let us pick up where yesterday left off, yes?! after a solid 3-4 hours of sleep on the top bed of the hostel bunk, i somehow managed to make my way to the breakfast area and enjoy some bread along with some tasty hostel-fresh coffee..mmm mmm lekker, hah! two cups of coffee and some jelly packets later, we were off andon our way to Ieper(or...uh..Ypres)! i think it was like a 15 minute walk and a 15 minute train ride away from where we were staying..so..not bad. we sat on the ground due to the crowded train...thanks, "wapenstilstandsdag" (don't worry, i can't pronounce it either)! that's veterans day in america, remembrance day, or armistice day as well.. its all the same! now let me say this..i had absolutely no clue where we were going when we told Brendan that we would go with him, i think i was more concerned about finding a tooth brush, so when i found out we were going to FLANDERS FIELD i was nothing more than giddy with joy. before coming to belgium, my family tried to enlighten me with their belgian knowledge..which included my grandma talking about "the pissing boy", my mom making constant references to "waffles", and my great dad rambling on about "the flanders fields poem". so after a few hard homesick days, the thought of seeing something my family has told me about made me really happy. i had no idea today would be such a big deal here in belgium! i think i was just in the right spot at the right time, so i got to see what seemed to be an important thing at an important place. (sorry, that was a vague sentence..i think i'm a bit delirious from my lack of sleep right now..) anyways, saw some ceremony thing with a band and flags and military people.
..but it made me feel kind of funny, actually. sometimes i forget how much history this country has..how every building is so much more historic than something like the brookings courthouse..not that i'm trying to discredit brookings county or anything! so since it was raining cats and dogs we decided to go to the "in flanders fields" museum.
.it was really cool! all about world war 1 of course, but it was definitely 1 euro well spent. then i bought some post cards and a POPPY pin in the gift shop. thus, leading me to my main point of the night. poppies. who REALLY knows why they give out poppies when you donate to the veterans at, say, hyvee? personally i had no clue. even with my dad trying to quote the poppy poem, i'm pretty sure neither of us have ever put the two together. so my bloggers. i challenge you to take a look at the linked website. you'll never think of belgium, poppies, or memorial day the same way again! goodnight readers. 
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