We have been negligent, and we apologize. School is in full swing at this point, and while we are only in the second week, it is clear that we will be kept very busy. Let me also say that the lack of comments is discouraging… we love comments! Let your opinions be known! We can’t bite… we are too far away.
Many have inquired about the cultural differences we are experiencing in Leuven, and I will attempt to cover this topic in brief in this post.
One of the first observations that we shared is related to language. It is well known that most Europeans – especially the younger generation – know English very well. However, we always aim to be polite in our communication with other cultures. The best way that we know is to ask “Spreekt u Engels” in Dutch when beginning a conversation with someone in Leuven. The general reaction to this attempt to be polite is a condescending laugh, followed by “of course”. It is likely that they think it is funny that we are even bothering since this town is full of students who likely do not bother with politeness.
The other odd thing worth a brief mention is that Flemish students return to their mother/father every weekend instead of staying in the city. Granted, Belgium is rather small, and you can get nearly anywhere in about 2 hours or so. (Mind you, I speak of the Flemish side… the French side have their own University connected to the University that Beth attends in Leuven… a long story, but there are few, if any, students from the French side of Belgium in Leuven.) This means that the biggest party night in Leuven is Thursday since the whole city nearly clears out for the weekend. We beleive this is odd because we tended to prefer to stay at college when we were attending – you never know what you may miss if you leave.
Finally, people walk SLOW! We walk fast, so adjusting to this pace has been difficult. That’s all we have to say about that.
Although we have been noticing the cultural differences, we have not experienced culture shock. Rather the opposite… we both agree that we are beginning to feel agitated with daily life in some ways. The biggest agitator is walking around on the sidewalks. As I mentioned above, people walk SLOW. And if in groups, they tend to walk side-by-side – VERY SLOWLY. Two people walking side-by-side is one thing, but when you have three or four, it is a pain. It throws us off track; we stumble around, and finally get around them by moving onto the street. I know this happens most everywhere, but it never fails to agitate.
Do not think that we are not appreciating our experience – we still are. We are now conscience of what annoys, and find ways to change our attitude about them.
1 Comments:
Interesting side note about the Flemings, the party known as Vlaams Belang (a hard right party you would only see in the European system of porportional representation -- on the flip side of course the Green Party actually has power due to this very system) believes that the country of Belgium should no longer exist and that Flanders (the northern half) should be the indepedent country of Flanders (Vlaams). They of course hate immigrants and want to maintain the Catholic, "Flemish character" of Flanders. Here is a choice quote:
"We have always said that immigrants are welcome in Flanders if they assimilate. Those who are prepared to become Flemings with the Flemings are welcome, whatever the colour of their skin"
Not that thier point isn't without merit (but, let us not forget the difference between rhetoric and actual policy -- what kind of policy will force "assimilation"? Hmm...). Nevertheless, the problem is that they want Brussels to be the capital of the new state of Flanders despite the fact that Brussels is a city just on the Flemish side of the border between French-Belgian Walloonia and Flanders, but happens to be enormously dominated by Walloons (80%+). Here is thier English website:
http://www.flemishrepublic.org/
Take a look and see what you think.
Oh, and btw, I now understand the THUNDER CATS title -- I recall the series. I originally thought you were referring to the Arctic Cat snowmobile in sarcastic adulation of, shall we say, "local culture"? But now, I see that you have moved to Hopkins and thus are a suburbanite! HA!! no... I understand Hopkins was once a independant town before the suburban occupation. An island in the sea perhaps? Congrats by the way. It is too damn bad we are now gone. Many of good times would've been had!
Rolands!, fist of all, thanks for keeping up with our rather sporadic blog and posting as well. I think that we have to determine why the people seem to walk slowly. It appears that not too much work is going on. However, on the train commute that I (Doug) take, the rush hour for trainriders is incredibly dense with people rushing about trying to catch their various connections. Just today, I had to squeeze into a position sitting on a five step stairwell with four others doing the same -- the stairwells existence owed to the fact that this was a filled to the brim double decker train!
By
Doug and Beth, at 10:23 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home