Why they are Called FRENCH Fries

Now, I have nothing to say against Belgians. It is a lovely country and everyone is so nice. But SOMETIMES... It is strange how different this place is culturally from the rest of Europe and Canada and basically anywhere I have ever been.

Business-wise, Germany and France are very much like Canada. Need a bank draft? Go to the bank. Need a letter mailed? It is cheaper to send it to Edmonton from Paris than from Toronto!

I went to the bank and the post office today to
1. Get a bank draft (money order) for an Italian competition
2. Send it to Italy
3. Send a book to my sister via Canada

3 was accomplished easily, although there is no cheap paper (Germany) or book (France) rate. Still pretty cheap though. Still cheaper than Toronto, but it cost double what it would in Germany.

1 was not so easily accomplished. After waiting in line at a bank for 30 minutes he pretended to not know what I was talking about. I could have murdered him. This feeling happens a lot lately. Many times a day. In this case, from the moment I left the bank to the moment when the letter got mailed.

The postoffice was also a bank and Wetern Union office. Okay, why not. Post office bank. Mondy order? Sure, it is easy and cheap if you happen to be sending it within Belgium. Italy is as foreign as Tunisia when one is here. Wiring the money would cost €15; getting some wierd thing where the Italian post office sends a cheque to the competition..eventually.. is the best that they could offer. But it had to be mailed today. And it cost €10.

I looked up and saw a sign advertising a wier transfer to Ugandia. It cost €8.60. I asked why was it cheaper to send things to Ugandia than 2 countries away to Italy?!. I received in return an elegant Belgian shrug.

And then they almost wouldn't do it for me! Whyever NOT??
Because I was not sending this to a person, but to a business.
Because I did not have a Belgian address. "But... don't you have ANY address here...??"
Because why should things ever be easy? She kept praising my French. Did not help frustration level. If my French was so could why was this so bloody HARD to do??

Nothing make sense here. No wonder the French managed to steal credit for the pommes frites that the Belgians invented...


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Sara dit :
class was good! y are belgians crazy?
*Melanie* - Dans la France dit :
becquse they pretend thqt they do not understqnd my french
*Melanie* - Dans la France dit :
qnd lqugh qt the words I use
*Melanie* - Dans la France dit :
qnd put the q where the a is supposed to be

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If I sounds a little nuts it is because I am so tired. There were three mosquitos im my room last night. Blue tanktop dispatched the first one? New red H&M tanktop the second one, but the third one - who when dying spatted me with my own blood - eluded me all night.

I LOATHE lying in bed and listening to the whine of a mosquito, and it kept happening! For the second night in a row I woke up AFLAME with the itch. I am not good with foreign mosquitos. My face, both forearms? one leg and one foot are swollen. Je suis la victim de la Belgique! I was lying in bad last night between skeeto chases, and I could almost TASTE the itch: kind of like Honeydew Melon - and I LIKE honeydew melon! I am so tired. I am burning with these bites - they are actually really hot! And it is all trippy having so many bites, I get a bit dizzy qnd nqusious and things seem a little unreal *tripping out on mosquito poison*...
It was worse in Germany last year and in Dominica though... I completely forget what was the point of all this paragraph..

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Tomorrw afternoon I sing. I am tha only singer starting with a Handel aria. The Judges apparently do not like Handel arias. Too bad! It is way prettier than the 3 arias everyone else does (Si, mi chaiamano Mimi, La Rondine, and So Anch'io)

***

The subject of Religion came up at the billet house last night. Gasp! Jewish!!

This is what followed:

"But you don't LOOK like a Jew, AND NEITHER DO YOUR PARENTS" ( I asked what was that look and they did not answer)

"You must really be interested in WWII!" (The dqy before they pointed to q monument qnd qsked me if I knew that there had been two world wars)

"When did you cross over to Canada"

"Are your parents Jewish?"

And then a million questions. So now I represent an entire religion/culture.

They qre truly fascinated. Apparently, as far as they know Protestant is not Christian at all and they are definitely Catholics "although we find it hard..i mean, believe in something you don't know is THERE?"

I am being super patient. Even when they explained to me this morning that the bus stop accross the street was the one I had gotten off at yesterday. no kidding. More bus talk.

But they are sweet and although it is rainy and I am SOSOO tichy it is fun walking along and looking in the shop windows. The Two best stores is a video game shop called "Mario's World3, and a shoe shop called "Shoes in the Box." Shoes. In a box. Whyever NOT?? How creative!

I am writing this from a cafe in the African part of town. The teensy place not only has an H1M, but it has a 'hood. I love it! People are really friendly in this area and this cafe is way cheaper and SO MUCH cleaner than the one I as in yesterday. The two populations don't even go to school together. Where is the love?? I feel much more comfortable in THIS part of town; At least I donùt keep getting blank looks when I start to speak (My french is GOOD! It is the Belgiabs whi talk funny!)

Email me people I am loonely