After 26 hours of car rides, layovers, delays, and flights (one of which was missed), I am finally back in Rio Rico, Arizona where 100 degree weather plus humidity was waiting to welcome me back. My first decision was to take this first weekend home and officially sit on my butt as much as humanly possible. Home, sweet home.

Czechin' out Prague and South Bohemia

I couldn't help the lame pun...
But talk about a great trip. I didn't really have any expectations because I had no prior impressions about the Czech Republic. Everyone kept telling me I would love Prague, but that didn't really tell me any more about what to expect. So when we finally arrived in the city after a night-long ride in a bus and started passing pretty average - slightly on the poor side - I wasn't really impressed. I wasn't disappointed either - it reminded me of Greek cities which weren't that pretty but were still very interesting. Then we continued out of the outskirts of town and into real Prague - gorgeous, impressively so, filled with interesting architecture and fascinating history.
After an extremely enjoyable stay and then a 180 km detour (we got lost going to South Bohemia), we visited a couple charming towns and I enjoyed myself just as much. This was honestly one of my favorite trips.

Exams. Are. Done.
Is there anything else to say? Don't know if I passed, don't know if my friends passed, but all 12 (including those from my activities outside of school) are done!!!

And the countdown begins.

I'm officially leaving in less than 3 weeks.
Nah, just kidding!
...Right?

No, I'm not kidding, of course, but even having seen the plane tickets myself, I just can't believe it. First of all, I can't believe it's almost been 10 months. (That would be why I haven't written in so long.. everything just flys by.)
And also because I have so much stuff to do before I go!! I'm going to the sea with my friends, then with my family. I'm going to Prague. I'm taking all my exams, having a dinner with my host families, getting my grades.
When am I even going to pack? I can just picture myself at 2 A.M. the night before my flight leaves stuffing chocolate into one of my three suitcases (plus carry-on)...

April Fish!

Poisson d'avril, or 'april fish' is, quite right, the Belgian way of saying April Fools. There's a long story about how it dates back to ancient times but long story short, for those who play jokes they say "april fish" and the typical little kids play joke is to stick a fish on people's back. However I did notice that there weren't many fishes swimming around april 1st. April fools, as with Hallowwen (and Thanksgiving, shockingly), seems to be much more popular in the US than over here.

An 'Oh, French' moment

One of my friends was handing out our geography tests. With a look of understanding pity, he hands another of my friends her test with a F scribbled on top. "Pas terrible," he says, which I translated as "not terrible". Wait, huh? No detectable sarcasm about a test that was fairly terrible...
Flash forward to my host mom telling me about a walk and discussion she'd had earlier that day. "It was terrible," she tells me, with a huge grin.
"Hang on.. what does terrible mean?"
"It's like... good."
Yes, in french, the word terrible means good.

I need to stop getting thrown off by little things like that in French. But all I can do is sigh, think to myself in a tone of amused (and somewhat bemused) wonder, "Oh, French." And roll my eyes.

Living in history

We were discussing Belgian history in my geography class (which interesting in and unto itself, as I have a separate history class) a couple days ago and we came across the topic of World War II and how that influenced and changed Belgium. It was an interesting but relatively unremarkable conversation until the teacher dropped the phrase 'after the occupation.' Of course I knew that Europe was a major battle ground in WWII. Of course I knew Belgium had been occupied during World War II. But I hadn't ever consciously thought about it. And it threw me off. To imagine that this land, here, was such an integral part of the war took my breath away for a second.

Language has really come to define my life in these past nine months. I feel a lot more aware of the language itself that someone speaks. I'm not talking about the meaning that their words convey, I mean the physical way they speak, their accents, as well as an overall consciousness of what language is coming out of their mouth. It's a hard state to explain, but it's led me to remark different things: for one, how almost everyone has a different quality of voice when they change languages (some go lower pitched, some speak less gravelly, etc.). Or how I speak less than I used to in the US.. and how I speak less with my hands in French than in English.

The big two-five-zero

Today, February 19, 2011, makes 250 days that Belgium has not had a government. Because the French speaking region and the Dutch speaking region have different political views, they've always disagreed at least partly over the running of the government. And this year - well, 2010 - their differences have left them 250 days without a new government. It's actually a really fascinating situation, but to cut a long story short, the parliament needs to chose a prime minister because one doesn't vote directly for the prime minister in Belgium, and so far they haven't been able to so. Yesterday we claimed the world record, finally beating Iraq to 249 days without a government...

"St. Valentin"

Valentine's Day was quiet in Belgium. Couples celebrate it perhaps slightly less than in the US, but, unlike in the US, it's strictly couples. I rather enjoyed getting (and receiving) little cards or candy hearts. Speaking of which, I had all my Belgian friends taste the little Valentine's Day candy hearts, which my parents had set me. As they aren't necessarily known for being delicious there were a couple of people who found them not exactly to their liking, but plenty who found them fascinating - the text style writing was an interesting challenge for them. And handing out an american candy always draws at least somewhat a crowd.

Friction is my friend

I had my first experience with black ice this week. I've always heard of how dangerous it is, but never having lived it, I hadn't realized. Wednesday morning, I walked out onto a world that looked drenched - the road, the gravel, the sidewalks, they all looked soggy. As soon as I put my foot on any of said surfaces, I realized my mistake. It was all covered by a thick, slick layer of ice. Of course, the buses weren't driving in that weather, so I walked to school with an awkward almost penguin-like stride, fearing to take too large of steps or move to quickly and end up on my rear. I made it all 20 minutes to school without falling down, but I was glad to reenter the world of friction when I reached school.

Happy Crêpe Day!

They don't celebrate Groundhog Day in Belgium. However, on the same day as Groundhog Day, they have what they call La Chandeleur. I looked up the translation and apparently it's called Candlemas in English. Anyway, it's something religious, but I don't know the actual reason. All I know is that, as with Groundhog Day, it's a mark of 'from this day on winter is either going to come to a close or continue for another month (is it a month? or two weeks? or two months? anyway.)'. And, even better, it's a day to make, and eat, crêpes.

French in French for us non-French-speakers

After over 5 months in Belgium, I have finally started taking French classes. I started yesterday - six hours a week of French as a foreign language. They're night classes, so the general student is well older than me. I'd say late twenties to early thirties is the average age, if I had to guess. It's only been one class, but I'm already enjoying it. I feel like I'm going to improve, work on perfecting, my French. And at the same time, I think all my peers are going to be very interesting as well. I'm in a small class, so I have the impression that I'll be able to get to know them some - having the chance to meet people seems to be a secondary reason for more than one person to take the class. I'm curious to continue - tomorrow I have the second three hours...

Australia comes to Belgium

So after much - or a least some - suspense, it turns out that I was welcoming a newie to little old College Notre Dame de la Paix in Erpent. She's an Australian named Tiarna - except that with her accent it's pronounced Tiana. She's in all the same classes as I am so that I can help her out with getting settled in. She's an extremely nice girl - my age, and like me she's already finished with high school. She speaks only a handful of words in French - when I say handful, I mean you could probably count on your fingers how many, so I feel bad for her because that's gotta be so hard. I remember how exhausting and discouraging the first weeks were for me, and I could have a conversation (if an extremely limited one). But I'm doing my best to try and slip some French into our conversations, and she's certainly ready and willing to learn!

Break a leg!

Break a leg is an expression that does not translate literally into French. However, they do have their own - "bonne merde," or "good shit". You tell someone "bonne merde" before a performance, before a huge exam. More or less the same situtations as "break a leg". Apparently the expression comes from back in the day when people rode carriages to go to the theater. Those putting on a play would wish eachother "bonne merde" because the more poop there was in front of the theatre, the more horses there were, the bigger audience there was. So good shit to you all!

I am doing tres bien

I'd heard that it would happen, but I hadn't really believed that I would start to forget my English. But I am! Nothing drastic. I'm going to still be able to have a conversation in English at the end of my stay here. But I forget random words - I'll learn a new word in French and think of the translation, just to realize that, while I know I know it, I can't seem to think of it. Or I'll be talking in English and French words will slip out in an American accent. For example, I was telling my parents how I slipped on the ice in town, but the word for ice, in French is 'glace'. I didn't even notice until my parents pointed out that I really probably hadn't been walking on glass...

The second first week

As of today, I have been with my second host family for a week. Not surprisingly, I'm still settling in into a new rhythm of life with new people, but also not surprisingly, I'm really enjoying it here. The Watillons, the second family, leave extremely close to my school, making my life easier in that sense. I'm also much more able to go hang out in town now. They are a very kind family. My host mom is always worrying how I'm settling in - she realizes that while I'm extremely happy to be there, I am rather sad also to have to have said goodbye to my first family. I have a feeling, however, that it will be just as hard to leave this family...

Hoping to welcome a newie to Erpent (my school)

We're approaching the end of Christmas break... And I'm really not sure I'm ready to go back to school. I had three weeks off and somehow it still feels like we should have two more weeks to go... But I passed such a lazy break - that's why it feels so short, I'm sure. The days sort of melded together - this one we had a lot of snow - this one we went and visited the grandparents - this one I hung out with my oldie for the last time. And so on. But I am enjoying it immensely.
Side note: I referred to my 'oldie'. Within the group of exchange students there are the 'oldies' and the 'newies' - those who have been in the country for half or more of their exchange already. This is because there are people like me, all the North Americans and some of the South Americans, and the few Europeans, who arrived around August. Then there are some South Americans, Australians, New Zealanders who arrive in January. I am currently making my change from newie to oldie as the Southern Hemisphere-ers are leaving and new Southern Hemisphere-ers are arriving... The newies in your school, your host Rotary club, or in your general region are 'your' newies - basically you end up hanging out more with them since their in your area. I had the coolest oldie ever and now he's heading back to New Zealand here in a couple days!

Because..... it's famous?

Happy New Years! I have a bit of time before we head on over to the grandparents' for New Years Day family visits. We had a calm New Years Eve last night - stayed home, had a dinner of mussels - super fresh ones, too... then watched a movie until midnight. We all three made it up through - three because Erika, my oldest host sister was off at her own party, and Alexis, my host brother was hanging out with a friend of his in the garage, so it was just my parents, Bene and Amaury, and myself.
I asked Bene if here they had heard of the ball dropping for New Years Eve in Times Square because Europeans know a lot more of American traditions than Americans know of European traditions, but they hadn't. I explained that it was, a ball... dropping. But I was confronted with a blank look when I tried to explain what was so special about it, why so many people show up in Times Square for it - probably because I'm not sure I understand myself. =D