I forgot to publish this post - coming soon: London and Paris!
There is Halloween here in Belgium, but they just started celebrating it 10 or 15 years ago. For that, it's not nearly as big as it is back in the US. Hardly anyone puts up decorations. I did, however, with the help of my two younger host sisters, Amelie and Emma - thanks to my parents who sent me the decorations (one of those fake spider webs, and then a door hanging). They do go trick or treating with the very young kids, but the older kids tend not to.
And they don't have candy corn here! I had some of my friends taste candy corn - some of them liked it, but a majority thought it was nasty. Blashphemous!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
From style to sandwiches
Another 5 new and different things.
11. Fashion
As expected, the fashion here is quite differnet than in Rio Rico. At my school, it's almost completely what I would call prep, but a prep who especially loves jeans. Jeans are an even more important part of the wardrobe here than any where else I've been - by far the most common article of clothing.
12. Stand up
Each time a teacher enters the classroom at the beginning of class, the whole class stands for him or her. The problem is that sometimes the teacher is already there, or only a few students are there when he or she walks in, and then the rules (in a figurative sense) are not clear. And sometimes we stand sometimes we don't. Which is fine - I watch the people around me and follow their lead. The only problem is when I'm at the front of the class and I don't notice all the people behind me standing up and I don't follow their lead. And there I am sitting when everyone else stands. More than slightly awkward...
13. Quizzes
Grades here are based solely on quizzes. You do homework, and teachers may or may not look to see whether or not you did it, but you get no points for doing it, neither for class work. Tests are everything. Take your pick whether that's a good or a bad thing.
14. Leftovers
It's considered not very high class, here, to take leftovers away from a restaurant. My impression is that if you ask for a box, you'll get one, but you may also get a few strange looks for asking. It's just not something you do - so sad, since the food is always amazing.
15. Grades
The Belgian grading system is very similar to the US, but there are a few slight differences. An A is 85-100 rather than 90-100, though the rest of the letters correspond to 10 points each. That makes a B 75-85, a C 65 - 75, and so on. A D is a passing grade, but a failing grade can be an F (0-45), but you can also get an E (45-55)! I always wondering why we did use E. Also, you can get a B, a B+ like the US, but on top of that there is B++ (and C++, and so on).
11. Fashion
As expected, the fashion here is quite differnet than in Rio Rico. At my school, it's almost completely what I would call prep, but a prep who especially loves jeans. Jeans are an even more important part of the wardrobe here than any where else I've been - by far the most common article of clothing.
12. Stand up
Each time a teacher enters the classroom at the beginning of class, the whole class stands for him or her. The problem is that sometimes the teacher is already there, or only a few students are there when he or she walks in, and then the rules (in a figurative sense) are not clear. And sometimes we stand sometimes we don't. Which is fine - I watch the people around me and follow their lead. The only problem is when I'm at the front of the class and I don't notice all the people behind me standing up and I don't follow their lead. And there I am sitting when everyone else stands. More than slightly awkward...
13. Quizzes
Grades here are based solely on quizzes. You do homework, and teachers may or may not look to see whether or not you did it, but you get no points for doing it, neither for class work. Tests are everything. Take your pick whether that's a good or a bad thing.
14. Leftovers
It's considered not very high class, here, to take leftovers away from a restaurant. My impression is that if you ask for a box, you'll get one, but you may also get a few strange looks for asking. It's just not something you do - so sad, since the food is always amazing.
15. Grades
The Belgian grading system is very similar to the US, but there are a few slight differences. An A is 85-100 rather than 90-100, though the rest of the letters correspond to 10 points each. That makes a B 75-85, a C 65 - 75, and so on. A D is a passing grade, but a failing grade can be an F (0-45), but you can also get an E (45-55)! I always wondering why we did use E. Also, you can get a B, a B+ like the US, but on top of that there is B++ (and C++, and so on).
10 new and different things in my new and different life
(In no particular order other than that in which they randomly popped into my head.)
1. Skinny-ness
No one here is fat. Okay, of course I don't really mean no one. But I can think of one or two people that I have seen (and no one who I actually know) who are not average weight plus or minus a few pounds. kilos. whatever.
2. Hello
Everyone says hello to everyone. Not in the big cities, but here when you walk into or leave a store, when you pass somebody on an empty street, when you go into or leave a restaurant - bonjour, au revoir, bonsoir, salut. More than I was used to even in little Rio Rico.
3. Bisous (kisses)
With friends, you kiss them on the cheek to say hello. Every time. If you don't it's almost sort of offensive - your friends notice and bring it up if you don't give them a kiss and say hello. You do the same with anybody you know even a little bit. But that is all you do. If I walk into a room and make eye contact with someone I don't know, I'm used to smiling or waving. You don't do that here. People don't smile back, don't wave back... It took me off guard at first, but it's just something you hardly ever see here.
4. Feet/syllables
In my French class we're studying poetry, starting with the basics. I remember worksheets that I loved so much trying to split each line into its feet, trying to figure out whether to mark a dactylic foot or an iambic foot. But French poetry doesn't have feet!!! It has syllables, but no feet!
5. Music notes
Here, rather than naming music note by letters, as I am used to (a, b, c, d, e, f, g), they use words. The do re mi method. But even that isn't the same. It's do re mi fa so la ci do.
6. HORTON Caitlin
On every official document you write LAST NAME first name. So I write HORTON Caitlin, rather than Caitlin Horton or Horton, Caitlin. Because my driver's license reads (in all caps):
CAITLIN
ELIZABETH
HORTON
I ended up being registered for my theater class as Elizabeth Caitlin. As in my last name is Caitlin and my first name is Elizabeth (and Horton dropped off into the atmosphere). But we managed to straighten it all out. Caitlin Elizabeth Horton exists again.
7. Teachers teach everything
My titulaire - sort of my home room teacher, though we have no home room class period - is my French teacher, my history teacher and my religion teacher. And from my impression, a lot of the teachers teach multiple combinations of things like that.
8. Random starting points
Each year students have history and geography rather than one year one class, one year the next. For that reason (or I can only assume so) we start in the most random places. The first lecture we had in geography (this is cultural geography, I believe it would be called) was on India's revolution for independence from Britain. In history we started with European political systems of the 1700s.
9. Cursive
Everyone writes in cursive. In really, really pretty cursive. Okay, I take that back. Every student - boys and girls - have beautiful cursive writing. The teachers tend to have hardly legible cursive, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt and say that it's a result of writing on the white board. Either way, I'm not a teacher. And I don't writing in beautiful cursive. In fact, my cursive is worse than my print, which tells you a lot.
10. Pens
No one uses pencil except in math, and most people use fountain pens. The real kind that you pay 15 euros for and whose tips look like the next step after quills. But even better, the ink in those kinds of pens erases. It's awesome.
1. Skinny-ness
No one here is fat. Okay, of course I don't really mean no one. But I can think of one or two people that I have seen (and no one who I actually know) who are not average weight plus or minus a few pounds. kilos. whatever.
2. Hello
Everyone says hello to everyone. Not in the big cities, but here when you walk into or leave a store, when you pass somebody on an empty street, when you go into or leave a restaurant - bonjour, au revoir, bonsoir, salut. More than I was used to even in little Rio Rico.
3. Bisous (kisses)
With friends, you kiss them on the cheek to say hello. Every time. If you don't it's almost sort of offensive - your friends notice and bring it up if you don't give them a kiss and say hello. You do the same with anybody you know even a little bit. But that is all you do. If I walk into a room and make eye contact with someone I don't know, I'm used to smiling or waving. You don't do that here. People don't smile back, don't wave back... It took me off guard at first, but it's just something you hardly ever see here.
4. Feet/syllables
In my French class we're studying poetry, starting with the basics. I remember worksheets that I loved so much trying to split each line into its feet, trying to figure out whether to mark a dactylic foot or an iambic foot. But French poetry doesn't have feet!!! It has syllables, but no feet!
5. Music notes
Here, rather than naming music note by letters, as I am used to (a, b, c, d, e, f, g), they use words. The do re mi method. But even that isn't the same. It's do re mi fa so la ci do.
6. HORTON Caitlin
On every official document you write LAST NAME first name. So I write HORTON Caitlin, rather than Caitlin Horton or Horton, Caitlin. Because my driver's license reads (in all caps):
CAITLIN
ELIZABETH
HORTON
I ended up being registered for my theater class as Elizabeth Caitlin. As in my last name is Caitlin and my first name is Elizabeth (and Horton dropped off into the atmosphere). But we managed to straighten it all out. Caitlin Elizabeth Horton exists again.
7. Teachers teach everything
My titulaire - sort of my home room teacher, though we have no home room class period - is my French teacher, my history teacher and my religion teacher. And from my impression, a lot of the teachers teach multiple combinations of things like that.
8. Random starting points
Each year students have history and geography rather than one year one class, one year the next. For that reason (or I can only assume so) we start in the most random places. The first lecture we had in geography (this is cultural geography, I believe it would be called) was on India's revolution for independence from Britain. In history we started with European political systems of the 1700s.
9. Cursive
Everyone writes in cursive. In really, really pretty cursive. Okay, I take that back. Every student - boys and girls - have beautiful cursive writing. The teachers tend to have hardly legible cursive, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt and say that it's a result of writing on the white board. Either way, I'm not a teacher. And I don't writing in beautiful cursive. In fact, my cursive is worse than my print, which tells you a lot.
10. Pens
No one uses pencil except in math, and most people use fountain pens. The real kind that you pay 15 euros for and whose tips look like the next step after quills. But even better, the ink in those kinds of pens erases. It's awesome.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
