Brussels

When we got back from Paris my sisters and brother-in-law went back to the US and my parents and I went to Brussels!  Brussels is the capital of Belgium.  Belgium is next to France, the Netherlands, and Germany.  Their official languages are French and Dutch but a lot of Belgium also speaks English and Flemish.  Belgium is also known for their waffles and chocolate so I was very excited to go and try it!  We ate a lot of chocolate and waffles but I think I liked the waffles better.

Brussels is also very famous for an odd little statue called "Manneken Pis" which pretty much translates to "boy peeing".  This little statue is also a fountain and has been repeatedly stolen.  The current statue is actually a copy from 1965.  The original is kept at the Maison de Rio which is in the Grand Place.

The Manneken Pis actually has many different costumes that it wears at different times of the year.  Unfortunately I was unable to see it dressed up but if I had gone there closer to Christmas I think this is what I would have seen.

The Grand Place is a square in the center of Brussels.  It is a very popular tourist destination.  It is about the size of an American football field.  At night we were walking through the square when all of a sudden all of the buildings start to light up in all different colors like a light show!  When the light show was over we started walking away again only to find out about a minute later that it wasn't over at all!  It happened all over again but this time with a mix of different music most of which sounded like classical songs!  It was awesome!  We think it might have been for the last day of the Christmas fair because we were walking through again the next night and nothing was going on.

This is the square diring the day.

 This is the square at night.

When we were in Brussels we decided to take a day trip to Bruges.  Bruges is about one hour away by train.  Bruges used to be an important trading center because it was close to the coast but then in the 1500s its harbor silted in and was no longer able to be used.  Now it is a very touristy place and some people even call it the Venice of Belgium because of all its beautiful scenery and canals.  Some also say that it is the best preserved Gothic town in Europe.

 This is one of the canals.

This is the Bruges main square (also called the Markt) at night.  I couldn't get a good picture diring the day because they were in the middle of taking down the Christmas fair.

We saw many things in Bruges but one of my favorite things to see was the Madonna and Child. The Madonna and Child is one of the sculptures by Michelangelo.  It is said to be the only statue of his to leave Italy during his lifetime.  The funny thing was that it was on the edge of the town in a church that had only one other person besides us in it so I guess it isn't very well known.  

Paris

I rang in the new year with an awesome trip to Paris!  It was so much fun!  My sisters and brother-in-law came too!  My favorite part of the trip was seeing the Eiffel Tower!  It was huge!  We climbed all the way to the top!  The view was amazing!  You could see for miles and miles in all directions!  The Eiffel Tower was originally built as the entrance to the 1889 world fair and had a 20 year contract after which it was due to be knocked down.  Fortunately this did not happen because it was being used as a telecommunication tower.  When I was researching the Eiffel Tower I found some very interesting facts.   My favorite one though was that a con artist tried to sell the Eiffel Tower as scrap metal, twice!  I don't know how the con artist thought that was going to work!

My sisters and brother-in-law with me in front of the Eiffel Tower.

The Eiffel Tower at night.

The view from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Some of the other things we saw in Paris were:

The Arch de Triomphe

If you look closely you can see my dad standing in front of the arch.  The arch is so big that my dad looks like a speck!

The Arc de Triomphe was ordered to be built by Napoleon in 1806.  It has seen many important events in history because it used to be one of the entrances to Paris.  One of those events was when the Germans came in to take over Paris during World War II. The Nazi soldiers walked right through the arch when taking over Paris in 1940.  About four years later Charles de Gaulle and the allied forces walked through it to take Paris back.

My second favorite thing we did in Paris was going to the Louvre museum of art!  We made very good use of our time in the Louvre and only went to see the things that we knew about or were famous because almost everyone who went there said that if you don't pick out the things you want to go see in the Louvre then it will get very overwhelming because it is so big.

  One of the things we decided to see (of course) was the Mona Lisa!  For some reason I was expecting the Mona Lisa to be big and magnificent but it was normal size and looked pretty normal to me.  I was really glad that be got to see it though, especially when I found out you could take pictures of it!

Some of the other things we saw in the Louver that I liked were:

 The Great Sphinx

The Great Sphinx of Tanis is one of the largest sphinx sculptures in existence outside of Egypt.

Venus de Milo

Some call this statue the Aphrodite of Milo.  It was originally carved between 130B.C. and 100 B.C. in ancient Greece.  

The one thing I did NOT like about Paris though was the outside bathrooms for many reasons:

1. They smelled really bad!
2. It took forever to use, line or no line, because it had to wash itself after every use!
3. Because it had to clean itself off, if you went in right after the other person came out you would get washed along with the rest of the bathroom because there is no way to stop the doors from closing or to stop it from washing itself!

At least the bathrooms were free (because most bathrooms in Europe you have to pay to use) and they were relatively clean.

 This is the long line we had to wait in.  It took about 7 minutes for every person to use.

As you can see from our faces it smelled REALLY bad!

Christingles

One of the Christmas traditions they have here in Britain is making Christingles!  The Children's Society first introduced christingles to The Church of England in 1968 and from then on it was one of the most popular traditions for families and church communities in Britain.

It is supposed to symbolise the Christian Faith.  Here is what all of the things that make up the Christingle symbolize:

The orange - represents the world

The red ribbon - symbolizes the love and blood of Christ

The dried fruits and sweets - symbols of god's creation

The lit candle - symbolizes Jesus, the light of the world

One of the fun things about Christingles is that you can supposedly eat it when you're done. =)  If you want to try to make a christingle it's actually pretty easy!  Here are directions to make the christingles:

1. Take an orange and fasten a piece of red tape or ribbon around the middle.
2. Cut a small cross in the top of the orange and lay a square of silver foil (75 mm/3" square) over it.
3. Place a wax candle on top of the foil and wedge it firmly into the orange (the foil catches the hot wax).
4. Load four tooth picks with raisins, marshmallows, or pretty much whatever you want and insert them around the base of the candle.

So now that you know how to make Christingles, maybe next Christmas you can bring an English tradition into your home. =)

Our Muslim Friends

This past week we had the good fortune of being invited by our Muslim friends to their community centre for dinner.  When we arrived at the centre there were about ten students ranging in age from sixteen to midd twenties who had come to eat dinner with us.  They were students of the Imam, or what we would call the paster, who volunteer at the centre.  They have many programs at the centre such as a nursery school, sport clubs, radio station, a youth centre where kinds can hang out, a study centre where kinds can study the quran, and they also publish a magazine.  The students were all very nice and we had a good time visiting with them.

Before dinner we were invited to come and watch one of their prayers.  It was very interesting.

Prayers

They have to go through the cycle of kneeling to the ground for prayer five time and they pray five different times each day.  They explained the reason they kneel to the ground during prayer is because it symbolizes that before god we are like dust.  During the prayer time women will usually be in the very back row praying or they will pray in a different room.  When I was there, there was only one women there and she was in the back row.

After the prayer we all went into the other room to eat.  The meal was very good!  The Imam's wife had prepared the meal and it was called chicken korma.  Here is a picture of kind of what it looked like:

I did not bring my camera to the meal because I wasn't sure if it would be rude or not so I did not take this picture.

During the meal we all had a lot of time to talk and learn about each other.  The Muslim students wanted to learn about us as much as we wanted to learn about them.  We found out that our religion and their religion are more similar then they are different.  We also found out we had a lot more in than we had differences.  I wish that more events like this were happening all over the world so that we could eliminate a lot of the negative thinking about Muslims and we could eliminate any negative thoughts they may have about Christians.  I think this dinner was a good start and I also think I will have to get the recipe for this delicious meal.

Bonfire Night

Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603.  Under her rule, English Catholics had been persecuted because Elizabeth was a protestant.  The Catholics hoped that the next in line for the throne, James I, would be more accepting of their religion because he had a Catholic mother.  Unfortunately for the Catholics, James turned out to be even less tolerant of the Catholics than Elizabeth.   This led to a group of 13 young men getting together to discus what they were going to do about it.  

They finally decided that violence was the only way.  Their plan was to get a bunch of gun powder and put in in the cellar of the Parliament and blow Parliament up.  By doing this they would kill the king, maybe the Prince of Wales, and the Members of Parliament who were making life difficult for the Catholics.  Today we would call this group of men terrorists or extremists because they chose violence as the solution to their problem.

As the group worked on the plot it became clear that innocent people would get killed in the attack including some people who even fought for more rights of Catholics.  Some of the people in the group started to have second thoughts.  One of them even sent a letter to one of his friends in Parliament telling him to stay away from Parliament on November 5th.  This letter reached the King and the King's forces made plans to stop the group from blowing up the Parliament.  Guy Fawkes, who was in the cellar with the gun powder when the king's men arrived, was caught and tortured.  He was then executed along with the other members of the plot.

To celebrate the foiled gun powder plot, every 5th of November people get together and light a bonfire and set off fireworks!  The bonfire will usually have an effigy of Guy Fawkes in the middle of the fire symbolizing the burning of Guy Fawkes and the other members of the gun powder plot on the stake.

I actually got invited to one of these bonfires!  It was really fun!  Here are some pictures.

You may not be able to see this very well but if you look closely, you can see the little effigies we put in the fire.

During the bonfire we all got some sparklers and played with them.  It was the second time I have ever played with sparklers!  It scared me when it almost got to the end because I didn't know what I was supposed to do. =)

After the bonfire we went up into the bell tower at the church to watch the fireworks!  This is a picture of us on the bell tower.  We could see tons of fireworks from up there!

This is a picture of me climbing up to the top of the bell tower.  We had to crawl up a lot of ladders and under a lot of bells.

These are some of the fireworks we saw!

The fireworks went on for weeks after that!

Monster Cat

When I left the U.S. I really missed my two dogs, Ole and Lena.  Even though I still really miss them, I have a new little friend here.  When I got to England I was surprised to find out that there was a cat who sometimes would hang out around the house.  I was so excited!  The previous director called it Monster Cat because it was so big.  I didn't know what to expect.  About two weeks went past without any sign of Monster Cat.  I was starting to think she wasn't going to come.  Then one day I was looking out the window and I saw this huge cat going through the garden!  I was so excited that I ran outside to see the cat, forgetting that cats can get scared easily.  As you can guess the cat heard me, took one look and ran.  It was about a week before I saw her again.  The next time I saw her I let her come up to the house before I went outside.  She was still very timid so I just sat with her for awhile so she could get familiar with me.  After that she let me pet her.  She was the softest cat I ever felt!  She was very big and furry!  She was a well trained and gentle cat with a really soft meow like a kitten.  After awhile she was coming almost every day.  My dad says he doesn't like cats but I know that's not true now because he lets me bring the cat inside our home.  Here she is:

I would say she is at least two feet long.  She's a big cat!  I think she is a Norwegian Forest Cat.  When I'm older I think this is the kind cat I want to own. =)

Islam

Every Tuesday we get a speaker to come and talk to the college students.  A couple Tuesdays ago we had a speaker who talked about Islam because a lot of Muslims live in Nottingham.  It was very interesting so I thought I would share it with you.

One billion people from a vast range of races, nationalities and cultures across the globe - from the southern Philippines to Nigeria - are united by their common Islamic faith.  In the UK, home to 2 million Muslims, the Muslim culture has become a familiar part of everyday life in many of their great cities.  In Nottingham there is a thriving Muslim community with its mosques, schools, shops and social and welfare organizations.

A Muslim is a follower of a religion called Islam.  They believe in one unique and incomparable God; in the angels created by him; in the prophets sent by him; in the day of judgment (after death); in God's complete authority over human destiny and in life after death.  Muslims believe in a chain of prophets starting with Adam and including Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, Elias, Jonah, John the baptist, and Jesus.  But God's final message was revealed to a prophet Muhammad through Gabriel.

For Muslims, Islam isn't just a religion, but also a way of life.  Islam teaches moral values such as justice, honesty, kindness, patients, and respect for others.  The Quran, the sacred writings of Islam, says: "act justly.  Truly God loves those who are just." (9:9)  and: "and let not the hatred of others make you avoid justice.  Be just: that is nearer to piety..." (5:8) and: "And likewise we have made you a middle nation (i.e. not extremists) in order that you are witnesses (for the good) over mankind" (2:143)

Muslims put a high value on family life, as illustrated by:  "And be good to your parents and to relations, orphans and the needy and speak highly to mankind: and establish worship and pay the poor-due." (2:83), and:  "If one or both of your parents attain old age and then do not say to them even fie!  Nor repulse them, rather say to them a noble word." (17:23)  The prophet Muhammad said in his farewell sermon, "The best among you are those wh are best to their wives."

Islam teaches that all faiths come from the same divine source - God.  Muslims therefore believe in Jesus, Moses, David, Abraham and many other Biblical prophets.  Jesus in particular has a special place in Islam.  Muslims respect Christians and Jews as 'people of the book'.  Since Islam teaches freedom of religion, every person is entitled to choose his religion.

A commonly asked question of non-Muslims is "Why do women have scarves to cover their heads?"  Other than the fact that Allah commands it, reasons include the requirements for modesty in both men and women.  Both will then be evaluated for intelligence and skill instead of looks.