Dear May, your'e almost over? What?!

Wow. Well... this is awkward.
Awkward as in that May is almost over and I'm still in the mindset that we are in March.
And Awkward as in I haven't updated in a really long time... which means my faithful followers that you are in for one of the most disgustingly, long blogs in the history of this blog. Hope you enjoy :) A lot has been going on!! I'll try to keep things interesting but I know that the only person who will actually read the entire blog are my parents... so! Here We Go! Buckle Up for the best skim reading of you life!

The last time I updated was the 4th of May a Wednesday... so that Thursday we didn't have school because the teachers went on strike for some reason regarding their paycheck (yes, students were informed about the strike a week before the "strike" so it was a lovely day off from school. So unamerican). I went to Maastrict in Holland with some exchange student friends. Maastrict is only like and hour from Liege by train so we all took the train around 11 and just hung out in the sun and did some shopping :) I didn't go shopping since I'm trying this new thing where I try not to spend any money. It was just fun to hang out with everyone since I hadn't seen anyone really since before the Rotary kids went to Italy or Greece. So it was some good bonding time with my fellow Rotarians.
Then that Friday, I was not in the mood to go into town with my friends from school since I was still exhausted from my week in Greece, so I went over to Margaret's house for the night. It was a chill night complete with stir fry vegetables, shrimp, and skyping. We were early to be and early to rise the next morning since Marge had a Rotary activity to be at in Brussels. So, I came home early on Saturday. Saturday was supposed to be the day I was going to change families to go to my friend Noemie's house... but we had postponed it to the 21st since my counselor still had to do a tour of the house. Saturday night we had a little barbeque with Alain's family (his parents, his sister and her son). It was so nice out and we ate outside :) It was just a nice, chill night with the family and some soccer being played by the 4 of us young folk. It made me kind of happy I was moving in 2 weeks so that I was able to have another memory with the family :) So cute.
Sunday I met with my counselor to talk about Noemie's family. Long story short... her family wasn't found fit to have an exchange student live with them. I'm not going to get into the drama or give more details than that... so let's just skip that part. Within a few hours after having coffee with my counselor my family and I were on the phone with another friend of mine (Justine , whose younger sister, Fanny, is dating Benoit) and after some phone calls back in forth I had a new family to live with :) Even though this was a really stressful few hours for me... I have never felt so loved. Everyone wanted me to be happy and it was the silver lining to things not working out exactly as they were planned to. Noemie was really sad I couldn't be her "sister" but she will always be one of my "sisters" I have in Belgium... and I'm really excited to move to Justine's house. Her mom (Yvonne) reminds me of my mom so much... physically and just the way she is. It makes me miss my mommy kind of... but in a good way :) I'm also really excited to have 2 sisters soon !! haha going from 2 brothers to 2 sisters should be an experience! After all this drama was worked out all before lunchtime... I went to watch Benoit and Francois play tennis with Isabelle. It was such a sunny, nice day! I loved just sitting and watching the boys play while talking about tennis rules with Isabelle (since I'm still learning the rules to Tennis). It was a cute little bonding moment for us on Mother's Day :)
Monday and Tuesday were normal days at school... I don't really remember all that went down besides awkwardly having to explain to my friends why I'm not going to Noemie's house and instead going to Justine's.
Wednesday I went to Brussels after school with my exchange student friends. It was fun to spend time with them and catch up with a beautiful day as the backdrop to our conversations. And! Wednesday was my best friend Blakelee's birthday! 19! I was kind of sad I couldn't spend it with her and really missed her... but I thought it was fun that I sent her a little birthday gift in the mail :) I was a bit homesick this day... I think that I'm so close to leaving but at the same time I still have 2 months in Belgium. It is messing with my head!!
Thursday I had french class and after I came home to have dinner with Isabelle's parents and Manon (Francois's girlfriend). I had forgotten that they were coming over during the day so I had a nice little surprise when I came home. I love family dinners like this (more than the fact that we get dessert when we have company over). Francois and I were sitting across from each other at dinner and we kept making weird noises back and forth at each other and having staring contests. His girlfriend was like, "You guys are so weird. It is like you have your own language with each other." It made me laugh. I guess we do have our own language. I know if I meow in the same room as Frans (yes, I meow on a normal basis here) that it will always be answered by a woof from him. I'm really going to miss that. And him saying my name with a heavy, french accent on the R... MallorrRrry. So Belge. After everyone left around 11, we were all sitting around watching TV and Benoit and I were messing with each other (making fun of each other and doing little pokes and slaps) and it turned into a wrestling match. Yes, I was wrestling Benoit in the middle of the living room. It was hilarious. He obviously beat me... but it was so funny. We were laughing the whole time and it reminded me of when I would play-fight with my dad when I was younger. Alain was like, "Don't hit a girl!" Benoit's response was, "She's not a girl. She is my sister!" It made me smile :) Love them.
Friday I didn't go to school because I caught a train with Margaret and Mollie to the North Sea for the weekend! :) We stayed in Oostende which is like 2 hours and a half from Liege by train. Oostende is the largest town and oldest settlement on the Belgian coast, with a history going back to the 10th century. Long a pirates' hideout, Oostende has hosted many a famous rogue and adventurer, and it was from here that Crusades also set sail for the Holy Land. In the early 17th century, when villagers backed the Protestant cause, Oostende withstood a Spanish siege for 3 years. Oostende was also where one of the Continental Europe's first railways was built between Oostende and Mechelen in 1838 (and Belgium became a country in 1830 by the way). A hundred years ago, the town was at its epoque height, with a boom of neoclassical buildings dripping with ornamentation. Elegantly dressed ladies shaded under parasols strolled along the Promenade on the arms of gents in spats (yes, "spats" my faithful followers). But during the WWII many of the buildings were bombed, times changed, and the glammour dimmed.
Although it might never quite relive its heydey, Oostende has regained much of its grandeur during recent years. Historic buildings have been embellished, dikes renewed, and there's been a revival of cultural activities. The weekend we were in Oostende they had a kite festival! It was a beautiful surprise and welcome to the city :)
It was just so fun to be with the girl's for the weekend (and with my ex-3rd-host family's grandmother - now that my friends is complicated) Friday was full of investigating where we were in the city... our hotel was a 3 minute walk from the beach/boardwalk and on the major commercial street of Oostende. It was the perfect location (thank you Marge, for your incredible skills). We ate ice cream, had a cocktail on a terrace overlooking the beach, and had chinese that night! Our first night we just had deserts out on the hotel terrace (terras) and enjoyed watching MTV... in English! Oh, how much I have missed my MTV. Saturday was a big day!! We woke up with a continental breakfast that was at the hotel then we went on an hour run on the boardwalk in the sun :) After the running, we took a little pit stop before returning to the hotel by playing frisbee (with the frisbee that Mollie brings to too many places) on the beach! Then we went home to shower and headed out in the city again...we had pizza and ended up renting a 3 person bike (2 people peddled and one person enjoyed the scenery) for an hour and went up and down the boardwalk. As you know, I am not really a fan of the bike, but I went along with it because the girls were really excited about it. I ended up sweating, stressed out, and fussy after this little adventure. Those damn bikes will get me every time... but with a nice scoop of ice cream I was ready for the next adventure. Later that day, we went to meet up with my original 3rd host family's (who cancelled on me back in September) grandmother who lives in Oostende. She is also the great aunt of Laurent (first host-dad) so it was fun to have a little chat with her while we were in her city. She was so cute and active for her age... I was impressed. After this rendez-vous, we went to the grocery store to save some money (since the lunch was a bit pricey) and bought a baguette, bree, apples, chocolate, and wine. We were so cute :) We had a little feast on our hotel beds while watching some trashy tv shows on Mtv. It was the besttttt. Around 10, we went to the beach to watch the kites lit up at night - called "mystic kites". It was kind of lame but we took our wine and enjoyed some good conversation while we watched the moon and kites on the beach. It was like a movie scene of the 3 best friends... classic. We were walking back home around 11:30 when I noticed (there is a Casino right on the boardwalk-about halfway home) that there was some sort of party going on at the top! Being Mallory, I was like Oh! We have to go! The girls were kind of tired, and were like, "Do you want us to go with you?" 5 minutes later we were all 3 walking right through the club doors, no questions asked, and spent the next 2 and a half hours dancing our butts off and singing along with the latest songs. It was so much fun! The club was full of middle age men and women, a bachelorette party, and teens sipping on cokes. It was such a crazy mix of people and since we didn't plan on even going to the night club - we totally were the party, crashing Americans. So much fun. It was the type of spontaneous thing that I love ... and live for! Best night... :) Sunday, we got up a bit later than normal... ;) and enjoyed another continental breakfast at the hotel. We had check-out at 11 so after we packed everything up and left it in a special baggage room we went out to have a pita, ice cream, and do some shopping! It was fun to just roam around the city a little more on our last day. Then we took a train home at 2 and were home by 5. I took a bus and went straight to watch Benoit playing tennis (yes, with my luggage) with Alain and Isabelle. It was so cute because Ben didn't know I was coming so he was really surprised to see me show up with my oversized bag for 2 nights. And he ended up winning!
Monday was a big day. I skipped the last few classes of school .... sadly not to go into the city but to come home and START my Science Sociales paper which was due that Friday ( a week and 4 days more time than my Belge classmates had to work on theirs) . Yes, yes, yes... I started my 7 page research paper 4 days before it was due. I don't even care! I haven't done anything legitimate in the school department since I graduated high school in America... so I had some issues remembering how to start being productive. I can proudly say that I turned in a 7 page paper comparing the Healthcare of America with Belgium - complete with an analysis of the histories of Belgium and the US on the subject, an analysis of Republicans, Liberals, and the Tea Party on the issue, and the new reform going on in the US. Oh... and if that subject isn't impressive/complicated enough did I tell you it was all in French!! Bam! I was so happy Friday when I turned it in. Now I can actually relax! Benoit of course reminded me, being the brother he is, that this is the only thing I have put effort in for school since I have been here for 9 months... and that I shouldn't be that proud of that. But... I am!! haha Yay Mallory! You are still a productive member of society!
Tuesday I had an oral french exam at the University... it was kind of easy. I just answered some questions and talked normally with the teacher. She was like, "You probably should have been in a harder class... you speak so naturally!" It made me happy. I'm actually starting to consider myself as being fluent now... but I'm worried about this constant traveling I'm going to be doing in the next month (Spain 23-29 of May, Ireland 9-14 of June, and Prague 17-22) and that since I'll be speaking English the whole time I might lose a bit of my progress. You win some you lose some.... that's life. I was finished by 5 so I just hung in town with Jerry and some other exchange students until 7... Standard (the football team of Liege) made it through the Belgium play-offs and played Tuesday for the #1 spot in the nation again Gent (a town in the North of Belgium). The winner of the game goes to the European Cup - which is with the #1 teams from all over Europe. So, it was kind of a big game. The city set up this huge screen in the middle of Place St. Lambert (which is the same place I went to the concert at the beginning of the year) and thousands - literally over 20,000 people - came to watch the game on the big screen. It was craziness! All my friends from school went and we all wore red and chanted along with the songs. It was the best ambiance :) So many people all in the same place to watch a game... that is incredible. I can't even begin to explain how crazy everyone went when Standard scored the first point. Sadly, Standard tied Gent 1-1... which means they aren't the #1 team of Belgium... so there was a lot of disappointed people. But that is okay... it was such a fun night. I felt so Belge!
Wednesday I skipped my Science Sociales class to sadly come home and work on my paper for that class... so not okay. Then around 5, I went over to Justine and Fanny's house with Benoit. Benoit had planned on eating dinner with them (his girlfriend is Fanny) a week ago and then it turned into me going along too to see my room and get all the details worked out for the move. It was soooo much fun :) I was smiling the whole time! When I walked through the door, Justine's mom (Yvonne) greeted me with a bisous and said, "My 3rd daughter!" It made me so happy. They showed me my room and were all worried because it used to be the storage room... but honestly, it was so cute! It looks like Harry Potter's room! And... I actually think it is bigger than the room I have now... and I have my own little closet. It was perfect :) We ate spaghetti together and Benoit was being so cute. The family kept asking me all the these things about me (like what I like to eat, what time I go to bed, what I do in my spare time, etc.) and Benoit kept answering all of them. It was so funny. He knows me so well... after 5 months! Justine was kidding around and asked Benoit was is one thing that I do that is annoying and he was like, "Well... she is a morning person." It was so cute :) It made me smile. I'm so happy to be going to this family... actually today in a few hours!! They are so nice to me! Justine is such a good friend of mine ever since the beginning, Fanny is just so cute, Yvonne is so much like my mom, and Bernard is so nice and quiet! I can't wait to spend these next weeks (yep, we are down to weeks) with them. I'm kind of sad I am traveling so much this next month... but they are really understanding of it and are already planning things for when I'm in town.
It is a bittersweet feeling... and obviously by the amount I have talked about this family just in this blog alone that I'm kind of really emotional about it. Yesterday, I came home (instead of going out with my friends from school again) to pack up my room. It was so weird to actually be packinggggg. Around 7, we all 5 went out to dinner for my last night. We went to this little pizza shop that the boys grew up in and just sat around talking and laughing. Francois kept doing weird things that he knew I would laugh at and Benoit kept getting my attention by kicking me under the table... it was a perfect dinner. While we were waiting for our food, Isabelle brought our a little gift for me. As I was opening she said, "This is so you will think of us from time to time." It was a silver necklace with 3 hearts intertwined. She explained that they didn't have 4 hearts (for all of them) so she got 3 hearts to represent Francois, Benoit, and me. I can't even explain the emotions I had when I put it on ... I love this family. Today while I was finishing packing, Alain came home with a Standard (the football team of Liege) scarf... :) He said it was the "boy present" for me since I got the "girl present" last night. It almost made me cry. It made me feel so loved and I couldn't stop smiling. I will think of this family every day of the rest of my life... that sounds intense but it is true. They are my family, and I am their family. To say the least... I am kind of really emotional today. The boys are kind of being weird too....

wish me luck! next blog - ESPAGNE!
all is well :)
Mal