Here we go Belgium
Don't count the days. Make the days count.
First day in IKSO.
We wake up very nervous, it was our first day in another school. Different people, teachers, subjects... They welcome us and there were some students from the students council and some girls of our same age. They were (and are) very very nice. They showed us all the high school and ntroduced us in front of many classes. We met a lot of people but we could not remeber all their names.
We had some lessons like Geography and French. French was a bit difficult because we don't have French for two years so Je ne sais pas parler français!.
These days we haven't stop. Our "parents" had take us to everywhere and we have had a lot of fun. We have had snowball fights, eaten a lot of food, played cards, and laughed, laughed and laughed.
Yesterday we went to Aalst to see some preparations for the big carnival of Aalst. The make several and huge figures of famous people in Belgium like politicals. The people who make it laugh at them but also at themelves. In the place where we went to see how it is made was very very very cold. It was colder than outside, and probably outside was below zero.
Today I went to the Inge's father house, and we were welcome by their huge dog Guinnes. It's very big a brown.
We ate some cakes and then we had dinner. What a lovely day!
So this is the second day I've been in Brussels and I LOVE IT! :) We went to the Terracota's Army Museum, and we saw very interesting things and sculptures.
We also went to the Grote Markt and we were very surprised about how big it was (the name matches prefectly ;) ) and how much beautiful were the ancient buildings.
First Day in Belgium. 09/01/13
We spent the day in airports. It was a long long day. We had to stay in Madrid's airport for four hours. For hours doing nothing, unless you count sleep (ask Alba B. if you want to know the experience).
These four hours also were usefull to talk. Talk, talk and talk. Talk about no sense things. Sharing thoughts about what we were expecting and worries we had.
Then in the plane we made the last review of our dutch notes (we needed it).
When we arrived the receive us with a placard which said “WELCOME
ALBA2 AND IRENE!!!!”.
That was very nice of them. We couldn´t stop smiling.
After carrying all the luggage we went to Hans and Andrea’s house and they had prepared some typical Belgium food. We ate a kind of sandwich with “meat bread” and jam. Although the mixture is a bit strange it was delicious. After this, each one went to her family´s house and they show us the houses and our rooms. Afterwards we went straight to bed since we were very very very very tired.
We also went to se the amazing Cathedral of Brusselss. It is very beautiful and huge.
We were shocked to be in the place where people from the Belgium Royal Family have been married.
Another day in Brussels..
We woke too early today, at nine o'clock. The reason is that we had to take the train to go to Brussels.
We saw another part of Brussels we haven't seen yet. We visited the richest part and the poorest one. Nevertheless each one has its own charming side.
We had a little accident because Alba B. fell in the ground and at first we were very worried about her because she didn't speak. But it was nothing, a minute later we were laughing together.
We also went shopping on our own! We went to the shopping street. It's similar to Triana but, much longer.
It's quite annoying when you have to try clothes on because of all the warm clothes you have to wear.
Comenius Proyect Meeting.
Today we had to go to Brussels again because of a meeting. We spent one night in a youth hotel. There we met two girls and a boy from Lithuania. The meeting was about how we feel here in Belgium, playing games that were supposed to have a similar thing with our stay in Belgium. The trainer also gives us advices about how we could improve our stay.
At night we had a walk with a touristic guide. We did a little contest, we asked us questions about general history and we had to answer. I have to say that history is not our thing.
We went to three different places to eat. First, we went to a Brasilian restaurant to have a few apperitives. Then we went to have dinner, We ate a steak with french fries. After that we went to have dessert. We went to a really ancient place to eat waffles. Very, very tasty all of it!
Belgium, as it is.
100 Dagen!
Last Friday, 8/02/13, was celebrated the 100 dagen in IKSO. It's a "party" that the people from the last level do when only left 100 days to finish school, and for them, in addition, the high school. It's very crazy and it is a thing we don't know in Spain but I think it would be nice if we intruduce it;). Well, the 100 dagen consist in putting hair lotion and glitter in your hair but also painting in the faces of all the people younger than you. Afterwards they do some dances. I have to say I was very surprised of the quality of each one. They were very well-done. I think that if we do the same in Spain the results wouldn't be as good as it was here. After all these things the people from the sixth year go to do some activities like paintball and so on with their tutors. The rest of all the students with very funny (and dirty) faces go to the classroom and have lessons as normal.
Aalst Carnaval
Carnaval, Carnaval, Carnaval!
First of all, I have to say that it is not what we expected. It doesn't mean that we didn't like it. It is just only different. The floats are more beautiful than in Las Palmas and you can see the amount of work they had spent in it. They were absolutely great. They were very colorful and even some of them had swings. Each float had only a music and the dancers had to do always the same. The music played in Carnaval is like the normal ones but they change the lyrics. So you can perfectly hear the Gagnam Style in the Aalst dialect. Of course the lyrics have another meaning.
Final of the Carnaval.
Everyting has an end and the Aalst Carnaval too. After three crazy days of Carnival is over. The Carnival ends at 9 more or less in a kind of square. We had to be almost 2 hours outside and it was almost freezing! When it was the time the major and the Prince of Carnaval (each year people from Aalst choose one person to be the Prince of Carnaval) burn a type of big doll. The burning doll is compared with the final of Carnival. While the doll was burning a sad and emotional song was playing. We were very surprised when we saw around us and a lot of people were crying in the shoulders of others. Quite a strange thing!!! They love Carnaval very much.
Skii!
Today we went to skiing. For sure it is not my thing but nevertheless I enjoyed so much. Although we woke up very early in the morning and we were very sleepy in the car, we could see the beautiful landscape. There was a lot of snow! The place where we went was near to Luxembourg and Germany so you could apperciated it when saw the houses. They were built similar to the German houses.
It was our first time,we had never gone skiing. I was the first time in falling down and it was ery funny because it was downhill and I couldn't stop. Really, I fell down more than ten times and I hurt my knee but I had no idea of how I should stop, I still don't know it!!! After an hour and a half of fights with the skis and the elevator (OMG sooooo embarrasing, I wasn't able to stand in the elevator even for the half of the way and there were a lot of children who could do it perfectly) I gave up so Ann and me went to do some other thing.
Gent.
Today we visited Gent, a lovely city which has everything. It is a city with a lot of university students, several differents shops, it's very beautiful and it is not as crowdy as Brussels and other cities. I loved Gent very much. It has a river a some bridges. In summer it has to be very nice! We saw very interesting monuments and Andrea like a very good touristic guide explained us the history of them. We entered in a medieval castle and we loved it so much. It had a room where there were all the tortures the people made in that time. AWFUL!
Brugge.
Today we went to one of the most known cities in Belgium, Brugge, and we liked it a lot. We went with Andrea (Hannelore's mum).
We visited a lot of monuments and important buildings like the Belfort, De Grote Markt, Heilig-Bloedbasiliek.
We loved the city because it has a lot of rivers and bridges. That makes the city very lovely and romantic. Although there were several tourists taking photos everywhere, we enjoyed our visit very much.
We also visited the Chocolate's Museum which was very nice to see. We saw his history, from how it was grownby the mayans to the importance that it has in royalty times.
Another we visited was the ancient hospital where we saw the tools they had long time ago.
We went to a museum where there was en exposition of paintings from painters like Picasso and Miró.
De Panne.
FINALLY! FINALLY WE SAW THE SEA! We were missing it so so bad. It was the longest period of time we didn't see it. Although we arrived to De Panne at night we went directly to the beach to see closer the sea. It was so cold but we enjoyed it a lot!
Suddenly we saw an strange big thing on the sand and we were scared, we thought that it could be an animal or something so we came back to the appartment. There we saw a fil, but it wasn't very good. Alba B. and me were the only ones who kept awake. Next day we had a walk on the beach and in the shopping street. After lunch we went to France. It is very nearby but it feels nice to say that we had been in France!!!
On Sunday we went to Ieper, we went to see a I World War Museum. I have always liked tha period of time while we were learning it at schooL, so I enjoyed a lot. It was very interesting and modern. We could see in screens actors playing like they are in the Allies or in the Exes Powers, priest, British, German... and they tell their story, what the had passed, what they had sufferes. We were very shocked when we heard that the armies stopped war when it was Christmas and that day they were together, eating, talking adn celebrating Christmas like friends or even family. Next dday all this was forgotten.