The last 2 days have seemed so much longer... Haha soooo much longer. The day after we looked at family photos I woke up the next day pretty late... around 12 or so. Then I went with my host dad to Fiesta City and we saw tons of different bands. See, the festival takes place in Verviers, a city really close to the village where I'm living. And in the center of the city there are several different stages set up in different areas and each has a different band/ artist playing at the same time, so if you don't like one, you can always go and see another. A lot of the musicians here sing in English, I've noticed. They all have pretty thick accents, but not any more than some of my favorite bands like Led Zeppelin. Then it started to rain, and all the umbrellas were packed with people, so we went inside this little bar called "Spirit of 66", which I feel would be a nice little hang-out spot for me, if it wasn't on the opposite side of the village. See, I will go to school in Herve, which is to the east of Chaineux (I think), and Verviers is on the other side, to the west of Chaineux. I need to pull up google maps and check...
Anyways, this little bar called Spirit of 66 is an "American bar", where they have only American-style decorations and everyone in there wears shirts with many of the bands I like (though some of the people there aren't the sort I would pal around with...) and everything is based around Route 66. They have tons of old western stuff and all sorts of Route 66 merchandise and posters and such. Anyway, we waited in there for a bit while the next band got ready, and after about half an hour, Leah (the exchange student from Canada) and her older host brother came in and stood with us. After a while it got really hot from all the people standing so close and dancing and whatnot, so Leah and I went outside and stood in the rain for a bit. She told me all about things she was noticing that were different than in Canada, but they were all things that I think are universal everywhere else in the world... things like guys being very rude and aggressive towards passing girls, litter, trash, and smoking in public. But anyway, it was nice to be able to hear some english again and not have to rack my brain trying to figure out if she said "hair" or "horses"... french speakers will know the reference, but for everyone else, the word for hair is "cheveux" and the word for horses is "cheveaux", only a slight difference in pronunciation, if your ears aren't trained to hear it.
So then my host dad and I left because we had to wake up at 4:45 the next morning... We were going shrimp fishing! It was very interesting to see and take a part of. The nets on the boat would lower into the water, we would move for about half an hour or so, then the nets would be brought up and the shrimp/fish/crabs would be dumped into a huge bin and sorted by this big strange machine. All very cool, but I didn't take my camera for fear of dropping it into the North Sea. So about 12 or so guys and 2 kids went "shrimp fishing", but really it was just an excuse to drink, talk, and get away from les femmes. ;) Haha by 8 o'clock in the morning, we were working on the 3rd bottle of wine, and I taught them the phrase "it's five o'clock somewhere". My dad would be proud that I quoted Jimmy Buffet.
Then we came back and I took a shower. We ate and then we went back out to Fiesta City, as it is a 3-day long festival. We went back to Spirit of 66 and we also ran into a bunch of people that my host dad knew, and a few I knew as well. We met his sister and her husband, who live in Normandy, France. His accent was very different from the Beglians'. He said he has a hard time understanding them too. Then we went around and listened to even more music. We even listened to a jazz band, and I tried to explain New Orleans and my parents' history there to him, but he didn't know New Orleans, so it didn't really work too well. Then we sat outside at this cafe and waited for my host mom and her nephew, Maxime. He is 9 years old and the cutest thing I have ever seen. I've decided I want a Belgian baby. Some day I will come back and marry a Belgian girl and raise our kid here. Or at least teach my future kid french from the time he is little...
At the cafe I had a dish called Boulettes a Liegeois, which were like these little meat "bullets" in a nice sauce, and of course les frites a la mayonnaise. I also tried my first Chimay Bleue (shout-out to uncle Lance, it was really good, and not at all too strong!) and then we took Maxime to get ice cream. In the store, a little Asian girl ran in, snatched my host mom's jacket and Maxime's leftovers off the table, and ran outside into a huge crowd of people. I found her, and her mom who looked very confused about where the items came from. I explained that they were mine, and she gave them back and apologized. I came back in the store before my host mom ever missed me or the jacket/food. She was helping Max pick out an ice cream flavor. Then we took Max home and I came home and passed out. It was like midnight and I had been up since like 5... It was a very fun few days and I made lots of memories, but unfortunately I only have like 10 pictures... I will post those later.
P.S. There was a band that had a lead singer who looked exactly like David Whitmore. It was hilarious because he was wearing black leather skin-tight pants and a black leather trench coat. I took a video but I can't put it on my computer. So for family members, I will save the video for when I get back in the states. Love and miss you all!
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