Belgium is a quirky little country. After five years of living here I’ve come to love, or at least accept, its eccentricities.
Lately I’ve noticed I now take for granted many things I found strange when I first landed here. Maybe you’ve had a few of these experiences too. The following is a list of signs that you may be ‘going native’ in Belgium.
Got Ram?
Our resident ‘Web Guy’ looks at the options for shopping for computer hardware in Belgium.
When moving to a new place, it’s often difficult to find services similar to what you are used to at home. For some, this might be restaurants, sports, clothing, shoes, books, or … just about anything. For me, it was all about computer hardware.
Social Networking in Belgium
Our ‘Web Guy’, Andrew, takes a look at social networking in Belgium and uncovers a few surprises.
A couple days ago, I read in a flyer from Numericable how pervasive social networking is in Belgium. Facebook alone counts more than 2.8 million Belgian users… that’s 25% of the country! While looking at these stats, I found it interesting that the male-to-female ratio is almost 1:1. Curious, I looked at a few other European countries and they are all within +/- 5% of a 50/50 split.
This got me wondering about the demographics of other ‘social’ sites frequented by Belgian users.
It’s not hard to find English reading material in Brussels. In fact, most of the French and Dutch bookstores carry a range of English best-sellers. But where do you go if you are looking for something besides the latest Dan Brown thriller?
It took us four years, but we’ve finally done it – Andrew and I have joined a gym. And you know what? I actually like it.
Let me begin by saying I am not a sporty person. Normally, my most intense physical activity is walking around with my camera gear strapped to my back. I believe, if we were meant to jog, God would have given us built in sneakers. That said, I’ve known for quite some time, I needed to change my immobile ways.
Saint-Josse-Ten-Noode – the most densly populated commune in Brussels.
97.4% of Belgium’s population live in urban centres; I was shocked to learn today. Expatify had an interesting post listing countries with the highest percentage of their population living in urban areas. Belgium came in at number 6.
It’s true that Belgium is a small country that doesn’t have a lot of wide open spaces. However, with the fields of Flanders and hills of Wallonia, I would have never guessed that it would beat out countries like Kuwait and Quatar in terms of urbanisation.
All of these signs indicate who has priority at an intersection. Nary a one is found in our neighbourhood.
When your door buzzer shrills loudly at 8 o’clock on a Sunday morning, it can never be good news. As I rolled over groggily I realised the bell-buzzer could only be one of two people – a drunk or a cop. I was hoping for the drunk.
Belgium has a reputation for being a boring little country, but that is wrong. Here are 40 fun facts about Belgium you probably don’t know.