General Observations

It’s the little things, and some big things, that are so different here in Belgium.

Commuting & Driving

Many of the roads are very narrow here in Belgium so driving is an activity that requires extreme concentration and is generally a very cautious and calm affair. The road signs are plentiful and everywhere as are the markings on the road. Whilst driving you need to be very alert for road signs and the interpretation thereof. If there are no road signs or markings to the contrary, traffic (including bicycles) have right of way when turning into the road from the right. This sounds crazy but it works because it slows traffic down and makes drivers pay attention.

Bicycles tend to have complete right of way and if pedestrians are in the way they ring those bells! Pedestrians are supposed to, and do, get out of the way.

Busses have absolute right of way over cars. If a bus wants to pull out into traffic, cars are obliged to allow them in. Even though they have right of way, they still pull in carefully. It all works very calmly.

Trams have right of way above everything on the roads. This makes sense because 5 tons of metal (empty) isn’t easy to stop even at slow speeds.

The trains work well here and for getting from one city to another are ideal. They’re direct, don’t have to deal with traffic lights and such. On weekends all train tickets for Belgium internal are half price. A very good arrangement for weekend exploring!

Getting around by bicycle is great. A lot of distance can be covered and there are all kinds of accessories and attachments, big and small, for bicycles from lights to trailers.

Petrol attendants are non-existent in Belgium. It’s all help-your-self when it comes to pouring petrol and such things here.

Something that I’m still not used to here is crossing the road. Its going to take a long time to stop looking for oncoming cars in lanes I think they should be in. In South Africa I’d always start by looking right for the closer oncoming cars, then left and right again. I keep looking right first and think ‘its clear’ when I should be looking left first because then I’d see the oncoming cars.

Stopping for Coffee

The etiquette for having a coffee or even eating in a Belgian restaurant is completely different. The waiter or waitress won’t clear the table of used crockery or cutlery unless asked to do so and won’t offer to refill empty glasses. It’s considered rude to do so because you’d be hurrying the customer along. Here they only give re-fills if you ask for something more and forget having them offer you the bill! You have to ask for it or they’ll leave you there all day, again because it’d be rude for them to rush you out of the restaurant.

There’s a cute little custom they have here too which becomes a whole little sing & dance routine all of it’s own. When you give something to someone here its polite to say Alsjeblieft as in “please”. Its considered rude to simply shove something at a person and expect them to take it. You’re effectively asking them to take it so even if you’re paying for an item at a till point (a kasa) you’d give them the item with an Alsjeblieft and they’d give it back to you with an Alsjeblieft and you’d give them the money with an Alsjeblieft and, well, its all quite Alsjeblieft cute. During all this Alsjeblieft business there’s also the Dank u well as in “thank you” which is said almost as much as the Alsjeblieft!

Standard items that come with coffee here are the little container of concentrated milk, sugar and a biscuit.

If you need something to fill the gap, a little meal, don’t look for a McDonalds! Belgians have more self-respect than to eat that stuff! I’ve only seen a few and only in the bigger cities. Here in Belgium most of the coffee shops and some of the bars will serve a “Soup of the day” which is perfectly safe to eat unlike South Africa. The soup of the day usually comes with a few slices of bread and is an inexpensive, filling, warm meal dependent on the type of soup. They sometimes serve cold soups like cucumber soup.

Wee-wee Holes

Need a toilet? The average price is 0.50 Euro at a public toilet. If you stop for coffee, go there. The one thing that I like about bathrooms here is that more of them have paper towels than those hand dryer things! I prefer paper towels far more. It astounds me at how open the urinals are in most of the public use bathrooms especially at restaurants. In South Africa we tend to really hide the urinals away from lady passers-by. Here they’re not really hidden away! It’s not that you could see anything though its simply that I’m not accustomed to being seen while I wee.

Sometimes I really feel like a white African when I can’t figure out how to turn the tap on to wash my hands afterwards.

In the Kitchen

As can be expected, the products are different. There are certain things that Belgians just don’t eat like chilli sauce. I’ve seen a sweet chilli sauce but nothing as powerful as a Banditos chilli sauce or even Tabasco. China town has chilli sauces and dried chillies available so that’s an option if I really want to go for some sauce.

The tap water’s much harder here. Every product like washing machines, dishwashers and even the coffee maker has descaling products and they need to be used often.

I’ve not had tap water to drink since I’ve been here because the normal thing here is to buy your drinking water. For making coffee and tea the Belgians use the tap water though.

Coffee granules are available in some shops but its not the most preferred method of making coffee here. The most popular way to make coffee here is with a coffee machine, either a filter coffee machine or a ‘Senso’ machine. The Senso machine has coffee pods that you load into it and the variety of the pods is quite amazing.

TV and Radio

The choice of channels is great! If you have cable or satellite the choice is very much like South Africa but all the programs (although they’re in English) all have dutch subtitles. I haven’t had to watch African Edutainment at all! What we get here is either News or entertainment. The radio’s strange to listen to. I listen to Classic 93.20 where the announcers are French but they play stuff like Creadence Clearwater Revival, Rolling Stones, Blues and they’re currently obsessed with Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here which is very fitting. I hear Wish You Were Here at least once a day on that channel. Again, no kwaito krap and raving about this that’s wrong or that that’s wrong just good music and the odd bit of French chitter chat.

The People

Belgians are indeed very reserved and keep to themselves even on public transport right up until someone needs help like when the doors of the bus start closing and there’s some old biddy still hobbling off. They all start shouting “Wooah!” and so on and then as soon as the incident’s finished they all go quiet again.

Yesterday a couple of passengers helped an elder lady get her daughter who was wheelchair-bound onto the bus. They all just pitch in and do it and end off with at “Was niks” when the older lady thanks them. It’s all just so strange but I think I get it. The bus is the regular passenger’s only way of getting around and if someone who battles also needs to use the bus it’s pretty given that it’s their only way to get about too so everyone helps when they need to embark or disembark and that’s just how it works.

 Nothing new in elevators though. Everyone stares at the door and keeps quiet.

Escalators are a different story. Pick a side and leave gaps so that people can overtake especially at train stations and airports or you get the highly annoyed “Excuseerd!” behind you but those people are usually in a rush and are trying to catch a connecting mode of transport and if they’re late it could cost them an hour of waiting.

There’s nothing more pleasant than the smell of waffles or chips in the air on a cold, rainy day. It’s an amazing, warm smell and the perfect advertising.

The amount of beer I see being consumed in public (on the trains and on the street) is amazing. I’m just not used to it! The most common beer consumed on the run here is Jupiler. It doesn’t sound particularly fabulous and I haven’t tried any yet because it comes across to me as a rather common beer. I prefer beer that doesn’t come in a can and is sold at the till point (kasa) like coke-a-cola.

Belgians are like the Japanese in one aspect - its polite to take your shoes off indoors here too. I think it was originally the mud issue. You didn’t want to go traipsing mud through your host’s house.

The children, even the teenagers are really polite and well-rounded and have respect for other people in general.

 

These are just some of the things I’ve noticed.

Ciao for now.