EMILY FISHER ZOOMS IN

 

My host family is like my second family. I have a host mum, older brother (19) and younger brother (17). I moved to them one month early because my first host sister was returning from Argentina and my hosts didn’t want me to be there in case she had COVD19. My third host family was building a house and it was supposed to be ready by August for me to change but because of not being able to work and the lack of supplies it has been delayed quite a lot, they’re still willing to host me but just later in the year when the house is finished. If all goes to plan I should be changing families at the beginning of November or end of October. Because of this I will only have three host families instead of my original four but it’s ok because I love my current family very much. 

 

In Europe the coronavirus has started a second wave so some countries have been labelled different colours based on the severity. Parts of France including Paris, Ile de France and other little cities are Orange, as are parts of Germany, Poland and Belgium, but majority of Belgium is still Green. while places like Spain and Sweden are Red. The colours mean: Green: may still have cases but not many and not very severe, can travel between other green countries easily with little to no restrictions Orange: has started to spike again, it is recommended not to travel to these places and if you do you must fill out a form, take a corona test, and possibly quarantine for two weeks when you return from those places. Red: severe cases and still a lot, travel is not allowed at all (in or out of the country/city), everyone is in lockdown 

 

I only spent one and a half months at school (all of February and up to the 13th of March). It was quite difficult because I couldn’t speak or understand French, I wasn’t forced to do the same work as my class mates but instead some of my teachers would allow me to use their class to learn French. 

At the start of the pandemic District 1630 (a Flemish district) decided to send all of its students home, they were all gone within a week or two of lockdown and no one could see them to say goodbye. No one in District 2170 (a French district in the east) got sent home, but some chose to leave or their family or club in their home country forced them to go home. A few people in District 1620 (my district) were forced home by their sponsor club or family but our district chair tried as hard as he could to keep as many exchange students here as possible.  

 

Since lockdown I haven’t been able to make many local friends, but during the summer there’s always lots of youth camps. My host mum told me about one and said that she thought I’d enjoy it so I went. There were about 30 people there (all over 17 years old) and they were the sweetest most welcoming people I’ve ever met. We spent a week together, hiking, singing, dancing, playing games, reflecting on our life, thinking about the future etc. and by the end of it we were like one big family. We’ve tried to organise a few different things to do together (sleepovers, hanging out in Bruxelles etc) but because of the new corona measures we’ve had to cancel. Everyone still messages me and says as soon as we can do normal things again they want to travel in Belgium with me. 

 

So I went to a Carnaval at the end of February (the biggest most popular in Belgium). All of Europe has carnavals at that time and we get a week of holidays so lots of people travel. Just after Carnaval is when COVID19 became an issue and that’s how it spread so quickly. Normally there’s another big one in June called The Doudou which is a big deal because it celebrates St. George but it was cancelled. Belgium also holds the biggest music festival in the world called Tomorrowland but obviously it was also cancelled. We are hoping that there will still be the Halloween celebrations and the Marche de Noël (Christmas parade and festival). 

 

My Youth Exchange Officer called me yesterday to say that all activities with my club have been cancelled. So no golfing, shooting or BQQs anymore, but they are going to start doing Zoom calls each month that I will be able to attend. 

 

During the hardest part of lockdown every outbound student was getting lots of contact from everyone in District 9465 to check up on us, see if we needed anything etc. Linda Bilney and Steve Barlow set up regular Zoom calls for all the outbound to catch up and tell everyone what we were doing to keep busy. Everyone from the District (including our club) was very kind and supportive and helped me out whenever I had a problem. 

 

My French has improved a lot because my current host family refuses to speak English even though they can but it’s good because it’s helped speed up my learning process and now I can understand almost everything and hold a decent conversation with somebody. You've seen an example of my French in President Ian's report which translates as: