Merry Christmas Report fron Josie Wendling in Belguim
Posted by Bob Hlina
on Dec 10, 2015
Hey all!
Month 3 in Belgium has been great!
I had a bit of a cold last week but it seems to have cleared up! Other than that, I've been in good health.
School has been great! My courses are all going well. The seniors are doing a year-long project, and the theme is "the future is unwritten". In my group, we are studying agriculture, nutrition, and the importance of local artisans. We've also decided to study local breweries, and we're even making our own beer!
Last Friday, we celebrated something called Saint Nicolas. The real holiday for Saint Nicolas is December 6th, but the secondary school seniors do it a bit differently. We all decorated lab coats, and had a long but amazing day. We started with eating breakfast together, then heckling the younger kids for change and spraying them with washable hair dyes and silly string (don't worry, it's all in good fun. It's a long-lived tradition, and kids know one day they'll have the chance to be the boss.). After that, us seniors went around the classes, doing activities and giving the students candy. In the afternoon, we had a show with games and a video, and then we got to leave school two hours early! Most of my class went to the nearby city to drink, but me and my friends just hung out and ate frites. In the evening, we went to a party and had tons of fun! It was a once in a lifetime experience.
At the start of November, I went to London on a Rotary trip. It was amazing! We saw all sorts of things, and even though I was exhausted Monday morning at school, it was totally worth it. If you want to see the pictures, check them out on my Facebook page, Josie’s Big Belgian Adventure. I've also attended one Rotary meeting.
Both Patros and nage hivernal are going well, even though the water keeps getting colder and colder every week! I've been to Maastricht twice with friends to go shopping. Other than that, it's been a relatively quiet month.
The Paris attacks have greatly affected Belgium. As you may know, the terror level in Brussels (which is 2 hours away from where I live) was at 4/4 for nearly a week. It was lowered to 3/4, but the rest of Belgium remains at a level 3/4. About a week ago, Rotary gave us all advice to avoid being in crowed places, come home after dark, ect. I was already doing these things after the attacks, so it did not really affect me. Things seem to be clearing up now, which is good news. My biggest worry, currently, is how I'm supposed to survive with only half a box of Kraft Dinner left!
Host family info:
The Droevens
237 Rue Grand Ry, Cornesse, Belgium 4860
My info:
Josie Wendling
From the Downtown Prince George club, where my YEO is Toni Stedeford
Hosted by the clube de Pepinster-Theux, where my YEOs are Léon Zeller and Pascale Rigaux
Lots of love and thanks to everyone, and a Merry Christmas!
Josie Wendling