Last week I made a list of subjects I want to tackle in my blog. This will be my first post from that list.

I know Rotary always said to us that one of the hardest things to handle while on exchange is the idea that time continues to pass back home. When you go back, things have changed. This wasn't really a problem for me at first; I accept that things change and I can't control them. That's the definition of life. There's no way to be prepared 100% of the time, which I learned the hard way.
On October 7th, my friend Mike Paul died from complications due to a stroke he suffered during surgery to remove cancerous tumors from his chest. On November 15th, my cat, Eyesick, was put down because of an unpreventable case of liver failure. Mike was 17. Eyesick was 2.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I bawled my eyes out when I found out about both. I still have not come to grips with the fact that both of them were snatched away, and both so young. It's hard to know that I wasn't there for them, even though I promised both that I would never leave and would always be by their sides 100%. Yes, I make promises to my pets. If you want to judge, go somewhere else. It's painful to think about the fact that all of Mike's friends were at his funeral and they all were able to grieve together at school while I'm stuck here in Belgium, unable to participate. I don't think I've come to terms with his death because I wasn't there to experience it. When I think about going home, I think about going to see Mike. But now, that's reduced to seeing a tombstone. I feel sick just thinking about it.

I miss Eyesick like crazy, too. He wasn't just a cat, he was my friend. I loved him very, very much. I first saw him when he was only a few hours old, and played with him from the time he could walk until the day we brought him home. He was gorgeous, gentle, and a big lazy-butt. But I don't care, because he loved everyone he met. There wasn't a mean bone in his body. He was even nice to my fish!

The point of this was to try to explain that life doesn't freeze. It's a tough lesson to learn. I know that I'll continue on with my exchange and friends at home will keep moving through their lives. But how to I melt back in to society when I come home? I'll be totally out of sync with what's been happening. I've missed football games, homecoming, every day classes... and I'm going to miss Prom, AP test week, graduation, and who knows what else? It's just weird to think that two completely separate worlds are functioning at the same moment, and in some ways, I'm caught between them.

Diner Exotique and thinking in French.

Today all of the exchange students from the three districts here in Belgium gathered together in Visé, a city near the Dutch border to celebrate the cuisine of our host lands. Each one of us had to bring a dish that would serve 40 people. The dish was supposed to be something native to our country that is hard (or impossible) to find in Belgium. There were things like fresh sushi (SO GOOD), macaroni and cheese, scones, stuffing and turkey, mashed potatoes, and something delicious from Taiwan among countless other dishes. Jordan and I teamed up and made two things: deviled eggs and cheesy dill bread. They were both delicious, although the cheesy dill bread did require two separate attempts... As Jordan says, "The first.... 'substance' we produced was not fit for human consumption. Period." I thought it was fine....

But in all, it was a lovely day spent enjoying the company of my fellow exchangers and their host families. It's so cool to see everyone come together like this; it was like a giant Thanksgiving, but with food from around the world.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures, because a) I forgot my camera and b) my camera has sucked the life out of the latest pair of batteries. Ugh. But I promise I'll get some new ones before I go to GERMANY on Wednesday. :)




On another note, I've stared to think in French. I don't think anything major; most of the time I think what I'm doing. Like this:

Je vais manger bientôt.
I am going to eat soon.

Je vais à l'école.
I am going to school.

J'ai manqué le train.
I missed the train.

Je voudrais manger les bonbons, mais je ne peux pas parce que ça n'est pas bonne pour ma santé.
I would like to eat candy, but I can't because that's not good for my health.


Etc.

It's a crazy sensation, and kind of fun. I'm starting to not realize when things are in English as well. For example, when I was watching football with Amaury and Arnaud, I didn't realize that the announcers were speaking in English. I wasn't even listening to them, honestly. I'm so used to not understanding what people are saying (like Belgian radio, etc), that I kind of tune it out.

One thing that makes thinking in French difficult is the abundance of English around me. I speak English with Talia, Emma and Eduardo at school. I read English books. Most of my Facebook is in English, with English speakers posting on my wall. I talk to my mom a lot (a little too much, probably), and we only speak English. I text my American friends in English. 80% of the music on the radio is in English.

Sometimes I wish I was from Japan or Brazil, that way I would be forced to speak in French at all times (no one here speaks Japanese or Portuguese, as far as I know...).

But despite the copious amounts of English being thrown at my ears every day, I know I've made HUGE progress in my French. I can understand most of what's being said in class by my teachers now. I can watch tv and pick up whole paragraphs of what people are saying, not just random words. I can read in French and pick up meaning as well. At first, I could only understand my host mom. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what my host brothers and host dad were saying, much less anyone outside the family. I'm beginning to understand strangers, which I'm really proud of. I know it sounds kind of silly, because French is French is French, right? Not so. There are accents, there are different ways to say words. For example: parce que. That's "because" in French. I've heard it said two ways: "pahrsss-cuh" and "parse-e-cuh." It's hard to type out. It's kind of like the whole "toe-may-toe" "toe-mah-toe" kind of thing. But anyway. I've learned that when someone's speaking, it's easier to understand them if you hear them speak a lot. Therefore, I understand Anne-Michèle, Amandine, Florian, and M. Godet, my French teacher, the best because I hear them speak the most. The hardest is with strangers because I'm not used to their voices and how they say certain words. People here also speak relatively quickly, so it's sometimes hard to separate the words and figure out what they're trying to say.

But it's getting easier. I understand jokes now. I can have a decent conversation about most topics. I can listen to the radio and follow the gist of the news report or the jokes about celebrities. I actually managed to understand the words of a song last week! I know it doesn't necessarily sound like it'd be that difficult, but you'd be surprised...

One thing I noticed while reading in French: It's much easier to just let the reading flow than to sit by and directly translate everything. I understand way way way more if I kind of skate over the words and let them soak in than if I sit by and translate word for word, like this:

"Viens Darcy, lui dit-il, il faut que tu danses avec nous. J'ai horreur de te voir rester planté tout seul. C'est stupide, et tu ferais bein mieux de prendre part au bal."

Come Darcy, he said to him, it is necessary that you dance with us. I have horror to see you to stay planted all alone. It's stupid, and you will make better to take part in the ball.

Absolute gibberish, isn't it? It's much easier for my poor brain to think something like, "Come Darcy, he said, it is necessary that you dance with us. I hate seeing you stay all alone. It's stupid and you will do better to join in the ball." I still absorb the words and the language, but in a more rational way. Sometimes I don't even have to translate the words to English, I just plow through with the French. (That was an exact quote from "Orgueil et préjugés" by Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice. :))



A song, my lovelies:





This is called "Toi et Moi" by Guillaume Grand. It's the song I was able to understand last week. I sing it ALL the time at school. ALL the time.

Lady Gaga.

Tuesday night, the 23rd, Talia, Emma, Arnaud and I piled in the car to drive to Antwerp for part 2 of my birthday: a Lady Gaga concert.

As many of you know, I absolutely LOVE Lady Gaga, her music, and what she represents. Not only that, but I feel that she's an actual artist -- there aren't many of those left in the music industry. She learned to play piano by ear at age 4, at 14 she was playing New York night clubs, and at 17 was one of 20 people in the world offered early admission to NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. That's a pretty intimidating resumé. But the way she relates to her fans is what really surprises me. She gave short speeches during her 2 hour show, and yes, I know that they're all practiced and rehearsed, but that doesn't make them any less inspiring, right? In one of her speeches, she talked about how she was picked on in high school, how she never fit in, and how people would tell her she was a worthless freak. She said she would go home, and her mom would say, "Baby, everyone is born with a superstar inside them." And that's what inspired her to release her inner superstar. She also talked about how we could be anyone or anything we wanted to be inside that stadium that night. There was nothing holding us back from letting everything out. There's nothing and no one we can't be.


But my favorite, my absolute favorite thing she said was this:

"I don't want you to leave here loving me more, I want you to leave here loving yourselves more."


Those are words to live by.

I want to go home for a weekend.

Just a weekend. I love Belgium, I love my friends, and I love my host family. But I just want to be home right now.

Homesickness has been hitting these past two weeks, and it's hitting hard.

I'm very grateful for everything I have here, really. I just want some familiarity. I want to wake up in my bed with my dog. I want to go through all of my clothes and decide what to wear. I want to get in my car and go to the barn and ride horses I know and trust, not huge Warmblood monsters that dump me on the ground. I want my food: cheesecake, cereal, salad, carrots, apples, bananas, cheese, etc. I don't want any chocolate at all for like a week. I want my house. I want to use my shower and I want to take a looooooooooooong shower without having to worry about if anyone else needs to get in to use the bathroom or take a shower of their own. I want to watch the nightly news on tv in a language I understand. I want my school and teachers who speak English and know that my name is Mikayla, not Clara. I want my friends and my life. I want to be Mikayla, not "the American." I want grocery stores that make sense, libraries full of books, movies that I like and understand. I want my music. My pillows, all 9 of them. I want cold, skim milk. I want chocolate chip cookies. I want grilled cheese. I want to eat dinner at 5, not at 7. I want to just say "hey" to my friends in the morning, and not have to bisou every single person in the room. I want familiar roads, automatic cars, Taco Bell, and my nail polish. I want familiar faces, my job walking Rudi, and hugs from all of my friends. I really just want what's comfortable. What's familiar. What I know and love. I want my life back.

I know most people will jump to the assumption that this mood funk is all due to the holiday season. I suppose that might be part of it, but I doubt it. The holidays really aren't a big deal for me. I think it's coming on because at this point, I'm kind of... disillusioned... with the whole process of being an exchange student. It's exhausting, it's often boring, and it's very, very frustrating. I've reached what feels like a stalemate in my language progression. I'm thinking in French, which is great, but I'm still making stupid mistakes with conjugations, my pronunciation is absolute trash, and I couldn't remember subjunctive if my life depended on it. It's intimidating and disheartening to be corrected all the time. I feel stupid when people don't understand what I say. I feel stupid when I mix up the words for sweater and chicken. I feel stupid speaking up in class not because I don't know if my answer's right, but because I'm not even sure I understood the question. I feel stupid because I can take great notes and understand everything on Tuesday, but in the same class on Thursday I'm completely lost.


I hate feeling stupid.


I don't want to leave Belgium, and I'm not giving up. I just want to go back home, to my familiar, easy life. Only for a weekend, to regroup, relax, and de-stress. But I can't. I can't leave and go home, because I'd have to leave permanently. And I don't want to do that. I want to stay here and live out the remainder of my exchange having fun and enjoying myself. I know it will get better, and by the time July comes around I'll be miserable with the thought of leaving. I just have to keep that in mind.

Thanksgiving.

I am thankful for:
3 wonderful host families
having brothers
Lady Gaga
horses
Penny
my mom
school and my education
CSU
pumpkin pie
warm socks
Hannah
the French language
good books
chocolate
smiles
hugs
stars

FYI

I just posted about London, but I had saved it as a draft, so it's a bit of a ways back in my post history. Here's a link to make it easier:


http://ouestmikayladanslemonde.blogspot.com/2010/11/london.html


I hope you enjoy!

Mikayla

The Big Americans.

It's a type of pizza. We eat it all the time, and I finally remembered to grab the box so I could take some pictures of it. Voilà.

FOOTBALL!

We just got satellite tv installed today. Normally, this wouldn't matter to me, as I don't watch tv here anyway. But tonight, I was up here in my room watching The West Wing on my computer, and Amaury came running up the stairs yelling, "Mikayla, football americain!" They found football. On tv. Here. In Belgium.



I think I almost knocked the poor kid over in my mad rush to get downstairs as fast as possible.





I smashed into the living room to discover Arnaud holding the remote watching the Giants v. Eagles game. Granted, neither one of them comes close to the awesomeness of the Pack, but still. Better than nothing. I watched with the two of them, and explained the rules when they got confused. I was rooting for the Giants (blasphemy, I know. But better than cheering for Michael Vick, right? How is he allowed to play football again?! He's a disgrace to humanity. But that's another blog for another time). Sadly, the Eagles managed to win. Ah well, c'est la vie. The Pack is 7 - 3 because we're freaking beasts, and we absolutely slaughtered the Vikings yesterday. Life is good.



One thing I noticed while we were watching the game:

I totally felt like I was part of the family. Like I was just watching a football game with my brothers. It was a really neat feeling, even though it's hard to describe. It was like I wasn't just the exchange student living there... I was actually their sister, they were my brothers, and we were just hanging out, like families do. It's definitely a memory I'll cherish.

Listen.

We are not what you think we are, we are golden.
WE ARE GOLDEN.

The passing of a friend.

Eyesick James
13 October 2008 --- 15 November 2010
I love you, Baby Buns.

There's a mouse in my house!

Or rather, in my suitcase. I've heard it in there before, and I always hoped it would just... disappear or something. No such luck. I woke up yesterday morning, and I heard it digging around in there again. I'd only been asleep for about three hours, so in my half-awake state, I grabbed the water bottle sitting next to my bed and repeatedly whacked the top of the suitcase in hopes of scaring the little critter into submission. It worked, apparently, because I managed to fall back to sleep...

When I was totally awake later on in the day, I decided that enough was enough. Mr. Squeaky needs to find a new home. So, I opened my suitcase and started removing things, one by one. Two t-shirts, a chewed hemp necklace, my packets of Ranch dressing, two (thankfully) untouched boxes of Mac n Cheese, a sportsbra sporting (pun intended) a nice new hole in the strap, and some random papers made it out, but my Reese's Cups Minis, were, unfortunately, lost to the dreaded Monster Mouse. I was afraid to pull those out in fear of what I would find, so I just zipped the suitcase shut and set it down in the hallway outside my room. There it shall stay until tomorrow, when Talia and Emma come over to get ready for Lady Gaga. Talia loves mice, apparently, and she will brave the uncharted waters of the rest of Mikayla's Suitcase-land in hopes of finding Mr. Squeaky (who is, in fact, Monster Mouse by night, much the way Superman is Clark Kent during the day) and rehoming him to the great outdoors.

I think it's a great plan.

Tonight after a yummy dinner of pork, potato chunks and green beans, courtesy of Arnaud, I was doing dishes, and mentioned the mouse in my suitcase. He said yes, he had read it on Facebook. Is it still in there? My response: ...That's really a great question... See, I may have knocked it out when I woke up yesterday morning and beat the snot out of my suitcase with a water bottle, but I think it's still alive because I'm pretty sure I heard it scratching around again this morning...

Arnaud's suggestion? Set a trap. Um... except that means it will die. As I'm sure you know, I'm not okay with the idea of anything dying, ever. I said as much, and Arnaud looked at me and said, "C'est juste une souris. C'est rien." (It's just a mouse. It's nothing). But that's the thing. It is something. It's a life. It doesn't deserve to die. His response: It's either the mouse or your Reese's Cups.

I almost thought about it.

Except the Reese's cups are already gone. So no dice. I told him the Reese's Cups are already lost, and he agreed we could set a trap with cheese. No death involved, thank goodness.

I hope Talia finds it tomorrow and we can just let it go outside, no sneak attacks with cheese involved. But we shall see....

Until next time....

RIP Reese's Cups.

Harry Potter.

Tonight, I went to Liège to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I, with Amandine and Florian. And it was in ENGLISH. SO awesome. :)

Before the movie started, we walked around Liège, doing some shopping and searching for books for their TFAs (Travail Fin de l'Année -- basically a huge report on a subject of your choice). We then went to dinner at a really nice Italian restaurant. I had some sort of pasta with ham and a yummy cheese sauce. It was delicious.

After dinner was the moment of truth. Harry Potter. I won't give anything away, except to say that I LOVED it. It was extremely well done, in my opinion. It followed the book very well and had an excellent amount of suspense.

Sitting in the movie theater tonight, I thought about how lucky I am to have found my friends here in Belgium. I'm so fortunate that I was lost and confused my first day, and that Fabiola found Amandine and asked her to show me around. It was the start of a great friendship. And Florian pretty much rocks my socks. I can have Harry Potter discussions in French, which I definitely enjoy.

At lunch on Friday, Manon handed me a card. My Belgian friends had all written birthday messages to me on the inside. It is one of the most beautiful things I've ever received, and I will keep it forever. Words cannot describe how much that card means to me. It's hard to describe, but I hope I've been able to convey some sense of how I feel about it. This is really just a thank you to my friends here. Thank you for accepting me, for showing me around the school, for correcting my French and helping me learn, and letting me copy your notes. I'd be lost without you.

Gros bisous,

Mikayla

Today is my birthday.

And it's been once of the best birthday's I've ever had.

Today I realized how much my friends here love me and how lucky I am to have met them. At lunch today, we simply sat together, eating cake, talking, and laughing about whatever we were saying. Everyone was smiling and happy, and I felt so warm and fuzzy... Words can't even describe it.

Of course I miss my family and friends back home, but I'm so lucky to be here with people who care about me. Thank you to everyone who made this possible, not just Rotary but my family and friends back home and here in Belgium. Today has truly been magical.


Love,

Mikayla

OMG

I just realized I never wrote about the day I spent in Maastricht! I'm so sorry everyone! I'm currently working on a post about London, but I'll do Maastricht right after that.

London.

London London London.

That trip was seriously crazy fun. I LOVED it. While in London, I saw King Henry VIII's tomb, the interior of Windsor Castle, Queen Mary's Doll House, Buckingham Palace, countless telephone booths, drank Starbucks, and rode the London Eye.

The London Eye was probably my favorite part. We went up at night, and the entire city was lit up, everything was glowing. There were fireworks going off everywhere as well because of Guy Fawkes' Day, which made it even more magical. I wasn't originally going to ride because it was ridiculously expensive, but Jordan looked at me and said, "Mikayla... When will you have the chance to go again?" He was right. I'm SO glad I went. I have the souvenir picture of the group of us on my dresser, and every time I look at it, I smile.

Here's a recap:

I got to Namur at a disgustingly early hour on Thursday, and we all piled into the bus for the drive to Calais, France. I saw France for the first time on that trip, which was pretty cool. We got to Calais and had to go through customs, which involved filling out a little paper thing with details about how long we'd be staying in the UK and our addresses here in Belgium. It was pretty cool, and I'm happy that my passport has a new stamp. After that, we boarded the ferry for the trip across the English Channel. This was another first for me: I'd never seen the ocean before. Jordan, Emily and I went outside on the deck, and it was FREEZING, but we managed to get some good pictures.

My favorite:





After the boat ride, we drove to Canterbury Cathedral and took a tour, which was actually immensely interesting. I took loads of photos there as well. There's so much history in these places that it's almost hard to comprehend. Just imagining that popes, archbishops, and kings have done important business and altered the course of history on the exact spot you're standing on now is just... mind blowing.

After Canterbury, we drove to Picadilly Circus and were given free rein to run around and explore, as long as we were back on the bus by 10. I took off with Emily, Jordan, Sam and Caitlin, and we had a very interesting experience searching for a bathroom. Apparently the Brits don't have to pee, EVER. There were NO public bathrooms to be found. It was a major crisis, honestly. I don't know where I found the bathroom, but I know I found one eventually. Then, we went to eat at an Indian restaurant we found on a side street. The food was very good, but VERY expensive. The bill total was about 80 pounds, which translates to $130. For 5 people. Crazy, I know.

We went back to the bus after that, and finally went to the hotel. We ended up spending most of the night in Caitlin's room, playing cards and just talking.

Saturday:
Emily and I almost missed the bus because we went on a Starbucks run. SO delicious. We drove to Windsor Castle and took a tour, which was extraordinary. Jordan and I were the last ones done because we couldn't stop marveling at everything we were seeing. The views were incredible, as was the art. I've seen this picture a million times in books and online, but to actually see the real piece of art? Incredible.




After our tour, Jordan and I stopped in St. George's Chapel, which houses King Henry VIII's tomb as well as the St. George's Chapel Choir. It was finished during the reign of King Henry VIII, and was one of the most intricate, beautiful buildings I've ever had the privilege to enter. Henry even had a special room built for his first wife, Catharine of Aragon, to watch mass.

Our next stop after a quick lunch of McDonald's, believe it or not, was Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. I met Leonardo DiCaprio, Indiana Jones, John Wayne and DANIEL RADCLIFFE. So many levels of awesome. I also had wax figurines of my hands made. I tried to do that thing where you make a heart with your hands, but it didn't really work... So I have two awkward looking wax hands sitting here in my room... but it was still awesome. Maybe I'll make them into book ends.


After that, we went to the Hard Rock Café for dinner. I had a veggie burger and it was delicious. We also happened to be sitting at a table surrounded by Billy Idol paraphernalia. I LOVE Billy Idol, so I was very excited about that as well.

After dinner, we went to the Phoenix Theater for a performance of the musical "Blood Brothers." I enjoy theater, but this... this was phenomenal. It's about twin brothers, separated at birth (their mother, a poor woman who already has 5 or 6 children, gives one of the boys to the rich woman whose house she cleans). The rich woman, Mrs. Lyons, states that twins separated at birth, can never know of each others' existence, or they will both immediately die. Of course, as the boys get older, they somehow find each other and become friends, much to the dismay (and terror) of their respective mothers. It's a beautiful story with amazing music to go along with it. Definitely one of my favorite experiences in London.

We returned to the hotel when the show was over, and hung out in Caitlin's room again, but that night we had a tea party. It was quite enjoyable. :)

Saturday we woke up, packed, and then commenced a walking tour of London. We saw tons of buildings including:
The Tower of London
Big Ben
London Bridge
Parliament
Buckingham Palace
The Royal Courts
Trafalgar Square
The Prime Minister's Street
St. James' Park

After our tour, we had a mad scramble to find lunch, as we had ended up in an area that contained absolutely NO restaurants whatsoever. Eventually we found a place selling fish and chips, so we munched on that outside in the park. AMAZINGLY delicious. Seriously.

While we were waiting for the rest of the kids to come back, the group I was with decided to get ice cream. We stopped at a little stand on the side of the road (it sounds sketchy, but it wasn't) and were greeted by a lovely man named Simon, who was working there. He had delicious ice cream as well. He was quite the character, and was immensely pleased when he found out we were from Belgium. He said that he only knows one phrase in Dutch: Zal je met me trouwen? which translates to: Will you marry me? Quite humorous, I will tell you.

This is Simon, the Ice Cream Man. He's holding a picture of my best friend, Hannah. I took that photo with me everywhere in London and took pictures of her with all of the landmarks and anything else I thought she'd like.

Once all of Rotary had regrouped, we divided up based on which museum we wanted to go to. Jordan, Caitlin, Sam and I chose to go to the British Museum. It was AMAZING how much history was inside that one building. I could have spent hours and hours, if not days and weeks just wandering the halls. However, we were all antsy to get out and explore the rest of London, as we had until 11 o'clock that night all to ourselves. So, needless to say, we were not in the best mindset for a museum. Some of my favorite parts:
The Rosetta Stone
The Book of the Dead
"Paula Deen. BUTTAH!"
"I really freaking HATE Rachel Ray."
"There should be way more Picasso stuff in here. Isn't this like... false advertising?"
"Dude... all of these people.... speak ENGLISH."
"Okay, so I'm thinking we're not at the maturity level we need to be at to be in here right now..."


When we were done touring the museum, we all headed across the street to Starbucks, of course, and then stopped to get "hot dogs" at the stand across the street. Why the quotation marks? Well, they tasted like funky sausage, and the box they came out of said "50% meat." I really don't want to know what the other 50% was. It was already dark outside, and the whole street was beautiful. Spending that time with my friends was definitely another one of my favorite moments on the trip. It wasn't necessarily anything extraordinary (okay... we were in London...), but a feeling of contentment just kind of washed over me during that walk. It was an indescribable experience.

We hopped on the metro after that. Next stop: King's Cross Station. Why? Platform 9 3/4. Yes, I'm serious! I had to explain my obsession to Jordan, who, as it turns out, has never read Harry Potter. >:( <---- That's my unhappy face. I do think his interest was piqued though, so hopefully he'll read them SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON. Life is not complete without Harry Potter. 'Nuff said.


We left King's Cross and hopped back on the metro to go to the London Eye, which Jordan really really wanted to ride. I ended up going as well, and it's probably number one on my Favorite Things About London list.



After the London Eye, we headed back to Picadilly Circus, and met a lovely drunk man wearing a mohawk wig on the metro. After arriving, we did a little bit of souvenir shopping, then split up for the remaining hour and a half or so. I went to a pub and hung out with Jordan and Elliot, and then we began a fruitless hunt for fish and chips. We ended up eating at a seedy little sandwich/donut shop, and watching a TV special about Susan Boyle. Actually, we almost missed the bus because we were watching the thing about her... But we made it, ça va alors. Most of the bus ride was spent sleeping, as well as the ferry. We actually missed the ferry we were supposed to take, so we parked the bus in a parking lot and just sat there for about an hour. And sleeping on the ferry was COLD. But oh well.

We made it back to Namur at about.... 8 am the next morning, and I took the train to Huy and Etienne picked me up. I slept most of the rest of the day, which was nice.



And voilà. That's the story of my trip to London. It was amazing, and it's definitely something I'll never forget. :)

Pizza

We just ate dinner, and as we were cleaning up, Anne-Michèle told Arnaud that at my house, we eat pizza for breakfast. He looked at me like I grew another head. Seriously.

Arnaud: Pizza?

Me: Yes...

Arnaud: In the morning?

Me: Yes. COLD, too. We don't heat it.

I think he's still standing in front of the fridge trying to figure out how us barbarians can walk and talk at the same time.

But I miss cold pizza.

Thanksgiving Pictures

All right world, here are the photos of the Thanksgiving Talia, Emma and I made for our host families. It was a LONG day -- we started cooking at about 1 and the party didn't finish until about midnight. Despite the enormous amount of work, everyone seemed to enjoy the food (the sweet potatoes were a big hit as well as the stuffing) and the pie was an interesting new experience for them as well. I'll post the story of the day later, as well as my stories from London. But for now, enjoy it visually. :)

Mikayla

Talia and I working on the sweet potatoes.

Of course, the vegetarian gets stuck making the chickens...

Melted butter, salt and pepper to rub on the chickens.

I don't remember what was going on at this point...

Emma's apples for her pie.

Emma, me and the bowl of stuffing.

Apple pie ready to go in the oven.

Our work space. It got a LOT messier than that.

We had leftover pumpkin pie filling, so we made little pumpkin pie cake things.

Rubbing the inside of the chickens with salt and pepper. The one I'm holding now became my chicken, the other was Talia's.

The chickens, in all of their chicken-y glory.

Pumpkin pie ready to be baked.

Stuffing the chickens. Amaury walked in while I was doing this, stared at me for about thirty seconds with eyes the size of saucers, and then ran out. He later told everyone that the stuffing was chicken excrement. Gotta love 11 year old brothers.

The chickens doing their thaaaang in the oven.

Apple pie.

Finished chickens. Mine was so beast it broke the string that was holding it together.

The finished table, right before we sat down to eat.

The dinner party.

Clockwise around the table:

Arnaud, M. Crismer (Emma's host dad), Anne-Michèle, M. De Wulf (Talia's host dad), Mme. Crismer (Emma's host mom), Etienne, Mme. De Wulf (Talia's host mom), Talia, Charles-Antoine (Talia's host brother), me

Not pictured: Amaury, Charlotte (Talia's host sister) and Emma (she was taking the picture)

Charles-Antoine, Talia, Emma, me, Arnaud

Etienne, Talia, Emma, Me, Anne-Michèle

Back row (l-r): M. De Wulf, Anne-Michèle, Mme. Crismer, Etienne, Mme. De Wulf, M. Crismer

Front row (l-r): Charlotte, Talia, Emma, me, Amaury

Thanksgiving, Belgian Style.

Tomorrow, Emma, Talia and I are cooking a Thanksgiving meal for our host families. Kind of. See, there are a few... unforeseen challenges we've been presented with. Like the fact that you can't get a turkey in Belgium at this time of year. So we're making chicken. Okay, fine. But we're not making one chicken, we're making two. Why? Because my host dad couldn't find a 6 kilo chicken, he bought two 3 kilo chickens. Okay, that works. But do you make a chicken the same way you do a turkey? Will there be enough space in the oven for said chickens? What's the appropriate amount of time for baking a chicken? I called my grandmother and asked her for her turkey recipe. So I need to go out and buy 8 pounds of butter (oh wait, they don't use pounds here...) and a few spices and some mushrooms, an onion, raisins and some celery. Except I forgot the word for celery. So I didn't write it on the list. I came home and looked it up later, and what is it? Céleri. Of course.

We also want to make pumpkin pie. Dandy. Except Anne-Michèle couldn't find pumpkin purée. So I have a legit pumpkin waiting for me downstairs. It requires cutting, gutting, baking, peeling, mashing, purée-ing, and then it will finally be ready to be made into pie. But do we have all of the spices? I put ginger on the list as well. Anne-Michèle bought a ginger root. That's great, I can use it, but what's the appropriate substitution for real ginger and ground ginger? Oh, and I need apples for apple pie too. Okay, we can handle this.

I need bread for stuffing. I have these cute little baguettes that I need to bake, let cool, slice, then bake again to dry them out. They won't make enough bread crumbs I'm sure, so we need to go out and buy more.

Did you know that in Belgium (and, I'm assuming, most of Europe) they don't use cups, teaspoons, tablespoons, or any other measurement like that? They use grams for EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING EVERYTHING EVERYTHING. This includes liquids. So I need to find 10 grams of vanilla extract. Okay. I don't even want to think about how many grams of butter I need. Or grams of sugar. By the way, do we have enough butter, sugar, and flour for all of this? I sure hope so.

I forgot peas. Crap. It's okay, we'll just live without.

Our menu:

Chicken

Green Bean Casserole

Cranberry Sauce

Salad

Pumpkin Pie

Apple Pie

Mashed Potatoes (oh no no no.... did we remember to buy potatoes!?)

Crescent Rolls

Well, time to get crackin' on that pumpkin. Wish me luck.

Mikayla

I WILL post about London, I promise.

But it's going to take a while, so I'll probably do it tomorrow after school when I have more time. But today, I wanted to share a few little things that have gone on.

1. I changed my math class. Now, instead of four hours per week, I have two. I just couldn't keep up with the regular math class. I was two years behind what they were learning and I could barely keep up, even when I copied Talia's notes. So I talked to the principal and switched into a math class that's two hours per week, and I'm told it's more applicable to life than the math I was doing before. We'll see what happens when I have the class next week.

2. I added two more classes to make up for my new hours of study hall. If I hadn't added them, I would have had an hour of etude, lunch, then three hours of etude after lunch, THEN my last class of the day, geography. That's lunacy, so the principal had me add Science Humaines and Formation Sociale. I'm not entirely sure what these classes are or what we're learning, but I think it'll be fun. I've never seen any of the kids before now, and they were so excited when they found out I'm an exchange student. It was like the first day of school all over again. The problem is that these classes are both two hours per week. I, however, have classes during the second hours, which are on Friday. So I'm only going to one of the hours every week. It's kind of confusing, and I'm going to miss loads of material, but I'm really only in those classes to fill time and continue learning French. So ça va.

3. My school has a rule, an actual rule, that states that you may NOT stand up and eat. You have to be sitting to eat. I found out today when I was talking to Talia and eating my sandwich, and the principal said, "Bon appetit, mais tu dois s'asseoir." (You have to sit down) I asked why, and she said because it's not healthy to stand and eat. It's a legitimate rule, not a joke. I've never been so flabbergasted in my life. Never.

The end.

Mikayla

P.S. London will come soon, I PROMISE!

Karaoke, Belgian Style

Most of Monday, I just hung around the house and relaxed, getting ready for LONDON (I leave tomorrow and will be back on Sunday). At around 6, Arnaud and I left for Namur. Talia and Emma were initially supposed to come along, but Talia had to be in Brussels early the next morning and Emma was sick, so it was just me and the brother. We passed the car ride discussing my French, tattoos and who knows what else.

We got to Namur and had dinner with a bunch of Arnaud's friends (delicious pasta with some sort of tomato sauce and either chicken or scampi) before heading over to the karaoke bar. On the way, Arnaud told me that I had to sing. It was not a question, it was not a request. I was obligated. Period, end of story. I tried pulling the "I-can't-sing-in-French" card, but he wasn't having it. We got to the karaoke bar, and after meeting up with some more friends, the karaoke got started.

Most people sang songs in French (which I didn't understand), but a girl I met from Spain sang the Macarena, which was tons of fun. :) Eventually, the song book came to me, and I had a chance to search through the English songs. They were real gems, like Billie Jean and I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing. I did find "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz though. Before I continue, it's important to note that Arnaud has NEVER seen The Wizard of Oz. I'm working on remedying that situation, and Arnaud and I talk about the movie quite a bit. I'm still trying to find a copy of it in French. Anyway, to continue, I pointed out the song to Arnaud. He said "Okay, that's what we'll sing," and stood up to put our names on the list. I refused to let him subject me to that humiliation, and I forced him to sit back down. He smiled and said, "Okay, then we'll sing it at midnight."

The evening continued, and people from our group continued to sing tons of songs. Apparently, you can only sing a certain number of times before the Karaoke Master (yes, I made that up) won't let you sing anymore. Arnaud reached his limit, but instead of just not singing, he tried telling the Karaoke Master that his name was Noah. It didn't work.

At about 1 am, the karaoke bar closed. I ended up not singing in front of the crowd, but the last song was "Zombie" by The Cranberries. Arnaud and I stood up in the crowd and screamed the words at the top of our lungs. It was quite fun. We all headed back to the flats (college studio apartments) and hung out, watching YouTube videos and talking. It was a great night.

Yesterday I went to the monthly Rotary meeting and got to spend some time with my third host family because Camille was there doing her presentation. It was a lot of fun, despite the fact that my chicken wasn't evenly cooked and there was a vein in it. :(

Today I did a little shopping with Anne-Michèle and Amaury, and tomorrow I'm leaving for LONDON! I'll be back on Sunday with loads of adventures to recount, I'm sure. :)

Mikayla