to. In the end, actually cooking it was pretty easy. I mean, most of the food came out of bags or was meat. We just had to actually cook it and add the spices. I know it looked pretty simple, but Eddy just seems to have everything down so easily. He knows exactly when something is done cooking, when to add the other ingredients, how much spices or sauce to add without measuring something, using a timer, or even taste testing it. And in the end, it was absolutely delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I ate so much, I am now in a food coma. But I love being in food comas, so it's no big!

And to end the night, a Skype call with just my parents at first but a while in we added my brother, and it was just like we were all together and it was great. So much fun to be able to talk and joke around (IN ENGLISH!) and get updates back home. It was expecially nice because after having so much time on my hands this weekend and becoming kinda homesick, I was able to just talk to my parents and it seems like after I do that, I am a bit less homesick and more able to face the next day in this foreign but amazing country. And now, it's 11:40 and I just finished Skyping and I am tired, even after sleeping in for the past few days and taking several naps! So until tommorrow, or whenever I feel like there is something exciting to add to my blog, au revoir!

Bisous Xxxx, Morgan

(And Aunt Becky, you needn't worry about my education over here. At least I am learning art, and eventually I will be able to understand all of my French classes too! :) )

The Flu Bugs Love Me in Belgium Too

Friday, September 16th, 2011

Yep, the flu has come to Belgium and ruined my fun day. I miss the art school field trip. I don't get to see the Andy Warhol art. I don't get to skip my regualar classes and have lots of fun with my art friends. I don't get to hang out with my friends after school, the first real thing that I was going to do with Belgian students outside of school!

Instead, I get to sit at my host home, by myself, feeling sick. And then homesick. And then sad and angry that I missed a fun day and that I can't have anything that I am used to when I am sick. And then under the relization that whenever you're sick, the only people you really want around are our Mommy and Daddy so they can take care of you and love you. Yea, not such a good day for me.......

But, on the up side, I did go to the bank with Pascale in the afternoon-evening-ish when I was feeling a bit better and I got my real debit card, instead of the expired temporary one. So now, at least I can buy something if I want/need to!

And, as a final note, I would like to celebrate the fact that I am finally all caught up, considering there isn't exactly anything worthwhile that has happened this weekend! Just relaxing, chilling with Pascale and Eddy. And lots of sleeping... SO YAY FOR ME FOR NOT BEING BEHIND ON MY BLOG!!!!!!!!!! :)

Never a Tourist, Always a Traveler

Thursday, September 15th, 2011

Ok, my brain is offcially shot. I cannot, for the life of me, think of a creative title or anything for this blog post. Where is my creative writing little sister with a wild imagination when I need her? :) So anyhow, instead I just used one of my favorite little sayings (or maybe it's a quote...) as my title instead. I absolutely love it, because, well, I want it to be the motto of my life as far as travelling comes. Because NO ONE every wants to look like a tourist! I mean, I know I sure don't want to look like a silly American/Half-Canadian who has no idea what she is doing, do you?

1st/2nd Class: After two easy days in a row, I knew that this would not be such a fun day compared to the others. Especially since I was starting off with a double period of 6th Year French. Ugh, ugh, ugh. Definitely my least favorite class of the day, because I always feel like I am progressing in French so darn much, then I go into that class, understand next to nothing, and feel depressed. I know that I have to look at this French class and even if I understand a little bit, I should be proud. Because after all, it is the equivalent of AP Lang or whatever it is that I would be doing back home. And even that class in English would be a challenging one! It made me feel a bit better during that class though because my friend Constance turned to me and said, "Tu compris?" and I, of course, said, "Um, no..." And then her was reply was, "Ca va, we don't know either..." I mean, if my friends have been speaking French all their life and don't understand, then how in heck do they expect me to???

3rd/4th Class: And the not-so-great continues with yet another double period, but this time of morale. And don't ask me what moral is, because I am in that class and I don't even know! They were talking about some weird subject that apparently they had gone over the previous Thursday, when I didn't even have that class! I tried to make sense of everything, but it was a bit hard. But I had it with my friends, and they were nice and said that oh, it's nothing important at all. And when the teacher seemed mad at me for not being in the class last week (what can I say, it's not my fault! Blame it on the counselor or whoever switched my schedule around!!!!), they said "Oh, it's not a problem. The teacher is..." Umm, the equivalent of really mean but not in exactly such nice words... It is funny, because even the kids who don't know English very well definitely know the English swear words! I travel halfway across the world and still can't escape the swear words... But here, I think that the people that use them don't even really know what they mean!

5th Class: Art, art, art. I didn't know that one could have so much art in her schedule! But alas, I have, out of the 33 hours worth of classes that I am in school, a total of 9 hours of art. Not that I mind at all, it's just a lot. But luckily, the majority of the friends I have made are in the art track as well, so at least I get to seem them a lot! During this period, we had more art history. and I realized that in my blog from the other day I made a mistake, because it was today exclusively that we studied Andy Warhol. And although the art teacher is another person that I find it impossible to understand, at least with the background info that I had on the artist I was able to follow along a bit better!

6th Class: Yay, lunch! And today, I didn't have a sandwich catastrophe!!!! Because when I handed the lunch lady my ticket, my sandwich was actually there. This lunch was actually quite pleasant. I spent the hour with a friend of mine, her friends, and the two Australians who are friends with my friend's friends. If that makes any sense to you... But they were all really nice, talking to me slowly in French and then if I didn't completely understand the Aussies would translate. And after we were done eating, we were able to go outside and bask in the sun. Seriously, Thursday felt like a beautiful summer's day, it was amazing. I just wish that it could stay like this forever...

7th Class: Math class again. And this being the class I accidentally skipped last week after going to chemistry instead, I was very glad that this was the actual class for me. Because, you know, the whole universal language thing that math has. And the fact that we are doing pretty basic Algebra, so it's one of those classes where for once, my brain doesn't have to think so hard that it almost dies. Oh, and Tedde is in that class as well and she hates math. So I said that as long as she helps my French improve, then I will help her all she wants for math.

8th Class: Study hall!!!!!!!!!!! For this class, I just walked around outside with Tedde and we talked about how different things were here. I mean, here we are during our study period, just walking around the town and not in school at all. Back home, it's pretty hard to leave campus. But here, you can just walk whenever you want and no one thinks twice about it. And with all of the weird, constantly changing schedules, and the tracks, and the different classes within a year, and the weird class requirements such as moral, we both decided that school here couldn't get much different. And yet, it's definitely a good different.

9th Class: And to end the not that great, but not horrible day, I had just possibly the worst class I have had ever: Physics!!!!!! Even though the teacher was really nice and easier to understand than others, I really didn't get at all what he was talking about. I mean, at least with most of my other classes I have already studied the subject and can try and comprehend the subject in French. But Physics in French, forget it. It just goes completely over my head. After quite a painful hour of understanding nothing, I decided that I would go and talk to my couselor and see about getting into a French class with the younger students instead, because I feel like that would be more helpful than sitting in a class for the entire year where I understand basically nothing. I might try and do the same with Chemistry, because confusing science in French= confused, stressed out Morgan who really feels like she is wasting her time!

And just a final little note, as I went to catch the bus after school, my horrible luck with public transportation continued as the first bus from my line pulled up to the stop and was so full that it wouldn't let anybody else on. I only had to wait about another 15 minutes, but still. This whole public transportation thing is starting to get a bit ridiculous!

Morgan Lancaster: The Public Transportation Joke of the Day

Wednesday, September 14th, 2011

As I have already mentioned, every Wednesday is a half day meaning that we have only 5 classes instead of 9! After having such an easy schedule Tuesday, and then a half day Wednesday, I never thought I would be able to say that I love the middle of the week so much!

1st Class: I have etude... Or rather, for you non-French speaking folk (that I really am almost a part of...), STUDY HALL! They seem to have lot of those here, with their crazy like schedules. Previously, I was very much excited by the fact that I would not only get let out early on Wednesdays, but I would also get to come in late. Seriously, as far a a weekday goes, Wednesdays were becoming like a little heaven! But then, when I actually looked into riding the bus to school, I realized i would have to leave at about the same time as I would if Pascale drove me, and I would have to walk a whole bunch in the early morning. Where it would probably be could. Darn public transportation! So instead, I just went to school, unfortunately, at normal time and read for the study period.

2nd Class: Luckily I had etude to wake me up, because my next class was chemistry. And this time, I was actually scheduled to be in the class!!! But if I thought chemistry was complicated in English, well than it is absolutely mind blowing in French, because even though techinically the names of the atoms are the same, they are in the French spelling and the teacher was doing these weird things that I didn't really understand and so ya... Maybe not a class that I will exactly be passing until I can brush up a bit more on my French!

3rd Class: Yet another study period for me... I seriously don't know why I would even bother coming to school, considering my next two classes are English classes! Might as well just take the whole Wednesday off, because at least for a while I won't exactly be learning anything... But oh well, it was still fun to hang out wiht my friends during study hall and just talk and chill. Seriously, I would rather just have school end an hour of two earlier though than waste time in the middle of the day. I know it is supposed to be used as a work time, especially for 6th Year students who have the toughest and most time consuming schedule, but at least so far all the other kids have done is sit around and talk. Maybe soon though, that will change as the teachers assign more work and classes become even tougher. And if in that time you see a weird looking girl going crazy in the corner, half crying out of misunderstanding and due to the failure of all of her classes is very stressed out, well don't mind her, she's just the exchange student.

4th Class: First of two English classes. Well, at least I was able to understand everything! Even the parts when the teacher stopped and explained everything in French to the not-as-hard working kids who can't speak hardly any English (not that I'm judging, just saying that they have been taking english for quite some time and their teachers are all really good...) So yes, this class was half of a relization for me that I COULD understand some French and that I WAS actually learning it and HAVE improved since I have been here, even if sometimes it really doesn't feel like that. During this class period, which was thankfully with 6th Year which means it was a bit more advanced, the topic was family. Especially for me who is halfway around the world from hers, it was a bit of a rough subject but at least I didn't have to think twice about what it was that I was actually saying. The teacher had us break off into little groups about halfway through and discuss a specific topic about families. For my group, the topic was the advantages and disadvantages to a big family. Now I, coming from a big family and completely loving it, had a lot of really positive things to say about it. But it was crazy, the rest of the students were easily coming up with reasons why having a big family wasn't so good. Now, I think they are absolutely crazy, but it is a bit harder to explain the good parts in English, so maybe they just went the safe route and chose to speak about the disadvantages.

5th Class: Yay, the final class of the day! And it was English, in the exact same room, with the exact same teacher, but this time with the 4th class. After they all got over the fact that I was a foreigner from the U.S. (and yes, all of them thought I lived in  Washington, D.C. too...), the class was just a bit boring. But the teacher that I had was really nice about everything, and she used me a lot for different examples and as another person to kind of help out in the classroom. Well, at least I can be of help in one class because in the rest of them I am the one who is lost, needing someone to help me along. So really, I like helping out, as long as I am not put on the spot and can't come up with an answer to the teacher's question, looking really stupid because I speak English and don't even know the answer.

After school, I met up with Tedde so we could go to Liege and meet up with others. Liege was ok, good because I got to eat another one of those delicious waffles and Tedde got to try her first Belgian waffle, but the real story of the day was how much public transportation hates me. So first, Tedde and I get onto the bus that I had thought went to the Verviers Gare, just like the rest of the buses centralized in Verviers. I mean, all of them end up there eventually! And so we are just chating away, having a grand old time on the bus, when I realize that we are definitely heading AWAY from the city and the train station. I decide (because Tedde had never even ridden a bus before, so she didn't knwo what we were doing....) that it would be best if we would just get off at the next stop and try to figure out where we went wrong. We walk for a bit to look at what other bus lines run wherever the heck we ended up at, and I decide that it is the best idea for us to just wait for the same bus, but going the other way because I knew that the bus at least stopped at Place Verte, which was clsoe enough to walk to the train station. So we wait for another half hour (I think we may have even gotten on the exact same bus, but I am not sure...) and then all of a sudden, as we are looking out for Place Verte, the bus pulls up to the train station! I KNOW that the bus didn't go by there last time we were on it... So I don't really know what happened at all, and I knew we went on the same line as before, so it shoudl have been the exact same route. Maybe it just made some huge circle where the train station was at the very end, but that didn't really make sense to me either because the bus route went at least 10 minutes outside of the city, and then to make its way back but in a different spot? Ugh, public transportation confuses me....

After the confusion, we were just glad that we were at the train station. But when we went in to buy our tickets, we realized we had to wait 40 minutes for the next train. And since the trains here run almost every 30-45 minutes to Liege (depending on the time and day...), we knew that thanks to our little "adventure" we had just barely missed the train. Not such a big problem, since we just went across the street and ate some pasta at a friture, but it was still upsetting because I knew that by the time we actually got to Liege we would be sooooo late. Once we actually got there, it took us forever to catch up with the rest of the group. we hung out with them for a bit, but then Tedde wanted to explore Liege (it was one of her first times going there...), so for most of the afternoon I just showed her the sights of the city and we looked around a bit in the shops (even though I still had NO money what-so-ever due to the temporary bank card...). Then, we were ready to go home and walked back to the train station. When we got there and checked the schedule, we realized that we had just barely missed ANOTHER train by like 10 minutes, and would have to wait another 40 minutes for the next one to Verviers. We debated exploring a bit more, but Tedde was sick of walking around at that point (her shoes weren't the best for walking...), so we just hung out in the train station and played stupid games on Tedde's iPod.

When we got into Verviers, I got a text message (an SMS here...) from Pascale that she would be unable to pick me up from the train station which meant that I had to catch the bus home. I waited until Tedde's host mom showed up, and then headed off to my bus stop. And of course, after the day I had already been having, I missed my bus by 5 minutes. Like, if I would have hurried off the train and not waited with Tedde, I probably could have caught it. I had to wait another 40 minutes for the next bus, because by that time it was like 7 and there were less and less buses making their rounds. When another bus came by after like 20 minutes, that I thought ran about the same line as my bus (705), I made the excutive decision to get on it. Come to find out, it did make the same route up until this one turn about a 25 minutes walk from my house... Whoops. I was just gonna stay on the bus so I didn't look like a stupid American, but then apparently that line ran out and the bus was turning into a different line. Well, at least I think that is what the bus driver and the other kid (who knew what he was doing, at least) said. I just embarassingly got off, walked for a couple of minutes to a bus stop for my line, and waited another 25 minutes (Yep, the bus was 10 minutes late!) for my actual bus. The same bus that I would have ridden on even if I hadn't got onto the wrong bus that I thought was the right one and completely embarassed myself. And to top it all of, after my real bus dropped me off, I still had my almost mile long walk up my road to look forward to. Yep, it was definitely a frustrating day as far as public transportation went. Hopefully you all were able to understand my confusingly long list of mistakes. And if you don't, well I guess you can feel the confusion that I felt as I rode the wrong bus and missed all of my trains by minutes.

I think you understand... But you don't speak?

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

The title was said to me by my host mother, Pascale, in the car today. And I find it very fitting.... Because, for the most part if people talk slowly and use the occasional hand gesture, I DO understand. And yet, for some reason, talking is just a million times harder. I don't use the right sentence structure, the right verb tense, the correct form of the verb regarding the subject, I forget or don't know a random word in the middle of a sentence... Seriously, this list could go on and on. That is why I am excited to start French lessons next week because Pascale told me that the majority of the time, we are just going to working on our speaking. And right now, for me, that is the most important thing right now.

1st/2nd/3rd/4th Class: Yep, a quadruple (Sp?) period of art to start of the day! Seriously, for me, art is like a little heaven where I don't really have to speak French and I don't have to worry about not understanding any of the work, because you just draw. I am so glad that I chose art as my option for school! Today, we started out for the first 2 classes drawing people. At first, I was a bit worried because as far as the whole boat thing went, I was seriously lacking when compared to the other art students. But then, I just started the little template for the people, and all of a sudden  Iwas equal to or better than some of the other kids! I was pretty proud. First, we had to draw this basic man face just to get used to using the template they gave us. Then, we used a picture from a magazine of our choosing and drew that person's face. Now, by the end of the 2 hours, I wasn't quite doen with mine, but I am really proud of it and maybe I won't miserably fail in every class (except for English...) after all! But then, the second group of two hours the teachers made us work on the stupid boats again. It wasn't fun, and no one really accoplished much more than we did the other day. Whenever the teacher told us to work, we just kinda did a mini yet horrible sketch of some kiond of boat and then continued talking. It was a really fun class, because all of my friends were saying names of American people or states or whatever in their French accents, and half the time I didn't even understand what they were saying. Then, I would say the name correctly and they would all crack up. Then, they would have me say really hard French wors to say with a lot of those stupid R's (for whatever reason, I can't do the French R very well... I always find myself rolling them instead!) and then they would get to laugh at me and my horrible attempts at the beautiful French language. It was a really fun two hours, to say the least, with hardly any stupid boat drawing at all.

5th Class: So to continue the little day from heaven, I had gym next! Yay, two classes in a row that I could understand! And, when I walked into the class, I was excited to see that the other American from Iowa, Tedde, was also in my class! We were both excited to be able to speak some good quality English, so we paired up for the entire class. We played some stupid handball game, which was easy for Tedde and I but hard for the rest of the class, which once again symbolized how girls here just aren't very athletic. Sad... But it was a good class anyway, because I was able to fill Tedde in with all of the Rotary happenings and such. She had come out really late because she had some problems with her Visa, so she hadn't been to any type of Rotary anything so far! I know understood why even though the other kids in my school said she was here with rotary, I didn't have the slightest clue who she was. But we got along really well, and I was happy to have her in my school. She also is fluent in French, having taken French for all 4 years in high school and actually working really hard at it, so she could talk to everyone normally and help me too.

6th Class: For lunch, I decided to tag along with Tedde since she said she always ate lunch with ehr host sister and her friends. But when I went to go and get my sandwich, the lunch lady couldn't find the sandwich with my matching ticket anywhere! She seriously looked for like minutes, and she couldn't find it. I found that very weird. One of the theacher/dean of students type people was trying to talk to Tedde and I and was asking where I had bought the ticket. Both Tedde and I tried telling her that I had bought my ticket from my art teacher, and it was the legit bags and everything so she wasn't trying to rip us off, and yet there was no sandwich for me! The teacher really couldn't understand us though, even Tedde, but they were nice enough to have the lunch lady go into the kitchen and make me a new sandwich free of charge. Then, we were finally able to join Tedde's sister and friends for lunch! Come to find out after I thought through the situation fully, I had bought a sandwich from the art teacher for our field trip on Friday, where we would be gone the whole day, thus the lunch people had to make people's sandwiches early. I feel really bad, because then I basically got a free lunch because I didn't understand my teacher completely, but it all worked out to be even in the end...

7th Class: Yay, to continue my extremely easy Tuesday, I had English. Yep, Tuesday's are definitely my favorite day of the week! It was the same class, with the same friends, and the same really nice teacher, so that's good. Of course, the teacher wanted to use me as examples so she did. But I really don't mind, considering someday I want to be a teacher as well! It's just hard when they put me on the spot, and I don't actually know the answer to the question she is asking, even though I totally should!

8th Class: Another easy class, because it was back to art I went! But, unfortunately, this class was art history to prep us for our field trip to the art museum on Friday. Other than my 6th Year French teacher, my art teachers are the other teachers that I have a SUPER hard time understanding. So, needless to say, I didn't learn so much about the art, but I did get to see some cool paintings and one of the artists we covered was Andy Warhol, and I definitely knew who he was already (Thank you, Mrs. Lakin...) so I guess I was able to understand a bit...

9th Class: The only hard class of the day: French with the 6th year. I hadn't yet come up with the briilliant idea of seperately studying French by myself in that class yet, so that hour was kinda a waste of my time considering that I just cannot seem to understand this teacher's fast, weird sounding accent. But hopefully in time, the understaning will come...

Well, I guess school is becoming a little bit less new and exciting and more normal for me, because I am definitely writing a lot less. But then again, we I am writing about it 4 days after it actually happened and I had the easiest day ever, there really isn't much to write about!

Tu Compris?

Monday, September 12th, 2011

The most common phrase these days... Do you understand? And a common response from me: un peu. Seems that's all I can ever understand, unless there is one person directly speaking to me and they are willing to gesture and speak slower than normal. I know my French has improved already, but I just want to be fluent NOW! All I want for Christmas is to be fluent in French... ;)

1st Class: First class today was French. Actually, it was the start of what was expected to be a long day for me... Out of my 8 hours today, 6 of them were French. That's a total of 400 minutes of French, of not being able to understand every other word, of using context clues within the classroom or trying to make out what exactly what it is that I was reading. Yep, definitely was going to be a long day... Luckily I wasn't going to be there the whole day!!! (But that comes later..) Anyhow, yep French with what I think was the 4th class. Of course, they were once again really excited that I was in their class. I mean, you would think that everyone would have gotten over having Americans and Australians here, but people are still in awe by the Aussies... And they have been here since January! But I guess that I could be in a country where everyone basically hates Americans and won't give them the time of day... So I am definitely accepting this as the alternative! I had it with the really nice teacher once again... I think that my couselor must know a little bit of what she is doing, because all of the teachers that I have had so far have been really nice and supportive of me, and definitely very understanding of my lack of French and comprehision of the actual class... Hopefully soon, i will be knocking out the homework and getting A's left and right. Or whatever they do for grades here... It's hard from going from the top of your class to not knowing anything... I have a lot more respect for the people with learning disabilities now, or whomever struggles in school, because now I know what they feel like and it's not so fun.

2nd/3rd Class: Yay a double period of 6th year French!!!! (Not....) I was happy at least that I was having another class with kids my age and some of my future friends... But once the class actually started, I definitely understood why it was exactly that my couselor put me in a class with kids a year younger than me. As soon as the teacher started talking, I was lost. Her accent was just one that was impossible to understand, and she was speaking so darn fast that  Icould hardly even tell if what she was saying was 20 different words or all one... Needless to say, it was a pretty hard double period. I tried really hard to understand at the beginning, but after an hour of tiring my brain out, I kinda sorta checked out and wrote a letter... But soon, and very soon (I am determined) I am going to understand and follow along just like the rest of them!

4th Class: Well, now I had study period. And I was happy to have study period, because it seemed like all of the peopel that I had kinda been talking to were in the same study hall! And, well, since it's the beginning of the school year and no one has really assigned any homework yet, we just sit there and talk. It's a nice chance to get to know people, even if I don't always know what they are saying! But before the fun started, all of the 6th year that is the general track were gathered together. then, the principal started out calling out people's names and I realized that he was completely changing the classes around. I wasn't very happy about that, especially since I really liked my class and was starting to get used to everything and my whole schedule. And of course, they change the exchange student. So now, you are looking at a member of class 6B. Now, the only peopel that i had even really talked to before that were in my class is these two guys and Constance, the nice girl from the first day that had been the first person to speak to me. But hey, it could have been worse, I could have had absolutely no one! Then, towards the end of the study period, I had to leave for my weekly lunch with my Rotary club. I knew I was getting picked up at this specific bus stop at 12 by some kind of Rotary person, and that at the very least I had a 10 minute walk ahead of me. But  iwas just chilling with my friends, and then I looked down at my phone and it was 11:50. Everybody was kinda confused as I to why I was leaving even though the bell hadn't rang yet, and I really didn't have that much time ot try and explain it to them in French, so I just said it in English and hopefully they understood...

5th/6th/7th Class: Yep, the Rotary meeting took away half of my school day. And to think, this is going to happen every single Monday! I am glad that my school is tolerant about it, I really kinda feel bad that I leave for half the day every week... But if it's what Rotary expects me to do, I am ok with that. And I am not going to complain about getting out of a little bit of school on a Monday.. And mean, anything to make Mondays a little bit better! So anyhow, I booked it down the hill to the bus stop and made in just in time. The guy came to pick us up like 2 minutes after I got there, and he was really nice. During the meeting, we ate again and talked a lot in French about things that I didn't quite understand. But then again, between school, Rotary meetings, and trying to understand Pascale and my friends, I am used to not always understanding. It's just something you gotta deal with, and hopefully soon I won't have the feeling so much! The meal that they served us this time was A LOT better than last time. I was really hungry by the time we actually sat down to eat, and the meal was absolutely delicious. So, I guess we just came on an off day for the restuarant last time. Along with the main meal, we were served a side of something that looked a bit like a cheesestick. I was delighted, thinking it was a cheesestick, and ready to have a little taste of home. But once I actually cut into it (Yes, we use forks and knives for everything here... Whenever I am by myslef I try to eat with my hands as much as possible, because the rest of the time I can't..), I discovered the inside was mashed potatoes. It was a really weird thing, mashed potatoes with a fried outside, but it was actually pretty good, as was the rest of the meal!

8th Class: When I finally got back to school (the kind man that picked us up offered to drop us off at our schools, but he misunderstood me and went to the wrong school, so then we had to back track to the bus stop and I had to walk back...), I had to start my new schedule. Now, I didn't really know what that was because they ran out of copies for class 6B, as well as the fact that I am a special student, but I just made the smart decision that I would go where everyone else was going for the remainder of the day. So, anyhow, I got ot walk into a double class of English, havign already missed one entire block and being 15 minutes late for the other. But once I walked in, everyone was just like "Oh, it's Morgan..." and continued on with the lesson. I'm glad that everyone pretty much knows who I am, because then they do the explaining in French if the teacher doesn't understand me... Luckily, the teacher was really chill about me walking in late and I think the couselor told my teachers, so  Ithink she knew already. But then again, with the whole schedule change, I'm not so sure.

9th Class: Well, my for my class I was supposed to have the recovery period of history, something that was a bit easier to understand than actual French class. But no, LUCKY ME, my new schedule had me going back to French with the other 6th year students. It was almost too much to handle... I have decided (well, not on this actual day but as of now...) I am going to bring my Dictionary to those French classes and rather than only understanding like 1/8 of what the crazy fast talking teacher is saying, I am going to study basic French words or verbs or something along those lines. I feel like it might be a better way to spend my time.. So, another school day down, another day closer until, well, I don't really know what!

Off-Roading!

The Weekend! September 9-11, 2011

So just a quick update on the weekend... After school on Friday, I rode the bus to Emmaline's house and spent the night there. Even Lauren was able to join us (her parents are VERY strict on letting her go anywhere...), so we had a lot of fun. On Saturday day, we wanted to go somewhere outside of the house, so we all rode the bus to Verviers and went shopping for a bit in the center of Verviers. It was the first time I had really explored Verviers on foot, and I have realized that it is a pretty legit city. I'm glad that I go to school there and live near it! I figured out as I went ot buy food that my bank card was a temporary card, so I had to borrow money from Lauren and Emmaline for food and I felt really bad. But shopping when you don't have any kind of money to spend is good... It makes it way easier to just walk away from the stores or that one cute shirt that I didn't really need but REALLY wanted. And after my mini shopping spree whenever that was in Liege, I was done spending money on clothes for a while. Or at least until my birthday...

On Sunday, Eddy offered to take me offroading in their special car. It was a really cool experience for me. I hadn't realized truly how beautiful the countryside around me was until I was able to go straight through the middle of it! The experience was an amazing one. I didn't really know until Sunday how strong cars were. We were just driving through a tiny road with rocks all over, going through huge piles of mud, and we even went across 2 diffferent rivers! Well, it was the same river we just went across 2 different times... I'm really glad that I got the chance to come to Belgium, because it really is a beautiful country. For once, I am at a loss for words. So all of you are blessed with a short and sweet blog post (for once...)

Cursive Isn't Dead... It's Just in Belgium!

Friday, September 9th, 2011

So, second day of school, second super long post for whomever is taking the time out of their day to read my blog... :) Luckily, my second day of school was much better than my first. I didn't have as weird of a schedule, and I kinda got the hang of things, even though French is as hard as ever. I seriously cannot wait to start French classes (I know, I never thought that I would want any extra schooling either...) and improve my French more. Where I'm at right now, with a few hands movements and if people speak slowly enough, I'm good. But if they use too many weird words or speak like they noramally do, I'm lost... Anyhow, back to the class by class recap. And don't worry, I'm not going to do this forever, just maybe for like the first week when everything is still so new!

1st Class: My first class of the day was history. I was actually glad to have this class, because other than gym and my mistake of going to chemistry class, it was the only other time that I was going to have a class with kids in my actual grade! I sat at a desk by myelf, figuring that was the smartest idea, and this really nice girl named Margoux ended up sitting next to me (sure, it was one of the only empty spots in the room, but STILL, there were a few more left..) I talked to her in my broken French and English before class really started, and she explained to me that she was in the same class (6C), and in the same track (art, for those of you that are forgetful...), so bascially we would be having almost every class together. She also took a look at my crazy schedule, and come to find out that the study period that was written on my schedule was actually when every other 6th year was in art, so I was happy to give up lunch with the little kids and just kinda put it on my schedule, because no one really cares and it was easier than trying to explain it to my non-English speaking counselor.  She also told me that everyone else has English for the next period, and I had orginally been put down for study and I don't have anything to study, so I decided to change that study period too. Other than the helpful hopeful friend, I actually was kinda excited by history class. I understood enough, and where we are starting in history is basically where Mrs. Ellis Sumner stopped going into super detail, so history here is just like a continuation of classes I took back home, but in a European's perspective!

2nd Class: So unless you have a horrible memory, you know that for this class I had English. Now, I think there was a bit of a mix up as far as scheduling goes, because there was two classrooms worth of students and 2 teachers, but only one classroom to go in. I didn't really understand exactly what was going on, but i just stayed with Margoux and a group of her friends that  iwas kind of talking to and they stayed outside of the class. But then, the teahcer came out and starting one by one pulling in more students into the classroom, and then she said she would take one more and Margoux went in... I was semi panicking because I didn't want to lose one of the first people that had really talked to me for more than a few seconds. Also, the whole time that she was pulling extra kids in almost all of the guys in the classroom were yelling my name and telling me to come into their class... Even though the teachers were trying to split the two classes evenly and Margoux had been the cut off, I asked the teacher if I could just go in to stay with the people I semi-knew, and she didn't mind. And obviously, even though I didn't really know any of the guys other than the one that had helped me out in Chemistry the previous day, the word was getting around that I who I was and that I was an American because suddenly everybody wanted to be my best friend... And in the hallways, random people were saying hi to me. Through this, I also learned that my school must not be a very big school for all of the older kids to have heard about me, as well as knowing that in our school there were two Australians and one other American. In Anglais, I was once again used as some what of a teacher, and since they were studying 9/11, the teacher asked me about my memories of the day. Now, when that happened I was pretty darn little, and I hardly even remember it at all. But I didn't want to seem like the horrible American who doesn't even care about her own country, so I kinda used my small memory of that day and stories of other people's memories to make up exactly what it was that happened that day for me...

3rd Class: For this class, I had French with the 2nd Year students. So basically, I was a 16 year old learning French with 11 year olds. Makes me feel so smart... And I was also sad, because everyone else in my class stayed in English for a double period, and I had to leave to go to French. But the class didn't end up being half bad. It was with the same really nice teacher as yesterday, and the little kids were really cute. When the teacher explained to them in French who I was, they all got really excited. I knew they were all talking about me at the beginning too, but they were all talking too fast and at the same time, but then when one boy blurted out in English, "She's beautiful!", I really wished that I could unerstand what exactly it was that they were saying. For this period, the teacher said that I could just listen because they were finishing up a lesson that they had started the previous day. And, well, to be honest I didn't exactly pay attention the ENTIRE time, because the brain can only handle so many half translations of things...

4th Class: For this class, I had math. And this time I actually went... I met up again with the girl that I had met earlier, so that was nice to know someone in the class. And havimg math was actually extremely nice! The French and English terms are almost exactly the same for everything, and you can't really change a math fromula into another language. So I understood everything!!!! :) Especially since we were learning very basic math... How to solve y=mx+b with coordinates. Even though I did that in like 6th grade, I really didn't mind because it made sense! Yay for math, the universal language.

5th/6th Class: Once again, I had a double period for lunch. I could seriously get used to having two hour lunches... Luckily, both Margoux, this one girl who's name I cannot remember, and this guy Ali (short for an even weirder name that I would never remember...) all had their 5th class as a study period too. So at least this time, I wasn't sitting by myself looking like a loser... Since we had two hours for lunch, we decided that we would go off campus and just chill outside on a suprisingly decent day for Belgium. It's so cool how schools here are just so chill... I mean, kids can just go off campus whenever they want, they can do almost anything they want when they don't have class, and, well, at least in my cause you can semi change your own schedule around and the teachers don't even care! It's great. Also, I was very happy because for lunch I was able to go to a friterie instead of buy a sandwich in the 15 minute break between second and third class like I had yesterday. The sandwich WAS delicious, but I just have a feeling that I will soon grow bored of havign a sandwich everyday and I am not quite prepared to brave hot lunches and learn how to buy them... Also during lunch, I was introduced to some more people. I'm pretty excited, because I feel like I am actually making friends!

7th/8th/9th Class: Yep, that's right. I had a triple period, back-to-back-to-back class of art. And boy, was I glad to have art. Even though I don't really know any words in French regarding artistic things yet other than draw, it's pretty hard to mess up a sketch or a drawing. However, I was a bit disappointed when I learned that we were going to be drawing boats, at least for today. I mean, I really didn't want to draw boats at all. Luckily, we had a full three hours to do a couple of quick sketches which I expect to be later be turned into the whole you choose your favorite and draw kind of thing. And maybe we were supposed to do a little bit more work than we actually did, but no one else really wanted to draw a stupid boat, and besides, we were havign way too much fun talking! There was a group of about 6 of us all "working" (at least when the teachers walked by...) together. They were all talking to me, asking me about my life back home, asking me about why I came here and where I lived and what I had done so far, etc. It was so much fun, talking partially in French (the spoke to me in French, if I didn;t understand then they spoke English, and I spoke French for the words I knew...), and connecting with some people other than Rotary kids. Now, don't get me wrong, I absolutely love to death all of my rotary friends, but it was really nice to make some friends all my own at school too. They even invited me to hang out with them for what is now this Friday after our art class goes on a field trip all day to some museum (Yay, no school pour moi en vendredi!) I am sooo glad that I took art as my option :))))

Oh, and to make sense of the blog title, everybody here either writes in cursive or some sort of half cursive. Along with everything being in French, it is sometimes hard to read becuase people get lazy or a cursive letter here is just a bit off,  but I'm working through it. And I am also enjoying brushing up on my own cursive! Because, seriously, other than 1st and 2nd when I had cursive Wednedays (je pense...) I haven't ever used cursive. And since I feel like it is a dying art/from of writing, it's nice to practice it! And now, pour moi, SLEEP! Bon nuit!

First Day of School... Belgian Style!

Thursday, September 8th, 2011

Out of all 13 (14 if you count when I moved in the middle of the year..) first days of school I have had, I have never been so nervous to start school as I was today. Going to a brand new school as a high schooler is hard enough, but when your comprehension of the local language is very minimal, stress levels can reach higher than ever before. Now, anybody that truly knows me knows that I HATE mornings. Like, I am the roll out of bed, throw some clothes on, run a brush through my hair and be ready in less than 30 minutes kind of person. And yet, on Thursday, even though I had stayed up on Wednesday a bit later than I should have, I woke up right on time at 6:45. Shows how anxious I was for the start of the day....

I'm pretty lucky, because Pascale goes to work at the same time that I go to school, and it's not too out of her way to drop me off in the mornings so I don't have to deal with public transportation and the fear of missing buses, as well as walking for forever just to catch it. The first thing I did when I got to school was go to the equivalent of the counselor's office here in Belgium. Unfortunately, my couselor doesn't speak any English and my French is not so good, so what we are actually able to communicate to each other is, well, not very much. I went in to get my schedule, and as if the crazy Belgian schedules were there are different classes in different rooms and in completely different times during the week, I also got an even crazier schedule! Instead of staying with my class (6C) and following my course (Art), I get to take French and English with the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th classes, and I never am with the same class so I found it kind of impossible to even make friends! But anyhow, I hope you all are ready to read cause I am about to give you a class by class recap...

1st/2nd Class: Well, I didn't go to my class right away, because I needed to get my schedule. But once i got it and the couselor added all of the the weird French and English classes I had, I was finally able to go to my very first Belgian class: a double period of PE! Now, as far as classes go, that is an easy one at least. But it was kinda awkward because before getting to school, I hadn't known that I would have PE and I didn't bring any clothes. So, I had to borrow a too big t-shirt, too short of shorts (but sadly, they weren't the worst in the class..), and ancient shoes because they were the only matching pair in the the little borrowing shoes box that weren't like a size 20. I was introduced in front of the class, and I'm also pretty sure the teacher told everyone to speak French to me because the only girl thay came up to me and said something immediately got semi-told off by her friends. But then, we got split into two different groups and the nice girl who's name was Constance went away... The only other word that someone really said to me that period, other than Ca va? Ca va?, was someone who asked if my birthstone (PINK something or other...) that my parents gave me right before I left was an engagement ring... Weird, but kinda funny. No wonder I am on exchange, people's views of America really are warped! For half the period, we did some wimpy little ladder work and for the other half we swtiched with the other group and did bikes and some weights. During gym, I realized how Belgian girls truly don't participate in sports because no one knew what to do in the ladders while I was speeding through it, and when we "lifted" weights the teacher went and put all of the machine on the lowest weight, which I am guessing is somewhere around 10 pounds like back at home.. But I wasn't going to complain, because I didn't really want to be all sweaty and gross for the rest of my first day anyways...

3rd Class: The 3rd class I had on Thursday was French. I knew that it was one with the younger kids, because it was on the first floor of the primary building (there are three buildings at my school...) and I knew that the younger kids always get stuck on the lower floors. I walked in being scared that the teacher wouldn't know what I was doing there and that she wouldn't be able to understand me, but she was actually really nice, could speak English (not that she really did at all...) and just told me to take the empty seat next to this little boy that literally looked like he was 7, even though it was the 3rd Year, and copy off of his notes as she lectured. So basically, I was like some dumb junior copying off an 8th grader. Really makes me feel so smart... But luckily, I was able to understand that they were talking about the differences between autobiographies, biographies, and journals (didn't hurt that the words for those things are practically the same in French, but hey I understood a bit!)

4th Class: For my fourth class, I had ANOTHER French class, but this time with 4th Year students (I think...). The teacher unfortunately wasn't as nice as my last class, and I almost left the classroom thinking that I was in the wrong place because it was a double period for these kids, and they were telling me that I was in the wrong place... Luckily, the teacher had been filled in and knew why I was there, and she showed up just as I was about to leave. For this class, the teacher wrote everything on the board so at least I didn't feel stupid trying to read a smallish boy's bad handwriting. Can't remember now what I learned, maybe I didn't really learn anything. But a funny part about that class was that at the beginning when the teacher was explaining who I was and why I was in their class, the kids all got really excited and this tiny little East Indian (I think that;s the write wording..) boy in front of me turned around and told me that he was Osama Bin Laden's son. Just another lovely way of discovering what the rest of the world thinks of America...

5th/6th Class: For the 5th Period, the couselor wrote down that I had a study period. come to find out, everyone else in my class and with the same track as me goes to art that period, so from now on I think that is what I am going to do because the 5th Period time is lunch for all of the younger kids. So I recognized absolutely no one, the little kids weren't really up for braving the old new girl, and so during this period I sadly just got my sandwich I had to order during the break between 2nd and 3rd period, found a bench, and ate by myself. I felt like I was part of some Disney Channel movie where the new girl starts out as a nerd and turns into a movie star, especially since I din't know that on the little sandwich bag the give you to write down your order, there are two little tickets and you are supposed to rip one off to prove that you paid for it. Luckily, one of the lunch ladies I had met before, and she spoke English, so she knew what had happened and they gave me my sandwich anyways!  Iwas dreading having another lunch period where I just sat by myself, expecially since I didn't have anything to eat anymore, so I kinda just walked between the buildings trying to look busy and inside secretly questioning why exactly it was that I wanted to come to a foreign country where I could barely speak the language after all... But luckily, there was this adorable girl a couple of years younger than me that recognized me from one of the French classes towards the beginning of the 6th period lunch, and so I talked to their little starstruck group of friends (yes, in English, but at that point i was so stressed I didn't really care...) and they asked me a bazillion questions. And I also figured out that everyone here automatically thinks Washington, D.C. and not Washington State. At first, I didn't understand why everyone was asking me if I had been to the White House and seen Obama and such. And after a while, I just kinda stopped trying to correct them because they really weren't getting the whole I-live-on-the-opposite-side-of-the-country thing.

7th Class: For my 7th class, there was a bit of a mix up. My cute little friends from lunch were trying to help me find my classroom, because I didn't know where to go, and they read the wrong thing. They read the regular person's schedule, and ignored the little write-in by the couselor. When I got to the classroom, someone told me I had the wrong room, that this class was 6B, and that right now 6C had chemistry. So then, I got walked to the chemistry classroom and by this time I was late to class... The guy who brought me to the class talked to the teacher and explained things, but she had no idea that I was going to be in her class. Since the rest of the teachers during the day had seemed to know, that was my first hint that something was a bit wrong. Also, I didn't remember the counselor saying that I would have chemistry (Trust me, I would have remembered after barely getting through chemistry IN ENGLISH!) On top of coming into the class late, there were these kids that switched seats and I got all confused on where they actually wanted me to go and finally someone just said, "Sit there. He speaks English!". So after causing quite the fuss, when I realized that I was supposed to be in math (the writing was in a weird place, and I had only just noticed it...), I just decided that for today I could stay put. But really, I didn't even try to understand it! I knew that I would be leaving the class for permanately after that day, and heck, I didn't like or really learn anything about chemistry in English, so why would I try in French???

8th Class: For this class, I was happy because I had art. But come to find out, I had art just crammed into my schedule and ended up having it with the 5th Years, instead of the 6th Years (which is what I am in...) And well, none of the 5th years spoke very good English, and neither did the teacher, and art terms are just not simply included in my limited French vocabulary, so that was an interesting period, to say the least. And I also realized that I am way out of my league... I mean, Athenee Royal Verdi is a school known for art, and these kids were GOOD. Ugh, I don't think I will be able to pass any class other than English!

9th Class: For the final class of the day, I got to breath a sigh of relief. I HAD ENGLISH! It was honestly like a little heaven after such a long day... That English class was with a different 4th year class. I guess they put me in the class in hopes that I could reverse the lessons and learn more French from it, but honestly I really just had fun being entertained by everyone's English. I know, they speak WAAAAAAAAAAAAY better English than I speak French, but it was still kinda funny. And on top of that, the teacher was super nice. She didn't understand at all why the heck I would be in an English class that low when I already spoke English, and she sympathized with my crazy schedule and claimed that even though almost every class the teachers have to move around, that my schedule was equal to or even mroe crazy than theirs. She also used me as part of the lesson, having me explain myself and why exactly I was in Belgium. She claimed that for the students, it was way better than listening to some boring tapes and taking notes on that. They also got the chance to ask me some questions, and I was suprised when people asked me why would I want ot come to Belgium, when I could go to somewhere beautiful like France. I think that Belgium is an absolutely beautiful country, and I am so glad that I got placed here. But then again, I guess I have thought to myself why would anybody ever want to come to the US, and yet everybody here is in love with it. I tried explaining all that to the class, but I am still not sure if they completely understood...

After school got out at 15 minutes past 4, I was so ready to go home. It was a long hard day, but what else can you expect when you move ot a different country for an entire year where you hardly understand (but are quickly learning!) the language???

Rotary Activity #1: Blegny Mine

Wednesday, September 7th, 2011

On the Wednesdays that you can't find any exchange students in Liege, it's because they are with their Rotary club, doing some kind of amazing tour or activity for absolutely free! This Wednesday was the first real Rotary activity for the students that are part of District 1630, French speaking (along with the two German speaking students in our district...). At first, I didn't know exactly how touring a mine would be fun. I mean, it's just some tunnels underground with a whole bunch of rocks and maybe some of the old equipment that was used to get coal. But I was still pretty excited to go, because it meant seeing my friends and having something to do (on Monday and Tuesday, I was immensly bored with no one home and nothing to do....) all of the students first met up at the gare in Liege, and then we took a special TEC (the bus line here in Belgium..) bus that was paid for by Rotary. Even though it was a double length bus, all of the students still had a hard time fitting on it. And that is also with a handful of students who were just going to meet the group at the mine, because it was faster that way (I was going to do that because going to Blegny from Liege is total back tracking, but I knew that just riding the train to Liege would be easier...) Once we got there, we were all shuffled into a room where we watched this tacky video about what I assume was the history of mining. I was too busy listening to the interesting first day of school stories my friends had to tell and wondering what my first day tommorrow would be like.

After the video that no one actually watched (even if I had wanted to, too many people were talking to make sense of it...), we split up into 3 different groups. They said that the first group would have a tour in English, and the next two in French so of course I went with the 1st group, seeing how my French is not quite perfected...  Iwas actually suprised though by the amount of people that stayed behind to be in the French speaking group. In fact, I knew that some of those people understood less French than even me, but hey,  it's your entertainment for the day on the line. Our little group was shuffled into a room, where we were given too big over coats and yellow "mining" helmets to put on. For the mine, I really feel like this was a good addition to the tour. It just made everyone more excited for what was to come.

Blegny Mine

The ever attractive mining outfits..
From left to right: Katie, Emmaline, Me, Lauren, and another Katie in the front!

Just waiting in for the tour to start... Delighted by our attractive outfits :)

Once the tour started, we realized that we had picked the right group because the tour guide was obviously previously an American, or just worked REALLY hard on his English, because he didn't even have any kind of accent! The first thing that we did was cram into a tiny elevator shaft to actually get down into the mine. This lift, it was TINY and there were at least 15 students crammed into one... We were all pressed against each other, and we couldn't even see anything because it was so dark! And then, everytime we stopped suddenly, then all of sudden started suddenly moving again, a group of people would scream (for some of the times, I was included in this group...) Honestly, it was a little bit scary because the lift seemed pretty old and sketchy and we were crammed in there. I never really have been one to get claustrophobic, but being in that little lift for like 5 minutes made me feel like it a bit. Plus, I think the tour guide dragged out the amount of time that we really had to be in there, just to let us have our fun. Because after we got out of the lift, the tour guide explained to us that we were about 90 feet underground, and there is just simply no way that even for an old lift it should have taken that long. And somehow, the group that left after us got down there before us. Don't know how that worked out, but whatever.

In the elevator shaft...

My scared face...

...and Lauren's scared face.

Evil Elevator Shaft!

After the amazingly horrible elevator ride, the tour started up. Our tour guide was awesome, and he really knew what he was talking about. Apparently, he's lived and worked in the Belgian mines for quite some time. and now that they aren't using the mines, he has just turned into an AWESOME tour guide. I was actually suprised by how even though it was just a tunnel with some rocks and wood to support it and keep it from caving in, it was actually kind of beautiful at the same time! And in this beautiful place, I got to learn about how the Belgians mined way back when, and we also go to test out and witness how some of the old tools of mining worked. They had fake tools that resembled real ones used way back when, and they still made all of the loud noises as well. Seriously, I don't understand how the miners did it back then. All of the tools must have been so noisy, I imagine that over the years a large amount of them went deaf! As well as blind, because acording to our tour guide going from the pitchblack of the mines (back then, they didn't have the luxury of electricity in the mines like we did...) into the somewhat sunny and bright outside really messed up ones eyesight. I think the saddest part for me though was not learning about the horrible working conditions and dieseases that the men, women, and children had to go through, but instead hearing about the abuse of the horses. Way back when, the horses would be brought down as soon as they were full grown. Because they knew that the horses' eyes would just get messed up down there, they blinded them before they were even brought down. And then, they lived the rest of their lives down in those mines (6-8 years, he said). I have always been an animal lover, and the lives of those horses it just so sad!

The supports were looking as if they were getting a bit rusty. And the helmets look as if they are glowing :)

Emmaline, Lauren, and moi!

Going down the stairs... Even deeper into the mine!

It's comforting knowing that we could get help if we needed it.

Blurry picture, but using one of the fake tools!

The amazing tour guide!

Blegny Mine at it's best!

Maranda (FL), Klaudia (FL), Emmaline (SC, and hiding...), Lauren (CA), Me (WA), and Liz (NY)

The tour of the mine continued up to the top of the building, to where they would sort out the rocks and get out the good coal that they could really use. And here, the best of part of the tour began. Lauren is a very talkative and outgoing kind of person, and she always just says what's on her mind and isn't afraid of anything. And the whole tour, Lauren had been talking about how she really wanted to ride in one of the mining carts someday. So, when there was some ming carts just over the fence from us, Lauren asked our tour guide if she could hop the fence and just take a picture in the cart. Much to our suprise, he said she could so both Lauren and I hopped over the fence happy that we got to take a picture in the cart. But then, much to our suprise, the carts started MOVING! Apparently, there was a little button that could actually make the carts move along the track, and our tour guide was so awesome that he moved it for us. As soon it started moving, of course, everyone was kind of jealous of the opportunity that we had gotten and a whole bunch of the crazy guys hopped over the fence and got onto the carts as they were moving... But still, it was a super cool experience and Lauren and I were the ones that started it! :) The crazy thing is that in America, nothing like this would ever happen. The tour guide would have been very strict, not letting us touch anything. We never would have been allowed over the fence, much less would the tour guide have started moving it or allowed the boys to crawl over the fence while it was moving. Things are so chill here, and it's just really nice.

The carts we got to ride!

Yay for riding in a mining cart!

Oh, and here's a link to a video that our friend took of us riding in the cart...
 --->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtffc2uC-Xc&feature=related
And also, there is some funny videos on the side by the same person of us going up and down in the lifts. and I realized that the ride was only lke 2 minutes, and that the other people were underneath us with the tour guide, so that is how they got there first. Thank goodness for the video taping! Haha

After riding on the mining carts, we looked at where they would get all of the coal out of the rocks and there was this weird and random light show that I really don't understand why they would have it in the mine. But hey, I guess it was sort of entertaining! When the tour ws done, we waited for the other groups to finish and then went into a sort of mess hall where they gave us a waffle and a box of orange juice. I am not too fond of orange juice even back home, and here it just tastes weird but the waffle was delicious. We even went back up when everyone had finished and asked for another one, because they were so delicious and all we had eaten for lunch was some fries right before we got onto the bus (I forgot to eat lunch at home, and the pita we got was nasty so we didn't end up eating it...). Going to the mine with Rotary was a lot of fun. I am glad that my district organizes cool activites where all of us can get together, have a fun time, and learn more and truly experience Belgium at the same time. Gotta love Belgium! :)