No one is willing to believe that adults too, like children, wander about this earth in a daze and, like children, do not know where they come from or where they are going, act as rarely as they do according to genuine motives, and are as thoroughly governed as they are by biscuits and cake and the rod.
"Was ich weiß, kann jeder wissen. Mein Herz hab' ich allein"
-Johan, Wolfgang von Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther
Greetings all.
It's May 6 today, meaning I'll be coming back home for a couple of days in less than two weeks. On a completely unrelated note, spring is in the air, and London in the spring is quite an experience. But I'm nevertheless really looking forward to spending a few days on the mainland, far away from the big city and in the company of friends and family.
I promised to get you a bit of a preliminary schedule for what my time in Belgium will look like, so here it goes. Remember, this is just what I have sort-of-planned so far; Nothing is official, and there's plenty of room left for whomever feels like catching up.
I'll land on Monday (19th) at 11.05 a.m. (local) and need to be back at Brussels Midi at 7 p.m, preferably, on Wednesday May 21. I'm assuming most of Monday will be dedicated to my Dad's beef stew (BEEF STEW) and my dad's side of the family in general (but mainly the beef stew). I'm hoping to see my grandparents as well, just not sure when would be the most appropriate time. Monday night is already booked by a friend, providing it doesn't interfere with the beef stew.
Tuesday night is Leuven night, including beer that doesn't go at roughly ten pounds/liter. I won't consider the night to be a genuine Leuven-experience if I don't chip another tooth on Sum 41's Pain for Pleasure. Pool/snooker and The Sound of Silence would be much appreciated (we'll figure it out as we go along) and I'm still in the air about what I'll do in terms of food (De Muur has a kind of sadistic appeal tbh). Could use a place to stay.
During the day I'm looking at my Mum's side of the family (and potentially grandparents again), taking into account the fact my little brother has school of course. What time will school be out/what time will Mum get home from work?
Wednesday is wide open so far, but do remember Tuesday night could be, well, fun. Get me a banana-walnut muffin from The Foodmaker and I'll be just fine. So far I haven't really given any thought to what I'd actually like to do in Belgium (other than surf, but those odds are astronomical), will get back to you with that.
If there's anything you'd like from London (real British tea, Sherlock/Doctor Who memorabilia, KFC) be sure to let me know and I'll see what I can do for you. If anyone could keep a look-out for a Belgian national team kit (cheap knockoff or the likes, no 80 Euro-stuff) that would be amazing, but please don't feel obliged to go out of your way to look for it. With the upcoming World Cup it would just be cool to have some kind of Belgian outfit in case we somehow do good. I have my 2006 WC Italy kit at hand for the England-match (should be fun), still need something Belgian however. A flag would do, red kit would be preferred. And not to be picky, but I'm five-foot-nothing. No XXL please.
Now before I continue: Some of you have been asking me about my date, so I'll just get it out of the way. I didn't go. I already told you I didn't feel like it and as we drew closer to the weekend it became quite obvious this wasn't the kind of date that promised much of a future, if you catch my drift. This made me slightly more inclined to just check it out and see whether we clicked, but in the end, I couldn't do it and decided to call it off. And if you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about it.
Something very odd happened today. I was walking in Shepherd's Bush Market when I was approached by a number of BNP members (Basically the British version of Vlaams Belang/NVA), asking me whether I planned to vote on their party to stop the rush of immigrants taking British jobs. This made for quite the awkward situation as it took me some time to explain I was in fact an immigrant and I had in fact moved to this country to take a "British job," something they clearly did not appreciate. They appreciated it even less when I offered to take one of their signs and do their job for 1/3 their wages, but then again, they thought it necessary to protest at the Market, of all places.
The funny thing is of course that I live in White City, aptly named because it's the least white city in London. Most of its inhabitants consists of people from the Arab countries, the Carribean and Eastern Europe, with a large Polish and Egyptian concentration and several Muslim prayer centres. In fact, I regularly get woken up by the imam calling for morning prayer (and he's occasionally interrupted by 15,000 QPR fans screaming, which makes for some very funny situations).
For all of its bad rep, I feel quite safe though. Providing you stay away from two or three bad corners past a certain time in the evening, everyone's very friendly and treats each other as one big family. You literally can't rob people here, because the entire block would be chasing you within the minute. It took a few weeks, but once people realised I had come to live here they opened up and turned out to be very welcoming of me.
The BBC Media Village and their old Tv Center are just around the corner, and I actually have to walk over the site of the 2001 BBC bombing every day. There's no memorial or anything (for obvious reasons), but after watching the footage of the bombing it's still quite odd to walk past and recognise the surroundings.
For me, the biggest downside to where I live is probably the drugs. It's a very real problem here, and it has become quite discerning to me that I am constantly meeting new people only to find out they're struggling with substance abuse. This isn't the pretty part of London you see on TV. People are poor here, too poor to afford a drug addiction. We didn't have much when my parents raised me, and for the longest time I resented the other people in my school when I visited their homes because they were always bigger and prettier than mine. I actually preferred not to invite girlfriends over because in a way I was ashamed. Obviously I got over that and I learned to appreciate all my parents did for me, no matter how hard the situation might have been.
My next-door neighbour is a single mom with five kids and a visible heroin-addiction, which she eventually admitted to. She's great, loves her kids and she's always kind and friendly to everyone in the building. That is, if she's having a good day. But to see her right after she took a hit, or when she's looking for one: It's hard. I've never been this close to serious substance abuse in my life, and to suddenly see it all around me is quite confronting. I'm truly sorry if I ever gave any of my friends a hard time because they "needed" a joint.
Heroin is the biggest culprit, and it's nasty. It really is. The way it destroys a person's body and how withdrawn they are from the world, it's almost scary to see. I could be very colourful or descriptive right now, but I'd feel bad for my neighbour, who refuses all help because she'd lose her kids. Social services don't come here: We saw one group of three try to intervene two days ago in the building next to mine, only to feel the wrath of the entire community, police escort or no.
Okay, I'm making it sound like I live in South-Central right now. It's really not that bad, and not nearly as bad as google would have you believe. I'll be uploading some photos of Shepherd's Bush and the gigantic Westfield Shopping Center (less than two minutes walk) soon, maybe even tonight, so you can have a bit of a look. And I'm looking forward to hosting one or two of you very soon. Don't worry, I won't be offended if you opt for a hotel.
That'll be all for this week. One more update before I come home methinks. Mum, Dad, I love you, and I don't say it nearly enough. I know we didn't always have it easy, which is why I appreciate everything you did for us even more. And I can't wait to see you to tell you this in person.
Song of the Day: One of my all-time favourites
Pink Floyd - Wish you Were Here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NavVfpp-1L4
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