Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Mood:  hungry
Topic: Thanksgiving
Nobody celebrates turkey day here... go figure! My host family didn't even ask me to make a small celebration with them, or aked me what we do in America... Infact, it would have gone completely unnoticed had I not had a rotary meeting and someone not wished me a Happy Thanksgiving... I'm like "What!? What day is it" So now I'm thinking I should change my "Happy tRACY in Belgium" to <> ... I'll see if I have time after I finish this post. :-P

... Oh look, I'm already finished... Do I really have nothing to say? Have I really been doing nothing since the last time I wrote!? No, I've been keeping busy, but now I forget what I've been doing.

This weekend I'm going to the ocean with Adriana, Piere, Kasha, and hopefully Pedro. Pedro is a Brazilan who is here with WEP but he is leaving next week because his time here is finished and Adriana wants him to come with us so she can say goodbye. I'll write more next week after my adventure in Oostend. (the city by the ocean.)

The weekend after that I am going to Cologne, Germany to visit the family of Heike. (The German girl who is staying with Mom and Laurie until December 15th.) I will visit again after she returns so we can hang out!!! And eat brownie mix!!!! :-D!!

Hopefully the weekend after that, Adriana and I will go to Mastrict, Holland which is only 20 minutes away from here... Or if we're feeling frisky, we might make it all the way to Amsterdam. I'll see.

I got my photos back from the Carrefour FINALLY but now I need to find the time to put them in my photo album... this is tricky because I need to remember to bring them to school and then I need to find a computer that isn't being used (because the computer at my host house is faaaaaar too slow) I also have a cd that the Fauquenoit's gave me of my trip to the French coast and my visit to Brugge, and when I get the time I'll load that on to the computer also. So check back a lot and I will have tons of new things!

I think I need a 2 do list. I also want to add a page to my webpage for Heike and Laurie. They are doing tons of things that I want to write about and display pictures of!

Here we have Exams before Christmas... Yeah, how horrible is that!? And I have just recently been informed that I need to pass 3 of them or I will be sent home. No stress or anything... I don't understand SH!T in my classes still (ok actually I am understanding, but I still missed out on the first 2 and a half months of school when I didn't understand, so how can I participate in Exams!?)

happytracyinbelgium typed this up at 6:01 AM CET

Updated: Tuesday, December 28, 2004 6:24 PM CET

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"I'm sick and tired of always being sick and tired"
Topic: Brugge & the French coast
I'll post pictures as soon as I get my CD back from the Carrefour. It has been finished since Tuesday but here it is, Thursday, and the slip my host family needs to bring in is still stuck to the mirror in the hall... There are pictures of Paris and my adventures with the Fauquenoit's along with some odds and ends from in between.

Well a lot has happened lately but I'll start where I left off last time. On Wednesday afternoon after visiting the Louvre (November 3rd) we headed back for Belgium. Late that evening I arrived at the Fauquenoit's house and stayed there until Sunday. (November 7th) On Thursday Pascal and Cristal took me to the city of Brugge which is a really old city in Northern Belgium that was built in the 13th century, I think. It is similar to the Italian city, Venice, because there is a river that runs all through it and you can get around by boat so before we left we went on a tour of the city by boat. In the center of town is an old cathedral with a big bell that still chimes the hour. You can climb the belfry and see how it works, so (after just climbing the Eifle tower two days earlier) I climbed that, and reached the top at exactly 3:00 so I got a first hand experience as to how the bell worked... But then of coarse my ears were ringing the whole rest of the day. Brugge is also known for its famous "dentelle"-lace. There are tons of stores that sell beautiful expensive lace and I got a little "papilion"- butterfly made of lace to put on my Rotary Blazer. That night after Pascal had left for work, Cristal took me and her two sons to a "friterie" which is a french fry (oh excuse me, I mean Belgian Fry) restaurant. Even thought they are really common here I had never been to one so of coarse I got pictures of that.

Friday I went shopping with Cristal. I finally got a winter jacket which I desperately needed!!! Its one of those marshmellow looking ones and its soo warm but it isn't water resistant so when it rains, I absorbe the water and then I'm left soggy the rest of the day.

We all went to visit "la mer" on Saturday. (The ocean) But not the Belgian coast, instead, we went to the northern coast of France because it is prettier. (In the northern part of Belgium where the land meets the water is completely flat but in France there are more hills and cliffs.) I have never been to the shores of Belgium but I'm planning on going there the weekend after this one with Adriana and Pierre. But back to Saturday: The place we visited in France is about 500 miles east of Normandy and you can still see the "pock marks" where bombs were dropped in WWII. (Pock marks, hah, they were gullies the size of my living room!) I got to walk along the beach and, unlike in Beigum, there wern't tons of condominiums crowding the edge of the beach, it was just pure and beautiful. Before we left, we went to an "ocean zoo" that sat right on the beach. It was huge and there were a lot of displays of different sea animals (including a big shark tank!) Ahh! I loved it! (and a little Nemo tank too!) That night we went out to eat at "Le Pirat" which is a restauratnt designed to look like a pirat ship. They have a buffet and a big grill so you can choose what you want to eat and then cook it yourself. It was so much fun and it went along perfectly with the "ocean" theme of the day!

Sunday I had to go "home" and Pascal and Cristal showed me how to take the train and explained how to use the train when I want to come back to visit them.

Tuesday night (November 9th) after school my club counselor, Dimitri came over to discuss my "issues" and so I explained everything and then Friday (the 12th) he and another Rotarian came back and we decided that I would stay with the Dor family because I'm just so tired of arguing and pushing with this system...

On Wednesday the 10th of November I went with Adriana and the rest of my French 2h (French 2hours a week) class to see the Italian Opera present Don Giovanni. It was all in Italian of coarse but there were French and Dutch subtitles on a screen above the stage so I could understand it.

Paris: The most incredible city in the world!
Mood:  incredulous
Topic: Trip to Paris
On Monday, the 1st of November, my host family took me to Paris with Noemie and Corentin. It was a 4 hour drive and it was night fall by the time we arrived. When we arrived at the hotel we had made reservations at, it was horrible! It looked like something out of a horror movie; The main entrance was in an ally way, the room smelled like paint thinner, and the shutters were half broken or hanging off! So we looked up the Vincent Hugo Hotel to see if they had any free rooms, and thankfully they did. We drove across town to the new hotel, that was really pretty. Corinne, Stephan, and Corentin all stayed in one room, and Noemie and I got another. It was conveniently located right near the Champs d'Elyse boulavard so everything was in walking distance! (Including the Eifle Tower!) The first time I got to see the Eifle Tower was Monday night, and it was all lit up. At the beginning of every hour all the white lights would turn on and flicker so it looked like it was shimmering! Oh wow it was soooo amazing!!! Just like I've always dreamed of!

After we got all of our stuff put away in our hotel rooms, we went walking up and down the Champs d'Elyse boulavard, looking at all the famous shops and restaurants. Everything was so beautiful and top fashion. It was crazy what some of the people were wearing! But hey, its Paris, I expected this!

On Tuesday we toured the city on a double decker bus, like the ones in London. I saw the Ritz Hotel, the Louve Museum, (just passed by it, but didn't go inside) the big garden with a whole bunch of statues dedicated to different things, the Champs d'Elyse (again), the monument in front of the Ritz Hotel with all the Hiroglyphics, the Notre Dame Cathedral (You know, like the one from "The Hunchback of Notre Dame?!)the Lafayette galleries, and of coarse the Eifle Tower. After the tour, we stopped at the Eifle Tower and actually climbed it. There are three different platforms, but the stairs only go to the second one, so we had to take the elivator the rest of the way. The view was breathtaking!! I could see on forever!

On Wednesday we headed back to Belgium around 4 or 5 in the afternoon, but first we stopped for a short 5 hour stay at the Louvre. There are, I think, 6 different sections of the Louvre and after being there for 5 hours, I pretty much got one covered. But then again what did I expect, it is the biggest museum in the world! The famous David and Venus (or Aphrodite if you prefer) is kept there along with Da Vinci's famous "Mona Lisa." (or Gioconda) but I didn't get to see the statues because we didn't have time and I didn't get a photo of Gioconda because there were so many people around it and, well, it will give me an excuse to go back again!

Happy Halloween!
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Halloween
Happy Halloween! Here they don't celebrate it like they do in the states... Man I miss America tonight. Some people put out decorations but in general, its just like any other day. In the city the "petits" from really young until 5 years old go "trick-or-treating" I guess, but I don't live right in the City, so no one comes here...

The next week is vacation here, so tomorrow at noon I'm leaving for Paris with my host family!! Wow FINALLY!! I've been waiting to see Paris since...what...6th grade at least, maybe even before that! I've wanted to go since before I even knew how to spell Paris!!!!! We are staying there for 3 days, then "mercredi soir" I'm getting dropped off at the Fauquenoit's house and staying there until "dimanche soir." They have a lot planned to do, and its going to be great!!!

Adriana is off to Barcelona (spelling??) this week. But even thought this weekend was pretty nice, starting tomorrow all of Europe is going to be covered in one big rain cloud, so her trip to Spain and my trip to France are going to be soggy ones!

The last two days of "school" before vacation, were served in Dalhem (thanks Adriana) at the castle thing I mentioned before. It was better than going to school! I guess its the "retreat" thing that they do anually for the 5eme class (11th grade) Its kind of like a camp Kieve only in French and more on a Religion theme than a skill building theme. Adriana stayed sick both days so I had to go without her :-(

Annie (the English girl) was supposed to come to visit Belgium again for the weekend, but I don't know what happend. The day she was supposed to arrive (Friday) Pablo informed us, oh by the way, shes not coming. But then Pierre got a text message from her after the "Retreat" thing finished, saying she was in Liege at the Fair and we should meet her there... What!? But Adriana was sick and I don't have any money so I kind of ducked out of that one, and I still haven't heard from Pierre whether or not he met up with her. Oh... did I ever explain the Pierre and Annie thing? No!? Ok well, heh heh they are really going to appreciate this, I'm broadcasting their love life over the internet... but I'm sure they will forgive me. Ok: At the battle of the bands thing I went to a while back with Adriana and Annie and Pierre and some other people, Annie told us she really liked Pierre and we both knew that Pierre already liked her so all we had to do was give them a little nudge and they would figure it out... Well that nudge turned into a shove and they still didn't figure it out!! Ok to make a long story short, by the end of the night they finally kissed, then the next day Annie had to leave for England! Such a tragedy!! So Pierre is completely heart broken and is always looking for ways to see her again. When he found out that she was coming for the weekend, they planned to meet up for dinner at Pablo's house, but then Pablo called it off! I just don't understand...

Did everyone remember to set back their clocks? Wow that threw me through a loop today! Usually I wake up at...I don't know, maybe 11 or noon, but today I woke up at 9! Wow whats up with that!? Go figure!

Elections in 2 days!! Everyone here is all for Kerry. Does anyone in America even care? Nah probably not. My host mom says that Aurelie Dor (her daughter, the one that is in Pennsylvania for exchange) is very scared because of the terrorist threat durring elections. I wouldn't worry too much if I were her, whats so important about Pennsylvania? I am rather worried about my uncles who live in DC, right near the White House. :-( But what can yah' do?

Cliff graduated from Navy Bootcamp on Friday! Congratulations! I bet he's glad to be out of there!! :-) Now he's going to stay around the Great Lakes until the base in Pensicola Florida is done being repaired from the damage caused by those hurricanes last summer. I guess they are going to keep him busy working on repairs on some of the "ships" in the camp...wow sounds like loads of fun... heh heh heh. But he was really looking forward to going back to Maine for a week or so after bootcamp but the Navy changes its mind like other people change their socks. So... maybe for Christmas he'll get home!

I guess thats all for now.

Ciao!

A phonecall from your boyfriend helps the medicine go doooown, medicine go doooown, medicine go doooown...no wait thats not righ
Mood:  irritated
Last weekend Adriana's English class went to Eurodisney and I was going to go but I thought Cliff might call so I stayed home...Well he didn't and I was rather bummed about that, but then Tuesday night... or I should rather say early Wednesday morning, (12:08 am) he calls me!! We only got to talk for 5 minutes (Crazy Navy rules and stuff) but of coarse I'm like this now --> :-D :-D No matter whats going on here, hearing his voice makes it all better!

Thursday (today) and Friday are wierd this week at my school because we are doing this thing for Religion class, I guess. Everyone in 5D (my class) and 5C (Adriana's class and the class I had been in for the first month I was here until the school decided to rearrange my schedule ) are supposed to go to this castle thing in... Oh I forget the name of the city, and from 9 until 5 we do activities and stuff. Some of it gets pretty boring, but other stuff is really fun and it sure beats going to school!

On Wednesday after school at noon, Adriana and I scooted into town to pick up a graduation card for Cliff and some cool looking pens. There we met up with another girl from Rotary (a fellow North American, from Canada) Terry who chilled with us until 2 when we caught the bus back to Adriana's house. So last night I stayed the night here at Adriana's so that Pierre could pick up both me and Adriana to take us to the Castle thing but late last night Adriana started to feel bad and this morning it was just worse so she stayed home but I had to go on ahead (Even though I begged my host mom to let me stay... It just wasn't happening) Then when it finished, I caught a ride back to Adriana's and I'm staying the night again tonight and hopefully tomorrow she will be well enough to go with me!

Ok I have lots to write, but I think its best if I wait a little while and then fill everyone in.

Ciao -(Haha, my host sister was reading my blog and looked at the place I had written Chow and said " What does that mean?" I'm like what do you mean 'what does that mean'!? Its in French! But she informed me when they say "chow" like as a fairwell, they spell it Ciao. Heh heh, whoops!) :-P