49!

one more day and its day 50, hooray! today started out as a normal day..but then as i was getting ready for school i received a text message from a classmate saying "theres another foreign exchange student in our class!"..immediately i thought, wow! cool! two of us! yay! but then after a tiring day of language class i met him along with my other classmates for lunch..needless to say i was not very impressed by him, i guess. he is from argentina and also plays the drums, apparently. i will keep an open mind of course but for some reason we just clashed today, haha. anyways. we had two hours of music today where i just read my book and did dutch homework. then we had an hour of math where i took a nap. then we had an hour of drama class where i just sat there. after school i went with a couple of my friends to the shopping street so one of them could buy a new phone. it was fun because the weather was decent today, cloudy but still above 60 degrees so that was nice. for dinner we had a roasted chicken from the market like i was talking about a couple days ago. it was good..like a rotisserie chicken at home. then there was also a romanian sauce and some rice that my host mom made..always fun to try new food, right? i'm sorry this blog is bland but i have a horrible headache and i should probably stop looking at a computer screen right now. so thank you for reading and tomorrow's post will be much better, i promise!

48!

day 48 in belgium! surprisingly it was another pretty nice day here weather wise! it got up to about 70 degrees but was still cloudy most of the day. naturally i wore my jacket while biking to class but figured out mid-way that it was actually nice outside and the jacket was unnecessary..so i just ended up carrying it around all day. in language class we learned about writing invitations and responding to invitations. such as "can you go with me to the movies on saturday?" and we will respond with "no sorry i have to work"..simple things but somewhat important to learn i guess! then i met my friends for lunch and we went to our favorite "tearoom" that i always talk about. since i brought my lunch along in my cute pink lunchbox i ordered only a "half and half" which is a warm drink that is part hot chocolate, part coffee, and part cream...but 100% delicious.

of course it came with the usual mini muffin and praline, so that was nice too. today i made a salami and cheese sandwich and it was really good!! i have grown very fond of the owner man that always waits on us, and he has been very nice to me whenever we go there for lunch. he lets us eat our packed lunches and most of the time we order at least a drink! anyways since he knows i speak english but i am learning dutch, he gave me twobooks today to borrow. they are the same book only one in english and one in dutch. its something to do with a "spiritual journey" throughout egypt i guess and maybe i will actually try to read them both at some point, who knows. of course i go through books fairly quickly since i read in a lot of my classes! anyways! after lunch we had to go to study hall since our teacher was gone. in study hall we took an english test that our teacher sent and i must say it was fairly easy. the only question i know for sure i got wrong was "surname"...do americans ever use that word? the rest of the questions were things like writing a synonym for "silly" or "goal", etc. took me maybe 5 minutes total! i must not forget to mention that during our study hall the fire alarm went off, so we had to do the standard fire drill procedure thing. luckily it was nice outside so it wasn't a big deal. after that we went to a couple more hours of class where i just read my book of course! then school was over and i found my bike. there is a baking shop on the way home from school that i always wanted to stop at so i finally did today. they had a lot of pans, flours, and mixes that would be nice if i needed that kind of stuff. i also noticed that they had kitchen-aid mixers (like the beautiful one i got for graduation from my lovely aunt gigi...hello if you are reading this gigi!) and they were all over 500 EURO! thats like...almost 700 US dollars...CRAZY imported american baking machines! then i came home and split an orange with my host mom..because i am trying to get more vitamins remember! tonight for dinner we had blood sausage. can you believe it? of course the thought of blood sausage kind of makes me cringe, i tried a couple little bites and it was not that bad! some things you just need to learn to appreciate i guess. my host mom also made really good apple sauce that you eat with the sausage and i really liked that! then she roasted some potatoes with herbs in the oven and of course those were good as well. there i go again, always talking about food! anyways, i need to shower and go to bed now, and possibly steal some of those speculaas cookies! lekker lekker (tasty tasty/yum yum). good night and as always thanks for reading!

47!

BEAUTIFUL day 47 in Belgium!! the weather was perfect..almost 75 degrees! it was actually a busy day today..saw a lot of historic sights around town, but before i tell you about that i must talk about breakfast. after waking up sometime around 10 i went downstairs expecting the usual sunday croissant and roll brunch like usual..but today was a special day, of sorts. we got to make "americanbreakfast" whichwas a very nice gesture. we made scrambled eggs with cheese and baconchunks mixed in..and i must say it was delicious! i haven't had anything except special k, yogurt, andsometimes a banana or some bread for breakfast. this morning we also had some of the raisin bread from the market yesterday and to top things off we even got out the toaster! normally there is a special bread here that they use for toast but at home we toast just about anything so thats what we did here! it was cool. as for differences- eggswere definitely better. clearlyfresh, farm eggs that would probably have to be illegally purchased in the USA.bacon- i guess each country has its own version of "bacon"; meaning that the part of the pig itcomes from is different depending on where you're at on the globe. the bacon we had thismorning i would just call fatty pork, but it was still good. but enough about breakfast!! i also forgot to mention that i walked to the bakery down the street (the one we usually avoid, becausetheir bread is spongey or something..seriously on the way to the bakery we usually go to get bread you pass maybe 4 others in about a 5 block bike ride..crazy bread lovers herei tell you!)...but yes..i walked to the bakery and got 12 sandwich rolls for my host brotherand my lunch tomorrow. monday is always soft roll ("sandwich") day, it is nice. after all of that though i went to the city of Turnhout with my host mother to see what there is to see in this town.

first stop was the "city hall" or basically, the castle. its a really pretty castle building surrounded by water that is actually the town's city hall...cool huh?

second stop was the Beguinage which is really hard for me to explain! It is a place where "religious women" would flee to in the early 18th century when they "wanted to live an independent but committed life outside the recognized orders with their vows of fidelity and poverty. They organized themselves in self-supported 'cities of peace'..." and etc etc. (i copied that from the information sign at the entrance..so take itas you will! It was a small gated community type place that old people now live in. it seemed like the Turnhout version of Sunnyview, haha! only with a creepy church and a bunch of other religious statues and stuff..

oh and we walked past my language school, so in case youwanted to know..this is where i attend language class from 9-noon every monday-thursday! like the colored pencil fence? classy.

third stop was a walk by the Turnhout prison. weird!

fourth stop was the shopping street! "winkelstraat" if you will. this weekend it was "fashion weekend" so all the stores were open on sunday with some having special promotions and stuff. there was a band playing on the street and some random food vendors and stuff, plus it was a beautiful day so the whole town was a hoppin place! i walked by a guy selling fried hamburgers and i just had to get one...but seriously, nicks hamburgers wins. HANDS DOWN. i'm not even sure if this was a real burger...(rubber?).

fifth stop was a walk by the train station. isn't it cute? you can go anywhere!

last stop was a little pub. my host mom takes music lessons from this lady who sings in a trio..and they were playing tonight at a cafe so we went to watch. they were really good and sang songs like "beer barrel polka" and whatnot. the drummer was really good as well but his kit was set up BACKWARDS! apparently if you're left handed it is actually NORMAL to just switch everything around rather than learn the right handed way. in america its pretty frowned upon to play backwards, but like i said, he was really good. i must mention that i had a cherry beer while listening to them, and i have decided that i am really fond of cherry beer! its like cranberry juice on steroids or something, that is all i can compare it to.

after that we finally went to a typical belgian dinner place. this is my second time in that restaurant and although i had something really good the first time i tried something different! i don't know how to spell it in dutch but it sounds like the "stouffers" brand of frozen dinners at home. it was really just stewed meat and a gravy-like sauce. it was good! of course there were also french fries with mayo at the table too so i really can't complain. now i am home and am really tired, long week of school and whatnot ahead of me. thanks for reading and have a good day/night/whatever!

46!

quickly approaching the big "50" here folks! today was a dreary-yet-not-freezing sort of saturday. i did not go out last night because i wanted to wake up early and go to the market with my host mother! so i woke up, threw on some clothes, and ate a quick bowl of cereal with yogurt! then we headed out to the lovely market. it was so neat! a few "city blocks" of vendors of all sorts...clothing, fruit, meat, vegetables, flowers, candy, baked goods, etc. i really enjoyed it! it's sort of a social thing as well as a place to purchase items. it is the brooking's farmers market on super-steroids, basically. we bought the small carrots pictured here and had them for dinner! we also bought some of the raisin bread pictured below as well..it was SO good! better than the cinnamon raisin toast from the bread lady in brookings, i am sorry to say! here are some of my favorite pictures from this morning:

after the market i decided to go to music class with my host mother. i thought i would just watch as they rehearsed their little ensemble but turns out BOTH drummers were gone..so it was my lucky day, right? we played a funky version of "Girl from Ipanema" (which i always thought was spelt Epanima?? am i crazy?). anyways..i was expecting a simple bossa nova beat but nono..this little ensemble with two pianos, two guitars, trumpet, violin, singer (host mom), and bass (director too) decided they want a more hip version of the classic song..so thus it was more of a rock beat than anything! it was actually kind of fun although we only played maybe 20 minutes total due to the fact that the director dude LOVES to talk. nonetheless it is always nice to try something new.

after music class we came home and i just hung out for a while. i feel like i am doing a lot of "just hanging out" but that is perfectly fine with me. its not like i am just sitting around the house 24/7, no..but its nice to just relax after school or on the weekends sometimes. a lot of people and exchange students in particular like to be really busy the whole year..but i am more than okay with just hanging out. hell, i am just hanging out..IN BELGIUM. so no matter what i do it is way cooler than being at home, even if i am just sitting here. whenever i start to miss brookings, my parents, my dogs, american food, or anything like that..i just think "what is the coolest thing i've ever done?" and the answer is always.."i'm doing it right now!"..just being here will be a very worthwhile experience whether i'm always busy or i'm sitting in my room creeping facebook. whatever! so after a little bit of just hanging out my host mom and i went to the grocery store. she gets a little kick out of the fact that i LOVE going to the grocery store with her. i guess she had to beg her real daughter to go with her..which is funny because sometimes i think my real mom gets annoyed of me at the grocery store because i always throw about 100 more things in the cart than we actually need! mom we need poptarts...no jamie we have some at home..okay well i want to try these..then we buy them, and i don't eat them of course, then a couple years later we thrown them out when we clean out the pantry! but not here...every random thing that goes in the cart will get eaten at one point or another. its funny, last night we had pizza..and my host parents didn't really like it, but yet they still ate almost all of it..its just proves how wasteful americans are i guess! i mean it wasn't disgusting pizza but if i didn't like a pizza at home i would just throw it out and make something else, haha! but anyways, we went to the grocery store and bought some of those cookies i was blogging about yesterday! we also got PEANUT BUTTER because i don't really like the stuff my mom mailed from america, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!? after a whole jar of the natural stuff the "jiff" or "skippy" from home has no flavor at all. i think i am adjusting!! okay so here is the next issue..at the store i decided to be brave and ask for some salami and cheddar cheese...so i could stop eating just peanut butter and jelly on my bread for lunch. what do you think, americans? would i get sick if i made a salami and cheddar sandwich for lunch..kept it in my un-chilled lunch box for 3 hours and then ate it? no mayonnaise of course..but maybe some butter? people do it here all the time..and everyone thinks i'm crazy for doubting the lack of refrigeration. but seriously i am scared to eat some warm meat and cheese! haha! but anyways..after the store we went to the hair salon because i am in need of some advice from a professional about my little hair situation i have going on here. ever since i arrived my hair has been falling out more than it ever has before..and sometimes it just breaks off in the middle too! the hard water definitely doesn't help my fine blonde hair but falling out is just too much to handle. so we asked the hair dresser of my host mom and he said it's probably because i am lacking some vitamins from the food i normally eat. i can totally believe it because there is no bacon-egg-english muffin with some mandarin oranges for breakfast like at home..and no cafeteria all-food-groups-included lunch here either! too many carbohydrates and not enough protein, i know that for sure. so i need to find some good vitamins till i get situated. but i did make an appointment for a trim and a moisturizing treatment? next wednesday, so maybe that will help too. after that we came home and eventually had dinner. on saturdays my host dad usually does the cooking. he cooked the cute little carrots from the market with some peas, then made a kind of pork-roast thing..and then some potatoes. it's cool how they make potatoes here..first boil them (without the skin), then slice them, and fry them in a pan with some butter till they sort of caramelize. pretty tasty i'd say! anyways, thank you so much for reading this sentence because that means you got to the end of today!!! congratulations, i bet your eyes hurt! so i am sorry about that..i can usually write and write for days!! time to go see if i can sneak one of those cookies we bought earlier..thanks again for reading!

45!

hoorah, day forty five! happy junk food friday again! tonight we had pizza. they called in the order then picked it up and brought it home. i must admit it was no pizza king, but it still seemed pretty tasty. mine had slice tomatoes, ham, salami, and mushrooms on it. "lekker" as they say here..(tasty). anyways i could not finish it all due to the fact that it was about a foot in diameter..so leftovers for lunch tomorrow i'm guessing. today i went to real school all day. it was pretty boring. i didn't do anything for the morning classes...went to the library for german, did some dutch homework in science, and took a nice nap in math. back home i NEVER sleep in class..i'm one of those kids that will put my head down for ten minutes trying to sleep like everyone else but just can't. but no no, not here! i find the sound of my math teachers monotonous voice especially pleasing to put me right to sleep. plus the fact that he doesn't mind is rather discouraging me to pay attention, so thus i sleep sleep sleep. a 30 minute cat nap never did any harm, right? then it was time for lunch. i walked around with a boy from my class while i atemy peanut butter and jelly sandwich. it was a rather nice day here, some sun, not too many clouds, and a little wind..although at the moment i believe it is pouring rain outside..go figure!!! so i walked with him and he bought a "sandwich" and then i had to go discuss my schedule with this crazy lady that is "here to help me if i need her". anyways, i basically told her that i am still unable to follow the lessons in all of my classes except english. of course that is to be expected after taking only one month of dutch lessons..but for some reason she doesn't understand that. i am sitting there thinking "LADY! of course i don't understand science..its not in english! i might as well be in chinese class for all i know" and this lady just responds with "well what are some alternative classes you would like to take..would you like to take drawing?"...no lady, i don't want to take drawing, i don't want change my direction of study, and i don't want to be having this conversation. i think she was just trying to help but the benefit of having graduated at home is that i can focus on the language and not have to worry about always translating my homework. hell, mostof the time the teachers just ignore me. haha, i don't even have BOOKS! (you have to buy your books here, or rent them, like college..weird..i am not going to rent a book i won't understand for 6 more months yet, sorry). then after that counterproductive discussion i went to gym class. let's just say it was not as bad as i was expecting. then i went to geography, where we watched a movie in dutch that included multiple graphic scenes such as: birth of a piglet, slaughtering of chickens, etc etc. i'm not sure what the teacher is trying to prove in that class. i thought it was geography but its more like "why i think the world is a terrible place" class. she's always complaining about how wasteful and bad for the environment everything is, which i agree, the world is getting pretty damn dirty, but go out and do something about it then..don't just lecture us! but i must admit i do enjoy the class because she definitely has a point to her madness, i suppose. after school i went with my music friends to the irish pub where i had hot chocolate. i must mention that the cookie that came with my hot chocolate is something i KNOW you can't find in the USA. here there is a special thing called "speculoos" that comes as a paste or a cookie. as a paste you put it on bread and stuff but the cookies you can eat plain all day. when i first tried it my taste buds were nothing more than overwhelmed and downright confused. at first it tastes like a graham cracker...but then it tastes like a ginger snap...then its like cinnamon...wait maybe peanut butter...no...honey...hmm. the actual ingredients are flour, butter, brown sugar, and a mix of spices that include cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, powdered ginger, cardamom, and white pepper. you can see why my taste buds were so confused! so here are some pictures i found online:

..I also found out (on the usa-belgian embassy's website) that the producers of these wonderful cookies just opened a coffee shop in san francisco that of course gives a cookie with every warm drink...something they are trying to make popular stateside! small world right? if i ever have enough ambition i will definitely open a coffee shop that gives out cookies. hands down! anyways i should probably get to bed now, too much pizza tonight..and early morning at the market tomorrow! look for pictures in tomorrows blog..much love and thanks for reading!