Guillemins

I have 2 blogs I have been wanting to post before I move on to new years.

I promised a blog for Guillemins, so here it is!

Guillemins is the train station in Liège. There is more than one stop in Liège, but this is the one that has the TGV, the trains to other towns, and countries.  Trains to visits, vacations, work, exploration and learning.  12/09/11

Plenty of history and interesting stuff about the actual building, including that it was designed by an Espagnol, and that there is another train station exactly the same as this Guillemins somewhere else in the world.  I think there is a tour somewhere in the near exchange student future. 1/09/11

1/09/11  This was one of my first trips out of Guillemins.  The day Fanny and I went to Ghent.

7/09/11

11/09/11

11/09/11

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11/09/11

30/09/11

29/09/11

29/09/11

29/09/11

5/10/11

5/10/11

12/10/11

12/10/11

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13/10/11

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This is how they keep it all clean!  13/10/11

13/10/11

The ceiling of inside 13/10/11

13/10/11

20/10/11

20/10/11

Guillemins from the ferris wheel at the fair of october! 13/11/11

2/12/11 the floor just outside

2/12/11

3/12/11

3/12/11

23/12/11 Near Christmas!

23/12/11

Train into Brussels for New Years

7 in the morning, January 1st.

  I can use it to go to practically anywhere in Belgium and Europe.  I have used it to go Brussels, Louvain la Neuve, Ostende, Ghent, Anvers, Maastricht, and  Namur.  Probably more.  Can't wait to spend another half a year with Guillemins!

A break from catch-up posts.

    It's Sunday night.  I get tired really early during the winter.  I start yawning early. I go upstairs early.  I shower early.  I get into bed early.  And then I get on facebook, or youtube and organise my week, or watch movies or whatever.  I have an alarm set for 7:00 tomorrow morning so that I can be up at least to say goodbye to my host siblings before they go to school.  I am going to force myself to get back a normal schedule.
   2 weeks ago I had an "angine rouge" which is practically strep throat.  Maybe a little tamer, but I was home from school and everything.  This past week I found out I had pneumonia.  So I haven't been to school in a week.  I haven't left the house for longer than an hour, and that was just to go replace my stolen cell phone (yeah I got my phone stolen too.  No worries, got to keep my credit and my number!)
   My host mom, who is a nurse, told me, "Unless you really want to go to school tomorrow, I think it best that we keep you in one more day and go see the doctor one last time."  She doesn't like the sound of my cough.  I've always coughed loudly and deeply, but I don't know, here they might find out there's something to be done about it!   So tomorrow as well, I plan on doing some more catch up blogging.  It takes the longest to load the photos into the blog.  and that is just waiting, that.  It's worth it however, in my opinion, to keep the file sizes large.  That way the quality is better in the blog.  And in my photo-stores :P
    My oldie, Jarrod, and I used to talk about exchange all the time at the beginning.  I was nervous, had questions, needed a translation, etc.  Fortunately for me, he always had the answer, or at least the guts and the vocabulary to ask  (he is really great at French).  And he would talk about Belgium like it was his home and everything.  It was just little things that just made it obvious he lived here.  And I remember saying to him one time in October, maybe even November, "You know I just don't feel that yet!  I don't feel like a vacationer anymore, nor a visitor, but I don't feel like I "live" here,' per se."  And it's not that Belgium is my "home" obviously, (but as we were warned way in advance, exchange does and has made me question and change my perception of the concept of "home")  but I can believe myself when I say that I "live" here.  I live in Belgium.  And there's no particular event that made me realize that.  No eureka moment (although it could have been these 2 weeks just sitting around looking out the window [in Belgium]).  But if I were asked where I live right now, I'd definitely say "Belgium."  I wouldn't try to explain "oh I'm on exchange for a year in Belgium right now!"  I'd just say Belgium.  (I also wouldn't give an address, cos "residence" is completely different!  I have two addresses here so far!)
    I also remember being so impressed by Jarrod's French and his ability to have a personality in French!  That may sound bizarre, and trust me it is, but without communication skills, I was rent to just being as physically polite as possible to show that I was interested, nice, happy, thankful etc.  No joking really, no side-commentary of any sort.  Conversation, sure, but never any opinions (I still am not great at that, but I don't do much of that in English anyway).  I am forever blown away by Jarrod's French and personality skills, and I want to be as good as he is.  At the beginning, he would just tell me, "Oh I've been here 8 months already! [and it's true, I got there in August '11, he got there Jan '11-8months before] Wait and see where YOU are at 8 months."
   In my memory, he said 6 months, but then he recently reminded me it was actually 8 months by the time I got there, but in ANY case I started evaluating my progress this week, since I'll have been here for 6 months on the 20th.  I have actual friends in my host sisters here.  I am less shy about talking (although still shy about opinions.  It's a judgement thing.  I pass it much less often since exchange).  I think there are those among the Francophones who may actually know a little bit of Ben Bailey.  And that is a struggle I ALWAYS work against.  I am great at being nice, and polite, and run scripts in my head and make a quick shallow friend, but I am trying to be able to be myself a little bit too.  In another language.  And for a shy kid like me (I hesitate to use the word introvert, but it might be better than shy, as I am very capable of appearing outgoing), that's progress.
going to watch a movie now.
lol

Noël en Belgique

Christmas chez les Vanrykel! Ben, Fanny, Alain, Françoise, Zizou (Martin Vanrykel is in Canada this year)

For Christmas eve we went to my host grandmother's house again and did presents there.  We ate, drank and were merry!

A host uncle who likes to dress up brought everyone wigs for Christmas, and EXTRA merriment ensued!  Those are host cousins with us.  We also all received each a beautiful scarf from host grandmother.

The day of Christmas, we got up and got on the road all the way to the bottom of Belgium to the proud region of Gaume.  I was a little bit nervous again, because it was more host family that I had never seen before, but I was warned that these families get together once a year and eat until we explode and have the best time of the year!   The relation I'm not entirely sure about how it all works, but I think it is the home of the cousin of Françoise that we stayed at, in a town called Bellefontaine which has lots of natural springs and springhouses where the villagers used to come to do laundry.

This springhouse dates back several hundred years, (at least 4) and now has a creche in it.

The village also had a showing of creches of different styles here and there.  The host-master of the house was involved in a city committee or something, and was up to date on all the community happenings.

It was really cool to get a tour from someone who is so well informed on his region and culture.  He also had keys to get into the spring houses :)  But he could point at the mountain and say, "that is the stone native to this region" and then show the rivers that made the stone like that and then point out the houses old enough to be made with that stone!

In Gaume they have a traditional dish, called "Pâté Gaumais" which is basically a meat pie with a thick crust and a special spice.  The 26th of December, they had a pâté Gaumais eating contest in the region's cultural capital, Virton.  We drove in to see it.  Hot wine, and pâté tasting.  It was quite a sight to see.

The king of the pâté Gaumais this year ate something like 3 and half whole pies in 20 minutes. I really don't remember but I want to say about to 5 kg.

This is also the largest pâté Gaumais for the year.  They sold it a Euro a slice.  I don't think I ever knew what it said.

A big christmas tree in Virton.

La region de Gaume

Later that day, we drove to Orval, to see the Orval monastery.  There are something like 7 or 11 monks that live on the compound today.  The monks used to brew their own famous Trappist monk beer, but now it's too large and commercial for such a small number, so they have other people working there now too.  There are only 7 Trappist monasteries worldwide THAT PRODUCE Trappist beer.  6 in Begium, one in the Netherlands.  It's also a copyright and labeling rights thing.  Theorhetically, these beers could be found worldwide.  The Gaumais are proud of their Orval.  It's sweet, a tiny bit sour, and smooth, very bubbly.  Very good.

  The Gaumais are proud of their Orval.  It's sweet, a tiny bit sour, and smooth, very bubbly.  Very good.

The grounds are also really really huge!

A monk!

In the brewing museum.  The word for brewery in French is "brasserie," which I'm sure you have seen before.

This is the pool of the Countess Mathilde of Tuscany.  She may or may not actually be a saint.  Anyway, there are lots of stained glass renditions of her at Orval.  The legend goes that around 1100, Mathilde (or Matilde for you Anglophones) came to the natural spring to grieve the death of her late husband, and accidentally dropped her wedding ring into the water.  She prayed to God, and a trout came to the surface of the pool with the wedding ring in its mouth!  Mathilde saw that this was a holy area and donated a whole whole lot of money to start the monastery there. The trout with the wedding ring are on the label of the beer to this day!

The original monastery was destroyed in the French Revolution, and redone about a hundred years later.

Sheep of the region...

Horses of my host "uncle?"  They have a bit of property a bit further out in the country where he raises crawfish and they are going to build a cabin and stuff.

Giant oak trees near Bellfontaine.  Apparently there is a great  theatre and culture festival in the woods here during the summer.

On the way home the 28th or so, we stopped through Bouillon and visited the chateau fort!  The reason we distinguish chateau with "fort"is because we have for example the Chateau de Versailles which is a great PALACE and rich and luxurious, and then we have this chateau fort, which is like, a medieval war castle.  

The secret throne chair of the master of the castle, lord Godefroy de Bouillon.

The river actually goes on both sides of the butte.  I'm not really sure how that works.   The Semois.  

In the middle of the Ardennes.  Basically the hills that cross through belgium and separate Luxembourg from Liège, We can probably see France from here.

I just thought it was so pretty at night, Bouillon.

I went directly from Bouillon to my friend Lucy's birthday supper in Welkenraedt, where we ate veggie burgers.  The next day I went into Liège. obviously. lol  Getting close to new years!

Vacances

I did two of my exams, English, and Dutch.  The English exam I did the same exam as the other students, except in French, which means, a few vocabulary, and few words to put into sentences in context, and 2 short essays, one little story, and then a dialogue.  I got my points back in January, and I did ok... 32/40.
I did Dutch because the professor is my favorite.  She gave me a little letter in Dutch to translate into French.  It starts "Beste Geerf." That one I got 9/10 on.  But again, my points don't really count for anything here.  Exam days are the last 2 weeks before Christmas, and you have 1 exam a day, usually in the morning.  You stay until you have finished your exam (near lunch).  Days where you do not have an exam you use to study for the next day's exam.  Fortunately for me, I got to profit a little bit from a slightly longer vacation to visit and that sort of thing.

These are Churros from the christmas market.  I had never had them, but they are quite good.  Taking advantage of the exotic foods on exchange.

My friend Priscille and her daughter at her 2nd birthday party!

The opera house of Liège is under construction.  I'm sure there's a picture in my blog somewhere of it that I just didn't mention.  If not, I definitely have pictures of it in my collection.  Anyway, the Rotary district 1630 invited the exchangers to go to the opera one night to see La Fille de Madame Angot.  it's a French comedy with lots of Louis-flavored humour and costumes.  Because the opera house is under construction, the opera shows in an enourmous, luxurious tent in Outremeuse, the neighborhood on the other side of la Meuse.  The opera, I didn't understand much of, but it was quite an experience, and we all had to dress up.

Jarrod made a Pavlova for his host family's Christmas dinner!  Neither the Australians nor the Kiwis can decide where it comes from, as they both claim it as a tradition of their own country.  Basically it's a giant meringue with marshmallow in the middle.  To make sure you've beaten it enough into oblivion, you hold the bowl upside down over your cooking mate's head and if your mate is still dry after 3 seconds, it's ready to cook.

We went to Brussels one day to see an oldie of my oldies who came in for a night, and passed through a store in a mall that had these shoes for sale.

Also passed by the Vanrykel tailor!  I was impressed because the name Vanrykel, while Dutch at it's origins, is normally spelled Vanrijkel, and because the ij sound in Dutch makes an "ey" sound.  Françoise explained to me once that when Alain's family moved to Wallonia from Flanders, and they registered in the commune, a spelling error turned Vanrijkel to Vanrykel because when written in cursive, "ij" looks like a y with an umlaut ( ÿ ).  Take off the umlaut, and it's a y.
Brussellssss

End of December, Beginning of Vacations

I finished my 2 obligatory exams early and started a nice long vacation, full of visiting, exploring, and learning french.

One morning I made crepes with Francoise!  There was something wrong with the stove, so it took us like an hour and a half to make 5.  And I made them too thick.  But they were really good, and it was a good lunch

The first snow I saw in Belgium!  I happened to be in Liège!  The temperature in the city is usually 3 or 4 degrees celcius warmer than it is out in the country where I live, so it doesn't stick as much, but it was still pretty in the air.  16th december.

The church down the street in the snow!

Out my window with the snow

Another day, a couple of exchange students got together and made gingerbread people!  It was a fun soirée

The marché de Noël at Liège is one of the biggest in Belgium.  It has 3 different sections, one of them includes this ferris wheel.  A delicacy of the christmas market is Vin Chaud, or hot wine.  Wine with wintry spices in it.  Also putine.  it's Quebecois, look it up.

The booth at the marché that actually made me take into account that the Tour de France is starting in Liège this summer!  Don't worry, I already have plans to be there for it.

My pull rheto!  The senior class hoodie.  All the names are on the back (not the exchange students names...  I'll just write them in on everyone's.)

My little cell phone and a pig made of marzipan!  Funny because none of the Vanrykels really like marzipan, and neither do I.

One day with Françoise, we painted.  Françoise is a pro at arts and crafts, so she offered me a little canvas, and I painted, and then made a paper snowflake, and then traced that.

Françoise says she's going to put paper snowflakes in the windows every winter now :) :)

One morning near to Christmas, Fanny baked a bunch of pinwheel cookies that tasted soooo good.  We used them as little Christmas presents at the family gathering

Facts about Belgian life.

Dogs here can eat chocolate. You know why? Cos it's Belgian chocolate™.
Leah.  My host dog.  Eats chocolate.

checking in.

Yes!  I still exist!  I have just today finally put all the photos from the past 2 months in folders to be posted in like, 8 different blog posts.  It's the end of January.  Biggest newses that I'll just tell now are that Christmas was nice, I spent it with the Vanrykel family and we ate lots of yummies yummies.  I spent new years in Brussels and saw some big big fireworks.  My good friends from the Southern hemisphere have gone home, that includes Santi, my oldie, Rachel and Jarrod, my favorite kiwis, and all the australians.  I've changed host families as well.  I now live with the Pollains.  They are super nice, I like them so much!  I have a host sister at 17 years old, a host sister at 16 and a host brother at 14 or so.  We get on great, and I'm just doing my best to make the most of my exchange.  French is coming along nicely, and I have lots of photos and thoughts to share coming up, but I thought I'd just go ahead and write this paragraph to... well I guess it's to remind myself that this blog exists.
lol