For the Ringing End of My Weekend

For the ringers out there, the ringing was fantastic this weekend. I got to ring lots of Surprise Major, and there was a visiting band from Lancastershire and near Manchester. I rang three quarters on Saturday, of 1250 Yorkshire Major, 1250 Superlative Major, and 1280 Bristol Major. And Sunday I rang my third peal - 5088 Yorkshire Major (in a brief 2 hours 41 minutes).
I much enjoyed both the ringing and the company of ringers. The 't Klockhuys has a peal of 8, with a tenor weight of 1-2-7. Though they're quite light, Paul de Kok, the ringer who started change ringing there, has the bells nicely counterweighted so once you get used to them they're very nice to ring.
I took only a few pictures, and a short video as well, find below a link to my photobucket with pictures:

http://s1037.photobucket.com/albums/a456/noahidsmith/Dordrecht%20Ringing%20Photos/

Also, there are links on Campanophile to the quarters I rang if you want the details.

Weekend to Holland

On Thursday I packed up my things for my trip to the Netherlands for the weekend. I took my bag with me on Friday and left school early to go to the train station. There I took the train to Halle near the Wallonia-Flanders border, where I met Clive Smith, a ringer, who drove us up to Dordrecht. I did lots of ringing at the Dutch change ringing tower- 't Klockhuys throughout the weekend. On Friday upon my arrival I had some free time as I was not involved for a ringing event at the tower. I spent the time going around taking some photos, trying to speak Dutch with locals, and profiting from my time in Holland. After that I went back to ring a bit before we had dinner followed by lots of delicious Dutch cheeses. I slept the night at Paul de Kok's, a Dutch ringer I met during my last visit to the Netherlands. His house is outside Dordrecht, in Alblasserdam. Saturday I woke up, ate a Dutch breakfast consisting of a wonderful spread of make-your-own sandwich materials. We went into the city for ringing all day, and I got to do some new things, so I would say I am very satisfied with the ringing. On Saturday I had a few more chances to walk around the city, and see the sites. I went to the cheese market to buy my host family some oude kaas, and I am happy to say that I successfully purchased it and talked with the cheese vendor in Dutch. I also got to speak with some locals asking directions around in Dutch, so I am happy I had the chance to practice. Saturday night we had a catered dinner in the church tower, which was delicious, there was pork with mustard sauce, rabbit and mushroom stew, among other tasty dishes. My feet were some kind of sore by the end of the day, it was long but pleasing. Sunday we had a bit of a lie in, and it was Thirza's (Paul's daughter's) birthday. We did more ringing in the city and I had a last chance to walk around and take pictures. In the afternoon Clive took me back to the train station in Brussels, where I took the train to Mons, then the bus back to Saint Denis.
Today was holiday, so I have been enjoying it. I slept in late again, did homework, went for a bike ride, and I wrote a bit. Andrea has gone back to Gembloux for the week, and I start school again tomorrow. Today we had a really good lunch, with mushroom-filled pasta, and lamb chops. And for dinner Spiri fixed me a special Belgian dish- pain perdu, which is sort of like French toast.
See here some of my photos from Holland.

Saint Denis Tour d'Animaux

So this week has gone well so far. I had a few tests which went as well as could be expected. Today was a half day, as Wednesdays shall always be, and after lunch with Spiri I took a siesta in the afternoon, as I require much sleep to be my best. Lately Spiri has been working on repainting the dining and living room, and from what I understand, I think they will be redecorating the living room and changing many things. Spiri keeps saying that she is looking forward to her "nouveau salon." So I suppose they will be making some changes. Michael came over today for a little while, he makes us all laugh. Tomorrow he will be staying for dinner, so needless to say it will be an enjoyable evening. Spiri will be going tomorrow to a pharmacy meeting in Brussels until late, so it will be Bruno, Michael, and me for Thursday dinner. It's becoming a new tradition.
This week and last weekend I have taken to going on bike rides, during which time I have taken photos of all the animals of Saint Denis. There are deer, kangaroos, chickens, cows, horses,and lots of little cats. (There are also geese, a few dogs, sheep, and goats, but I have yet to take their photos.) Every morning at 7:20 when I leave the Rossi residance there is a black cat that darts across the street and stares at me from under a blue Citroën. And on my way home from school, without fail another black cat sits at the end of the path leading to Rue Frébutte. None of these cats allow me to pet them though, save for one white and brown with blue eyes (in the last photo).
See below the fruits of my bike rides; the animals of Saint Denis.

Grazing cows.

Three kangaroos (one isn't in the photo).

Doe and kangaroos.

Cat in road coming home from the bus. 

Another herd of cows. 

Horses. You can see the yellow TEC busstop sign.

This is where I get off the bus every afternoon.

And this is the tunnel I go under on the way home... 

Random cat 1

Random cat 2 on the side of the street

The nice cat.

I really miss my dog Daisy at home, but I can sleep well at night knowing that my parents have loved on her, pet her, and treated her with all the love and care that she needs. I was happy to have skyped with her along with my parents last week, even though I don't think she understood. 

I love you, Daisy. 

My second week of school has gone very well. I still make new friends, and now there are nice classmates that help me and let me get notes I miss. Wednesday and Thursday were both half-days, which I spent taking siestas, bike-riding, spending time with friends after school, and doing some straightening of my room. The days have been passing by much quicker, I have been quite busy with school work and things.
This week I was the recipient of my first two very nice letters, and I thank Allison and Emily for thinking of me. They were enjoyable and made me happy.
This weekend, Andrea came home Friday, and after dinner and him recounting his first week of college at Gembloux, we went into the city for the night, and I saw lots of friends. It was fun.
Saturday morning we went to les Grands Prés, Mons' mall, where I bought my first pair of Euroshoes, and in red. We did other college-shopping for Andrea's dorm. In the afternoon I went on a bike ride, and began my soon-to-come animals of St. Denis photo album. Later on I went with Andrea for his plant study and entomology classes to catch insects and collect plant samples in the garden and vineyard.
Today, Sunday, I went to a château in the morning in Maisières, and then to pâtisserie with a nice man who I met with Bruno and who fought in WWII. This afternoon we went to Nelda's (a pharmacy friend of Spiri) house for a delicious lunch, with all sorts of scrumptious appetizers, chicons with goat cheese and apples, baked rabbit with truffle potage, and a special Belgian pie for dessert. I went for another bike ride during the evening to Casteau and by the Seven Lakes between Casteau and St. Denis.
At the end of this week I am going to Dordrecht, in the Netherlands for the weekend. I will take the train via Brussels, and roll midday into the city. I am going on chiefly change ringing business, and I suppose I will practice the Dutch I'm learning and hit up locals to test my skills with. We'll see how it goes. Having come here two years ago this summer, I look forward to the green and cherry-red of trees and brick buildings by the Maas river.
There will be good pictures to come.

On Sunday I went with Madame Devausse to Catholic Church again, it was alright. Afterwards there were some snacks and refreshments, but not quite like the Episcopalian refreshments in Charleston.
Sunday afternoon I went quickly with Bruno to a pub where he had a club get-together, shortly before we left for Namur. After an hour's drive we arrived in Gembloux, where Andrea now attends university. We unloaded the cars and moved him into his dorm near the town center. Following the move-in, we headed into Wallonia's capital- the city of Namur. We walked around the city, window-shopping and then we went down the Meuse River. Later on we ate supper at an excellent Chinese restaurant named Chez Chen, where I tried frogs' legs for the first time, and they were delicious. After dropping Andrea off at his dorm, we headed back to Saint Denis and turned in.
Monday began another school week. It is a blur of science, math, and language classes, but I am getting to know lots of my classmates better, and still making friends. Certain students in my classes help me a lot and let me copy notes if I didn't catch something, it's very nice.
This afternoon I went for a bike ride before it began to rain, and it was quite enjoyable. I had a double dose of fries today at lunch and dinner, but all the better, they are great, although I refuse to do as they do and eat them with mayonnaise, that is just asking for a heart attack.
Things are going very well.

The rest of the school week went well, I met my teachers for Biology and History. The classes are going alright, I understand most of what is said, and I have become buddy-buddy with lots of my classmates, so they like to help me if I don't get something. They all write in cursive, and they seem to really like my printed handwriting, several of them have mentioned this to me. I even have some of my classes with the other exchange students in my grade- two boys from Argentina and Brazil.
Friend-making is rampant, but I am having a hard time remembering all of their names, but it will come. On Friday at Marché aux Herbes, I recognized many faces and it was nice to see some of my schoolmates outside of the education habitat. There was a concert going on Friday so there were more people (including older people, which usually are not ever there) than the usual Friday, but it was okay, the music was nice.
Today was pretty laid back, I slept in late did some homework, and went for a bike ride over to Obourg and through the woods near Saint Denis after lunch. I saw a bunny rabbit in the woods, just like how one would picture woodland creatures in their natural environment. This made me happy.
Tomorrow I am scheduled to go to Catholic Church in Obourg, and in the afternoon we are heading over to Namur to visit the city for a little while before moving Andrea into his dorm at Gembloux for college.
All is well.

Start of School

Monday I began school. Spiri drove me in early so we could finish up my registration (which I must admit is a complete nightmare here) before the real day began that afternoon. In the meantime between registration and the start of school, I ate lunch in Parc Sainte-Waudru. I met up with Sylvain and a new friend- Sarah at the train station, and we headed over to the school. There, we were sorted into the different class "options" (I chose science), and we had a quick class, most of which I spent sorting out my schedule in the office. Afterwards I took the bus back to Saint Denis. Monday night was marked by a visit from Yaya (Spiri's mother) who stayed for dinner.
Tuesday morning I started the regime that I will follow for school from now on- wake up at 6:30, get ready, eat breakfast, collect my things, and head to Rue Grand Coron for bus #18, which drops me off at the train station. Laura Dufrasne, a close-by Saint Denis dweller takes the bus with me, and helped me to my first class of the day- math again. Then I had Physics, Dutch, Chemistry, math, lunch, French, and double English. The classes are about and hour long each, and double or triple periods are two or three. After school I took the bus home at 4:30, did homework, etc.
Wednesdays are half days, and I had Geography, Dutch, religion, PE, Dutch, and religion again. Right now my religion class is screwed up, they somehow scheduled me for a mix of the atheist and Islamic classes, but I am working on having that changed. After school I took a siesta, I really like having the whole Wednesday afternoon off.

Tomorrow I have sciences, math, and language, and "après-midi sportif" where we play sports all afternoon. 

The people at school are nice (mostly the girls) and I have been making lots of friends. I understand a fair amount of what's going on, especially if I am spoken to clearly without them mumbling. I am satisfied with how things are going so far.

Last Day of Vacation

Today is my last day of summer vacation.
Since I last posted, I have been having a good end of break. Thursday I went all alone into the city by bus, where I visited gothic style Église Saint Waudru, went to the Grand' Place, ate lunch in the gardens behind the Hôtel de la Ville, among other things. That I night I had barbecue dinner with my Mons-Bruyères Rotary Club after a short meeting about Rotary's trip to Bratislava. There, I met the other inbound exchange student with our Rotary Club- Rebeca from Mexcio. Friday I went to a birthday party for Rebeca, who turned eighteen, and then I went out to Marché aux Herbes with other young people from the party, and spending the night later at Rebeca's hosts' house.
Saturday I went with Bruno and Spiri to Lille in France. There we found Europe's largest "broconte", or flea market with an interesting mix of antiques, collectables, and junk. I bargained for some tin boxes laden with cool designs, and spending only three euros. We ate dinner at a really nice restaurant in Lille, I had the escargots and fried chicken cordon bleu (really tasty). It was a long and fatiguing day, but enjoyable nontheless. We came home late, where I proceeded to engage in a three-way with Lexi and Arden. They gave me the details about some of what is going on at the new school in Charleston.
Today I slept in a bit and went with Bruno this morning to Obourg for a Belgian patriot veteran memorial service sort of thing, visiting the Obourg Cemetery and visiting the lost veterans memorial, followed (as I am told is tradition) by drinks at the pub at Place d'Obourg. Next Bruno and I went into the city to get fresh produce at the market, and then some lilies for Spiri at the flower market. This afternoon I went to go and play tennis with Rebeca at the Mons Tennis Club, before taking the bus home and having dinner.
It has been a good end of summer.
Tomorrow I will go to school in the afternoon for the first official day, where I will receive my schedule and (finally) find out what subject I will be taking, and what supplies I will need. Sylvain (host brother of my second family) will be there to help, so no worries!
Tantôt!

Greece, Part Two

Though I would really like to post all four hundred photos I took on my vacation in Greece, this blog website is not organized enough nor adequately well-equipped to handle me putting on that many photos. That being said, see my photos on my Facebook album entitled Greece. There you will find sixty or so photos of my trip.

Or, if you don't have a Facebook, I have made a Photobucket account that anyone can see the pictures on. Find the link below:
http://s1037.photobucket.com/albums/a456/noahidsmith/Greece/

Starting from where I left off, Sunday Spiri, Andrea, and I roved the city of Ionnina after the breakfast buffet at the hotel. We went first to see the main church of the city where we witnessed a double baptism. We then headed up to see Ionnina's grand square and commune, where there was a beautiful panoramic view of the lake and mountains around the city. Next, we hit up a Greek sweetshop for baclava, honey, rose jam, and assorted Greek candy. Descending towards the lake, we entered the Greek Orthodox gone Turk Muslim but now reclaimed by the Greeks quarter (confusing history). We visited Alsan Pasha's mosque that is now a museum and grasped the chance to look over the lake and towards Ali Pasha's "father mosque" to Aslan's. Later we took a ferry boat on the lake to a little island where we visited a museum at Ali Pasha's death place, commemorating him and the four centuries of the Turkish rule of Greece. Hurrying back to the hotel, we grabbed our bags and took a taxi to the bus station for the ride back to Igoumenitsa, then the ferry back to Corfu Town. There, we took the bus back to Dasia Beach for dinner at the hotel. It was a long day.
Monday we relaxed. We went to the beach in the morning, and hung around the pool all afternoon. That night we packed our bags in preparation of our departure the following day and ended the evening with a walk on the beach.
Tuesday was equally relaxing, we swam at the pool all day and later checked out of the hotel. We went out one last time to see an hour or so of Greek dancing before taking the bus to the airport, and boarding our 2:30 AM flight Wednesday morning. In Brussels, we waited for the 5:30 train that took us to Soignies to be picked up by Bruno and driven home. After sleeping in until one in the afternoon, I met a family cousin and then later went to Decathlon with Bruno and Andrea to get Andrea hiking boots. He is going to Austria tomorrow with some family, the lucky boy. Unfortunately, I have school Monday and my passport is not valid for Austria, but I look forward to going to Europe's largest fair on Saturday with Bruno, Spiri, and Spiri's sister's family in Lille, France.