Parlez-vous français?

I am coming to the end of my formal language study. I am now in a pronunciation course. It is one hour a day, two days a week, for four weeks. (That’s eight hours if you do the math.) I thought this would be a relaxing, non-stressful way to finish. Wrong! In some ways it is less stressful – hardly any homework and I don’t think there will be a final exam. However, in class it is very stressful. I felt fairly confident in my pronunciation skills and thought this would merely be a tweaking – a slight improvement. However, it seems everything I say is wrong! As the teacher goes around the room, student by student, and we each try to reproduce some little sound, I push some little squeak out of my throat with all students’ eyes on me, and the teacher exclaims, “pas compris!” (not understood). Really though, the teacher tries to make it fun for us, and I am really learning a lot.

Here is a resume of my French language learning. Growing up in Canada, French was introduced into my school when I was 12. I studied French the next 10 years, through high school and Bible college. With 10 years of French, you would think I would be able to speak it right? Wrong! I could not carry on a conversation. In the next 30 some years, living in the United States, I did not speak French at all. In the year before moving to Belgium, we had a lady come and give lessons to our team. Then, after we moved here, I began lessons at Alliance Française. I found that my 10 years of French gained me about 4 months worth, although I think it really helped with vocabulary, pronunciation, and being able to accept that French is different from English. April through June, I took the semi-intensive course (3 days a week, 2 ½ hours a day). I was off for July and August. In September, I took the extensive course (2 days a week, 2 hours a day). I landed in that class because the semi-intensive class was full. I intended to try to change classes after the first month, but I decided I liked the pace; I liked the teacher and had grown attached to the other students. In January, I thought I would like to continue in that class, but the teacher left and took most of the students with her (oops!) so there were not enough students to make the class. So, I chose the intensive class (5 days a weeks, 3 hours a day). I realized I would need a good study plan to survive at this pace and not be overwhelmed and fall behind. This is the plan I devised:

1. Make study cards: a). Vocabulary b). Conjugations c). Rules
2. Study new material
3. Complete homework
4. Supplement new material with grammar exercises from other books
5. Re-write written assignments with corrections
6. Review old material (for current course)
7. Review old material (previous courses) and conjugations, etc. from back of textbooks, other materials

I followed this every day, but I rarely got to the final step because by that time each day I found I had spent about 2 hours on study and homework. I think it really helped me though, because at the end of the course I did not have to cram for the exam. The intensive course was a great experience for me and a great way to finish, but I could not see myself doing that month after month. My study plan might not work for you, but I would strongly recommend to anyone studying language to find a plan that works for you and to stick to it.

I have mixed feelings about finishing language study. It is nice to have that off my schedule and be able to move on to other things. It is frightening to realize that I still have a long way to go and I have to go the rest of the way on my own. I still have two language partners that I will continue with, and that is a tremendous help. Also, I have lots of resources to continue learning on my own. It will take self-discipline when you do not have the structure of the language class.

The Prince, the Princess, and the Accordian Player

We spent the afternoon with Serve the City, Brussels.

On our way, on the metro, we entered the last car. In the area just where two cars join, there is a section with just two seats, close to the door. It was about 11:00 in the morning and there was a man, who looked like he might have been homeless, curled up in these two seats, sleeping cozily. At the next stop, a man got on with an accordion. We see him from time to time on the metro, playing for spare change. Well, he got on the metro and stood directly in front of the sleeping man, playing loudly. The sleeper stirred only slightly, but never opened his eyes. All of the passengers in our car got such enjoyment out of this, that we knew we would have to give him a coin. After he walked through our car with his cup, he passed by into the next car, giving one last loud pump on the accordion. A few moments later, the sleeping man stirred again and finally opened his eyes and reached for a large bottle of coke from his bag.

This was a special day for Serve the City, because Princesse Claire and Prince Laurent came to serve with us. At one point in the program we were to give a hug to three people we didn't know. The Prince and Princess got more than their fair share of hugs. Dan and I did not try to give them a hug.

The focus for the day was elderly people. There was a group that stayed in the community center and elderly people came for a dancing lesson. The other groups went to nursing homes and passed out chocolates. Dan and I were not in the group that Princesse Claire went with. She went with a group of teenage girls from a private school. The last we saw of Prince Laurent was him running (literally) in the opposite direction as the princess headed off down the sidewalk with the girls. I don't think he was scheduled to actually go to the nursing home.

This is the first time I have been in the presence of royalty. I wondered if you would have to bow or curtsey, but I didn't see any of that. They seemed to be pretty normal. Dan and I didn't try to actually meet them. We would like to have met them, but we didn't want to impose. We didn't take any pictures either, but a lot of people did. It seemed a little "paparazzi" to me. Still, I am very excited to have actually seen them.

The Day my Apple Died

Most of our days in Belgium have been very enjoyable.  As in “Can you believe God has called us to meet such wonderful people and live in such an agreeable climate?”  At least we think the climate is agreeable.  We like that it has never gone above 85 degrees Fahrenheit or below 30 degrees (so far this winter). 

Last Sunday was our second church meeting.  We had visitors, so we felt very blessed.  Afterwards we went to an Irish Meetup, which was another good thing.  The food and the company were very good, although the Irish jazz singer was ill and was absent.  We felt bad for the organizer. 

Then afterwards it happened that the macbook died almost completely (it was in the ICU).  The keyboard and trackpad quit working!

So, I started researching, and again, it is a very common problem with Macs.  What you need to do to correct it is remove the power source, then remove the battery, wait 30 seconds, reinstall all of the power sources, and then you push the switch.  That seems easy enough, but you also have to push the apple, option, R and P keys all at the same time and hold it until the PRAM resets, (about a minute).  It would be nice to have a Chihuahua to help.  It worked the first time and lasted about 5 minutes.  It worked the second time and lasted 2 minutes.  Then nothing happened.  But it would work with a USB mouse.  So I thought maybe it would work with an auxiliary keyboard.  So I went to bed, not to sleep right away though. 

The next morning I woke up, did everything I needed to do, and researched some more and found the extended warranty had expired last month.  I could buy a replacement keyboard for $65 to $129 USD.  I went to a computer shop that sells inexpensive accessories and bought a USB keyboard for less than 20 euro, but that didn’t work to reset the problem and it wasn’t QWERTY.

Then I decided that I would go to MacLine, the Apple authorized reseller, and see if they could at least tell me for sure that the keyboard was bad.  The keyboard was bad, but it was still under warranty because I had recently had it replaced there, and they had a rash of bad keyboards, and you could have the keyboard replaced three times over the life of the machine.  So I came home very happy and they even did the work while I waited.

So that is a good story to illustrate our life here.  There are lots of ups and downs.  We do a lot of research to do the simplest things.  We are so thankful for our friends here who are making the transition to a new country enjoyable.  We are also thankful for technology.  Even though technology is responsible for at least half our frustrations, it also makes it easier for us to live here.

Keep remembering us.

Dan and Elizabeth

Our first Christmas Season in Belgium

 Saint Nicholas Cookie

We have been living in Brussels for eight and a half months.  Time is starting to move quickly now.  We are still studying French, and Elizabeth really enjoys it.  Dan is finding it one of the biggest challenges of his life.  We are making lots of friends and acquaintances, and we both really enjoy that.  We thought that you might like to know how we see Christmas celebrated in Brussels.  (If anyone from Belgium is reading this and would like to add a clarification, please feel free.)

The Christmas season started to show up in the stores right after Halloween.  Obviously they do not celebrate American Thanksgiving, so we were very curious when that would happen.  We received our first Christmas catalog from a store about a week later; it looked very much like a US flyer.  The intense shopping push began the first week of December and a little bit of the end of November.  There are fantastic bargains - the price number is close to what you would see in the US, but the Euro is worth around 1.40 USD.  They also pay twenty percent tax on everything and they include it on most prices advertised.

Children receive presents twice in December. Saint Nicholas arrives on December the 6^th with presents.  He was known as Nicholas the Wonderworker and was the Bishop of Turkey in the fourth century.  He was the son of rich parents who died while he was young.  He gave away his fortune to help the poor and he became a Bishop at a young age.  He is portrayed as a bishop riding a donkey or mule.  Père Noël, or Father Christmas, arrives Christmas Eve night bringing more gifts to the good girls and boys.  He looks more like a North American Santa than Saint Nicholas.  Everyone has a traditional family meal on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Christ does not seem to be as big a part of the festivities as in North America.  We have seen a few manger scenes around the city though.  Please think of us while you celebrate the Holy season.  We will be thinking about you!

A very, very long, sometimes green walk

On Saturday the 5^th of November, we finished La Promenade Verte, the 60 km (37 mile) walk around Brussels.  We have been doing this, an hour or two at a time, since summer.  We started in Stockel at the Chemin de Fer (Iron Trail, old railroad grade) on the east side of Brussels.  We headed southwest towards the Forêt de Soigne.  We walked through several beautiful parks with swans, geese and ducks and nice meadows with families playing in them. 

We even saw a Green Parrot condo in a pine tree.  Some time ago Amazon Green Parrots escaped into the parks and invaded.  The condo was like a purple martin house except the parrots made it themselves from twigs and leaves.  We made it to the Forêt after a couple of days (remember only one to two hours at a time).  We had a wonderful lunch at a sidewalk café and decided that we couldn’t walk across the forest all in one outing.  So we got on the tram and returned home to think about what to do next.

We decided that we would head north from where we had started, and then there would be more access to public transportation so we wouldn’t have to keep going for an uncomfortable distance.  We did well for the first mile or so and then we lost the trail.  There is a special sign for the trail and evidently sometimes a truck would go around the corner too closely and break off the three foot tall post and you wouldn’t have any idea which street to take next.

 We pressed on in the general direction until we ran into the outer ring highway, which we followed northwest until we ran into the markers again.  This was the newest part of Brussels, next to the airport, and there were very modern buildings for business headquarters.  Another day’s hike finished, we rode a bus back to our apartment.  The next walk picked up where we left off except this time we printed Google maps and drew in the trail the best we could.  The walk was through old European neighborhoods, the green part being play areas for children in large apartment complexes.  We lost the trail again and used my phone’s GPS to find our way back to a tram stop.  Just next to the tram stop we saw Elizabeth’s likeness immortalized in sidewalk art.

The reasons we decided to do the very, very long, sometimes green walk were:

We like to walk and if you like Belgian food you must exercise or you will become very large.

We wanted to know the city better; when you use public transportation you don’t see everything.

We were prayer walking - walking and praying for neighborhoods and people that they would be blessed.

This is going to be a multi-part blog, but we will write it more often than once a month so check back soon!

Dan and Elizabeth

Belgian Health Care System

Since arriving here in March we (Dan) have had several occasions to learn about the Social Health Care System.  For the most part we have been impressed with it.  When you need to make an appointment with a doctor, you just call and set up the time, no matter what kind of specialty.  This saves the expense of seeing the family doctor first, if you have a known disease or problem.  

I have suffered from Crohn’s disease for many years, and when I arrived in March I needed an injection of Remacaide very soon because I was on an eight week regimen.  So I looked online to find the best gastroenterologists and found one that could speak English and the appointment was in a week or so.  The doctor is a professor at a university hospital, so his office is in the hospital.  I saw him and the infusion was set up in the time frame that I needed.  

The only problem that I have as an expat is payment.  Before you will be seen or treated you have to pay.  Seeing the specialist was only $45 but the Remacaide was around $4000 USD, so I had to alert my credit card company.  The hospitals are nice, well lit and comfortable.  When I came back for the infusion they had a nice recliner, wifi, a volunteer to serve juice, cookies and soup.  They also had plenty of magazines to read.  The only problem was that it took awhile compared to having the infusion done at my house in Tennessee.  They had to make sure everything was done properly and that I was okay afterwards.  

The big problem was with my wonderful Blue Cross insurance from the US.  They required a proper itemized bill to pay from the provider.  That seemed reasonable but the hospital in Belgium had up to six months to provide us with one.  (It took about six months and three weeks.) They already had their money and if they normally are paid by the Government they know they will be paid so they do not get in a hurry.

If we had been in the health care system, when we arrived at the hospital we would go to the desk for appointments and payment and present our card, which would be swiped like a credit card, and then we would pay the small difference.  For an office visit outside of the hospital, we would pay the fee and then submit it to our Mutuelle later and they would reimburse us for everything except three dollars or so.  

You have your choice of Mutuelle (private insurance administrator).   The Mutuelle is interested in keeping you healthy, so they provide incentives for you to take care of yourself, like half off electric toothbrushes and discounts to gyms etc.  You have your choice of GP, dentist, optometrist, chiropractor, homeopath, acupuncturist etc.  You can hardly buy any over the counter drugs except in a pharmacy.  For prescriptions you pay just a few dollars, better than what I paid with my prescription plan.  

We have found the health care system to be very interesting and nice.  We like it better than in the US, and it is much better than what we know of Canada and Great Britain.  For us to purchase their coverage is less than 300 euro a month.  For citizens it can be as low as 6 euro a month, depending on your salary. (They are already in the tax system, and we would be paying our way in.)   We will probably switch eventually because of the problem with having to be reimbursed by Blue Cross.   

I don’t think that you could just bring the system to the United States and expect it to work as well as it does here.  We thought that this would be an interesting blog subject.  If you have any questions or ideas, let us know.

Madame C

Madame C is our landlady.  She is an amazing woman.  To us she is the epitome of what you would hope a lady would be.  She cared for people for many years volunteering at St. Luc Hospital in the Roseau house.  She would work for 32 hours each weekend, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, in the commons or lounge area.  St. Luc is a hospital for internationals needing transplants and other serious treatments.  People come from many countries to stay at “The Reed” lodging.  The lodging was named the Reed because it bends but does not break.  Madame C speaks many languages - French, Dutch, English and probably others.  She would serve coffee, lend books and magazines and encourage families of patients.

She also took care of our neighbor for fifteen years until she died early this summer, bringing her food and encouragement, making her last days more pleasant.

Madame C started her married life in the Belgian Congo with her husband and young family.  He was a successful travel agent and they had a nice home.  They had to leave it all behind when the Congolese started rioting and demanded independence.  The Belgian and UN armies escorted the European Belgians out of the country as quickly as possible leaving properties behind.   They then moved to Brussels and bought two apartments adding a stairs to the upstairs apartment.  They raised their children and reestablished themselves successfully.   

Twenty years ago Madame C and her daughter were involved in a serious car accident where her adult daughter died and Madame C sustained serious injuries to her neck.  Some of the vertebrae were fused and she has lived in pain ever since, always maintaining a good, kind and caring outlook on life.  When the children grew up and moved away she eventually decided to convert our apartment back to a rental.  This is how we met her.  She was the first Belgian we met and she gave us good expectations of what was to come in meeting other nice people. 

One month ago she started experiencing severe back pain and went by ambulance to St. Luc’s.  They gave her every test imaginable.  She stayed there for the entire month, receiving many visitors and having her bed rolled down to Chapel each Sunday so that she could worship and receive Mass.  This past Friday evening she returned home.  They could not do anything to help her that didn’t have serious consequences (making her very immobile) so she decided to do the best that she can and use a walker.

We have come to love her and want every possible blessing for her.  Some of you were praying for her a couple of weeks ago and we would like our friends to pray for her pain to subside and that she would continue to be a lighthouse to our community in Woluwe St. Lambert, Belgium.