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.
A beautiful pink box of Wittamer Chocolates
Every good chocoholic knows Belgian chocolate is the best in the world. But while tourists flock to the shops selling chocolate Manneken Pis statues around Grand Place, locals and in-the-know travelers head to Brussels’ chocolate Mecca – Grand Sablon.
Grand Sablon (Grote Zavel in Dutch) is a small square (a triangle actually) with the beautiful Notre Dame de Sablon church at its head. Lining the streets are cafes, bars, restaurants and shops – most notably the best selection of chocolate shops in Brussels.
Here’s my rundown of the chocolate shops of Sablon.
Empire des Lumieres (Empire of Lights) The first Magritte I saw in person in Brussels.
Almost a year since its grand opening, I finally managed to visit the Musée Magritte Museum in Brussels, this past weekend.
For those of you unfamiliar with René Magritte, he was a surrealist painter and probably the world’s most famous Belgian artist. His paintings depict everyday objects such as apples, men in bowler hats, umbrellas, stones and pipes in odd arrangements and juxtapositions.
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.
Abbey Notre-Dame d’Orval – The modern abbey
Most people know that Belgium is famous for its many beers. What many people don’t know is the beer-making tradition was started by monks in the many abbeys scattered about the country.
This summer, Andrew and I decided to take the opportunity to visit several of these abbeys. The Abbey d’Orval, famous in Belgium for both its Trappist beers and its cheeses, was one of the places we visited.
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.