I'm going to be changing families this coming weekend, which means soon I will be repacking my suitcases, though I'm not sure how I'll do that. Do you remember those cool little hand towels that were folded up really tiny in the shape of a star, heart, or some animal and when you put them in warm water they magically expanded before your eyes and somehow became a normal sized hand towel? Well that's what I think happened with everything I brought with me, somehow after I unpacked in August all my belongings have slowly expanded and I now have no idea how I'll cram them all back in...
All these thoughts of packing and moving has brought to my attention that I'm already a quarter of the way through this year! Crazy isn't it? Anyways, all this thinking has brought about several realizations.
First: I'm living here. I know that that one seems painfully obvious, "No Maggie, you've simply been...resting there for three and a half months..." But hear me out on this one. Practically all of last summer I daydreamed about this year, who am I kidding, since Fanny lived with us I've been imagining this year when I would get to learn French and live in Europe for a whole year, and here I am...in Europe...for a year. So far it has been everything I imagines, and all those things I didn't imagine. But thinking about it now, it couldn't really be any better than this, just because I'm in Europe doesn't mean that my life suddenly becomes perfect, like some sort of movie or something, it's still my life. There are good days and bad ones, irritation and fatigue, familiarity and habits....and honestly I couldn't be more content (which is not to be confused with perpetually happy haha :]).
Second: French. My comprehension of French is way up, I really can understand almost everything when spoken at a normal speed, without explanations. So, obviously I've been feeling really good about that, but lately it has come to my attention that my spoken French is lagging, way behind. I know that listening comprehension always comes first and speaking after, but it had been getting me down. I was starting to feel like I'd never learn this blasted language, I mean it's already been three and a half months! When I confessed my frustration to my classmates, they looked at me like I was crazy. They all immediately reassured me that I'd improved so much since September and then they even kindly pointed out that I still had seven and a half months to get it down. Seven and a half more months of this! I know that patience is a virtue...but why!?
Monday, November 29, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Thanksgiving...sort of.
So this post is a little late (as usual) but my host family here and I had a little "Thanksgiving" on Friday. We decided to move it from Thursday for several reasons but overall it was just easier for everyone to do it Friday since here everyone still had work and school all week. The change of date, however, wasn't the only reason for it's not-so-Thanksgiving-ish feeling.
First off we had hardly any of the traditional foods, as a matter of fact all we had that was traditional was the turkey, cranberry sauce, and salad...though I doubt the salad counts. Mano helped me cook everything, actually, it was more like I helped her cook, she's an amazing cook so for the sake of everyone eating the meal this was a much better arrangement. We didn't make a pie because we ended up not having time, there were no sweet potatoes because we couldn't find any, and she decided that instead of good ol' mashed potatoes we could just eat the leftover rice and chicken dish that she had prepared for lunch.
Secondly we didn't have the whole family together, it was just Mano, Isa, Mamy, Mamy's special friend, and me.
So it was rather quiet and very unlike the boisterous Thanksgivings I'm used to at home, and Mamy got it a bit confused and thought it was like the American equivalent of their Saint Nicholas, who comes with gifts on the 6th of December, and brought Isa and me each a box of chocolate (no complaints there haha).
But overall I think it was somewhat successful, we all had a good time and I think that they did get a little taste of Thanksgiving, or at least I hope they did.
Well I'll be going now, by some miracle, even though it's literally freezing outside, there isn't hardly a cloud in the sky. I think I'll take a walk and soak up every ray of light I can while it's there!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Birthday Blues
Yes, on this day when I should be very happy I've been rather sad, though to be honest it's not because I'm a year older (19 really isn't a big deal). I'm just feeling a bit distant from everything and everyone especially since it's that time of year when everyone is getting together. It's almost Thanksgiving!
I know that in the past I've made it clear that Thanksgiving is not my favorite holiday, it tends to steal my birthday thunder, but as I've gotten older I've come to enjoy it more and more and this year, seeing as I'm not with my family like everyone else, I really am going to miss it. It really is a beautiful holiday, a day to give thanks for family and friends...a day of the year when everyone makes time to get together and laugh, joke, eat way too much turkey and mashed potatoes with gravy and then still manage to stuff in that slice of pumpkin pie. There really is nothing like it here, they've gone straight to Christmas and I'm really seeing what I'm going to be missing this Thursday.
Even though I am planning a Thanksgiving meal for my host family there is no way that it will be the same. Honestly, I'm not looking forward to cooking all of it tomorrow by myself, I get done with school too late to cook it on Thursday. It's something that I want to share with the people here but the disheartening truth is that I can't. Not really. Yeah, I can cook yams and turkey and pie and everything else, I can tell them the story of the first Thanksgiving and describe what it's like at home, but there is no way I can recreate it, they don't understand it, not really. And all of this together along with all the other pressures of being a foreigner here has definitely increased my feelings of isolation.
On the bright side, I received a package from Spain today :) A little something that created a feeling of "birthdayness" for the day and gave me a distraction from my depression. "The Mother Tongue-English and how it got that way." I know that I should be studying my French rather than reading a book, in English, about English but I'm feeling a bit anti-French in my craving for an American Thanksgiving. Anyways, the book (or at least the 60 pages)is fascinating! It's extremely well written, entertaining, and informative, I didn't know there was this much to English! I highly recommend it. And since it is the time of year for giving thanks, thank you Viola!
I know this wasn't the most upbeat post, who am I kidding, it wan't really upbeat at all, but no one can be happy all the time....well except Mom haha, but I already feel better having written it, so thank you for listening to my homesick ramblings.
I know that in the past I've made it clear that Thanksgiving is not my favorite holiday, it tends to steal my birthday thunder, but as I've gotten older I've come to enjoy it more and more and this year, seeing as I'm not with my family like everyone else, I really am going to miss it. It really is a beautiful holiday, a day to give thanks for family and friends...a day of the year when everyone makes time to get together and laugh, joke, eat way too much turkey and mashed potatoes with gravy and then still manage to stuff in that slice of pumpkin pie. There really is nothing like it here, they've gone straight to Christmas and I'm really seeing what I'm going to be missing this Thursday.
Even though I am planning a Thanksgiving meal for my host family there is no way that it will be the same. Honestly, I'm not looking forward to cooking all of it tomorrow by myself, I get done with school too late to cook it on Thursday. It's something that I want to share with the people here but the disheartening truth is that I can't. Not really. Yeah, I can cook yams and turkey and pie and everything else, I can tell them the story of the first Thanksgiving and describe what it's like at home, but there is no way I can recreate it, they don't understand it, not really. And all of this together along with all the other pressures of being a foreigner here has definitely increased my feelings of isolation.
On the bright side, I received a package from Spain today :) A little something that created a feeling of "birthdayness" for the day and gave me a distraction from my depression. "The Mother Tongue-English and how it got that way." I know that I should be studying my French rather than reading a book, in English, about English but I'm feeling a bit anti-French in my craving for an American Thanksgiving. Anyways, the book (or at least the 60 pages)is fascinating! It's extremely well written, entertaining, and informative, I didn't know there was this much to English! I highly recommend it. And since it is the time of year for giving thanks, thank you Viola!
I know this wasn't the most upbeat post, who am I kidding, it wan't really upbeat at all, but no one can be happy all the time....well except Mom haha, but I already feel better having written it, so thank you for listening to my homesick ramblings.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
When it rains, it pours!
And I'm not just talking about the weather! Although it did rain for three days non-stop, causing some minor flooding around here. But no, I'm talking about my activities. Really, for the first two months of my exchange I got into a pretty relaxed and inactive routine...wow has that changed! Though this is good news for me, now I have an excuse for my lack of blogs, I'm actually doing stuff! So I'll just make this into a quick update.
I don't know if you remember but at school I was taking all the general classes with a science focus, which meant I was taking chemistry, biology, physics, etc. Even though I had seen most of the stuff they were learning before, let me tell you it is not easy to take those classes in French, especially when it's your "gap year." Take that and add the general stress of being in a foreign country where I don't ever really know quite how to act or what to expect and you get a completely burnt out me. It was to the point where I had to literally drag myself out of bed in the mornings and try to keep a pleasant look on my face as I sat in class after freezing class doing nothing, when every word or phrase I didn't understand was another slap in the face, a reminder of how much more I had to learn. Finally I manned up and asked my host mom for help, something that has never been easy for me, and boy did she help me. First off she had the idea that maybe it would be better if I could take classes that are more easy, like art and cooking, the kinds of classes that I can participate in and could be sort of relaxing for me. Now, here it's not like at home where you can choose all your classes and take a variety of courses, here you choose an "option" like 'general' 'artistic'or 'technique'. General is what I was in, the kids in general are usually the ones who are planning on going to college etc. Technique is more like job-training, and artistic is well, art. So, usually if I wanted to take art classes I would have to transfer into artistic and I wouldn't be with any of the same people who have become my friends. But, here I got really lucky, Mano knows everyone at my school and she talked to the secretary who in turn talked to the director and since I'm a "free student" I was able to just change some of my classes and I'm now taking several art classes and a cooking class! (This Thursday we're making Belgian waffles :D) I've only had one art class, but it was soo nice! Even the atmosphere in the classroom was so much more relaxed, I think that this is going to be really good for me.
But, not only is my situation improving at school, as I think I mentioned a few posts ago, I actually have some friends now :D and this last Wednesday (we didn't have school Thursday or Friday) I went to my first disco tech with Alice. It was insane. We got there slightly before midnight-we had to if we wanted to get in free-though most people don't get there till 12:30 or 1. But let me describe it to you, we got there and as we walked through the doors, between the huge bouncers in black leather jackets, we were surrounded by people drinking and dancing, flashing lights, techno music so loud it was literally rattling my bones, and I'm still not sure if the smoke was from the smoke machines or the cigarettes. I had tons of fun but it's not something I could do every week especially with the ringing in my ears and the stench on my clothes when we left. We got back to Alice's house at 5 and slept until 1! But like I said, it poured, and I had one night of recovery before I headed off to see Justine and her family. It was soo nice to see them! Not only did I get to see sweet Teeny, Cathy, Philipe, and Valentine, I got to meet pretty much the whole family! This weekend was their celebration of Justine's birthday, the 16th, and her grandma's, the 23, and then because they're so nice they threw me in there too. (I can't believe my birthday is a week from Tuesday....time is flying!) It was so nice to be surrounded by a big happy family! Not to mention all the delicious Belgian cake! I ate so much chocolate...I never thought I'd say this but I may have to lay off it for a few days. :] But it really was a fantastic weekend and the only thing I would want to change about my exchange is that I wish I were closer to them (though, this is Belgium...nothing is that far haha).
Well, my fingers are getting tired of typing, and I'm sure you're getting tired of reading so I'll finish up real quick. It doesn't stop there, I have some activities with the school this coming week and I'm looking into finding a dance class around here :] then next weekend is my birthday "celebration" one of Mano's friends has the same birthday as me so on Saturday we are going to have a lot of people over here at the house and have a kind of potluck :] and somewhere in all of this Mano and I are going to go see Harry Potter 7 Part 1 in Brussels at a theater where they have the original with subtitles! Which is perfect 'cause I'll understand it (lol) and Mano doesn't like it when movies are dubbed anyways :D
So overall things are picking up :] the only downside is that I get the feeling time is gonna fly by even faster now.
I don't know if you remember but at school I was taking all the general classes with a science focus, which meant I was taking chemistry, biology, physics, etc. Even though I had seen most of the stuff they were learning before, let me tell you it is not easy to take those classes in French, especially when it's your "gap year." Take that and add the general stress of being in a foreign country where I don't ever really know quite how to act or what to expect and you get a completely burnt out me. It was to the point where I had to literally drag myself out of bed in the mornings and try to keep a pleasant look on my face as I sat in class after freezing class doing nothing, when every word or phrase I didn't understand was another slap in the face, a reminder of how much more I had to learn. Finally I manned up and asked my host mom for help, something that has never been easy for me, and boy did she help me. First off she had the idea that maybe it would be better if I could take classes that are more easy, like art and cooking, the kinds of classes that I can participate in and could be sort of relaxing for me. Now, here it's not like at home where you can choose all your classes and take a variety of courses, here you choose an "option" like 'general' 'artistic'or 'technique'. General is what I was in, the kids in general are usually the ones who are planning on going to college etc. Technique is more like job-training, and artistic is well, art. So, usually if I wanted to take art classes I would have to transfer into artistic and I wouldn't be with any of the same people who have become my friends. But, here I got really lucky, Mano knows everyone at my school and she talked to the secretary who in turn talked to the director and since I'm a "free student" I was able to just change some of my classes and I'm now taking several art classes and a cooking class! (This Thursday we're making Belgian waffles :D) I've only had one art class, but it was soo nice! Even the atmosphere in the classroom was so much more relaxed, I think that this is going to be really good for me.
But, not only is my situation improving at school, as I think I mentioned a few posts ago, I actually have some friends now :D and this last Wednesday (we didn't have school Thursday or Friday) I went to my first disco tech with Alice. It was insane. We got there slightly before midnight-we had to if we wanted to get in free-though most people don't get there till 12:30 or 1. But let me describe it to you, we got there and as we walked through the doors, between the huge bouncers in black leather jackets, we were surrounded by people drinking and dancing, flashing lights, techno music so loud it was literally rattling my bones, and I'm still not sure if the smoke was from the smoke machines or the cigarettes. I had tons of fun but it's not something I could do every week especially with the ringing in my ears and the stench on my clothes when we left. We got back to Alice's house at 5 and slept until 1! But like I said, it poured, and I had one night of recovery before I headed off to see Justine and her family. It was soo nice to see them! Not only did I get to see sweet Teeny, Cathy, Philipe, and Valentine, I got to meet pretty much the whole family! This weekend was their celebration of Justine's birthday, the 16th, and her grandma's, the 23, and then because they're so nice they threw me in there too. (I can't believe my birthday is a week from Tuesday....time is flying!) It was so nice to be surrounded by a big happy family! Not to mention all the delicious Belgian cake! I ate so much chocolate...I never thought I'd say this but I may have to lay off it for a few days. :] But it really was a fantastic weekend and the only thing I would want to change about my exchange is that I wish I were closer to them (though, this is Belgium...nothing is that far haha).
Well, my fingers are getting tired of typing, and I'm sure you're getting tired of reading so I'll finish up real quick. It doesn't stop there, I have some activities with the school this coming week and I'm looking into finding a dance class around here :] then next weekend is my birthday "celebration" one of Mano's friends has the same birthday as me so on Saturday we are going to have a lot of people over here at the house and have a kind of potluck :] and somewhere in all of this Mano and I are going to go see Harry Potter 7 Part 1 in Brussels at a theater where they have the original with subtitles! Which is perfect 'cause I'll understand it (lol) and Mano doesn't like it when movies are dubbed anyways :D
So overall things are picking up :] the only downside is that I get the feeling time is gonna fly by even faster now.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Vacation
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As you probably noticed, I didn't blog much in October. But I'll be honest here, October was a tough month, everything seemed to have plateaued off, especially my enthusiasm...which is why this last weeks vacation couldn't have come at a better time :D
To start it off last weekend I went to visit a fellow RYEer who is living in Cottemweg, conventiently located between Oostende and Bruges! It was my first real "venture" into Flanders, and it was wonderful! Not only was it nice to be able to just "hang out" and tour the gorgeous city of Bruges, it was also a somewhat eye-opening experience. I think most of you know that Belgium is a very divided country, I have even heard rumors of talk of seperating Flanders and Wallonia alltogether, but I really had no idea how it could be so severe until I went there. Literally it was like another country. The cities seemed different, the people were different, and obviously the language was different. I really realized all this when I was sitting on the train there and it occured to me that if I wanted to talk to someone else on the train, I wouldn't even know which language to use, French, Dutch, or English! I am amazed that such a small country can be so completly diverse, I mean look at the US, you can fit about 12 Belgiums in the state of CA alone and yet we all speak English...so basically, I now have a much better grasp on what exactly this country's political leaders are struggling with.
Next, on Tuesday I got together with most of the kids in my class and we all went out to eat Belgian fries (:P) and ice cream! It was so much fun and even though I ate way too much I went home feeling great :D
And finally (best for last) I went on a trip with the Rotary to London. It, was, AM-A-ZA-ZA-ZING! I can't even describe to you the impact it had on me. The city is such a beautiful mixture of history and modern day and so totally...alive, the atmosphere is wonderful and completely unique. On one of the days we just walked through the city for three hours and I never once wished to be doing something else...even though my feet were killing me and I'm not a big fan of walking in the first place! I know that it's not the right city, but I literally think I left my heart in London, and I can't wait to go back!
Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely happy to be spending this year here in Belgium. I was even a bit comforted to be surrounded by French again this morning waiting for my train home.
So hopefully this month I'll be a little bit more on top of my blogging, talk to you soon :]
Oh and I'm planning on uploading all the pictures from London and Bruges to my web album :]
As you probably noticed, I didn't blog much in October. But I'll be honest here, October was a tough month, everything seemed to have plateaued off, especially my enthusiasm...which is why this last weeks vacation couldn't have come at a better time :D
To start it off last weekend I went to visit a fellow RYEer who is living in Cottemweg, conventiently located between Oostende and Bruges! It was my first real "venture" into Flanders, and it was wonderful! Not only was it nice to be able to just "hang out" and tour the gorgeous city of Bruges, it was also a somewhat eye-opening experience. I think most of you know that Belgium is a very divided country, I have even heard rumors of talk of seperating Flanders and Wallonia alltogether, but I really had no idea how it could be so severe until I went there. Literally it was like another country. The cities seemed different, the people were different, and obviously the language was different. I really realized all this when I was sitting on the train there and it occured to me that if I wanted to talk to someone else on the train, I wouldn't even know which language to use, French, Dutch, or English! I am amazed that such a small country can be so completly diverse, I mean look at the US, you can fit about 12 Belgiums in the state of CA alone and yet we all speak English...so basically, I now have a much better grasp on what exactly this country's political leaders are struggling with.
Next, on Tuesday I got together with most of the kids in my class and we all went out to eat Belgian fries (:P) and ice cream! It was so much fun and even though I ate way too much I went home feeling great :D
And finally (best for last) I went on a trip with the Rotary to London. It, was, AM-A-ZA-ZA-ZING! I can't even describe to you the impact it had on me. The city is such a beautiful mixture of history and modern day and so totally...alive, the atmosphere is wonderful and completely unique. On one of the days we just walked through the city for three hours and I never once wished to be doing something else...even though my feet were killing me and I'm not a big fan of walking in the first place! I know that it's not the right city, but I literally think I left my heart in London, and I can't wait to go back!
Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely happy to be spending this year here in Belgium. I was even a bit comforted to be surrounded by French again this morning waiting for my train home.
So hopefully this month I'll be a little bit more on top of my blogging, talk to you soon :]
Oh and I'm planning on uploading all the pictures from London and Bruges to my web album :]
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