belgium, does it exist? new study weighs in (7 Viewers)

Henry

Henry

Senior Member
#26
Sep 30, 2003
5,517
#26
the best chocolates are Corné Port Royale, but most people think Pierre Marcolini's are the best. the country definitely is NOT francophone, in the flemish part it is much better to just speak english, as they won't be as friendly if you speak french. Brussels is very cosmopolitan, as there are many international groups and corporations. Tintin is a cartoon character created by Hergé (RG), written in french, and very popular in france as well as belgium. brugges is a beautiful city, although, not much to do there but go up the bell-tower :D and yes, there is a TON of political tension, as well as social tension between the flemish-speaking and french-speaking population. oh yeah, it's fucking expensive!
 
Henry

Henry

Senior Member
#27
Sep 30, 2003
5,517
#27
one last thing-they have COMPLETELY fucked up driving rule called "Priorité de droit" ie the person turning right has the right of way, even if you're turning from a driveway on to a highway. every foreigner has at least one near-death experience in because of that rule
 
Henry

Henry

Senior Member
#29
Sep 30, 2003
5,517
#29
let me know any specific questions about daily life, and i'll try and answer them.
and there's also a whole issue of Moroccan immigrants in Brussels, some tension there!
 
Henry

Henry

Senior Member
#31
Sep 30, 2003
5,517
#31
true. my opinio of brussels at least, is that it is very clearly divided in to classes. of course, i don't know all of brussels, but my impression was that there was the international and diplomatic class, which is not particularly wealthy, but very cosmopolitan, educated, and tend to live in nice areas. there is the "french" class of wealthy french and french-speaking belgians. this class also lives in very nice areas, and they send their children to the best "public" french-speaking schools. They tend to associate a lot with diplomats and themselves, and are very "preppy". there are the flemish speaking people, who are more of a middle-class, at least in brussels. there is of course the poorer immigrant population, mainly from morrocco. there is also the "farm" class, most of whom are flemish, but some of whom are french natives, or speak french. they often don't live in brussels, but in the outskirts. they'r the ones that bring in fresh vegetables, etc for the markets, which are then bought by those rich enough to afford them.
NB-these are just my observations from where i have lived, so don't take any of this as "fact" :) also, definitely applies ONLY to brussels, if that.
 
Henry

Henry

Senior Member
#33
Sep 30, 2003
5,517
#33
my family lives there, as my dad works for NATO. we live in Woluwe-Saint Pierre, one of many small areas that aren't technically brussels (which is tiny) but are considered part of brussels. I speak french and english, and where my family lives it is about 65% french-speaking, and the rest flemish (i'll let you do the math)
 
Henry

Henry

Senior Member
#35
Sep 30, 2003
5,517
#35
i don't speak dutch or german, but i understand enough to survive (german more than dutch)

yeah, i lived in northern VA for about 10 years
 
Henry

Henry

Senior Member
#37
Sep 30, 2003
5,517
#37
born in DC, lived there until I was 7, moved to VA, then family moved to vienna, then to brussels. lived in france for a year and england for a year when I was younger
 
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