Learning The Ways of Belgium! I know that I promised to write in this more often, but getting a visa for another country is hard work! I have spent the last two weeks in a "socialization course" that I was required to take to keep my legal status in Belgium. The course was a "mixed bag," as we say in American English; it contained both useful and interesting information, as well as information that was not so helpful. :) I did learn many interesting things about the Belgian courts, Belgian social customs, Belgians laws, and Belgian history! I find this country very fascinating. I think that my favorite thing to learn in this class was about Belgian history, and the Belgian kings. Because the United States (my home country) has never had a monarchy, it was a different history than my own country. I was surprised when I learned that the Belgian royal family began in Germany, and not in Belgium (the first Belgian king was a German man, and he didn't even want the job!). But, much like the United States during the Civil War era, Belgium has two different cultures struggling to live together: the Walloons (in the south part of Belgium) and the Flemish (in the north part of Belgium). Though there is definitely a German culture in Belgium as well, it is far, far smaller than the other two groups. There is a constant battle between the more French-speaking culture and the Dutch-speaking culture, and the way that this affects politics and infrastructure in the country is very interesting to me. I am excited to be back from my classes though, and I am happy to be working with my students again! ================================================ As promised, I wanted to give an interesting English "tidbit" in each of my notebook entries. Here it is! This one is nice and short. Many new English speakers make a few of the same sound-related mistakes time and again. So I thought I would pick out one tough sound, and hopefully you can practice on your own! "Th" This sound is very difficult to master, because not many languages use it like English does. Even Germanic language speakers have trouble, and English comes from old German! Remember: *Don't confuse "t" (which is a short, hard sound that stops) with "th" (which is much softer and does not stop as abruptly). *Don't use a "z" sound. They are not the same! The "z" sound is made with your tongue behind your teeth. "Th" is made with your tongue between your teeth.