Vimy Ridge

Remembrance Day 2009
Vimy Ridge

For Remembrance Day a group of Exchange Students from Belgium travelled to Vimy Ridge. It was an amazing experience. Vimy Ridge is Canadian territory in France. During WWI Canadians fought here. Now it is a Canadian National Historic Site.
On April 9th 1917 the Canadian Corps, fighting together for the first time, worked to take Vimy Ridge from the Germans. The battle was a success, and is often considered as one of the birthplaces of Canadian unity.
The monument contains the names of the Canadians who fell in battle in France and remain without a grave. The monument was opened in 1936 and has since been restored. The park contains more than 250 acres of Canadian land. The day was very Canadian.
The site was very impressive. Just walking there, where Canadian soldiers had fought and died was extremely impressionable. The monument stands as a grand memorial. It's hard not to be affected by the enormity of the area. War in Canada always seems distant. We know it happened, we know the details, we've read about it and talked about it, but we don't realize it. In Belgium, almost every city has more than one war memorial, you pass them on the highways, you see the flags of the countries that worked to fight there. It's more present here.
The barbed wire, a reminder to the war, keeps people from walking on much of the ground around the park. The fields are riddled with craters from bombs and the marks of war, and people are not allowed to walk there, in fear of setting off remaining, unfound landmines. The marks of a war almost 100 years past remain present, although made almost beautiful under the cover of grass.
The Remembrance Day Ceremony, although small, was almost the same as one at home, aside from the fact it was conducted both in French and English. There was a bigger ceremony on the Sunday before, but I prefered to be there for the actual day. In Flanders Fields was recited, We Will Remember them, (the picture above is of Patrick, one of the exchange students from Belgium, reading We Will Remember Them, in French) We sang God Save the Queen, The French National Anthem, and listened to The Last Post. The Last Post was one of the most powerful that I have heard. Looking up at the monument during it. Wow. And when we sang Oh Canada, surrounded by Canadians, all of us singing, it was one of the proudest moments I have had being Canadian.
Along with the wreaths, each of us was given a carnation to lie at the bottem of the monument.
Audrey, another exchange student in Belgium.
The wreaths are more or less the same as at home too. The whole day was a taste of home away from home. I feel so proud of my country.
The women on the monument is looking over the tomb of an unnamed soldier, representing all the soldiers during the war.
The monument is extremely impressive. Especially for Remembrance Day.

All of us who went. Canadians from Prince Edward Island to British Columbia, and all of us together.
One last look at the monument.

The picture below is of the German side of the trenches at Vimy. The structures on that side were much more permanent that the structures on our side, but thanks to Canadian planning and strategy, the many of the pill boxes and other strategic points were taken out before the Canadian attack.
The maple trees growing upon the war field. Even though there was a war, life goes on.
A last remembrance to the soldiers who died at Vimy Ridge. We will remember them.
After Vimy Ridge we travelled to Flanders Fields (in Belgium) another important battlefield during WWI. John McCrae, a Canadian soldier, wrote the poem 'In Flanders Fields' based on his experiences there. Yes, I did recite the poem, by heart, in the open, with another Canadian while I walked in Flanders Fields.
Hill 62, a lesser known Canadian battlesite, near Ypres, in Flanders, Belgium.

The town of Ypres on Armistrice (as Remembrance Day is called in Belgium). The city was buzzing. It was filled with people wearing Canadian poppies and British Poppies. The town was filled with English speakers there for the war remembrance ceremonies.
The entire town of Ypres was destroyed during WWI. Now it is beautiful and buzzing. The Battle of Passchendaele (one of the more terrible battles for Canadians)was one of the battles of Ypres. At Ypres we went to the 'In Flanders Fields' Museum, named after, you guessed it, the Canadian poem. The Museum was a rather sobering, but appropriate, end to my Remembrance Day in Europe.

My Canadian poppy, which I will always wear with pride.

Paris

Voici Paris!! Now, let me set the scene. We drove to Paris! Only three hours. Does that not seem very very very close. I love to be able to say that I went to Paris for the weekend. Distances here are very very different than distances at home. Above is a picture of me, my host mom, Patricia, and my host brother Davy, infront of the Notre Dame Cathedral. No I did not see the Hunchback of Notre Dame.. but I really want to watch the movie again.
Do I even need to explain what is in the background of this picture. Actually this is taken from a boat that went down the river in Paris. At first I thought that the Eiffel tower was actually rather ugly. However seen from the other angles I liked it better. At night it is supposed to be spectacular. Another note, at least three quartres of the pictures I get of Davy are in that pose. The other pictures I get are when he doesn't know I'm taking them...
This was when it really hit me that we were in Paris! The Louvre Museum. It was incredible. I didn't actually go inside but even from the outside it was amazing. There are 17 (at least) km of galleries inside this museum. When seeing this I was really like.. Wow. I am actually here. This place exists. It was incredible.
Proof that I was at the Louvre. Now, don't pronounce the 're' on the end of that word. Most words in French you don't tend to pronounce the last letter.. which kills me whenever there is an 's' on the end of the word.
A meal in Paris. It was a neccesity to go to Starbucks while in Paris. There is only one in the whole of Belgium, and that is in the airport. Seriously. It was amusing actually. We specifically sought out the Starbucks. I have been seriously missing the take out coffee places in Belgium. And the cheesecake was also a neccesity while at the starbucks. A real Parisian meal eh? The other meals that day included sushi at a Japonese restaurant and Veitnemese and Oceanic food at another restaurant. Viva French food!
I thought the Eiffel Tower (or le Tour Eiffel) was much prettier from this point of view.
The perfect picture.
It is really tall. But not taller than the CN tower. =D
Montemarche.. I think. This is a spectacular place. This cathedral is situated on top of a hill over Paris. If you make the climb you can see all of Paris spread out below you. It is incredible.

Paris. An unbeleivable city.
Finally. The French cuisine. I had a chevral chaude salad. This is warm goat cheese, honey and salad. Delicious. Je l'aime beaucoup!
And my host family. They are awesome! (that is my host brother's favorite word that I taught him) Paris is an amazing city, but in fact I prefer the cities Ottawa and Brussels to it. Strange eh? I adore the feeling in Canadian cities and Brussels is such.. a Belgian city, smaller compared to some cities but completely international due to it's position as the capital of Europe. That being said, J'adore Paris!!!

Welcome to Le Desente De La Lesse. This weekend I kayacked down the Lesse River, which is a beautiful river somewhere in belgium.. don't ask me where, we started at Houyet and finished at Anseremme. Exchange students from all three rotary districts in Belgium were there, as well as rebounds and Rotex. The lovely female above is Rose, of Kamloops, British Columbia! It's amazing to come so far and meet someone from so close.

As you can surely see I quite enjoyed taking pictures of the bridges.. and Rose too.. At times the kayacking reminded me of being in Canada, with the water and the forest, at other times I felt like I was in Lord of the Rings, and of course whenever I saw a bridge or the castle, I was reminded all over again that I was still here in beautiful Belgium.
The water was perfect all day.. or at least so I thought. Those of the exchange students who come from warmer countries, such as Mexico.. or Florida... were rather cold to say the least. I guess that's what one gains from living in Canada.. a knowledge of what is truely cold!
Voici Olivier. For those of you who don't know, he was an exchange student to BC (Vancouver) last year. It's an odd feeling talking with someone in a country almost half way around the world that you've talked to in your own town. I got splashed for the taking the trouble to say hi! =D
The picture wasn't that good, but that's Alex. He's my host brother in my second family. Now, a story. In order to go kayacking we had to take the train. Now, the train left at 6:11 from the train station in Arlon, and we had to catch a connecting train to Houyet later on from Libremont. I'm sure you can see where this story is going.. We missed the train. I thought it was funny at the time.. Alex found it funny after the fact. Basically we went to the wrong terminal, and the train left before we got to the right one. The best part? We drove 200 km/hr down the highway to Libremont to catch our connecting train. That was.. interesting! Now depending on who you ask, it's my fault or his.. It should be interesting living in the same house.. especially when you think this was only the second time we've met.
Look! A castle! I want one! Can I have one! Pretty Please! S.V.P. One day.. Maybe..
It's times like these that I'm reminded I am in a foriegne country.
Rose has all the best pictures. Not fair! It's because I was taking them I guess.
There were quite a few exchange students.. and if you were wondering, in no way was this white water kayacking. In fact, I don't think such a thing exists in Belgium.. due to the fact that it is mostly flat..
So there's the one picture of me for all of you who missed my beautiful face. This was taken when I was busy pushing kayacks out of the rocks. A great day I think. And after a ride home (we avoided taking the train this time) and a nice shower, a good nap was in order! I <3 Belgium!!

Today is Wednesday

So.. just an update for today.. because it is a Wednesday, and thus school ends early. So yes. Living in Belgium is an interesting experience! It's not as different coming between Canada and Belgium, as it would be to come between Mexico and here, but it's different enough.

One big difference is the 'bisoux' for me. It is the kiss on the cheek that the whole world does. The first time you see someone in the morning, the last time you see them that day, everytime you say hello when you get to the bus stop, when you say hello after you come home from school or work and when you go to bed is accompanied by a kiss. I kinda miss hugs. That's what exchange students are for.

Let me give you an example of a conversation to great someone here;
"Salut, ça va?"
"ça va, ça va, et toi?"
"Oui, ça va"
Let's just say I was a little bit confused the first few days upon arrival.

Another change for me is the downtown lunch.. I don't know how I will ever be able to go back to subway. These sandwhiches are just sooooo delicous. There must be around 10 little sandwhich shops in downtown Arlon that are overrun by students at lunch time. I must learn how to order something other than 'jambon et fromage' or 'filet americain.' The downtown also has several pasta places which are really delicious in the cold. Another thing about the downtown; it's all cobblestoned. Congratulate me, I managed to spend a whole day in heels without tripping over anything!!! Woo hoo!

I have finally tried frites (what we Canadians know as French fries) and waffles here in Belgium. The frites are delicious (well I mean, they are Fries.. how could they not.. ) and here there is a variety of sauces to choose from. Right now I am going with the Belgian classic, mayonnaise. The waffles here aren't a meal food, they are a snack food. Here they are a lot more sugary than at home, which explains why, when they asked me if I've had waffles they were disgusted to hear that I had them with syrup for supper.. I adore all the food here I think. And most of the drinks.. aside from the milk and the cold tomato soup in a cup. =D

That's all for this random post aujourd'hui!

Bisoux!

Tara's first blog

Forgive me. I am testing this for now. One would hope that it works.

For all of you that want some discriptions of my day to day life, and aren't getting them through email or so on... this is what you'll have to be content with. Unless of course you send me an email, or a letter or something to that extent, which I love to recieve!! And will reply to even if it takes me a while.

For those of you who don't know, I am currently living in Tontelange, Belgium. I go to school in Arlon, which is the nearest bigger city around here. Belgium is an itsy bitty little country. Especially since I've lived in Canada all my life. For example; The drive from the coastline to Arlon, the longest distance you can drive in Belgium basically is about three hours. Take into account that they drive 130 km/h here. That distance in Canada would get me from Quesnel to Cache Creek. Being this small as well, Belgium is naturally close to many other european countries. Another example; This Sunday I played basketball in Arlon, which is 10 minutes from my house. After I showered at home, we went shopping in Luxembourg, which is two minutes from my home. But wait, there is more. After another quick stop at home to pick up my host brother we went to France for supper, which is about 20 min from my place. Incredible isn't it? I wouldn't have even made it to Lac La Hache at home. The people here find it difficult to believe that I drove 6 hours to Vancouver to get to the airport. Paris is a little over two hours by train from here.

Sometimes though, I forget that I am in Europe. I am reminded by the smallest things though. I was sitting in class the other day when I heard an emergency vehicle siren. It sounded like the European ones do in the movies. That sort of thing is what reminds me that I'm somewhere different. You may be thinking, "Come on, there's another language that she's listening to all the time." That's easily forgotten when I'm not paying attention, and the people are the same in spite of it.

The language is coming. Here there are many people who speak English so I don't really speak French as much as I should. But i'm really starting to try now. And I must always remember not to say the 's' at the end of the words. I've been here for a little over three weeks now. Just coming here seems so long ago. This summer in Canada feels like a long long long time ago. It's odd being a Canadian (or really any sort of foriegner I suppose) living in a different country. I find I identify more with ANYTHING that I find or see that is Canadian. At school on the map I look at Canada first, not because I'm homesick, just because it is a place that I know better than anywhere else.

School here works differently than Canada. And I desperately wish I had a map of the school. There are 8 blocks during a day, 5 before lunch and 3 after. School starts at 8:00 am and ends at 4:00. We have a recess (HOORAY!) and lunch is an hour long. Each class lasts about 50 minutes I think. However, from there things get complicated. I am taking 2 hours a week of geography, religion (don't even laugh okay) and gym. 4 hours a week of History (there are only 6 people in that class, the rest of the world only takes 2 hours), Math, French, English (easiest class in the world!!) and Economic science. Then I take 3 hours a week of science, which means 1 hour each of physics, biology, and chemistry. I'm finally glad I didn't take earth science (physics people from Routtu's class last year will get that) because I answered a question on the first day of physics that no one else knew. Turns out that if you spell energy with a ie and say it with a french accent it's the same word. Thank you Mr. Routtu.. and if I'm thanking teachers I might as well thank Csiz too because I know some of the background stuff (albeit from a Canadian angle) around world history. Oh and a probable thanks to the French teachers?? =D I have no idea how students have any idea where to go in the school. Occasionaly the class will have a room listed. So I follow a person up 5 flights of stairs through a door down a narrow corridor up a wooden staircase, and down a creeky hallway to a room. Other times I follow people who seem to know where they are going when something isn't listed.. I'm convinced something is being telepathically communicated here. And of course there are the times where we find the teacher and the teacher doesn't even know where she is going. My school is right down town as well so we can go out for lunch. I buy a sandwhich for 2€50 mmmmmm are they ever good.

I take the bus from near one of the other schools in town. Taking the bus is an interesting experience. The buses that we take here are public busses and all of the students take them. I have a bus pass, and seem to spend a great deal of time standing on the bus. The other day I got on the wrong bus (YaY Me!) And got out on a road where I knew I could get back from. Out of curiosity I climbed over the ditch and onto an open spot of grass. From there I noticed my town and decided it was much quicker (and funner) to go cross country. Guess who got home before the proper bus did! Yay me!

Anywho, I'll think of more things to post later.