Although I've only been here two weeks and a half, I already love it here! Communication has been much easier than I thought it would be. Since the moment they picked me up from the airport it’s been all smiles and bisous. Which I may add are not that easy to accustom yourself to. For example a guy came up to me at soccer the other night, totally deadpan look on his face, and my first thought is of course “oh no I’ve made enemies already,” he then leans in and gives me a bisous. For those of you not aware of the meaning of bisous, it is the one cheek kiss that everyone does here. So though I’m not accustomed to it yet I’m sure when I come back to Canada I’ll so accustomed to it I’ll be offended if you don’t bisous me. So be warned.
But apart from that little side note I feel that I am fitting quite nicely with this first family. I get along with all the seven of the members pretty well I’d say. I’ve already done so many things with all the other family members as well I hardly know where to start. I’ve been to Brussels twice now. Once with my family when we dropped my host sister to the airport (she’s in Texas now). They took me on a little tour to all the major places like the “Grand Place” and “Petit Mannequin qui Pis” as well as the Tintin Boutique. And though waffles were at every corner I have yet to try one. Mainly because much to my surprise they don’t think of waffles as their national food. For them it is fries and nothing else. In fact when I told them that most people I know think fries are from France cause we call them French fries I thought they were gonna freak and break something. Just to prove how much they love fries they have a mini deepfrier to make home made fries here at my house.
The Second time I was in Brussels it was with Rotary. Albeit all the buildings were of very high interest the amount of waiting we had to do in between was tiring and made it hard to focus on what was being explained. Let’s face it politics are hard enough to understand without having to stand around waiting for a couple hours before hand. It was great to meet the other exchange students.
It was the exchange students who made the next Rotary meeting worth going to. As this one was just the district I’m in, and was essentially a huge reiteration of all the rules, though there is a new one which may be of interest. The infamous Carré that I have heard every Belgian exchange student talk about has been officially forbidden. Personally I’m not all the phased by it, there’s many other ways to enjoy a Wednesday.
Unfortunately because this meeting lasted the whole weekend I ended missing the Grand Prix. But I did get to see the Retrofolies, the biggest old carshow I’ve ever seen. And because I met some fairly amazing people at the Rotary meeting it all evens out I guess. Though it was in trying to meet these friends that I had one of my most interesting adventures yet. So the plan was to meet at the train station in Liège and just go hang at a park or café. So I was told 2 when everyone else was told 1. So I had to try and find them with only over cellphone directions. Needless to say it didn’t work out too well and I ended up spending an hour and a half walking lost in Liège. But I found them and still had a good time. And heck now I know Liège way better than before.
I start school on Monday, and though I am a bit nervous I think tonight will help as I am going to little outing where a lot of kids from my school will be. So here’s hoping that all goes well!
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