Christmas Eve

Hi Everyone!

So Merry Christmas to everyone back home! I will basically be getting Christmas one day earlier than you and that will be kind of weird! I would really like to talk to my family and maybe some of my friends on Christmas so I hope it works out with the time change and everything! These past few weeks have been a bit weird but just because I really don't feel like it's Christmas at all here! When I go downtown I do feel like it's Christmas a bit because of all the Christmas markets and decorations, but other than the last couple days there has been no snow at all and there are no decorations whatsoever at my house. Its really weird becaus

e no one has Christmas lights on their houses and I don't know about other families around where I live but we don't have a Christmas tree. I know a lot of my other friends' host families do have Christmas trees though so i'm sure its not a Belgian thing to not have one. Its not a huge deal or anything it just feels a bit weird. Today is Christmas Eve day for me and I feel like its just another day. Usually back home there is a lot of Christmas baking and music and the tree and I don't know there's just a vibe but not here. A lot of schools actually still have classes today which I think is really really dumb. I had to go into school just a little while ago to get my report car

d which wasn't very good. I got a TB in english and in gym though which is the best mark you could get so I'm happy about that. It was really frustrating though because I had to have a little meeting with my Titulaire which i guess is kinda like a homeroom teacher type thing. And he was just saying that he knows that i'm really shy and that its hard but he thinks I shouldn't be spending so much time with other exchange students who speak english and that I should try to spend more time with Belgian people. It really frustrates me when people tell me things like this because it seems like they think I don't want to be friends with Belgian people from my school or that I don't try. But I really do want to be friends with people from school and I do try really hard! Everyone including my host mom thinks i'm the shyest person in the world and that i'm scared to talk to anyone but I have no idea why. At school I have no problem talking to people. I ask questions about what they did last weekend and ask them sometimes if they would like to do something with me but they are always busy. Maybe my host mom thinks i'm shy because the few times that we have dinner together with her boyfriend and his kid they are always talking about things or people that I have no idea about. Its kind of hard for me to join into conversation when I don't know who the people they're talking about are. The teacher was saying maybe he will try to do something to help me but I don't want him to help me make friends! I'm seventeen and I know he's just trying to be nice but I told him that its okay he didn't need to help me and I would continue trying. It just gets really frustrating and a bit sad when you try so hard and no one notices it. But yeah sorry that was my little rant I guess. Its just pretty hard today because i'm away from my family and all my friends on Christmas

and everything is so different. Its not like I want to come home or anything and I know this is a really really good experience for me but it is hard sometimes and today is just one of those days where its a bit harder than others. I think its probably normal to feel kind of homesick on Christmas but yeah I just wish I would be less homesick less often.

But anyways, I will fill you in on what i've been doing for the past week or two. So yesterday my friend and I went to Brugges. While we were there we did a little bit of last minute Christmas shopping for our host families. I thought I was going to go to My host sisters dads house for Christmas eve because thats what my host mom told me so I bought him a bottle of wine but now I'm not going there anymore so I guess I will just give the wine to my host grandparents when I go to their house for dinner tonight. In Brugges we also went to an art gallery which was really cool. I really liked the art and a couple of the paintings at first I thought were really boring because I thought it was just a photo someone took of limes or roses but it turned out it wasn't a picture it was actually a painting. I couldn't believe how good it was! After we saw the art gallery we went to this Ice Sculpture exhibit near the train station. The exhibit was huge! There were ice sculptures from 30 different countries around the world and they were all very good. They had 3 ice sculptures from Canada which were an Aboriginal person, A cowboy, and a totem pole.. maybe the igloo was also supposed to be part of Canada but that would be pretty dumb I think. It has been getting kind of cold here these past couple days as well! It has been -5 and -6 which is pretty cold for Belgium. There has also been quite a lot of snow. I think there

has maybe been 20 or 30 cm. Just with that amount of snow the entire city and basically all of Belgium is shut down. Today there are now buses running and no trams and no cars here have 4 wheel drive. They also don't have winter tires. When I was driving to school this morning with my host mom I really thought we were gonna get in an accident Every single corner we turned we just slid and trying to get up the little hill to get to the school was basically impossible. I think its pretty ridiculous how unprepared everyone is for winter here. Everyone is freaking out and a lot of people refuse to even leave their houses because of the 30 cm of snow. They don't even have snowplows and barely any salt trucks. The highways are closed down after 7:00 PM and my host mom was telling me they wouldn't even let the salt truck go on the highway a couple nights ago after 7 even though it was only trying to do its job and make the roads safer! I don't know I just think a lot of things they do or not do for winter is really stupid. Its not that hard to be prepared for a little snow. But yeah I think I will stop writing now and start wrapping Christmas presents for my host family. I hope everyone has a really rea

lly good Christmas back at home and you should eat pie and cookies and whatever else for me!!

I miss everyone!!

<3>

Christmas!

Hi Everyone!

So these past few weeks have been pretty good! I've been going around to a few Christmas markets and I really like them! In Bruxelles there's a really big one with all these little huts selling all sorts of little things. There is even a Canadian booth at the Bruxelles christmas market! I was really excited when I saw that. They were selling things like maple syrup and smoked salmon. In the middle of the Bruxelles christmas market there is a huge outdoor skating rink which I haven't skated on yet but I did skate on the one in the middle of the Mons Christmas market, which is a different city in Belgium. There's is also a really big ferris wheel at the market in Brussels. Its very festive at the markets and actually makes something feel like christmas around here! Not much does...there's no snow, no tree, no decorations well at least not at my house. Its kind of sad but oh well thats okay. I got my Christmas shopping done last weekend so thats kind of a relief. I got my host mom a tea set that I think is really nice and i got my host sister pijama pants and hair elastics and lip chap. Last week there was a holiday called Saint Nicolas here in Belgium. It was the first time I celebrated that holiday and it was pretty cool i guess. Saint Nicolas for me is basically like Santa Clause but he comes on Dec.6 and gives kids a little gift or candy. There were some signs that were addressed to Saint Nicolas telling him they've been nice and that he should come at this hour. It was pretty cute I thought. Saint Nicolas apparently did not come to my house but thats okay I saw a fake one at school which was just one of the guys in my grade dressed up. It was a little bit embarrassing because everyone in my class was chanting my name telling me i had to go sit on his lap. So I did in front of everyone but it was funny as well. On Sunday one of my good friends in Belgium went home to Australia and it was pretty sad! Me and a few of our friends went to the airport to say goodbye to her in Bruxelles. It was also funny though because her bag was 9 kg overweight and she couldn't fit anything else in it so she was wearing 3 scarves, 3 hoodies, and 2 jackets! She looked like she was very hot but she didn't even get charged for overweight bags!! She was really lucky. She also gave me and my friend bags of her clothes she didn't want anymore. I think i'll probably have to do that when i go home too. This week is exam week for all the high school students in Belgium but I don't have school until wednesday because i only have to take 3 of the nine exams. I'm taking history, religion, and science. I studied all day today for history so hopefully i'll do okay! The teaching style here is just so different though here. Its all about theory and why someone would have done something and not just about the facts and practical stuff. They never get worksheets its always just like the teachers lecturing and then they have to write a debate or essay or something. For me, I DEFINITELY like canadian high school better. Being here makes me miss school in Canada. But yeah i think thats most of what i've been up to lately! I have a formal rotary dinner with all the wives of the rotarians so hopefully that will go well on friday. And hopefully i can get a few questions right on my exams..

À Bientot!!