After a week

     Hey everyone. So it has officially been a week since I arrived. My French is improving, I am getting along quite will with my host family, and I've not died yet. I thought these were some important status updates and that I should start out with them.

     This last week has been very full of all sorts of stuff. I don't even know what to start with. I guess I will start with my small list of things that I have found to be different here. Throughout the week I wrote down thing that shocked me a bit between here and there. A few you might already be aware of, but I hope you enjoy this list:

• We eat lost of bread! Their bread is great! I really like this change. We have bread for every lunch, and most dinners. If I were a bigger breakfast eater I would probably have bread then also, but I just stick with a bowl of frosted flakes. 
• There are shops for bread everywhere. I love when I am walking around and I walk past one. The smell is wonderful and I am usually glad that I don't carry much money on me, or I would be broke quite quickly.
• The sidewalks are for parking, the roads are for parking, and curbs are generally ignored. It gave me great amusement at the cheese party to watch a car full of what I assumed were drunk Belgians trying to put their car up on the curb. In the next few days, I discovered that that specific practice was not only the product of the intoxicated. The sidewalk and the street generally mesh together into one unit, and because the curbs are so small, or non existent, this task is quite easy. 
• All the cars are stick shift. I don't know why, but I would guess it is because of the increase in gas mileage you get compared to an automatic. 
• Speed limits are generally, ignored. Yes, I consider this a change because it is everyone who ignores these limits. And it isn't just by a few MPH like at home. On a road that it 70 the average is probably 110. Now I know there is a conversion factor, but still that is quite a difference. 
• Everyone drinks at every meal and every get together. I'm talking everyone. My host sister (remember she is 7) just downed a glass of wine before dinner last night. It was a little humerus - and a bit scary.
• There seems to be less police, or less of a visible presence of police. I have seen probably only 2 police cars, and only heard one siren.
• Everything is about one and a half to two times as expensive here as in the states. This is taking into account the conversion factor of Euros to Dollars. It makes me a bit sad.
• They don't believe in tap watter. Everything they drink comes out of some sort of container. It makes me a bit sad every time I finish a bottle of water and they pitch the bottle.
• Pandora doesn't function outside of the United States. I didn't know this, and it made me sad.
• Friets. Love them.
• Metric system. Love it.
• 24 hour clocks. 22:00 instead of 10:00. Love it.
• Chocolate. Love it. 

       So those are just some of the things I have noticed. The changes are not anything I can't handle, so that is good. I would like to take a bit of time now to talk about Tuesday. In my mind, it was the best day I have had here yet. For starters, it was when I finally felt finished with the jet lag. It was also the first time I got to taste Belgium chocolate, and the first time I ate friets.

     But beyond food, Tuesday was great because it gave me confidence in this whole French thing. One of my host brother's friends that I hadn't met yet came over to meet me. We hung out in my room and talked for quite a long while. This was really exciting for me because he knew about 4 words in English, and he was incredibly shy. I had to lead a conversation, in French, with this guy I didn't know at all. I would say it was a success, and it gave me a whole lot of confidence in my French. That isn't to say I was able to successfully translate everything without error. I might have relied on Google translator from time to time, but it still was acknowledgement that I was on the right track and that I was improving. It wasn't the only indication I have had, but it was my first and it felt good.  

     Another thing that made Tuesday great is that I got to meet with the fencing coach. Now, unfortunately he doesn't teach sabre, only epee. But, I guess that is better than only foil. It was really exciting for me. Just walking into the building and hearing the distinct sound of machines going off after touches were scored put a huge smile on my face. I didn't actually get to fence, and don't get to till September, but watching the summer camp he was teaching made me happy. Also I discovered that he trains two of the epee fencer on the Belgian national team, so I am pretty excited. 

     Now I have one more thing I want to talk about. I just discovered the other night that I have a crazy host grandmother. It made me laugh when my host family called her crazy in front of here. I guess she accepts it. This lady was very amusing. First of all, she tried to make me have to waddle out of her house (we ate there last night). For lunch she made me eat twice as much as I normally would have, and then served me two crepes for dessert. Then for a snack at about 15:00 I got  ice cream and frozen strawberries. Then for dinner we had a bar-b-q and I got stuffed again. Oh my mouth was so happy, but my stomach was a little upset. She is obsessed with English and had a little phrase that she loved very much. "It's all right momma!" could always be heard ringing around her house. It was very amusing. She was loud, playful, and just plain adorable. I don't know how to describe it specifically, but all of you with crazy grandmother know what I am talking about. (Mugget and Grandma Dixie, if you are reading this you don't fall under the category of "crazy"...  well not completely. :-P ).

     Well, I could write more, but I am getting hungry and I feel I should interact and hear some French before my brain forgets all that I have learned. I hope everything is going well back in the good ol' US of A. I do miss you all.

with love,

~Weston Halberstadt