Guac

So this evening I made, for the first time, food for my belgian family! Cheese quesadillas, salsa, and guacamole. Not american, but made my the loving hands of an american, so it counts. Not to mention, I have eaten more mexican food in my life than hamburgers. And it is Southern Californian. It counts! They really liked it though (surprisingly) in peticular the guacamole. Man, I am so confused. I literally just winged it. Like, made it up as I went. And I know its extremely simple food to make, but man, I can't make food! I burn food! Sometimes I make food explode! This is a monumental day.

Also, other cool stuff. I am really digging my school! I am going to hardcore miss my friends when I leave. I feel like such a part of the class finally. We are doing a pirate show, and I got assigned the role of the sole asian pirate. I don't know what it is with these francophones, but they keep thinking I am asian or half asian........man, I so don't see it. I will just forever be racially/ethnically confused. Anyway, I am the most celebrated asian pirate, and have decied that it because I am also half ninja. So I have big plans to have a matchete as a part of my costume.

Also, for the pirate show, me and my friend made a super crazy awesome cracan (kracan? krakan?). Fake blood and all. Potentially the greatest thing I've done all year. Although, a few weeks ago I did make a tree...


This weekend my older (19) sister invited me to go on a scouts weekend with her, which was nice. So I am leaving saturday morning to go into scouts land. I am happy though, like yaay they like me! I don't know why, but they like me!

Les Voyages

SO yesterday afternoon I returned from my voyage du rétho to vienna for a few hours and buda[est for 3 days.
It was all around good good fun. And a little warm in Budapest! Yay! I really really enjoyed the achitecture in Budapest too. Man it was like nothing I had ever seen before, all the colors were soo pretty. I took loads of pictures that are on facebook right now. It was just really a fun fun time. And I feel so much closer with all of my classmates now. Man, when I leave I am really going to miss them.
It was also a good exercise for me, to be switching between speaking english and speaking french really qucikly. I did a little translating for people too. It was a little confusing for my little brain though. Like i would speak english then french then english then french and sometimes forgot what language i was speaking in, and who I was speaking too. I am easily confused
but also, I mean really, it was so so cool.
I feel like I am really immersed in the culture here. Like belgian. And I think it will be a lot harder to become reimmersed in american culture. wahhhhhhhhhhhh
Last night I watched a movie with my host mom, and understood everything! Man my french is actually PROGRESSING! like YES! like, i got all that happened in every scene. there are still words and phrases and expressions I don't know, but I could undertsnad every interaction in the film. Such a good feeling. Then I had a dream in french. I have them about everyother night now. Its too cool man, I have a second language! Finally!
I am most definetly going to learn spanish also. And then a different language after that. But my goal before 20 is to be fluent in 3 languages. But i really want to just learn as many languages as I can, because I feel it is soo important to be able to communicate with people. And I have been thinking about my future lately, and things that I want to do with myself. I really want to be involved in some kind of world peace organization. And study something related to that in school. I am getting excited though for life after high school...
but still not so thrilled about returning to high school for an entire year...

I aint dead

So stuff has been happening, but I have been to lazy to write about it.

Last week was the vacation for carnival. My host parents were in Switzerland chillin in the snow in the mountains, and my host siblings were doing a scouts thing, so I went into the north of Belgium to do a stage.
Beforeeeee that though I went to see Leuvan with AFS, a university town in Flandre. It was super super pretty! Then I went to the Stella Artois brewery for a tour, which was a tad boring. But whatever, beer is an important part of the Belgium culture, so it was interesting in that regard.

Then Sunday night I went to my stage. It is basically like a camp thing with the gyms in Belgium. So i spent a few hours a day in dance class. But, like, it wasnt really dancey, because most people had never danced before. So it was totally not technique based or anything. So it was a little boring for me, just because I have spent years doing this kind of thing and the other kids hadn't. The teacher was super nice though.

I stayed in this concrete room with 2 other girls. And first when I arrived I thought it was going to be horrible, I was the oldest there, my roomates were listenning to rihanna, etc. But it turned out quite nice actually. I made some pretty good friends, who I will definetly be seeing again before I leave! Also, I spoke a lot of french, its really really cool because french is becoming so much easier, and more natural. Like I feel I can actually express my personality when I am speaking now. I still have awful grammar, but whatever. Its getting there.

Then tonight me and some other friends (belgian) are going to a friends house in Brussels to celebrate the last night of vacation before school starts again. Which should be fun. AND THEN next sunday I am leaving on my voyage du rhéto!!! (class trip) to Vienna and Budapest! I am soooo excited, I finally bought a camera and everything. Man, I really like my class here. And just everything really. AND TEHNNN in April I am going to Africa!!!!!!!!!!! I am sooo happy man! Sunshine! Tan! AFRICA!

EURO PARASITES STRIKE AGAIN

I have been sick, like a really weird sick.
Like no fever or vomiting or anything, just massive head ache and exhaustion and nausea. For like 3 days now (IE it's not a just hangover people but a legit illness). Its horrible I stayed home from school monday and tuesday.
But I have come to the conclusion, that since this is the weirdest illness, that it's not an illness at all but a weird belgian parasite and now I am going to die.
Sometimes people tell me I watch too much TV...

Brings me to my next point, in my weakened state I have been able to do little more than lay in front of the TV, so I figured I might as well enjoy my lovely lovely host family movie collection. Therefore, I finally watched Titanic. And I would just like to say, there is a REASON I limit myself to zombie movies! I cannot handle romance!! I cried for an hour and a half, straight. And not sweet one tear rolling down the face crying, hysterical lonely teenage girl crying. Not pretty man. Luckily I was alone in the house or my family might have called the psych ward.
Seriously, I am sticking to Evil Dead 2

Even funner, today I had dance. But my cool poor-person friendly free belgian Wednesday class thats held in an empty school. Did I mention its free? And I take it with some friends from school, which is always cool, because I get to pretend to speak french yay. And the teacher is so sweet. But the class is a little easy for me, which is a shame you know? So I started taking it on pointe shoes as opposed to the little slippers the rest of the students use, to liven things up. And, as I am sure anyone who has ever met me has noticed, I am a sad lazy person. Soooo when I sewed the ribbons to my point shoes I may or may not have done it very very badly.
ANYWAY I was dancing in like the front and center of the room, to demonstrate something, and what happens? The ribbon snaps and I fall on my face
Literally can't enter a social situation and not embarrass myself.
I've said this before, and I'll say it again,
Its not easy being Sid
But someones got to do it

The 4 Month

So, I have been in Belgium now for 4 months. Everyone told me this is the point when french should start getting easier, but it isn't. And I am really really scared that it won't. I know if I can't finish this year fluent, then it will be ok, no matter what it is already better than when I arrived. But still, it stresses and FREAKS me out. Like man, I would be such a loser if I was the one that finished the year here and still couldn't speak french.

More
It is really, really hard being an exchange student. Every single day I think, why am I doing this to myself? I miss everyone sooo much, it hurts. and it would just be so easy to go home. Every single day gets harder and harder, and there are amazing beautiful moments, but they don't always make it easier.
I comfort myself with the knowledge that its the important things we do in life that are the hardest. The things that end up really mattering.
So even though every day is hard this is really something I have to see through.
What on earth do I do after this?
What can I do?
What can I do?
What can I do?
What can I do?

Eat the tourists

So, I spent a lovely 4 days in Berlin, Germany. Picked up some handy german (nien nien spangleferkle nien)

It was really rad though, I went with my host dad, mom, 16 year old sister, and her friend. It was sooo fun! We stayed in my host dads friends apartment, since they were in switzerland. And man was it a swanky place. It was in a really cool like alternative section of the city, with all these cool little artsy shops. Like the silverlake of berlin. Real happenin. Also they had the most awesome collection of records....

But yeah, the city was sooo cool, I would really love to go back for a more substantial amount of time.

The first night there I went to see the Jewish museum, which had such cool architecture. And a lot of interesting information. I learned how to write my name in Hebrew.

Then I ate me some currywurst, which is like THE dish of the german people. It is basically a sausage with curry stuff on it that you eat standing around on a sidewalk with a mini plastic fork. My family was not into it, but it was strangely delicious for me. And I am not a sausage curry type of person....

Next we walked more, and saw pretty stuff. And I learned all about the Berlin Wall from a cool museum.

Ok, CRAZY sidenote: TRAVEL AGENTS EXIST IN GERMANY STILL. Seriously, I saw so many travel agents offices!!!! Like dont these poeople know the internet made their jobs obsolete? 

Anywase, there was also soooooooooooooooOOOOOO much really really cool graffitit. I have never seen a more graffitied city. It was beautiful man! Someone wrote "Eat the tourists " on the floor of a bridge, and I thought it was awesome and worthy of being a blog title. 

Also, I went to possible one of my favorite comtemporary art museums I have ever gone too. It was sooo well done, with all the various late 19th century and 20th century movements being in sparate rooms, but in an order that flowed. And they had discriptions in every room of what the movement was and the key figures. They also included what historical events were happening in that time, like wars, inventions, discoveries, etc. It was really really fantastic. I could have spent forever in that place!

Then my last day there we went to go see this BEAUTIFUL chateaux from er some king with loads of money. LOADS I have never seen a more opulent layout. Literally, there was like golden grapevines painted all over the walls and windows and paintings and lavish furniture and man, it was too much for me. The last room, a guest room, man it made me laugh...it was bright yellow with a tropical theme. So all lavishly painted all over the room were like parots and pineapples. And a chandelier made of chrystal flowers, whihc was actually pretty. But entirely too much. But this room, literally, was the tiki room. Like from disneyland. Just a tad more european and royal.

le fin du monde

Man, I had like life relazations today.

Being here, and being with all the people I am with, belgians/exchange students/host family is like...unreal.

I am not really sure what I am trying to say, but just that I never want to see this year end

yet, I want it to be over now.

And being an exchange student is such an emotionally conflicted and confusing expirience.

I am trying to really savor every moment I have here, even when the moments are hard and I am sad. But that also won't make them pass by any faster or any slower. And in 6 months I am going to be exactly were I started from, but I've already traded in for new eyes, and it might seem completely different.

Again, I'm trying my best here to convey how I am feeling, but its tough.

Maybe just because my english vocabulary is falling apart?

But it is like a reverie, but not alone, with a lot of other people, with a timer always ticking in the backround.

And when I imagine my exchange year I always think of being inside a snow globe (....not just cause it snows here so much)

Really rambling, but it is thoughtful rambling. What on earth am I going to be able to do with myself next year man? What even COMES next?