Okay, so here's the rest of what happened today...

It took me forever to fall asleep last night, so I ended up sleeping in late -- till around 11 am here. Anne-Michele came to my room and invited me to go with her to Ikea. I decided to go, and after eating an apple and taking a fabulously cold shower (I think I was the last one to shower today, so there wasn't any hot water), we left. I don't know how long it took for us to get to Ikea. It's in a place called Hognoul (I think) and Anne-Michele told me that people come to this Ikea from France, Luxembourg, and Holland, if I remember correctly. It's the only Ikea around except for the one in Bruxelles. It was fun to walk around and watch people shop. Ikea is set up kind of weird. I've never been to one before (at least, not in recent memory), and basically, you walk around a set path with about a million other people, all jostling and walking around looking for stuff. Anne-Michele showed me around and explained the different parts of the store. I'm not usually one for shopping (my mom can attest to that) but I really enjoyed it. I liked the people-watching and catching snatches of French conversation. The more I listen to Anne-Michele, the more I understand. At the end of our day shopping, I could understand everything she said.

This morning, it was a un peu strange -- Anne-Michele started speaking English to me right off the bat. I don't think she even realized it. She started talking to the guy who was working on the house a little in English before she realized what she had been doing. It was a little funny. :) But I think that shows just how quickly people can learn to do things differently. Anne-Michele is a native French speaker, and says that she was the worst in her English class, and yet she doesn't seem to have much of a problem switching between French and English. I hope that someday I can switch back and forth between French and English like that as well.

Anyway, after we had finished shopping, we bought some ice cream and donuts at Ikea. Yes, at Ikea. Anne-Michele said that Amaury likes donuts a lot, and we were both really hot (it was SO hot in the store) so, naturally, ice cream was the thing to get. It was absolutely delicious. It was a really cool system as well. Anne-Michele paid for the ice cream and was given two ice cream cones. Not far from the cash register, there was a small machine. You put your cone in a little holder, push a button, and the machine lifts the cone up, puts ice cream in it, and then kind of throws it down. The holder goes down about... 3 inches, and then the ice cream cone falls into it. I think it's so the ice cream doesn't drip all over the place. It's also really neat because you can have as much as you want, as long as you don't eat your ice cream cone. Do they have these machines at Ikeas in the U.S.?

After Ikea, Anne-Michele and I went to Decathlon, a large sports store, kind of like a Dick's Sporting Goods in the U.S. Anne-Michele wanted to get some breeches for Amaury (he rides horses as well. :D ) but they didn't have his size. Also, she bought me my first Belgian shoes! They're rubber riding boots. :) They're English (sorry Julie) and a size 7 in the U.S. It's kind of funny -- yesterday, Anne-Michele asked me what size shoes I wear. I told her I don't know in European sizes. So, she grabbed my foot and held it up next to hers and told me that she thinks I'm a size 40 (basically the same size as her). When I got the boots today, they had my size in the European, British, and American fashion. Hence, the sevens. I tried them on in the store though, and they fit just fine. Weird, huh?

Voila, pictures of my spanking new boots. :)

(By the way, can anyone tell me how to get accents on my computer? I feel lame not using them and having to copy and paste when I do.)

Anne-Michele and I also went to JBC, a clothing store. I bought a yellow shirt. It was made in "meillleures conditions de travail" (better working conditions) and is made from "matériaux respectueux de l'environnement" (environmentally-friendly materials). So me, right? :) It was kind of cool to make a purchase in a foreign country, even if it was just a shirt that I could probably get in the U.S.

Anyway, after that, we went to the post office. It wasn't too different from the ones in the U.S.,

except people took a number when they walked in and there wasn't quite as much stuff on the

walls.

After all of the shopping, Anne-Michele and I came home and I went upstairs and read a little bit.

I may have napped for about 10 minutes, but I'm not entirely sure. Etienne called up the stairs

nd asked me if I'd like to go with him to "la commune." He said something else about speaking

English, and I decided to just go along and see what it was. Turns out, it's (la commune) a type of welfare

organization for the town. Etienne is the president. His secretary (I think) speaks English, and so

she explained what the organization does and asked if we have something like that in the U.S.

I said yes, and told her my point of view of the U.S.' welfare. She asked me how I feel about Obama,

and we talked about the BP oil spill. She told me that she tries to follow American news on CNN

and would explain what we were talking about to Etienne. He seemed interested as well, which

was nice. She (ugh, I can't remember her name!) asked how old I am. I told her 16, and she couldn't

believe it! She thought I was 18. I explained to her that I finished high school early and started

school a year early, so that's why I'm so young. She explained it to Etienne who seemed rather

surprised. He told me that his daughter, Alix (she's in Florida) is a year ahead. I think it's pretty cool. :)

Wednesday, Etienne and I are going to get my visa certified. I asked Anne-Michele if she had

called Philippe, my Rotary club guy, and she said not yet. Hopefully that gets taken care of soon,

so I can register for the activity coming up.

Food:

I realized that I've had tomatoes every day since I've been here. Don't get me wrong, I like tomatoes,

but how many can one person eat? Whenever we have fresh fruits or vegetables, Anne-Michele

or Etienne tells me where they're from. I think I've had veggies from their garden, Etienne's brother's,

and somewhere else.

I know that in French class, we learned all about the markets and how important fresh food is in

France, and I thought that it would be similar in Belgium. It is in some ways, but not in others.

Etienne is a professor at a cooking school, and everything he makes is DELICIOUS. He uses a lot

more fresh stuff than most people do in the U.S. He cooks everything right before we eat it --

no reheating refrigerated stuff. Tonight, we had lettuce (salad), tomatoes (could be combined with

the lettuce), pork in various forms, and boiled potatoes. I don't know what it is about Belgian food,

but I'll take super teeny portions (half a potato, five leaves of lettuce, two little pieces of tomato, and a

piece of pork) and still be stuffed before I finish eating. Maybe I don't eat enough at home. But I

think it's because I'm not working out as much as I did at home. I'm not working out at all, in fact.

I'm not riding horses, walking Rudi, anything. I think I've realized why exchange students gain so

much weight. We don't always do the activities we used to do. I need to work on being more active

while I'm here. Anyway, back to food. My first day here, we had breakfast at a small health food

place in the train station in Bruxelles. Then, for lunch, Anne-Michele made chicken (it was prepackaged,

all she had to do was heat it, like the stuff you can pick up at King Soopers), salad (I think I've had

it at every meal) and tomatoes with chunks of mozzarella. It was kind of funny -- when Adrien

passed me the bowl, he said, "Mozzarella!" I was like, "Oui, je sais." (Yes, I know.) He seemed

kind of surprised that I knew what kind of cheese it was. I'm a Wisconsinite. :)

I just realized that that is a really long, rambling paragraph. The point of it all was that even

though there is a lot of fresh stuff in Belgium, it's not all 100% fresh. We don't go to the butcher

shop every day, we don't get a new loaf of bread or go out and pick apples all the time. While some

stuff is fresh, some is bought at the store. It's kind of like that U.S. in that respect.

Ugh, I think I'm still not making sense. I should probably get to bed now. I need to make up for

last night's lack of sleep.

Tonight, I gave Arnaud the peanut butter (buerre de cacahuètes) he asked for. He seemed

pleased. :)

I really like my host family, my house, everything about Belgium so far. I know that I'm still in

the honeymoon period, but really, what's not to love about a place and people that take you in

and do their best to teach you and make you happy? It's my definition of paradise.

Mikayla