Holiday...Part 2....Dublin

We flew into Dublin around 3:00 pm. It was a rough flight because we were coming from Prague, still drunk, and living on 2 hours of sleep. Flying in, Dublin was absolutely beautiful!! We manage to find our hostel, which was very homey and not hostely at all. It was a little rainy, so for those of you who know how my hair reacts to water and humidity...it looked like that! Not a good look for first impressions. We found a place to eat, which was very eco friendly and a quaint coffee shop that hooked us up with more energy. Turns out that the coffee shop was attached to this bar/restaurant/club that we will later frequent. We then hit up the shopping street, which was phenomenal!! Dublin has better style than America...I'm jealous. We head back to the hostel and attempt to call it a night because we were exhausted, but these 2 boys were there (practically right outside of our door) playing their guitars and singing. OOOWEEE HOTTIES! They actually weren't even that cute, but the way they were playing and singing....you forgot all about that. We put in some requests, but they didn't know any "American" songs. They still sang to me....not the other girls...but don't listen to what they have to say.



The next day, we went on a day bus tour to Wicklow. It takes you out to the country and around the area. Lots of films have been shot in the area we went to, but I have never seen PS I love you or Leap Year...those movies are crap so that part didn't thrill me. The land its self was amazing! Turns out our tour guide was youngish and cuteish, so Whitley was brave and asked him to come out with us that night. He had a football game that night, so he said maybe. We weren't heartbroken, but went home to get cleaned up. While we were getting ready, he ended up calling our hostel and leaving us a message to meet him at this place around 10:00. We went to eat before we had to meet him and ended up stopping in that bar/restaurant/club that was attached to the coffee shop. There was a hottie standing outside telling us about the menu, Whitley being such a flirt, invited him to come join us when he got a break. We are almost done with our meals when he comes up with a friend of his and sit down at the next table. We chit chat a little and then they agreed to meet us at the bar we were going to meet our tour guide at. They also mentioned that the bar we were meeting at was an old people's bar, but we thought maybe they were wrong. Always trust the locals!!! We walk into the bar and we are the youngest people by about 30 years! It was old people central! It was funny because this one lady (at least 40) ended up being so drunk that she fell backwards off of her stool. I wanted to laugh so hard, but everyone else was "pretending" to be worried, so I wasn't going to be that insensitive girl, but let me tell you...after about 10 minutes had passed I let out a really loud laugh at the lady.

The 2 guys from the restaurant came and met us, we had some drinks and tour guide never showed up. We called it quits on him and left with the other two guys. They took us to this really cool club that happened to be right by our hostel. When we walked in there was a live band that was playing really good songs and then downstairs was a dance area. We stayed in the live band area. We were enjoying ourselves and bopping around when I get pulled out into the dance/mosh area by some drunkie. He was so drunk that his facial expressions never changed, he would just move to the music. I thought why not dance with him, but when I was done I tried slinking away, but he kept pulling me back. I look over at Jenna to save me and she happens to be recording the whole thing! The video is priceless!

Jenna and I decide to go get another drink, while I'm not sure what the others did. Oh well. So, I'm standing at the bar and I get a tap on the shoulder. I assume that it's Jenna because she was behind me. I look and no one is there. I feel a tap on the other shoulder and again no one is there. I was like ughh Jenna stop and then this guy pops out and goes "gotcha!"I couldn't help but be amused because I just got tricked by the oldest trick in the book and by some random guy in Dublin. We ended up talking for a while and then out of no where he goes "I"m going to marry you". Umm...hahah this guy is drunk! I was like ya sure, but he kept going on about how I was his future wife and that I was exactly his type and that I was the one. I can honestly say that I have never heard that line before. He wouldn't stop talking about us getting married, so I decided to just play along. We ended up hanging out for the rest of the night until he told me that he was going downstairs with his friend so his friend could get his jacket and that he would be right back. Jenna and I wait there for a good 15 minutes when he NEVER comes back! hahaha some husband!

We ended up staying until the bar closed and discovered that the Irish are careless with their money and the floors of the bar were covered in euros! I ended up finding about 2 euros worth of coins on the floor. The luck of the Irish! On our walk back, we find a fight in front of our hostel. Jenna and I were intrigued, so we stayed and watched. Turns out, that one of the main guys in the fight was the drunkie that I danced with earlier in the night! hahahaha it was too good!

The next day, we go to the Guinness warehouse and take the tour. The beer was gross! blech. But the tour was cool. After that, we head to the airport for our final trip to Roma!!....

Holiday...part 1 "Prauge"

So, there was too many things that happened to us on this week long holiday, so I'll have to break the trip up into parts. Part one is what we like to call "Prague"....

We leave school on Friday early to catch our bus to Prague. We were all sure that this bus ride was 10 hours, we are 10 hours in a realize that the bus ride is actually 14 hours long! Ugh. This bus is packed as well. Jenna and I are in the very back where all 5 seats are connected and then Lindley and Whiltey are in the 2 seats in front of us. About 5 hotties walk onto the bus as well, so we are thinking that this is going to be a good 14 hours. We take off and Jenna passes out. Great. About 2 hours or so into the trip the 2 ladies sitting next to Jenna and I begin to paint their nails. I'm sorry, but who paints their nails in a packed bus?! The fumes are awful and the bus is extremely bumpy that the ladies have paint not only on their nails, but all the way up their hands. Once they were done, they decided to add polka dots?! Their nails turned our awful ps. So there is this Aussie girl sitting in front of Whitley and Lindley and we start talking with her and it turns out that she is travelling around Europe for 7 months by herself! YIKES. But she happens to be sitting next to the hotties. They are from Brussels, are 21, and are going to Prague! We thought this sounded good, but to them we were "untouchables" or something! The only time they bothered talking to us was when they shouted "Hey Texas girls" to us and to ask us if we were cheerleaders! Well, Whitley slightly is and said yes and they started shrieking. I'm not sure if that was good or bad. She showed them some photos and let's just say they had no interests in us after that!

Around 3:30ish we woke up to 4 Czech police demanding for our passports. That is not a good way to be woken up. We finally arrive in Prague around 5:30AM!!!! After wandering around for our hotel for 45 minutes, we finally came across it...right next to a brothel! Well, we can't check in until 2:00pm and it is just 6:30 am. Crap. Jenna and I pass out in the lobby while the other girls did something. We venture out around 8:30 for breakfast, get lost, get picked up by an American man, he leads us to another place. We go back to the hostel to wash our faces and brush our teeth. We meet 2 guys who are here from the states and they invite us to breakfast. Well, we already ate, but we didn't want to pass up the chance to meet new people. So we accept. They end up going on this walking tour with us. They have this friend who lives in Prague and he happens to be DJing at the bar in our hostel. We meet up with them that same night to watch his friend. The music was ummm.....they called it "experimental music"...they should have kept experimenting before they played it for us. The hostel gave us free crappy beers and the guys provided us with awkward conversations....religion, abortion, politics, dads. It was interesting. One guy brought his hookah down and we smoked some hookah for a bit. He tried to teach Whitley and I how to blow smoke rings....we failed miserably. We took off quickly after that.

The next day we take a walking tour of the castle. We have to take a tram up to the castle so the entire tour group is trying to get onto one tram. While we were waiting, Jenna plays this pickpocketing game on me. It was slightly funny. So the tram comes and we all bombard it. I'm getting pushed and I think they it is Jenna pushing me because she couldn't get on the tram. I move to the side and I look back to see if she got on. Well, what do I see?! Do I see Jenna on the tram...yes, but I also see my wallet going above my head!! So I run to the doors, which are closing and I push them back open. This lady is standing at the doors with my wallet in her hands. So I shout "give me my wallet back!" and what does she do!? She hands it back....?! WTF why didn't she run?! I mean she has my wallet in her hands and then gives it back when a little 5'2" girls asks for it back! So, of course I thanked her for that. Well, she then sticks her tongue out at me! Rude. Afterwards, I realized that I thanked some lady for finding my wallet in my purse and then giving it back to me!! Oh Prague.

We end up meeting some new friends on the tour as well along with our tour guide. We all go out for drinks that night at this place called Pub. It was really cool because on each table there is about 4 taps that you can get your beer from. But each table is also competing with other tables from around the country on how much beer you are drinking. Our table didn't win. After a beer we thought that it would be a good idea to take a shot of Absinthe. EWWW worst idea ever. It tasted like paint stripper. Ugh. So we all go back to the beer. I guess we were too loud and the Pub closed early. We weren't ready to go home yet, so we wander around until we found this other bar. We walked in and it was chill. So we sit down and are talking, but then we discover that there is an underground disco hall. We go down there and there is hardly anyone so we dominate that dance floor. We are dancing like fools because there is no one there to judge. I look over and there is this older man (40s) sitting at this table by himself just bopping. So, I go over and invite him to join our dancing group. He got excited, but only did one move with his hands and clapped like every 3rd beat. He soon sat down. So we are dancing and drinking and look down and it is about 4am. Apparently, the bars in Prague don't shut down. So we are getting our coats back on when this guy runs downstairs and starts tearing up the dance floor. We don't know how to react so we just stare and then decide to join him. He is going nuts and flailing his whole body...we assume that he has to be on drugs. So I go up and ask him what drugs he is on...he responds with "I Czech and I dancer" umm....since when did that become a drug?! So I ask him again and he says that same thing...that's when we noticed....dun dun dun....he has some snot formation going down his nose to his mouth. We are all grossed out and I told him that he needs to wipe his face he has some snot dripping. He told me, or so I thought, that the snot was his helpers. So I run to Jenna and was like this is so bizarre he told me it was his helpers....Jenna thought maybe it was his herpes. Not really sure, so I run and get him a tissue. I start dancing with him and waving the tissue in his face. I told him that he needed this to wipe his face. He took the tissue, rubs it on his face, throws it, and it lands on Jenna! hahahahaha. But the snot was still there! So I told him again and that's when he confirmed that the snot was in fact HERPES!! AHHHHHHH. So at this point we think he is the plague. So we are dancing, but not close to him. He comes up to me and gets really close as if he were going to kiss me, but before he even had a chance I was out of there! I told Jenna and asked her if Herpes was contagious, but before she could finish I was already in the bathroom washing my face and hands. Gross! We left quickly after that. We head home to the hostel and find that Jenna's ipod is missing. We tell the people working there, but they couldn't do much. So we go to bed for about 2 hours and then we had to get up again. When we wake up, Lindley finds that $600 is missing from her bag. Oh shit. But that was about it. There wasn't much that the hostel could do, so we had to leave to make our early flight to Dublin.....I don't think this post did Prauge justice, but it's the best I can do when typing.

Great day!

Last night it snowed and the lady that is picking us up while Tracey is gone is a little fearful of driving in the snow. Even though we told her that our roads were fine, she made us walk a mile to meet her at a corner of this main road! Keep in mind, that at 7:15 in the morning it is dark out and freezing!! When we got to the corner, she wasn't even there! We had to wait about 5 to 10 minutes for her! Least I can finally say that I have walked mile(s) in the snow to school, but in Europe! Try and beat that parents!

Today, all of the first grade teachers were gone for this conference...that means Lindley and I would be left alone with a sub. Sub's are never fun, so I wasn't looking forward to it. I go into class early to plan, especially since I wasn't there the day before. Luckily, Vanessa left an outline of the schedule for me. So, the kids come in and we start the morning routine. I look at the clock and it's 10:30....still no sub. I went the entire day teaching the kids by myself with no sub or anything. IT WAS FANTASTIC! The lessons went smoothly and the kids were able to whiz through their work after that because they understood the lesson. It's a good feeling. I am extremely impressed with myself. At the end of the day, the kids are to write in their agendas a few things that they did that day. I went around reading them and signing off on them. EVERY kid wrote that "Mrs. Darroch was gone today and Mrs. Sarah was here and we had so much fun!" Oh crap. They weren't supposed to say that. They were supposed to talk about how much they learned!! Oh well....beggars can't be choosers.

We arrive home and I'm last to walk in the doors. I hear Jenna go HA and point and then Whitley follows the same thing. I thought they were laughing at one of the dogs. Little did I know. I walk in and LAMBIE PIE is laying in the middle of the rug downstairs! I know I left him upstairs in bed. I rush over to him to pick him up and guess who beats me to him!! Frodo!! This big dog! He snatches him up and starts running around the room with lambie in his mouth! I'm shouting at him to drop it and he is just growling back. Lambie's life flashed before me! I could just see his cute little tail being ripped off. It was a horrific sight. Finally, Jenna grabbed his collar, Whitley grabbed his face and I grabbed Lambie out of his mouth. He was soaking and covered in dog fur. EWWWWWW. I have to sleep with him tonight like that! Everyone thought it was hilarious. Whiltey even caught the event on video. It might be funny in a few days. Right now Lambie is just scared for his life. Don't worry...Whitley got a video...http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=18312829#!/video/video.php?v=622336979724&ref=mf

At dinner, everyone made me pray. Future reference....I'm not good at that. I couldn't think of anything serious at that moment, so I basically made a joke out of it. Except, I prayed for good things. Like Lambie's safety in this house and for us to have a good trip and not miss any flights so Dakota won't have to spend another week with us and for Tracey to come back and save of from crazy Joy who doesn't know how to drive. None of the standards like bless this food we put in our body blah blah blah. It was actually rather good.

So, tomorrow we leave for our week long holiday. You won't hear from me for a whole week. It's sad really. We will head off on a 10 hour long bus ride to Prague...ew. We will spend 2 days there and then fly to Dublin. Spend 2 days there and then fly to Rome. Spend 3 days there and then head back to Brussels.

Watch out Europe! I'm on the run!

Kids here are hilarious

So, today in class I feel like loads of funny things happened. First, we were reviewing the vowels and all the kids had "a, e, i, o , u" right and then the teacher said "and sometimes...." and before any other kid shouted out the answer this little boy shouts "and K". Ummm....since when did K become a vowel! hahahahaha it was brilliant. The teacher goes "umm...I think you mean Y" and the kid just stared back at her. When we were asking what the kids learned about time, the same kid said that he learned that time=life. hahahaha how deep for a first grader. All the kids looked back at the board and were confused because they didn't seem to get that same message out of the lesson. I swear to you, these kids are amazing here. These kids are truly making me consider coming back to Europe to teach. They also think that cupid is a creepy naked man that runs around shooting people to make them fall in love.

After school, this other first grade teacher was going to take us down to the train station so we could book a train pass, but she had a conference first. Jenna and I got to talking with my teacher while we were waiting. Somehow her "ladyship" came up in conversation and she unveiled that her husband is actually the ambassador to the EU and that the house they live in was given to them by the government and that they have a full staff including, a butler, a driver, a full time chef, maids, and other people that work for them. She then passes us her number and tells us to call her anytime we want for drinks (they also get free champagne...luckies). Jenna and I then got a lesson on how ambassadors work and were taught that the US has some and they are actually neighbors with Vanessa. We had no idea that we even had people like that in the states. Let's just say that Vanessa was....well shocked that we had no idea! I hope she doesn't tell her ambassador neighbor that we had no idea that he existed. That's a little embarrassing...

We then went to the train station, which was a real fiasco. Karen offered us to take us home and cook for us. We didn't hesitate on accepting. Her house was lovely and her husband! OOOWEEEE....he is quite handsome. He is a true Belgian. Somehow, our blog came up in conversation and the fact that we might blog about them....they found that slightly creepy...oops. Karen also gave us some "predinner food". She wouldn't tell us what it was until after we ate it...that's never a good sign. I'm not very adventurous with food...so this was a huge thing for me. I ate it, and it had this ummm sweet yet weird taste to it. I wasn't quite done eating it when Karen told us that it was duck liver and onions....ummm vomit it my mouth please!!

Learning happens everyday...

1. Washing machines are kept in the kitchen.
2. Doors don't exist with doorknobs...outside or in. If the door shuts behind you and you don't have a key...you're screwed.
3. Travel backpacks suck.
4. The exchange rate absolutely robs you.
5. If you don't ride a bike...well, you're a loser.
6. Apparently, it's better to swerve and take your chances hitting another car than hitting a pot hole.
7. Having a native European, that is also driving, ask 4 American girls where we are in Brussels is not a good question.
8. Interestingly enough, the question "do you have a baby" and "have you ever had a baby before" doesn't mean the same thing to some kids. Needless to say, I answered the question differently everytime.
9. Tracey trusts us enough to leave her 14 year old son with 4 girls for a week while her and Dirk are in the states for a funeral. hahahahahahhahahahaha.
10. Bronie humps anything that will stand still long enough to let her prepare herself.
11. Water is not free.
12. You have to pay to use the loo, but men can pee in urinals placed on the sidewalk. ugh. gross and not fair.
13. Spooning with Jenna really isn't that bad.
14. Sex museums don't inform you on much. They just provide free porn.

Amsterdam!

Amsterdamn was a lot of fun! It was at least 10 degrees colder than it is here in Brussels. It was misty and cloudy and slightly dumpy. We arrived Saturday afternoon and checked into our hotel/creepy sex pot. The room was absolutley hilarious. There were 2 beds, but each bed consisted of 2 twins pushed together. The walls were bright pink and the curtains had hearts all over them. The sheets had yellow stains on them and the bathroom was the best part. You open the door and step right into the toilet. We had to sit sideways to actually have room to sit down, otherwise we would have hit the wall. Immediatley to the toilet's right was the sink and shower. The sink was technically in the shower and there was no shower curtain or any type of divider. Good thing we only stayed for one night and didn't need a shower. After checking in, we headed out to explore Amsterdam. We went to the Anne Frank house and then to the red light district. Amsterdam isn't as pretty as we thought it would be. It could have just been the weather, but it just didn't wow me. The red light district was interesting. I truly realized how immature I am...I couldn't stop giggling at half the things I saw. It was sad in a way too.

We went to a place near by to eat and get some drinks. I thought it was called "treasures" but apparently it was called "teasers". We were the only girls in this packed place. It was like the club version of hooters. We were so out of place, but decided that we would have one beer since we were already in there. Within minutes some creepy blad man walks over to us and starts talking. Whitley saved us all by saying that we were from Mexico and only spoke spanish. He had a hard time believing that because we were all "too white". But he was too drunk and didn't speak any english or spanish so we were able to pull it off. He asked for Jenna's name so he could add her as a friend on facebook! hahahahahaha. Ya, she gave him the wrong name for sure. At that moment we realized, if we truly want to meet guys we should just go to a sports bar full of men!





After that we hit up the night life. This is where I have to stop. If you are over the age of 19 and younger than the age of 25, you can message me or get in touch with me and I'll share some good stories. This means you Todd! If you do not fit into that age range, sorry. Maybe another time. But I will share one photo just to show some of the people that we ran into.

Just to explain the photo...he put a dildo in his pants...I'm not grabbing anything of his!










Sunday, Jenna and I wandered into the sex museum. It was funny and slightly gross. It was a bunch of photos. It was like walking into a porn shop. But Jenna and I did find these...

Thanks

Thanks to everyone who is reading my blog! Like Toodles and Gear Bear! Sammy--thanks for posting the link the the Daily Delta Gamma..even if you don't completely admit to doing it.

I've never had followers before and now I have 14. This is nice.

Lambie gets no fun.

So, I've been a really bad "owner"? Is that even the correct term for my relationship with Lambie? I mean, I can't say girlfriend because I'm not dating him...that's just weird on too many levels. Regardless, I have been really awful. I forget to take Lambie Pie everywhere I go! He hasn't seen anything. All he does is hide in bed, away from the 3 dogs that live here. I mean I guess at night he gets a good spooning from me...I let him be little spoon, but other than that he is seriously deprived. His time might come when we go to Amsterdaaaammm this weekend.

School is going great! I really enjoy first grade. I think that I might want to teach 1st more than I do K. The kids here make me laugh so much. It is health week here and the students are learning about healthy foods and ways to stay healthy. This girl was presenting her health project to the class and was saying how we shouldn'e eat much candy and sweets. This other boy joins in by telling us that if we eat too much of those foods then we won't be able to poop for a veyr long time. I could not stop laughing. I had to get up and excuse myself because it was so funny how casual he said that. I'm so immature. I also wear my nametag to school, I'm not sure why, but I do. So all the kids think that my name is TCU Sarah Bourland School of Education because that's what the nametag says. So, they like to draw me photos and on this one photo it literally said "To: TCU Sarah Bourland School of Education" as if the entire thing was my full name! hahahaha. They also like to pull on it to bring it closer to their faces...let's just say if they weren't looking so hard at the nametag they would get an eye full of something else. I've stopped wearing it because it became a problem of them exposing myself too many times!

Today, this little boy got kicked in the face while playing football (soccer). I took him to the loo to get cleaned up because he was bleeding a little. Turns out the ball made his already loose tooth even looser. I got excited for him because this will be his first tooth to lose. He immediately started crying. Could these be tears of joy?! Well, no. Once I got excited, he became terrified because he thought that this "toothfairy" I spoke of was going to come and steal his tooth. I explained to him that he would grow a new and better tooth, but he said that he was happy with the one he had. I eventually calmed him down and had him playing again. Afterwards, I realized that I had scared this kid to tears from talking about this fake fairy coming to take his tooth. Damnit. He still likes me though.

Tomorrow will be my first time being left alone with the class for multiple hours. If I don't blog tomorrow, then I'm dead or in trouble. Notify someone....not my parents though.

I learn something new everyday..

1. Apparently, Belgium really likes valentines day. Everywhere we go it looks like Valentines vomed everywhere. Gross.
2. Europeans are really careful with their money. They don't just leave it on the ground like us Americans do.
3. The prettiest doors can be found in Brugge. I'm going to buy a door.
4. Beer is really good.
5. Euros look funny.
6. It is acceptable to put sex toys in a window display that is right next to a children's store.
7. Bikers do not stop for anyone, even if you are in a car!
8. Frites can go with anything. "How is your waffle, would you like some frites with that?" Umm..french fries and waffles!
9. If you're lost, keep walking. You'll find something even better.
10. If you carry a map, wear a camera, and look at euros funny....you're an American.
11. If a guy uses the line that "you're in the wrong toilet" as a pickup line...he isn't worth talking to and extremely creepy.
12. All their music is American.

ps...you'll have to look at photos on facebook. It is hard posting them on here.

In Brugge. Shoot first, sightsee later.

When you can take the day to spend in Brugge and then head back home to Brussels, you're living the life.

Today, school was cancelled because they didn't have heat! It was the most amazing thing to happen ever, especially since Dakota (Tracey's son) prayed for a snow day at dinner last night and he still had school today. He wasn't thrilled with how that turned out. With our day off we went to Brugge. It was so amazing! We took the train there and spent the entire day walking around and taking photos and being extremly obvious that we are americans. We got there around 10:30 and had no idea where to go. We decided that we would just start walking and we would eventually find something. Ya, we were right. We found the market square which had a big farmers market in the middle. It slightly smelled, but it was still nice. We stopped in this place to get hot chocolate and I had another waffle. They are just too good. Afterwards, we were trying to find the clock tower to get museum tickets and while Lindley and Whitley were messing with the map (such americans) Jenna and I (who have no direction sense at all) were able to find the tower. I'm sure it was by chance, but we still got there! So suck it maps...we don't need you.

We go into the tower and we were able to buy a 3 day pass to loads of museums for 5 euro. That was a big highlight for us. We then climbed the tower. Holy hell....that was a near death experience. The stairs were extremely narrow, steep, and spiral. I swear to you there were at least 1000 stairs, but Tracey says that there are only 366. Whose word are you going to take?! There were a 1000, but once we got to the top. OH MY GOD it was beautiful. We could see everything in Brugge. Whitley says that the sight brought tears to her eyes, and then she saw some in mine, but I had to confess that those were from the wind.

We were going to see this museum that had a vial Jesus' blood, but it is closed on Wednesdays...and just Wednesdays. I told Whitley that I would cut myself and let her look at my blood and that it is technically Jesus' because in a way he made me....I guess I stretch things too much because she didn't like that idea. We made our way to this place for lunch and had pizza. Our waiter was extremely cute, but Jenna and I thought that he HAS to be in his 30's because he, well looked in hsi 30's, and was balding on top and in front. Whitley and Lindley thought that he was in his 20's. Whitley decided to ask him and turns out he is 25! He is lying. We all then get to talking and turns out he speaks 6 different languages and I think offered to show us around. Too bad we had to leave...he was hot and I guess younger than I thought.

As we were trying to find this other museum, we ran into the wall of beer! This wall had hundreds of different beer. And I had my FIRST Belgian beer. It was good. Beer is good. Beer is really good. This is the only place that I know where you can get beer, hot chocolate, waffles, and frites at the same place. Incase you don't know, Beligan beer is really really good...and strong.

I keep forgetting..

What I have learned about Brussles thus far...

1. Milk is spelled "Melk" and it is kept at room temp. Ugh, vom in my mouth.
2. Everyone is cuter with an accent.
3. You don't go exploring on your own in a fancy house, even if the house belongs to the lady you are teaching with.
4. "I'm going to fox you" means "I'm going to trick you"
5. The weather here can go from dark, to snowy, to cloudy, to snowing, to raining, to sleeting, to snowy, and then back to dark in a matter of hours.
6. If the "Lady Darroch" invites you to stay at her 50 bedroom house, you accept.
7. When the youngest people in a bar are 16 and you still get carded....shit.
8. Don't be fooled when waiters come around offering something wrapped in bacon and call it a "pig in a blanket". It's really a prune in there. Damn those prunes wraped in bacon...jokes on us Americans!

p.s....

After being in the classroom for one day, I have definitley picked up their accent. It comes out a lot when I'm drunk, but that's when I really can't stop it. Tonight at the UN party, I couldn't stop talking in a British accent. No matter how hard I try, it just doesn't stop. Even now, as I type I am saying things in my mind in a British accent.....oh things can get bad.

Jenna and I made it into the dog house. Even in Brussels...

Today, we had our first day of student teaching!! IT WAS AMAZING! I absolutely loved teaching at this school. We first started off sorting apples...they fly us in to have us sort and deliver apples...strange, but then we went to our classes and the kids immediately fell in love with us. They are the funniest students that I have ever met. It's amazing that most of them can speak 2 to 3 different languages, not including english. Since I only hear them speaking english, it is still a shock to me when I hear them speaking multiple languages through out the day. They are fantastic kids though, I love first graders. My teacher, lady Darroch, is fantastic as well. She is so flexible and lets me do, basically, whatever I want. She is letting me take over starting tomorrow!!! Gosh, I'm never coming home. The way the school day is conducted is so different from in the states. They have more time to focus on specials and what they would like to do. I hardly see the students after 11:30.

After school was let out, I was sooooooooo exhausted. It didn't help that I was up at 2:30 a.m. and couldn't go back to bed. But we had Lady Darroch's (Vanessa) party tonight.....OH MY GOD....Vanessa lives in a mansion!!! She even invited us to stay the night over there when we go out during the week. This house is amazing...she said that she wouldn't even know if we were there. There was at least 3 stories...that I was able to explore on. Whitley, Jenna and I, took the liberty to explore on our own....apparently that is a no no in Brussels. Security is tight and they have video cameras everywhere. I wish we had known that before we creeped into some fancy room and practiced "melting" in front of the mirror walls. For those who don't know what melting is (I had no idea either), it's when you strike a pose and then casually melt into it. Apparently, showgirls do it for all their photoshoots and Whitley was trying to teach Jenna and I. Let's just say, I'm not known for my melting abilities. It didn't help when Lindley and Tracey walked in on us "melting" and scolded us for exploring on our own. Always in the dog house...If Vanessa asks me tomorrow what melting is, then I'll know for sure that she has seen her security tapes.

But overall the first day was fantastic and the party was amazing!! We definitly looked like the odd ones out though..

Ps....I apologize for any typos...the alcohol was free flowing and it's late....oops!