A new hobby.

Wednesday was a different yet brilliant day – I tried something I haven’t yet done here in Belgium and went to the gym!

I remember the first time I went to the gym in England, I had an induction showing me how to use the different machines and that, so I was kinda nervous that my induction would be in French and I’d be totally lost. (Actually, I was meant to be going to a class with a friend here but I arrived a tad late and the class had already started, so I figured I’d try out the gym instead).

And, if I’m being totally honest, I was really nervous about what my diabetes would do whilst I was there. I started off at 12 but, due to that irrational fear that most T1s have when doing exercise, or well, when doing anything new/different, I went accompanied by 3 bottles of coke, a bottle of lucozade, a bottle of water and a banana. I know it makes me sound crackers, but when I do new stuff in an unfamiliar situation, I feel really worried about going low.

When we arrived at the gym, I have to say, I liked the look of it. It was on 2 levels and there were loads of different machines. The induction was free and the guy that did it was brilliant. But I may be a tad biased… Seen as his response upon finding out that I’m diabetic was, ‘Type 1?’ (*Like OMG, you’re immediately, automatically my friend if you ask me if it’s type one*). He then went on to ask what my blood sugar was and got the pleasure of learning that once again, the English system is different. Not only do we drive on the left and not have identity cards, but we also measure our blood sugar in different units.

So, it turns out that the guy who did the induction has a 20-odd year old son, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 3!!! I mean, HOW COOL IS THAT? Obviously, I don’t mean that it’s cool that his son has it but like, it’s a cool coincidence that he happened to be doing the induction.

So, I had the induction, and I have to say that it was a lot of fun! I have new sorts of gym clothes that I bought here and felt like I kind of fitted in – it was nice to find a hobby. I got to try out the cycling machine, cross trainer, leg things, arm things and an abs thingy. Plus, I understood everything in French, no problems, which was a real confidence boost in itself! 

I’ve resolved that going to the gym 2 times a week would be a good idea, seen as it seems like fun and a good place to practice my French… liiike chatting with the people on the desk/asking people in the locker room how to work the lockers (whilst very British-ly explaining myself and saying that it’s my first time here and I’m foreign and a tad confused.)

And with regards to my diabetes, I stayed at 10 throughout the workout, came home at 8 and stayed at 7 all night! Seems that 50% temp basal reduction for an hour and a half before worked it’s magic.

So, this week, I got myself a new hobby! And I hope my brother, the gym goer, is proud 🙂

Du bist vorbei gekommen, hattest deinen Kompass mit // Du hast gesehen, dass dieser eine Stein besonders is’ // Du hast ihn mitgenommen und nicht im Meer versenkt // Hast ihm ein’ großen warmen Platz in deinem Herz geschenkt

 Yes, the title’s in German and no, I don’t speak it but I am totally in love with this song. I associate it with Belgium and good memories seen as it was constantly on the radio last year… it’s totally my YA song!! Check it out, I linked the English translation version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3cdG9P1WuM

I know, the time between each blog post is getting longer and longer but I have so much on at the moment that I haven’t really thought about sitting down and writing a blog post! So, I’ve been a busy, busy bee this weekend, what with Valentine’s Day, school dances and birthday dos… but I’ve had such a good time.

Friday was Valentine’s Day, so after a day’s work me and my other half went out to celebrate. He gave me a beautiful bracelet which I’ll treasure and we went out to one of my favourite restaurants in Luxembourg, then went to the cinema – it was the perfect night and was actually my first ever *Valentine’s Day* Valentine’s Day. I’m a lucky (loved up) lady 🙂

Then, on Saturday I went to the school dance, or the ‘bal’ as they call it here and helped out on the bar. Yes, school dance + bar. Considering that when I had my school prom, you got chucked out if you were caught inebriated, you can imagine what a shock it was to me. Seeing 16/17/18 year olds rather wasted at a school dance was something I never imagined I’d see – talk about cultural differences (at least, compared with where I grew up!)

The dance basically consisted of this huge hall that they rented out, music, lights and alcohol. I imagine that if you’re a student that age, it’s a brilliant night. And, even though there were several ‘tipsy’ people present, it was surprisingly civilized – something that I struggle to picture happening back home. Apparently a lot of schools in the area stopped doing these kinds of dances a while back because of problems but the one I work at continues to do them successfully.

I actually really enjoyed working on the bar – I guess it kind of reminded me of my job I have in England (okay, waitressing isn’t entirely the same thing but still, there’s a link, even if it’s only tenuous). Plus, working on the bar, I got to learn some new vocab including ‘une kriek’, ‘un panaché’ and ‘un mazout’ (a cherry beer, a beer/lemonade and a beer/coke) and was very happy with myself that I could understand slang straight off… ‘Je peux avoir deux chopes, s’il vous plaît?’ 

Then today (Sunday) I went out to a birthday do at an amazing four-star hotel in Luxembourg. It’s called Threeland (http://www.hotelthreeland.lu/index.html) and it’s very posh (well, it should be for four stars!) As a northern lass, who’s not particularly used to that kind of setting, I did feel a bit nervous at first – ‘how do I stand?’ ‘where do I look?’ ‘I must stop fiddling with this champagne glass’ but after a while I relaxed a bit. I enjoy those kind of events, especially with people you love and get along with and hopefully I’ll get a bit more used to them. I’m more used to traditional English pubs and that, so it’s almost like culture shock, I guess. But a good one 🙂

We ate course after course after course… starter, amuse bouche, main, dessert 1, dessert 2, coffee and more dessert and it was all utterly fabulous. Plus, to add onto that, I was sat at a table of 8 and for the most part I could follow the conversation in French. What with all the background noise and the fact that everyone was talking at the same time, it shows just how much my French has come on since I arrived… If I’d have been in that situation 3 months ago, I’d have been totally lost!

So, I’ve filled you in on what I’ve been up to this weekend – Ill probably post again in a few weeks time after the Carnaval holidays. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens at a Belgian carnaval and promise to take plenty of pics!

Love to all my English family & friends ❤

 

Back in Belgium with a lumpy skull.

I’m back in Belgium for the second half of my year abroad (though, to be fair, it’s not really a ‘second half’ seen as I’ll be staying here till September) and am so glad I’m here instead of Spain!

I was back in England for 3 weeks over Christmas and I loved getting to see my family and close friends again. Skype is a fabulous tool, but you forget how nice it is to see them in person, to be able to give them a hug and so on.  I’ve been having the odd bout of homesickness since I got back, but being back in a country I’m already used to, doing a job I understand and living in a place I love makes it all worth it.

A lot has changed since I was here last year, from the little things like my timetable, to the big things like where I’m living. Last year, I lived in the centre of the town that I worked in; 15 minutes walk from the school and in close proximity to all the local amenities. This year however, I’ve moved seen as my host could no longer host me and I’m now living in a neighbouring village with my Belgian other half – and all is going swimmingly. On Thursdays I have to get the train into school, which, the first time was a tad daunting, what with it being dark out and never having gotten it from here on my own before, but all was fine and I got there in time for my lesson so it was okay.

My diabetes control had been a little better when I first came out here, I’m now on a strict regime of rigorous carb counting and note taking and basal amending, and it had all been positive. I even did myself a nice little excel document with a graph so I could log my readings and make any changes I needed to. So it was all in tip top shape, till the other day after a set change when, goodness me, I had a right mare of a night. My boyfriend and I went out to this dead posh event in Luxembourg at a 4* hotel. It was called a ‘walking dinner’ which was essentially a posh reception where everyone stands around high tables, sipping champagne, eating posh bits and bobs and talking in a mix of French/English/Luxembourgish. (Beth mingling with the upper classes… what a sight to see.)

Now, the atmosphere, the location, everything was great, except for the fact that I spent all night with my blood sugars at 23, so I could barely eat any of the posh food. Maybe it was the nerves about being there where it was posh, being with people I didn’t know, or the worry of whether or not I could stand up in my uber high heels all evening. But, I mean, to be honest, I just loved the fact that little old me, a Yorkshire lass, can go to that kind of a posh event and very nearly fit in… but it would’ve been nice to have tried some of the exotic fruits or whatever. I did have one glass of the sparkling wine they had (v. nice) but stuck to water after that because I didn’t want to get tipsy in front of my boyfriend’s parents again. (When you’re not a seasoned drinker and you have one too many,… well, what a way to make a great impression, Beth).

So anyway, I was a bit gutted I couldn’t try the nice food, but as we said ‘life would be boring if my T1 wasn’t playing up’. But that my dear readers, was not the height of the T1 problems. Oh no, that came at 2AM when I’d overcorrected at 23 and ended up at 2.2, unable to move my legs, struggling to talk and on the verge of tears. It took me an entire hour to get my blood sugars out of the 2’s and that hour felt like 10. I’m incredibly lucky though, because it’s not like I live on my own anymore and this time, when having a severe hypo en Belgique, I had someone to sit up with me and talk to me to stop me from going back to sleep/unconscious. It turns out that I’ve been blessed in Belgium, cos there’s not many people in the world who’d sit up with their severely hypo girlfriend at 2AM for a whole hour, asking her random questions to keep her awake, whilst managing to not freak out that you have a girl on the verge of collapse in your bed. I’m so lucky.

The whole day today has been in French and, yes, the phrase ‘avoir une tête comme une citrouille’ comes into play. The fact that I learned that phrase today is particularly funny when you consider that my head felt like it was bursting anyway and then this evening, whilst trying to get a piece of paper off my boyfriend so he couldn’t see my hideous attempt at drawing Belgian road signs (yes, considering learning to drive over here), I managed to trip over and whacked my head on the radiator before then whacking it on the floor. I now have a swollen lump on the right side of my head, slightly like an egg and it’s bloody agony if I touch it. On the positive side, there’s no cut and I didn’t break my skull or anything – it just felt like it. I’m now dosed up on paracetamol and terrified of whacking my head on anything again. It turns out that when the pain subsides a little, prodding the bump to see if it’s still there makes the stinging come back. I can’t help but want to touch though – it’s the first ever bump on the head I’ve had and it’s an incredibly strange feeling. Hopefully it’ll go down before I get back to school next week, if anyone accidentally touches me on the head or whatever, I’m likely to cry out in pain.

Anyway, so this is me signing off, I just figured that an update was due, seen as I haven’t written one in like, forever. I’ll try and be better at writing them, I’ve just had so much on recently that it slipped my mind.

Bisous!

What do you mean you’re not going to Spain?!

Yep, I’m not going to Spain. I know, how can you do that when you’re studying French, Spanish and Italian? Well, I’m not studying that anymore. That’s right – I’m hopefully changing my degree.

Now, you can’t normally randomly go changing your degree whilst halfway through your year abroad – that’s a no-no. The only reason that I’ve been able to do so is under ‘special circumstances’… Part of those circumstances being that due to some fault in communication, the Spanish university had no record of my being down to go there and the English university didn’t know that the Spanish one had no record. So, after 3 months of continuously emailing the Spanish department in the UK, telling them there was something up and being told ‘that’s just the way it works in Spain’, it turns out I was right and something was wrong.

I eventually got an email from the Spanish university telling me I had 10 days to get all my paperwork filled in and sent to them, or they wouldn’t accept me. That was not going to happen, that’s not enough time to go through all the paperwork again whilst also living in Belgium and simultaneously preparing classes for my Belgian school.

On the same day, I got an email from Comenius telling me that I could apply to extend my stay in Belgium if I wished and so I applied the next day. I’ve applied to stay working here until June, something that I know would make me happy. I’m settled in here, have friends and feel comfortable.

Plus, from a personal perspective, my diabetes has been hard enough to live with in an environment where I feel comfortable and have people to support me, I don’t know if I could cope on my own in the north of Spain, in a place where you have to get two connecting flights and a train just to get to the right city. 

I told this to the French staff in the UK and after much deliberation and discussion with VIP university staff, they’ve approved a change of degree (i.e. dropping Spanish) so that I can stay in Belgium. I’m still waiting on Comenius to confirm my stay here (keep your fingers crossed for me because if they say no, I don’t know what I’ll do) and if they confirm it, that means that I’m totally dropping Spanish as a language and sticking with French… something I never imagined I’d say.

It’s funny how things work out – I never thought I’d say that I may possibly living in Belgium for a full year (August 2013 – September 2014) but there you go. Obviously destiny has a few more surprises in store, I’ll just have to wait and see.

So many attachments. Why did I have to study more than 1 language?

It’s funny how the day I arrived in Belgium, 3 suitcases in tow and a gazillion butterflies in my stomach only seems like yesterday. I vividly remember sitting and having my evening meal with my host family and thinking ‘what the hell am I doing here?’ whilst apologising for my bad French.

Unfortunately, I’m now way over halfway through my stay in Belgium, in fact there are only 5 and a half weeks left.

When you study languages in England, everything is geared towards the year abroad. From secondary school, this idea of a ‘a year in Belgium’ or whichever country you’re going to is dangled in front of you and you know it’s going to happen. Everyone says ‘it’s the best year of your life’ and I feel like I’m finally starting to understand why.

I love knowing little things about the culture that people who haven’t lived in Belgium don’t know; from the way that people say ‘bonjour!’ to everyone when they enter the staffroom, to the way that when entering/leaving a party you have to kiss each individual on the cheek or the way you should (should being the operative word) wear shoes indoors and the huge list of Belgian words and phrases I’ve come across… I feel like I’ve learned a lot about this beautiful and welcoming country.

The last 11 and a half weeks have flown by. I still have over a month left, thank goodness, but I can’t quite believe the utter dread and terror that fills me when I even contemplate leaving this place. I’m looking forward to seeing my family again, don’t get me wrong, and I can’t wait to hug my parents and brother, but the thought of even stepping on the plane makes my eyes watery.

I’ve finally come to feel at home here, I’ve made friends, I feel I can communicate in the language, I met a special someone and I’ve travelled not only in Belgium but also to France and Luxembourg. I so don’t want to leave; I never thought I could feel so at home somewhere that wasn’t home.

Sadly though, I have to leave in just over a month’s time. I’m going to be a total mess at the airport; if I thought it was bad on the way here, it’ll be twenty times worse on the way back (queue ‘crazy crying English girl’).

I’m lucky though, because when I’ve finished in Spain next year, and after I’ve nipped home to England to stock up on medical supplies, see the family and pick up a few English essentials, I’ll be right back on the plane to Belgium for a few months before I have to start at university again next year. Belgium’s become my second home and I think it’s the idea of coming back  next summer which will keep me going when I’m in Spain.

No one tells you how many attachments you’ll form when you go on a year abroad. I think that however huge the culture shock was when arriving, it’s going to be nothing compared to the sudden shock of leaving. Thank goodness I’m coming back next summer, that’s going to be something to look forward to. However for now, my aim is to make the most of every second here in Belgium the first time round, before I come back next year. 

Yep, that’s right, I think I fell for Belgium. It’s simply my home from home.

Half Term fun: Orval Abbey, Paris and All Saints Day.

Hey! I haven’t written a blog post in a while now so apologies for the delay. I’m actually currently under the weather, but after about 16 hours sleep, I need to do something to use my brain, so I figured I’d try writing a blog post.

Last week I was off school for half term and so I made sure that every day was chocka with stuff to do, people to see and things to experience. To be honest, the holidays were over too quickly for my liking and I’m now left with this horrible illness so I’m here at home, dosed up on various different tablets and syrups and making sure I’m properly hydrated. 

In fact, the only positive that’s come out of me being ill (trust me, there aren’t many) is the huge list of vocabulary I’ve had to acquire in order to successfully communicate what’s wrong to the doctors/pharmacist.  I’ve noted down a whole host of new words including ‘attraper’, ‘ordonnance’, ‘j’ai la tête qui tourne’ and ‘vaccin de grippe’. Yes, that last one is flu jab and yes, I’m going to get it ASAP, I swear. Hand on heart, the vaccine is currently laying in my fridge, ready to be taken to the doctors at the first moment possible.

So anyway, enough about my sickliness because just talking about it is depressing me, and more about how I spent my half term before I got ill. I did a whole host of interesting things including visiting Orval Abbey and the beautiful ruins (they totally remind me of something out of Merlin), I went to Paris for a few days and I took part in some All Saints day celebrations.

 

ORVAL ABBEY

Let’s start with Orval Abbey. The website (http://www.orval.be/en/) has loads of great information on the history and the things you can see there. It’s a lovely place, really quite mystical and there’s a museum-like bit where you can go and learn about how they brew the beer. We spent the afternoon there, having a slow walk round the ruins and in the museum bit and I thoroughly enjoyed it. On your way out there’s a café where you can go and try the specialities of the area, beer and cheese, but seen as it was getting late and we had other plans that evening, we decided to give it a miss.

 

Me next to the Spring at the Abbey.

 

Some of the ruins of the old abbey. 

 

PARIS

On Tuesday morning, I got the rain to Luxembourg City and then took the TVG (high speed train) from Arlon train station, across to Paris. I was predictably a tad last minute and decided to get the last train possible to Luxembourg, which was OF COURSE delayed, so I only managed to get to Luxembourg City and get the TVG with 10 minutes to spare. Sometimes, I swear I have a guardian angel looking out for me. When I finally made it to Paris at lunch-time, we checked into our hotel and had our first experience of Parisian people. Why is it that Parisians complain that English people don’t speak French  yet when they do, they just reply in English anyway?!? I was with my friend from university and I’m not kidding, about 80% of people in shops/cafes replied in English when we spoke in French. Simple solution, ignore it and continue to speak in French.

 I saw all the major sites, The Louvre (from the outside), The Eiffel Tower (went right to the top!), The Sacre Coeur, The Notre Damne, The Champs Élysées, The Moulin Rouge, The Arc de Triomphe… In just 3 days, I saw loads!

I went to Paris when I was in secondary school (with my parents, not on the class trip) but I barely remember anything, so it was great to get to go back and see everything once again. Plus, I got to see/do things I didn’t before, for example going to the top of the Effel Tower. It’s 281 metres up and boy, was the view worth it! But whilst I absolutely loved the view by day, I think that the best time to see the Eiffel Tower is by night, from a distance. Every hour, they put on a light show so the tower isn’t only lit up in that beautiful golden colour, but it also sparkles and shimmers like someone’s poured a load of diamonds over it, it’s truly stunning and it’s something I’ve never seen before.

I did really enjoy going there for a few days but my experience totally convinced me that I could never, ever live in Paris, and not just because they say ‘quatre-vingt dix’ rather than ‘nonante’. It’s a nice place, especially when lit up by night but there’s just something I prefer about Belgium, as much as I enjoyed my time in France.

 

The Arc de Triomphe.

 

View from the Eiffel Tower

 

Inside the Notre Damne

 

ALL SAINTS DAY

Finally, onto the All Saints day celebrations. As far as I’ve been told, a lot of the villages round here are catholic and so on All Saints day they have a tradition of visiting relatives graves and saying prayers. Now, I myself am not Catholic, I’m agnostic, but I felt privileged to be allowed to join in on these celebrations in a local village. I felt a little like a fish out of water at first, seen as I am not and never have been religious, but from a cultural perspective it was really interesting. In the evening, I went along to a huge family event where everyone drank coffee and ate fruit tart and sweet things and chatted in French. I feel that my French is improving, but it was still incredibly challenging to be in a room with a huge amount of people all talking French at the same time. I kept having to ask people to repeat but I think I got by okay and that’s the point.

 

CONCLUSIONS I’VE COME TO ABOUT MY FRENCH

To be honest, I am slightly concerned that seen as my placement here is only 17 weeks, my French won’t be top notch when I leave. In all honesty, one semester is not enough to become fluent. However, after recent discussions with people here and after chatting to my parents, it seems that there are a couple of occasions when I can come back to visit and I’m definitely planning on spending next summer here too. University recommends that you spend at least 15 weeks in a country that speaks French, but I honestly think you need double that to fully get to grips with the language. Thank goodness I’ll be coming back, Belgium’s truly become a second home.

Brussels <3

Hey! So, I haven’t written a blog post in a while but I’ve been majorly busy with travelling to Brussels (pictures below!) and trying to win over classes of indifferent students.

This post is kinda overdue, in that I went there last weekend, but I really wanted to write a post about it because the memories themselves make me so happy ❤

Last weekend, I went to Brussels for the first time ever and it was an absolutely amazing experience. I honestly think that Brussels is my favourite city I’ve ever been to. 

I went with my favourite Belgian and we left Arlon around lunchtime, spending the afternoon visiting the major tourist hot spots such as the Atomium and the Mannekenpis. Yes, for those of you that just googled those two monuments, Belgium is famous for a massive monument shaped like an atom and a statue of a young boy peeing. The Atomium is incredible, it makes you feel so tiny standing next to it! And well, apparently, the story behind the Mannekenpis is that there was a major fire and a little boy put it out, saving the city by peeing. You can choose whether or not you believe it. Honestly, this country gets weirder every single day (how many other cities have a statue of the Côte D’Or chocolate elephant in the centre?), but that’s why I love it so much. 

The architecture in Brussels is simply stunning; it’s totally not what you expect. My favourite place in the city was the Grand-Place, this big market square surrounded by beautiful, old buildings; I’ll put a picture below.

We then went to a birthday party thingymabob in the evening and the host was absolutely lovely. I was rather nervous about having the whole night in French (as ever) but all went swimmingly I believe, especially after 4 rum and cokes. French is a lot easier to speak after a drink, something I didn’t know until coming out here. I think I also acquired the ability to walk in heels that night, I only tripped a few times and now that I can walk in them, I want to buy more. Honestly, I’m gonna have to start shipping my stuff back now at this rate.

At the party, one bizarre cultural thing that I did pick up on was the whole ‘kiss on the cheek when you leave’ thing. In England, it’s customary to tell people you’re leaving and say bye, maybe hug the host if you know them well or whatever, but that’s it. Here in Belgium, they seem to say ‘bonsoir!’ and give a kiss on the cheek to every single person there. It’s a very strange custom and takes a while, but it’s nice, I think. Everyone at the party seemed really open and friendly and it was great fun 🙂

I can’t express how glad I am to have received Belgium (Arlon) as my Comenius location. I’m so incredibly happy here 🙂

 

 

Me infront of the Atomium!

 

 

The Mannekenpis

 

The Grand Place

 

 

The Côte D’Or elephant

Keeping you up to date.

Hey, so today I’m gonna divide my blog into 2 sections. Section 1 will be diabetes and how I’ve been coping recently, and the second half will be an update-type thingymabob. Read both, or whichever interests you 🙂

1. DIABETES, FML

Today’s been the first day in quite a while that things have run smoothly, I seem to have been having a lot of highs recently. No reason, just random ones, the annoying kind. Some have had explanations, like set fails (I’m currently littered with set fail bruises (*how attractive* ha bloody ha. It does nothing for a girl’s self confidence.)

I’m going to get my flu jab sorted tomorrow as well. I’m actually really nervous about going on my own, if I’m totally honest. It’s not like I’m worried about the French or anything, but in England someone always goes with me, so this will be a new experience… I don’t like this ‘being grown up and going to get jabbed in your arm on your own’ malarkey!!!

I also had quite a bad hypo (low blood sugar) at school the other day, it was quite a scary experience. Luckily, it occurred at the beginning of lunch and I’d just finished my lesson, but it was a bit horrible, nonetheless. If any T1 diabetic teachers read this blog, can you please comment and let me know how you deal with hypos when teaching? I mean, I’m only an assistant and work with teachers who know I have T1… but none of them have yet seen what a hypo like that does to me. I’d like to avoid that happening if possible, but if worst comes to the worst, what do T1 teachers do? I want to be a TEFL teacher when I’ve finished my degree and it’s one of those questions that you can only ask a fellow T1 teacher, but unfortunately, I don’t actually know any.

2. THAT’S WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU LET YOUR HEART WIN

My heart won – I love Belgium ❤

Spain’s not replying to any of my emails, I’ve met the best people here and I love the culture… so like, yeah, I want to live here now. I know that my closest girlfriends from Sheff-land will be shocked at the fact that I don’t want to go to Spain, but Belgium is full of surprises.

School’s going okay, but I’m beginning to realize how little I know about English grammar. I can do it, but I don’t know how I do it. Which evidently, is a problem if you’re doing TEFL!!

I have had some great classes over the past week, where the students are up for talking and want to know all about me (usually the younger classes) but I’ve also had the opposite extreme where students just stare at me for 50 minutes, like I’m an alien that’s just been beamed in that morning. I find the variety of questions/people you come across fascinating; you get some students who don’t say a word and then you get others that just list the questions; ‘Where are you from? How old are you? What do you study? Do you have a boyfriend? How long are you here for? Why did you pick here?’ The latter are the students that totally make my week 🙂

On a different note, I don’t work Wednesday afternoons so this afternoon, I went to Luxembourg! I had a zillion different things I needed to buy, that I either couldn’t bring or didn’t buy in England, so I had to buy stuff here. Packing light meant not bringing my pretty things and I need my pretty things – so had to go replace some of them. You see, Arlon, the town I live in, is really small so I couldn’t get all the stuff I needed: queue, a trip to Luxembourg city. I’m incredibly proud that I managed to get there/back on my own, with no major obstacles, and got everything I needed, no probs. Plus, Luxembourg train station was great, I went to get myself a drink and walked past the magazine section, they had ALL the languages. So, so many. I mean, I just stuck to French, but I could have bought like, whatever! A language lover’s paradise, that country/city!!

I am in love with my new Luxembourgish dress.

Hopefully, I can start to travel more now I’m confident on the train here, I have a whole list of places I’m dying to visit including Metz, Dinant, Spa, Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp. Some are quite far though, so I’ll have to plan in advance.

So, overall, covering both sides of my blog, diabetes sucks but I’m getting on with it and I’ve fallen in love with Belgium and don’t want to leave. Essentially, you could just read that last sentence and not read the whole post to understand – but I’m hoping you read everything, otherwise I just wasted a good half an hour.

I hope you’re all well wherever you are in the world!

Special shout out to Emma whose birthday is very, very soon! Have a great one and you should receive your present soon 🙂

Excuse my French in advance

One thing I’ve grown to love, here in the beautiful country that is Belgium, is the difference between the French you learn at university and the French you use in day-to-day life.

At uni, you seem to learn the equivalent of ‘Queen’s English’ but en français. … which is all well and good when you’re doing a presentation on ‘the representation of immigration in contemporary French art’ (no, I won’t let that topic go) because at that point, tip top grammar is just what you need.

However, when you actually live in the country, and you hear people saying words such as ‘un bled’ or ‘les chiottes’, that’s when life gets interesting. That’s when people can tell you’re a foreigner… The year abroad is the perfect opportunity to perfect the ‘I’ve no idea what you just said so I’ll just smile’ thing.

Which, on an interesting side note… may lead to you sharing a meal with your lovely host family, and repeating words you learnt during the day, unaware that they’re offensive/colloquial. There’s no better way to integrate yourself into a host family, than accidentally using offensive words in light-hearted lunchtime conversation. Total Bridget Jones moment.

 

Actually, I’ve picked up a whole host of interesting phrases and words since I’ve been here, including:

Comment que c’est?

Chiant

Picoler 

 

…And I even managed to memorise the names of the 7 dwarves in French (joyeux, prof, simplet, atchoum, grincheux, timide, dormeur).

 

If I happen to go back to TP, end up with my teacher from last year that I didn’t exactly get along with and *ahem* accidentally say something offensive/inappropriate… well, I’d better make the most of it and make it really offensive.

It works both ways though; whilst I’m learning new words and argot out here, Belgian people are asking me what English slang words or idioms mean. And you know what? I never realised how jam-packed full of innuendos the English language is, until I came out here and people started asking me what phrases from songs and TV are referring to. Honestly.

Seriously though, Belgian-French slang is so much fun to learn. If you’re considering Belgium for your year abroad, go for it; Belgian French is the coolest.

I’m glad Belgians are willing to teach me slang and argot. Honestly, I know the best Belgian people out here (I imagine they’ll read this post and they know who they are) 🙂

I am not the only English person in Belgium.

Today I had my Comenius training; yep, a month into my assistantship, logical. I had a day of training in Manchester in August but today I had to get up at 4:50AM and get the train at 5:30AM to get to Brussels in time for the Belgian one.

The majority of the other assistants that I spoke to are working in major cities like Namur, Liège and Mons and they all seemed to be rather shocked when I told them that my journey to get to the meeting this morning had taken 2 and a half hours. The journey back this evening was even longer, it took a total of 3 hours to get back. I don’t mind commuting, what with being used to it from commuting for the past 2 years at uni, but 3 hours just takes the biscuit. I have however, read 100 pages of the book I’m currently reading in French, so at least I did something productive during the journey.

I travelled there and back with my mentor, it was okay. She seems set on speaking in English to me though, which isn’t really beneficial for my French, so I’ve just got into the habit of replying to her English questions in French, now. I honestly don’t mean to sound rude, but it doesn’t seem to matter how many times I say I want to speak French, she still automatically goes for English. 

When we finally arrived, the first person that I met was from Slovakia but is going to work as an English language assistant. They didn’t really speak much French at all, spoke a bit of English but had good Spanish, so I ended up having my first conversation there in Spanish. What with not having spoken Spanish since I met the Mexican ambassador over summer (just had to slip that in there!), that was quite a challenge, and I kept getting ‘sí’ and ‘oui’ muddled up. Nice to practice a bit of Spanish though, I do miss it.

The morning consisted of presentation after presentation, talking about the complex thing that is the structure of the different Belgian communities (this country’s mad!), finances and the school’s responsibilities versus my responsibilities. The whole thing was conducted in French but I understood everything without any difficulties, so that gave me hope. 

The morning went rather well, but I have to say that the afternoon was definitely my favourite part. On the walk down to catch the metro I met about 5 other English assistants and so it was nice to all be able to chat about England and how each one of us is feeling in Belgium. I have, as I expected, been here the longest so far, so I was able to offer advice on stuff like phones (go for BASE, and their pay as you go SIM card) and the longing to go home (stick it out for 2 weeks before you book any flights to visit home, you’ll begin to settle in eventually).

I didn’t really learn too much in the Parlamentarium that we visited if I’m honest. Again, the French wasn’t difficult to understand, but this time it was simply due to the sheer amount of facts, dates and famous names being thrown around.

Oh, and when you go into the Parlemantarium, you have to walk through a scanner. For those of you who aren’t aware, I can’t walk through a scanner because it messes up the settings on my insulin pump… So I had to go explain this to the guy on the desk, in French. He understood and everything was totally fine but I’m always majorly embarrassed to have to explain. Least I know I can explain what’s up in French now, though.

After about half an hour, our English group gave up and just got chatting on Belgian life – it felt really nice to be able to talk to people about things like the concept of ‘bises’ and things we collectively miss including Cadbury’s chocolate, proper gravy and apple crumble.  

I only got back this evening about 8PM, the train was, as often happens in Belgium, late. It was getting dark by the time I arrived and I found it really disorientating when I came out of the train station. I’ve never walked through Arlon in the evening/in the dark before and so I felt a bit lost/nervous and jumped anytime someone opened a door I happened to be passing. I used to hate walking in my village alone at night, so I’m definitely not keen on it here, especially because everything looks different at night. But, all’s good and I made it home safe and sound.

So anyway, that’s a brief update on what I’ve been up to today (technically yesterday according to Belgian time). The time since I wrote my last blog post has been amazing, I’ve been getting out and about and been a proper busy bee.

Love to you all & I hope whoever reads this is doing okay ❤