30 Observations of Belgian/French Culture and anything in between

Hey,

Now I'm briefly back home there isn't a great deal to tell you about that I would consider interesting or newsworthy. Instead, I shall do a final post looking back on my time in Brussels. Regular followers of my blog will know that back in November I did a post entitled 50 Days-50 Observations of an Englishman on Spanish/Mallorcan culture and anything in between all about my first 50 days in Mallorca sharing interesting and hopefully humourous observations I encountered on the Mediterranean island. I hugely enjoyed creating this post and it received some pretty positive feedback from friends and family so I thought I would do another to cover my first 30 days in Brussels to prove that you really do 'learn something everyday'. Alas, I have failed you. My 30th day in Brussels was over 5 weeks ago now yet here I am at the end of my time in Brussels and I've only just managed to complete it. In all honesty, Brussels really just hasn't inspired me so writing this post has been much harder than I'd anticipated. Anyway, I have somehow come up with 30 things to share with you for your own personal joy and amusement. A nice little closer to my two months in the Belgian capital.

Here you go.

1. In Brussels, every day is leg day

Belgium is a country that is typically known for its lack of hills and mountainous areas, much like its neighbours the Dutch, however this shortcoming in the Belgian's landscape is made up through their housing. Typical houses in Belgium are quite narrow but exceptionally tall so as I was staying in a room at the very top of the house this meant I had to climb up 3 flights of steps on many occasions a day. Hard work

2. 50 Shades of gris

When it comes to buying a car in Belgium, the locals aren't too fussy with their choice of colour. 95% of the cars you see are grey making the game 'Yellow Car Bingo' ,a popular game with the kids in Mallorca, a much tougher challenge.

3. We're better connected

The transport network in Brussels is incredible. No matter where you are in the city or even what time of day you will always find some way of getting around. There are regular tram, underground and bus services, a shared taxi service (collecto) and if you fancy making your own way around there is also a bike hire system and a readily-available car hire system (Cambio car). To top it all off, none of the modes of transport mentioned are that expensive.

4. Always Waiting

Clément and Louise's favourite word when speaking with me was "attends" (wait). I reckon I must've been told to wait at least once per day be it French or English.

5. Petit Paris

In a similar way to how Palma imitates Barcelona, Brussels has adopted some of the place and street names more commonly associated with the French capital Paris most notable of which is the Basilique du Sacré Coeur that dominates the city's skyline.

6. Toilets and Bathrooms

Never the most pleasant of topics but for some reason toilets and bathrooms in French and Belgian houses tend to be separate from each other which I find incredibly impractical especially when it comes to washing your hands. Also, out and about, it is hard to find a place where you can go to the loo without incurring some kind of charge for your call from nature. Even McDonalds, a big multi-national corporation has the cheek to charge you to use their loos (the bastards!). On principal I don't believe I should have to pay to go to the toilet as it is a natural process so understandably this bugs me quite a bit.

One of very few free public toilets in the whole of Belgium

7. Beers Beers Beers

Belgium's national beverage? Beer of course! The country is home to some of the best beers in the world including Duvel, Leffe, Chimay and of course, Stella Artois. I have tasted no other beer quite as good as in Belgium which has consequently ruined any appreciation I once held for beer back home in Britain (I doubt I'll ever drink Carling again, certainly not willingly). I must warn you though, Belgian beer is very strong with many beers exceeding 7% alcohol so make sure you're careful how much of it you drink. Know your limits.

8. Soulja Boy Tell em'

At SNCF Train Stations in France, before an announcement over the tannoy you hear a little jingle. This jingle unmistakably sounds like the intro of the song 'Crank That' by Soulja Boy, a cult rap classic among my generation. Click here if you have no clue what I'm talking about or want a refresher.

9. Public Swimming

This is hardly a new realisation but it has become quite apparent to me that I'm a bit of a nob when it comes to swimming in public sessions. I get easily irritated by lanes and lanes of people doing energy-sapping, un-streamlined breastroke hogging the lane and making me look like a bull in a china shop as I rocket passed doing frontcrawl. This has often led to me being involved in collisions, causing them and having to swim underneath people in order to avoid being hit or slowed down. I become even more unpopular when I do Butterfly...

10. When the Chips are down

When the national dish is Mussels and Chips, there is always going to be some pressure and expectation on the restaurants and eateries that supply them. Running a Friterie (Chip Shop to us Brits) is serious business in Belgium. Across Brussels these little establishments compete with each other for the approval of critics and a good rep and by god does it half pay off. I was told by a local that chips/french fries actually originate from Belgium and you can definitely tell.


11. Salad Dressings

Like the Spanish, the French and Belgian's also have a supreme love for adding unnecessary salt, oil and other condiments to their salad, making it lose all its natural and healthy goodness.

12. Waffling On

Another famous food is waffles and like beer and chips, the best belgian waffles can be found in Belgium. Throughout Brussels, instead of ice cream vans perched on street corners there are waffle vans and when they cost as little as one euro you can't help but help yourself to one. They're irresistible!

13. Musique/Musik

Brussels is a fairly musical place and being one of Europe's major cities it is often a stop for many bands and artists from all over the world on a European-wide tour. The city plays host to many great venues such as Ancienne Belgique, BOZAR, Foret National and my favourite by far-Le Botanique. The greatest thing about these venues is that they are not particuarly large in comparison with the O2 in London or the MEN in Manchester which allows for the crowd to really get up close and personal to the stage and make the most of the concert experience.

me with Bombay Bicycle Club, one of the many great international acts that come to Brussels

14. Quick

On appearance, the Francophone fast-food joint Quick looks like a poor man's McDonalds but in actual fact it is so much better. The burgers are to die for (don't take that literally) that put your average Big Mac to shame, you get free refills on drinks and they have excellent desserts. What is there not to like?

15. "Got a light mate?"

It is almost considered an insult to a Frenchman if you don't possess a cigarette lighter. Well, at least that's what it seems like...

16. Daft Punk

The French LOVE (and are immensely proud of) Daft Punk! Their records dominate the music shops, you can buy Daft Punk action figures and just about everywhere I went their song 'Instant Crush' was being played as well as some other tune about Getting Lucky... They are truly national treasures

17. Sprouts

No post about Brussels is complete without mentioning its most celebrated vegetable that makes an annual visit onto your plate come Christmas. I hate to say it again but I will, Brussel Sprouts are yet another food that definitely tastes best at source. Their soft texture and flavour is much better than any I've ever eaten on any Christmas day ever. Nothing else to say really.

18. A city under construction

The city of Brussels is essentially a massive building site. Just about everywhere you go there's a new building in the works, repairs to the underground or (most annoyingly) roadworks. The Boulevard Leopold II is particularly bad.

19. French Keyboards

At various points during my time in Brussels I found myself in front of a laptop having to use a French keyboard which certainly takes a while to get your english-speaking head around. The layout is completely different which leaves you disorientated from the start then there are also various keys that have multiple uses to allow for easy access to accented letters such as é. One time, I felt like I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown when it took me the best part of 5 minutes just to find the @ symbol. I'm not even joking, that actually happened.

20. Slow Soup eating

I am ridiculously slow at eating soup. At just about every meal in Belgium we had soup and I was always last to finish.

21. Cartoon World

Many famous comic book series originate in Belgium and it is something they seemed to be really passionate about. The likes of TinTin, Asterix, Spirou and Titeuf have gone on to gain international success outside of Belgium and is something that really puts the country on the map. In Brussels there are many shops and museums where Franco-Belgian comics are showcased such as the Musée Hergé and the Belgian Comic Strip Center.

22. FNAC

FNAC is by far my favourite shop in the whole of France/Belgium. It is essentially the closest thing Europe has to HMV except you can also buy things such as TVs, Cameras, other Electrical goods and even concert/sports tickets. But of course the main reason why I love FNAC so much is the music and film sections of the shop which cover an enormous range of generous, many more than HMV. I could spend hours in FNAC and not get bored.

23. Belgian Roads

This is something Renaud and Marie-France vociferously complained about on many an occasion. For a country in the western world, Belgium's roads are particularly poorly laid out and bumpy with many country roads being fully cobbled. Make sure you fasten your seatbelts!

24. Graffiti

It is a common feature in many cities but in Brussels the graffiti is particularly noticeable. Whether you believe it to be a form of visual pollution or a work of art, you are bound to see plenty of graffiti across the city whether you want to or not. Many pieces draw inspiration from Belgium's long-standing interest in comic books and I personally believe that the more artistic pieces really do give some life to otherwise dull grey buildings and surfaces.

25. Carrefour, Carrepoor

Carrefour is the leading supermarket in Belgium and having gone from shopping at Eroski in Mallorca I found it quite hard to adjust. In Spain food and drink in the shops is SO much cheaper than in Belgium leaving me to grieve over spending 6 euros on lunch when in Mallorca I would've only paid 3 euros. Despite the additional fact that ready-made sandwiches are also hard to obtain there, there is a foreign foods section in which there is a large shelf dedicated to various countries including the UK, US and Italy so if you're an expat then you have easy access to some home comforts.

26. Selfie Realisation

As vain as it sounds, one skill I discovered while in Brussels was my ability to take Selfies (pictures of myself). Being British and therefore naturally socially awkward and overly polite, I find that I would rather take a picture of myself rather than asking a stranger to do it for me despite missing out on the opportunity for a picture of better overall quality. Here's a short collection of my selfies.

27. Recycling

This is something that hasn't quite reached Belgium yet. It may appear quite lame to admit but I do actually enjoy doing recycling at home, sorting different pieces of rubbish into their separate coloured containers so you can imagine my horror when I found myself having to throw both food waste and paper into the same bin. Oh the inhumanity!!!
28. Bilingual Blunders

Belgium is a bilingual country in which French (mainly spoken in the South) and Dutch (mainly spoken in the North) are the national languages. This bilingual lifestyle can become confusing at times especially if like me neither of them are your mother tongue and it is quite easy to get tripped up by one or the other in certain situations. Look no further than my Ghent/Genk fiasco to see my point.

29. Dip Dip Dip

French people seem to have this strange compulsion that whenever they have a beverage or a bowl of something (eg. Soup) they feel the need to dip any food surrounding them into its liquidy substance. This can range from normal things such as bread in Soup/Hot Chocolate to more bizarre concoctions such as Biscuits in water.

30. The Capital of Europe

Brussels is often dubbed as the Capital of Europe and I can truly understand why. Obviously because it is the location of the EU Parliament, people from across the continent are naturally drawn to it to work for and represent their nation and its interests which immediately gives the city an international flavour but it is not just this. The nature of Brussels as a whole is very European. It is such a diverse and multi-cultural city that at times you may feel like you're walking through industrial eastern europe then a few minutes later in a clean, efficient Germanic/Dutch area then onto the high rise buildings, enterprises and commercialism reminiscent of London and Paris as well as the culturally enriched and leafy green areas akin to the Mediterranean countries. Brussels is a well-rounded city that truly captures the essence of what it is to be European.

So that's been my 30 Observations. Like with my Mallorca observations post, feel free to let me know if any of these points are rather misguided/incorrect and if you are Belgian/French and are offended by any of these points then to you I say: Je suis désolé! Anyhoo, hope you enjoyed it. In upcoming news, I am on my way to Nottingham in a few hours to visit my friend Josh for a few days which I shall tell you all about in my next blog post. ALSO... I will be revealing where I am heading next on my gap year so make sure you give it a read.

Until then, chow for now!

FP

#FraserOnTour