Belgium -- Hospitality and Chocolate

I have been given the privilege to be apart of  an international project called Comenius.  The project consists of seven schools in seven different countries that all work on the same project within their perspective schools and then we utilize the internet as a way to share our projects internationally.  There are many different projects and every country within the European Union is a part of the Comenius group.  The project within my school is called E-Guiding and it is basically to put together photo stories of the daily lives of Spanish children and typical foods, sports, or culture that makes Spain distinct from the rest of the other countries within the European Union.  The countries with the E-Guiding project include Sweden, England, Cyprus, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, and Spain.  Another part of this project is that representatives of every school travel to each country within the course of two years to learn about the educational system and teaching ideas at every school.  Since each country speaks a different language, another big part of the project is to show the importance of English as a way to connect the various countries within the European Union.  So, the only people who can travel are people who can speak English well enough to communicate effectively.  And that's where I come in :)

The last week of January, my director and I went to Belgium as a part of the Comenius project.  We were met by the other Belgian participants and taken to our very nice hostel in Maldegem.  Maldegem is small town near the two cities of Brugge and Gent--and is the home of some of the most hospitable people I've ever met.  The first night we were taken to an amazing light show in Gent, where artists put out various projects throughout the city.  The next morning we spent some time in one of the schools and learning about the Belgian educational system.  That afternoon we went to the Dutch and Belgian border and had a little photo shoot, as well as a wonderful lunch in a restaurant that straddles the border.  That afternoon we spent some time in a little town in the Netherlands and went on a drive through a beach town that is on the North Sea.  This town was pretty unique because it has a mandate that says all the homes have to be white..which was actually very pretty!  After our drive we had a meeting with the Mayor and his assistant gave us a presentation about Maldegem and their school systems.  That night our hosts gave us a little surprise with a drive in a tractor/wagon-esk where we ate dinner and had some drinks.  We drove to a place where we played a traditional Belgian game that was similar to curling but on ground.  We all had a great time!!

The next day we went to a few more schools.  My favorite part of the trip by far.  One of the schools we went to had only 3 classes and the children were between the ages of 3-6 years old.  They had two class pets, a guinea pig and a rabbit, which the children were eager to show me.  The professor, Luc, had put a project together for us where we had to paint (using a paste made from walnuts) something that represents our country.  I put an Octopus for Galicia and ...a little UNC symbol to represent the good ol' Tarheels :)  I had so much fun playing with kids outside and seeing how different the schools are from the US.

The last night we had a wonderful farewell dinner at a magnificent restaurant.  We had a fish soup, lamb and potatoes, and a delicious chocolate dish for dessert.  One of the things we had to do was prepare a song for the singing contest...and Anita and I were terrified! We ended up singing a version of "Sweet Home Alabama" that had lyrics in two languages - Galician and English!  The other performers were outstanding and I had a blast watching everyone!  We spent the rest of the night dancing away :)

Of course, our wonderful hosts also treated us to some Belgian Chocolate and Belgian Waffles :)  Delicious!

 I also thought I'd throw some pictures in here of the girls :)  Bath Time!! They are getting SO BIG!!