Museum Night Fever!

Every year, Brussels has one night where almost all the big museums in Brussels, from the art museum of the "Old Masters" to the Science and Nature Museum are open from 7pm until 1am for all visitors who have pre-ordered a pass for only 8 euros. With this pass, you can enter all of these different museums at any time of the night, and each one has its own unique events and temporary shows and exhibits. For example, in the Old Masters museum, they had contemporary dancers dancing in around the museum in different areas in front of the art, performing their take on the art around them through dance. In the Musical Instrument Museum, they focused on street art with a musical theme and crazy futuristic stuff like emo synth. They had a room where they had a person connected to a bunch of wires which were then connected to a computer and a bunch of machines which read the feelings of the person and made music according to the emotions of the person. There was also an electric guitarist and drummer who were reading the notes on the computer and playing along as well. So cool!

In the Bozar Cinema, they had old movies running of live black and white footage from Brussels and other European cities in the 1900s. And in the Museum of Science and Nature, the Dinosaur Gallery was transformed into a calkwalk of "haut nature", where models showed off clothing designs from students of the Francisco Ferrer fashion school. There was also a changing room where visitors could try on some unique clothing pieces such as scarfs and hats. My friend Sanni and I had a lot of fun with that, as you can tell from the pictures ;P

Musical Instrument Museum:

They had a giant wall of music which everyone could decorate:) 

Graffiti (guy is painting Jimmy Hendrix)

 Old Masters Museum:

Dancing inside a cellophane box...not exactly sure what he is trying to portray here but it was cool:)

At the entrance, everyone was given a red strip of paper with a rubber band attached to each end. You were supposed to wear it over your mouth, which some people actually did...like these kids:) looks quite strange at first but is kind of an intriguing difference.

The dances were on this main floor (entrance area of the museum) and also upstairs in different rooms with the paintings. 

This was my favorite dancer.. I have never seen anything like this. She could make dancing with such a large, heavy object look so delicate and graceful. 

Two dancers portraying a struggle (as you can kind of see in the painting behind them)

Looking from up above

The pianist, whose music echoed throughout the large building. The piano music switched once and a while with some electric guitar, drums and sax.

I had to try out the red strip.. everyone else who wore it just looked so mysterious and added to the atmosphere of the event. Mine only lasted a little while tho, its hard to breath when you have something like that covering your mouth!

Very strange performance which began with a lady in a long red dress crawling out of a cello case and then proceeding to  rub her head against the man's cello like a cat while the man played the cello and sang, very emotionally, in Italian.

Women portraying a big, rowdy royal feast..also quite strange. All around them were very random objects, like fake birds, a plastic (but very real looking) leg, shoes, scarfs, and other body parts made out of plastic.

This guy decided to make a  hat out of a bunch of men's ties.. and sweep the floor with it. (and cuddle up against a very confused by-stander...)

The Science and Nature Museum:

Dinasour Gallery

Fashion show in the gallery!

And..Sanni and I making our own styles and doing a little fashion shoot:)

Who knew a night full of museums could be so crazy and fun! I think the city of Brussels purposely puts together these kind of events in order to attract a younger crowed to their museums. And it's a really great idea! I got to see a lot of museums which I didn't even know existed in Brussels, and see some awesome expos! I have officially turned into a city lover:) 

As Crazy as a Tiny Country Could Be

Found this cartoon quite entertaining...and surprisingly true. What do you think? Comment and let me know:)

You would not believe this, but in the past two days, two people have asked me if I was Spanish… What the heck? Is it my accent when I speak French? I don’t think so…it’s pretty obviously an American English accent. Is it the way I look? No again… I mean don’t most Spanish people have dark hair and tan skin? I just don’t get it…but alright.

Anyway, now onto a totally new topic. On Thursday night, I went to visit my Belgian friend Dries (the one who I met at a concert when I first arrived in Brussels and he taught me the Belgian hand signal for a beer at a bar). He lives in the small town of Mechelen, but has lived in almost every Belgian city possible. The past 6 weeks he spent snowboarding with his friends in Zillertal (yes, where I was! Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to meet up). One of the great things I find about Europe is that they really try to help out young people who don’t earn much money to be able to afford to travel. They have developed couch surfing (you sign up online and people offer to let you sleep on their couch if you allow the same thing for them), carpooling to different cities (people post times and routes online and you sign up to ride in the car with them, and split gas money). There are cheap hostels galore, in every city, and good discounts for train tickets. I think the US should definitely take up some of these ideas, because when you’re young, it’s the best time to travel!

Anyway, whenever Dries and I meet up, we always have the most interesting conversations. He loves talking about Belgium and how just “messed up crazy” it is. I arrived at the Mechelen train station (it’s only a 20 min train ride from Brussels) and we met up and he walked me through the center. There was a big bar party with a rock band and a bunch of young students dancing, and then we turned a corner and it was completely empty and silent, but it was beautiful. There was a canal running along the old Dutch houses, with a lit boardwalk over the water, going along the side of it, so you could basically follow the canal while walking over it. He pointed out the Fish Market, where he said all his friends and him used to hang out when he was younger. Apparently it’s a great place to drink and party..would have never guessed. 

Walking over the canal

The pretty center (with bikes of course! Cars are not even allowed in the center of Mechelen)

There was a cute bar with all its windows lit up and the light glittering on the water. People were sitting inside, drinking beer. Dries told me that this bar has over 1000 beers, and even the most strangest, hardest to get Belgian beers and that the guy who owns it is super old but knows everything there is to know about Belgian beer and takes it very seriously. He wants all of his customers to appreciate the flavor and love that went into the making of the beer. He takes sometimes a half hour just to bring your beer out. But you are not supposed to care, you are supposed to just take time and relax.

We walked into another bar that seemed a little bit livelier and had a younger crowed. We sat down and Dries ordered us the special beer of Mechelen, called “golden” something or another. Of course, it was a strong one. I asked Dries if he knew why Belgians made their beers so strong. Immediately he said, “Well, it is definitely not because we want to get drunk off of it, as some people falsely assume. If we want to get drunk, we drink lots of normal beer. Strong beer is supposed to be drunk slowly and enjoyed. You have to savor the taste and drink it with love, because it was made with love. Lots of care goes into the making of it, to make sure it has the perfect taste.” Hm, maybe that is why they call this beer we were drinking “golden”…because it’s like gold for the Belgians. I laughed and told Dries about how the concept of drinking a strong drink just for the flavor would never be comprehended by people my age back in the States. They drink to get drunk, and that’s it. When I told them about how strong the beer is here, they immediately asked me to bring them back some bottles because it was “so hard for them to get strong alcohol”. Dries told me how he learned about the importance of treating Belgian beer with care and savoring the flavor when he was only 13 years old. He said he would sit at a bar with his dad, each of them drinking a Duvel (one of Belgium’s strongest beers..8.5% alcohol).

What I also find quite funny here in Belgium is that some of the strongest, most sought after beers made here are brewed by monks right inside their monasteries. They take great pride in their beer, and only make it in small batches. If you want a pack, you have to order it many months in advance, and then go to the monastery at a specific time to pick it up. But apparently, the time, effort and money is worth it, for this “liquid gold.”

 As the picture above is trying to hint, we also got on the subject of Belgian politics, which is something Dries loves to talk about. I asked him if the King of Belgium (yes, Belgium still has a king) actually does anything. He said honestly, no, but that he did do one thing, when Belgium spent 249 days (more than 8 months) with no government. Yes, two years ago, Belgium had no government ruling it. You may ask, how did not all hell break lose and the country go into total mayhem? Well, because of Belgians. Belgians and their attitude of, let’s role with it, no one cares, just go on with life. Belgians. They really don’t care about important stuff like a government. Then they wonder why one man can lead 310 million Americans quite fine, but they can’t manage with their 60 people leading this country of 10 million. They just can’t do anything and have done nothing, in terms of creating laws or making changes. I think there are two reasons for this 1. Because people in the states actually care about politics. Here, you never hear anyone say one peep about the government. 2. 60 people trying to agree on one decision, without one leader to make the final one, just doesn’t work. It’s just taking Belgium a longer time to figure that one out. Maybe going another 9 months without a government could do them well…

For example, the Belgian government had immense amount of trouble trying to decide where the boundaries of Brussels was and where the signs would stop having to be both in French and Flemish. I agree, these are difficult decisions, but come on...in the end, who  cares about a few meters different between where Brussels ends and Wallonia begins? No one in Belgium, I can assure you that.

The period of no government in Belgium is sometimes referred to as
"The Revolution of Belgian Fries." Just goes to show you how proud Belgians are of their fries...you'd only hope that they would also have a bit more pride for more important things in their country, like their government.

Europe doesn’t think of itself as one continent. Dries said that it is really funny every time I refer to this place as “Europe”. He said no European ever calls themselves “European” or says “I’m from Europe” simply because, Europe is not a unified place. Yes, they have the EU of which the majority of the countries are a part of, and share the same currency, but that is pretty much all that they have in common. And just 10 years ago, this place didn’t even have the same currency. Every single country had a completely different one, and the exchange rate was completely wacko.  Dries said he remembers when all the currencies were different (he was 12 years old when it changed) and that he actually never left Belgium, just like pretty much every other person never traveled out of their own country back then.  No one thought a need to. They were from their country and the other ones sharing the continent were not of importance to them.

He also told me this sauna story which I found quite amusing. He and his friends went to the sauna together in Zillertal. I asked in surprise, “And you were all naked together??” Dries, “Um yeah…it’s normal.” I just could not comprehend that. All I could picture was 6 naked guys sitting in a hot room on a bench together, staring at each other. Maybe it was the little bit of American prudeness that has influenced me after living there the past couple of years, but all I could think about was how “gay” my friends back home would find that. But honestly, that is just silly. And what am I even talking about, I even did it myself. Jeez, Europe is influencing me even more than I thought it would…

Well...at least I'm not on the total other extreme, like this typical American tourist:

Fresh Alpen Air, Jagermeister, Apres Ski and A Crazy Group of Skiing Belgians

The title of this post is a list of some of the things that make up a great ski trip in the Alps. Yes, the group of crazy Belgians is necessary. Here we go:

I spent the second day in Zillertal skiing in Hintertux, an area about a half hour bus ride away from us, at the end of the valley where there are supposed to be the most breath-taking views. Of course, I had to go there and decide for myself. I had to take 3 different gondolas to get to the highest point on the mountain  I just kept going up and up, each gondola going steeper and steeper up, my ears popping along the way. Then, right at the end of the 3rd gondola, we floated over a large point of ice sticking out of the mountain and suddenly the most beautiful snowy view I have ever seen appeared before my eyes. A family who was chattering in some Eastern European language suddenly stopped and just stared ahead. It was amazing.
Take a look at some of the pictures:

After spending the second day skiing by myself in Hintertux, I realized I really needed some ski company. Skiing by yourself had its pros and cons. The good thing is you get to ski more, since you aren’t always waiting up for the other people, and also you can choose the trails you want. Bad thing is, if you don’t know the trails, you get lost…and then you spend more time looking at the complicated map than skiing. That was my problem at least. So, after that day, I told myself I have to go to après ski, meet some nice people my age, and ask to ski with them.

The next afternoon, Oli came home to look after Felix, so I told him I was going out. He was actually pretty nice to me at that point in the week, and even said, “Have fun.” Wow. Mind. Blown.

I headed over to the Hexen Kessl. It was only 4pm but was packed. Here, après ski starts at 3pm and goes til 8pm or so. Usually after that, they close. Although, sometimes you could find an open disco. Like on Tuesday, (Fat Tuesday, for carnival) there was a big costume party at the Hexen Kessl, with people dressed up as devils, royal men with white wigs, pirates, teddy bears with giant heads,  monkeys, men dressed as girls, a banana, a chef, a belly dancer, an 80’s hippie, a grandpa, cats, and of course the DJ, an old man dressed as snow white with giant boobs which he could not stop touching and talking about over the mic, like, “Now I know how difficult it is to be a women!”

Anyway, off track a bit. So, I bought myself a beer and picked out a group of kids who looked about my age from the crowed. I stood in the corner, watching them for a bit. I tried to look chill and like I was waiting for my (nonexistent) friends, but inside my heart was pounding and my brain was fighting with itself. What do I say, what do I do?? I tried to figure out what language they were speaking. It definitely wasn’t German. Maybe Dutch?

At some point, I think the beer kicked in and I leaned forward and said “Hey guys, do you speak English?” One of them looked up, an obvious expression of surprise on his face. Then he shrugged his shoulders and made the “kind of” sign with his hand. Then I said, “I’m alone here and looking for people to hang out with.” I explained I am an au pair and here with my host family. After some explanation, he understood. And then his friends all started asking me questions. When I told them I was living in Brussels, they all cheered and said, “We are from Brugges!” Ah, so they were speaking Dutch. After they found out my whole Belgium connection, I think they started to really like me. One of them asked me if I knew the symbol where you hold up one pinky and he rest of the hand in a fist. I knew it, it means “One beer”, but only works in Belgian bars. I was proud I knew it. I learned it from a Dutch guy I met at a concert back in October in Brussels.

Here is the group on the mountain! (I'm not in the picture, but this gives you an idea of who I hung out with)

And here is us at Gogo Girl Apres Ski night... :P

The European Sauna Xperience

Another strange experience I endured that week…the hotel sauna. On our last night in the hotel, I realized I had yet to try out our sauna that is free to use for all guests. I grabbed by bathing suit and a towel, and told Oli I was heading out to try the sauna. “Alright, have fun”, he said. But then, just as I was about to close the door behind me, he called out, “Margot, you know that here in Europe, everyone is naked in the sauna. Sometimes it’s obligatory… Just warning you!” “Oh”, I replied. Yes, of course. We’re in Europe, everyone takes any chance they can get to go around naked in public. Then I said, “Alright, well I’ll try it out anyway!” And ran out before he could say anything else.

I open the door with Sauna scrawled on it in script writing, and a blast of hot, moist air blows over me. And then, what is that coming out of the mist? Oh. An old, wrinkly, completely nude man. Yuck. I take a deep breath. I’m going to need courage to do this. I find the door marked Umkleiderraum (changing room) and go in. It’s empty, thank god. I undress and then contemplate…bathing suit or no bathing suit. Hmmm. No one else is wearing one, so it can’t be that awkward if I don’t, but then again, all the people I saw when walking through the place were older than me, or little kids. No teens. I decide to put on the bathing suit and I walk out. I find a room marked Dampfraum (steam room) and push the door open. There is no one. I sit down and enjoy the herbal infused air. Not even a minute goes by before the door opens and another old man, completely naked, walks in and sits down, his butt making loud squeaking noises on the wet stone bench. I try to keep turned away without making it too obvious. Then the man starts breathing in and out really loud, and I just couldn’t relax. This whole thing was just too strange. I walk out and a women walks by and stares at me. Why is she staring? I think to myself. I’m not even naked... Then I realize…that is exactly why she is staring, I’m wearing a bathing suit. I turn around and see a sign on the wall: “How to properly use this sauna”, and the first picture shows a person sitting the in sauna, naked. OK. I get it now. I need to suck it up and just take off my bathing suit. I go back into the changing room. I strip of my bathing suit and wrap the towel tightly around me, take a deep breath, and walk out again. I go to the corner of the room where I see a sign marked Erlebnisdusche (experience shower) Sounds interesting, I think to myself. I walk into the dark little room and press a button that says Lechtem Nebel (light fog). Suddenly, a light blue light comes on and a whooshing sounds start, and I’m being sprayed with warm mist and the smell of peppermint fills the air. It lasts about 10 seconds, and then stops. I try another button, this one says Leicht Regen (light rain) and suddenly this loud whooshing sound starts and rain-like droplets are pouring down on me. Then, I hear the noise of children giggling and talking, and before I know it, there is a head peaking around the corner, staring at me. And I realize, shit...I’m naked. The kid is laughing. I’m pretty embarrassed. He disappears and I quickly get out of the shower and grab my towel, wrapping it around me as quickly as I can. The kid and two other girls come running back and into the shower, pressing the buttons and giggling. Then I realize…they weren’t laughing at me, they were laughing about the shower. They just wanted to try it out. They actually didn’t even glance at me now. Right...it’s totally normal for them to see naked people. They were naked themselves.

I try out all the other rooms...the Finnish bath (I thought I was going to die of heat exhaustion after about 2 minutes of sitting in there. 90 degrees is not something I would ever want to experience again. I tried the freezing showers with a tube that spurted chunks of snow out every few minutes. Supposedly (according to that sign I found) you are supposed to get very warm in the sauna, and then freeze yourself in the shower, or by rolling in the snow. There was a door going outside, with a sign on it that said Krauter Garten (Herb Garden) and you could see the body prints in the snow.  Just looking at it made me freezing.

 After about an hour, I felt relaxed and not so worried about being naked. As I looked around and saw all the women laying on the benches, their boobs hanging out, I realized that here, no one cares. We all have the same parts, so what’s the big deal? And then I felt much more comfortable:) Europe is brainwashing me.