"adventure" week in Belgium

This week in Belgium is a holiday which means i have a week of shenanigans. Not only that but at everyone else has been planning awsome activities for me to do.

 So when Saturday rolled around a bunch of exchange went into Brussels for an street art tour.

Not only did we get to tour Brussels. but we got to do it on national scouts day. below is a photo of the famous Manneken Pis. When we walked up to the statue we had to pass several waffle shops, and like good little exchange students, we bought waffles. While eating our waffles we saw several imitations of the original statue, however these were all much bigger with most of them in bright colours. The actual Manneken Pis is only about 30cm (1 foot for the imperial system users), not only that but he is highly elevated on the fountain which is tucked into a corner. Or in other word "impossible to find". As we were walking down the street we came across a massive crowd and sure enough we found the little guy.

In addition to us running around Brussels like idiots, we also happened to join a wedding. Now, we did not know it was a wedding, we just thought it was a bunch of people playing music. It was not till we were being pushed into the cathedral that we realised what was going on and that we had to sneak out of there with out any one noticing.  

Then today we went to Leuven(in Dutch)(Louvain in French) which is just a big city of pretty buildings that make the architecture in Canada pale in comparison. 

Above is the monument to those who fought in a battle that i persume occurred somewhere near Leuven during the early 20th century

above is the sculpture of Leuven that sits outside the government building in Leuven. 

Below is one of the many bikes that litter the river there. In the leaflet one of the exchange students had, there was a little cartoon of a man fishing and pulling up a bike. After a solid hour, we finally got the joke.

My First Belgian Football match

so Football season started on Friday. I went to see what i thought would be a nice friendly game to start off the preseason. It was everything except that, and i have never had so much fun...except for the minor hypothermia.

Armed with my new red devils jersey that i had gotten a few weeks prior and some poorly self applied face paint i was ready to charge into the streets and jump up and down with the rest of the club supporters. After the game had finished in a 2-1 win for the devils the craziness continued. And continued... and continued. When it was time for me to go on my bus back home i noticed all these people in the square jumping on cars and chanting (your basic Friday night here in Belgium), but the weird part was the cops were a few meters away from them, in there patrol cars. blaring theirs horns like every other car on the road.

My first "workout" in Belgium

As most of you will know. Belgium is known for their delicious treats... well after eating nothing but waffles for a month and a half, i decided it was time to start going to the gym again. However the nearest gym is a half hour bus ride away from the house, so i decided to make do with what they had. So i went into the back yard and was doing the conventional; push up, sit up, routine. Then i noticed a pile of rocks. you know whats next. So as in doing delt lifts with landscaping stones the host dad walks out and  lays a case of dumbbells on the patio table and walks back inside.

Now i imagine, they think im some kind of crazy person lifting rocks for a solid hour as they watched me through the window the whole time until the Dad finally came home. So when i opened the case it was brand new and had never been used, its like they read a small write up of some kind with detailed information about me and my hobbies and then proactively went out and bought ideas i would need.