Soo.. It's not actually time for St Nicolas (he comes the 6th December), but it was our AFS St Nicolas day today :) So i have learnt some things about him - he used to some and give things to poor children (or people - obviously children aren't people..) but now he comes and gives bonbons to children. The children leave their shoes by the chimney and he puts them in there overnight. Gutted if you haven't put your Gran's Remedy in them for a while!! When the idea was brought from Europe to America, they couldn't quite wrap their heads around him, so they turned him into Father Christmas (Santa). Then Santa travelled back to Europe, meaning those lucky Europeans now get the both! (they just want more presents...). We learnt a little about other country's special holidays or special ways of celebrating christmas etc. It was cool :) We learnt the song that the children sing to make St Nicolas come, and (wow) he came!! he handed out speculoos and mandarins (yum yum yum) and then we each got a little gift. We'd all brought something and did a little out of the hat pick and choosing :) I got a fondue set - not gunna complain!! :) Afterwards Eliza, Valentina and I sat in the park and had a little beer and took (awesome) photos. Mmmm at home we had another raclette for dinner - sooo goood :) :)
This week it snowed!!!! Already! I was like OMG it's November, and it's snowing! But it was also very cool :) I was sitting in french class when it appeared. I'm expecting to see a lot more of that! especially seeing as I was told last year in winter it was -15° here. That's a NEGATIVE 15° my friends. none of this wishy washy -1° i'm used to...!
hmmm so not much happened at school this week, but next week exams start. I have one next week, one the week after and then two the week after (Physics, English, Maths and Geo), and in the third week if i don't have an exam, i don't have to go to school! So that's not bad :) :)
hmmm.. i think that's all i can think of for now, sooo bye bye :)
Don't forget to write and email and all things awesome :)
Saturday, 27 November 2010
Sunday, 21 November 2010
Soo.. one more week. Yesterday i hit the 3month mark! that's pretty exciting i guess! ummm... soo whaat's been the haps?
well.. i went to school, just the usual.. umm on Wednesday after school i sent my care package back home :) full of beer and chocolate and speculoos and other great stuff!! woohoo, 4.5kg for 50€! that's all you're getting.. haha. I'm also very excited because mum is sending me some converse (yay!) seeing as it's cheaper to do it that way than to actually buy them here.
On Monday i bought some new skinny jeans, seeing as i made a small hole in my old ones. The new ones are super comfy, and more importantly, super stretchy! So i'm fairly glad with that purchase. I was COLD this week! haha and it's Autumn.. All everyone said to be was "welcome to Belgium!" lol that's their response to everything!! So I decided i should probably buy a coat, so that's now done :) it seems to be lovely and warm.. so hopefully thats enough to last what could be the coldest winter of my life!!!! :)
Yesterday the weather was pretty nice! and I actually went for a walk/run. It was nice :)
Today I talked to Simon and Nicole on Skype, seeing as it's Mole's big 18th!! It was nice to hear from them, although i felt a little bad because they both have a chem exam tomorrow... and i don't think much study has been done!!
I myself have school exams in a couple of weeks. Luckily I only have to do four, one of which will be english :), so it means i get some time off school :) :). But I will at least try to do ok.. so I may try to get some study done today.. :)
ummm... That's all i have to report for now I think, Bye bye lovelies, don't forget to write!! xoxo
well.. i went to school, just the usual.. umm on Wednesday after school i sent my care package back home :) full of beer and chocolate and speculoos and other great stuff!! woohoo, 4.5kg for 50€! that's all you're getting.. haha. I'm also very excited because mum is sending me some converse (yay!) seeing as it's cheaper to do it that way than to actually buy them here.
On Monday i bought some new skinny jeans, seeing as i made a small hole in my old ones. The new ones are super comfy, and more importantly, super stretchy! So i'm fairly glad with that purchase. I was COLD this week! haha and it's Autumn.. All everyone said to be was "welcome to Belgium!" lol that's their response to everything!! So I decided i should probably buy a coat, so that's now done :) it seems to be lovely and warm.. so hopefully thats enough to last what could be the coldest winter of my life!!!! :)
Yesterday the weather was pretty nice! and I actually went for a walk/run. It was nice :)
Today I talked to Simon and Nicole on Skype, seeing as it's Mole's big 18th!! It was nice to hear from them, although i felt a little bad because they both have a chem exam tomorrow... and i don't think much study has been done!!
I myself have school exams in a couple of weeks. Luckily I only have to do four, one of which will be english :), so it means i get some time off school :) :). But I will at least try to do ok.. so I may try to get some study done today.. :)
ummm... That's all i have to report for now I think, Bye bye lovelies, don't forget to write!! xoxo
Sunday, 14 November 2010
another week in belgium
So the biggest part of this week has definitely been the rain. It rained and rained and was cold, then rained :) excellent. I'm told it should be like this all of November, so that's awesome. So school went along as usual.. there's not really much to report. We had another test in maths. This time it definitely sucked haha.
On wednesday afternoon Eliza came home with me - well, actually we took the bus to Wavre with Julie from my science class, and went to see her mum in her mum's shop. They have a parrot! it was pretty cool. We bought some hair dye, looked around a little, then Jackie came to take us home.
So, at home... seeing as we'd bought hair dye, i guess you'll assume we used it? well done!! Eliza seems to be quite the hairdresser, so she kindly cut and coulered my hair. It was very tame, a slight trim and a now mocha chocolate colour :) So that was cool. Umm.. we had two games of monopoly (it was still raining), and in the first she ended up winning more money than was actually in the bank!
Thursday night i went with the family and family friends to see a musical (where my host dad's son was singing in it) - it was pretty cool, it had like dancers and singers and actors. I guess that's what most musicals have.. But yeah, it was good.
On friday we had a day off too (thursday was a congé). So we all (not the parents) just hung at home. The two little ones were insane though, i just can't handle too much of them!!
Saturday i slept in :) :) and was pretty much home alone until about 4, me and coca. I was so brave though, the phone kept ringing and i've always been too scared to answer it, but finally i did! It ended up being my host brother's friend, but i managed to understand what was going on :) That night we went to the LMV (my school) Cabaret, a concert for the last year of the school - it was really good, it had singing and dancing and sketches. It was funny and i liked it.
Today i got up at 9, and it seemed like an awfully early hour!! But i wanted to skype mum and dad, which i did. unfortunately i got a little EMOTIONAL haha. I don't even know why, but i guess it's about time, i am kinda a cry-baby lol. But no, it was still good to talk to them :) But yeah, i think i'm a little tired and maybe a little sad. Maybe today is going to be a harry potter day haha.
Oh yeah, one of the things i was telling them started me off! On tuesday my class went on an excursion, and to get back we had to have our own means. I went to take the bus. I saw one with a girl i know on it, and saw the place i wanted to go in abbreviation on the front. So i got on and asked the driver if that's where it was going. So it turns out the driver was a penisface. He and his friend were like "ohh it's written on the front where i'm going, i'm not going to tell you. If you can't read you shouldn't be here, if you want to come on, do it but i'm not telling you where i'm going." so yeah. Penisface. So i assumed it was going where i wanted to go when i asked for a ticket to where i wanted to stop. he's like ok it's 1€40. Just my luck, i only have 40cents change. So i take out a 20 (usually they accept up to 20). He looks at me as if i'm a shit on the ground and says, that's no good here, give me the right change or get off the bus. Great. So with my 40cents i'm just magically supposed to turn it into 1€40. So by now i'm a little annoyed and freaked, because i have to get back. LUCKILY a boy from my class had come on behind me and heard a little of the conversation, he came up to me and realised i didn't have the right change. Most people in belgium are nice. This boy is one of them, the driver was not. So, the boy paid for me. I was so happy. Then for the rest of the trip i sat in the back and bitched about him. Made me feel a little better. So yeah, that was pretty exciting :) :)
Have a good day!! xx
On wednesday afternoon Eliza came home with me - well, actually we took the bus to Wavre with Julie from my science class, and went to see her mum in her mum's shop. They have a parrot! it was pretty cool. We bought some hair dye, looked around a little, then Jackie came to take us home.
So, at home... seeing as we'd bought hair dye, i guess you'll assume we used it? well done!! Eliza seems to be quite the hairdresser, so she kindly cut and coulered my hair. It was very tame, a slight trim and a now mocha chocolate colour :) So that was cool. Umm.. we had two games of monopoly (it was still raining), and in the first she ended up winning more money than was actually in the bank!
Thursday night i went with the family and family friends to see a musical (where my host dad's son was singing in it) - it was pretty cool, it had like dancers and singers and actors. I guess that's what most musicals have.. But yeah, it was good.
On friday we had a day off too (thursday was a congé). So we all (not the parents) just hung at home. The two little ones were insane though, i just can't handle too much of them!!
Saturday i slept in :) :) and was pretty much home alone until about 4, me and coca. I was so brave though, the phone kept ringing and i've always been too scared to answer it, but finally i did! It ended up being my host brother's friend, but i managed to understand what was going on :) That night we went to the LMV (my school) Cabaret, a concert for the last year of the school - it was really good, it had singing and dancing and sketches. It was funny and i liked it.
Today i got up at 9, and it seemed like an awfully early hour!! But i wanted to skype mum and dad, which i did. unfortunately i got a little EMOTIONAL haha. I don't even know why, but i guess it's about time, i am kinda a cry-baby lol. But no, it was still good to talk to them :) But yeah, i think i'm a little tired and maybe a little sad. Maybe today is going to be a harry potter day haha.
Oh yeah, one of the things i was telling them started me off! On tuesday my class went on an excursion, and to get back we had to have our own means. I went to take the bus. I saw one with a girl i know on it, and saw the place i wanted to go in abbreviation on the front. So i got on and asked the driver if that's where it was going. So it turns out the driver was a penisface. He and his friend were like "ohh it's written on the front where i'm going, i'm not going to tell you. If you can't read you shouldn't be here, if you want to come on, do it but i'm not telling you where i'm going." so yeah. Penisface. So i assumed it was going where i wanted to go when i asked for a ticket to where i wanted to stop. he's like ok it's 1€40. Just my luck, i only have 40cents change. So i take out a 20 (usually they accept up to 20). He looks at me as if i'm a shit on the ground and says, that's no good here, give me the right change or get off the bus. Great. So with my 40cents i'm just magically supposed to turn it into 1€40. So by now i'm a little annoyed and freaked, because i have to get back. LUCKILY a boy from my class had come on behind me and heard a little of the conversation, he came up to me and realised i didn't have the right change. Most people in belgium are nice. This boy is one of them, the driver was not. So, the boy paid for me. I was so happy. Then for the rest of the trip i sat in the back and bitched about him. Made me feel a little better. So yeah, that was pretty exciting :) :)
Have a good day!! xx
Monday, 8 November 2010
First day back
So today was my first day back at school - i guess i should fill you in on what's been happening!!
So I was staying with Poon (the other AFS girl) and we watched season 1 of prisonbreak :) :) ahhh love it.. One day for lunch we ate sardines and cream cheese on toast - it was OK! cause i could hardly taste the sardines lol. We also went to Walibi (the amusement park) on tuesday evening - it was fun!!
On thursday i came back home. Most of the day there were people downstairs practising for a concert - so we heard quite a bit of music! On Friday Shanel and i did some drawing, then painted each others nails then played scrabble in english (luckily i won! haha). Oh yeah, thursday night wwe went to the cinema. I saw "the social network" - it was pretty good, not great, but not how i expected it to be.. On saturday afternoon Shanel and i went shopping in LLN (she wanted to find some boots). I bought a scarf. We ate dinner there together (pasta) and then met the family to go to the cinema. Shanel and I saw "the man who wanted to live his life" - a french film about a man who accidentally killed his wifes lover, then stole his identity and career. I thought it was quite good, but Shanel got pretty bored. I also bought some things to send in a package to my friends, i hope they like it!! =i can't see how they wouldn't though.. :)
Annnd Sunday i did a little work and just kinda chilled. It was nice.
Today was back to school - the hardest part was waking up in the morning!! Luckily it's only a three day week then a four day weekend.
Oh yeah, sunday i also cut myself a fringe - it looks ok. I'm thinking of getting Eliza to maybe dye my hair and cut it a little - just for fun. Nothing too extreme, just a little change.
THAT'S ALL :) :)
So I was staying with Poon (the other AFS girl) and we watched season 1 of prisonbreak :) :) ahhh love it.. One day for lunch we ate sardines and cream cheese on toast - it was OK! cause i could hardly taste the sardines lol. We also went to Walibi (the amusement park) on tuesday evening - it was fun!!
On thursday i came back home. Most of the day there were people downstairs practising for a concert - so we heard quite a bit of music! On Friday Shanel and i did some drawing, then painted each others nails then played scrabble in english (luckily i won! haha). Oh yeah, thursday night wwe went to the cinema. I saw "the social network" - it was pretty good, not great, but not how i expected it to be.. On saturday afternoon Shanel and i went shopping in LLN (she wanted to find some boots). I bought a scarf. We ate dinner there together (pasta) and then met the family to go to the cinema. Shanel and I saw "the man who wanted to live his life" - a french film about a man who accidentally killed his wifes lover, then stole his identity and career. I thought it was quite good, but Shanel got pretty bored. I also bought some things to send in a package to my friends, i hope they like it!! =i can't see how they wouldn't though.. :)
Annnd Sunday i did a little work and just kinda chilled. It was nice.
Today was back to school - the hardest part was waking up in the morning!! Luckily it's only a three day week then a four day weekend.
Oh yeah, sunday i also cut myself a fringe - it looks ok. I'm thinking of getting Eliza to maybe dye my hair and cut it a little - just for fun. Nothing too extreme, just a little change.
THAT'S ALL :) :)
Sunday, 31 October 2010
forgot!
yeah also today I had my first sandwich "american" - the whole raw beef in a sammy thing. It was pretty good! We had it in a yummy yummy baguette with pesto, parmesan and lettuce :) :) yum!
Toussaint
Woohoo!! So, I'm on holiday now and it's gooood :) I get to sleep in for a whole week!
Tomorrow it's All Saints Day, so people in Belgium go to lay flowers on graves.
I was going to go to the North Sea with my family, but then my host brother decided he wanted to come too - causing a space problem in the car. So in the end, i'm now staying with another AFSer's place until Wed/Thurs. So that's all cool with me. Today we went to Namur to a Thai shop (the girl is Thai) and tonight we are going to a Halloween party! Also I think we may be going trick or treating afterwards too haha. I'm dressing up as a cat! woohoo, exciting :)
Tomorrow I think we will go to Walibi (an amusement park); so that should be fun!!
I dunno what else we'll get upto but it should be fun :)
This week... hmm.. We got our first school report, and when the teacher was giving them out he got me to stand up the front and told everyone to congratulate me because I am foreign, but I have an 'impeccable report'. Everyone clapped and it was rather embarrassing. I ended up getting 70% in Religion, nothing in french (haha), 10/10 in a test in history (it was the first day and was copied off somebody else), 78,5% in english (excellent! haha), 66,5% in Maths, 100% in Science (very surprising!) and 90% in Geography. So overall, it was pretty pleasing! The guys in my class were shocked (it was a scandal that i did so well), some of them even took photos of my 100% cause they'd never seen it!
hmm.. Oh yeah, my English teacher has a friend who wrote a book. It's in French but has conversations in English. My teacher doesn't have the time but she asked if I would be able to correct the English that's already there and do a little translating. I was all keen to do it, and then she told me i'd get paid too!! So, of course, i've accepted that offer haha. It's not exactly bad for me cause i get to read the book too :)
Well, that's enough information for now. I may have a more exciting week this week seeing as it's the holidays not just school - but we'll see.
BYEE :)
Tomorrow it's All Saints Day, so people in Belgium go to lay flowers on graves.
I was going to go to the North Sea with my family, but then my host brother decided he wanted to come too - causing a space problem in the car. So in the end, i'm now staying with another AFSer's place until Wed/Thurs. So that's all cool with me. Today we went to Namur to a Thai shop (the girl is Thai) and tonight we are going to a Halloween party! Also I think we may be going trick or treating afterwards too haha. I'm dressing up as a cat! woohoo, exciting :)
Tomorrow I think we will go to Walibi (an amusement park); so that should be fun!!
I dunno what else we'll get upto but it should be fun :)
This week... hmm.. We got our first school report, and when the teacher was giving them out he got me to stand up the front and told everyone to congratulate me because I am foreign, but I have an 'impeccable report'. Everyone clapped and it was rather embarrassing. I ended up getting 70% in Religion, nothing in french (haha), 10/10 in a test in history (it was the first day and was copied off somebody else), 78,5% in english (excellent! haha), 66,5% in Maths, 100% in Science (very surprising!) and 90% in Geography. So overall, it was pretty pleasing! The guys in my class were shocked (it was a scandal that i did so well), some of them even took photos of my 100% cause they'd never seen it!
hmm.. Oh yeah, my English teacher has a friend who wrote a book. It's in French but has conversations in English. My teacher doesn't have the time but she asked if I would be able to correct the English that's already there and do a little translating. I was all keen to do it, and then she told me i'd get paid too!! So, of course, i've accepted that offer haha. It's not exactly bad for me cause i get to read the book too :)
Well, that's enough information for now. I may have a more exciting week this week seeing as it's the holidays not just school - but we'll see.
BYEE :)
Sunday, 24 October 2010
here we go again!!
soo.. this time i guess i have a little more to say.
so on wednesday i went to the 24h vélo in Louvain la Neuve (where my school is) - it's like the event of the year and there's always at least one death due to the drinking. it was cool. i hung out with a couple of classmates and got to pee in the bush :) my fave. the only poopoo part was that it was pretty rainy.
on thursday i got super excited because i bought some boots that i've had my eye on. they're blue and soft, with a bit of a heel. and yes, it was exciting :) also, i was super happy because i found out i got 14/20 in a religion test that i had a) made up and b) written in english. stoked.
Saturday morning i took the train to meet Rosie (states) in brussels. we met up with Lilla (hungary) and went to get maccas - my first since coming here! i got to experience a speculoos and caramel mcflurry, it was a dream. then we went over to Gina's house (peru) and made delicious cookies that kinda turned into one slice of cookie. it was so good :p We went out a little that night, cause we wanted to experience gummy beers ( gummy lollies that you put in your beer then eat afterwards ). we cut our night short however when a creepy creepy man kept touching rosie to "tell her future" then brought over her friend who tried to accuse us of being racist. I stayed at rosie's that night.
Sunday we had to get up early to meet all the other AFS kids (from everywhere in belgium) for the flashmob!!! haha. we practised it like all day then finally came time to do it! it was pretty cool in the end :) unfortunately for me my feet were cruciatingly sore from wearing my new boots all around brussels, killing my archilles tendon! buuut i got over it. it was cool to see the kids who aren't in our chapter again, but not everyone was there (no other kiwis!) which was a shame. i had been hoping to see mats, but he wasn't there so i'll have to another time!
yes so, there's me exciting weeek. i'm about to die of fatigue so good night! xox
so on wednesday i went to the 24h vélo in Louvain la Neuve (where my school is) - it's like the event of the year and there's always at least one death due to the drinking. it was cool. i hung out with a couple of classmates and got to pee in the bush :) my fave. the only poopoo part was that it was pretty rainy.
on thursday i got super excited because i bought some boots that i've had my eye on. they're blue and soft, with a bit of a heel. and yes, it was exciting :) also, i was super happy because i found out i got 14/20 in a religion test that i had a) made up and b) written in english. stoked.
Saturday morning i took the train to meet Rosie (states) in brussels. we met up with Lilla (hungary) and went to get maccas - my first since coming here! i got to experience a speculoos and caramel mcflurry, it was a dream. then we went over to Gina's house (peru) and made delicious cookies that kinda turned into one slice of cookie. it was so good :p We went out a little that night, cause we wanted to experience gummy beers ( gummy lollies that you put in your beer then eat afterwards ). we cut our night short however when a creepy creepy man kept touching rosie to "tell her future" then brought over her friend who tried to accuse us of being racist. I stayed at rosie's that night.
Sunday we had to get up early to meet all the other AFS kids (from everywhere in belgium) for the flashmob!!! haha. we practised it like all day then finally came time to do it! it was pretty cool in the end :) unfortunately for me my feet were cruciatingly sore from wearing my new boots all around brussels, killing my archilles tendon! buuut i got over it. it was cool to see the kids who aren't in our chapter again, but not everyone was there (no other kiwis!) which was a shame. i had been hoping to see mats, but he wasn't there so i'll have to another time!
yes so, there's me exciting weeek. i'm about to die of fatigue so good night! xox
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)