Brussels = Salmon + Pickles

I went to Brussels last weekend. (aka. The town of salmon and pickles - coined by me because French culture and dutch culture don't seem to be the most blendable of things. Funnily enough this is also how the Belgians see it, having been without a properly formed government for the past 7.5 months because of the reality that...surprise, surprise, french culture and dutch culture are VASTLY different.)

Fun and weird at the same time. Met lots of nice, intellectual and funny individuals. They study important things like International human rights law and Conflict and Security, and I am pretty damn sure that all of them will change or shape the world for the better. I'm going to turn on the news one night and see these people ratifying treaties for the disarment of nuclear situations or bringing North and South Korea together as one. Mark my words.

Some of these heresaid people came with me to see a bit of my world in their city ( ie. less about articles, books and treaty documents and more about arts, culture and theatre) We ended up seeing one of the best performance art pieces I am likely to see in my entire life.


When we rolled up to the theatre, a lady led us outside of the theatre and took us to a metro stop. We had no idea what we were doing there, until some guy on the opposite platform starts harassing one of the people I was with about taking photos of him (with my camera.)

It wasn't until he turned his boom box on that the penny dropped and I suddenly realise the performance had already begun. We were watching street theatre and breakdancing where it was born and bred - on the streets.

Then we went to see some guy eat yogurt at an intersection, and he was talking in dutch and I lost the point of it all. Too avante gard for me. I was exceptionally confused when he ran away from us. Then we were led back into the theatre and the show in the theatre was amazing, and powerful.

Just a casual game between friends... infront of a palace. BSIS lads get into a game of football - infront of the grand palace Leopold built after colonising Congo.

A couple of pensive characters @ Le Montmartre bar

Another pensive one: this time at a beautiful little secret called L'Atelier bar


The gi-normous Belgian Beer selection at L'Atelier


The entrance of L'Atelier. We were almost going to give it a miss because it was closed when we got there but the owners turned up at the same time, chased after us and let us in as they opened. Magical.

Hip Hop(e) @ KVS ( Royal Flemish Theatre)

Being led down the Rabbit Hole.


"Take my picture dude!"

Bad Ass.

Man eating yoghurt. At an intersection.

Flemish Hip Hop Opera

Bezette Stad (Occupied City) - KVS: Royal Flemish Theatre

‘A defiant and strikingly sincere performance.’ (**** De Morgen)

Director Ruud Gielens (Singhet ende weset vro) and writer Jeroen Perceval tackle Paul Van Ostaijen’s poetry collection Bezette Stad, the Flemish monument to the period between the wars. Armed with a beatbox and rap –measuring up to Paul Van Ostayen in rhythm and expression– this motley crew creates a contemporary version of these poems, whose main subject is the occupation of Antwerp in WW I. United in a virtuoso interplay of voices, Scale, Pitcho, Karim, Serdi, Ellen and Joost wage battle against the occupation of their cities, against consumption, the flood of advertising, hollow phrases and meaningless one-liners. They want their city back. And they are starting from scratch.

sa

29-01-2011 — 20:30

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Confirmation received

I'm going (back) to Brussels.

Can't be something that I'm not

I am about to do 2 things I never thought I would ever be doing.
One of these things I will reveal in due time; I'm excited because I feel like all sorts of revelations are making sense for this one thing, and like I was meant to be doing this.

The other one is something that I am not going to reveal, and probably never will (over the internet anyway.)

But - acting on both things means that I am being true to myself and if that's all I can say eventuates out of either of them, I am going to be totally ok with it all.

In a way, doing both things make me completely vulnerable and somewhat stupid.

Stupid? Yes. But I never said I was smart ;)

Sea Snail soup, and Lurking angels: Brussels in 24 hours