Week 4 - African Gospel Band, Dinner Party, Carnival

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13/2/2012

Today, there was no rotary meeting. It was cancelled for some reason I wasn’t notified about. This basically meant I DIDN’T get out of early Monday school classes, get to drive to the clubhouse, have an amazing 3 course Belge lunch, and hang out with Chris Riley and Eliza while the rest of school was in class, while we were savouring sweet Belge crepes.

You can imagine my sadness.

14/2/2102

Not much to note from today, apart from the fact I was dragged into this kind of musical performance where I play guitar for a choir at some point this year. So that’s all good. Missing my Strat and Deluxe Reverb so much at this point, where I’m playing through and amp that’d you’d be likely to find one of similar quality as one at the bottom of a cornflakes box. Also a guitar that’s just not loved.

15/2/2102

WEDNESDAY ! today was such a great day, they always are. We set off to Leige, and proceeded to get some of the best Belge frites I’ve tasted in my life (believe me, I’ve had my fair share already). Then it was to the bar which as always was PACKED with exchange students. When we started getting tired, we went and got Belge waffles from what we hear is the best place in Belgium for waffles, which is convenient as it’s just down the road from La Carre. We were dancing and partying till around 7 where we had to catch the train back to Verviers. Mckayla (jack’s oldie) helped me home this time, as my bus and train general knowledge of times and such is still at it’s early stages. But all and all, a GREAT night.

16/2/2012

Thursday – nothing to note. I think from now on if there is legitimately nothing really to say that’s interesting about a day, ill abbreviate it to just “NTN”. Nothing To Note.

17/2/2102

Ahh, Fridays. It was glorious to finally finish school for another week. Now we have all next week as a holiday ! it’s because of all the carnivals on, which happen all over Belgium, and I’m going to one on Sunday, in a place called Malmedy. Cant wait !.

Anyway, tonight I went to Beluga again. This time it was way more low key, as many of the usual people that come are getting ready to travel to the mountains to spend their holidays skiing. Despite this I did end up swapping contacts with a guy that lives in Leige that travels all over the place, so he should prove to hopefully be quite useful for travel.

18/2/2012

Saturday brought a sleep in (YAY), and a slow morning. Today I was invited by my friend Glud’hy to come to his church and see what he did and what kind of things he was into, which I was stoked about. He’s from Congo, and moved to Belgium around 7 years ago, and speaks pretty good English. So Sonia dropped me off around 12, and I met up with him outside SFX. We walked until we reached his church, and he took me inside. Its not how you would think of a church at all, It’s a long narrow room, with chairs up both sides, and up the front (which is why I wanted to come so bad) was a full band set-up. Drums, bass, guitar, keyboard, singing mic’s, and a P.A that’d stand up to Roy’s from the Cabana any day. I was in heaven. I started by jamming with Glud’hys african friends, in which there was a keyboardist, a drummer, and 3 singers. The sound was so great, and I think this may be one of the weekly outlets of my music passion, as it’s a really different sort of music, like African gospel music. But really jammy at the same time. I found out afterwards, but this was just a rehearsal for tomorrow, which I couldn’t make because I was going to carnival, but I was invited back on Saturdays and Sundays to jam if I could. The rehearsal went on to about 5, by which time I was pretty drained, and Alain picked me up and got me home.

Tonight my host parents were hosting a dinner party with my next two host families, and one of the host families daughters, Alison. It started with two appetisers, while having a general catch up with my families. They were great how they could pick out the pieces of my dyslexic French, and comprehend basically whatever I said. My second host father and mother seem really funny, and I cant wait to have my turn staying with them too. My third speak really good English, and have a son who I’ve talked to over Facebook, who seems cool. So we had ‘Scampies’ (which I think is such an adorable name for shrimp, and totally justifiable by the way they would scamper around and such), and ‘Soup de Citrouille’ (pumpkin soup). Then Sonia invited us ‘a la tabe’ (to the table), and we had this delicious dish with crumbed chicken and pasta. Much of the convo happening I couldn’t really fix on to, but Alison spoke English, so it was fine. Dessert was an apple tart that couldn’t have really been any more delicious if it tried…. All in all it was a sweet night, and it made me all the more excited to be able to stay with these families soon.

19/2/2012

Today was the day we went to the CARNIVAL ! For those of you that don’t (which is, I assume, all of you reading this) what Carnival is, it’s all the more reasons to come visit this amazing country. Basically, its 4 days where all over Belgium, there are parades, dressing up, and of course what the Belges do best, drinking. Sonia, Alain, Clara and I went to one in a town called Malmedy, which was about a 25 minute drive away from home. When we got there at around 11:30, there weren’t many people there, but Alain treated me to ‘Pecket’, which is a selection of 4 alcoholic shots of various flavours. These really warmed up the stomach, and tasted really good too, I think I had some kind of raspberry type flavour… From here, we walked around the route that the parade would take and found a good place to watch it all from and take pictures from. We went and got a beer while we waited, and in the next hour, people streamed in from all sides of the town, and completely filled up the town centre. Once everyone arrived, a dancing spectacle began to commence, and all the characters of the Carnival played a part in it.

I wont go into the detail of all the characters now, as I could write a healthy essay on what the mean and where they come from, but the parade began, and all kinds of people dressed in all kinds of obscure fashons paraded down the main street, and used long arms to steal hats off onlookers. Also there were the ones that grabbed your foot with an extendable wooden rod, that prevented you moving, and the only way to break free was to recite exactly what they preached to you, which was asking for some kind of forgiveness. There was confetti being thrown, cheers being shouted, and general signs of good times all afternoon. It was unlike any sort of event in New Zealand, and the sheer attention to detail, the community spirit, and the length of the festivity was all mind blowing, and really got me excited for round two which is sometime in September I think. So as we headed home at around 6, I was snapped by the most notorious of Carnival traditions.

The ‘longs nez’ are an infamous character seen at any carnival anywhere in the country. They are easily identifiable by their masks resembling distorted, long, upturned noses, their red and white striped head wear, their stark white pants, and the sheer number of people that follow this exact dress code in order to be a part of their mischievous routine. They basically work in packs, in groups of typically 6-7, and walk in a dead straight line, heads down, following one another around the carnival. They then sneak up behind an unexpecting member of the public, and mimic exactly what they’re doing. If they’re drinking a beer, the mimic the same. If they’re eating something, they do the same. You get the picture. So all day we were laughing at people being annoyed by these people, and trying to run away, and escape from these people. The only way out of being followed wherever you go by these people, is to buy them all a drink. So there were people all over the place trying to escape them, and avoid having to buy them a drink. So luck had it, that after a day of liberty and laughing at other peoples expense, as we were leaving the grounds, a pack of 8 latched onto me. I knew what was coming, my wallet accepted it’s fate. But they weren’t getting a drink off me without working for one, oh no. So as soon as I realised they were on my case, with my camera hand held way in the air, I was off. Having to mimic me, the held this pose as they ran too, and I took them for a quick sprint before I was on the ground doing press-ups. They did likewise, and lasted a while, so I pulled out the ol’ one armed push-up, which was met with cheers from the crowd and groans from the ‘long nez’, followed by a basic soccer balance exercise, that the crowd enjoyed but one they also found difficult. During this I tried keeping the camera up, but it tipped, so all you can see is a rapidly appearing and disappearing shadow (me over top of it). From here I was back off down the street, and I spotted some blokes that I decided needed a kiss on the cheek, so they got a peck from me and 8 masked people. Then met by a dead end I weaved back out of the crowd and into the street where I made them wave to everyone lining the street. By this time, there was a bar approaching, and I’m not really that much of a stinge, so it ended at the bar where I bought them all a drink (house beer !), and got to know them a little better. This was their first time doing it, and they were all about my age, maybe a little older. They could all speak English well so that wasn’t a problem, and they told me they’d had around 6 beers each today already. They added that whatever the person they choose to follow buys at the bar, they must drink. Including a triple shot of whiskey. But remembering I’d ditched my family, I said my farewells and found my family again, finally off this time.

Before we went home, Alain took me to the highest point in Belgium to have a look. This is the ‘Botrange’, and is at 694 meters above sea level. A pretty significant point in Belgium to know, so after some pics, we made our way home, where the rest of the day was designated to drinking delicious hot chocolate and relaxing.

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