Monday, 20 August, 2012: 

Ok so I've done a ton of stuff since I last updated the blog, and let me just start of by saying this: The stereotype about Belgium and beer is not a stereotype, but a fact. I am beginning to learn that this country revolves around its beer! :) but anyways, Friday I woke up and went to Liège with an exchange student from New Zealand named Lydia. She spoke english so it went much more smoothly than most things I have done so far. She showed me around the city, and I had my first "frites" with mayonnaise. They weren't spectacular, but she said they weren't very good quality for frites of Liège, so I am still hoping to try better. Then she bought me a Jupiler (their equivalent of Bud Light, even though it rivals Stella Artois and is brewed by the same company) because I am her "newwie" and she is my "oldie" haha. Anyways, it was good and we walked in this cathedral in the center of the city which was beautiful! I don't have any pictures of that day though because I forgot my camera. But not my fault, we were running late and had to hurry to catch the bus! 

Then I got home and immediately left with my host parents to go to a little art showing and to pick up one of their friends, Luk. They call him "Luky" because it is like "lucky" :p Anyways, then we went back to Liège and went to a small concert of maybe 50 or 60 people. The singer's name was Sarah Carlier and it was really cool because all of her songs were in english! It was also really good music, it was a lot of fun! But we didn't get home until like 1 in the morning because Anne kept making the same wrong turn on the highway and so we rode in a big circle like 3 times. It was really funny though, everyone was laughing hysterically. Then I called my parents since it was like 6 their time. The next morning we went to a town called Spa, so named because of its natural springs and bath houses. It was a tourist town, and very affluent from what they told me. But it was fun, we saw some cool stuff and I took plenty of pictures! :) Then we went to their other friends' house for dinner. There was this joke they made that took me forever to understand because I couldn't understand when they were trying to explain the concept of a designated driver and a  person who gets caught driving drunk and can't drive any more. In Belgique, they call that guy "Bob". The joke was that if I got caught driving them home after drinking a few beers, I would be "Bob Dylan". Haha it was funny, but not worth all the build up. 

The next day we got up and went to the Chateau de Franchimont, which was a ruined castle that has the same name as my host family! It was really interesting, we saw tons of stuff from the Middle Ages and we saw a lot of the things they did back then and we even got to do a few ourselves, like archery and rope binding! My host dad got pictures of those but I didn't. Anyways, that was awesome, and I took a ton of pictures as well. :) Then I came home and my host brother took me to a Football game (real football, not the American garbage) which was weird, my host parents said. They said he is usually so quiet and guarded, (sort of like myself, but even more so). Anyways, that was such a great experience! Getting on the bus, we had to walk on cases of Jupiler (I have pics) that were in the aisle. Then at the game, we were like 7 rows up from the field and everyone was shouting chants like "Allez, allez allez allez!" and "Merci pour la"(after we won) and things I couldn't understand. And when the goal keeper for the other team was in the goal beneath us, every time he would get ready to take a goal kick, the crowd would wiggle their hands in the air, and boo him. And then right after he kicked it everyone would shout "fuck you, mother fucker", or something similar, I couldn't understand it but one of my host brothers friends tried to tell me what it meant in english, and that's all I got. Then the fire department started spraying water into the crowd which was fun. Twice after we scored, people behind us sorta freaked out and fell down on us, which was pretty scary. Like 10 people fell a few rows down and some guy lost his sunglasses. He like rolled head over heels a few times, it was inteeennnnse! Then after our team (Standard Liège) beat the other team (Charleroi) 6-2, our side sorta rubbed it in their faces a bit and they started a small riot. The security crew had to come out and throw gas up into the stands. (I also have pics of that) Luckily we were on the other side of the field and didn't get gassed. On the way out of the stadium there were hundreds of cops in riot gear and whatnot, which was also intense. There were people on top of cars and busses celebrating (I also got pics) and SO MUCH BEER... Haha the language barrier is so much more fun when you're with a bunch of happy drunk people! 

Anyways, it was so much fun and I will post pictures later and maybe even some videos if I can figure out how to get them off my camera. Anyways, it was a ton of fun, these last few days! I'm really gonna miss all this type of stuff when school starts again in September. Oh, also, as an afterthought, I learned that the Belgian "cheers" like when you drink with someone has a really funny story. "Santé" is what you say for "cheers" and you have to make eye contact with the person when you say it. A long time ago, people did that to be sure you weren't poisoning their drink. But that's not the case now, so if you don't make eye contact, you have bad sex for the next 6 years. Lydia explained that one to me, and when my host parents asked me if I knew what it meant, it was really hard to explain. I got as far as "If you don't do it, then for the next six years..." and then I didn't know how to say it in French so I just said "Bad sex." They all laughed and told me a better way to say it and be more appropriate :) This was at the concert by the way. Anyways, I've had a blast, I hope it continues! I will post the pictures next!