Last week I spent a wild and wonderful weekend in Belgium,
visiting my host family. I moved into my new chambre de bonne Friday
night, only to leave early the next morning. I still hadn't seen the
place in daylight. I signed up online for a carpool (much cheaper than a
last-minute train ticket), something I'd done once before and which
worked very well the first time. This time, however, I somehow ended up
changing cars/drivers twice and ended up in a small 5-seater with 6
people: 3 and 2 kids, who were not exactly
well-behaved...
Anyway, I arrived safe and sound and only a half-hour late.
Coraline met me at the Brussels train station and we spent the rest of
the day preparing for the house-warming party she and her boyfriend,
Rodrigo, were holding that night in their beautiful new apartment. It
was a great party. The have the nicest, most intelligent and open-minded
friends. Nearly all of them are tri-lingual at least (English, French,
Spanish), and many of them speak other languages too. We went to bed
around 3am, woke up at 9am, and after a sugery breakfast featuring
nutella and frosted corn flakes the 4 of us (Me, Rod, Coraline, and a
friend) took the train to Liège, where Coraline's parents were holding
the 10th anniversary party for their non-profit organisation
Débrouill'art. Jean-Pierre and Corinne rented a river boat for the
occasion, one that is permanently moored at the eastern edge of the
river and serves as a café/bar most of the year. The Débrouill'art
celebration included a skit by Coraline's friend Charline, various
dance performances by students and professors, and at 8pm a rock concert
put on by Jean Pierre and his band. They played hits from Black
Sabbath,Green Day, and various other bands, and had a good hour's worth
of music prepared. I was so proud. Jean Pierre has become quite a
competant drummer. Corinne's belly dancers were lovely as usual. Below you can see Jean-Pierre in the back (the one wearing glasses) playing the drums.
Péniche, or houseboat, on the river Meuse, Liège
Two of Corinne's dancers
Jean-Pierre's rock band
By the time we'd packed up and headed home it was nearly midnight.
Nevertheless, my host parents got up with me at 5am to take me to my
train. It was exhausting, but I was very happy to be able to take off for the weekend.
Now I'm back in Paris, fully recovered and finally settling in to my new surroundings. I had to spend the whole week cleaning, since the previous occupant wasn't a huge fan of housework and left a ton of things behind. One can collect a lot of stuff in 6 years. I'm not complaining, though. Much of the things, like pots and pans, a printer, bedding, etc. are very useful to me. The rest I can take to be recycled, or re-used at Emmaüs (a Goodwill-like store). I'm also extremely grateful to have been able to move in right away even though Régine and her husband would have probably liked to do some work in it first. I am now living in the 16th arrondissement, the neighborhood in Paris most known for its upscale inhabitants. Mostly residential, the 16th arrondisement begins with the Arc the Triomphe to the north, hugs the Seine to the east, is bordered by the woods of Boulogne to the west (where the hippodromes are located), and ends at the Boulevard Périphérique to the south. With quiet, Haussmannian facades, bourgeois ladies walking little dogs, it's one of the calmest (and least active) parts of Paris. Historically, Paris' well-to-do built their houses here because the wind, which blows from the West throughout most of the year, kept this part of Paris clear of smoke and pollution produced by the many factories in central Paris. Today, Paris is too large to have large factories at its center, but the reputation of the 16th remains despite it's relative distance from central Paris.
