Le Changement

So the second week of January the girlies of Herve changed host families. For me it was certainly hard to say goodbye to the Liegeois. I am so happy with them, and I feel even now as a real part of their family. The friday before we changed we all ate at La Table du Léa which is a restaurant in Chaineux. It was a good meal, and I gave a little speech and enjoyed my last few moments as part of their family.

Saturday afternoon I was chez Corman in Grand-Rechain. My new room is great, and despite a teary goodbye I had a good welcoming. We ate at a super fancy restaurant in Verviers and I don't think I have tasted many things in my life as good as that meal. The house is very nice, and my new family are also very very nice. My host dad, who is also my counsellor here so I knew him well enough, is named Philippe and owns a house constructing company. He made his house by himself with his workers, and didn't waste time in showing me the pictures of the house being built. It is very impressive. My host mom's name is Gene and owns a restaurant in Chaineux. In the mornings I go with her to the restaurant to take the bus. She is a very kind woman, and makes me laugh a lot. The both of them are very tactile, and love giving hugs and kisses. I like that, I feel like a part of the family already. I have two host sisters, Anne-Claire and Majorie. Anne-claire is 100% crazy, and I love that about her. She went on exchange to Halifax three years ago so it's kind of cool that she knows certain things about atlantic Canada. My first two weeks here I went to many parties with her and got to meet a lot of people in the village. Majorie is a bit older, and did an exchange 6 (?) years ago to New Zealand. She lives in Verviers with her boyfriend Thomas, who is very nice. Then we have Mami, who is the sweetest woman I have ever met. She is Gene's mother and is here every weekend. She will be my mami in my next house as well because my third host father is Gene's brother. I really love her, she is so cute and so sweet! I am very sad to leave chez Liegeois, but it's part of the exchange and I am feeling at home already chez Corman.

I really should try and update more, because there are so many things I have been doing. From meeting my newie and showing her around, Carnaval, parties, newie conference, hikes in the snow, family events, hanging out with friends, exploring Belgium etc... there are so many things to say. Too many things! I start to forget about all the stuff I have done. I keep track of everything in my Journal de Classe but there are just far too many things to mention here, words cannot explain! I can say Belgium will certainly change me. When I come home I am under the impression that staying home when you can go exploring will no longer be an option. I hope that when I get home I will take the fact that here I try to make everyday into something special, back to Newfoundland. I could write for hours about all the things I have done in the past three months but these are memories I will cherish even if I can't find the words to talk about all of them here! I have enough of blogging today, tomorrow I will make an update about my trip to amsterdam. I apologize for the lack of updates recently!!! Bisous!!

Noël et Nouvel Ans

I apologize for my incredible lack of updates. I will try my best to take this sunday and update my blog with all of the great thingsI have been doing with my exchange!

Christmas this year was certainly different than the traditional Christmas in Newfoundland. I had the pleasure to spend it with my first host family, chez Liegeois. Christmas eve we ate chez Bonne Maman and Eric. It was great food, fun and family. Florence's brother, wife and children were there and it gave the house a warm feeling. We ate homemade foie gras and oysters. It was an excellent, excellent meal. Then we shared our secret santa's. I had florence, and gave her tights with a matching scarf. She gave Quentin tennis balls with little sayings on it, he gave Delphine an alarm clock, she gave Marie a bracelet, she gave Michel socks and Michel gave me a manga. Florence also made me a homemade scarf and they gave me a watch. Their kindness remains overwhelming, but I am incredible thankful for it. In the morning the festivities were held at our house. Michel's family came to the house and we had a crowd! Gifts and laughs were shared, and even Charline joined us on skype. We all went to the table to eat a seafood entrée, deer jam and scallop potatoes and for dessert some delicious cakes from Jean-Pierre in Battice. I felt very very homesick during christmas, but luckily had the chance to call my family back home to wish them a Merry Christmas. Overall I had a great Holiday, and my only real complaint was the lack of snow! It was 10oC on Christmas, I couldn't believe it!

I also spent new year's with my host family. We went to France in Val Thorens to spend a week of vacation time together. It was a great visit! We stayed in Eric's appartment and it was very comfortable. With my back problem I couldn't go skiing, but I had a great time snow shoeing with my host mom in the alps. Everyday we took a different route and each time we found something beautiful and truly moving. After this week together I felt even closer to my host family. Michel, Delphine and her two friends (Sacha and Marie) skiied while we snow shoed. New year's we went to the center of the station and there was a giant soirée with loads of people dancing, an awesome dj with a cool snow sculpture and fireworks. It was a lot of fun, even with the super drunk people flashing the crowds. The next day Florence and I had a guided walk into the mountains. It was very beautiful, and the people were very nice. We saw mountain animals, the beautiful forests and we had an amazing tradition meal in a little chalet in the middle of the forest. It was very very very fun. I was sad to leave because I had such a great time.

Upon returning home from New year's I had a pretty hard week. My three oldies went home to Australia, which was a lot harder than I anticipated, and the anniversary of the death of my mother was on the tenth. I was a bit overwhelmed, but I just mention to this to help illustrate how nice my host family is. I was having a hard time this day and I called to go home upon feeling under the weather. My host mom had kept herself avalible for that day with the knowledge that I may have had a hard time. We then went to a spa in Spa (it's the name of the city) to relax together. It was a great day despite the sadness I felt inside. Words cannot explain how I am thankful for everything the Liegeois have done for me, and it was very hard to think about changing families for the longest time. Now I am in my new host family and I will make a new entry to talk about the changing of families.

RIP the most beautiful woman I have ever met, my mother.