Belgium Adventures Day 3 and 4: Visiting Host Son

Yoran was picking me up at 1 pm, so I had time to wander around Liege. I stopped into a travel book store that is run by a Frenchman who came to Liege as an exchange student not long after I did, but he decided to stay. Easier for him as a European citizen.

The owner made a cookbook of Liege foods that I nearly purchased (and would have asked him to sign), but it was in French and my French is not that good, nor did I need more things. He gave me copies of several of the recipes in English and tied them together with a tri-colored twine -- black, red, and yellow -- in honor of Belgium. What a salesman! As the conversation turned to American politics (I need to learn to lie and say I'm from Canada), I lost my interest in shopping. 

A quick trip to the grocery store to buy some tulips for Lieve (Yoran's mom).

I walked up the montagne de Bureun in eight minutes, and back down in six. I noticed an ad for B&B halfway up. I hope the guests realize they have to get their suitcases up an awful lot of stairs and there is no secret back entrance!

The stairs are littered with signs encouraging people to people to be respectful of the neighborhood. Written in more than just English.

Yoran picked me up as promised. He offered to drive me to where I lived with my second host family. At first I thought why bother since we are meeting for lunch the following week, but then I said "sure, why not." I knocked on the door and ended up having one of the most amusing times of my life. 

Andre speaks French with some English.

Renee speaks French and Nederlandais.

Yoran speaks Nederlandais, but a different dialect than Renee speaks, and English.

I speak English and French.

We had three to four different languages floating around. I kept looking at the others to make sure they were following along. I caught Yoran asking Renee (in Nederlandais) what was I like as a student. I then corrected her misconceptions of me (she said I hung out with only other Americans, I actually made friends with people around the world; she said I had an American flag, it was supposed to be a Belgian flag that my first host mother made wrong; she said I hated the uniform, I didn't like it, but hate would have been too strong).

I showed them a picture of the QWIRKLE stand Sam recently made for me (based on the one Andre had made for Renee) and Andre brought out some wine for us. It was 1:30 in the afternoon! 

I asked Yoran to take pictures of us.

Yoran drove me to his home. He is an excellent driver. We drove through the village where he attended school. He then showed me the path he took to ride his bike 7km to school. He caught me up on his life -- changed school programs. Doing very well in school. I'm a proud mama.

The two of us took his dog, Teddy, on a stroll around a lake. 

His house looks like something out of Country Homes and Living. His brother is a partner in an interior design business. His mother has excellent taste. The parents encourage their children to learn how to work with their hands. Farmhouse chic is how I would describe their style.

They spoke English for me. I taught them how to do Wordle. Kerim, his father, said I don't have an accent when I speak French, I think my accent is Belgian.

I learned more about them, which filled in gaps we had when asking Yoran about his family.

Yoran and I walked Teddy around the orchard (another piece of his story clicking into place). Later I took Teddy for the same walk alone.

We got ice cream from the milk lady ice cream shop. Mocha, raspberry sorbet, Nutella, and stracciatelli.

I FaceTimed Don so he could see their house.

The boys made wood fire pizza from the kiln. It is a weekly tradition.  

Yoran, Lieve, and his brother (Ilyas) played games. They printed my tickets for my Tuesday ride to Amsterdam, that did not happen because of the weekly train strike. Ugh.

I did not want to leave. I felt at home. It was the quiet restful day my body needed.