Letter #83 from Belgium

Letter #83 comes from Caroline from Belgium.She studies Dutch and English literature and linguistics at the Univerity of Leuven,which was founded in 1425 and is the oldest univeristy in Belgium.She says that for her English exams,they can choose to take the test in either British English or American English.She chooses British since that is what she was taught in school.

Caroline's native language is Dutch,but it's the same language they speak in The Netherlands,but the dutch they speak in Belgium is a little different.She says it's often called Flemish.The way she describes it is like the english spoken in Britain,America,and Australia,they all speak English but with different dialects.They love to laugh at each other's Dutch dialects. :) Here are some dutch words/sentences she shared with us below.See if you can figure them out since they are common words we use everyday, I will not put the translation for you. :)
•Hallo
•goedemorgen
•goedenacht
• hoe gaat het?

Erica says that in Belgium,most people speak more than one language.There are three official languages:Dutch,French and German.Most people also speak English and even some Latin.She can speak Dutch,English and French and can understand some German.Next year she plans to learn Japanese.We love all things Japanese so it should be exciting to learn Japanese....hopefully we will get a letter from Japan.

She also said that she has lived in the same place her whole life.She loves to travel,but has never been out of Europe.Her recent travels include Amsterdam,Leeds and Paris (oui,oui). :) Her dream is to one day visit Tokyo and the US.She would really like to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Florida.

She says her favorite show is Glee,but that it's not well-known in Belgium.The cast of Glee will be visiting London and Dublin this summer but will not be able to attend.

Erica also gave us a few facts about Belgium:
•Official name:Kingdom of Belgium
•Founded in 1830
•First king:Leopold I
•Current king:Albert II
•Motto: "Strength through unity"

Erica also enclosed a variety of ticket stubs and a map showing us where she lives and a booklet about the museums,which she says that when you're 26 or younger,you can get into the museums for $1.50.She also sent some coins worth 1 euro cent each,she says most people dislike the coins because they really can't use them and so they just take up space in your wallet.Thanks Erica for the lovely letter and goodies,which can be seen below:

Letter #2 from Belgium

Hi! Sorry we never got to the introductions as promised...we've had some sickness in the family,so introductions will come in a few days.Now on to better things....we've had our second letter arrive today!This is so exciting!Where is it from?Is the letter from you?Check out the picture below to see if it's your letter...

Here's a clue:

This lovely package came all the way from Belgium,from the sweet Rebecca.She included a teen magazine and some postcards.Thanks Rebecca for the package and we loved your letter with the cute doodles. :)

Once again,I apologize for the picture quality...I don't get too much light into our house so we have to work with what we have.

We are continuing to get emails from people who want to join,please don't be shy about joining or think you have nothing to say.You can write about anything.My girls are so excited about checking the mail and wondering where the next letter will come from.I need to get a map so we can pinpoint where all the letters come from.Please don't think that since we got a letter from Belgium,that we wouldn't want another letter from the same country.I'm sure you will have different things to write about.You are even free to write in your native language,so there is no excuse for you not to participate.

We now have 2,009 letters to go.Please help us reach this goal.Every envelope counts,so feel free to have each of your children write a letter,your relatives,your neighbors....anybody who wants to write can write to us.We'd love to hear about schools in other countries or maybe you are a fellow homeschooler overseas,we'd love to hear from you.Tell us what creative educational ideas your family or classroom uses.We would also love to get some art from participants or maybe share a story you have been writing....we'd love to give you feedback and help spread the word about your art or writing.

We figured we need to get about 167 letters a month to reach our goal and we are far from that figure this month, but we believe we can make it up in the months to come once more people learn about our project.I have even sent an email to the president (why not?) and a local newspaper.My daughter has also heard from some great people with some great ideas which we will not discuss until it happens.Feel free to post this project on any blog,magazine,newspaper,etc. We need to get the word out and I will do whatever I can to help my daughters achieve this goal.

I know many people would have preferred postcards but we really wanted to get to know the people who wrote to us and a postcard isn't as personal as a letter.To us a letter is like looking into the soul of a person...once people start putting pen to paper,things that you didn't think you'd write about just start flowing out onto the paper and when we read the letter,we feel like we are right there with you. I even enjoy writing letters to my own daughters and hope they will keep them to look through once I'm gone and maybe have a few laughs.I want my kids to have something tangible that came from my heart once I'm gone and I don't think emails would hold the same emotions as a letter.

We keep watching the page views go higher and higher and we want to thank our followers but the page views is nowhere near the number of sign ups,so please think about spending just a few minutes to write us a quick letter.If writing is too hard for you,you can just mail us a postcard of your city or country inside an envelope or just mail us a brochure of your favorite place to visit.

Email us at reneealam(at)verizon.com to sign up,thanks!