At the end of September my family went and helped out at a charity for cancer called "Levensloop". Most people in Maine would know this as "Relay For Life". So far we have volunteered for this organization twice. The first time was just a concert/show type thing with fries and beer (typical, eh?) :) And the second time was the actual walk. It was the first one in Belgium, so they told me and it was a really nice experience. Here, they also sold fries and beer. You have to know one thing about Belgium.. They really are crazy about their beer and fries. And they should be.. both are delicious! I'm pretty sure I've eaten more fries in the past two months than in my whole life!
In school, things are going really well. I've gotten to know a lot of nice people and I'm enjoying every second of it. I am taking really difficult classes but still trying my best in them. I've taken a few tests so far, and I just wanna say.. I thought my favorite class would be English, but it's actually the one I hate the most. And Physics is my favorite.. sad, huh? Truth is, English here is really difficult. First of all, it's British english.. how am I supposed to know they write "practice" like "practise" (-2 points by the way!). It's really nice to be able to pick and choose which tests I take and not, and it certainly makes it easier to focus on the language and not have to worry about studying.
On Saturday night, AFS ZUL (which is the section of Belgium I'm in) got together and went to Hasselt, the city where I go to school. We were finally meeting out counselors who would be there to help us if we had any problems. We went to the fair that was going on there and then we all went to a cafe to eat, of course, FRIES! (: After that, we all went and had a drink and talked a lot. I really like my counselor, as well as all the others. I hope the whole group can get together again soon.I had my first volleyball game at the beginning of October. I only played a little, but it's been really fun. I've had a few games since then and I've been able to practice my setting a lot. I really like my team and coach. Everyone on the team is very friendly and they help me a lot on the court. Everyone here is really good at volleyball. My team has a lot of really good hitters and a really good libero. I think they are all making me a better player.
This past weekend, Astrid and I carved two pumpkins together. The first pumpkin was all cats (: It was pretty much based on Simon's Cat, which is absolutely adorable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP1Pk62X7XQ
Anyway.. then, after we were done with that pumpkin, we decided we should do the second one. So, we chose to have a pac-man pumpkin. It turned out so nice can it was so much fun to make. We have one last one to carve!
Yesterday all of us went to see a show in Sint-Truiden (the town I live in). The play was about a really rich couple who meets their new neighbors, a bunch of slobs. It was actually hilarious, but it was really difficult to understand sometimes. In Flanders Belgium, everyone learns "perfect Dutch" in school, but also, every town has their own dialect. So the whole show was in dialect. I was happy I understood the little parts that I did and I can't wait to see another play in a few months to see if I can follow the story even better!
