My third day in Belgium falls exactly on National Day; a day celebrating the unity and the successes of this country and its people. This year is a even bigger celebration due to the fact that King Albert has abdicated and has been succeeded by his son Prince Philippe. So with today Belgium has a new king! I have just one thought on it though: is it actually more a celebration for the French community? I have a feeling that this monarchy represents more the French-speaking part of Belgium. I don't want to be judgemental here but I don't see much excitement or participation. I have a sense that this is just a constructed rhetoric in order to keep the country together.
Beside my reflections on the subject I must say I didn't participate much to the ongoing celebrations. I intended to but I didn't. I woke up to a lovely blue sky and I decided to go to Parc de Bruxelles, the biggest park in the area and the one in front of the Royal Palace. I checked the news while having breakfast just to see what was going on and I realised I had just missed the abdication ceremony at the Cathedral. So I got dressed, went out only to discover that the heat was unbearable!! Despite the fact that I was melting, I walked up to the Grand Place anyway. There was literally no one in streets and not a single sign of celebrating in the square! I really wanted to stick to my plan but on the way to the park I found a little supermarket that despite the bank holiday weekend was open and bought some food. My fridge was so empty that last night I had to skip dinner!! I got myself some gazpacho (typically Belgian uh?) and quickly ran home to eat it. When I got there I was so tired and sweaty that I couldn't even think of stepping out onto the street again to go to the park. Instead I turned the day into a very lazy afternoon in which I tried to regain my strengths after two very stressful days.
Unfortunately, my adventure about finding another place to stay is far from over and so I can't really tell you anything yet! I saw the place where I am supposed to live and it is very nice but the lovely couple I am dealing with are too overwhelmingly kind so I still have to decide if I want to get myself into that or not. It is a very complicated story and I know you don't have a clue of what I'm talking about but trust me if everything goes as planned by tonight or tomorrow afternoon maximum everything should be over and I should have made a decision about my next step. Once the all situation has been settled down I can tell all about my (a bit) surreal day yesterday. Just to give you an idea I left home at 10 in the morning and got back at 7 in the evening so now you can understand why I am tired!!!
Sundays are always a bit sad and melancholic and today I realised how Brussels is going to be different and new, that I am going to face difficult moments and that I have to build everything from scratch again: friends, relations and habits. I know it is an exciting experience and it is going to be great. I have a feeling that these six months are going to change my life completely or at least I want them to but you know, sometimes you just have a bad day and I guess that when you live on your own you've just got more time to think and meditate. Life is just not easy but I believe this is what makes it more exciting: the challenges, the disappointments that make the conquests and successes even more rewarding!
I leave you with this thought and I hope to come back to you with more interesting and exciting news!!
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| Some Belgian tricolour flags on the Grand Place this morning |
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