***Holiday Card Swap 2013***

[Barbara]

I got Lut's and Bonnie's - and mine are ready to go

[Casper]

I received lovely cards from Lut and Bonnie, as well. Mine will be in the mail by Friday!

[phesina]

Thanks to Lut.. lovely card; what is the language of the greetings, Dutch? And also for the stamp with your King's portrait... I didn't even know Belgium was a monarchy!

And thanks to Bonnie.. I love the sweet picture of Roselle!

And thanks to Barbara.. and Kiri and Orion, for writing the greeting and stamping the gold.. lovely snowflake! And I just now discovered the card is a built-in Advent Calendar, so I've opened all the days so far.

Happy holidays, everyone!

[Freedom]

All mailed out this morning!

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

Thanks to Lut.. lovely card; what is the language of the greetings, Dutch? And also for the stamp with your King's portrait... I didn't even know Belgium was a monarchy!

My country became a monarchy after many foreign occupations (the last 2 were Napoleon, and The Netherlands. We didn't want that any longer, so Belgium became a monarchy in 1830.
Since then we had several kings: Leopold I, Leopold II, Albert I, Leopold I, Boudewijn I, King Albert 2, and Filip I. King Leopold abdicated last summer and made his oldest son the new King of Belgium.
Belgium may be a very small country (size of Maryland), but it has a very interesting history!!

Oops sorry for going off-topic... ! No need to say I loved "history" at school

[phesina]

Very interesting... Clearly you did, and do, love history!

Thank you, Lut!

[Catty1]

Anyone in the U.S.A. - please let me know if you got a card from me. I did part of the list and was SURE I would remember who I had sent a card to...um, nope. Just remembered a couple. I don't want to send double to someone and none to someone else. Thanks!

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

Thanks to Lut.. lovely card; what is the language of the greetings, Dutch?

Oops, I forgot to answer on this question....
Yes, it is Dutch! Belgium has 3 official languages: Dutch, French & German!

[phesina]

Is there another language, Flemish? (Or is that a version of Dutch?)

Do you and your family, Lut, speak all those languages? Do Belgians in general? Do official publications need to be published in all three languages?

Thanks, Lut! You live in a very interesting country.

Pat, who speaks only one language

[Freedom]

We have received so many lovely cards!

Thank you Barbara, Bonny, Casper, Maya & Inka's Mommy, Phesina, and Ramanth!

Just 5 more from this swap, to come!

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

Is there another language, Flemish? (Or is that a version of Dutch?)

Do you and your family, Lut, speak all those languages? Do Belgians in general? Do official publications need to be published in all three languages?

Thanks, Lut! You live in a very interesting country.

Pat, who speaks only one language

Flemish is based on Dutch, it can be a bit different from region to region. There are really a lot of dialects, but we can all understand each other!
The Dutch spoken in the Netherlands and the Dutch spoken in Belgium is almost equal, only the accent is a bit different.
Then have the 3 languages spoken in Belgium. Nearly half the Belgians has Dutch as mother tongue. They all live in the north and western part of the country. This known as "Flanders".
The eastern and southern part of Belgium speaks French, the region is called "Wallonia".
Then there is a small region in the east of Belgium where German is spoken. This is a leftover from the 2nd world war; Germany was forced to give a small part of their country to Belgium as payment for the war.

You are right about official papers. They all have to be in 3 languages!

Because of this diversity of language, we already start with learning a second language at the age of 10. In Flanders that second language is French, and in Wallonia it is Dutch.
As from age 13 we all start to learn a 3rd language. But that is NOT German, but English. Students want to learn German too, can do that by following German in highschool, starting at age 15.

Of course most people are not fluent in all languages, but most people speak at least 2 languages, and most people understand a bit of German because German has the same roots as Dutch.

I can speak all 4 languages fluently, and I also speak enough Spanish to make myself understandable in Spain!

I hope I made myself clear!?

[Barbara]

Thank you Sandra and Candace- your cards arrived