Saturday, August 20, 2011

Day 13

Vrijdag, 19 Augustus 2011

Woke up after about an hour of sleep to take Robyne to the airport.  The entire family went, though we didn't say much in the car - I think most of us were sleeping.  Checked her in (she had like 6kgs over the weight limit, and an extra bag, so she quite a lot of baggage fees to pay), and had breakfast there.  We saw a few other exchange students, though we didn't say anything to them, just smiled and waved.

At security, both Robyne and Truut (understandably) started crying, and everyone was giving her hugs.  Marcela and I got our last picture with our "mommy" (Robyne), and we told her that we'd be good girls and make her proud.  :P  That got her to laugh a bit, so at least she wasn't sobbing on her way to security.  It was weird - they didn't have the take off your shoes security we have at home - she just went to a desk, did something, and disappeared behind some glass doors.  Maybe there was more security checks back there...?

On the drive home, everyone except Patrick (who was driving) slept.  And as soon as we got back to the house, we all ran to our rooms and slept.  Marcela and I woke up again around 2pm, had something quick to eat, and then biked with Truut to the post office.  She was sending a package to their previous short term exchange student from South Africa, and I got my postcards sent off.  We then biked 5kms to Wechelderzande to see a wedding that Truut made the bride's bouquet for.  Unfortunately, we got there late so we couldn't go inside to watch, so we bummed around outside and looked at sculptures.

After the wedding, Truut talked a bit with the bride and a few other people, and then we biked back to Lille.  We then had to go to a bank to exchange some American dollars Marcela had, and then go to the supermarket to buy meat for dinner.  At home, we did the first real round of putting post-its up around the house.  I was writing all the words down in my notebook, and it was around three pages worth.  Eep!  Gotta get on studying those.

Once we finished the post-its, I practiced trumpet a bit until my chops gave out (man, my chops really suck right now), and then bummed around online until dinner.  We all ate, I helped Truut figure out something on her computer, and then we watched "Dances With Wolves".  Great movie, but like all of their movies/TV shows, there were Dutch subtitles.  Which meant when the Sioux were talking, there were Dutch, and not English subtitles, so Marcela and I had NO idea what was going on.  Truut and Patrick translated most of it, but they left for bed with an hour left in the movie (Siemen left quite a bit earlier), so the ending of the movie didn't really make sense to us.

By then, it was midnight, so of course Marcela and I raided the DVD's to find something else to watch for the night.  We went upstairs to watch on our respective laptops, but I just bummed around on reddit and talked to the padre on facebook.  I think I'm going to do the smart thing and go to bed now, instead of doing what I want to do, which is watch another movie.  But first, extra thought time!

It was weird to see Robyne off at the airport.  Even though we had only been sisters for less than two weeks, it was still painful to see her off.  Combine that with the fact that seeing her say goodbye to her parents reminded me of my goodbyes, and it was a pretty sad morning.  Even worse to think about is the fact that she'll probably still be in Peru when I leave Belgium, so that may have been goodbye forever.  Sure, I'll probably come visit Belgium again in a year or so, and I'll stay in contact with everyone, but there's no way to be absolutely sure we'll meet again.

I can see why they say coming home is like 10 times harder than leaving home.  When you leave home, you know your family will be there when you get back, you'll be able to see your friends, and do any activities you missed when you were gone.  But when you leave your new country, you may be saying goodbye for life, or at least a few years.  There are some people you'll never see again, and you'll be saying goodbye to your new way of life.  I bet I'll be blubbering like a baby at the airport when I leave, even though I basically never cry in public places like that.  Thankfully that's still quite a ways away, so I don't need to worry about that for now (though it does make me sad that it is still far away, I would like to see my family again).

Anyway, I should have went to bed a while ago.  Slaapwel!

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