Les Bus Sont En Greve! :]

Bonjour :]

So you might be wondering, why is Maggie blogging at 10 am, why isn't she in school? Well I will gladly tell you the reason I'm at home, curled up on the couch with my sister blanket, drinking hot coffee...the bus drivers are on strike! :D Usually I don't go to school on the bus but my ride didn't show today, Mano had to go to work, and since there was no bus (and today is a short day anyways) I got to stay home! So I say by all means bus drivers of Belgium, stay unhappy and strike all you want, I don't mind :]

I just realized that this means I'll only have two days of school this week! My day just keeps getting better haha, no school really isn't that bad but it's always nice to have time to just relax at home. I don't believe I've told you why I didn't have school yesterday or the day before have I? Well Monday was a holiday so there was no school and all the businesses were closed but get this, it was only in Wallonia! The 27th of September is the day that the Belgians chased the Dutch out of Brussels, and the holiday is actually "a celebration of the french-speaking Belgians." This is just so weird to me, having a national type holiday in only half of the nation. I think it would be something like if all the confederate states back home had an official holiday celebrating a battle they'd won in the war and everything was shut down in only the south, it kinda seems like it'd be a slap in the face to the Dutch-speaking Belgians, it's really kinda bizarre! But it was a nice vacation, I just hung around the house with Isabelle and relaxed, and Dad you'll be proud of me I even worked on my French! Hahaha

Now yesterday was a much more interesting day! I went to "Aventure Parc" with my class! Contrary to my usual pre-departure anxiety (thanks Dad :P) I had tons of fun! It was a sort of ropes course, but not like any I'd done before because you didn't have people on the ground holding your rope (I can't remember what that's called for some reason) there were just two little hook things (can't remember what they're called either) attached to your harness and you just attached yourself to all the various wires, it was really convenient and fast moving except when we got stuck behind the kids who were really freaked out and moving slowly. But the best part was spending the day with my classmates outside of class, it was cool because we could talk and joke and I now feel closer to all of them then before :]


This is my class minus two people who weren't there :]

Speaking of which, I have finally discovered the secret to my tiny class! Yes, my school is small and there are less students than in most schools but also there are other "options" for 6th, and I think 5th, year students (I'm in the 6th year) so there are more students in their last year of school, they just aren't in general! So I haven't figured out what all the other options are, I'll let you know when I do, but I think they're more like job training type stuff, et voila! It's kinda sad I've been here this long and am just figuring this out haha but hey there is a language barrier!

Oh and one last thing, the other day in class we were talking about how expensive it is to fly here, when I said that I wasn't sure how much my ticket was but I thought it was somewhere around $800-$900 one boy in my class exclaimed, "Tu es folle! 900 dollars pour venir a Belgique!" I had to laugh :]

Kayak Adventures

Saturday was Rotex activity number 1: A kayak trip with my fellow exchange students 20 km down the Lesse river. It was quite a day!

First, I had to get up at five to be at Jackson's house by 5:55. I had decided to go with Jackson (Texas), Mark (Arizona), and Laura (Colombia) because it's more fun than going by myself and if I went with them Mano wouldn't have to drive me to the train station at 6:30 am! So I walked to Jackson's house and then his dad drove the four of us to the train station in Marcienne-au-Pont around 6:20, our train was set to leave at 6:35. Let me just say that at this point it was still dark out and absolutely freezing and we were all standing outside waiting for the train, which turned out to be an hour late! Yes, it was getting light out by the time we actually got on the train and we were a little worried that we would miss our next train because of the delay, luckily we didn't :] The rest of our trip there was uneventful, thankfully.

When we finally arrived I was beginning to second guess my decision to go, first off kayaking isn't really my thing, I was there mostly to get to see the other students, and secondly the sky was a menacing gray, rainy kayaking anyone?? Also, I was definitely not prepared, I had a raincoat to wear and at the last minute I'd thrown a pair of leggings in my bag, and that's it. No change of clothes, no nothing! Fortunately one of the other girls had an extra pair of water-resistant pants that
she let me borrow and I managed to stretch my outfit into two so I would have a dry change of clothes at the end. Then another stroke of good luck, the clouds began to dissipate and the lovely sun shone through :] So with my awesome pants and the sun shining on my face I was starting to feel more optimistic about the day and Jackson and I set off in our kayak.

I was immediately grateful for the pants, even though it wasn't raining, it was cold and my paddles kept dripping on my legs, I would've been absolutely miserable in jeans! The first half of our journey was rather uneventful, for us anyways, Laura ended up flipping her kayak and when she did, for some reason she started to take off her clothes (not sure what the thought process behind that is) and ended up losing her shirt and socks in the river! Luckily some guys helped her out and gave her their extra clothes! As for us, we just kind of meandered along and ended up "joining" kayaks with some other guys and we just joked and laughed the whole way :] For lunch we stopped at a little like campground thing that had a little place selling frites and beverages, by the time we got there I felt like a Maggiecicle so you can only imagine my utter joy when I saw a someone drinking a steaming mug of hot chocolate! It was amazing! The only thing was that I wished the mug was like giant sized so I could just wrap my whole body around it, yes that's how cold I was. Then to make the hot chocolate even more amazing, in the lunch I'd packed I'd stuck in some little cookies that went perfectly with our hot coco :D

So after we'd gotten a bit warmer we headed out for the second half of the day. Unfortunately our luck didn't last, almost as soon as we were back on the river it started to rain, and I mean it was really raining, it was pouring buckets of freezing water on us! We started screaming and paddling as fast and hard as we could and tried to take shelter under some trees hanging over the river, though that didn't make much difference and we ended up just paddling through it and soon enough it cleared up. Apparently it was only raining over the part of the river we were on and just to give you an idea of exactly how soaked we were, when we caught up with the kayaks who were in front of us they'd thought we'd flipped our kayak!

After that it rained off and on for the rest of the trip but nothing near as intense as that first downpour. Though it was cold and wet the view the entire time totally made up for it! It was absolutely beautiful, about three quarters of the way through we even saw this old castle on a sort of bluff right above the river it was so cool! Unfortunately since I was gawking at the castle and our kayak was just floating down the river, I didn't notice the little "waterfall" until we were practically going over it!

Here are some pictures from the river:









By the time we finally got to the end I was drenched and my arms were starting to get tired. I was actually very proud of myself, I paddled the whole way while Jackson was the "rudder" aka sit in the back and do nothing, at one point he even said, "wow, you're really strong, I wouldn't want to get in a fight with you" that was a little awkward haha. So I grabbed a hot chocolate before catching the train home...by the time I actually got home it was 9:30, I was still slightly chilled and my arms were throbbing! Thank goodness my family had made soup for dinner :] Nothing tastes better than warm creamy potato soup after a long day in the cold! All in all I throughly enjoyed myself, and this blog really does no justice to my experience!

Just a Few Things

Hello :]

So nothing really big has happened but there have been a few funny little things, plus I've been told if I blog more then Dad will too, so here goes!

Yesterday I went to my second Rotary meeting and it was quite different than Rotary back in good ol' Portola. First off it literally is a bunch of old guys in suits, I don't think there is an actual dress code but needless to say I never go without my blazer (even with it I'm under dressed). Secondly they are not near as obnoxious (used in the best possible way) as the Portola club, for example there is no welcome song...sigh. Though they do joke around with each other, I never get the jokes of course, I just know they're joking around because someone will say something and everyone else will laugh. All of the members are super nice and very welcoming. But enough about the people, to the most important part! The food. Oh my goodness, it is amazing! So when we first get there there are some hors d'oeuvres and drinks out, and the members mingle for about twenty minutes until the bell is rung to signal that lunch is ready. Then it only gets better! All the tables are completely set with two bottles of water (one bubbly one flat) and three bottles of wine. Then we are served the first course, yesterday it was like a sort of shrimp dish. I ate the whole thing, and I don't like shrimp! Then the server brings out the main course, oh my gosh delicious, yesterday it was a shish kabob with different kinds of meat, a salad, a baked potato, and some garbanzo beans. But it's still not over after that! Then it's dessert, yesterday it was a crepe served with ice cream and chocolate sauce (but it's actual melted Belgian chocolate, oh so much better than Hershey's chocolate syrup!) And then, yes I'm still not done, this is followed by an espresso. Needless to say I love going to the Rotary meetings!

So besides that here are just a few things that have happened:

-I had my first Belgian waffle! Dear Lord :D It wasn't even just the delicious waffle, it had banana, ice cream, and chocolate sauce on it!



-My English teacher corrected my English, and she wasn't even right. She had passed out a paper on Anne Frank and we had to read it, then she gave us another paper with phrases from the text and we had to make sentences out of them. I quickly did it in English and then she told me that I could do it in French as well and she would correct it for me at the end of class. At the end of class I gave her my paper, and when I got it back I was surprised to see that she had not only corrected my French, but my English as well! So the phrase was "in 1942 (or close to that date anyways)" so I wrote, in 1942 Anne Frank and her family went into hiding, she changed it to say "went INTO THE hiding PLACE." Huh?
Another thing in English class, she corrected a boy who said that on the weekend he liked to go to the movies (?) apparently that's "American" and incorrect...? So of course I was a little annoyed at that but she redeemed herself by saying that there were a lot of English dialects and she had to focus on teaching only one, so that phrase wasn't wrong it just wasn't the type of English she's teaching. However, taking English as a second language does have it's up sides, I'm learning a lot about our language that I never knew before, like where it comes from! It's a rather interesting history, I suggest you check it out :]

-I'm really allergic to something here (I don't know what it is) but randomly my hands/neck swell up, get really red, and start to itch. It's pretty miserable :/ Mano is looking into getting me some allergy meds for it.

-Today was a beautiful sunny day (about 71 degrees out)and hardly a cloud in the sky, definitely reason to celebrate! :D Especially since this weekend it was so cold I was wearing my winter coat and scarf!

And now very quickly, a little bit about the French. Thank goodness, I think I can see a bit of progress! :] It's definitely easier for me to express myself, and understand what is said, though people still need to talk to me rather slowly. Yesterday I realized this is because I need to translate everything into English (not word for word but just sort of re arrange things so they make sense to me), like when they are talking to each other, I actually recognize a lot of words they're saying but if I stop to think of what they said by the time I get it all figured out in my head they're way ahead in their conversation and I don't know what they're talking about anymore. This is much better compared to when I could hardly tell when the words ended!

Alright I just got invited to go look at a prospective house with Mano (for those of you who don't know my family is moving to a nearby town in January/February)Talk to you soon! :D

Already a Month

Can you believe it? I can't, it really doesn't feel like I've been here that long! It's weird to think that I've already been here a month and I only have 10 left! It brings up a range of very mixed emotions.

Firstly, being here has really made me come to realize what I have at home and how different it is here (not better or worse, just different). Okay, wow I really have no idea how to say what I'm thinking, it's pretty complicated, so I'll just tell you a little story of what happened yesterday that really highlights the point I'm trying to make.

So yesterday was just an average day at school, neither fantastic or horrible, just school. However, after school was another thing. Long story short there was a mix up with the buses and I didn't get home until 5:50, and when I did finally get here I was on the verge of a breakdown and quite seriously considering just going up to my room and crying. So as I walked in the door, barely holding it together, Mano told me that my package was here! The package I had been waiting for all week had finally arrived, and the timing couldn't have been better, as you can see I really needed a pick me up. So I got the box and completely destroyed it 'cause I was trying to open it so fast. When I finally did get it open, I swear I heard an angelic chorus of, "Ahhhhhhhhh!" as light poured out of that battered box that had traveled across the Atlantic, just for me. And I literally yelped in joy as I peered inside to see not only my beloved vans but also tons of good ol' American candy! Every little package had a pink post-it on it with something completely dorky, yet endearing, and totally Mom, written on it. I started to laugh and looked up to find my host sister eying me like she thought maybe I should be locked up and I had no way of explaining to her the post-its because they just "are" Mom. Then in that moment I realized why lately, contrary to my way of thinking before I left, I've been thinking that it would be nice for my family to come, if not this year then I'm definitely bringing them back the year after. Not only do I want them here to share my experience (an experience that without them would have undoubtedly been impossible) but also, I want to show them off! How crazy is that? Haha but even more bizzare, a few post-its from my mom made me realize all of this in a few seconds. Needless to say that little "care pack" from home turned my day around :]

So I ran upstairs, I had to call them and let them know I'd gotten it (we were kind of worried, they'd slightly butchered the address on the box) and how it made my day. I turned on my computer and waited impatiently while it booted up then immediately opened Skype and dialed the house. It rang, and rang, and rang (later I realized that they weren't at home at all, they were on their way to a volleyball tournament).....but while I was waiting for them to pick up Sasha called me! I didn't know what to do, I didn't want to miss her call or my family, luckily our message machine picked up so I answered Sasha's call and to add to the luck of my evening, it wasn't just Sasha, she was with Kiana and Golden! Which is indeed quite lucky, for those of you who don't know Golden has been in San Diego for school, Sasha in Reno for school, and Kiana at home (earning money for her trip to South Africa later this year) so to catch them all together was AMAZING! We talked and joked and laughed for a half hour. Afterwards I was left with the warm feeling of being loved :] I realized what amazing people my friends are (not to mention good looking) and what a close strong bond we share, in that half hour I was able to be the totally spastic me and have people laugh at me! Whenever I do something odd here everyone just looks at me-everyone is so much more reserved here! (Not that that's bad, it's just different)

I guess you could say that yesterday was the climax of all these thoughts and feelings about home that have been building up since I left. The longer I'm here the more I'm learning about not only Belgian culture, but American culture as well, and it's making me realize more and more what it is to "be an American." For example, in general I think that we are much more open, like the "constantly smiling American" is often viewed as being superficial when for us it's just normal. One girl in my class just yesterday asked me why I was always smiling! :] I didn't even realize I was lol. It's little things like this that I'm learning about our culture back in the states. With the generally negative view the world has of the US-or so I was always told- had made me almost self conscious about my nationality, do people really hate Americans?? But being here has made more clear to me how different and special our culture is, and how much I love it.

I am very much excited for the other things I will discover about Belgium, Belgian/US culture, and even myself. I think that this exchange was exactly what I needed, thank you Rotary! And now I'm off (with a big smile on my face) and I'm sending all of you my love, some "big American hugs," and Belgian bisous <3

Scones=Success

I've just made scones for my family, and I'm blogging immediately because I am oh so happy, because they turned out ok! :D And my host mom and sister REALLY like them.

This is the second time I've cooked for my family, and the first time, one could say, was a disaster! I attempted to recreate my Dad's delicious pancakes but it didn't work out. I didn't see the T/tsp I brought with me and had actually forgotten I had them at all so I was just guessing with some of the measurements and I discovered that I do not have cooking intuition, they were not at all light and fluffy, but God bless peanut butter, it made them edible! So, needless to say, after that experience I was nervous to try again but...SUCCESS! :D

Things are really calming down here and we're getting into a routine. I've been here almost a month and not everything is new anymore, the "honeymoon" period is ending I think. This isn't a bad thing though, I feel like now that the newness has worn off I'm going to be able to get to know my hosts better and form more deep and meaningful relationships with them. Like the scones for example, I can just come home from school and make them something to eat, it's getting to the point where I can give back to them now that I'm a bit settled. Although the "culture fatigue" comes in waves and sometimes I just feel exhausted, irritable, and like my head is gonna explode I'm looking forward to this upcoming phase of my exchange :]

Later gators :]

Web Album :]

Hey everybody :]

So I've decided to start a "web album" so that you can see pictures of what I've been up to along with what I post:

http://picasaweb.google.com/118295096554490452842

Talk to you soon!

My 3 Week Update

Okay, so I haven't posted in a while and I figured I'd just give you a quick update on what's been going on :] (plus I realized that as of today I've been here for 3 weeks!)

So, last week I was lucky enough to get a visit from Justine and Christope :) It was so great to see them! They came here and then we ended up going to Charleroi because there's nothing to do here (remind you of anywhere else? Ehm, Portola). Anyways we just got some Belgian fries, milkshakes, and window shopped a little. But it was a really nice break:)

Then on Saturday I helped the family get everything ready to send off to get their apples made into apple juice. First I helped Thomas wash about a hundred bottles, it took days! Then I helped pick apples, but it was okay, this time the horses weren't there :) Some of the apples we picked were enormous! And they had a very interesting way of picking them, they would "lasso" the tree and then shake the branches, it was literally raining apples.

So after that, I went with the whole family to Isabelle's best friend's birthday party, she was turning eighteen. And, wow. It was such a huge deal! She rented a small castle (no joke) and had about fifty people there. There was a DJ and a bartender and rows of tables all decorated in matching blue, honestly it looked like a wedding reception! And that's not all, there was a "dress code" I had to wear a dress and heels! But the weirdest thing, for me anyways, was that there were kids even younger than me drinking beer and wine right alongside their parents! It's just so odd I kept feeling like cops were gonna bust in and start handing out MIC's! The next day I went with Mano to another sort of "coming of age" party and this one reminded me of something Mom would put together. It was just in the backyard with a few tables set up, they had drinks out and some snacks, but the thing that just seemed so like something Mom would do was all the games! Yes, there were games set up all around and various people "working" them and the deal was that you could play a game and depending on how you did you got a certain number of beans, and I think you could "purchase" prizes with them since there was a table covered in little goodies, though I'm not sure. Now try and tell me that's something Mom wouldn't do haha.

And now, about school. It's pretty laid back, which is awesome, and now that I have attended three whole days I understand more what is going on. So this is kinda how it goes, I get up at 7 (oh so much better than 6 last year :)) and walk to a nearby bus stop at 8 where a friend of Mano's who works at the school picks me up so I don't actually have to take the bus. Then at school all the students just hang out in the "courtyard" until the bell rings at 8:25, but we don't go to class then we have to get into lines where the number of our class is painted on the blacktop (this kind of reminds me of CRC) then our various teachers come and get us to take us to class. The reason we can't just go to class is because the teachers move rooms, so it's not like you go to "Martinez's room" or something. Anyways then we have whatever class is first for about two hours! I'm not exactly sure on all the times, I just follow everyone else haha. Then we go back out into the courtyard for a sort of "nutrition break" which is like ten minutes, then it's the same drill for class number two, then lunch, then the same thing. It's pretty simple and the other kids in my clas have been helping me out. For example, since I have a "science focus" along with two boys from my class (yes there's just three of us) when we had chemistry or biology they came up to me and told me that now I had to go with them instead of the other people in our class, very considerate :)

Now very quickly a few thoughts on math. I had my first math class today and, dun dun dun, it went extremely well! We just did a review of what makes a function and it's inverse so it was something that I already knew and even though it was explained in French I still understood :) And I know that this makes me a huge math nerd but I was sitting there looking at my notes, and I realized how much I like math, I even liked the way my notes looked! With all the different symbols (plus the French I copied from the board was cool) and organization, it was exactly my "cup of tea." And I sat there feeling super happy and then I remembered that one poster in Womack's room -'Math lights my fire' and I suddenly realized that it applied to me and I had to laugh. I did have my doubts about studying math and physics in college but after today's experience I'm feeling a lot more sure that that is what I want to do.

My second first day of my last year of "high school"

I SURVIIIIIIIIIIVED! :]

Today was my first day of school, well not really classes but I went for two hours, met my class mates (all eight of them) met my teachers, and got my schedule for next week. Everyone was great, not that I expected them to be mean or rude but they were more helpful than I had hoped. One of the girls in my class-I can't actually remember her name :/ I know that's not good but you have to remember I met a lot of people today and honestly I'm having trouble remembering a lot of things, my brain is pretty fried-anyways, she gave me a ride home so I didn't have to wait for the bus!

Et maintenant, my schedule. My understanding is that this is my schedule for next week only and then after that we can make adjustments, or something? I'm not sure. Also, we had to just write it down as the Dutch teacher read it and it's broken up into eight sections which I think are hours? I really don't know, when Isabelle and Mano get home I'm going to sit down with them and have them explain it to me then I'll let you know. Anywho, here it is:

Monday: 1&2 History, 3&4 English, 5&6 Chemistry, and then nothing for 7&8..?
Tuesday: 1&2 Biology, 3&4 Religion
Wednesday: 1&2 French, 3&4 Math
Thursday: 3&4 Physics, 5&6 Geography, 7&8 Math
Friday: 1&2 French, 3&4 they said 'gymnastics'?? 5&6 English, 7&8 Computers

I have no idea what it means when I have no class, or what I do. Overall I'm pretty confused but I'll figure it out. And yes Dad, I'm taking English, but it was that or Dutch! So I feel justified :] Plus I think that it will be good to have a sort of break in the day, or at least have an hour or two when I know exactly what is going on.

One last thing, I've never been one to get headaches often, but I get the feeling once school really starts these French induced headaches are going to increase in number and strength :( Oh well, I'll just have to keep some aspirin handy!

A plus tard.