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!