Sept 14 & 15: Brussels, Belgium

On Sept 14 2014, I took a train to Belgium, into a suburb of Brussels, to stay with some friends of a friend back in Prescott. They are such an amazing family! I absolutely adore them, and I've only been here a couple days. 

Anyways, since they have lives of their own, they just let me do what I want. I already feel like part of the family, as I join them for dinner and morning coffee, but during the day I go wandering about.

So on the 15th, I took the train into Brussels, to the city center. It was beautiful. While it was slightly touristy, it wasn't overwhelmingly so. 

Town Hall

Alright, story time.

This city square is actually a UNESCO World Heritage site. Basically a historical landmark. All the buildings were build in the late 1600s, early 1700s, after the then-King of France decided to burn everything to the ground. What a nice guy.

Before the fire, it was still the town square. All the other buildings that wernt the town square were Guild Houses- so basically Union Offices. Like the brewers, the bakers, the actors, the masons, the whatevers. And after the fire, all the Guilds, being businesses, wanted to out- awesome each other. So they just built better and prettier buildings. Which is why everything is so gorgeous. That's the story I heard, at least.

Former Guild houses- now restaurants and apartments

This beauty right here, one of my favorite buildings, actually used to be the bakers house. Before it was build this nicely, it was just four wooden pillars with a thatched roof. And it was wear all the bakers would come and sell their bread.                                                               Then one day, the king decided he wanted a place to host foreign ambassadors and merchants and whatnot. So this was built. And I love it. Now its a museum, but it has the coolest feel to it, ya know?

This building once housed Karl Marx...if I remember correctly, this might have been where one of the first drafts of the Communist Manifesto was written. But who really knows. 

<-- Murals are a thing in Brussels. Like, street art is recognized and respected here. And billboards are dissed. Murals are EVEryWHEre. 

Plus, the street names --> come in two languages... Flemish and French. Brussels is a bilingual city. Theres a huge Flemish population, and a huge French population. So signs are in both. And they switch off the order, to show theres no preference or favor to the language. In addition to that, many streets are named after famous comic book characters, because comics are a huge thing as well. So you have an additional two names to the streets as well! And sometimes a picture! (Click to enlarge pictures)


Now, on of the most famous icons of Brussels is the stupendous Mannequin Piss. Yes, Piss. Its a statue of a little boy peeing. Plain and simple.
Urban legend has it, that this statue was built on square where people used to sell urine... who knows how true that actually is.
Now, its just a huge moral booster to the city.
The MP has over 900 different costumes, and is the center for day-time festivals. Many of the local guilds have a day devoted to the MP, where they come in, dress him up in something related to the Guild, then randomly during the day, they have a little party.

During city-wide parties and festivals, the fountain is filled with beer, and someone can come in and just fill their mug full of the good stuff.

On New Years Eve, its champagne!

Like I said, huge moral booster for the city of Brussels!

Now for some pretty pictures of the city:

I don't know what this is. It freaks me out.

"Umbrella of Brussels" = indoor boutique shopping mall

So this scaffolding on the building you see off int the distance...that scaffolding has been there TWENTY FIVE YEARS. Its semi-permanent. You'd think they'd get their crap together.

So Europe is famous for beer. Especially Belgium. And there are these beers called Trappist beers, where they have Monks making the beers...these monks need to be super important monks or whatever, in order to be allowed to brew these beers. There are only 7 Trappist breweries in the world, and 5 are in Belgium. So of course I had to try one. And it was really good! But goodness, it was strong. Normal beer is between 3 and 5%, according to google. This was nine. I was feeling it for sure.

Gorgeous view of the city!

More pretty pictures:

Apparently this building was made to counter
 the 'cookie-cutter' architecture culture. You
know, requiring skill to build it rather
  than vomiting out pre-made things

Belgian Waffles are the FLIPPIN BEST. So much better than what we think they are back in the states. These are like desserts. They have little bits of sugar throughout the dough, so when its cooked, it melts and caramelizes so you get little crunchy bits in each bite and ITS AMAZING. I had two in 2 hours. Its so rich and fantastic!

And that, my friends, is the last of my glorious trip in Europe. I was abroad for a solid month, backpacking my way through 7 countries (Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Belgium) with people I had never met. 

Traveling forces you to learn. Learn about yourself, about others, about other cultures. To be safe, have an open mind, and humility. 

It also teaches you independence, and loneliness. You learn friendship and trust. But most of all, you learn to have fun!

Sept 9-14th: Kaiserslautern, Germany and surrounding areas (like Ramstein!)

Wow, I'm really behind on updating this thing! After the tour, I took a train to see Aretta, a YoungLife Regional Director for Club Beyond (YoungLife Military) in Kaiserslautern, Germany. 

On September 9th, my birthday, I spend over 12 hours traveling by train...it was probably closer to 14. The day started with attempting to catch a bus to the train station from my hostel, and walking out to see this...the bus I was supposed to take, blocked off  by two police cars. So that was fun. Now I just had to get on the next bus...no big deal.  Once I got on the correct bus, I just had to make sure I got off at the correct stop. You know how many times I read and reread each bus stop? Like a million. I knew it was the last stop, but how do you know which stop is the last one if you cant understand the announcements???

Keleti train station in Budapest

I got to the station, whew! Things started off well with the initial 7 hour leg from Budapest to Ktown, but once I got to my transfer in Munchen, things got a little more complicated. It was only supposed to be an hour's wait before my next train. But then, the hour turned into an extra half hour...then a full hour...








So in total, my train was delayed 80 minutes. Which, in all honesty, the wait didn't bother me...it was the fact that none of the announcements were in English, and I was constantly afraid that I would accidentally miss it, since trains only stay in the station about 5 minutes once they arrive. So i kept checking and re-checking the boards to see how much longer was the delay, and if the platforms changed (they did, just once).




Some pictures from the first leg of the trip:

Inside the train station in Budapest

The countryside...Austria, maybe?

Somewhere in Germany

One of my trains...very roomy!

Luckily I had a Starbucks with free wifi nearby in Muchen, so before the stress started, I was able to get a mocha coffee and some birthday lunch! And keep talking to people back home. 

I like this sign because it looks like Fart.
Lets just pretend I'm mature.

I finally got on the train, for the final 5 hour leg of the journey. The trouble with being a foreigner who doesn't speak the language, though, is that in non-touristy areas, English isn't as dominant on the signs.

On most trains, you know the arrival time of your stop, and you just time yourself to get off at the correct time. But since mine was delayed, there was no timer I could go off of. I could only judge my stop based on the name of the stations. Which was difficult to do with the darkness outside. 

On the bright side, I got to travel through 3 countries in one day. So that's pretty cool. 

Yes I took a picture in the train toilet. Don't Judge. They had fun buttons

More Germany

Double decker train! I'm seeing them more in Belgium than Germany

Honestly, looking back, the feat wasn't all that difficult. It was simply the knowledge that I was completely on my own, having to fend for myself, in a different country, with no language skills. When I got off and told Aretta everything, she said that kind of stress was normal...everyone who comes to a new country has a momentary break-down, where all the stress of navigating a foreign land finally hits them. She says that's culture shock really is. After you get over that hump, its better. And she was right. Since then, navigating has been much easier. 

My life on my late night train to K-Town

The next four days were a bit of a whirlwind...but a very relaxing one! Aretta is absolutely amazing, and I had a blast living with her!

The next day, she took me on base so I could see where she works and such. She works with Club Beyond, which is YoungLife Military for those back home. But it's partnered with another outreach organization, which is why we don't actually call it YL Military.

She introduced me to the most amazing food, a Greek Gyro. I don't know everything that was in it, but I loved it. Meat, sauce, cabbage, onions, everything! And of course I made a mess..what else is new??

So I spent a few hours with her at work, then we went to Club on base- the first of the semester. Yes, its slightly different from what I'm used to back home. But really, there was no difference. Kids are kids no matter where you go, no matter what their home situation is like. The kids here are looking for the same things as the kids in Prescott and the kids in Tanzania: Love and acceptance. 

There was one part that really hit home, though. One of the boys at club was talking with someone else, and all I heard him say was "We're Army Brats! That's what we do!"And for some reason, it broke my heart. Because that's what these kids find their identify in... Being an Army Brat. I don't know what emotion it was that was running through me, but all I wanted to do was tell him, show him, yell at him, "You are so much more than an Army Brat! That is not WHO you are." 

Anyway.

Over the next 4 days, I just got to tag along with Aretta as she did her Club Beyond duties, or watch NCIS during the times I couldn't go with her. Either way, I was more than happy!

Aretta's neighborhood...totally adorable

We went and cheered for some high schoolers at their volleyball and football games, and meet other Club Beyond/YL Staff.

I also got to hang out on Ramstein AFB for a bit...and of course I got lost. That makes like 6 or 7 times Ive gotten lost on this trip. But Ramstein is beautiful! In fact, all of Europe is quite gorgeous. So green!

On a walking/running trail at Ramstein Air Base

Arretta also introduced me to Happy Hippos... probably one of my new favorite sweets. Its crisp wafer filled with a chocolate cream-mousse filling. SO AMAZING. And it looks like a hippo!!! How could it get better?? I think Kinder is probably my favorite chocolate brand...behind Dove, of course. 

We also got to go to a Germany hockey game! One of Aretta's coworkers had extra tickets, so we tagged along to Mannheim for the night. I gotta say, German hockey games are pretty awesome. They really get into it...They have giant flags, and are constantly singing or chanting. Always. Imagine the 7 inning stretch at a baseball game, then multiply that energy by 500, and then make it go for the entire game. That's a German hockey game. It was awesome.

The cool thing about the hockey fights here, though, was that it wasn't fighting for the sake of fighting, almost like it is in the US. You could feel the tension in the players. It rose steadily throughout the game, but they never got into a full out brawl, or even close to it. It was super cool.

ALSO, fun fact, McDonald french fries are way better here than in the US. Gosh Aretta taught me so much about food. I think Germany does it right. Their coffee is awesome, so is their ice cream and fast food. I don't know what they do to their fries, but they use a different kind of oil then America. And its super amazing!!

Then as far as ice cream and chocolate...we met up with a CB leader and his chilluns after one of the high school football games. His kids are super cute, by the way. But we got an Ice Cafe, which is like a root beer float, but with coffee instead of soda. And then a normal chocolate sundae. With the fudge STILL HOT. Ermergerd.  

Also fun fact... we were in town, not on base, when we went to the ice cream shop. Since the menu was in German, I couldn't understand any of it. So Doug (the leader with the chilluns), who was a frequent regular of the shop, asks the owner for the Chinese menu. Yes, Chinese. But it was all in English. Not a Chinese character to be found. Welcome to Germany. 

So overall, Germany was great. Learning a lot about a little city and a certain culture, but being immersed in actual culture, is WAY better than learning a little about a large, more famous city in my opinion. I loved Kaiserslautern, and the people I met there. Would definitely love to go back one day!!