Hello Goodbye

Hey everybody :)

So here I am at the Philadelphia International Airport. Back in the USA. I've got a few hours before my next flight so I figured I'd put up a little "goodbye" post.

These last few weeks have been pretty emotional, you could say I was bouncing back and forth between wanting to be home NOW and not wanting to leave at all. I didn't pack my bags until last night....the complete opposite of when I left home-I had them packed at least a week in advance!

So this morning I got up at 5:30, had breakfast with my host mom, said goodbye to my host dad and brother, took one last look around my "room" then took my bags downstairs and headed out. We got to the airport with plenty of time so my host mom and I grabbed a cup of coffee before I went through the passport control. Then it was time for a tearful goodbye and I was on my way.

Standing in the security line I heard Americans talking and my stomach dropped, I wasn't even our of the country and I was already missing French! But I got over it and got on the plane. I always imagined the flight would be horribly long and full of anxiety to be coming home and leaving Belgium, but surprisingly I was completely calm and though I hardly slept the flight passed quickly.

Coming out of the clouds to land here I saw a football field :) then when I was buying my first Fuze drink in almost 11 months I heard a Progressive commercial "now that's Progressive!" Yep, I'm almost home.

So far this trip has been smooth, we'll see how it goes when I'm on my last flight from Phoenix to Reno... :)

Alright, just one last thing... J'ADORE BELGIQUE!

Viola's Visit

Yep, this year I have been lucky enough to have both of my wonderful sisters visit! Lucy came in April and Viola was able to fly up here this last weekend. It was a short but fun-packed visit. Here's a little bit of what we did.

So she arrived on Friday around 6pm and was greeted by typical Belgian weather...it was pouring! Rain drops were literally bouncing off the sidewalk as we ran to the car with my host mom. Poor little Spanish Viola was freezing in her T-shirt (and I do take some of the blame for that, it had been so warm and abnormally sunny here I told her she didn't need warm clothes...oops). That evening we came to my house and after dinner I gave her the "guided tour" of Pieton.

During which, in our usual fashion, we talked non-stop about a mile a minute which eventually led to her telling me about how she and another language assistant in La Roda had made oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies...and yep, you guessed it, of course after hearing that I had to make some! So we stayed up until about 1am baking (my host mom was greeted by a plate of DELICIOUS cookies in the morning) then we went to bed....but didn't actually sleep for probably at least another hour.

Saturday morning we got up early and went to get our hair cut (both our mops were looking rather shaggy...) then we came home and the chef cooked up some yummy tortilla for my hosts and I :)

Then it was off to Tournai to visit Justine. It was great to see her, as always, and we walked around the city a bit, got to see her house, and Viola got a taste of real mouth-watering Belgian frites! I think I can skip over the part where we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning talking, it's kind of a given now.

Anyways, Sunday we once again had to get up relatively early to make it to the Sunday Market in Charleroi. I love going, they sell everything there! It's huge, and besides it's general awesomeness going was a cool way for Viola to get to see a little bit of the city.

We went with my host mom and host sister and this was about the moment where I really started to get fried with all the back and forth French-English translation, luckily for me Viola (being the genus she is)was able to communicate pretty well in a sort of Franglonle, still it was pretty tiring. Luckily we had time for a quick siesta before hopping in the car with my hosts to visit Maredsous, a monastery, and taste some of their famous beer and cheese. The cheese was delightful and the beer was strong and according to Viola it is "le liquide magique de Belgique!" That one got plenty of laughs out of my host mom :)

Finally, Monday, for our last day we got up early to go see a procession in Forchies of men women and children dressed in old military costume accompanying the virgin as she was taken through town to the other church. It was pretty neat, though obviously minuscule compared to the Spanish Semana Santa. Then we drove out to Namur with my host parents to tour la Citadel. The cities ancient fortifications dating back to the middle ages! It was really cool, we got to go down into the underground tunnels and see where soldiers lived during the first and second world wars.

However, we didn't stay all day, we had to get home in time to go to our jogging class. Viola came with us, I'd been bragging about her to my fellow beginning runners, "ya, my older sister who lives in Spain is going to come run with us next Monday, she's REALLY good...." and man, she did NOT let me down. She was running circles around me! Pretty much everyone was in awe, some of the other girls even asked me if maybe she was running that fast because she was cold? (when we arrived she was actually very cold, and it started to rain which didn't help the situation) Anyways, after she blew their Belgian socks off we came home and started right in on the big Spanish meal I'd promised my hosts my talented sister would make them, paella. It was so fun listening to the radio, chopping up veggies, sipping on wine, playing with my "nieces" and soon the whole house smelled scrumptious! Our noses were not lying, it was amazing!

My hosts had never eaten paella and they LOVED it! The day was a definite success. For our last night together we stayed up until around two laughing and joking and speaking a bizarre mixture of French, English, and Spanish. If there is one thing that I really am grateful for about this year, it's how much closer it has brought me to Viola, I think I have two BSFFs! Now that earns a little shout out to Hodge the graduate :) Love you Hodgie!

may went out with a bang!

OK, so I have been working on, and stressing about, my big presentation for my Rotary club here. I think it is pretty universal that RYE students give a presentation about themselves, their country, and culture to their host club. They schedule it late in the year so the student can (hopefully) speak the language. My presentation was scheduled for last Monday. It was a special night for my club, "Ladies Night." Women aren't allowed in my Rotary club so the spouses of Rotarians have formed a sort of club of their own and whenever there is a fifth Monday in a month the women are invited to an evening meeting (usually they're at lunch). So my counselor thought it would be cool if I did my presentation that night because I would have more of an audience (gulp!) Plus they decided to do the presidential Promotion/Demotion that night...all in all it was a pretty big deal!

Now, as some of you know I have started jogging. It's this really cool program I'm doing with my host family designed for beginners, we go every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Since we're usually done by 6:40 and my host counselor wasn't coming to pick me up until 7:15 I decided I still had time to get in my jogging (I can get ready pretty dang fast.)

However, as usually happens when you are on a tight schedule, we got behind some slow cars, picked up my host brother from babysitting and had to go back for the keys...you get the idea. So instead of getting back at 6:45 with plenty of time, we got back at 7:05 and, trust me, not showering was not an option! So, rushing like crazy I was ready at 7:12 when my ride got here. I wore my RYE blazer and some nice jeans (no holes).

When we got there the room was already full of men and women in suits and dresses (at this moment i was particularly glad my jeans were hole-less).I was surprised to see candles on all the tables and a piano with mics set up in front of the tables. We started off with an aperitif, and hours devours. Then the music started. There was one man on the piano, and a man and woman singing what I was told were “Classic” French songs, this is when I realized just how old the members of the club are; the man sitting next to me was kind enough to explain that these were classic French songs from when he was my age, back in the early 50's! Actually the music did sound sort of familiar to me, you know...the background music you hear whenver someone goes to Paris in a movie? Everyone seemed to really enjoy it, most of them were singing along, after a few glasses of wine of course!

As the first course of dinner was served (lobster!) they offered my some wine. I declined as I figured it probably would not improve my accent during my presentation. However, I think it really primed the audience for me. The lobster was great. I probably would never order it, but it was pretty dang good. There was lots of singing and piano music between the meal courses. They kept playing while we were eating but a little more quietly. At one point, the male singer came to my table and handed the mic to the Rotarian sitting next to me, and I knew what was coming next. Of course he asked me to dance! Well I couldn’t say no, so I got up in my blazer as the pianist broke into a Tango! Now, I don't know the Tango, but I managed and there was lots of pleased laughter and applause from the audience. Apparently my dancing was the give-away that I wasn't Belgian (not my blazer) and after that there were plenty of jokes about California.

Second course was a white asparagus (and more wine for my hosts). For the third course we had a lemon ice cream dish that was sort of like desert (and more wine). During this time the club got on with the demotion of the current President, and the promotion of the incoming pres. They didn’t pass the gavel, it was a necklace, or more like a ribbon, with little gold plates with the names of all the past presidents. It was pretty cool.

Then came the entrée (and more wine) of caramelized roast duck with garlic potatoes! Trust me we were well fed!

After the entrée, it was almost midnight and my turn on the program. As I looked out at the smiling audience, I was glad I had passed on the wine, and glad they had partaken. Now quickly back up a little, I had run through my presentation once with my host mom before the meeting and I had a bit of trouble saying the word gouverneur. I explained this to my counselor and was practicing a little bit in the car on the way there, well he must have related this story to his table because when I got up and was pulling up the power point one of the men from his table started coaching me, "repeat after me, gonvernEUR...exploratEUR....etc" so when I got to that part of my presentation, I took a brief pause to concentrate and then said it perfectly, this was greeted by laughter and applause. Everyone also really liked when I said that one of the reasons I choose Belgium over France was that although I had always wanted to learn to speak French, everyone told me Belgians were nicer and friendlier than the French :) One last thing that went over really well was when I explained that my home Rotary club had very different practices and was much less formal. I told them that if you showed up in a tie at my Dad’s club, there was a good chance someone would get some scissors and cut it off! This brought rolls of laughter, seeing as there wasn't a one of them withOUT a tie.

Overall my presentation went really well. I got lots of positive comments on how well put together it was, my French, and how sociable and polite I am for a young person! (That made me laugh) I even got invited to come and attend a meeting of the Ladies club.

It’s pretty weird, looking back on my first days, weeks, and months here, struggling to communicate and "fit in." Now I can sit in a room for several hours and converse over food and drink comfortably with people I have just met. I know this analogy is corny but it seems oddly appropriate: I feel like I have been climbing a mountain, with the summit always just over the next ridge, and suddenly...I am on top and the view is killer. It feels pretty awesome!

Now I have less than a month left here in Belgium and I feel like it's not enough. There were moments, back in the freezing gray months of January and February, when I doubted I would feel this way, but I do. I'm so excited to be coming home, but so sad to be leaving.

Voilà

Bon, alors je n'ai pas du tout envie d'écrire ici mais il y a plusieurs personnes qui m'ont dit que je dois le faire. Et en fait je suis d'accord, ce n'est pas sympa d'être ici, si loin de ma famille sans rien dire. Alors, je blog. Mais je suis paresseuse et je ne sais pas pourquoi mais je sens comme ça va être plus facile et plus rapide si j'écris en français, en plus c'est bien pour mon français. Everyone can use Google translate right?

Qu'est ce qu'il s'est passé en avril ? je n'en sais rien. Le temps passe trop vite, aujourd'hui il ne me reste plus que deux mois! Mais bon je crois que le problème est que je me plais trop bien ici avec ma nouvelle famille. Premièrement cette famille est super mais deuxièmement je pense que parce que leur fille est partie (au Brésil) ils sont beaucoup plus prêts d'avoir quelqu'un d'autre chez eux, voyez-vous?

Bon fini de parler de ma nouvelle famille, ce dernier mois j'ai eu aussi une visite formidable de ma petite soeur, Lucy :) Nous nous sommes retrouvées en Espagne au début avril avec Viola. Les trois soeurs Wilbanks réunies! :) On est resté là-bas seulement quelques jours mais on a passé de bons moments toutes ensembles. Après Lucy est revenu en Belgique avec moi pendant une semaine et demi, on a fait beaucoup des choses mais surtout cela m'a fait beaucoup de bien d'être avec Lucy...cette année est la première fois que nous ne nous sommes pas vues depuis des mois.

Eh bien, je crois que c'est tout pour le moment...au moins j'ai écrit quelque chose!
à bientôt, bisous

From Burgers to Paris

Alright, I've just gotta sit down and do this. This post is just gonna be a brief recap of the last two weeks-quite a bit has happened.

First off the weekend before last some other exchange students and I were invited to a BBQ at the military base just outside Mons. It was so great! I never thought I could get that excited about cheap American food. Since there is an American store on the base it was the real deal...Wonderbread buns, regular mustard, and patties with Kraft Singles melted on top. I ate so much I was sick, but it was oh so good! I even ate things I don't often eat at home like pop tarts. But besides the food it was really nice to be surrounded by other Americans, hearing everyone speaking English how we speak it and the jokes, oh the good old jokes :) I hadn't been with another American since January when I was in Spain with Viola, I didn't realize how much I missed it. However, at the same time it made me realize how much I'm gonna miss Belgium when I come home. It was a great break but it was nice to come "home" afterwards.

Then that Sunday I went out to dinner with my host family, it was a sort of goodbye dinner since I am moving tomorrow and I was in Paris this last weekend it was the last opportunity we had. Anyways, it was really great. At the house the TV is always on, even during dinner, so meals are just kind of a rushed and silent affair as everyone eats fast with their eyes glued to the screen and as soon as they're done they head back to their rooms, or into the other room to watch the big TV. So being in a restaurant for about three hours without a TV was a really cool opportunity. I actually got to sit and talk with my hosts and I had a wonderful time, I think they did too.

The week passed rather uneventfully and early Saturday morning I caught a train to Tournai where I met up with the Rotthiers and we headed to Paris! It was such a fantastic trip! We stayed at Justine's uncle's house on the outskirts of Paris and took four days to explore the city. We were able to visit pretty much all of the big monuments and then just being able to walk around the city was great. It's such a beautiful place and the atmosphere is totally unique. I was amazed at how no one seemed to really be in a hurry, the sidewalks were filled with people meandering along taking in the sights (and nice weather!) and others sitting under the heated awnings of little cafes sipping coffee...it really is incredible! I loved it and I really didn't want to leave, though I'm not sure if that's because of Paris or because of the people I was with. Either way it was a wonderful trip :)


Me and Teeny in the car just as we arrived in the City of Love :P


Climbing up to the top of the Arc du Triumph


The whole crew.

And now, my suitcases are almost packed (I was worried I would break one of the zippers trying to cram all my crap in there) and I'm moving tomorrow to my third and last host family. I'm excited. These last four months are going to be the best yet I think.

That's All! (Finally)

Adapt or Die :)

Ok. So, before I left home last August I knew that this year would be hard. In fact, just to make sure I didn't get my expectations so high that they would undoubtedly be crushed, when I caught myself daydreaming about it I would constantly remind myself that it would be hard, I would even go so far as to imagine problems that could arise. Alas, in my mind all these problems somehow magically disappeared after a few months. Thus I was reasonably annoyed in November when it wasn't particularly easy going. Then I realized that at all the orientations they had told us that Thanksgiving and Christmas were usually pretty difficult and after six months or so we would be adjusted and the time would fly by. This comforted me throughout the holidays. Yet here I am, six months in as of Friday and it's still not easy going. I've realized it's not ever going to be easy going.

I remember at one of the orientations a past exchange student telling us that this would be the hardest thing we've ever done, that for the first week she was on the phone with her parents every night crying wanting to come home, but now that she's done it she knows she can do anything. I thought the hardest part would be the beginning, getting on a plane to leave my friends, family, and my world for a year. Heading off into the unknown, brave and courageous, I almost want to gag when I think about it like that now! Like some sort of romantic story. What I've come to realize is that the hardest part isn't getting on the plane, hell that was easy, the hard part is staying, enduring, living, adapting, finding the inner strength to get out of bed on those days when the very thought of looking out my bedroom window at a countryside that is now familiar yet always strange forms a hard ball in my stomach. Dealing with the grind of not quite fitting in day after day. Feeling like I'm hitting my English-speaking head against the wall. That is the real challenge.

But, of course, it's not all bad! Overall it's been a great month, I've made lots of progress with my French, plus every Wednesday (since I finish school at noon) I go out with Alice (the girl coming to the US next year) and we just talk. It's really good practice for me and her, we speak English when she wants :)Also, I can make some jokes now! Finally haha, I've missed being able to joke around. My relationships are getting stronger and the time is definitely flying by.



As my Dad said (and drew), "adapt or die" (thinking of dinosaurs here) well I'm adapting, but that's the exhausting part.

Help - The Beatles

So today this song came on my iPod shuffle and I realized it is very appropriate for my situation these past few months, so thank you guys...I do appreciate you bein' round :)

As you know, there is quite a lack of natural sunlight here...I'm taking vitamins to make up for it so the only thing truly "suffering" is my complexion. I am SO pale! I'm already verging on transparency, I'm worried that by the time July rolls around I will be completely invisible. When my family goes to the airport to greet me all they will see is a pair of jeans and rotary blazer mysteriously floating towards them.

Apart from that, everything is well here. I finally saw Fanny this weekend! It was fantastic :) We went to see Rien à Déclarer, a hilarious French film about when they got rid of the border control in Europe and it's the story of a français and an anti-français belge, there's more too it but basically it's just super funny. Here's the trailer, my favorite part is when the français imitates the Belgian accent....you'll see which part :)

I love being an exchange student :)

There are many reasons for my sentiments, but at the moment there is one in particular... Let me explain.

I'm in school at the moment. In math we are studying statistics using Excel, so we're in the computer lab. Seeing as I don't like statistics the teacher said I don't have to do the excercises :) so I'm blogging haha, it's a beautiful life! And no, I don't think this is making a bad name for exchange students, I'm not being disruptive, if anything I'm helping the other students, now the teacher has more time to help them! Plus I get my blog out of the way so at home I can fully devote myself to conversing with my host family :)

Anyways, this will just be a quick update. I had a wonderful weekend! On Saturday I was lucky enough to receive a visit from Charlotte (the second student we hosted). We went into Charleroi, got a sandwich, and did some shopping. It was great to see her and we had a wonderful Saturday.

Sunday I went to Amsterdam with my two host brothers in my third family. It was amazing! I took some pictures that I'll post later-I don't have them here at school. We ate at Burger King (they love it and there aren't any in Belgium) and took a tour bus but mostly we wandered around the city joking and laughing. During the two hour car ride I sat in the back with my younger host brother, he just turned 16, and we talked about all the stuff we are gonna do and how much fun we'll have when I move to his house..the poor kid is suffering a bit like Lucy I think, it's just him and his parents. Speaking of Lucy, I will be moving to their house the 12 of March (I think) so those two will get to hang out a bit when she comes to visit :)

Lastly, yesterday was a holiday here! Le Chandeleur :) a day where everyone eats crépes! How great is that?? Though, I can't tell you why, I asked everyone yesterday and no one seems to know. Oh well, it's a wonderful excuse to eat something delicious :D

Well class is almost over (hope this helped you Golden lol)

Talk to you all soon!

Can you imagine?

Wow, time is quite literally flying by...it's getting warmer (only slightly) and the sky is now a dark gray when school starts rather than pitch black. This sudden increase in the passage of time is probably due it part to the fact that I've been doing much more recently, I've actually gone to Brussels three times in the past week and a half and am going back tomorrow. (Gotta love the convenience of high speed trains)

Anyways, the first time I went to meet up with Mimi and Stan-the mom and brother of Fanny, the first exchange student my family hosted 8 years ago. I met Mimi at la grande place where we had some hot chocolate before exploring the ancient center of the city :) After that we went to another part of town to meet up with Stan and see a movie and get some coffee (ps only in Belgium do you get a chocolate with your coffee rather than a cookie :)). I had a really great time, the only thing missing was Fanny but we're planning a get together soon :D



The next time I went, I went to hang out with a fellow exchange student who lives really close to the city, Oliver Ames. Once again it was great! We walked all over and talked and I got to see some parts of the city I'd never seen before. Oliver cracks me up and we are planning on our next excursion being in Antwerpen/Anvers :)



Finally, I went back a third time on Monday because-this is crazy but one of the other exchange students from Dist. 5190 CA/NV who is spending the year in Germany happened to be in town! Since it's only an hours train ride away and I finish school at 10:10 on Mondays, I couldn't resist. It was SO GREAT to see someone from home. Talking with other American students is good but getting to see and talk to Holly Scala about Reno and the Rotarians we both know from back home was a totally different kind of wonderful :) Anyways, I took them to see some of the musts (or the few that I know of) and, of course, we got a Belgian waffle :)



Tomorrow I'm going back but this time with my class. We're going to see an exhibit on the America's and how "their history is our history" I'm really looking forward to it. So as you can see, I think Brussels is amazing and that you can't go there enough. I suggest you buy a plane ticket and see for yourself :)

5.

Five months deserves a post all its own.

Can you believe it? As of today I have been in Belgium for 5 months! When I think about these last five months it seems like it's been longer and shorter at the same time...

Ok, I'll be honest, I have no motivation to blog right now. It just seems so time consuming and anti-social! Which I guess is a sign that I now have the ability to BE social :) However, seeing as this is a somewhat special day, I feel as if it deserves somewhat of a blog post.

It is getting more and more difficult to post, from a linguistic stand point (also a good thing). I've become very uncertain with my spellings, sentence structure, and word choice in English. So being the perfectionist that I am, when it comes to posting these days it takes an agonizingly long time, I am constantly pausing to rethink something or-get this-think of it in English! I haven't yet dreamed in French but I can notice it becoming more and more prominent in my mind. For example, when I'm writing a note to someone (just there! I wrote some one and on re re-reading changed it) or in my journal there are certain phrases/words that come into my head in French and just seem easier to me like tartine instead of sandwich, chez eux instead of their house, en fait instead of actually... I must admit my journal has become a franglais mess!

Besides the fact that my brain probably resembles scrambled eggs, things are going really good here. As you may have guessed from my lack of posting during the holidays, they weren't the best time. Everyone says the upside to being away for Christmas would be getting to discover how another culture celebrated it, unfortunately my host family isn't big on Christmas and did nearly nothing :( there goes my upside. Plus the fact that I felt like I was missing Christmas (a really big fun deal in my house) I was really missing my friends and family. So then when the opportunity arose to go visit family (Viola) in Spain I jumped at it, and as you saw in my last post had the time of my life. Yet, returning "home" after it wasn't easy at first either. After seeing how much a part of everything Viola is there and getting to feel completely relaxed, at home, and a part of something myself, I felt like even more of a foreigner coming back here. Luckily this only lasted about two days. Then, as Dad would say, I got out of "pity city" put on a happy face and got going. Unfortunately 'happy faces' only last so long before they crack. I finally decided to be open with my host parents about how lonely I was feeling-for those of you who don't know me, that is not something I do. They were both shocked, I'm really good at pretending I'm fine. Anyways, talking to them was probably the best decision ever. Not only did it clear up a few things (like the kisses, they thought that I didn't like it because I didn't initiate them, when in reality I usually forget or am not sure when it's appropriate-after school, before bed...) but just having them know that I was having a bit of trouble immediately lessened my worries and made me feel way more at home.

So now I'm back in school and getting to see my friends everyday. I'm also starting to plan more trips and visits, I've only got six months left, it's time to get moving!

Spain, sisters, and silliness :)

Sorry for my long blogging absense, but I'm going to skip over the holiday's and get right to the good stuff. This last week I was lucky enough to get to visit my wonderful big sister in Spain! From the corny yet appropriate running-to-hug greeting at the airport it was an amazing trip.

My plane flew into Malaga at 23:53 on Tuesday Jan. 5th where I was met by Viola, Mary (Angelines), and Ewan (Viola's friend from England who was also visiting and had flown in a few hours before me). For the whole hour-long car ride to Viola's home in La Roda she and I sat in the backseat and talked nearly non-stop the whole way. We probably would have continued blabbering barely stopping to breathe if I hadn't been left speechless
at the amazingness of her new house! It's like an old school Spanish house, super authentic with lots of color and character, just like Viola! (If you want to see pictures of the house they're posted on her blog: spaincali.blogspot.com) Needless to say it's a perfect fit in my opinion. After the tour we sat on the couch and kept talking until about 3am...little did I know that would be the earliest I would get to bed that week.

The real party started the next day, literally. In Spain the children get their Christmas presents on the 6th of January, the day the wise men visited the baby Jesus. So in what I would call, though I am no expert, typical Spanish fashion, there was a huge celebration! There was a parade and Viola and her friends had built a
float to look like a gingerbread house and were all dressed up in costumes to look like fat chefs :) Unfortunately they didn't have a costume for me or Ewan, so we got to wear ones from years past and participate in the parade. I was a clown and he was an elf!
We walked through the town for nearly three hours throwing candy (or ladling in Viola's case) to everyone in the town, even the old folks were out there scrabbling around getting candy off the ground. It was quite a change from Belgium, first off it was about 10 degrees warmer (in Celsius) there was sunshine, and then just the architectural differences...I loved how all the streets were lined with orange trees and white (or light colored houses) I've gotten really used to the dark red brick houses here which look even darker when the only light in the sky has to filter through a heavy layer of gray clouds. Anyways, back to the parade, as I've said it was great to be there with Viola but it was almost even better to see how much of a life she has there, I swear there isn't a single person who doesn't know her. She even has a fan club! Some of her students (she teaches English) kept popping out of nowhere calling "Be-ola, Be-ola!" only to wave and giggle and disappear into the crowd again.
I know I'm verging on sounding like my mother here, but honestly it warmed my heart to see how happy my "twinnie" is :D That is probably one factor that made my visit even more amazing!

From that night on we didn't get to bed before 4am. Our days were spent hanging out in La Roda with her friends going out to bars or just staying in and playing cards with Ewan and Francisco, her nephew, watching funny videos on youtube, and above all laughing. Apparently we are supposed to laugh for fifteen minutes everyday, though these past few months I definitely haven't been meeting that requirement...when people tell jokes I have to concentrate really hard to understand it all and then I usually end up missing the punch line or not really understanding the Belgian humor, though in Spain I think I definitely got myself caught up :D

Besides laughing our panties off, I had a wonderful time with Opie (Viola). Like I said before, we talked a ton, had loads of fun teasing each other and Ewan..it was definitely some awesome sister bonding time, we even traded some clothes! She gave me a pair of her "fat pants" that are now too loose on her while I gave her one of my "skinny shirts" which is too tight on me-apparently chocolate isn't good for your figure, who knew!? Seeing as Opie is 8 years older than me in the past she has seemed more like a second mom rather than a big sister though after this trip I would certainly say that that is in the past :) I only have one word to describe this change: fantabulistic! :D



Now I really cannot wait until I go back for a second visit in April when Lucy will be there too, two sisters=double the fun!