One Week in the Life of a Brussels Sprout

I thought "Brussels Sprout" would be a fitting name for newbies in Brussels. This led me to wonder whether brussel sprouts the vegetables are indeed named after Brussels the city. And lo and behold, these close relatives of the cabbage & cauliflower are infact grown prolifically in Belgium, as they have been since the 1200's. (More fun facts about Belgium below).

I'm happy to report that I've successfully survived my first week in Brussels, and am gradually feeling less of an out-of-place newcomer. I had somehow forgotten, despite how many times I've been through it, how difficult and emotionally trying it can be to adjust to a new place, new language, new job, new social setting, etc. A part of me loves it for the adventure, of course, or else I suppose I wouldn't do it at all. But the rest of me inevitably realizes that the first days can be tough - figuring out ones place at work and how to actually do your job, learning to communicate in unfamiliar utterances for day-to-day interactions in public, navigating an impossible cob-web of city streets, finding a home, figuring out how to use the laundromat and the metro... Having said that, things are looking positive: a lovely and supportive work environment, a beautiful and interesting city, cozy cafes and delightful restaraunts galore, a warm bed to sleep in for the time being, chocolates to snack on, good people to help me through... I think I'll be alright.

Here are a few photos of my office and current temporary home at the top of the office, followed by some photos from around the city. I took advantage of a rain-free Saturday and the appearance of a few stingy rays of sunlight today to take a long walk and see some of the sites.

Our office. (The red building on the right.)

View of the city from the back window of my room.

My temporary, but perfectly sufficient & comfy pallete on the floor.

My adjoining sitting room.

View from the sitting room window down the street.

Typical street in the neighbourhood.

Beautiful architecture in the city centre at La Grand Place.

Details

More fine art on the square.

Beauty above the square.

My orientation to Belgium just wouldn't be
complete without doing this: eating a Belgian waffle.

One of Brussel's most famous monuments: the Manneken Pis.
Yes, that's right, it's a statue of a little boy peeing.

Shopping hall in the city centre.

A chocolatier. Belgium's speciality.

Yes, let's get a close up on that one...
Mmmmm....chocolate...

Apparently, Belgium is also known for its lace.
(I didn't know it, so evidently it's
known by someone else for that.)

Stella Artois building. Belgium is also famous for its beer.

Unusual grafiti art on the walk home.

A street of beautiful houses near the office.

Walking through the square close to the
office on the way to the supermarket.

Here are some "Fun Facts about Belgium" that I've learned in my first week here:

• Each Belgian eats on average 16 kg of chocolate per year. That’s almost 1.5 kg each month!
• The national pet-peeve: dog poo on the streets (according to a 2005 survey, this irritates more people than anything else).
• Historically, houses were taxed on their width. To help save on taxes, houses were thus built deep & tall.
• On Friday nights, everyone puts their garbage out on the street. This little throw back to medieval times when everyone threw things out their window down to the street below & everything flowed down a central gutter, is the system for having your garbage picked up on Saturday morning. This opens the possibility to a great & cleaner version of dumster diving: people often put out decent furniture or other items of further use, so you can "shop" for free treasures as you walk down the street on a Friday evening.
• The world's first newspaper was invented in Belgium in 1676.
  
• The northern half of the country (very roughly), is called Flanders and is Flemmish (very closely related to Dutch). The southern half, called Wallonia is French. There's a tiny German pocket in the east. Brussels is technically bilingual, though it's located within the Flemmish area and yet French tends to dominate.
• Brussels is the EU capital.
  
• It rains a lot in winter.