Saturday, I travelled up to Antwerp, which is in the Flanders region, with Mai. Antwerp is the second largest city in this lovely country and it is the port of Belgium. In Antwerp, like the rest of Flanders, it is considered rude to try to speak French, so you're better off speaking English; although, Mai and I started off in a restaurant where we had the opportunity to practice our Italian. It wasn't pretty, but we tried.

We spent the day site seeing. We visited the cathedral, which is the largest in Belgium. In the cathedral are many paintings by Paul Rubens, a Belgian painter from Antwerp. We also visited his 17th century home. Other than that we walked around the city and took in the Flemish atmosphere, which is very different from Wallonia (where I live).

That night, after returning to Mons, Amanda (from Arkansas) and I went to check out the fair that is going on in town. We had cotton candy and rode the carousel. We decided to wait until next week to try out the "adult" rides which would be more of a challenge for a full stomach.

The weather has taken its turn towards crummy. But on the brighter side, I think next weekend will entail a visit to Ghent and a potluck at a fellow fulbrighter's home in Brussels. Stay tuned and check out the photos from this past weekend at www.manderhill.shutterfly.com!