in the last week so many humorous things have happened to me and i have found so much joy in them. maybe it is because i was in some sort of funk before, i don’t know. but i have laughed till it hurt quite a few times this week alone.
it all began with 2 different people at 2 different times telling me that i look famous. the first was an arabian man who said that he could tell that i was american because i looked like a native american. more specifically Pocahontas. now granted it was dark outside and my hair has grown quite a bit since being here…but really? i laughed so hard when he said that and he did not know why i was laughing. i found this picture online…and i suppose if you squint with one eye and don’t look out of the other…let’s just say i won’t be painting with all the colors of the wind any time soon.
the second person to say i reminded them of someone famous was an african girl in my language class. we were joking around during break on monday and she said “you know, you really remind me of someone but i cannot put my finger on who”. like 10 minutes later (in the middle of class) she yells, “brittany spears”. after a few seconds of confusion, as i had already forgotten the previous conversation, i started cracking up because i realized what in the world she was saying. i remind her of brittany spears. apparently we have some of the same facial expressions. ok people. i will give you pocahontas, maybe. but brittany*?
*not pictured because all the pictures i could find were inappropriate. which is just more evidence of the heinousness of this accusation.
next is the story of the french teacher. this might best be categorized under my “things that remind me i am no longer in america” because this women is vicious. teachers like her get fired in america because the educational system is worried about self esteem. let’s just say i am really glad i have a healthy self esteem, because the woman can be brutal. if we are doing an oral exercise and i make the same mistake the person before me did she yells “brianna, s’il tu plait. écoute!”. translated: please listen!! it could not possibly be that i do not understand the exercise. it is clearly because i am not paying attention. i know this seems strange to put on a list of humorous things, but if you met her you would understand. she is extremely eclectic and disheveled. i always feel like i am being yelled at by mrs. frizzle .
“let’s take a closer look…at how badly you all speak french…”
and last, and probably the best of all, is the story of the italian man and fuzzy-wuzzy. now if you have not heard of fuzzy-wuzzy, the story goes a little something like this: “fuzzy-wuzzy was a bear. fuzzy-wuzzy had no hair. fuzzy-wuzzy wasn’t very fuzzy was he?” for you to understand just how funny this story is, close your eyes and picture a young, tall, dark and handsome italian man trying to say this english riddle with the thickest possible italian accent. now picture him growing more and more frustrated because he cannot say it correctly. he keeps saying faster and louder, hoping to get the hang of it. “I SAY FUZZY FUZZY HAD A BEAR…” ahaha. i could not even help him because i was doubled over laughing at the situation. pretty soon the whole class is staring at us wondering what is happening. why does vincenzo look angry and red and why is brianna laughing so hard she is crying? i have never confused someone so badly with my english.
tomorrow’s agenda: the chucking habits of the woodchuck. this should keep poor vincenzo busy for days…
i think that the Lord knew that i needed some cheering up this week. and i found joy in the small, but wonderful things. hope you were able to laugh along with me, although i know it is hard to translate humor through a blog.
I just saw this movie today and it was really great. You should watch it. I think the English version is called something like “Go Live and Become” or maybe just “Live and Become”, I’m not sure. It is worth the time though.
We came, we saw, we conquered. 
#6: Any dad would want to go to a volleyball game. And my dad did. But when he came to the basketball games to watch me be a cheerleader, I knew he really loved me.
Random English phrases spray painted in public areas.
even their dogs wear scarves!
dangerous machinery left unattended by the city. power tools can’t hurt anybody…right?
I went to an art museum and saw the following painting. It gave me hope that one day the doodles on the side of my notebook will someday be worth hundreds of euros.
I live on the 4th floor of this:
And I sleep on this:
I went to a Music Museum and saw a pipe instrument that looked like this:
And I even had time left over for one of these amazing gifts from heaven:
Thank you so much through all your support through prayer. If you want specific requests here are a few:
Today was my first day of language school in Brussels. I was so nervous because of how difficult Spanish was for me to learn. I thought I would be the only one in the class that only knew colors and numbers and that the day would end with everyone pointing and laughing. Well, there was laughing involved, but it was all in jest: ) The professor had us draw our country and put and X over where we live. Apparently my depiction of the United States was closely resembling a giraffe. O well, I am here to learn French not win poster contests.