My first host mom, my third host mom, my Rotary counselor, and her daughter all met me at the airport bright and early this morning. They were so excited to see me, and they were all so nice!
The drive to my town of Deux-Acren, which is part of Lessines, took about an hour from Brussels. It was a very nice and scenic drive. It's very green here much like Oregon, and they have A TON of cows. The weather looked a lot like Oregon when we arrived as well- a pleasantly dark cloud cover, drizzly, and about 18 degrees Celsius (60 Fahrenheit).
When we arrived at my house, we took my things up to my room on the THIRD floor. My host mom and my counselor both commented on how much luggage I brought. ;) We trekked it up stairs to my personal room, with a large queen sized bed, AND my own bathroom. After setting my stuff down, we went down stairs and ate breakfast du pain avec Nutella, sauccisson, du jambon, et du saumon fumé. Afterwords, I got a full tour of this enormous house, complete with a dining hall, living room, kitchen, doctor's office, about 9 bedrooms, and a SWIMMING POOL! My host fathers car is a BMW X5, my mothers a large Toyota ban, and the cars just "hanging out" include a Land Rover, a Porche Boxter and a Porche Carrera. Oh, and my host dad has a PLANE. Hell to the yes! He said he would take me flying sometime!
I also met 4 of my 6 host siblings- François, Sebastian, Damien, and Azeline, my 14 year old sister with down syndrome. They are all very nice, the boys speak practically perfect English, although none of them think so.
In the afternoon, my host mom and I went to the grocery store for a "few things". She bought enough food to feed the entire VILLAGE! And spent 165€, roughly $212.
After we got home, I started to help my host mom unpack the groceries, but through a series of events, fell asleep at the kitchen table. haha. I then proceeded to take a 2 hour nap.
Laurent and Cécile went out for the night, so it was me and the boys, and a family friend named Charlotte for dinner. She also spoke practically perfect english. She was telling me that she went on exchange to Mexico last year, but I think it was just a short term exchange.
Before dinner, we had a some Porto Bello (?). It's a Portuguese wine-like liquor. I personally thought it was aweful, but it seems to be a favorite of the boys. Charlotte said she prefers Martinis. I think I will become quite good friends with this girl. ;) François made a delicious dinner of chicken in "special sauce", des frites (fries), and salad. It was all very delicious. The only thing that I have found that I don't like so far is de l'eau minerale, sparkling water. And it is practically ALL they drink! Gah! It is almost painful to drink. Instead of sparkling water, I have taken up drinking Coca-Cola, ou Coca en français.
After dinner we chatted for a while, well actually they chatted and I mainly tried to listen. When Cécile or any of the boys address me, they speak to me in English. I want them to talk to me in french cause I CAN UNDERSTAND, mostly. ha. But they will speak to me in french when I quit giving them the deer in the headlights look. ;) Charlotte left after a while and then we proceeded to watch an American movie with french subtitles, their choice not mine! The movie was, "The Usual Suspects". I watched about the first five minutes before falling asleep on the couch. I woke up just in time for the credits.
All in all it was a great day. I am glad that I was placed with such a nice family, and I am excited for the coming months with them. :)
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