Les Grottes de Remouchamps

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011

Well, look at me. Only a week behind! This has got to be some kind of new record... ;)

Well, I said Becky and I planned out some fun activity for Wednesday. And this activity (since most of you probably can't speak French), was the Remouchamps Caves. In the little map thing we looked at in the tourist booklet, Remouchamps looked not far away at all. And since I have indeed passed it in a car before, I knew the general area it was and that it wasn't that far away. But of course, with the walking a kilometer down my road, catching a bus into Verviers, waiting for 20 minutes and then catching another bus that seemed to go to completely random places and out of the way (at least it seemed that way, but it was the only bus I could catch..), and then getting off at a random stop andf catching my final bus to actually get to the caves, it took about an hour and a half. I had to ask the driver on the 2nd bus tell me where the random stop was, and he looked confused at first and grabbed my bus pass out of my hands, so I thought he didn't understand me. But then when I started to repeat myself and change up the pronunciation a bit (I am not very good at guessing French pronunciation, at all...), he just handed my back my pass and waved me back. So I had to hope he understood, and apparently he did because he stopped at my stop and I successfully met up with my final bus, which Becky was also on.

Neither of us knew exactly which stop would be best for the grottes, but I knew the general area and such. But of course, I realized our stop too late and we rode to the next one and had to walk back. But we got lucky, and it was probably only like 200 yards out of the way. We found the caves immeditately and bought our tickets. We were on the tour at 11:40, so that left us with about 40 minutes to kill. Becky was starving, but didn't have any money and couldn't get any because there wasn't a bank in sight, so I bought some fries for us to share, but honestly she ate most of them. Because I really wasn't that hungry, and they were the grossest fries that I have ever had. Really, they reallty let Belgium and its reputation as the creator of frites down! But much like anything gross, if it is covered in delicious sauce (Andalouse, Ketchup, Mayonnaise, in that order..), it doesn't taste half bad!

How frites come here... Look I'm an angel!

The Entrance

Just killing time...

Belgium, Europe, Wallonia

After killing same time, the tour finally started. We where actually suprised to find that probably over half of the tour group was Dutch speaking. But then we also figured that it was a weeklong vacation, and since the caves are also 4 km away from Monde Savage, a zoo that is apparently set up to be like a safari, we figured it was a good place to go for the day for fairly cheap. Well, at least I figured that. Don't know what got me thinking like a mother here....

The caves were pretty cool. I don't think I was quite as captivated by them as Becky, simply because I had seen caves like this before in Utah. But it was cool since they were natural caves, carved out by the river thousands of years ago, and such. And even though the tour guide only spoke in French and Dutch, I totally understood! Well, I understood enough to know what was going on. And if I didn't know something for sure, or just really didn't feel like trying, or was too busy taking pictures to direct my full attention to understanding, I also had Becky to translate for me.. :) The really unique thing about the caves was the little creek running through it, which we actually went down on boats. It was probably about 2 to 3 feet on average, but was sometimes artifically deep because the people who created the tour knew they wanted to include a little boat tour along with it too. It was actually pretty crazy, at some points the cave walls were super close to us. And all the our guide had to lead us along was a walking stick, which he used to push off of the walls and the bottom of the little creek/river/stream thing. The tour guide was sitting at the front of the boat, with his back to where he was going, and he was sitting higher up than everybody else. I mean, I know that he probably knows the whole tour and could do it blindfolded, and he also turned around once and a while, but I was just SURE he was going to hit his head, become tragically injured, and there would be a huge scene in the middle of a cave, on a stream, where we would be hard to get to. But we made it out of there ok, thank goodness.

Becky and I thought it looked a bit like ice cream...

My camera hates the dark, took like 60 pictures and only about 10 turned out...

Boats we rode in!

Not the best quality, but if you look closely it looks like a nativity scene!!! :)

Suprsie photo...;)

Becky liked the spiky things coming off of the ceiling... It looks a bit better when it's bigger.

So we finished up on the tour, it lasted about an hour and a half. Then we went back and checked the bus schedule, and of course, there isn't a bus until a little over an hour. And at this point, it was past lunch time and I was pretty hungry. But the only places to eat were the gross friterie and overly priced restuarants. And since we are exchange students, and cheap, well we just got to stand/sit around, talk, and wait a whole bunch. We remembered seeing a town right before we came to the caves, Aywaille, and it looked pretty cute with some nice shops and actual places to eat. We thought about walking there, but didn't want to get lost, so we just played it safe and waited.

Cool old building!

I love fall!

Look Maddie I found gnomes in Belgium!!! (Mom, show this to her...)

The bus finally came, 10 minutes late, but whatever. We got off in Aywaille, because we were both hungry and wanted to do a bit of window shopping. We got delicious pitas for lunch, mine with lettuce, andalouse, onions, and mystery meat (Seriously, I don't wanna know what this meat is. It comes in a big block thingy, and the workers use a device that basically shaves the meat off of the huge block... Even the pita shop just calls it "viande", which is French for meat...). We still hada bit of time to kill after that, so we went to the grocery shop so I could spend my 10 euro that Mum and Dad sent me along with a card so I could buy Halloween candy for myself. Well, I ended up just getting mostly chocolate (I am in Belgium, after all!), but nonetheless it was delicious, thanks so much!!! :) We walked out of the store, and Becky's bus literally just pulled off and away she went. About 5 minutes later, I saw my bus go up to the gare and complete it's stop there. I knew, since the gare was were we got off after the caves, that it was just a big circle up there and the bus would immediately come back down. But I wait, and wait, and wait, and still no bus. Although I was pretty sure it was a big circle, after 30 minutes I thought I was maybe mistaken. Since the next bus didn't come for another hour and a half, I decided to walk back up to the gare and see if I could find a train to get to Verviers, because at this point I was just not feeling like waiting anymore and didn't care how much I had to pay.

But, alas, sitting at the gare was my bus. With its doors open, two people on the bus, and a man whom I correctly guessed was the driver talking to some people behind the bus. I figured there was some sort of problem, but was just glad that I wouldn't have to wait anymore or pay and that I didn't miss my bus and was right after all. So I hopped onto the bus, and literally like3 minutes later the bus driver pulled away. Still don't know what was wrong with the bus and why it was delayed 30 minutes, but oh well. I got into Verviers about 40 minutes later, caught a bus that brought me to my host home, and didn't end up getting home until like 5:20. Long day, considering that I left at 9. Becky and I talked about it, and we honestly spent more time travelling/waiting for buses than we even did at the caves or having fun, but I still think it was a nice adventure. And I am glad that I got to spend my day having fun with a friend rather than just sitting at home, doing nothing.

The NEVER Ending Lunch

First off, before I catch up on my blog from this past week, HAPPY 3 MONTHS IN BELGIUM TO ME!!!!:) I can't believe I have been here that long! I mean, being away from my family is difficult beyond words, but 3 months, really? It's crazy. I guess, if I ever feel homesick, all I have to think about is how fast these past 3 months have gone. And, in the end, when I am wondering where my 11 months in Belgium went, I will definitely be cursing this very fast moving time. But at this point, I am mutual. Don't want it to go any slower, but I definitely don't want it to any faster either! And now on to today's post...

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

So this day started out like most Sundays here, sleeping in pretty late and gettign up and being lazy. I thought I might as well be a bit productive, so I decided to head out for a run. It was a bit weird, but Pascale made me unload the dishwasher before I headed out. Normally she is more chill, like just by the end of the day, but I figured that was just because she had said last night as she started it to do it tommorrow. But whatever, I know if I didn't do it then anyhow, I probably would have forgot (but don't worry Mum, here I have actually been really on top of things!)

But when I walked up the driveway with a strange car in the driveway and someone waving at me, I realized that we had some guests over. More specific, Becky and her host parents. I said a quick hi, and ran inside really quick to get... less sweaty and gross. Come to find out, they were here for a nice lunch of the mussels that we had found yesterday. We all just hung out and talked for a bit, and just when I thought I was going to die from hunger (it was like 2 or 3 at this point..), Pascale brought out some bread and the barbeque was ready.

For the preparation of the mussels, it was super simple, but a bit time consuming. He just set the mussels on the barbeque, and once the heated up enough, and were apparently fully cooked and ready to eat, the shells popped open and we put in this sauce called aioli, which is basically like a mayonnaise with garlic in it. Delicious! Eddy kind of let the sauce, well, the best word I can think of is melt and turn into a melted buttery substance, and then the were ready to eat. And, boy, can I tell you is that they were AMAZING! Seriously, Becky and I probably ate like 30 mussels between us. But, it was a justified over eating, because the meat of a mussels is no bigger than your pinky generally and we thought that since we were eating lunch so darn late, we wouldn't be eating anything else.

One of the 4 buckets

Some mussels grilling!

I was so stuffed by the end of the meal... They just kept on coming and coming. Since the barbeque is a small one, there was only a limited amount of mussels that could be put on at once, so it was kind of an on going lunch with lots of breaks to cook.

After lunch, it was probably like 5, Becky and I went to my room for a bit so I we could look up something (son't remember what...) and then we ended up staying there a bit and looking at this little booklet that Pascale had picked up for me at a tourist place with different cool activities throughout Belgium and Luxembourg. If I remember correctly, there are 365 different activities, one for each day. Sure wish I could do that! Anyhow, we got to thinking that we should do something tommorrow before she left for London on the rotary trip (lucky girl...). So we planned out an activity, which you will learn all about when I get around to posting again, and went out to be with everyone else.

When we came out, Eddy and Michel (Becky's host dad) told us that us that we were going to Michel's friend's Chinese restaurant. Apparently, in Belgium it is common for a gathering of friends to start at one place and then just transfer to another place, all together. At first I was worried that we would be eating again, but then we were informed that the restaurant was closed. Turns out that the reason we went there was because the restaurant had been permenantly closed. The poor owner, he seemed really upset about it. Michel helped a bit, but it was really Eddy who helped with the whole thing because his business is bulidings. And from what Rebekah and I understood from it (at bit more understanding on her part, but I was in there too..), the firemen closed it down because of "safety reasons" and the fact that apparently there were some rooms, used as personal rooms but attached to the restaurant, that weren't included in the building plans. But actually, the true reasoning behind the whole shut down is that someone that has an in with the whole safety system has a personal vendetta against the Chinese guy. Don't ask me why though... So a long time was spent discussing the situation and such, as well as to calm down a very upset owner. Around 10:00, a women who I assume was his wife, came out and set more places at a table that had grill and raw food surrounding it. All I could think was "Oh my goodness, not more food."

But apparently my stomach was thinking something else... Because I managed to eat a meal. It was legit Chinese food, how could I turn it down? The only things that I really ate were prawns/scampi and this delicious Chinese salad. After we finished eating, Becky was lucky and escaped with her host parents. But we continued to stay there, because Eddy was really trying to help the guy out, and we stayed until 12 when they finally realized how exhausted I was... But I did get to try this delicious Chinese tea that at first I thought was water with leaves in it, but ended up being DELICIOUS with a bit (ok, quite a bit...), of sugar in it. Needless to say, after a 12 hour long "lunch" with Becky and friends, I was exhausted and immediately went to bed, especially since Becky and I made plans for tommorrow! But that is another post, and another day.

Day Trip to the Netherlands

Monday, October 31st, 2011

Ok, first let me point how weird it is to just say "Oh, yeah just went on a nice little day trip to the Netherlands... No big." I mean, a day trip. To another country. That only takes like 3 hours of driving. Pretty crazy to think about. I mean, I guess I can get to my hometown (Maple Ridge) in Canada in about 3 hours as well, but I don't know. It is just different, to go to a completely different country, in Europe, in 3 hours or less. It's like each country is bascially a state, really. It's that easy to get around here.

So we did have a bit of an early start, I think we left around 7. So, early enough for me... We stopped to get croissants for breakfast (Yay, raspberry filled croissants! And I also just realized I spelt that completely wrong in my last post... Darn French is ruining my English!), and then hit the road. It was definitely not a bad drive at all. The first bit I just took in the scenery, but then about half way through the trip I got a bit bored of that and just listened to my iPod and dozed (spelling?) off a bit. I mean, 7 is a pretty early start for me... I woke back up when we got to our final destination: Zeeland! It is a coastal town in the Netherlands (which IS the same thing as Holland, in case you were wondering...) that is actual below sea level, so that definitely leads to flooding and such. But it also makes for very rich soil, and lots of beautiful plants and such. At first we just drove around a bit looking at things (I kind of got the feeling that they didn't really know where we were going..). But I was happy with that! I like just driving around and looking at things. The houses were absolutely adorable. The majority of them were those small, cute old houses that, Mom, I just knew you would fall absolutely in love with! Pascale got some pictures on her camera, but hasn't given them to me yet, so once she does I will post them on whatever random post I am making at the time!

We finally pulled up to a parking lot right on the ocean and stopped. It was nice to get out of the car, and to be by the sea. Undescribable. There is just something about the ocean that I just absolutely love. It's so calming and beautiful and just really, one of my favorite places. Wherever I choose to live for the majority of my life, I know it just has to be near the ocean. Because I love it so much. And, well, if I ever end up in some landlocked state, at the very least a yearly trip to the ocean. The coast in the Netherlands reminded me a lot of Washington's coast, kind of cold and rocky but in it's own way still beautiful.

The reason that we stopped where we did is because there was an ample supply of mussels there. And even though I saw a sign saying that it was some National Park or something like that... Well, maybe rules are different in Belgium? Because we went right on down there with our buckets and shovels and took all of the still alive mussels (the ones that were NOT open) we could find. I have seen mussels a whole bunch, but I never knew that you could eat them. Well, I guess I knew you could eat them I just didn't really know... how? If that makes sense to you...  The majority of them were stuck to rocks and each other, so that required some work. I just picked up the ones that were free from the rocks, because it was easier and to be honest, I didn't want to get my hands too dirty because I didn't know when the next moment would be that I could wash them, and cleanliness isn't always their top priority it sometimes seems.

Where we found the mussels... The little dock looking things were covered by them!

Hopefully it was ok that we took those mussels...

I just love the ocean!

After filling 4 different buckets up with mussels, it was time for lunch. At first we were going to go to a restuarant, which I was a bit worried about since everything on the menu would be in Dutch, but then that ended up being closed. So then we drove around a bit more, and found a friterie. It is really cool, because even though most Dutch people can't speak English and most French people can't speak Dutch, most people do speak what seems to be the universal language: English. I mean, no matter where you go, you can pretty much be guaranteed that you can communicate with others as long as you speak good enough English. The friteries in the Netherlands just don't measure up to those in Belgium though, unfortunately. The meatball I had was iffy (some more mystery meat for me...) and the fries weren't that tasty at all. But the one thing that DID make up for it all was the mayonnaise. It was DELICIOUS!!!!!!!! The mayonnaise here in Belgium I find to be pretty sweet already. Like at home, I am more of a Miracle Whip girl. But here, mayonnaise is pretty good. But the Netherlands, it is amazing. I think it might be because it is sweeter than most that I have tried. But I don't know for sure, I just know it is absolutely delicious. So as long as I smothered the mystery meat and the fries in the mayonnaise, it was all good.

Random windmill we passed while searching for a place to eat!

After lunch, we drove around a bit more (lost, I think) until we came to our final destination: a muesuem which I seem to have forgotten the name for... The muesuem was all about this huge project that they did in the 1970s (I think...) to build a system to keep the whole area from flooding. Because apparently right before they started the project, there was a HUGE flooding thanks to a storm blowing water over the natural barriers of the below sea level land that took many lives and ruined the land. The experts knew that they couldn't just build a dam or something like that in between the land (it's kind of like the Puget Sound, how the land isn't exposed to the direct endless ocean) because that would ruin the wildlife in the ocean. So instead they proposed this whole project where they installed a structure in the ocean where if a storm was coming up, they could put up these huge walls that blocked the water and acted like a dam. The project was a huge one, but it actually ended up being successful and saving the area from huge damage from storms ever again. The mueseum was ok, and I just realized I spelt mueseum wrong twice. But for whatever reason this website is doing that weird thing where if you try to go in the middle of text and correct something, it will delete a letter ahead of it for every one that you write. So I can't correct it... It had the basics where I could really get an understanding of what the whole project was about, so that was cool. There was a video, that was in Dutch but we watched with English subtitles, and a little actual mueseum-like place with information. But, in Eddy's words, the rest was just turned into a mini Sea World type park that wasn't all that impressive... I know they are probably suffering and need to attract customers, so that's why.

The Mueseum!

A model of the process from the beginning... Too confusing to explain

Sunset! <3

After the mueseum, it was getting dark and we had spent quite a long, but nice, day in Zeeland. So we headed on home... I was glad that I got to go to Zeeland. Because, normally, it probably wouldn't be something that I would go out of my way to see. I mean, I just get way too fascinated by the beautiful old buildings and such. But thanks to Eddy and Pascale, I got to discover something a bit different than what I have experienced here in Europe so far, and I actually enjoyed myself. So all in all, a great day. And I get to cross off another country off my list of places to visit... :)

Thus begins the 10 day break...

Saturday, October 29th, 2011

Well, I might have 9 hours of school each day,  get home 2 hours later than I normally would at home, and have after school classes twice a week, but all of that hard work is rewarded with plenty of school breaks. Actually, the first of 5 long breaks for me! Which is definitely an improvement from the two I get at home...

Today we made plans to go fishing together. Now, fishing, well actually killing animals and such, is not really my kind of thing, but it is one thing that Eddy absolutely loves, so I thought I should give it a try. Luckily, I didn't have to wake up and go at 6 like Eddy, because Pascale was planning to head out and get there around 9. So at least I got to sleep in... We left around 8:45, went to a bakery and picked up crossaints for breakfast (I had the MOST delicious one ever, one filled with rasberries!!!), and then headed to the fishing hole. We went to one of thos places that has fish already in the ponds, or at least once you pay they do. Eddy told me that he paid 10 euro to get in, and then the man in charge put in 3 fish for him to catch and time for half of the day.

But even with the 3 fish they put in, Eddy continued to excel at fishing and somehow caught something like 30 fish. I really don't understand how that works out, that there are so many fish in the pond, unless the 3 orginal fish mated, had babies, and those babies rapidly grew to full maturity in the matter of 4 hours... I did a bit of the fishing, casting the line sometimes, and pulling in the trout once they were already hooked. But when it came time to actually kill them, I just took a nice long walk around the pond... I really do love meat, but I am more of the person that prefers to just have her meat fully cooked and ready to eat on her plate. skip the actual killing of the animal, the cleaning, and the whole raw meat part. Just put it on my plate, no questions asked. My heart is torn between my love for almost every single kind of animal, and the deliciousness of meat. Especially bacon.

The fishing experience was a nice one, I mean everyone should go fishing at least once in their life. But, well, I figured out that I am not much of a fisherman. Or fisherwoman, I guess... I don't really enjoy sitting out in the cold, waiting for the stupid fish to be tricked into biting the bait, and then killing them afterwards. I really do think it is just mainly the whole killing part... So, yeah, I guess I can cross fishing off of my list of potential hobbies that I could enjoy and spend hours doing. I think I will just stick to my sports and scrapbooking...

After fishing, we went home, hung out for a bit, and then went to Eddy and Pascale's friend's house for dinner. Apparently, the guy's whose house we had dinner at has been friends with Pascale for all of their lives. I guess they grew up together, in one of those joined home things. They were only seperated by one house, and spent pretty much all of their time together. And today, they are still good friends and live close to each other. The families even plan out a dinner every month... Really, I was there as they planned out the dates for the next year. Oh Belgians, they really are so organized and on top of things. And in that way, I will never fully fufill the role of a Belge. Because I am just too much of a procrastinator... But hey, it works for me, so why not?

The family was really nice. I didn't talk much to Pascale's friend, but I did talk a bit with his wife and she was nice about speaking semi-slowly and repeating herself if need be. I guess she is a teacher, so she must understand everything that I am going through... They also had a son, who goes to an all English speaking school, who was off on some vacation for the long break, and an adorable little girl who I am guessing was around the age of 7. When we first arrived, she seemed pretty interested in me. Even if they don't speak the same language as me, I still love little kids. I just smiled at her and such, which helps kids warm up to you real fast. It was so cute, after we sat down her mom told her that I was American, and that I didn't speak much French. And then all of a sudden the curious little girl tried to hide behind her mom, as if a foreigner was the scariest thing ever. But as the night wore on, she began to be curious again. And apparently thanks to her older brother, she knows some English because she tried to impress me with the silly, irrelevant phrases that she did know. But I didn't really get that much of a chance to talk with her because she started to annoy her parents when she became silly, I think trying to impress me, so they put a movie on the laptop and put her in the kitchen. And apparently she had already eaten too, because she didn't join us for dinner...

For dinne, we had a full out 4 course meal. An appertif in the sitting room, a soup, and entree, and a dessert. Sometimes it just feels like Belgians are so darn sophisticated! I mean, if we invite people over, it's generally a large group and we are just thinking: What would be easiest to create in a mass and please everyone??? But Belgians, they just go all out with the whole meal thing. For the main dish, we had steak. Well, it looked and tasted like steak, but you can never be too sure... Luckily, Pascale caught on that we were having meat and mentioned that I like my meat, well, not raw like most people here. But luckily, it wasn't a hassle because his wife (I cannot remember their names for the life of me....) is one of the rare Belgians who is sensible and doesn't like their meat completely red as well!

Like most everything here, the dinner lasted quite some time and we probably didn't get home until like 12ish. I was simply exhausted by this point and immediately went to bed. All in all, a pretty darn good day. What I don't understand though is how no matter how much I sleep, or how little I sleep, I always seem to be exhausted here. I have always been one to need more sleep than most, but really it is a bit ridiculous how I always seem to be tired, or on the brink of tiredness. I guess I can just credit that to the near impossibilty of learning and speaking a new language...

Anniversaries... Belgian Style

Saturday, October 22nd, 2011

Well, I was going to go to Brussels on this day with Emmaline, try and meet up with others to go ice skating, and then break off from the group and do a bit of shopping and sight seeing. Because really, our last time there was kind of a fail and I have been in Belgium for almost 3 months so far, and yet still haven't seen the peeing boy statue. It is really quite disappointing... But at the last minute Emmaline had to cancel (don't ask me why, cause I still don't know...), and I wasn't in the mood to try and go to Brussels by myself and meet up with the others (as far as homesickness goes, this was definitely the worst week I have ever experienced... EVER).

So for the day, I just slept and relaxed and such. But then, that night, I got dressed up all nice and went to Liege with Pascale and Eddy for a nice dinner. But the funny thing was that they were taking me out for their anniversary dinner... Now, I don't know if it's common in Belgium for the whole family to go out with them to dinner to celebrate, or whether Eddy and Pascale were just being nice to their exchange student, and felt bad if they left me behind. But either way, it was a very nice experience. We went to a restuarant that specializes in Cous Cous. For those of you that haven't heard of it before, it's kinda like rice but in little tiny balls. Still white, but actually very heavy in your stomach. And it's served with a kind of sauce/stew thing made out of veggies and is served with meat of your choice. I had mine with these sausages. It is a traditional dish in Algeria and Morocco. Mine was REALLY good, and even though I felt like I hadn't even eaten that much, I was stuffed by the end of the meal. It was a nice night with my host parents, and by the end of the meal I was in a complete food coma.

Well, that's about it for this day. Even if I am feeling very "talkative" and in the mood for writing, there is only so much that you can say about a dinner!

Belgium has random days off too...

Monday, October 17th, 2011

Well, I was suprised to find out that it is just not Auburn Riverside that gives students random days off of school... Because we have them here to! Of course, I am NOT complaining at all... Any day that I don't have to go to school and be bored half to death is a good day for me! Not that going to school isn't important, it's just that sometimes I get VERY bored. Well, I mean it's the same in the U.S. But here, I have to figure out most of my own work, because currently the only work I REALLY have is to learn French. It is definitely the most important thing for me to do right now, possibly the most important thing for me to do on all of my exchange. Because that, along with learning about an entirely new culture and representing the U.S. well, is my main job as an exchange student.

So I got a slow start to the day, of course sleeping in. Well, actually, whenever I don't have school I sleep in pretty late. It's not like I go to bed super late or anything most nights... It's just that being an exchange student just exhausts me. I swear, no matter what I do during the day, how late I go to sleep, or when I get up, I am always worn out by like 8 o'clock at night. Which is just crazy, really. Not always physically tired or tired from lack of sleep (if that's not the same thing as being physically tired...), but mentally tired. Even if I try to tune it out sometimes, the French is always there and just hearing it and trying to understand, it tires me out. Other than my family, the second most exciting thing for me about returning will be having EVERYONE speak English. I seriously think everyone needs to appreciate the beauty of the English language more, because I sure do miss it. Never again will I complain about writing an essay, as long as it is English. Because I sure do miss it!

Ok, well enough rambling on because I really haven't had much of a chance to speak with anyone within the last 36 hours (have seen Pascale for like an hour or so, same with Eddy. Not used to having two working parents...) After sleeping in and enjoying myself, I had to go to the administration building in Jalhay to pick up my carte d'identite. It was something that Pascale and I had been meaning to go pick up for like a week, but with Pascale's working schedule and my school and the hours that the building was actually open, it was like impossible to go and get it. So, I was a bit suprised when she told me I would have to do it myself, because I was sure it would require me to speak French and such, and well, I'm not all that good at that part of the exchange yet. I can understand, but am not so good at expressing myself yet... But, well, it was something that needed to be done, sololy (if that's a word...) for me, so I just figured out the bus and went. Unfortunately, I remembered the hours Pascale told me wrongly. Or, maybe she told me the wrong thing. But that, along with the late bus, had me arriving at the office a mere 10 minutes after it closed... I took my chances and rang the little bell for assistance anyhow, because I knew I was like dead if I didn't get this card, and thank goodness someone came to the window. The lady seemed pretty angry at first, but when I explained what I needed and she figured out that I was American (and YES, it was all in French...:) ), and the fact that it was a really quick process, she softened up. All I had to do was go into this little office for like 2 minutes, write out some secret pin or whatever that I had gotten in the mail, and I was on my way, now officially in Belgium. Legally, that is.

Of course, seeing how my life is ultimately ruled by public transportation schedules, my quick in-and-out of at the administration building meant that I had a whole 45 minutes until the next bus that I would take straight to my French courses. So, I explored the town a little bit (which is really quite small...), found a store and bought some Belgian food to send to my little sister in a package (I.e. belgian waffles and chocolate...), and still had to wait at the bus stop for 10 minutes. Although thanks to buses and trains, I have had some nice adventures and stories to tell on my blog, I seriously miss my car. Being able to just get in, and drive anywhere I want, when I want. Definitely the third most missed thing in my life right now...

Just to continue my obsession with the brick buildings...

Church in Jalhay!

Kinda bad pic, but I absolutely loved the flowers on the garage.. They actually looked real!

Of course, the bus was late, and I ended up being like 10 minutes late to my French course. Well, the way the schedule worked out I was already planning on being like 2 minutes late or so, but still. I got lucky though, and actually wasn't the last person to show up. And we really hadn't even gotten started yet, so it was fine. I guess I am just lucky that the teacher is so chill about that kind of thing... And I guess that Belgians understand having your life be ruled by bus schedules. Because a whole lot of people ride them here. Especially kids under the age of like 22. Even though you can get your license here when you are 18, apparently the whole process is quite grueling. Also, cars and upkeep are so expensive, as well as the lack of parking space anywhere, makes it easier and probably MUCH cheaper for people just to take the bus. When I first visited my school and Pascale showed me where the students parked, a lot consisting of about 8 parking spots and a little area for "motos", I almost laughed. This, compared to home, where it's kind of expected to get some kind of car to drive when you are 16. And the student parking lot, well that is way bigger than the teacher parking lot and the visitor parking lot combined... Life sure is different here, and sometimes it seems simpler. Although it would be really hard to get around at home without a car, it still kinda makes me feel like Americans are a bit stuck up or spoiled or something when I say that everyone has a car by like 16. And maybe not a car, but definitely their license and the chance to drive a parent's car when avaliable. As far as the whole public transportation thing goes, I really thing Belgium as got it down right.

Just out there, discovering Belgium

Sunday, October 16th, 2011

So this lovely weekend day Pascale and Eddy gave me some options on some ways to "discover Belgium." Not see some cool stuff, no tourist traps, no museums or churches, always discovering the region. There are some English phrases that they have really caught onto, and say over and over. Another big one is "Don't stress!", which, quite frankly, sometimes does make me stress out even more. Don't ask me why, it just does. But really, it's funny and cute the little things they say in English that don't always make sense. And, well, if I can find some humor in their excellent English, I can only begin to imagine how amusing it must be to listen to me struggle through any kind of French... But slowly and surely, je commence a parler francais.

So anyhow, this morning Eddy and Pascale said they would like to take me somewhere. They gave me a few possibilties, and I chose what I thought would be the most fun. So after lunch, we headed out on a little adventure. First, we went to the site of an old abbey. Most of the actual building is gone now, but they have restored part of it and turned it into a museum. And one of the gates, with a BEAUTIFUL stained glass window above it, still stands. Apparently, back in the day they would keep the nuns there in the abbey, and they were never allowed out. At least, that was my understanding of it all. We just stayed outside and looked around for a bit. Apparently the museum just always hosts a whole bunch of temporary exhibits and I cannot even remember what they have now... But the exhibit before this one was Andy Warhol! I wish I could have gotten to see that, because I actually enjoy his contemporary work. I was supposed to go with my art class, but I was sick and then like the next week it was over, so in the words of Eddy "No chance. No chance."

The abbey gate... Apparently it is super old.

Museum part of things!

I don't know what  Iwas doing... But my mum always wants more people pics:)

Next we went to a church, the place that I had told Eddy and Pascale that I wanted to go for the day. It was a small church compared to some of the ones I have seen here in Europe, but it did have its nice bits. Even though it is still old, church is actually still held there. One of the only churches here in Europe that I have actually seen have church... There were some pretty paintings, of course stained glass, and cool statues too. I wish there were churches like this for me to go to at home, inside of the newly built modern looking churches we have. There is just something breathtaking about old churches with beatiful windows and paintings and such. There are so many beautiful things here in Europe with so much history, and I really think that is why there is such an appeal for Americans to come to Europe. The timeless artifacts, you just can't find something like that in the U.S.

The Church!

I thought that, after we finished touring the church, we would be going back home. I mean, they asked me what I wanted to do, and we had completed those things. But apparently, it went a bit faster than they thought or something, because we continued to drive around, and not towards the house. First we drove past a really famous racetrack in Europe, Spa-Francorchamps. Every year in August there is a huge racce there, one of the biggest in Europe or something like that, if I understood correctly. Then, we continued driving and drove past the Haute Fagnes, which to me just looked like a huge field with wild grass like we have back home, but apparently the earth there is different than basically everywhere in Belgium and there are some other special things about it too. But for whatever reason, I can't seem to remember them... And then, as soon as the fields end, we drove across the heightest point in all of Belgium. I can't remember the exact height, but it was super low. Something like 400 m above sea level or something??? I don't know if that is right at all, and maybe it was in km, but it was not heigh at all. Especially since I live right next to one of the heighest points in Washington, Mt. Rainier.

After that, we drove to this lake in the area. I guess everything is just simply smaller in Belgium, because what they considered to be quite a big lake was actually quite small. Like, for those of you that know it, about half the size of Lake Tapps. I guess Belgium is just such a small country, there is not much of a possibility for there to be all of the mountains or plains or lakes like Washington. And yet, it is still filled with so much culture, history, and beautiful things sometimes I really forget how small Belgium truly is. Definitely small enough that it doesn't even matter that there hasn't been an actual government for over a year... :)  But even though it was tiny, the lake was really pretty. Or at least, all of the trees and landscape around the lake made it beautiful. It was on this day that I was reminded why autumn is my favorite season of them all. The changing leaves and just the rest of nature is breathtaking. And even though I am not really an artist at heart, being at that lake made me wish I had pastels and some paper so I could make a quick little sketch. And since I have never had the urge to randomly whip out some art materials and make a quick masterpiece, I guess have so much art in my schedule has really rubbed off on me...

Simply Beautiful

After the lake, we went back home after driving around quite a bit, just taking in the sights. And thus ends my day of discovering Belgium... <3