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.
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