Out and about in Brussels

Although the rest of my week may seem somewhat uneventful after the Binche experience, I actually did some pretty cool things in Brussels. Friday was a free concert, the Antwerp Gipsy-Ska Orkestra, which was quite something. They blended a gypsy sound with just about everything you could think of: ska, reggae, hip hop, punk, funk, and just about as many languages. Many of the songs were in English, but I was also told they sang in the gypsy language (maybe it's called Roma? I'm not sure). Either way, sometimes I understood, sometimes I didn't. The lead singer spoke to the crowd in what a friend told me was probably Dutch, and at other times he spoke a mix of French and English in the same sentence. Overall it was a great show, really lively, and as long as I didn't try too hard to understand I got the general idea of what was going on.

Saturday day I visited the Coudenberg museum with the exchange group. It's an archaeology site of the basement rooms/foundation of the old royal palace and cathedral that burnt down when they were making candy for a party. Oops. Not having enough money to rebuild it as it was, they built the new palace on top in a completely different architectural style. The museum was kind of neat because we got to go underground through all of the rooms that remained and had just been buried for awhile.

That night I went to see a film at an anime festival. I thought it was curious that I saw my first Japanese anime film in Brussels, but I guess that's the way things turn out sometimes! It was a compilation of five different short films, all by different artists and directors, and most of which didn't make sense. It was a great experience, and I saw some really cool animation, but I left really puzzled about what had just happened, since the last film especially had no sort of connecting chain of events or plot line to follow.

As for today, my friend Angie and I visited a weekend market where I bought some dried kiwi (never heard of it before, but they're actually really good), and then Angie, Gabrielle, and I started planning our Easter break adventures... it's looking like Oslo, Copenhagen, Berlin, Prague, and Vienna. Exciting!

I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to write next, as it took me a couple of days to get around to writing this post, but I'm wishing all the best to everyone at home and I miss you all and the Vancouver mountains and ocean so much!