La Vie Est Belle

Monday, August 15th, 2011

3^rd of 12 vacation days done… 9 days to go. Today, there were no unexpected plans like yesterday so we got to go on the boat! After a late night dinner with our sailboat neighbor Allen, everyone was really tired and we ALL slept in until like 10:30. But then again, I guess that is the nice thing about vacations. You get to sleep tons, eat (hopefully) good food, and do whatever you want whenever you want.  Still hard to not be on vacation with my silly, loving, familiar family. But, I am trying to make the best of it. It is definitely fun, I mean I AM on the Mediterranean Sea IN Europe for goodness sakes!

After we finally all got up, we stopped at a boulangerie (BAKERY… YUM) and picked up croissants for breakfast and some bread to make sandwiches. Luckily, there was also some pizza there that Pascale bought for me because even though I hadn’t really told them, I am kinda getting sick of the plain European sandwiches. Then, we went and got their speed boat, loaded it into the water, and took off along the Blue Coast. Since we did drive along the whole coast yesterday, the sights weren’t quite as amazing and new but it was nice to look at the coast from the water. We first went onto the Mediterranean Sea, where we anchored and spent most of our day sitting in the sun and relaxing. I was actually a bit disappointed though because today was a bit overcast and very windy. So of course, stupid little me didn’t even bother to put sunscreen on and when we were driving back (which took WAY longer than getting there because the wind was against us) BAM the sun came out full force. Needless to say, I am a bit burnt and will be sporting a shorts tan for the rest of the vacation. Luckily, it is cold back in Verviers so no one will see my horrible shorts tan, just me soon to be tan arms! But really, I can just hear my parents lecturing me about how it was very silly to forget suntan lotion and that someday I am bound to get skin cancer. Although I really hope that that is not the case, do not be alarmed because I am DEFINITELY going to be remembering the suntan lotion after today. 

In the Lower Part of the Boat

I have decided that when I am older and fantastically rich off my teachers salary ;),  I am someday going to be a house along the Mediterranean Sea. Maybe not necessarily in France, but somewhere in Europe along the coast, because it is absolutely beautiful. The water is some of the bluest that I have ever seen, and I after witnessing the locals having fun I have decided that it is the ultimate place to go tubing and jet skiing.  And of course, once I buy this house you are all invited to visit whenever you want, because I will definitely not be using it all of the time (I really am an American/Canadian at heart and will definitely end up settling down there).

Now, we are back home and soon I think we will eat dinner. Can’t wait to see what weird but usually delicious combination of food they put in front of me tonight! 

Goliath!

From the drive mentioned in the last post... Whoops!

I love the Mediterranean Sea!

Vacation in France, Anyone? :)

Sunday, August 14th, 2011

End of the 2^nd night of vacation. After Eddy and Pascale returned from the hospital, we ate another lunch of plain sandwiches.  I am really missing my Subway sandwiches, with like a million options to choose from, or paninis! But oh well, that is why I am here, to experience a brand new culture! After lunch, we were finally able to do something. Because of Eddy’s brand new stitches, we couldn’t go to the market or the fish store because both were closed by the time they were done (mainly due to the fact that it is Sunday, a very holy day!) So instead, we hopped into the car and drove around for quite some time. After traveling in the car all day yesterday, I wasn’t exactly thrilled to be doing that. But it ended up being fun, and I got to see some amazing sights. Southern France is absolutely beautiful. It actually reminds me quite a bit of Mexico, especially Cozumel. The houses are around the same line and the weather is the same. There are also a million of natives zooming around on little bikes, just like Mexico. But instead, everyone speaks French, they are on the Mediterranean Sea, and there is more of a European influence to the whole thing. Also, there are hardly any tourists that aren’t French. In fact, I have yet to hear one person that is not speaking French (myself not included!)



Southern France is beautiful... It's like a completly different country when compared to the north!



During the car ride, Eddy randomly stopped alongside the road. I thought they just wanted to take a break for the dog and give him a chance to relieve himself, but it turns out that they had stopped because they had found a wild tree that grows this delicious fruit… which I definitely do not remember the name of. It looked a bit like pomegranate, except it was smaller, you could eat part of the inside other than the seeds, and it didn’t taste quite the same. But all in all, it was delicious. Thinking back on it, it could have possibly even been pomegranate or some near relative of it because Eddy had mentioned how it was very early in the season, and that is why the fruit was sooo small and not very juicy.  ***Just a side note, I have figured out that the mystery fruit are figs!***

I LOVE FIGS!

Fig Trees... My New Favorite Kind of Tree!

After the car ride, we came back home and I took yet another nap. I seriously do not seem to be getting over this whole jet lag thing. I have NO idea what I am going to do once I start school and actually have something that I have to do. I am going to be exhausted! After my short nap, Eddy took me on a walk through the woods. It is really weird because right along the coast, there is this gigantic forest. So we walked along the paths there, meant for fireman because the land is so dry and there is a high chance of fires. Eddy showed me all of the flora native to Southern France, which quite frankly isn’t much because the land is so dry and there is not a wide variety of things growing. It was still nice to be able to walk around though, and the view at the top of one of the hills was absolutely amazing. I had a 360 view of the land in which I could see the two main cities, Martigues and Marseille, the nearby lake, the canal, and the Mediterranean Sea. It was gorgeous! Too bad I didn’t bring my camera on the walk… L

 For dinner, Eddy had invited over a friend of his that lives on a sailboat not any bigger than the one we are on for 365 days a year. Apparently, he really loves sailing. Eddy explained to me that he was a crew member of one of the first people to sail around the world. Can’t remember this guy’s name, but he is now dead. But Allen, our guest, was very kind and funny, though it was hard because he didn’t really speak any English so Eddy was a translator.  I don’t know if I am ever going to get this whole language thing down! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Hopefully it will be easier when I start taking language classes. Well, good night and hopes to a even better tomorrow!

A Traveling We Will Go....

Saturday, August 13th, 2011

Well, here I am sitting on a sailboat in Southern France. That’s 3 feet above ground. Not even docked. A bit weird, right? I guess we are supposed to just use their speedboat to get  around the water and the car to get around the town. I am not going to lie though, I was kinda looking forward to actually sailing. But I guess there is always another time!

Yesterday was definitely a hard day. We left the house around 11 AM, and didn’t even get here until 10. There were the periodic stops for bathroom breaks and to switch the drivers, but it was pretty hard. Especially since I had to share the backseat with one of the dogs! They have three dogs, two big and one small. There are pretty darn cute, but the small one absolutely hates me. Everytime I get near it, it starts to bark and growl at me! I have never had a dog NOT like me! It makes me miss my sweet little boys back at home. I do not know exactly why, but the day before we left we dropped off Cecile’s dog at a doggy hotel. I guess she doesn’t get along with the two boys? So I thought we were just taking the little one and the crazy but cute Goliath. (They pronounce it Go-lee-at) But once I got into the car, there was no little dog. So I actually have no idea where it is!  I also realized that I must have left my headphones on the airplane (not such a big deal because I had grabbed the ones with only one working ear!) but then I literally had nothing to do except look at the scenery or sleep. And there is only so much scenery you can look at, so I slept. A lot.

One of the breaks we took on the car ride was in Luxembourg. They have rest stops just like we have at home, but they are always paired with a gas station and maybe a store as well. But the rest stop in Luxembourg, it was crazy! There had to be at least 400 people there, maybe even more. Eddy explained to me that the reason there were so many people was because there is hardly any tax in Luxembourg, so everybody goes there to buy tons of stuff. Just like my parents who came down to the U.S. to buy things when we lived in Canada… The De Decker family even goes so far as to bring gas tanks with them and fill them up and store them at home, rather than buy gas locally. I guess Luxembourg must be really cheap…

After the long car ride, we went to this restaurant that is apparently known for its fish. I had fish soup with some bread as an appetizer and the bread (with its special little sauce) was good, but the soup was simply just WAY too fishy for me. But once I soaked the bread in it, the soup was just fine.  And then whatever fish I had for my main meal was just a bit bland, even when it was covered in cream sauce. But that also came with potatoes and a few shrimp, which were absolutely delicious. Then, for dessert, I discovered that I LOVE pistachio ice cream, and that Europeans DO NOT know what caramel ice cream is supposed to taste like, because it was nasty. Oh, I also discovered that it was common for people in France to finish out their meal with cheese. None of the cheese looked particularly appetizing, but then again I am not really a cheese girl.

After a really hard night, I woke up to find out that Eddy’s stitches for his surgery were messed up, so now I am all by myself on the docked sailboat while Eddy and Pascale are at the hospital trying to get his stitches fixed. Not exactly how I imagined vacation in France starting out, but what can you do if there is an unexpected emergency? A least it is warm! J

My Home for Almost 2 Weeks

I'm on a boat!:)

Port Maritima! (there were a lot more boats than just this...)

Day 4

Not too many exciting things today... I think they were just trying to give me a day to rest before I leave for SOUTHERN FRANCE tommorrow!!! :) Ahh, I cannot wait to go on vacation with my host parents. And I think it is coming at just the right time. Before I even have time to miss home too much, I get swept away on a wonderful vacation. This morning, I woke up kinda late, even after my loooonnnng nap yesterday. Hopefully I get used to this stupid time difference soon! Then, Cecile and I went out and picked up lunch at a little sandwich shop, picked up Pascale on what I am assuming was her lunch break, went to the phone store to get Cecile's phone to work in the U.S. (I think? It is still kinda hard to understand...), and dropped Pascale back off at work. By the time we had done all of that, it was time to go back home and eat lunch! Ahh I need to stop wasting my mornings with so much sleep...

The sandwiches were definitely signature European sandwiches! They were quite plain, mine with just chicken, carrots (I know, kinda weird, right?) and mayo. The best part was that the sandwich was on half of a HUGE baguette. It really made me think of my sister, Maddie, who is obsessed with bread and how much she would love all of the boulangeries (bakeries) in Belgique! Of course, I couldn't eat it all. Belgians, they definitely know how to eat, because they eat a LOT all of the time. I just eat until I am mostly full, then stop. I think they understand, but they probably think I am crazy at how "little" I eat. And it's not just my family, it's EVERYONE! But all of the food is so good, so I can understand why they eat. What  Idon't understand is how the majority of them manage to stay so darn skinny...

After lunch, we took a rest and then Cecile had to go and help a friend with some type of emergency.  Ididn't mind, because after all she will leaving for Wyoming soon and she needs time to say goodbye and be with all of her friends. But rather than just stay in the house and be lazy,  I went outside for a quick walk around my street. It just seems like every single part of Belgium is beautiful! Almost all of the houses are made out of beautiful old brick., In fact, it seems that almost every single building in Belgium is made of brick. It is pretty, but what I don't understand is where all of this brick came from! Because there is a lot... Some of the people that saw me or drove past me must of thought i was crazy, wlaking around in the rain taking pictures of some people's houses (I tried to take pictures where it looked like no one was home...) I wish that I could just explain to them that I am a crazy American who lives in Seattle, where there is rain 350 days of the year.




Ma Maison (my house!)



There are beautiful vines on like every building...



Brick, brick, brick, brick!



They have rhodies, just like at home!



The cute little mailboxes that most houses have:)

 Well, that is all for now. I am going to eat dinner soon, get packed up for my vacation, and then it is off to bed!

Jet Lagged But Lovin' It!

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

 Therme de Spa Baths

The Interior (I got the pics off the Internet)

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

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

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



Lake... Genval?

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



Yummmmm!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



And so the adventure begins...

Well, I have finally made it to Verviers! I left at around 6 in the morning on Monday, August 8th after saying goodbye to my older sister and brother. Then, we headed to the airport (Mum, Dad, Maddie, and I) and I said goodbye there. Mum was able to stay at the airport and stand in line in security with me, but Dad and Maddie had to leave so Maddie could catch the ferry to go to her lacrosse camp on Banbridge Island. Of course, the got caught in traffic and missed to ferry, making it so that my mom had to wait forever until my dad could get back. It was really hard saying goodbye to my family, especially knowing that I could not see them for an entire year! After getting my customary Starbucks drink and breakfast, I boarded the plane for Chicago. There, I had a long layover and on top of that, it was heavily raining which caused all of the planes to get backed up. I ended up just sitting on the runway for about an hour. The Chicago airport really needs to take some tips from Seattle, because I have NEVER seen airplanes backed up there due to the rain...

After a very long flight during which I suprisingly got a lot of sleep, I landed in Brussels. Finding my luggage took quite a while and it was hard because I had to drag all of my suitcases around until I could get a luggage cart. Then, I was able to move around much easier and I easily found my family, thanks to the sign that they had made. We then left for my village, which is about an hour away from Brussels. Once I got into the car, I actually started feeling what I thought was car sick, but for the time being I was able to put it to the back of my mind. One funny thing they asked me was about the cars. They were all extremely suprised that the US had small cars just like them. Apparently, their perception of us is that we all drive huge Hummers or pick-ups or something... The landscape is very beautiful, and some of it even reminded me of home!

Once we arrived in the town of Jalhay, we went to what they called the administration office and registered me in the system. But because we didn't have all of the papers from my school, I guess I am not even officially registered! After that, we went to the bank but and made an appointment to meet with someone to set up my own bank account. So then we went on home, and the gave me a tour of their house. It is beautiful, and my room is very nice and has an absolutely amazing view! I still felt quite sick once we got home, so I didn't really eat anything for lunch and just took a nap, expecting that I was just tired and a bit carsick. But, when I woke up to go to the bank and set up my account, I still felt sick. So when we got home I laid down for another nap and then I got sick. I decided, since when I went to London I got sick as well after the car ride from the airport, that crossing the Atlantic Ocean just takes a toll on me. After a while, my couselor and his wife came by to visit. I was feeling a bit better at thast point, so I talked to them in my "French" (luckily there english was good...) and sat with everyone while they ate dinner. It was definitely nice to go to sleep after such a long two days.

This morning, I woke up and I dropped of my host mom at her work in Verviers at a hospital. Then, my host sister, Cecile, drove me around Verviers and showed me the main town. It is absolutely gorgeous. It is everything that I expected it to be and better. All of the buildings are old and beautiful and the main city is surronded by gorgeous countryside with green rolling hills. I wish I would have been smart enough to bring my camera with me, but then again it would have been hard to take pictures from the car. For breakfast, we stopped at one of the many bakeries around town. The bakery was absolutely adorable. Just like any bakery you could imagine being in Europe. It had ot crossiants (which I got for breakfast) and beautiful desserts and a million different types of bread to choose from, and they all looked delicious. They also had the ever famous Belgian waffles, which we bought so I could try later on when I wanted to. We just ate lunch, set up my new phone that my parents gave me as a gift last night, and now I think we are going to explore Jalhay, my actual town, a bit more more! Pictures to come later...

4 Days and Counting...

Well, the countdown has almost come to an end. Only 4 more days, well five if you count my 16 hour flight, and I will be in Belgium! Just thinking about it is crazy. Of course, I am so excited to leave, but I am also very sad to leave behind my friends and most of all, my family. The whole exchange-gonna-be-gone-for-a-whole-year thing has yet to kick in yet... The summer has just flown by SUPER fast and part of me just doesn't want it to end. Forget the language barrier, the whole leaving family thing is definitely the hardest part.

Since Monday, I have been all packed up. So whenever I see or think of something, I just pack it. But that also means that I have been wearing like the exact same clothes for the past week just due to the fact that the rest of my nice clothes are packed... I can't believe it, but I fit ALL of my clothes (minus a few coats and my dresses that I plan to pack last minute to avoid wrinkles) that I want to bring into one large suitcase and one carry-on suitcase, with a little bit of excess clothing that I squished in with all of my gifts. But if you end up seeing someone in the airport on Monday wearing like four coats, that would be me! :)