I hope everyone is warm and well in FortSt. John. Belgium has been very windy and rainy lately, but no - 25° yet! Although in mid No
vember it did go below 0° and we got our first snow, but it only lasted the morning before it melted away. Winter is really starting to set in and the days are getting shorter and the skies seem to be getting greyer. It is hard to believe that it is almost Christmas and soon to be 4 months since I have been here. Itis amazing how fast time seems to be going.
At the end of October there was a week of vacation for a holiday called Toussaint. It is a holiday on November the 1st everyone goes to the cemeteries and visits the graves of family. There were many services being held and the cemeteries were filled with lots people and flowers. During that week I was able to travel to Holland for 4 days with some other exchange students. It is amazing how with only a 4 hour train ride, language, culture and geography can drastically change and you are in some where completely new. Amsterdam is such a beautiful city. I loved all the canals, the style of architecture andall the bikes! We were able to take some really great tours and visit some wonderful museums. I really enjoyed the Anne Frank house and the City by Night tour. It was also a neat experience staying in a youth hostel since we got to meet so many other people, we even met some other Rotary exchange students from France! Unfortunately my camera when missing at a Halloween party so I lost all of my pictures from my trip. Luckily, I was able to get most of the photos off myfriends who were with me.
Poutine was a hit! Everyone in my family loved it! My family had invited most of thefamily and some friends over so I ended up making poutine for around 15 people.They don't have cheese curds here so I had to do a little substituting. I was nervous for how it would turn out but it went over well. After I made them pancakes with maple syrup for dessert. They were a little flat since baking soda is hard to find but they still tasted good. I was able to find baking soda recently, so I plan on making them proper fluffy pancakes and some chocolate chip cookies! Over all it was a great evening and they are already planning another poutine evening for before I switch families.
For Remembrance Day, a couple other Canadians and I planned a trip to Ypres, whichis on the other side of Belgium from where I am and in the Flemish region. It took about 3 and a half hours to get there, which is about the farthest you can travel in Belgium without leaving the country. My host parents think that it is so odd that we are willing to travel that far for only a day trip! In the
center
of the town there was a huge service held and the streets were packed with people from all over the world. There were also many other smaller services held in the surrounding cemeteries. We went to the Flanders Field museum which is in a magnificent building that has been reconstructed since over 75% of it was destroyed during the war. We also went to an international cemetery and found several Canadian graves, it is heart breaking to see the dates on the graves and realise that so many of them died so young. It was amazing to be able to spend that day so close to our history and meet so many other Canadians.
I have recently become a leader for the local louvteaux Scouts group. The group is made up of around 26 kids ages 8 to 12 and 5 other leaders which meet every Saturday afternoon. Here Scouts is very popular and it seems that almost every Belgian has at one time in their lives been involved in Scouts. It is very different here since it is primarily run by students and there is a lot of community involvement. It is great since all the kids love asking questions about the differences between Belgium and Canada and for words in English. Itis a fun group of kids and the other leaders are so enthusiastic and nice, I'm really happy to be apart of the group.
Here in Belgium,not only do they have Christmas but they also have a holiday called St.Nicolas. On the 6th of December, St.Nicolas comes on his sleigh pulled by his donkey and leaves chocolate, candy and presents in the children's slippers. It is like Christmas but only for kids. For all the graduating students, they have their own special St. Nicolas celebrations where everyone has a big white lab coat called a tablier. Everyone then decorates their tablier with drawings of all sorts of things that represent them and what they like, I drew a Canadian flag on the back of mine! Everyone then signs your tablier, kind of like a yearbook. There is then a day where all the students beg for money at intersections and on the streets, while wearing their tabliers. They also go around attacking the younger students with flour and crazy string. The streets are packed with students celebrating and of flour flying, it is a very unique celebration. There is truly nothing like it in Canada!
Since the beginning of December all the Christmas markets have opened up. They have decorated the town beautifully and have set up Christmas trees, lights and little wooden cabins which sell all sorts of Christmas items, gifts and food. At the markets they have stands that sell special seasonal items such as speculoos, which is like gingerbread, hot wine and candied nuts. They have also set up a skating rink in the middle of the town and last weekend I taught my friend from Texashow to skate! Although, they thought I was odd when I specially requested the mens skates since they don't have picks! It is nice having a skating rink nearby but it is no comparison to the lake out my back door at home!
I hope everyone has safe travels through out the holiday season and a wonderfulChristmas and New Year.
JoyeuseNoël,
Robyn
