I suppose I should explain what I am talking about. Well, Belgium played Croatia on Friday to determine which team was going to the world cup. I wasn't at the actual game, that was in Croatia. I saw the match on some jumbo screens at Place Grognon here in Namur. The atmosphere that day was very frenzied, I didn't know what was going on at first, I just noticed that everyone was dressed rather similarly, black yellow and red was abundant, and a lot of people had face paint on. Once I finally realized what was going on, I knew i had to see the game! So when school ended I headed to Place Grognon to check it out.
The game started at 5:30, or around then at least. The first score was at about 30 minutes into the game, Belgium scored. I have to say, I wasn't quite ready for the reaction from the crowd. Everybody went absolutely nuts, all of a sudden everybody was screaming, jumping, shouting, singing, pushing, dancing chugging and even crying. Then out of nowhere someone set off a huge smoke bomb, a red one. Immediately a dozen policemen converged on the spot, they were clearly expecting it so I can only guess that lighting the smoke bombs is a bit of a tradition. The man who lit it was long gone by the time the police had fought their way to the firecracker, I know this because the same man lit at least four more before the night was over. The game was very very tense, I found myself joining the crowd when the gasped and cheered, and especially when they sang, lucky for me the song of celebration is very easy, I tried to record it but the sound came out lousy, just know that it goes something like: Huay oh! huay oh! huayoh huayoh huayoh!! Oohayoh! Oohayoh! etc etc etc... It's very catchy.
Belgium played again, this time against Wales, it was a tie. Tie's are weird, technically you won, the you can't really celebrate the same way you would if you won outright. Still, made for a very very dramatic game.
Boat ride!!! Rotary took all it's kids on a boat ride! Well, first we visited the Wallonie Parliament, sat through a few hours of briefings and explanations of government, and THEN went for a boat ride!
We took a short jaunt up the Muese river, saw some beautiful scenery:
I thought it was a gorgeous day, it was sunny, a bit nippy maybe, but still absolutely gorgeous by my standards. A couple kids thought it was a bit cold though.
This particular student is from Brasil, she wasn't too happy with the temperature. It was a good trip, we saw cool boats, classy restaurants, even a wedding party! After the boat ride, Rotary let us loose, and as usual we students seized the opportunity to socialize and speak our native tongues! Something that we are rarely able to do these days. But that was Saturday.
Wednesday I had the honor and privilege to experience firsthand a Belgian detention! Only here it is called "Retinue", I was in with 5 other kids from my class, Belgian students. The Educateur in charge put us to work assembling school I.D.'s. This is a ridiculously mind numbing activity, remarkably simple; all we had to do was fold one slip of paper and stuff it into a plastic cover to be laminated elsewhere. The catch was that we had put together over 2,000 of these buggers. Of course the activity would have been quite bearable if it hadn't been for HIM. By HIM I mean the Educateur, he was rather hellbent on making sure his detention hall stayed silent. We weren't allowed to listen to music, or talk, or sing songs, or really do anything besides fold and stuff, fold and stuff. Once we finished he warmed up quite nicely however, even let us out early! That was the only interesting thing that occurred over the school week. Well, we ate pancakes for dinner one night, but that wasn't necessarily interesting, just fun :)
My host mom Valerie cooked them one night, we ate them with maple syrup and applesauce! Crazy delicious!
Tomorrow is a Halloween party at a friends school! I am pretty excited, even if I haven't found a costume yet!
I am going to wrap up with another apology for not posting in a while, I have decided that Sundays are going to be my regular posting days, so look back every Sunday for something new!!! Ta ta for now!! À la prochaine!
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