United Nations Day!

Happy United Nations Day! Our school celebration was SO powerful this morning. Being an Internatinal school, we have represenation from over 70 countries. This morning we had a parade of nations that ended at the Chateau (our admin building). This is video #1.

Then students went off to different rooms to learn about another culture. The topic was song and dances from countries. I escorted a 3rd grade class around they had a session on a dance from Findland! This is video #2

What an incredible event to see the pride in the students and staff as they spoke about their nationalities :) The last video you will see kids running and this backtracks to the parade that started in the gym. I quickly turned on the camera as U.S.A was called and the kids went crazy, it was a total rush :)

More about this soon. I just could not resist these initial images!

Tara

The video is the reaction when the USA was called!!! Look at the patriotism :)

Mixed Bag of Topics!

As I mentioned a few blogs ago, my baking experience was quite eventful! Yesterday, I helped my cause at least by a bit and purchased a bowl and baking pan. I did learn that in Belgium there are several different kinds of baking flours that are used. The trick is knowing which flour to use for the "goodie." I am hopeful for my next treat!!

Around the corner from the apartment, we found a fun balloon shop. There were also some Halloween costumes and we bought these for our trip to Spain next week. There are no plans as of yet (Sister... are you working on them!). We felt we should be prepared the night!

Erin, Kacy, and I went to "Delirium Cafe." The link is here if you are interested.

http://www.deliriumcafe.be/

Delirium is famous because it houses over 2000 beers from all over the world at the pub! When Carisa was here, we just had to check this out. Well, I came back to give Erin and Kacy a taste of Belgium :) Belgium itself being the king of beers (Sorry Budweiser), brews over 700 different types of beer! We sit down to order and in front of us are coasters of "Flying Dog Brewery." This is a Denver based company and the brewery is literally blocks from my place in Denver!!! To weird...

One of Belgium's famous types of beers are the Trappist Beers. Here is information about it!

"A Trappist beer is a beer brewed by or under control of Trappist monks. Of the world's 171 Trappist monasteries (as of April 2005), seven produce beer (six in Belgium and one in The Netherlands). Only these seven breweries are authorized to label their beers with the Authentic Trappist Product logo that indicates a compliance to various rules edicted by the International Trappist Association."

How does the old adage go.... "When in Rome do as the Romans Do!" I think it is only fair to apply this to Belgium and their wonderful beer ;) Ron, for the record it is not Root Beer!

"The Bruise"

It is time to rewind here a bit to the 4th Grade Field Trip to Durbuy. Currently, I am at a coffee shop and have the time to really give the story its due credit!

I would have NEVER guessed that I would have received the biggest bruise of my life while chaperoning the outdoor education experience with 9 and 10 year-olds! The irony is that I have spent the majority of my life on some sort of athletic field, but all my past "beauty marks" are not even in the same league.

Day One:
We arrived on a Monday and the first activity was kayaking along a very small river. All 112 students were fitted in a 2 person kayak, placed with a friend, and they were off in a kayak for a 10 k float. Now, 10 k for some of the students was a MAJOR undertaking!! The teachers and Durbuy staff were sent out intermittently to watch the students. The person in the back of the kayak is the driver and has to have their act together to manuever the boat accurately. Let me tell you it was bumper cars at first!! Kids were steering into the banks of the river and finally (most) of them were able to get the hang of it and navigate in a forward manner together.

Those that were not able to paddle efficiently were eventually "picked up" by the Durbuy staff members and were attached to the main boat and could just ride along without having to paddle. By the end, it was a full train of yellow kayaks and kids attached together at the caboose of our group :) Along the way, several kayaks had overturned and the kids either took shelter to the side or were rescued by other teacher or kid boats. I would say there were 5 boats this happened to.

We were close to the end of the float when I came upon two students on the side of the bank that had overturned. I paddled to the side and the students were safe and okay. We waited and motioned for two boats to come over and pick up the stranded students. Off they went. As I was putting my kayak back into the river (drum roll please.........) sure enough, I tipped entirely over and went for a swim! Aaaaaaaagghhhh... I quickly stood up to be in waist deep water, but my kayak had filled up. Now, it was my turn to be rescued! Eventually, another staff member came over and grabbed me.

This was NOT even the moment I received my bruise! When I flipped I had on 3 layers on top and two on the bottom as it was a chilly day. Also, I had on a backpack of supplies and my cell phone to contact other teachers in the event of an emergency. The cell phone did not like the splash of water and kicked the bucket. The good news is that the kids had a great time, the WARM shower later felt great, and the school reimbursed me to purchase another phone.

Day Two:
The next set of activities broke the kids up into smaller groups for Via Ferreta, Caving, and Mountain Biking. Via Ferreta is smiliar to rock climbing and is an Italian Phrase that refers to steel cables that are attached into mountains. Climbers use cables to manuever from point to point. There were 2 teachers that are very experienced Via Ferreta climbers and they stayed at the activity to lend out their expertise. I was moved over to mountain biking.

We finally fitted the children with helmets and biked for our group of 35 or so. We proceeded on a ride of about 10 k. Again, 10 K for some students was a MAJOR undertaking!! The experience definately pushed some kids and others were asking for more. Part of the ride was on this fairly busy rode with some cars. Now, we had a safety talk first and were motioning the students to stay to the right. With the inexperience of some of the riders, kids were drifting to the middle at times to get their bike going.

A car with a trailor of some sort was coming towards the group. I happened to be in the middle of the pack so the car HAD CLEARLY passed some children on bikes in front of us. I was stunned by the speed of the vehicle. Now, we had literally just crossed over a 1 way bridge that was a switchback. My mind immediately thought that I need to turn around and quickly stop the next set of riders from going over the bridge to let the car pass. I did just this. However, as I was in front of the car, the car was putting some pressure on me and making me uncomfortable! As I was passing the bridge myself with the car VERY close on my tail, I turned around and motioned to AGAIN slow down. I was quite irritated that this car was being this unsafe around the bridge and children. As I motioned for the car to again slow down, I rounded the corner after the bridge and hit a pot hole. Off I went over my handle bars and flopped to the ground! There were 3 students who witnessed this. One of them is an emergent English speaker and speaks mostly French. She happened to be one of the students and she said, "Okay!" I quickly got up and the car did not even stop. Both my coat and shirt under my coat had wripped. I was left with a banged up elbow and "The Bruise" from where bike seat had fallen on top of me!

It was quite a day to say the least. The next day I was asked to go with the mountain biking again and two other teachers and I said surely if the route is changed to eliminate the traffic concerns. The next route was beautiful and we were on trails along the river :)

All in all the kids had a fantastic trip. We are doing narrative writing pieces about their adventures and can not wait to hear how some of their stories turn out! I am left with some good material of my own to share :)

Walking Tours

Brussels was a lovely place to be today. The sun was out with no clouds in the sky. One of my friends, (Ms. Sarah) gave me a book on greater Belgium that gives 90 minute walking tours. The Eyewitness Travel is a really neat series because it points out the little things that I have walked by already without knowing the significance!

Here are some of the highlights: We crossed a small shop that is known for their buttery biscuits. Suprise, mom I took this for you! This is the J.Dandy photo. There is a photo of a very luminated shopping gallery which is one of Europe's olding shopping malls. Carisa I thought you would enjoy that :) We passed Meinken Pistoday with this outfit on. His costume shows him being Olympic Medalist of some sort!

Brussels used to be surrounded with canals. They were paved over in the near the end of the 19th century. One of the spots on the walk today brought us to a section that showed where the water still flows underneath the cobblestone roads. Around the corner there was this Obama poster in a window. It has been quite suprising how much press he is getting in Europe in General. My friend just got back from Sweden and also mentioned this. She said Obama books were in the window cases with ribbons around them and roses in front to showcase them.

More soon....

Hybrid Fruit

Without doubt this is one of the strangest fruit I have encountered! All over Brussels there are markets at different locations on days of the week. This morning I stumbled upon a larger market. There were hundreds tents with produce, cheese, olive, meat, clothes, etc.

Many of the tents have samplings. Well, I came across a greenish fruit with juices dripping off it. I bit in and was sold! The fruit has the appearance of a watermelon, but the taste of a canteloupe! It cost 3 euro which I thought was quite fair. Here is a picture of it :)

It rained almost the entire day on Sunday! Sunday marks the date that I have been in Brussels for 2 months. In that time I have done absolutely no baking. When the weather was as poor as it was today, I thought of nothing better to do!

I had every intention of making chocolate chip cookies. My kitchen is still quite limited in dishware and took some pictures to show you my "bowl!" Also, rounding up the ingredients was a bit tricky. At the store I needed to grab a few items to finish off my preparation.

I bought a box labeled "Vanilla." Instead of a syrup, there were 10 mini-packets of vanilla flavored sugar. They do not sell chocolate chips in grocery stores. Working without the chips may not be a bad thing as the chocolate is sooooo divine here!!! I will save the chocolate topic for another day! Hot out of my oven (which I just learned to turn on this afternoon) and what started out as chocolate chip cookies became sugar cookies with chocolate flakes!

Consistent

My new goal is to blog more consistenly! On Friday I returned from my Part I of my days visiting the Ardennes region of Belgium. The staff retreat was great fun! We had a dancing contest on the first night and I was a very coordinated (Ron, that was you you!) member of the "Greek Dancers!" Although WE thought we had done enough to win the top dancing award. We fell behind the Celtic and Spanish Dancers.

Part II of the Ardennes region is tomorrow with the 4th grade class trip. This is what I have mentioned in a previous blog. I am hopeful for the weather and will report back upon my return!
There will be a first for me on the trip. We have been told that we are staying in "Tipi's" which I think this will be a cool experience!

Stay dry and anyone feel free to send pictures of the fall foilage! I hope to see some of the leaves turn this week :) Well, not actually turn in front of my eyes, but you know what I mean!

PS.

Here is a Belgium's most famous statue "Mannekin Pis!" This is about a 10 minute walk from the apartment. There are many legends surrounding the statue. My favorite one tells the story of a little boy who put out a bomb in a meadow by going to the bathroom! HA :) There is even a musem in Brussels to honor him that houses all his different outfits. He is appears in new attire weekly. WE WERE JUST GET WE DIDN'T GET WET FROM THE SPRAY ;) (Thanks for that Kacy!)