51 replies to this topic

[pito]

Ana C, on Jul 25 2009, 01:55 AM, said:

Brussels is not so different from the rest of the country: flemish still live like flemish and francophones like francophones. And then there's all the rest of us! I feel it a little like that.

But still I love it... I just came from "Le Roi des Belges", a bar in a very exciting part of the city, St Géry. Nights with reasonable weather are always great, and the weather will be "good" this weekend (this is a big thing! it has been raining EVRYDAY.... and it's SUMMER!!!)

BUT: Don't forget to vote!

http://www.blogyourw.../blogs/view/204

Cheers
AC

(Thanks for the votes so far)

Reading this I have my doubts you ever been outside brussels.

In brussel itself there are almost no flemish people.
And you will also not find a lot of "francophones" , I agree they speak french, but they do not represent the frenchspeaking part of belgium.

Quote

And I'm not a beer expert, but the big Belgian (and Dutch) I really don't like....InBev and similar companies are objects of hate
Anyway is this now the "Discovering Belgium" thread???

Eum, belgium has many beers, and you simply named some of the bigger, commercial brands... they represent 0.005% of the beers in total... they do represent 90% of the commercial beers...

And hell, you compare dutch beer with belgian beer???????????

heineken is what we call the piss of a horse....
Its just tapwater with some flavor.
There is a nice cartoon about that:

[Ana C]

Hey Pito! I just work with locals, so I spend all my day with real Belgian people! And although the "flemish" don't live so much inside the city, they also come here for cultural events, or even to go out, restaurants, etc! And I've been outside BXL, all the time. But remember, I'm from a totally different country, so the same way you can say Spanish and Poturguese have a similar culture and their cities and towns look all the same, I can say the same for the Benelux region. At the end, everybody has very similar habits, culture, sing the same songs, eat the same food, drive the same way!!!!!

[pito]

Ana C, on Jul 25 2009, 03:28 PM, said:

Hey Pito! I just work with locals, so I spend all my day with real Belgian people! And although the "flemish" don't live so much inside the city, they also come here for cultural events, or even to go out, restaurants, etc! And I've been outside BXL, all the time. But remember, I'm from a totally different country, so the same way you can say Spanish and Poturguese have a similar culture and their cities and towns look all the same, I can say the same for the Benelux region. At the end, everybody has very similar habits, culture, sing the same songs, eat the same food, drive the same way!!!!!

thats indeed true.

You work at the ulb itself right?
That does suprise me because I wasnt aware they had specialist in marine biology there. I knew you could study biology and biotechnology , biochemistry at ulb but marine biology? Strange, normally only at KUL you can do this.

[casandra]

pito, on Jul 25 2009, 08:44 AM, said:

In brussel itself there are almost no flemish people.
And you will also not find a lot of "francophones" , I agree they speak french, but they do not represent the frenchspeaking part of belgium.

Quote

And I'm not a beer expert, but the big Belgian (and Dutch) I really don't like....InBev and similar companies are objects of hate
Anyway is this now the "Discovering Belgium" thread???

Eum, belgium has many beers, and you simply named some of the bigger, commercial brands... they represent 0.005% of the beers in total... they do represent 90% of the commercial beers...

And hell, you compare dutch beer with belgian beer???????????

heineken is what we call the piss of a horse....
Its just tapwater with some flavor.
There is a nice cartoon about that:

really funny, gross but funny, pito...(and I've always thought that they're all.... erm...that fluid- doesn't really matter the brand nor where they come from - but that's MY bias). It's interesting when you said that there are very few flemish people in Brussels...is it bec there are no exact stats about this cos you don't record the ethnicity of the inhabitants....shldn't be so hard to find out tho- what the phone book...how many would have flemish names listed?..and aren't most flemish completely bilingual?

Edited by casandra, 25 July 2009 - 08:21 PM.

[pito]

Beer =/= beer.... it all depends, there is a real difference between heineken and belgian beers or german beers. German beers are mostly just water.
Do keep in mind that the best beers in the world are alsmost belgian beers... almost every year its a belgian beer that is voted as best beer of the world. However those are not the commercial beers everyone knows about.
To give an example: there is a special "trapist" beer in belgian, thats monks brew at a certain place and they only make X bottles each year. Well every year when its time to sell those bottles you will have people waiting with their cars to go and buy the beer and every person is only allowed Y bottles of beer... its really amasing. Some people hire others to go and get beer for them or they sell and buy in on the "black market".
You can only buy the beer at the monks home.. so its not in the shop or anywhere else.
It is even important what kind of water you use to brew the beer!




The flemish people in brussels are mainly people that are there for work or during the weekend on some sort of city trip. But there arent a lot of flemish people living there.
A lot of the people in brussel are immigrants. There are some parts of brussels that have 95-100% immigrant levels, wich is causing some distress from the "native" flemish or francophones there.
You can compare it with some sort of "chinatown" but with other nationalities.

And flemish people are indeed taught french at school... but the other way around isnt true: francophones are not forced to learn dutch. They can pick between dutch or english, most pick english. And that is also one of the things a lot of flemish people hate: they speak french, but the francophones do not speak dutch or rarely do.

And there are exact stats about how many people live in brussels and the fact is that some parts are now 100% french speaking and a lot of those arent even "francophones" but immigrants.

I do not know if you ever went to the parts around the cellars of kuregem ?
Thas just one place to show you how brussel can go wrong: trash on the ground, people literally trow their trash out of their window on the streets etc... things being stolen uit of cars right in front of your nose.. they dont even act like they are doing nothing, they just steal the things in the car in front of you watching at it... or maybe even the car.

There are other examples like that. However this region is still +- save , you will not be robbed or attacked normally.

A few years ago there was a park in brussel that you should not enter after 18.00 untill 11.00 or you would be attacked by people using pitbulls as their weapon etc...
There are some parts over there where cops dont even dare to enter.
There are some metrostation that when you enter those you are almost 100% garanteed you get robbed.


Those things arent well known by tourists because they only visit the "nice" part of brussel, the touristic regions.

[GeorgeWolff]

Some Czech beers are quite excellent too.

All cities have their good and bad areas - overall Brussels is the pits.

[casandra]

pito, on Jul 26 2009, 07:14 AM, said:

Beer =/= beer.... it all depends, there is a real difference between heineken and belgian beers or german beers. German beers are mostly just water.
Do keep in mind that the best beers in the world are alsmost belgian beers... almost every year its a belgian beer that is voted as best beer of the world. However those are not the commercial beers everyone knows about.
To give an example: there is a special "trapist" beer in belgian, thats monks brew at a certain place and they only make X bottles each year. Well every year when its time to sell those bottles you will have people waiting with their cars to go and buy the beer and every person is only allowed Y bottles of beer... its really amasing. Some people hire others to go and get beer for them or they sell and buy in on the "black market".
You can only buy the beer at the monks home.. so its not in the shop or anywhere else.
It is even important what kind of water you use to brew the beer!




The flemish people in brussels are mainly people that are there for work or during the weekend on some sort of city trip. But there arent a lot of flemish people living there.
A lot of the people in brussel are immigrants. There are some parts of brussels that have 95-100% immigrant levels, wich is causing some distress from the "native" flemish or francophones there.
You can compare it with some sort of "chinatown" but with other nationalities.

And flemish people are indeed taught french at school... but the other way around isnt true: francophones are not forced to learn dutch. They can pick between dutch or english, most pick english. And that is also one of the things a lot of flemish people hate: they speak french, but the francophones do not speak dutch or rarely do.

And there are exact stats about how many people live in brussels and the fact is that some parts are now 100% french speaking and a lot of those arent even "francophones" but immigrants.

I do not know if you ever went to the parts around the cellars of kuregem ?
Thas just one place to show you how brussel can go wrong: trash on the ground, people literally trow their trash out of their window on the streets etc... things being stolen uit of cars right in front of your nose.. they dont even act like they are doing nothing, they just steal the things in the car in front of you watching at it... or maybe even the car.

There are other examples like that. However this region is still +- save , you will not be robbed or attacked normally.

A few years ago there was a park in brussel that you should not enter after 18.00 untill 11.00 or you would be attacked by people using pitbulls as their weapon etc...
There are some parts over there where cops dont even dare to enter.
There are some metrostation that when you enter those you are almost 100% garanteed you get robbed.


Those things arent well known by tourists because they only visit the "nice" part of brussel, the touristic regions.

Hi pito,

This thread has gone from "blog Ana's way to Antartica" to "discovering Belgium" and now to "bashing Brussels and beers" ...thanks for your "honest" comments about Brussels..and I had such good memories...actually, I think it's in every country that you have these seedy/dangerous places where the natives and even the cops avoid so I'm not surprised. And these are spots that you don't promote to the tourists of course. I've no time now but I can post more later....

[pito]

Quote

This thread has gone from "blog Ana's way to Antartica" to "discovering Belgium" and now to "bashing Brussels and beers" ...thanks for your "honest" comments about Brussels..and I had such good memories...actually, I think it's in every country that you have these seedy/dangerous places where the natives and even the cops avoid so I'm not surprised. And these are spots that you don't promote to the tourists of course. I've no time now but I can post more later....

Offcourse is this true for every country, but its just something I point out because lots of people, tourists seem to forget this. They only see the beauty.

[hobglobin]

That German beers are mostly water is from a chemical pov of course right as all other beers too. Anyway the diversity of german beers is luckily still so large (over 1200 without the very small breweries) as the taste is, that you cannot say all are like water. But with the southern German beer I'd agree somehow . But the problem I was focussing at is that the middle sized breweries are taken over by big companies and holdings such as Inbev. they destroy some of the culture connected to this.
And what are best beers? De gustibus non est disputandum...and I like Belgian chocolate more than your beers
And Brussels has its no-go areas as other towns of this size too...
I wonder about beer in the Antarctic ? Only canned?

[LostintheLab]

maybe only beer icecream is available in Antartica

[casandra]

pito, on Jul 26 2009, 08:05 AM, said:

Quote

This thread has gone from "blog Ana's way to Antartica" to "discovering Belgium" and now to "bashing Brussels and beers" ...thanks for your "honest" comments about Brussels..and I had such good memories...actually, I think it's in every country that you have these seedy/dangerous places where the natives and even the cops avoid so I'm not surprised. And these are spots that you don't promote to the tourists of course. I've no time now but I can post more later....

Offcourse is this true for every country, but its just something I point out because lots of people, tourists seem to forget this. They only see the beauty.

But what would rather have? That tourists will only see unsavoriness and then have such a bad impression /experience that in the end, they will not return nor will they recommend such countries for visiting? It's a good thing that you're working in the lab and not for the tourism industry (which for some countries is a major source of revenues).....if you really wanna know a country then you have to be living there to experience the good as well as the bad. But tourists are usually only there for the short haul and they spend money to explore, to enjoy, to "learn" and not to be traumatised....I'm still trying to think if we have the equivalent of that park and that metro station tho......

[Ana C]

pito, on Jul 26 2009, 01:14 PM, said:

Beer =/= beer.... it all depends, there is a real difference between heineken and belgian beers or german beers. German beers are mostly just water.
Do keep in mind that the best beers in the world are alsmost belgian beers... almost every year its a belgian beer that is voted as best beer of the world. However those are not the commercial beers everyone knows about.
To give an example: there is a special "trapist" beer in belgian, thats monks brew at a certain place and they only make X bottles each year. Well every year when its time to sell those bottles you will have people waiting with their cars to go and buy the beer and every person is only allowed Y bottles of beer... its really amasing. Some people hire others to go and get beer for them or they sell and buy in on the "black market".
You can only buy the beer at the monks home.. so its not in the shop or anywhere else.
It is even important what kind of water you use to brew the beer!




The flemish people in brussels are mainly people that are there for work or during the weekend on some sort of city trip. But there arent a lot of flemish people living there.
A lot of the people in brussel are immigrants. There are some parts of brussels that have 95-100% immigrant levels, wich is causing some distress from the "native" flemish or francophones there.
You can compare it with some sort of "chinatown" but with other nationalities.

And flemish people are indeed taught french at school... but the other way around isnt true: francophones are not forced to learn dutch. They can pick between dutch or english, most pick english. And that is also one of the things a lot of flemish people hate: they speak french, but the francophones do not speak dutch or rarely do.

And there are exact stats about how many people live in brussels and the fact is that some parts are now 100% french speaking and a lot of those arent even "francophones" but immigrants.

I do not know if you ever went to the parts around the cellars of kuregem ?
Thas just one place to show you how brussel can go wrong: trash on the ground, people literally trow their trash out of their window on the streets etc... things being stolen uit of cars right in front of your nose.. they dont even act like they are doing nothing, they just steal the things in the car in front of you watching at it... or maybe even the car.

There are other examples like that. However this region is still +- save , you will not be robbed or attacked normally.

A few years ago there was a park in brussel that you should not enter after 18.00 untill 11.00 or you would be attacked by people using pitbulls as their weapon etc...
There are some parts over there where cops dont even dare to enter.
There are some metrostation that when you enter those you are almost 100% garanteed you get robbed.


Those things arent well known by tourists because they only visit the "nice" part of brussel, the touristic regions.

1. Brussels is a bit dirty, but honestly it's a very safe city, compared with the places I lived. Lisbon is very beautiful (in fact is the most beautiful city in the whole world.... ), but the suburbs are the most horrible places ever (they remind a bit the architecture of old communist countries plus they can be as dangerous as the ghettos in NY). As before, is just a matter of comparison. Still, I think Brussels is great for its variability and multicultural side! I love the market in Gare du Midi, the Matongué mood, to make pic-nics in Bois de La Cambre, or to walk in St Gilles. People: save your money and documents, take a very old camera and walk trough the city, is just great (and also take your waterproof jacket).

2. Still, I don't like beer, but I loved to discover Krieks and similars!!!! What a great idea.

3. Yesterday I was with a lot of Flemish, I went to Baarle-Hertog and had my foot on both Belgium and The Netherlands several times. What a funny village. And the area is very beautiful (the weather also helped a lot yesterday).

4. DON'T FORGET TO KEEP DISCOVERING ANTARCTICA: http://www.blogyourw.../blogs/view/204
(sorry, but I have to keep reminding you... anyway, thanks for the votes that came from here, I might not win, but I'm having a lot of fun)

Cheers
AC

[Doki]

Belgium . . . isn't that where Tintin is from? and the chocolates. .. should vote then.

Casu-hime, now U r sounding more like one of them but I always thought U were one of 'them' (the other 'them'). U work for google or something?

[Doki]

How many will be going?

U need almost 15 times more votes than you have now. Hope we could help you more.. . . I will spread the words.

[Ana C]

Thanks Nabi! I know that by now Luís (who is actually a friend of mine) has a lot more votes! But as I said, I am having really a lot of fun with this game. Is great to find new forums and meet new people.

Still, spread the word! Let's see how it all will go!

Cheers
AC