Welcome to Belgium

"Welcome to Belgium" was my only thought as I descended through twenty minuets of clouds and rain before landing in Charleroi, Belgium this past Friday. The weather was NOT what my sister Maggie had promised... "It's been warm, bring a light jacket and you should be fine." I was freezing most of the time.

Of course you have to understand that I left Málaga at 25 degrees... In Belgium it never got over 20 (most days it was around 18). I've now come back to 32-34 degree weather. With good reason I was freezing in Belgique! It hasn't been that cold in Spain since March, at least (with a few fluke cold snaps here and there). All the Belgians were laughing at me, the warm-blooded "Spaniard". ;)

My visit was great. More than anything I realized just how much I'm going to miss having Maggie on my side of the "pond" (as Spaniards, fondly refer to the Atlantic). It's been great to have her so close this year. We've seen each other three times! Now she's off to Portland, one of my favorite US cities...and rather than a mere 80 euro flight, I'd have add at least another zero to that sum to make it to Oregon for a visit. :(

You've all seen the video of her host sister by now. (Isn't she cute!) And although Maggie doesn't say a whole lot more that "merci", you get a little taste of her French. It was pretty cool to be on the other side of the translation for a change. ;) I know I started getting annoying when I wanted to know all about Belgian history, etc. ...Maggie was wishing I'd just shut up and do a Google search! But she was a brave and persistent translator for me, and I didn't do too badly myself mixing Spanish with a French accent. I was able to be understood most of the time, much to Maggie's exasperation ("You're making me look bad, Opie!"). ;) Minimum I got a few key lines memorized for the wedding Angelines and I will be attending in Lyon, France in July. :) (Look out, Ethan)

Another high-light of the trip was getting to visit the fortress at Namur. It was originally constructed by the Spanish in the Middle Ages. I'm just studying this time period at the moment in my history class so it was especially neat to walk around and hear what the guides had to say about the evolution of the fortress since Spanish times. It was most recently used during both the World Wars! This is the view of the Namur from the fortress:

Maggie's host family is really great and they took us all around. Namur was one of my favorites, but we also visited a monastery where they brew their own beer and make their own cheese. The cheese was fantastic...but I have to say I am still not a beer fan. Those of you who know me will not be surprised. I decided that when in Belgium...you've got to at least try the beer--yuck! (no offense to Belgian brewers!)

In anycase, on the way home in the car, Maggie's host dad commented that we were much more talkative and it was a good thing we hadn't drunk ALL the beer in the sampler (one of them was 10% alcohol!). ;) He is probably right, though I think rather than make us more talkative we would have fallen asleep in the car! In any case we dubbed it "Belgian Liquid Magic"... of course Maggie translated that to French for her host parents--her host mom nearly wet her pants laughing at us! ;)

Although I wasn't allowed to pay for nearly anything, I did repaid my hosts with two Spanish meals: tortilla española and paella. They were impressed by both though by Spanish standards, I'm afraid my cooking came up a bit short on both accounts. Still it was wonderful to be in the kitchen and Maggie's little host sister was a great little sous chef! She was very proud of herself when the paella came out so good. ;)

We were unable to meet up with Fanny, my family's first exchange student, but we did visit Justine (another exchange student who lived with my fam) in Tournai. What a beautiful city! And she treated us to some EXCELLENT Belgian fries--soooo good. :)

I was also able to go running with Maggie. She's joined a group of beginners and had apparently been talking me up to all the other members... Ha! I guess I didn't let her down since one other guy and I were the leaders through the whole work out. I was flattered because an older woman who runs with them and does marathons and such commented to Maggie's host mom that I must be a runner; she could tell by the way I ran that I was not an am-mature. I was quite flattered.

It was a wonderful trip despite the cold weather. Of course, most of all it was wonderful to see Maggie (loads of beastly sister love!) and hear her French and see how much her host family loves her. Her host mom said she was wonderful about three different ways and THEN said she was a joy to live with. ;) I was impressed and so happy that she's going to be leaving Belgique on such a good note.