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Published: January 3rd 2013
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17/12/2012
Today I was just laxing at home, playing guitar and passing time as I awaited my last exam before the vacancies started here when I got a phone call from a Rotarian. He invited me to go horse-riding with him, and of course I instantly accepted. He picked me up at 2, and took me to a farm of his friend who lived just out of Jalhay. He had one horse himself, but we were going to go pick another one up for me. After finding a suitable one, he showed me exactly how to prepare the horse, which took a lot longer than I’d originally thought, and was very thorough.
The first thing we did was to ride around and really get a feel for how the horse responds and its mannerisms. This took about an hour for me to feel really comfortable and happy on the horse, after which we trekked out around the local woods, which was amazing. I’d never really done this kind of thing before. Although I’ve already rode a few times before, it was nothing like plodding through Belgian woods. We even got up to a gallop a few times, but decided
that it’d be better not to. My novice-ness was still a relevant factor, and so after a decent two hours of walking, we made our way back to the stables where we took everything off the horses, and made our way back home.
As he dropped me off, I realised I had little more than a half hour to get ready for the last rotary night Christmas meeting tonight. Christelle and Wyn picked me up, and with we headed to the three hour long night meeting. There Caetano and I played 9 songs on the guitar together, and it was pretty well received. Great last night with the ol’ men, and enjoyed the free wine and food.
18/12/2012
Sat my English exam today, which was evidentially the last of my exams here. Not a bad one to finish off on, I told myself leading into the test. All went well, and due to a lack of decent bus timetables, I stayed in town and caught up with Jack to grab a Pita and a movie. As it was a few days after the premier of
“La Hobbit – un voyage attendu”, we decided to choose this
one. It was in French of course, and apart from one very heavy dialog scene, I came to understand all of the rest. Good film though, and felt quite special looking at my home country as the beautifully green landscapes portrayed all throughout the ‘Shire’ scenes.
19/12/2012
Today was panning out to be just an ordinary Wednesday arvo. Although there being too much snow to go out, and too warm inside to want to. As lunchtime rolled around, I was reminded by Cristian that we had a
discours that we were obligated to go to tonight. So as he picked me up around 6, we made our way first to Colyrut (as he had to get a present for his cousins birthday, which was today apparently), and finally got to school. What was weird though, is that there were no lights on in the classroom at all – there was no-one there. From there they led me into the school’s cafeteria, where everyone in the class was. As I came in, everyone was smiling and looking at me, and I thought ‘Oh yeah, probably just because we’re late’. But no, there were tables lined with all kinds of
alcohol, chips and food. I realised that this was not some kind of weird after-exams-night
discours, this was a surprise farewell party.
That was seriously probably one of the closest times I’d come to crying.
Not just the fact that people had cancelled all other plans – work included- to be here, but also that they’d forked out from their own pockets to fund all the drinks and food. They’d really taken it upon themselves to give me one of the best farewells I could imagine, and I was overcome with surprise, delight, and happiness.
So we were at the school, partying and eating pasta until around 10:30, which is when we had to leave the school. Instead of finishing, everyone ended up going to St Georges, as local bar just downtown from the school, as it was too early to call it a night. Around 1am Marc called me up, and because of the fact he was working tomorrow, and it being a Wednesday night, we wrapped it up, and I headed back to Jalhay with Marc. Such an amazing night though, one I’ll never forget for the sheer thought and effort that went into it
solely for me.
Ca c’est impressionnant. 22/12/2012
Tonight was the ‘
fin du monde’ soiree, and so lacking something better to do, I headed to Jack’s place for pre-drinks before the party. As it turned out, I’d spend the entire weekend at Jack’s place, as my parents we’re going to
Gent for the weekend. It was a sweet party, despite Jacks younger host sister not being able to get in, which impeded our progress of getting to the front of the line. As (apparently more than just a few crazy pencil-selling homeless people) though, the world didn’t actually end, and I guess we were all pretty glad about that.
23/12/2012
Slept in till after midday today, because of the late night the night before. Tonight was the birthday of Jacks host dad, so as
prevenu, there was to be another quite late night tonight as well. People rolled around at around 8pm, and Jack and I met all his childhood friends, most of which were HUGE U2 fans. One dude had gone to over 15 U2 concerts. So to their amusement, there was a guitar in the corner, and after a few glasses, I played “With Or Without You”, “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, and “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”. Jean-Luc said I made his night, but we’d all had a bit by that point. Another great night was had by all, and around 4am we fell into our beds.
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