Leaves

Wow, it seems that it takes me a month each time to write a new blog, but I guess that I have been quite busy. Let's see where I left off. On the 27th of September, which was a Thursday we did not have school, so I went with Julien, Matthieu, Samy and Floris to the park Paradiso. It was fun, we rode our bikes there and it took about 45 minutes to get there, except it was easy going there because it was all down hill. Now coming back was a different story, it began to rain and it was all hills so it took around an hour and a half. The park itself was beautiful !

They have all sorts of different animals, in different environments and sections. They also so have a lot of birds. There is even this really beautiful Japanese garden, it was so pretty. We were luck that afternoon to have sun. Also they had these bridges/walkways up in the trees and you walked above the whole park. We even played in the Kids playpen thing, because it was big enough for adults to even do it. The part was really beautiful, and they had a lot of turtles also which was great.The weekend of the 28th, 29th and the 30th of September as I mentioned in my last post was the Neighborhood party. It was on Saturday the 29th. So all Friday night we prepared for it, and Mimi or Miriam brought home from her work homemade pizzas!! I didn't know that I would miss pizza's even though I don't eat them much at home. Then on Saturday we had the party, but sadly it rained all day :(. But it was still really fun, cause we used Nathalie's old barn to eat, and hang out. A funny thing about Belgians, is that they organized a lunch and aperitif but then it lasts just until 1 a.m. . The boys or Matthieu and Julien (neighbors) put snails on the door of their uncle's house (he lives right next door to them) because he claims to be the king of snails and they also call him "petit gris" which is snail. It was disgusting though, because later in the night Petit Gris, Voisin, and another guy all ate live snails ! ! ! Now they have a special group, and keep asking me to join by eating a snail. :P. But overall it was fun ! Then the next afternoon I had Patro, boys and girls which was fun. The girls in my group are selling Lasagna and Calendars to raise money for a trip this year. We just hung out on Sunday and starting preparing for the workman that came the following week to replace all the windows and the doors. The first week of October, was a week that was not very fun, because there was dust everywhere from the work on the windows and doors, and so we cleaned all week. Then the first week of October was yet another week of school. They changed the schedule which was sad for me, because now I only have Math class with the seniors and they are really a great class. But a funny story, Thursday the 4th of October I went to a Rotary meeting, and I got home pretty late, and when I arrived the front door was locked! And all the lights were out in the house. Now realise that it was also 11 at night. I tried all the doors and it was closed. Fabrice (my Rotary counselor here) even honked the horn of his car a couple of times, but nothing happened. We even threw rocks on the window of my host parents bedroom. So I ended up spending the night at Fabrice's on the floor of his daughter's room and the early the next morning I came home. Good times :) ! The first weekend in October we just cleaned and I had Patro and the girls sold Lasagna while the other animateurs and I went a started working on the calendar. The second week of October or the week of the 8th was a short week for me, because on Thursday I got sick with a flu/cold. But a positive note, I got 18/20 on my geography test, and 13/20 in math ! Which mans a lot better than anyone in my class. I didn't go to school Thursday or Friday, and then on the weekend I went to Namur for a Rotary meeting with all the Rotary Students in Belgium. It was fun and the river was beautiful and so was the day. Then last week, I stayed home sick almost the whole week, just until Friday which was a half day for me anyways. Wednesday night we did a Belgian tradition. Everywhere here there are betteraves fields or sugar beets. So Voisin went and took a couple beets and we washed them and carved them ! It's like carving pumpkins but a lot harder, because we actually have to cut out the inside it's not hollow. It was really fun! And what's even better is that when you put a candle on the inside and light it, it smells like caramel ! Voisin told me that it takes a whole sugar beet to make one cube of sugar. Anyway that was so much fun, Juliette made a pirate, Voisin made a face and I made one with a nose. They are so cute! They even each have their own little chimney.

On Thursday I gave my presentation to my Rotary Club here, and it went really well and they all want to come to Oregon now ! Then Friday I went to school just until noon, where I was picked up by a Rotarian and we went to Laval, France for the weekend! Now that was a great experience. We left Friday afternoon around one, and it took us 6 hours to get to France. We also stopped for an hour to have a glass of Champagne in the parking lot. When we arrived, we walked a little bit and then had dinner in a nice little restaurant with some of the members of the Laval club. Then we went home with French families. My family was also hosting a girl from the U.S. but she was from South Carolina. Her name was Emily and she was really sweet and an amazing singer. It was fun to hangout with her and she spoke French pretty well, so I got to speak French all weekend long.

On Saturday we got up at 6 a.m. after going to bed at 12 a.m. to leave to go to Caen first off. In Caen we visited a beautiful museum on the World War 1 and 2 and the Nazi's invading France and us saving them. It was gorgeous, and there was a wonderful part on the concentration camps and I shed a few tears, but it was amazing. Sadly we didn't even get to see the whole museum because we were in a rush. I would love to go back there someday. Then next we went and saw the Tapesserie de Bayeaux, which is not like normal tapesserie's but is really long but not very wide. It tells a story about the Normand's (Viking Time) and there conquers. After that we went and ate lunch . Lunch was really good and they served us fresh Cider, it was really good, I had to try it.

Then after Lunch we went to the Cathedral de Bayeux, which was beautiful with stained glass windows and a open tomb where you can see one of the first pillars of the original Cathedral dating back hundreds of years. Then we all got back into the cars and went to Omaha beach. Where we saw the thousands of crosses for all the American men and women who gave their lives to France. It was really moving and touching, we even saw the ceremony of the taking down of the American flag. We then returned to Laval, where we went to a concert of Carmina Burana where there was a choir of at least hundreds and a live symphony. Even a little kids choir group sang too. It was really great. The next day, we went to a Rotarian's Chateau, which is more like a huge mansion. It was extraordinary!

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