I am here! Finally. It's been a great first couple of days. The weather has been incredible, even better than the summer we were having in Newfoundland! I arrived in Bruselles with the other exchange student who lives in the same town, Katrina, and we met our famillies. Haha I almost wrote that in french! I was greeted with the kisses of my family (in Belgium you always greet people with a kiss on one cheek) and a croissant. A pretty good start in my books! I have two host sisters (Delphine and Marie), one host brother (Quentin) and a mom (Florence) and dad (Michel). They also have deer in their backyard and a little black dog. I have no idea how to write it's name, but she is sooo sweet! The house is very large, and there are farms everywhere. From my bedroom window I can see horses and cows everywhere! Shops are not far, and everyone here knows eachother. It's like newfoundland in that sense. So far I really like everything. The food, the people, the landscaping, the shops... everything! I cannot express how grateful I am that I have such a great family as my first. They have offered me a lot of things out of ther kindness, like joining lessons for something and bringing me to different places, and even in the first couple days I can see how much that can make a difference.
The first day I met people who leave relatively close, Marie Frachimont, and her family is hosting an exchange student from the states. We spoke a bit of french, so that was fun (: A lot of people here say my french is very good, and that makes me really happy! I have practiced so much, and everyone in school says that my accent is horrible, but everyone here is very imressed by my level of french! Anyways, we ate pasta and chatted a bit. After in the night, my host dad and I went to the Rotary dinner. It's very different than the Rotary meetings here, there are only men! I was seated at a table with 6 other exchange students, the YEO of my club and the YEO from last year. It was a great meal and everyone is very very nice and welcoming! The only thing was I found in hard to speak french with the other exchange students because they all speak english and not many of the new ones understand french very well ( just yet! but it will come (: ). Phillipe, the YEO, is my second host father and was very kind. I am looking forward to staying with him in the future.
Yesterday I had dinner with the sister of my host father, Bernadette. She has three sons, but I have only met two. The food was great, and they have a large pool that myself and Delphine used to our advantage. The weather was fantastic, and after a little swim I led down and read son tintin (: After I met my host mother. Once a month she must work nights for the pharmacy so she came home at 6 in the evening last night. She is very very very nice, and has made me feel very welcomed here! We had a tradional belgian dinner, but I forget what it is called already. It is a sandwich with ham and cheese and it is grilled. It was really yummmy! I also drank some strawberry beer, but without alcohol. Dad if you're reading this, I am telling the truth! (:
Finally today!! For breakfest we had french toast, and used the maple syrup I gave my family with it. They want me to make them pancakes so I must ask Patty for her awesome reciepe! They love the maple syrup so that was pretty good. At 10 I went into town with my host mother for a few errands. She showed me around, man.... everything is SUPER european. I could go on forever about how things are different! One thing I found really cool about shopping with my host mom, is that she always looks for local products. That is so nice, and I wish we were able to do that more in Newfoundland. Sadly, almost everything is imported. When we returned we ate a bit and Delphine invited me to a public pool. There we met up with some of her friends from Scouts (two young men) and Marie (the girl who I met on day one) with Dylan and two of Marie`s friends (two young ladies). They are all very nice and welcoming. Even though I cannot pronounce the word for wasp very well they all tried to help me, haha. It was a ''super bon'' visit. We relaxed in the sun and swam a bit in the pool. There were way too many people there but it was great. Now I am home again, feeling as happy and comfortable as I feel in my own house. So far so good!
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