When I got in the car with Philippe and Mathilde after they picked me up at the train station from Lille today around two, they immediately told me that we were spending the afternoon in Belgium. As a first reaction, I thought that they were joking! Having had very little sleep the night before due to hanging out with other Rotary exchangers, all I wanted to do was fall onto my bed and not budge until school the next day. As it turned out, they were completely serious. Pierre still had too much homework, so he stayed home.
We first went to Armentieres, a town situated half in France, half in Belgium. In my mind, Belgium is like South Carolina. One goes there for cheaper gas, cheaper tobacco, cheaper chocolate, and anything else for which one does not wish to pay income tax. In our case we crossed the border to find a party-type-favor-thing for Mathilde's first Communion. Once we found what she liked, we drove to Iepre and walked around for a spell. Apparently, the boutiques in Belgium are supposed to be open on Sunday. (I think it might be illegal for a French clothing store to be open on Sunday.) However, on this particular day, all of the shops that we saw were unfortunately closed. On the other hand, I got free samples of chocolate, and the Ghysels bought two giant Toblerone bars!
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