When, Belgium - home of the best beer, chocolates, waffles and diamonds in the world, beckoned me, I succumbed to it and landed in Brussels, bag and baggage et al.
So be prepared to hear anecdotes of my stay at Brussels. While I promise not to bore you, don’t expect a travelogue, rather it would be some general stuff about living and working in Brussels.
Brussels is not one of those cities bustling with activity, people seem to move at their own pace and the trams drudge along the roads in the same ish-style as those in apna Calcutta. Though it is the EU capital, it still has the air of a small town. The ambience is not too cosmopolitan which explains the reason that the people here know not a word of English (hardly 2 and half hours away from London!)
The sub-zero temperatures here found myself wrapped up in 4 layers of clothes –which makes me look 2 sizes larger ***sigh****
There are moments when I regret my stupid decision of not learning French (though I was brought up at Pondicherry!!!) and this was one of them -
I wasn’t prepared to meet so many people who have no clue of a single word of English and hence have to resort to sign language to get the message across.
And obviously there were bloopers galore, we picked up a bottle of milk and only after making good ole masala chai, realized that it was a sort of buttermilk (eeeks…)
And in case you see 2 guys greeting each other by kissing do not mistake them to be happy and ‘gay’ – it seems to be a custom out here.
I haven’t yet explored the place too much – been busy settling in my digs.So I would save the rest for the Next.
And yes I definetly miss the Hyderabadi summer.....
