I started French classes a few weeks ago. I take three, 3.5-hour sessions per week. Pretty intense! I could not have found a better group. The professor has a great sense of humor. She's a little harsh, but that keeps everyone on their toes. We were already doing addition of long numbers (hundreds and thousands) on the second day of class! The professor would read each addition problem aloud and we were to write down the numbers and add them together. When all problems were finished, she called on us randomly to read back the numbers and the answers. We prepared for this exercise by doing a math drill where we had to calculate on the spot doing exponential addition by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, & 9. This was a rapid-fire session where she called on us to quickly add a number to the previous answer. We've done these exercises a few times since and each time she mentions the word "compte" or "count" we all moan and groan. This is a painful exercise, but I have found it to be very helpful already. I don't even like doing math in English!
There are 14 people in the class with 12 different countries being represented. We are truly an international group. There is one other American, but he's from Orange County, CA so he's a completely different breed altogether. He is actually a Korean-American, but his attitude is 100% Southern Californian! He has become a source of amusement for the entire class. Classes consist mainly of conversation. While this is somewhat intimidating, it helps one get over the fear of sounding ridiculous. It's nice to see how much others struggle with the language as I do. We all seem to have trouble with the accent, the weird choking sounds, and the liasons between words. Some of the people who speak English as a second language have told me that French is a much more difficult language to learn. We often get tired and giddy and spend a lot of time laughing and joking around. The professor doesn't mind, though. She just joins the party. When you're sitting in class for that long, you need some comic relief!
We had a break from classes last week in recogniton of Carnival. We arranged a meeting at a cafe one day to socialize. Only seven people showed up, but it was great fun. We managed to have something that resembled a conversation eventhough we didn't speak a common language. Our conversation consisted of a cacophony of English, Russian, Slovak, Bulgarian, Hungarian, and Spanish. When we couldn't communicate otherwise, we used our limited French. The saving grace was that the Eastern Europeans all speak a little bit of Russian and some of them are fluent in English so they were able to translate. Also, a couple of the people can understand English, although they cannot actually speak it. It was a riot and we were quite a spectacle as we were seated in the center of the room. We got a lot of strange looks. I'm sure nobody knew what to think of us.
Many Europeans find it difficult to believe that Americans are not required to learn a second language. I tell them that it's optional, but that not many people bother and if we do take another language in middle/high school, we usually don't continue long enough to become fluent. Some of the theories as to why this is so are as follows: 1) English is a universal language and, therefore, there is no need; 2) It's different than Europe in that you don't have several small countries (with different languages) bordering one another; 3) Americans are lazy and/or arrogant. I think it's a combination of all of the above. With the growing Latin American population in the U.S., however, I believe that Spanish should become a required second language. I'm sure there is much oppostion to this opinion, so I am doubtful that it will ever happen.
Vous parler bientot! (Talk to you soon)
Monday, February 26, 2007
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Binche Carnival
This small Wallonian city hosts one of Belgium's largest and most popular carnivals. The festivities last for several weeks with the main events beginning on the Sunday before Shrove Tuesday. This is similar to Fat Tuesday in New Orleans. The end of carnival is marked by a parade where Gilles (males born and raised in Binche) march through the streets wearing traditonal costumes. They march to the music of drums and horns and throw oranges to the spectators. They carry the oranges in baskets and have support teams of people wearing large backpacks filled with reinforcements. Why oranges? I have no idea! The crowd claps and steps to the music while trying to catch the oranges. I guess it's similar to collecting Mardi Gras beads. Rick and I ended up with a total of 8. Some people also throw confetti.
Numerous events take place during the carnival. We attended the parade on Shrove Tuesday (20 February). We left Paris early to catch a glimpse of this age-old tradition. The town is only 50 kilometers from Brussels so it was basically on our way home. It was very interesting. Many of the spectators adorned masks and costumes as well. Note the photo of Spiderman. All of the apartment and shop windows were protected with chicken wire to prevent breakage from oranges. This also provided Spiderman with something similar to a web to climb on. There were definitely some orange-related injuries. A man that was standing next to us got beamed in the head and several people around him were squirted with orange juice. The streets were covered with smashed oranges and were slippery to walk on. Oh the madness!
While Brussels does not have a carnival, schools and some other agencies are closed for the week in recognition of the holiday.
For more info:
Numerous events take place during the carnival. We attended the parade on Shrove Tuesday (20 February). We left Paris early to catch a glimpse of this age-old tradition. The town is only 50 kilometers from Brussels so it was basically on our way home. It was very interesting. Many of the spectators adorned masks and costumes as well. Note the photo of Spiderman. All of the apartment and shop windows were protected with chicken wire to prevent breakage from oranges. This also provided Spiderman with something similar to a web to climb on. There were definitely some orange-related injuries. A man that was standing next to us got beamed in the head and several people around him were squirted with orange juice. The streets were covered with smashed oranges and were slippery to walk on. Oh the madness!
While Brussels does not have a carnival, schools and some other agencies are closed for the week in recognition of the holiday.
For more info:
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Paris
One of the biggest advantages of living in Brussels is the close proximity to fabulous cities like Paris. Our most recent travels took us to Paris for 3 days and 3 nights and then on to Binche, Belgium for Carnival, which I will write about later. Rick was in Paris 20-something years ago, but I had never been.
Our plan was to go during the winter so we could enjoy many of the cultural sites sans a gazillion tourists. We would visit the city again for the true Parisian experience when the weather was warmer. We only partially stuck to our plan, however. The weather was awesome--a pleasant 10-16C (50-60F) and sunny! I think we got the true experience this time. We are now planning to go back for some more art and culture as we only scratched the surface on this trip.
We visited The Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, The Catacombes, and The Basilique Du Sacre Coeur. We spent the rest of our time walking around the city and relaxing in the parks and cafes. We even had a picnic on a lawn outside of the Louvre. Our wanderings took us by many of the highlights such as The Seine, The Champs-Elysees, The Arc de Triomphe, Place De La Concorde, and The Jardin Des Tuileries. We also explored the Sorbonne area and Pigalle (the red-light district). We stayed in Montmartre, which is a quaint, artsy village. We loved it there! It was nice just to walk through its steep, cobbled streets.
It seems that people either love Paris or they hate it. I can't say that I feel either way. I was not blown away at first. I guess my expectations were too high. It seemed like just another large, busy city. But as time went on, the city grew on me and I wasn't ready to leave. For a city of such immense size, Paris manages to maintain a relaxed and romantic vibe. I could never live there, but I can't wait to return.
Once again, I have included some pictures from the trip. Of course, there are many more on our Ofoto site. Enjoy!
Our plan was to go during the winter so we could enjoy many of the cultural sites sans a gazillion tourists. We would visit the city again for the true Parisian experience when the weather was warmer. We only partially stuck to our plan, however. The weather was awesome--a pleasant 10-16C (50-60F) and sunny! I think we got the true experience this time. We are now planning to go back for some more art and culture as we only scratched the surface on this trip.
We visited The Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, The Catacombes, and The Basilique Du Sacre Coeur. We spent the rest of our time walking around the city and relaxing in the parks and cafes. We even had a picnic on a lawn outside of the Louvre. Our wanderings took us by many of the highlights such as The Seine, The Champs-Elysees, The Arc de Triomphe, Place De La Concorde, and The Jardin Des Tuileries. We also explored the Sorbonne area and Pigalle (the red-light district). We stayed in Montmartre, which is a quaint, artsy village. We loved it there! It was nice just to walk through its steep, cobbled streets.
It seems that people either love Paris or they hate it. I can't say that I feel either way. I was not blown away at first. I guess my expectations were too high. It seemed like just another large, busy city. But as time went on, the city grew on me and I wasn't ready to leave. For a city of such immense size, Paris manages to maintain a relaxed and romantic vibe. I could never live there, but I can't wait to return.
Once again, I have included some pictures from the trip. Of course, there are many more on our Ofoto site. Enjoy!
Monday, February 12, 2007
The Last Of The Apartment Pictures
Picture 11: master bedroom
Picture 12: master bedroom
Picture 13: master bathroom
Picture 14: master bathroom
Picture 15: master bathroom/washer and dryer***
***The washing machine holds very small loads and it takes between 1.5 - 2 hours for a warm cycle and 1 - 1.5 hours for a cold cycle. The reason for this is that washers here go through many cycles, each using a small amount of water. We thought something was wrong with the machine at first b/c it ony fills up about 1/4 of the way. It's an energy-saving feature. The water is continuously recycled.
Picture 12: master bedroom
Picture 13: master bathroom
Picture 14: master bathroom
Picture 15: master bathroom/washer and dryer***
***The washing machine holds very small loads and it takes between 1.5 - 2 hours for a warm cycle and 1 - 1.5 hours for a cold cycle. The reason for this is that washers here go through many cycles, each using a small amount of water. We thought something was wrong with the machine at first b/c it ony fills up about 1/4 of the way. It's an energy-saving feature. The water is continuously recycled.
More Apartment Pictures...
Picture 6: Kitchen
Picture 7: beer wall of fame
Picture 8: WC (wash closet) - this room is literally a closet with a toilet and sink that has cold water only ***
Picture 9: guest bedroom - there is a small terrace off of this room
Picture 10: guest bathroom - just shower and sink
***Toilets are usually separate from baths and showers. Makes sense--bathing and using the toilet really shouldn't be done in the same room!
Our Apartment
We had a party so our apartment was cleaner than ever and, therefore, a good time to take some pictures. There is still much decorating to be done as you will see there are no pictures, mirrors, or shelves up yet.
Picture 1: living room
Picture 2: living room
Picture 3: living room, office, dining room combo. and foyer w/only closet in apartment
Picture 4: dining room and kitchen
Picture 4: hallway
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Tex-Mex Fest
We finally had our housewarming party this past weekend. We decided on a Tex-Mex theme because Mexican food is hard to find in Brussels. We thought our American and European friends could all use a little dose of Americana. Besides, we had not had a margarita since before moving to Brussels and we needed a good excuse to use the margarita set and mexican serving dishes that we lugged over here.
Our menu included things like vegetarian chili, sweet potato and kidney bean burrito bites, corn pudding, tortilla chips, salsa, cheese dip, guac, Rick's famous chocolate pudding dessert, and ...chicken wings. However, the chicken wings were held hostage by our upstairs neighbors who are members of the Socialist Fowl Liberation Party. (Actually, we stored the wings in their fridge b/c we didn't have enough room in ours and they went out for the day with in-town guests and forgot about it. They arrived with the chicken wings at about 10:00 p.m. when everyone was already full and nobody was in the mood to cook them.) We tried to accommodate our carnivorous friends, but I guess it was not meant to be!
Rick made some mean margaritas! We were able to find tequila even though it's not available everywhere. We had to make our own margarita mix from triple sec, lime juice, and sugar because we could not find the pre-made stuff. Many of our guests brought beer and wine. The beer was all consumed, but we have enough wine for another party. We also made some sweet tea, which turned out to be a cultural experience for some.
A good time was had by all.
The moral of the story: Don't put your chicken in someone else's box!
Our menu included things like vegetarian chili, sweet potato and kidney bean burrito bites, corn pudding, tortilla chips, salsa, cheese dip, guac, Rick's famous chocolate pudding dessert, and ...chicken wings. However, the chicken wings were held hostage by our upstairs neighbors who are members of the Socialist Fowl Liberation Party. (Actually, we stored the wings in their fridge b/c we didn't have enough room in ours and they went out for the day with in-town guests and forgot about it. They arrived with the chicken wings at about 10:00 p.m. when everyone was already full and nobody was in the mood to cook them.) We tried to accommodate our carnivorous friends, but I guess it was not meant to be!
Rick made some mean margaritas! We were able to find tequila even though it's not available everywhere. We had to make our own margarita mix from triple sec, lime juice, and sugar because we could not find the pre-made stuff. Many of our guests brought beer and wine. The beer was all consumed, but we have enough wine for another party. We also made some sweet tea, which turned out to be a cultural experience for some.
A good time was had by all.
The moral of the story: Don't put your chicken in someone else's box!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
