In recent news...
At school we celebrated the 100 jours or 100 days March 30th. This is supposed to mark the last 100 days for the Seniors, but it isn't really exact, they have less than 100 days left... I have hardly any at all :) It was a fun day at school; the seniors all dressed in tacky clothes and danced to music in the courtyard and played games together in the afternoon. Schools here are not as spirited as in the states, so days like those I really appreciate!
Then we hit APRIL! For those of you who are wondering, April Fools does exist in Belgium as well- it is called a Poisson d'Avril, or an April Fish :) I played a little trick on Sam, tricking him into thinking that I was coming home a month earlier- I thought it was funny, he did not. A very typical Belgian joke was posting that you are in a relationship or you and your partner break up on Facebook... oh how technical the world has become!
Saturday I went to swim practice and then I went straight with Pauline to the Bragard's house! I love going back there; it feels like I am coming home again and I feel so so happy! Pauline and I spent the afternoon together and then we all rushed around getting dressed up for Benoit's Surprise 50th Birthday Party!! It was so cute because he was showering after milking the cows and about 20 of his friends plus us and even Justine via Skype, gathered in the kitchen so that he was totally shocked when he came downstairs! We all loaded up and headed to a little bity theater where we saw a hilarious mime show; Benoit loves to laugh so it was the perfect treat! All of his family came as well and afterwards we went to this little pub next door for a drink and snacks and lots of singing happy birthday until 1am :) I slept that night at the Bragard's.
Sunday morning Christian, my host dad, picked me up around 12:45 and we rushed to the train station to pick up Mallory and then to the hospital to pick up my host mom Annie from work. We were all a little worried because it was a very rainy afternoon... but we decided to press on and we went to a carnaval in Stavelot, about 40 mins away. You would think that because we are now in the season of Lent that carnavals would be over.... but the Belgians just can't get enough! We were so very lucky though because we showed up and it stopped raining! The sun even came out :) This was a great carnaval! Mallory and I are carnaval buddies and this one was really fun because we got pulled into the parade so many times! Once I rode a magic carpet ride on a giant float where my directions were to put on my seatbelt and hold on... then Mallory got put into a giant wheelbarrow of confetti (I think she had the stuff in her underwear!) I got taken down a giant slide, danced with ballroom dancers, and we both potato sack jumped with people dressed in Scottish outfits, after which we were offered a shot of whiskey, but when the woman saw our faces filled with disgust, she gave us apple juice instead :) The finale were two huge float with "confetti canons" on the top- so it looked like a snowstorm of confetti! It was a BLAST and needless to say, I am still finding confetti on my floor and in my shoes!
Yesterday, Wednesday, it was in the 70s and sunny out, so Mollie and I met up in Liege and spent the whole day shopping for summer clothes, in particular for our Greece trip. I had realized that I didn't come with many summer clothes because I knew that it would get cold early here, but I never thought that we would be seeing spring this early! In fact, it is abnormally hot here for this time of the year, people do not really know what to do with themselves! I think that I might be in for a shock when I come home in the heat of a St Louis summer... I am so hot in the 70s- I can't imagine what the 90s feel like anymore!!
This Sunday I am off to my Greece adventure! The trip is 10 days and organized by the Rotary. We are going to be taking boat rides and staying in hotels along the beach... let's just say that I could not be more excited if I tried!!! :)
I promise to update after the trip-- I hope everyone is enjoying the start of Spring and welcoming all the fresh life that is blooming :) Love to you all!
Welcome!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
You are going to.... Latvia?
On March 24th, I woke up at 4:30 in the morning after of course having stayed up until 1am packing last minute :) I took the train from Verviers all the way to the airport, getting there at about 7:30am. This was the first time in my life that I have ever done the airport thing all by myself from start to finish so I was very nervous, but I made my flight in plenty of time! The departure time was at 9:10am, me and the other 25 maybe 30 passengers borded the smallest plane I have ever been on in my life and took off to LATVIA!
After a two hour twenty minute flight, I arrived in Latvia around 12:30 local time- greeted by the one and only EMILY! For those of you who do not know, we hosted Emily Veselova as a foreign exchange student in Kirkwood 5 years ago, we were her first host family and have kept a very close connection with her. She hasn't changed a bit! I was holding back the tears when I hugged her because it was just so great to be with her again.
We took a 40 minute bus back to her apartment in central Riga that she shares with her sister, Tatiana who is about 3 years older than Emily, who is 20. There we made a beet and chicken soup, very Russian and traditional, and incredibly delicious! Then we all took a little nap, being exhausted from the travel, and Emily worked on some homework. Around 5, Em and I went on a historical walking tour of Riga. Let me just say now that Latvia has not yet welcomed spring... we were all bundled up and the temperatures were negative with lots and lots of snow and ice... but the walk was lovely! Emily is a genius and was so informative, you could pay her as a tour guide I am sure! We went to a little shop around 8 for a Latvian pastry and and tea before going home and calling it an early night, wrapping it up with 27 Dresses :)
The next morning Emily had classes, so Tatiana and I got up and took an hour bus ride to this open air museum. The point of the museum was to see old houses the way they looked like back years ago in old Latvia, but because of the massive amount of snow, we couldn't go into the houses, but we took a snowy hike together and had fun taking pictures of the landscape! She of course speaks wonderful English, so there was no problems communicating! At one point we went past a huge frozen over lake and I was just amazed at the amount of ice fishermen out there! Can we say dangerous?? We came back to Riga and walked around to some places I hadn't seen the night before, and then met Emily back at home after her classes. That evening, Emily and her boyfriend, Lauris took me out to a rustic Latvian buffet with all the specialties! It was such a cute place and we had so much fun, plus it was really good- Emily always raved about their Latvian potatoes... I now know why :) After that we went home and dressed up to go to a Kareoke bar for her friend's 21st birthday party! It was really fun because everyone spoke English so I just mingled with all her friends and then we walked home while it was snowing at about 2am.
The next morning, we woke up at 5 am! No one was feeling tip top... but we went to the train station to catch a 6am train to Valka! The train took 3 hours, but we just slept the whole way, and when we arrived I was greeted with a bouquet of chocolates ("because it is too cold for flowers") from Emily's parents! I cannot express in words the joy I felt meeting her family for the first time. I have known her for 5 years and heard all these stories of her family, but to hug them, and see her little home, and be welcomed with such love into their lives, it was a very emotional experience. We went back to her flat, and her dad left for work, but we had a lovely Latvian breakfast, freshly cooked by her lovely mother Natasha. Then Emily and I took a very cold but fun 2 hour walk around her town and it was once again almost surreal to see where she has grown up, and then we walked right on into Valga which is Estonia!! Yay for one more country! Can't say I would know which country I was in if I didn't see the sign... but I still thought it was really cool! That afternoon Tatiana, Emily, Natasha and I walked over to Babushka's house (Emily's famous top chef grandmother)! I was SO excited!
We walked in to a little house, so rustic, and Babushka is there flipping two skillets of crêpes! She already has a massive stack of them going and she isn't halfway done! I hardly had time to take pictures before she sat us down and served the soup, while she's still flippin, we're slurping this soup down, and before I have time to wipe my mouth, she is plating us up crêpes with either sour cream, salted butter, or jam, she is still flippin them crêpes! She finally serves us some kind of delicious strawberry dessert and sits down herself for a crêpe which of course she says "these aren't even good, why didn't you tell me!" We are all stunned because we managed to easily stuff them down our throats!! :) She was a wonderful woman! I needed Emily to translate everything, but I could have talked to her forever! But alas, after a tour of the giant snow covered gardens, we made our way back to the flat where we packed up to head back to Riga. Tatiana stayed there in Valka, so I had to say goodbye to them all on the platform for the train, I cried! It was the most wonderful feeling to be there with them; their warmth and kindness is overwhelmingly touching and I feel so blessed to have had that experience.
Emily and I got back to Riga around 8:30pm where we met up with Lauris. They really wanted my last night in Latvia to be special, so even though we were really tired, we three went out walking around and found a nice little place for a tea at midnight! It was the perfect night really- low key but lovely.
The next day we went out to some open air markets, which I love to death, and then we went up in the bell tower of this gorgeous church in the center of Riga. At the top we had a wonderful view of the whole city and I realized that I might never have the opportunity to come back here, and how lucky I was to have come. It was really one of the most touching moments. We went home so I could pack up my bags, and Emily took me to the airport to catch a plane at 5pm. It was very hard to say goodbye, but I really want to think of it as just a see you later. Emily and I would have never met if it wasn't for the Rotary, and I feel so lucky to be a part of this organization that makes relationships like ours possible. I will always have a big sister in Latvia, and I feel truely blessed to say that :)
After a two hour twenty minute flight, I arrived in Latvia around 12:30 local time- greeted by the one and only EMILY! For those of you who do not know, we hosted Emily Veselova as a foreign exchange student in Kirkwood 5 years ago, we were her first host family and have kept a very close connection with her. She hasn't changed a bit! I was holding back the tears when I hugged her because it was just so great to be with her again.
We took a 40 minute bus back to her apartment in central Riga that she shares with her sister, Tatiana who is about 3 years older than Emily, who is 20. There we made a beet and chicken soup, very Russian and traditional, and incredibly delicious! Then we all took a little nap, being exhausted from the travel, and Emily worked on some homework. Around 5, Em and I went on a historical walking tour of Riga. Let me just say now that Latvia has not yet welcomed spring... we were all bundled up and the temperatures were negative with lots and lots of snow and ice... but the walk was lovely! Emily is a genius and was so informative, you could pay her as a tour guide I am sure! We went to a little shop around 8 for a Latvian pastry and and tea before going home and calling it an early night, wrapping it up with 27 Dresses :)
The next morning Emily had classes, so Tatiana and I got up and took an hour bus ride to this open air museum. The point of the museum was to see old houses the way they looked like back years ago in old Latvia, but because of the massive amount of snow, we couldn't go into the houses, but we took a snowy hike together and had fun taking pictures of the landscape! She of course speaks wonderful English, so there was no problems communicating! At one point we went past a huge frozen over lake and I was just amazed at the amount of ice fishermen out there! Can we say dangerous?? We came back to Riga and walked around to some places I hadn't seen the night before, and then met Emily back at home after her classes. That evening, Emily and her boyfriend, Lauris took me out to a rustic Latvian buffet with all the specialties! It was such a cute place and we had so much fun, plus it was really good- Emily always raved about their Latvian potatoes... I now know why :) After that we went home and dressed up to go to a Kareoke bar for her friend's 21st birthday party! It was really fun because everyone spoke English so I just mingled with all her friends and then we walked home while it was snowing at about 2am.
The next morning, we woke up at 5 am! No one was feeling tip top... but we went to the train station to catch a 6am train to Valka! The train took 3 hours, but we just slept the whole way, and when we arrived I was greeted with a bouquet of chocolates ("because it is too cold for flowers") from Emily's parents! I cannot express in words the joy I felt meeting her family for the first time. I have known her for 5 years and heard all these stories of her family, but to hug them, and see her little home, and be welcomed with such love into their lives, it was a very emotional experience. We went back to her flat, and her dad left for work, but we had a lovely Latvian breakfast, freshly cooked by her lovely mother Natasha. Then Emily and I took a very cold but fun 2 hour walk around her town and it was once again almost surreal to see where she has grown up, and then we walked right on into Valga which is Estonia!! Yay for one more country! Can't say I would know which country I was in if I didn't see the sign... but I still thought it was really cool! That afternoon Tatiana, Emily, Natasha and I walked over to Babushka's house (Emily's famous top chef grandmother)! I was SO excited!
We walked in to a little house, so rustic, and Babushka is there flipping two skillets of crêpes! She already has a massive stack of them going and she isn't halfway done! I hardly had time to take pictures before she sat us down and served the soup, while she's still flippin, we're slurping this soup down, and before I have time to wipe my mouth, she is plating us up crêpes with either sour cream, salted butter, or jam, she is still flippin them crêpes! She finally serves us some kind of delicious strawberry dessert and sits down herself for a crêpe which of course she says "these aren't even good, why didn't you tell me!" We are all stunned because we managed to easily stuff them down our throats!! :) She was a wonderful woman! I needed Emily to translate everything, but I could have talked to her forever! But alas, after a tour of the giant snow covered gardens, we made our way back to the flat where we packed up to head back to Riga. Tatiana stayed there in Valka, so I had to say goodbye to them all on the platform for the train, I cried! It was the most wonderful feeling to be there with them; their warmth and kindness is overwhelmingly touching and I feel so blessed to have had that experience.
Emily and I got back to Riga around 8:30pm where we met up with Lauris. They really wanted my last night in Latvia to be special, so even though we were really tired, we three went out walking around and found a nice little place for a tea at midnight! It was the perfect night really- low key but lovely.
The next day we went out to some open air markets, which I love to death, and then we went up in the bell tower of this gorgeous church in the center of Riga. At the top we had a wonderful view of the whole city and I realized that I might never have the opportunity to come back here, and how lucky I was to have come. It was really one of the most touching moments. We went home so I could pack up my bags, and Emily took me to the airport to catch a plane at 5pm. It was very hard to say goodbye, but I really want to think of it as just a see you later. Emily and I would have never met if it wasn't for the Rotary, and I feel so lucky to be a part of this organization that makes relationships like ours possible. I will always have a big sister in Latvia, and I feel truely blessed to say that :)
Oh la la!
Well here it comes people... I really am sorry for the delay, but I am rarely in one place long enough to sit down and explain all the adventures! Anyway, I thought that while I have a little time this evening, I would get you all up to date about my lovely life in Belgium... and many other places in Europe. I have made myself a cup of tea, and am ready to "raconter des histoires" or share some stories :)
I am going to have to backtrack to where I last left off... back in March!
Well, while I liked Amsterdam so much, I don't think it liked me back just as well because most of the week after I got back I stayed home from school sick. The doctor doesn't know what I had exactly, just a terrible cough that needed an inhaler and an antibiotic and kept me from sleeping... The break was actually very productive in that I started, and made a lot of progress on my scrapbook of the year! I love looking back and remembering all the wonderful times that I have had this year :) and after the few days of rest I was feeling much perkier!
Just in time for St. Patrick's Day!! Now in Belgium so may wonder if this holiday is celebrated or not... and I would say that for the most part, no, not at all. However, I went to Brussels with Malory and met up with some exchange students in the Celtica Bar for a good toast to the Irish; the best part of that day though was running into a woman there who was from Ireland and getting tip of all the places to hit up in Ireland on a student's budget-- oh yeah, Mallory, Mollie and I booked a flight and hostel and are going to Ireland for 5 days in June... :) She was lovely- meeting people like that makes you really believe in fate!
That Friday, after school I went to Liège where I met up with Malory and some other friends. We had high spirits despite the very rainy weather; we had to walk, in the rain (I miss my car) to Justine, a friend of Mallory's from school's house, and there we got all prettied up for a soirée! I am going to miss these soirées back in the states-- we danced the night away, until 3:30 am! Then I went back to Mallory's to spend the night, or rather morning :) And then I guess Mal and I just hadn't had enough of each other for the weekend because the next night, Saturday the 19th, we both were going to be home alone, so she came to my house and we made mac and cheese and watched Talladega Nights- how much more of an all American evening can you get?? :)
On March 21st, Belgium welcomed le PRINTEMPS or SPRING with a sunny, blue sky, warm day! I heard that St Louis was hit by some late wintery weather, well all I can say is that we are enjoying the soleil here and I can't get enough :)
I am going to have to backtrack to where I last left off... back in March!
Well, while I liked Amsterdam so much, I don't think it liked me back just as well because most of the week after I got back I stayed home from school sick. The doctor doesn't know what I had exactly, just a terrible cough that needed an inhaler and an antibiotic and kept me from sleeping... The break was actually very productive in that I started, and made a lot of progress on my scrapbook of the year! I love looking back and remembering all the wonderful times that I have had this year :) and after the few days of rest I was feeling much perkier!
Just in time for St. Patrick's Day!! Now in Belgium so may wonder if this holiday is celebrated or not... and I would say that for the most part, no, not at all. However, I went to Brussels with Malory and met up with some exchange students in the Celtica Bar for a good toast to the Irish; the best part of that day though was running into a woman there who was from Ireland and getting tip of all the places to hit up in Ireland on a student's budget-- oh yeah, Mallory, Mollie and I booked a flight and hostel and are going to Ireland for 5 days in June... :) She was lovely- meeting people like that makes you really believe in fate!
That Friday, after school I went to Liège where I met up with Malory and some other friends. We had high spirits despite the very rainy weather; we had to walk, in the rain (I miss my car) to Justine, a friend of Mallory's from school's house, and there we got all prettied up for a soirée! I am going to miss these soirées back in the states-- we danced the night away, until 3:30 am! Then I went back to Mallory's to spend the night, or rather morning :) And then I guess Mal and I just hadn't had enough of each other for the weekend because the next night, Saturday the 19th, we both were going to be home alone, so she came to my house and we made mac and cheese and watched Talladega Nights- how much more of an all American evening can you get?? :)
On March 21st, Belgium welcomed le PRINTEMPS or SPRING with a sunny, blue sky, warm day! I heard that St Louis was hit by some late wintery weather, well all I can say is that we are enjoying the soleil here and I can't get enough :)
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