Noel en Belgique (Christmas in Belgium)

Today is the 25th of December and for most of the world that means only one thing. Christmas or other Holiday that is celebrated around this time. This is my first Christmas away from my family, and it really just is not the same without them. Here in Belgium its 10 degrees Celsius and has been poring rain down for the last few days.

Yesterday was Christmas with my host moms side of the family. One of the traditions in the city is to go down to the local church where they have a little Christmas mass with a choir and little dramatic skits. When we got there i found out that most of my host cousins were taking part in it, which was cool to see what they were up to since I had seen them last.

After this we went back to the Aunt's house for dinner and a gift exchange. This year of Christmas i got underwear and a book for Christmas, this would be every 10-year-old's nightmare, but i really needed more cloths and the book is in English and French and is written for young children, so its only a little bit of a challenge for me to read. Over all this Christmas abroad was very different then my normal Christmases back in Canada.

Travel in Belgium

As of yesterday my Christmas break has officially started. However exams were over on Tuesday. This has given me much time to travel around to the places that i do not get a chance to go very often, and the places that are just to big and full of things to see in just one day. In Belgium the method of choice for transportation is trains as they go everywhere, like everywhere. This has made it very easy for me to get around to see the sites here and still get back home in time for dinner, which for me is usually two half frozen hamburgers at the grocery store attached to Guillemins (the big train station in Liege).

 In the interest of saving time instead of telling you every city I have been to and you looking it up then copying and pasting the next one, I have made a little map of all the places that I have visited in my travels so far. Below you will see a mass of red where all the lines connect, that is Liege. My host city. Well not really I actually live 30 minutes south by train from there. Due to these constant train rides around Belgium I have gotten very use to sitting on a train for upwards of 5 hours a day. Today however, was special. Today going from Hony to Ypres and back i spent an estimated 9-10 hours on trains. In that time i saw a large portion of Belgium and had my very first glimpse of an authentic medieval windmill. It was rather cool, especially since there had been a large number of modern electric windmills installed behind it. It is really nice to see the people here benefiting from the ridiculously strong winds that never really seem to go away.  

Le Fête de Saint Nicolas

On the sixth of December was the annual Fête de Saint Nicolas. For all the non-Belgians, this is similar to how Santa brings presents and treats to children. However instead of it being on Christmas eve, it is on the sixth. So essentially they have to two Christmases. This might sound amazing but the days before this they have the university students dress up in long lab coats with cartoon characters drawn on them, go around town asking for money. Here's the kicker. If you do not give them some they throw flour at you, and occasionally there is one or two of them that throw eggs. This has lead the younger high-school students to carry eggs of their own. The moral of this story is don't be in Liege during the first two weeks of December. Back to the story of Saint Nicolas. From what my Belgians have told me its the same a man breaks into your house and leaves treats behind, however every family celebrates it on a different day, and with presents varying from the common small treats to a few receiving their large gift from Santa early. This a lead to one very confused Peter. How ever from what i understand, Saint Nicolas still carries a strong Catholic presence (robes and what not). Also, instead of elves he has helpers that are covered in coal. I'm not exactly sure why. And that children is the story of Saint Nicolas. 

exotic dinner

Last weekend was the annual Exotic Dinner hosted by the Rotex. When we signed up we got an email say we would form our own groups with our fellow exchange students from our own country... and so "The Goon Squad" was formed. So the Saturday before my group all meet up in Brussels at one of the members houses to make Tourtiere(Quebec meat pie). After much hard work and procrastination, we finally got 40 servings worth of the pie made. The next day we went into Charleroi for the diner...and only got lost 3 times. When we finally got to the place that the event was held at, we were greeted by the other million exchange students with their equally enormous bags of food. As the day went on we all ate foods from other countries and got fat, the good kind. Then we all ran around waving our flags and other typical exchange student shenanigans.

Belgian picnic

so on Friday i had a very special meal with the host family. Friday at the Lebon family is "movie night". As such the host sister came into my room all excited and telling me to get ready and that we were going. Of course I had no idea what was going on, as we drove through town. Then we suddenly stopped and backed up on the road. We then stopped into a Fritere(fry/snack shop). Walking into the shop they had a small sign about poutine which was cool to see how Canadian Cuisine exists in Belgium. After talking to the lady about the poutine she had on the menu she said that i was the only Canadian she had ever seen and started asking me questions about Canada. After that the host mom started ordering the food. Fries for days. she also ordered these breaded hotdog things that looked like they came out of a box, but they were still beautiful. When i got home the mom brought out waffles from the fridge. then we just sat and watched tv. It was a good day

"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.