Je suis malade! (I'm sick!)
Mood:  don't ask
Topic: Vacance de Noel
Starting Sunday night, I came down with something and was up half the night. Then monday morning I slept allll day. I mean literally. I woke up 3 times, and each time I went downstairs and got a glass of water, then back to bed. I remember waking up in the morning, then again and the sun was setting!! Thankfully, we have vacation all this week and I wasn't missing any exams (as if it really changed my grades any whether I showed up or not) Tuesday wasn't much better... a little, but not much. Adriana came over Tuesday night.

**Come to find out, her day had been as crappy as mine... On Monday she broke her tooth on a candy but Tuesday was the earliest she could get in to get it fixed. The doctor was completely mad, drilling into the side of her face with no sympathy..OMG! Then her host mom had to leave her at the hospital to go to work and as it turns out, the buses are all on strike so she had to walk!!! (its a looooong walk) back to the square to catch the one running bus back to her house. (She had called me on Monday morning to see if I wanted her to come over and stay with me while I'm sick but I said no... Then she broke her tooth. She says that if I had just let her come over, none of that hell would have happened to her. Heheh whoops)**

She stayed Tuesday night and Wednesday, today, we went into town with Alex (my to-be host sister when I go to my 3rd host family) We did the rest of our christmas shopping and it was soo funny. It started to snow. Adriana says "Look!! Its snowing!!!! ... right!?" because she had never seen the snow before. "Yes Adriana, it really is snowing." Then it started to turn into a blizard and she didn't like the snow after that. But I got a picture of her at least pretending to be happy!! :-)

My host family had an early christmas for me, tonight, because I will be with the Fauquenoit's for christmas . They got me a beautiful silver braclet , some peach scented bath oils, and a decoration of people playing in the snow.

Now I am at Adriana's house because her family did an early Christmas for me also! Adriana got me a shirt that has RIO all over it and Brazilian colors *makes peace sign, typical of Adriana* the Brooklyn hat of Lila's that I wanted, the LILO AND STITCH 2 DVD !!!!!! And a little package of scrapbooking supplies that Adriana got at the Lafayette Galleries in Paris. There is still another gift for me but I'm saving that for when I get back.

Tomorrow I leave for the Fauquenoit's house, where I will spend Christmas and New Years.

Oh yeah, and I met my second host family last weekend!!! They are soooo nice! They have 2 daughters, one my age and one in the University. The one in the university went to America as an Exchange student in '02 and stayed in Texas, so she knows English really well. (with a southern drawl too!) They live in Herstal, about 10 minutes from where I live now, but I won't change schools, I just have to take the bus. They will be taking me in (feeling a little like an orphan saying that but....) on January 15th.

*bisous*

Saint Nicholas Day
Mood:  cheeky
Topic: Saint Nicholas Day
December 6 is Saint Nicholas day here. Reserved usually just for the "petits" mostly candy and small gifts are given out on the days leadin up to it. Had it not been for Adriana's family, I would have known nothing about it, seeing my family did not even celebrate it. When I stayed at Adriana's house, her family would put little candies in our shoes for us to find the next day. "Oh wow, Saint Nicholas came!!!" Let me try to define the difference between Santa and Saint Nicholas, from what I understand of it: Saint Nicholas is some what of an impostor, looks similar to Santa (dressed all in red) and comes in December to bring gifts to children. But hes not alone, and I'm not talking about being escorted by reindeer either. He has a black man who goes with him to help him. When he visits the chilren, they must promise something for him (for example to keep their rooms cleaned or to be good or something like that.) If they have not been good, then the black man stuffs them in the big sack he has with him.

So Monday was Saint Nicholas day. I woke up and to my surprise... there was Corentin! Still at the house! But didn't Saint Nicholas come last night?! He didn't leave me any presents or anything! and how could the black man have possible over looked Corentin... And that was when I stopped beliveing in Saint Nicholas. But when I got to school, Adriana presented me with a huge bag of candy that Saint Nicholas had left at her house for me!!! Later she showed me the many presents that Saint Nicholas had left her: The DVD Mulon, two beautiful photo albums, a scarf and.... a big black whip. ... Uh... I didn't get it either. She explained that she had asked for it specially so that she could protect me from my CRAZY host family!!! Ahhh I strogly like that girl sooo much! Then she waved it around a couple of times for good effect.

That same day, in the morning time at the entrence to school, there were many kids (none of who I recognized... I think they were college kids or something) wearing white aperons and holding big bags of flour and eggs. I managed to get by them without being caught and egged, but when I got inside I realized that I was one of the lucky few. If the people didn't give them money then they would get egged... actually even the ones who gave money were egged and floured... but I didn't even give money. I just put on a really pitiful face and when they came my way said, Oh I'm sorry, I don't speak French, I don't understand. Then ran like hell for the school. LOL. Thankfully Adriana didn't get foured too because she is allergic so that wouldn't have been good. I asked later what they were raising money for... maybe a cancer fund or childrens charities.

Nope...

It was so they could go out and drink! The school allowed them to stand there and egg their students for money to go get drunk!? No, not possible... Crazy things happen here.

On Wednesday, (December 1st, the day Adriana and I had to go to the Airport to see Pedro off) the people were celebrating the coming of Saint Nicholas Day. (Because the 1st was the last Wednesday before Saint Nicholas Day.) It was only a half day, but actually I would consider it a quarter day because out of the 4 classes we have on Wednesday, the last two were cut so that the students could enjoy the visit of Saint Nicholas... It was strange and bizar to say the least... even scary sometimes. Many students came to school dressed with white aprons, and they were running around with makeup crayons in red and pink and tons of stuff. (So they were dressed like nurses and they were painting peoples faces to look like they just came out of World War 3... and this is supposed to represent Saint Nicholas how?) Then after 2nd block, all of the students went to the theatre room to watch a performance put on by the 12th grade class. (We call them the 6th grade here...) There were I.V. bags hanging from the ceiling and the fog machines were working... it was bizzar. They threw out tons of candy to everyone and had tons of crazy activities planed out to do. Like for example they called up 3 guys and 3 girls. Had 3 peeps sit down and blindfolded the other 3. Then gave them toothbrushes and a jar of Nutella chocolate. You can imagine how it went from there. There were tons of other things too. I'll post pictures when I get them developed.

After it was all over, Adriana and I rushed to the bathroom to try and get off the makeup so that we didn't look like clowns, but despite all the scrubbing, i still had a black line across my forehead for the rest of the day!

------
Well sh!t, I tried resizing my photo of Adriana and me and now it won't work! Ok, this is my last attempt so let me know if it works:

"Did she get to know my boyfriend?" , "Yes... Actually, she kissed him!"
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Trip to Germany
This weekend I went to Cologne, GERMANY to stay with the Steltzner family. Their daughter, Heike, is living at my house in America. I met her parents, Harald and Brigette, her brothers, Martin and Flo, and her boyfriend Jo. Infact, I got to know them so well that I kissed both Martin and Jo! LOL!!! (I'll explain later)

Heike went to America with the GAPP program for 3 weeks but her and one other student decided to have an extended stay for 3 months. For the first 3 weeks she was in America she stayed with Ashley Wolley's family, I think, but after that, she came to stay at my house with Laurie. She is returning to Germany on December 20th. I can't wait to meet her!! We have a lot of brownie eating and partying to do!!!

On Friday night, Harald and Brigette came all the way to Belgium to pick me up. (It is about an hour and a half drive from where they live in Pulheim) For that first night it was very hard for me to break my Belgian habits. *giggles* It is natural for me to respond in French all the time, so when the Steltzners talked with me, they spoke in English and I would start to respond in French! LOL! Plus in Belgium, when you greet someone, you give them a kiss on the cheek, so when I went to entered the Steltzner's house I said "Bonjour" and leaned over and kissed Martin on the cheek. I was about to give Flo a kiss too when I realized that the culture is different in Germany!! *giggle giggle snort*

The week or so before I arrived, they had worked some on their English (Flo has only been taking English for 3 months!) so when I arrived, and I was speaking french, they didn't know what to make of that!! LOL!

Friday night after dinner, I made American brownies with Martin and Flo. All of the measurements are in "cups and half cups" but the problem is that they don't have regulation measuring cups here, so I just guessed... "Yeah, that looks about right...uh, yup." And if I've ever told you about my past cooking experiences, then you know that this is NOT a good thing! Surprisingly, they turned out pretty good! Then we hopped in the HOT TUB for a little while!! *ahhh soo great* :-)

Saturday morning we went to a town an hour from Pulheim where they are in the process of having their "weekend" or "vacation" house being built. It used to be a horse barn but they are turning it into a house. The construction began in July, I think, and they believe that it will be finished in a couple more months! They didn't know if that would be boring for me to see, but I told them I want to be an archetect, and it is much more interesting to me then they think!

We left that town and went to a christmas market in Pulheim, maybe... I get confused. Yeah, Pulheim sounds good. They got me an oil lamp shaped like a wizard with a wick comin out of each hand and when u fill it with oil and light the wicks, he holds fire in his hands! Oh he is too cute!

In the evening we went to a "football" match. (Soccer match) because soccer is all the rage here. I tell people that I play soccer in America and they seem pretty impressed. (Because here girls don't often play unless they are reeeeeaallllllllllyyy good.) ... (I haven't mentioned to them yet that I am only a bench warmer... hehe) Jo (Heike's boyfriend) met us there and when I met him I said "Bonjour" and gave him a kiss too!!! (on the cheek) lol. So there you have it. I was in Germany for 3 days and I already kissed Heike's boyfriend and brother! She is going to have second thoughts about me coming to stay with her later this year if I keep this up! O:-) LOL! The team we were cheering on won 2-1!! woooowoooo

Sunday morning we went to the "Dom" (German for Cathedral) in Cologne. There are well over 100 different cathedrals in Cologne, but we visited the most important one. When we first arrived there was a service going on but people were still allowed in to climb the belfry, so that is what we did. (I've climbed the Eifle Tower, and I've climbed the Belfry of Brugge... but the Cathedral of Cologne, I climbed in high heeled boots!) I didn't get any photos, but besides the insane cold, it was postcard perfect!

After the descent, we waited for the service to get over in a nearby pub that is very famous and well known because it is sooo old and it has its own brewery there at the location. I tried some good local beer and a special German dish of raw meet, served on bread with onions. I ate it with some salt and couldn't taste the meet at all. It was pretty good!!

When we returned to the cathedral, Harald introduced me to one of the more important church members. He explained that I am originally from America, but I am living in Belgium as an exchange student for a year, and I am temporarily with them for the weekend because their daughter is in America, living at my house. He was so inspired by this that he whipped out his wallet and showed me a picture of him with someone from America...

It was Bill Clinton!!!

WooooOOOooooow... I was more than just a little impressed!

From there, we went on to see the Chocolate factory that sits on the edge of the Rhine river, in Cologne. (The Rhine River is the biggest river in Germany.) Saw how the pros do it, ate some good chocolate, and then rushed off to see Flo's soccer match.

Flo is soo good at soccer! (Better, by far, than even Corentin... and I think he's younger!) I think Martin must be really good too, even though I've never actually seen him play. We won by 14 points, or something crazy like that!

We celebrated by going to KFC (which, dissapointingly, they do not have in Belgium) and I got to enjoy some real American fast food!! Then dropped Martin off at a birthday party and we returned to the Steltzner's house. From there nothing very eventful happened; we ate dinner and at 9 I was returned to the Dor's...

Farewell Pedro
Mood:  blue
Topic: Trip to the Belgian coast
Pedro left today. He was an exchange student from Brazil who came here to Belgium last January and now it is his time to leave. Adriana talked me into going to the airport with her to say goodbye to him... and goodbyes are always difficult. I'll admit, I've only met the guy 2 times prior to this but I still cried when he left because it was soooooooo hear renching. His host family was crying, he was crying, all the other Brazilians who came were crying. I can't help thinking about when I leave... Its only 6 months from now. Where has the time gone? I hope that I am missed as much by the people who have gotten to know me here as Pedro is going to be missed by his family... When Adriana and I returned to her host house we were "triste" some, thinking about how much we are going to miss eachother when we leave. I know I have made a true friend, and I am sure that in our lives, no matter what the distance, we will have to see eachother again.

On a happier note, I got a phonecall from Cliff last night! I haven't talked to him in soooooo long!!! He called at 11 and we talked until almost 1! He's in Florida now, but still doesn't have liberty... so hes bummin, but hopefully if he passes a test or hands in some papers or something, he will be granted liberty and will be able to wear civilian clothes again. Oh I'm so excited for him! lol!

Last weekend I went to the "mer" with Adriana, Pierre, and Kacha. The city we went to is Oostend (the biggest port in Europe) We rented a bike for 4 and made Pierre and Kacha pedel while we sat in the back and laughed our asses off at how stupid we must look!!!! Tons of fun!!!! Before we left, I got some sand and shells of the beach so I can say I have sands from Belgium, all sophisticated like!

On Saturday around 3:30 Pascal came and picked us up and brought us back to Ploeegstert where we stayed until Sunday.

Next weekend I'm going to Cologne, Germany, with the Steltzner family!!! They have a lot planned to do and I hope I'll be going back a lot when Heike gets there. We need to do some serious brownie eating and German partying!!! :-D

Well thats all for now. Sorry I don't update this often... I really do a lot, I just don't have the time to write tons... Desole. But tomorrow I have 3 hours of free time so I will add all my photos to my album!! Check that sh!t out.

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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