i figured out today that i have somehow been here seven days, but not yet a week. you can figure out how that works. so about today! woke up at 930 (which, for the record, is 230 am at home..), went to get my official ID and all i really got was a piece of paper (for now, real one in a week or so...temporary identification paper) then i came back to the house for a bit! oh and when i say "went" you can just start to assume i mean RODE ..as in..bicycle. so after lunch we went to my future school and registered. i am actually not an official student until my transcript and whatnot gets mailed to the school, then mailed to brussels, then mailed back, and then i am an actual student that the school gets subsidized for or something. after a long, complicated bout at the school, we (host mother and i) then went to the language school where i also registered and stuff! so starting september first it is 9-12 Dutch school then 1-430 real school. i guess! the Belgian government actually MAKES (or strongly, strongly encourages) non Flemish-speaking folks like myself take classes in their language..especially if they want jobs and whatnot. makes sense i guess. another crazy difference is that as a high school student, i can actually choose which path/track/route of education i want. such as music, science, social, physical and stuff like that. its really weird to think that someone 14 can decide what kind of education you want. so i am enrolled in the music part, and apparently that includes everything form theory to piano. oh boy, here we go! each student is also required to take core classes like french, english, history and stuff like that too, but i am trying to avoid them as much as possible since i wont understand it anyways! you also stay with the same class throughout the day, which i find pretty odd. i am not sure how all of it works because it is very different and very confusing!!! stressful, almost. after that we biked home and another foreign exchange student and her family picked me up to go to a rotary event thing. the student is from south africa and since their school year is opposite, she's been here since january..so thats nice to help me out with questions and stuff, since she speaks english! confused yet? haha. so once we got to the rotary thing we played a game that resembled a prehistoric version of bowling. you throw a heavy ball at a little ball and see who gets the closest, basically. after that we ate dinner with some rotarians and their children in this elks-club looking place, i suppose. then i came home and here i am, typing this to you, my faithful reader ;) tomorrow is a day of nothing, maybe some biking to see my future houses, school route, etc. oh! some differences for the day. a major weird thing about me, the foreigner, is that i eat weird!! well, americans eat weird. at first i thought maybe my host family was left handed, but no. everyone eats with their fork in their left hand. i dare you to try it tonight, its SO complicated. they scoop things onto their fork with their knife, which is constantly held in their right hand. i simply cannot do it! my family said they have heard that americans have a way of eating, and we do! fork in the right hand, shove into mouth..correct? the mother said she noticed that i eat like an american, when i cut i switch my fork to the left, use my right (dominant) hand to cut (just a bite, of say, meat), then set my knife down, switch my fork to my right hand, and proceed to put the cut piece into my mouth. then repeat the process. not here though, its crazy! so between the eating and school differences, i say i've had my fair share of culture shock for the day. goodnight!!
ps: forgot to mention i biked to the bakery with my host mommy this morning..look what i got!!!!!!
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