Gangnam Style to the U.S. Elections

U.S. Election Night, Brussels Expats Party

Tues, Nov. 6^th, 2012

I have never gone out on a Tuesday evening here, but this time I had to because of course it was US Election Night, and I had been feeling pretty guilty about not paying much attention to the candidates and their debates and so on. I had been meaning for the past month to go on YouTube and watch one of the debates, but I never got around to it. It’s not like it doesn’t interest me. I actually really enjoy learning about politics and discussing the different perspectives. Public Affairs 101 was actually one of my favorite classes I took in high school.  It’s just, I have more important (I feel, anyway) things to do while I’m in Brussels, then to pay attention to American politics. I won’t even me an American resident during the next 4 years, so why does it even matter to me? Yes, I know that the US is a powerful country and of course the president will still do things that affect the whole world, but still. I’m living in Europe, I should care about European politics. That’s why when I read the Economist (which I get every week in the mail, a present from Gramps, who became worried when he first read a blog entry about one of my crazy club nights…he felt I didn’t some politic reading to clear up my head), I skip the “US News” section and go right to Europe and read about all its financial problems and struggles with Greece and the EU. What fun…

Anyway, wow I can get off topic so easily. So, Tuesday night, right… Well, it was another pretty exciting night here in Brussels. The party was organized by a Facebook group I am apart of called “Brussels Expats.” They have after-work drinks organized at bars every week, but I never went because I figured it was going to be all “old” people (like 30-50) who work for the parliament or something. But, I heard about this party and thought to myself, “Well, maybe I’ll meet some fellow Americans or something” Well, my guess about the age range was right about on the spot…I’d say most were early 30s, maybe a few younger and a few older. Vero and I were definitely the youngest though. Well, when we got there the first thing we noticed was how out of place the blasting, house/electro/radio commercial music was. There were a couple big TVs with the BBC news showing the status of the elections, but of course you could not hear it over the crowded room of yelling people and blaring music. There was a dance floor, but no one dancing. Everyone seemed a little up tight, still in their suits or black skirts from work. Vero and I gave each other our look…we had to show these people how to party! First, we waited at the bar to get out drinks (both got white wine, our usual first drink because it’s the cheapest). While we were waiting at the bar, two brave souls started dancing on the side of the dance floor. They were two ladies in their early 30s, but they really could not dance to save their lives. They were trying to find the rhythm of the Taio Cruz blaring, but instead they were just kind of jogging to the music… Vero and I looked at each other again… Oh God, now we really have to do something!  We pushed through the crowd of people and then into the middle of the dance floor…and started our special crazy dancing duo. People turned their heads to look…I could feel eyes staring at us. Just keep dancing. Swedish House Mafia came on, and I just knew the beat so well…I couldn’t help but go crazy into my techno dance mode. People started laughing and smiling, and then suddenly, the dance floor started to fill! More and more people came onto the floor, surrounding me and Vero, some dancing surprisingly well, other just trying, but not really getting into the rhythm. But it didn’t matter, it just felt so good to teach these people how to party!!

We danced and danced, and soon I forgot why I was even at this party….oh right, to watch the elections.

An Asian man came over and saw Vero and I trying to do our best techno dance moves. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, he started dancing like a maniac! Doing some crazy foot moves, and jumping. We couldn’t believe it! We started cheering for him, and he danced harder. Then we tried to copy his moves (obviously failing though) and so he came over and tried teaching us. He tried explaining a basic foot step with heel and toe, and it looked so easy when he did it, but when I tried I was just failing! Then, the song Gangnam Style came on, and he just had to start doing that stupid dance that goes with it…but it was hilarious! If you don’t know this, check out this video: (It’s a Korean pop song by the way, just warning you in advance)

Gangnam Style! (<--link)

At some point I turned around and saw a younger looking man with big, nerdy but stylish glasses and a checkered shirt staring at me. He smiled when I turned around, and I gave him a look like “What do you think you’re doing” and then turned back around. A few minutes later, I saw him again, and he was laughing at me! I was doing some kind of crazy dance move with Vero and he thought it was so funny. I laughed back. I noticed he was with a shorter, kind of Hispanic looking, clean-shaven guy. Then some song came on with the lyrics “tell me your name” and suddenly they were standing next to us and the Hispanic guy leaned over and said “Tell me your name!” Ha. Ha.

They were very friendly. The Spanish looking guy was from Spain (I forgot where) and the guy in the glasses was German but had a perfect Australian accent.. Very strange. He told me he spent a lot of time travelling in Australia, New Zealand and Thailand with a group of Austrian guys.

A few minutes later, me and Vero and the two guys were dancing when on older, dark-haired African looked man in a suit came over to us. He ignored the guys and immediately gave me and Vero a big smile and asked us where we were from. We told him, and of course I got the usually reaction after saying I am from New York. Oh, Wow, an American! I love New York!” Then I have to explain I am not from the city…blah blah blah. When I say I am from the capital, Albany, some people get really confused because they thing NYC is the capital…or sometimes they don’t even know New York is a state, they just know the city (those are the really out-of-touch with the world European people..)  But his guy seemed very well-informed and worldly, and knew exactly what I was talking about. He then introduced himself, telling us he was from Kenya but has been living in Brussels for a while. And then, out of the blue he admitted he was the organized of Brussels Expats and the party! He was the host! The host of this party randomly came up to us… I feel like this kind of thing happens to me a lot here. 

Anyway, he asked us why we came, if we wanted to watch the election or just party, and what we were doing in Brussels. Then, he invited us to this party he was hosting no Thursday (called Fake Friday, ha. ha.) and told us he would buy us drinks if we came (cool?!). We told him we would try, but I was doubtful I would make it because that night was the screening of a friend of mine’s movie he helped write (Pablo, a very awesome guy I met with Antonia, who I am pretty sure I blogged about before, in my entry about Nuit Blanche. He was the one who speaks 5 languages fluently and gave me a kind of personal tour of techno music while at the concert). He helped research and write the movie, “The Sound of Belgium” which is about the history of techno music in this small country where it all started J Anyway, I was really looking forward to seeing his movie, and this was going to be my only chance because it was technically going to be an illegal screening because they didn’t pay for their rights to show it yet. So, he had no idea when it would be screened again. A few days later, I found out that the movie won “The Special Vanguard Award” from Electropedia. Here is what they said about it: "The creators of The Sound of Belgium were awarded a Red Bull Elektropedia Special Vanguard Award for their perseverance and truly remarkable skills in documenting decades of nightlife and electronic music in Belgium. Their excellent documentary explores the rich and largely untold story of the Belgian dance scene.

From the dance halls with Decap organs to the golden days of Popcorn. From EBM and New Beat to Belgian House and Techno. A chronicle of electronic music, The Sound of Belgium - directed by Jozef Devillé for visualantics production - goes in search of the spirit of a nation and the people that danced to it.The movie had its world premiere at the Ghent Film Festival in October 2012 and will be released in May 2013."

 It also has a high chance of being shown at the Amsterdam Music Festival, which is one of the biggest in the world! It’s so crazy how many talented people I’ve met in Brussels already… this city must just be filled with them, or I’ve just always been in the right place at the right time...who knows?

Later, we talked to the Asian guy again, and learned that his name was Hieu (pronounced like “You”, OMG I’ve always wanted to meet someone named that!!) When he told us his name, he pointed to us and said “My name is Hieu, like “YOU”. We laughed together, just couldn’t help it. He laughed along with us too, so it was okay J He then told us he actually is the one who built the dance club/bar that we were in at the moment and that he is now an event organizer for events all over Belgium…even the I <3 Techno festival I was going to that weekend! I just couldn’t believe we were meeting all the coolest people in the room! He then gave us his card, and told us to friend him on Facebook and he would invited us to all his events he organizes. YAY!!

Oh, and I didn’t meet a single American. Some guy told me he believed I was the only actually, true blood American in the place… how funny. One real American in a US Election Party filled with 100 people. Who would have guessed?

And that was just my Tuesday night.. More to come, including probably the craziest night of my life, with 10 hours of dancing, 34,000 people, and insane music. Can you guess what I’m talking about? It’s I <3 TECHNO!!!!