Every Sunday, my host family has lunch with their extended family at my host dad's step mother's house. Today was my first experience, and it was a lot of fun, but after an hour, I thought my head would explode. There were a lot of children and lots of noise, and SO MUCH FRENCH. Obviously, that's to be expected, but after a while, my mind just couldn't take it. I didn't say much at the meal because I was so overwhelmed, but I managed to catch a lot of what they were saying. As of right now, I can understand quite a bit. If I just sit and listen to what people are saying, I can usually get the gist of the conversation very quickly. But when I'm in a conversation with more than... 2 people, it becomes difficult for me to communicate. I think it's just because I become shy, but also because I'm afraid of making mistakes. I told myself I wouldn't have that fear, but I've realized that it's natural. It's okay if I'm afraid of making mistakes, but I shouldn't let it deter me from speaking. Kind of like when there's a spider in the shower. I might be afraid of the spider, but that doesn't meant that I'll never shower again.
My host mom and I left the lunch before the rest of the family so I could nap (the jet lag finally kicked in). I took a shower after she taught me how to get hot water (WOO!) and then went to sleep for about four hours. I have yet to get a clock, but hopefully I will soon.
Rewind for a bit. Before lunch, Anne-Michele, Amaury and I went to a supermarket in Waremme, a village close to where we live. There were definitely some differences between the Belgian supermarket and the ones in the US. For one, this store was smaller than the ones in the US. It was smaller than Albertsons and King Soopers. The alcohol is just boom, right there in an aisle, you don't have to go to a liquor store to buy it. You can also buy clothes, school supplies, and other things like that at this store. It was like a Walgreens, kinda, but without the medicine and with more food.
There are European cars, but also Fords and Toyotas here, which I think is kind of interesting. I love seeing Citroens and Peugeots driving along the streets. It just makes me happy. My host family laughed at me when I saw my first Citroen. I smiled really big and said "Oh, j'adore les Citroens!" (Oh, I adore Citroens!). The police officers here drive VWs.
Something about driving: while my host dad seems to stick to the speed limit for the most part, it always feels like we're thiiiiiis close to careening off the road. The streets here are very curvy, and it rains a lot, so the roads are slippery.
People in the US complain when there aren't signs labeling the various streets, right? Well, here, the signs are about... 4 inches long and 3 inches tall and the print is REALLY tiny. The signs are on the sides of buildings, which would cause an uproar in the US, I'm sure. Honestly, the signs are so small that 99% of the time, I have no idea what street we're on.
All of the cars here are manual. The old Citroen that Anne-Michele calls Etienne's "toy" has a strange shift... It's in the dashboard and you pull it out, you don't move it up and down.
The roads: Some of them are cobblestone, some of them are paved, all of them are curvy and twisty and terrifying. The roads are also very narrow to begin with, but are made narrower by the fact that people park on both sides. And when you park, it's not necessary to park facing a certain direction, oh no. I've seen cars nose to nose, bumper to bumper, and one truck-like thing that backed up into a parking space with the front of it sticking out into the road. Anyway, I thought Colorado had a ton of roundabouts, but we've got nothing on Belgium. In Waremme, there seems to be at least three roundabouts no matter where in the city you're going. They're impossible to avoid. Also, whoever designed the roads here has a very sick sense of humor. Tonight, I went with Etienne, Amaury, and some cousins to Etienne's friend's house, and we had to turn 330 degrees to get to the road to Jean-Luc's house. It was crazy. And of course, no car has that turning radius, so we had to stop in the middle of the road, back up a little, then continue the turn. It was a little scary. Speaking of backing up, after my family picked me up from the airport, we were trying to find the train station. We were in the middle of Bruxelles, and Etienne missed a turn, so he just stopped the car and backed up about 10 feet so he could turn. IN THE MIDDLE OF A MAIN ROAD IN BRUXELLES. I thought my mom was a crazy driver. Oh, and whoever invented the stop sign neglected to introduce it to Belgium.
It's kind of fun to ride in the car though. :)
Language: I understand a lot more than I thought I would so soon. I can follow a conversation pretty well, and when people talk to me (albeit slowly), I can usually understand what they're saying and formulate a decent response. My problem right now lies in speaking. I can usually do fairly well with Anne-Michele and I'm getting better with Etienne, but I'm still struggling with my host brothers. Arnaud is very nice about speaking English to me and Amaury talks really slowly and quite loud using small words, which is nice, but I have NO clue what Adrien is saying. Ever. I've tried just listening to him, but I still have no idea what's going on. I just need to practice listening to people. And do more of the exercises in my French workbook.
The more I listen to people speak, the more I think in French. I think in it until I reach a point where I don't know the word I'm looking for. So, I throw in the English version and continue to think in French. It's easier if I imagine I'm talking to one of my host family members, because I'm going to have to speak to them in French.
As I said before, I went to Jean-Luc's house with Etienne, Amaury and some cousins. I had a lot of fun. August 15th is a celebration in Belgium (I haven't quite gathered why) and we watched the fireworks over La Meuse (a river) from Jean-Luc's backyard in between exclamations about my mental health because I love rain. Someone, I think Jean-Luc, said "Only in Belgium would it be pouring rain, and yet we still have fireworks." And it was completely true! It was pouring, but we all stood outside and watched. I couldn't stop smiling the whole time. As I watched the fireworks, it kind of hit me. I'm in Europe. I still can't believe it. My favorite parts of the evening were:
1. Trying orange juice. There isn't pulp (WOOHOO!) and it's really a blend of fruit juices: orange, mango, pineapple, banana, and some others. The box (yes, it comes in a box) has some English on the front. If I remember correctly, it says "fruity and exotic." I thought it was hilarious. :)
2. All of a sudden, during the fireworks, the adults started to sing "We Are the Champions." Just the one line: "We are the champions. We are the champions. We are the champions." It was so cute!
3. Jean-Luc. It was raining a lot, and for some reason, he didn't go inside and get an umbrella. Instead, he tied a plastic bag onto his head in what I can only describe as a Pippi Longstocking-'do rag. I couldn't stop laughing, and I wish I had taken my camera so I could have a picture.
4. The music on the way home. When we got in the car, the Eurythmics were playing, followed by Colbie Caillat, then Bob Marley. After Bob was a French song, then The Cardigans. I thought it was kind of funny. I also heard Lady Gaga on the radio today before we left for Jean-Luc's. It was nice to have that little piece of home.
Well, it's past 3 now, and I'm getting tired. I'll say goodnight. :)
Bon nuit!
Mikayla
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