A Very Busy Week

Well, here I am again, ready to report about yet another week of my life in France. If you're getting tired of these posts but read them anyway because you are my friend and/or feel obligated, don't worry. There are only about 7 weeks left to my 10 month adventure here. And, there are only three school weeks, so if you're tired of hearing about what I learn in SVT, don't fret. Now, with that being said, on to the discussion of my week(well, I guess it's more of a monologue than a discussion since no one ever comments on my posts, meaning that I'm probably just talking to myself. Anyway...)

As the title suggests, I had a very busy week. Monday morning was back to school and meant catching up on the missed tests after the handball tournament. We started Monday morning with 4 hours of French. This one was about poetry, and the question was "'Does a poet have to engage in his time and lead men to combat?' Answer the question in using poems you read in class, the poems provided(since first there were 5 poems to read and a quick question to answer) and poems you know. Also, be sure to explain your notion of the role of a poet during the essay." It was especially complicated for a few reasons. Firstly, I understood basically nothing in the poems, so using them was going to be difficult. Secondly, we hadn't studied any poetry yet this year except one little poem. And finally, I don't really like poetry much so I didn't have much background to use. But, in the end, I think my essay turned out pretty well. I know I've talked about it before, but the french format for a persuasive essay is Thesis(so yes) Antithesis(but no) and then Synthesis(the answer which combines yes and no.) So, I first said that poems could be an effective way to lead people to combat(using poems about starting a revolution, poems about reacting to genocide, and poems about the environment.) I followed with that not all poems are written to make us go to combat(haikus, Shakespearean sonnets, and other examples.) And at the end, I said that although not all poems are supposed to lead us to combat, they are supposed to make us think; the role of the poet is to make us think.

Anyway, Monday afternoon, I made up my 3 hour english test. Except, I finished in 2 hours, and since my teacher is nice, she let me go early. It was so nice to be able to crank out 500 words in about 10 minutes without any effort during the English test after working so hard for each sentence that morning with my french test.

To stretch my legs out after the whole day of sitting in a chair writing, I decided to go for a walk. There is a fair in town right now, so I strolled around to check it out. The fair is set up in two giant parking lots right in the middle of town. The lots seem so much bigger with all of the rides crammed into the space. It is just concession stands and rides, and apparently the fair just travels from town to town all year long. I guess it comes to Valenciennes about 2 or 3 times per year. The rides are your typical fair rides, thinks like bumper cars and lots of things that spin you around in lots of circles. The concession stands sell lots of fun and fatty things, lots of candy and churros and waffles and crepes.    

The traveling arcade that is part of the fair.

A form of merry go round. If you are wondering what the hanging minnie mouse is for, it is because they attach a pompom to it. Then, as the kids go round, the operator pulls up and down on the rope and the kids try to grab the pompom. Whoever gets it gets a free ride.

The giant chocolate stuffed donut that I got from the concession stand. It was a giant, plain donut, which the guy cut in half, filled with chocolate, and then microwaved. It was super yummy.

So, Tuesday I skipped school. I went to Lille to take a French test. It is an international test and if I pass, I will get a diploma that is valid for life that certifies that I have a certain level of competence in French. For example, if you have a C1, you can go to a French University without taking any language tests. And it is good to be able to put the test on a résumé if you are applying for a job with international relations.  I took the B2 level test, and I thought it was a bit too easy, and I should have taken a higher level. But, at least this way I feel like I am assured of passing, and after I continue taking French in college, I can think about taking the higher level. I will find out whether I passed at the end of the month. The test was similar to what I took as the AP test. We started with listening to a 3 minute recording twice, and then had a few minutes to answer some questions. Then we listened to a 2 minute recording once and answered other questions. Next was the reading comprehension, reading two texts and answering questions(multiple choice and free response.) And finally, we were supposed to write a 250 word persuasive essay about whether homeschooling was a good idea. I don't see how you can write a solid, organized essay in 250 words. I had finished my intro and one body paragraph with my 250 words, and ended up at about 600 words to get it all in. I hope they don't take off points for that. Wednesday, I had to come back to Lille to take the oral part of the test. I chose between two documents, had 30 minutes to prepare, then did a 10 minute presentation to a jury, then 10 minutes of question/response. I think it all went well, and I'm not that worried. Going to Lille those days, I felt so cool traveling independently. I was able to walk to the station myself, buy my own ticket, ride the train, catch the metro, and then walk to the university where the exam took place. It was nice to be autonomous.

Thursday was a day off, Ascension Day. To benefit from the holiday, my host family took us to Bruxelles.

 In the afternoon, we went for a walk in downtown Bruxelles. We strolled around the main square, up and down some of the pedestrian streets, and just did a big circle. Almost all of the stores were closed, but still did some window shopping. We also went to the galleries, which was fun because they are so unique with the ambiance of being outside but there being a roof. I particularly enjoyed the terraces of the cafes that were actually inside the gallery.

Wandering around the pedestrian streets, we saw typical Belgian cafes. Here, an accordion player was trying to earn a few euros by playing for these coffee drinking men.

This is the main city hall of Bruxelles.

The main square is 4 huge buildings that form a rectangular place in the middle.

The "outdoor cafes" inside the galleries.

We also went to see the famous statue of the little boy going pee pee. Apparently he is usually naked, but they dressed him up for the holiday. There was a huge crowd of people posing and taking pictures of this symbol of Bruxelles.

The famous statue

The street leading away from the peeing boy was basically chocolate stores and waffle stores.  Honestly, if I thought Brugges was a chocolate store on every corner, downtown Bruxelles was three times worse. Basically, one store out of two sold chocolate. Lots of the others sold waffles just like in the photos I had seen when I did a project on Belgian waffles in Eighth grade. They had all of the toppings lined up, and people walked around the streets desperately trying to eat the waffles without letting the chocolate sauce and the melted whipped cream run all over their hands(let's just say most people didn't succeed.) Although I didn't actually get a waffle, I think they are probably like the other waffles I have eaten in northern France. A lot of the specialties are the same in northern france and belgium. Personally, I have found that I don't like the waffles here because they are much too heavy and dense. I'm used to my mom's amazing light and fluffy waffles, so biting into a waffle here to get a mouthful of half-cooked dough is not super pleasant. Actually, I have seen how the waffle store in the mall of my town makes the waffles. They take a ball of dough, like bread dough, and put it into the waffle iron, rather than pouring in batter. The waffles are really, really dense. So, I'm planning to make waffles for my host family soon to share my family's tradition with them.

The 5 chocolate stores all squished into the corner next to the statue of the peeing boy had a giant chocolate version in the window. This store also had the waffle display in the window, too.

The super crowded chocolate and waffle alley that led from the statue to the main square.

The other sweet specialty of Belgium is speculoos, which are cinnamon flavored crunchy cookies. They are traditionally made in the form of St. Nicolas for the holiday at the beginning of January, but you can find them year round in the grocery store as just rectangular cookies. They are super yummy, and I'm hoping to bring some home with me. 

Today, I took my last of the grouped tests: SVT. It was 3 hours and 30 minutes long, and I ended up spending 45 minutes working on a certain exercise only to discover that it didn't change my answers at all. I was glad when it was over, because now all that is left is my french oral. It will be nice to finally be able to go to class next week without always being in catch-up mode.

Well, that's the update. I have my final handball match tomorrow, and then we are having a pizza party afterwards at our house. It should be cool. It is the first Saturday without "The Voice" in a long time, so it is good that we have something else to fill up our Saturday evening.