joyeuses pâques!

In my childhood, the moment that I woke up on Easter morning I would bolt down the stairs, anxious to delve into my Easter basket and begin to find the eggs the Easter bunny had hidden around my home. As I've grown older, the excitement has worn off, and I'm more excited to sleep than to see what my Easter basket has in store for me.

Though this morning I glanced at my phone, jumped out of bed, and sped down the stairs with more excitement than I thought possible. But why?

I have my e-mail set up so that a notification sends to my phone when I recieve a new message, but I can only see who the message is from and most of the subject.

My phone read: 4 new messages when I woke up this morning. Two were from my best friends and said, "Happy Easter :)". The other two were from 700- meaning e-mail notifications. I opened them. The first:

F: Dominique
d******@ho
S: FW: The S****** family in wate
Sent to: jordannnreplies@aim.com

The second:

F: Dominique
d******@ho
S: The S****** (2)
Sent to: jordannnreplies@aim.com

At first, I thought, "What the heck? The sher-ers? I have no idea... OH MY GOD!"

I jumped out of bed- ripping the sheets off, pulled on my robe, and ran down the steps- jumping two at a time. I heard, "Happy Easter!", but I failed to return the greeting. I opened up my e-mail, and sure enough, they were e-mail messages from my host mom, Dominique.

The first read:

From: d******@hotmail.com
To: jordannreplies@aim.com
Subject:
The S****** family in waterloo- Belgium (1)
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2010 21:22:17
+0200


Good evening Jordann,

We are pleased to welcome you in our family
in Belgium through the Rotary.
We got you nice file and learned a lot about
you.
You will find in attachment a few pictures from us, also six people, but
our two older daughters are on the go:
Fanny (18) will go to university and
be back on week end only and Charlotte (17) leaves for Australia.
But
don't worry there is a lot going on around us...
In our newsletter you
will learn a bit about us all.
Jus a few questions now:
- do you like swimming?
There are a few outdoor and indoor swimming pools around
and during our summer and begin fall we love swimming.
- have you ever skied?
The second family, very nice people loves it and goes during the
school break...
- do you have a family discount card? Here it is important
for transports, Brussels is 20 minutes away.

Have a Happy Easter and I will write to you very soon again.
Do pratice
your french because my next mail will be in ... french!
Dominique S******

With this e-mail I received a biography of the family (in French) that I'm in the process of deciphering. Also, she sent pictures

of my home:

of my room:

and others of my family members. The second e-mail consisted of more photos of my family.

I replied with excitement, trying to use French as much as possible (which wasn't a lot), and I shared pictures of my friends and family with them.

My home is beautiful, my mother is kind, and I have four host sisters- two that I'll be living with and one only on weekends. What more can I ask for? Now I just have the task of learning about my family by reading the letter in French. I'm asking my French teacher for some help.

This has been the best Easter of my life, no exaggeration. :D

hallelujah.

What I learned over the weekend: I need to break the habit of saying "see ya" as goodbye.

Starting at about 9:15, I felt like I had already started my exchange. I was talking to my peers from Venezuela, France, Italy, Brazil and to others going to Germany, Spain, Austria, Switzerland. Different languages, different customs, yet one common factor: we were exchange students, either now or in the coming year.

My roommates: Sabina from Rome, Italy; Pauline from Lille, France; and Mary Elizabeth from State College, Pennsylvania. Though, even though we were from different parts of the world, we seemed so familiar to one another. I guess that explains the creed my group and I created during one of the activities: Friendship knows no language.

The experience, such a new one. Yet, as my departure date nears, it will be familiar to me. Now I'm excited, more than ever, to go to leave the United States.
Yet, I realized that I should probably look into Belgium a little more. Sure, I think I've read nearly every article about the country that I could ever find, but I haven't really retained the information I truly need, only the random facts. I've had the notion that I would simply "discover" everything. Ya know, adventurous me. But someone made me realize that it's better to know about Belgian government, chocolate, and beer, and then, as I live there, I'll "discover" what it's like to live in a monarchy, sense the delicate chocolate as it overwhelms my taste buds, and sip a beer that's renowned.

I think it may be time for me to hit the hay now- that means sleep, in case you're not familiar with my country lingo.

bonne nuit, buona notte, goodnight.
-_- zzzzz

waffles™

leave the found behind to
dance with the lost and the forgotten;
they remember

left, right, left, right

without pencils,
blue or black ink only.

colors burst to drain themselves
and wake with the black, white, and grey

they sing out of tune,
but with melody

to remember that focus is disarray,
disarray is-

hello,
without meaning.

a new world,
a lost world,
a lost day,
a lost hour,
a minute found,

to then find the forgotten
who remember

that no eyes can see,
not until they breathe.

©jordannfunk

o_O ™

Hello, or bonjour? I'm not even sure what to say anymore. Words don't seems to have meaning.

I'm Jordann, and I'm a person. Nice to meet you. More than likely, if you're reading this, you already know who I am. More than likely, if you call yourself by the name of Logan, Kristen, Frany, or Nicole, you're thinking, "You're so gay." Regardless, for those exempt of that thought, hello- or bonjour?

In roughly 5 months from now, I'll be leaving. Leaving wet water beds and cigarettes, Webkinz and Ninja-spice. Leaving Logan, Kristen, Frany, and Nicole (my best friends-in case you're lost), and midnight walks around the block. Walks to Wal*Mart and Frick Park. Walks to train trestles with paranoia. From the "home of the brave" to the homeland of french fries? I don't have a euphemism for Belgium, but that makes it all the better. I'm "exploring the unknown." You know, I would, since I'm the "brave" one. Tough. Iron man. But I feel like I'm made of glass. Slowly cracking, soon to shatter. Though, once I leave, I'll be made of iron once again.

Shouldn't it be the opposite? I just can not wait to relieve myself of this stress, purely based on one corrupted force: money. I need $5,000 to not worry. I have $2,000- I'm worrying. All I seem to do is work, work, work. Money this, money that. Can't we just earn global perspective as youth ambassadors free of cost? The dollar has no significance to me, though it has such significance to society. Why must we live by the guidelines of money? I thought humans had the brains. But we're controlled, in the "land of the free".

Nonetheless, "broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all of one's lifetime", so I must travel before I can have such opinions. Mark Twain knows best.

Well, hello- or bonjour?
I forgot that people may actually be reading this, so
just to make my Virginia Woolf-esque rambles clear, next year, from August 2010-July 2011 I'll be a Rotary Youth exchange student from the United States to French Belgium. For which I have the utmost gratitude, Rotary Youth Exchange is probably the least expensive program any student could ever participate in. All you have to pay for is airfare, insurance, and other minor needs. Compared to most programs that cost around $10,000, the need to make $5,000 should seem like nothing. But to make it completely on my own is no small task.

I actually made a graph that hangs above my desk in my room. Branded across the top is the single word: BELGIQUE! Every time I make money I scribble with a blue high-lighter a little higher on the bar of the month. Last time I heightened the February bar to $2,000. Now I just have to work on March. Though, with my new job at Pizza Hut and revenue from businesses and family members coming in, I finally feel like I'm making progress. Slowly but surely.

But it's probably about time for me to leave and do something constructive. Like Chemistry homework. Oh, the wonderful life of an American teenager gone global.

I'll just remember to scribble it down here so you don't miss a moment.

Yes, that was cheezy.

but
Good-bye,
or au revoir?