Monday, March 5, 2012

WHY YOU NEIGE?!

   So this update will be exponentially less exciting than the previous one , but what did you expect. It's not like Belgium is one big Carnaval or anything.
                        So it decided to finally start snowing here. Right after it decided to start warming up . Makes plenty of sense . I woke up this morning to a flurry of snow that just accumulated into wet slush , it only takes 4 cm to shut down the whole country , i sware.
   * Side note I changed back to my first host family on Saturday morning. With about five bags ..... My regular suitcase, carry on, two backpacks and a tote bag( with exclusively all my shoes) . I'm going to have to give away  some stuff . I'll go to Brussels and just give all my stuff to the homeless people. It won't buy them drugs and booze but it'll keep them warm .
       Saturday I went for a run in shorts and a t-shirt. It was 53 degrees I'd guess. Maybe I'm just a little too upstate New York to be running in shorts and a t-shirt then because EVERY person I passed was wearing a parka. Saturday night was a birthday party for my friend from school in the next town over , called the Archangel . ANNNND ever second Saturday of the month its a tranny bar...if that's what you're into.;) Anyway we got there and the  Miss and Mister. DOUR beauty pageant  was going on. Granted half the people in the compition were dour so i dont see how anybody could be merited a winner..*play on words , TEN POINTS FOR GRYFFINDOR . Eventually most of the wierdos cleared out and we finally got  to party. This was essentially the first time I was in a non-school environment with my classmates, and I had a really awesome time. Which in turned making me feel super regretful. Let mama tell ya why.In the beginning of my exchange , Sept-Nov I got out every chance I got. One weekend in Ghent one in Namur ect. I would go out because 1. I wanted to see Belgium and 2. I wasn't really getting anywhere with the kids at school ( i don't know if i wasn't trying engough ,probably, or it was the other way around) But NOW. I'm upset that i spent that time away , not speaking french , hanging out with exchangers every change i got . Don't get me wrong I still enjoyed it and I wouldn't have made such great friends within rotary , but I feel like my french could be better . My host mom has to correct me a lot but she does tell me my french is good. It's frustrating sometimes because I know that I'm not speaking correctly but I don't know how to correct myself so I just keep going. My host brother in Colombia speaks great Spanish now and even gives French lessons. It's really cool , but Spanish and French are closer than French and English . The only other romantic language that's closer to French than Spanish is Italian . Unfortunately I'm going from a Germanic language to a Romantic one. Sometimes i get so upset i just want to bang my head on a wall for a few minutes but I really do enjoy speaking french , and compared to some of the other exchange students i'm practically a savant. Actually now I'm realizing that I'd very much like to try and go to a Francophone college. Not here in Belgium but Quebec. Granted their french is going to sound really weird after spending a year here. The "Dialect" they speak here is called Borain , and theres also a bit of the dialect called Ch'tis .There a pretty famous french movie called Bienvenue Chez Les Ch'tis , about a man that lives in the South of France that is forced to move to the North for work . The accent , in my opinion sounds like more of a speech impediment . They add the Ch sound to everything. But while I was watching it I understood the collocations because ..we use them . I'm trying to watch a lot of french /french-belgian cinema just so i can really learn more of the language.
                   Anyway , My family will be here really soon and I'm bracing myself for the tedious task of playing translator. Last night I was on skype with them , and every few minutes i'd turn to my host mom and start speaking english and then look at my parents and start speaking french. WAY TO GO BRAIN * high five...

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