Brussels and other things.

First of all I want to quote from a book I have just finished reading. It's called "A Year in the Merde" by Stephen Clarke, published by Black Swan. He was working in Paris then found out he wasn't getting paid, because he didn't have a carte de sejour! ' All I had to do was take my passport, work contract, 3 passport photos, a recent electricity bill and the marriage certificates of any hamsters I'd owned since 1995, all photocopied on to medieval parchment. No problème.' It actually is a continuing story not entirely unfamiliar to moi, and the whole book is very funny! Incidentally, I have had another meeting at the University place in Centre Ville where they go through the dossier to make sure everything is Ok before you head off to the Prefecture. I got the same nice young man as last time, and he speaks beautiful English. He was very helpful, although I did flinch when he said I would need a medical check up. I had several of those in Auckland before i left, in order to get the visa in the first place. I have all the forms saying that I am fit and well and hale and hearty. I also have an appointment coming up for a chest x-ray. So we've left the medical check hanging and he thinks it sould be OK. We will see! Anyway, he was very kind and I just happened to have a silver fern badge in my bag so I gave it to him. Also because he kept confusing New Zealand and Australia!
OK then. I tried to get the photos to be dotted through the text, but I can only get them to go at the start. Tiffany, how to you get your photos to go where you want them? So, to Belgium. As I said, the tickets didn't arrive in the mqil, and as we speak they still haven't arrived. Charming. Marie-Hélène kindly took me to the railway station on Friday afternoon and as well as her help I managed to get a chap in an 'English spoken here' booth. Which was a wee bit of a trick really as he wasn't what you would call fluent. And didn't really want to know about the missing tickets. Which is fair enough in a way, as it's a postal problem, not a rail one. But I thought that if he could check on the computer, and if i could show him my passport.... But no. Never mind. So I purchased two more tickets. He said that for the trip to Bruxelles it was the last available ticket and I didn't have an allocated seat. "You will sit in the little seat," he told me. Which I did! It really was little, and when the train stopped and people got on and off I had to stand and squish myself up flat against the wall so people could get past and out the door. But actually, it was OK. I read a book and the time went by no problem. I could have gone and sat in a vacant seat, but in doing that you risk someone coming and saying, "That's my seat" and it was easier to stay where I was. Even if I did look slightly odd.
Anyway, I arrived in Brussells and was met by Louise and her host Corinne. Louise is in Belgium on the same AFS programme as me. She teaches French at Auckland Girls Grammar. Corrine (I have given two different spelling options as i don't know!) was lovely and a fluent English speaker. She lives in a bequtiful apartment in a very chic part of the city. I really liked Brussells. It had a certain ambience, and in mqny ways reminded me of New Zealand. Not that a place has to remind me of NZ for me to like it, but I just thought I'd mention that fact! We went and had a meal at a nice restaurant a short walk way. I don't know if I'm just imagining it, but the people seems to speak a bit more slowly and I understood more than I usually do. Anyway, on Saturday we got the tram and then the metro and went to the station again, this time to meet Suzanne, who is also in Belgium, staying in an industrial city which I think is called Charleroi. Or something like that. I should get my facts right before I stqrt blogging. Suzanne teaches at Mt Roskill Grammar. We had a great day just wandering round. We did the double decker tourist bus thing which was really great. Had lunch at a waffle place, and saw the statue of the little boy peeing. He is often dressed in some sort of outfit, and that day was wearing a streetcleaner's uniform. To acknowledge street cleaners no doubt. We had a quick look at some shops, but mostly we did touristy things and it was great.
That night we walked to another local restaurant, this time Chinese.
On Sunday Louise and I spent the whole morning trying to book to go to Italy to see Ian for a few days. The on-line booking service was not working well and it was all a bit fraught. However, we got it sorted finally. Actually, it took us a lqrge part of the day bacuse when we had finished it was time to tram and metro to the stqtion again. Because it was time for me to go home. I had a seat this time, and off I went. I had to hop off at Lilles and change trains, but managed that without getting stressed at all!
So that was my weekend in Belgium. The photos are of me at the Poitiers Station waiting to be in charge of the guard's van, Louise et moi, and the little boy peeing.
And now it's this week. Uni is still going really well. There's just a really good combination of personalities. I've got uni every day as usual, and tomorrow afternoon I have a couple of sessions at school as well. Probably. On Saturday I'm going to visit Anna at the convent or wherever it is she's staying and we plan to go for a walk and then do some preparation for the oral exam which is coming up the week after next. Not just oral- it's a whole set of exams. On Sunday I think I'm going to have lunch with one of the teachers from the lycee. And on Tuesday afternoon I am going to Paris on the train! What a life, eh? I am going to catch up with Tim and Elizabeth, my lovely Auckland next-door-neighbours. Hopefully we will get to visit the Musée d'Orsay, which I am really dying to see. I come back on Friday. Nothing planned for the last weekend of the Toussaints holiday, but I guess I should study!
I hope you are all well. Keep in touch.
Love Alison.