Back to Canada

Well, here I sit in Canada writing my last post.  Coming back felt a lot like when I came back from my year in Korea.  I slept a bit on the plane, but I still had the feeling that it all happened in one day and quite quickly.  Now that I'm back, my bags are unpacked and everything looks just as it did before I left, it's hard to imagine I even went anywhere at all!

Then I think of the great memories and all of the things I did and saw when I was in Belgium and I remember that I had a great year.

Like I said, everything is pretty much back to normal, except my nephew Logan is bigger!

Once again, thank you everyone in Belgium for a really great year - those memories will last a life time :)

The other thing I think of when I think of the past year is trips.  I went on so many trips with so many different people, it was really something.  I was certainly a very fortunate guy to be able to see as much as I did.

Well that's that.  The end of yet another blog.  I think I will make another blog for my life in Canada - I must warn you - I won't update it as often as I updated the Korea/Belgium blogs, but I will keep everyone informed of important things.  Oh, and of course, I'll put up pictures on there!  The address will be iankivellcanada.blogspot.com !  Check it out!

Thank you all for a year of reading and enjoyment!!  I had lots of fun writing this blog and I'm happy you read it!

All the best!!  See you soon!

Ian

Oostende, Mamma Mia & goodbyes

A few weekends back, I went to Oostende.  It's a coastal city in Belgium, more south than Knokke, which is where I went in October.  I liked the city - the air felt fresh and sea-like.  Anyway, we saw Mamma Mia!!  The last time I saw it I was about 15 or something and I went to Toronto for it.  This time it was just as fun!  We also visited a museum - it was the house of the first King & Queen of Belgium.  They weren't terribly rich, so it was interesting to see that they lived in (almost) a normal house!  In fact, the Irish pub (where we ate dinner) was much more lavish than the King's house!  Here are the pictures from Oostende!

That was that!  It was fun!

Tomorrow's the big day.  I've got my bags packed and I'm trying as much as I can to say goodbye to everyone.  Last night we had one last shindig, and lots of people came.  It was really nice to see all of those people one more time before I leave. 

My trip home will probably be fairly regular.  I have to stop in London for 3 hours, but I've done that 3 times now so I know the airport and won't get lost!  Luckily, my roommate Fabian has a car for now and he's going to be able to take me to the airport so I won't have to lug that massive piece of luggage to the airport on the bus.  Good news!

The last time I flew with British Airways, I was upgraded to first class.  It was spectacular.  I don't think that will happen a second time!  I think it was very lucky that it even happened once!  Therefore, I'll have to settle with flying with the commoners again.  sigh.

I might make one more blog post when I get back to Canada, but this will be my last one that I make from Belgium.  It has been a great year - lots of traveling and exploring, learning and discovering.  Thank you to everyone who has made it so special.  Thank you to the Belgians for welcoming me and keeping brightness in my life even though it was almost always raining outside!!  lol

I will be in Canada soon enough and I will be able to see all of those people again who I haven't seen since Christmas, and some of you I haven't seen since last September!

That's that I suppose.  I've had a great year.  Oh!  Thank you to my visitors also!  My parents, my sister and Tamara.  Also my university peeps who didn't quite make it to Brussels, but at least we met in Amsterdam!

Ok, now that's that!  It's been great.  Thanks for reading yet another blog of mine!  As I sign off from Belgium, I wonder - will there be a blog #3??

Farewell Amsterdam

I just read some of my old blog about Korea, and I realized that I really struggled there with my professional life.  I had a blast in Korea, but the job was really wearing me out even before the 6 month mark!  Here I am at the end of my stay in Belgium and I think it's going to be much harder for me to leave here.  My jobs were all great (except when I worked at Café Belga for 10 hours a day with no breaks... but at least then I was working and happy to be getting money), I taught English which I liked, the juice bar was really easy but paid a decent amount, and the job I had taking pictures of hotels, well that was just sketchy.

Belgium, a country I knew almost nothing about before I got here, has wiggled its way into my heart.  Even though it's been without a government for 425 days, it seems to be functioning just fine. 

Here are things I like about Belgium:

The beer!!  It is 1000% times more delicious than beer at home.  I used to think Canada had good beer, but that was just because I was comparing it with American beer, which tastes like fizzy water.  Sorry Canada, but Belgium definitely trumps you for beer.  Once again, my favourite is Bush.

The Fries!!  My favourite french fry wagon (what the French speaking Brusselites call a Fritkot) is at Place Flagey and I will miss them immensely.  Every visitor that I had went there.  It's a must see if anyone ever comes here.

The people!!  Of course, I will miss the people the most.  I always meet the best people.  People ask me "what do you miss most about Canada", and I always say the people.  Anyway, I can't even list all of the people I met in Belgium, but I'll miss you all very much!

Ok.  I will type a good bye message when that day comes, but today is dedicated to the trip I had in Amsterdam where I had a reunion with my University friends Paul, Trevor and Christine!

Here are some things I did this visit that I didn't do before:

Climbed the Westerkerk: It's the church right next to Anne Frank's house, and the one whose bells she mentions repeatedly in her diary.  It meant a lot to me to go up there and see her house from above - it's hard to imagine that she was there for more than 2 years, without ever going outside. 

We also visited a diamond museum which was really cool.  They had historic crowns on display and I've decided I want the British royal crown.  It's the best, let's not lie.

British Imperial State Crown

Next, we went to a newly opened optical illusion museum called Op-Art.  It was fun too! 



My favourite part of the trip, aside from meeting up with my friends and spending time with everyone, was the cheese & wine tasting we did!  I have an official certificate from Reypenaer Cheese that says I'm a certified cheese taster!!  I love it!  Here are some pictures from that

It was sooo fun and even more delicious!  You can see how thrilled I am to be learning about cheese!  Anyway, I highly recommend it to anyone who is going to Amsterdam.  The cost is about €12.50 and the location is Singel 182, Amsterdam (at one end of the widest bridge that has the Multatuli statue on it).

That's all that is coming to mind right now about what we did, so here are the rest of the pictures from that trip!  Enjoy!

Van Gogh Museum, Museumsplein

The famous I amsterdam sign (taken from behind then flipped because there were too many people in front posing!)

Heineken Brewery

Anne Frank's House from above - if you click the picture to enlarge it, you'll see I've put a yellow box around the "Annexe"

A very nice canal and beautiful sunny sky in Amsterdam

That's that folks!  Stay tuned for more updates!

Paris!

Paris, even though I was only there for a few days, was a great trip.  The streets were so clean and buildings and houses uniformly pretty.  We did lots of stuff, and I had the privilege of having a real Parisian as a tour guide.  Her name is Sophie.  I originally met her last November, maybe October and she's great!  She provided so much information and lots of facts throughout my stay!

Here are some pictures of my wonderful trip to Paris!!

Metro entrance

Notre Dame Cathedral

The Seine

Your average Parisian street :)

Eiffel Tower!

The view from the Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower

Metro entrance with the Eiffel Tower in the background

At the Louvre!

Here's Mona!  After everyone telling me she was so small, she was actually bigger than I had expected her to be!

Basilique - love this picture

That, in a photographic nutshell, was my trip.  As you can see from the pictures, it's a very picturesque place!  Stay tuned for pictures from Amsterdam!

UWO meets Amsterdam.

I spent the last 5 days in Amsterdam where I met up with my friends from University.  It was soooooooo fun I can't even explain - it had been way too long since the last time we all hung out.

I have 6 days left in Brussels, and still lots of posts to make about different things, as well as lots of pictures to post.  I will start those tomorrow, but here are the topics for you to look forward to: Paris, Amsterdam with friends, my pictures that I've taken around Brussels and Oostende, and Mamma Mia.

I'm not sure if I mentioned that on here, but last weekend I saw Mamma Mia in Oostende.  It was also amazing.


Ok.  Time to go get caught up on my T.V.!

Exciting times

Well, last night I returned to Brussels from Paris.  This morning, in about 20 minutes, I leave for Amsterdam!  This will be my 3rd time going to Amsterdam and I'm quite excited because I'm going for 5 days.  It will be much more slow paced than my last few trips there and I'll be able to visit some new museums and explore more of the city!  The most exciting part this time is that my friends from University will be there!!  My roommates and our friend will be together once again!

Paris was really amazing.  The architectural uniformity was really impressive - the city is split into 20 sections, each having their own distinctive character but each blending and existing in harmony as well.  In short, it is every bit as beautiful as all the movies show it to be.  I saw Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen recently and I think he captures a lot of the beauty of the city.

I'll write more about the trip when I get back from Amsterdam, but I can't leave you without at least one picture so here's one!

Here I am with everything French - wine, a baguette and camembert cheese.  (A.k.a. the stinkiest cheese ever)

Au revoir Paris!

Anne

It has been 69 years.  A young girl, superficially popular but internally yearning for something more, found an outlet into which she could pour her inner-most thoughts and feelings.  It came in the form of a red-checkered diary whose first pages start with, "I hope I will be able to confide everything in you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support". 

From June 12th, 1942 until August 1st, 1944 Anne Frank kept a diary.  She held nothing back.  The girl who, throughout these 25 months of writing, mentioned so many times about her desire to become a professional writer has made an impact on me and millions of others.

May 1942

She and her family, along with 4 other people, went into hiding at 263 Prinsengracht in Amsterdam.  She nicknamed the place "Het Achterhuis" or "The Secret Annexe" in English. 

She had one voice, yet her story speaks for 6 million Jewish people and 5 million others - black people, Jehovah Witnesses, Gypsies, disabled people, homosexuals, priests and other Christian leaders, and of course anyone who tried to resist.  11 million people shared her fate.  Actually, some say that number is optimistically low.

She was 13 when she started the diary and was 15 as of her last entry, but her words are much more mature.  While reading, I marked some noteworthy quotes which I've included here:

November 8th, 1943 (day 490 of 757 days in hiding) -
"At night in bed I see myself alone in a dungeon, without Father or Mother.  Or I'm roaming the streets, or the Annexe is on fire, or they come in the middle of the night to take us away and I crawl under my bed in desperation." ... "I simply can't imagine the world will ever be normal again for us.  I do talk about 'after the war', but it's as if I were talking about a castle in the air, something that can never come true.  I see the eight of us surrounded by menacing black clouds.  The perfectly round spot on which we're standing is still safe, but the clouds are moving in on us, and the ring between us and the approaching danger is being pulled tighter and tighter.  We're surrounded by darkness and danger, and in our desperate search for a way out we keep bumping into each other.  We look at the fighting down below and the peace and beauty up above.  In the meantime, we've been cut off by the dark mass of clouds, so that we can go neither up nor down.  It looms before us like and impenetrable wall, trying to crush us, but not yet able to.  I can only cry out and implore, 'Oh, ring, ring, open wide and let us out!'"

December 24th, 1943 -
"I long to ride a bike, dance, whistle, look at the world, feel young and know that I'm free, and yet I can't let it show.  Just imagine what would happen if all eight of us were to feel sorry for ourselves or walk around with the discontent clearly visible on our faces.  Where would that get us?"

February 3rd, 1944 -
"I've reached the point where I hardly care whether I live or die.  The world will keep on turning without me, and I can't do anything to change events anyway.  I'll just let matters take their course and concentrate on studying and hope that everything will be all right in the end."

March 7th, 1944 (about feeling melancholy) -
"My advice is: 'Go outside, to the country, enjoy the sun and all nature has to offer.  Go outside and try to recapture the happiness within yourself; think of all the beauty in yourself and in everything around you and be happy.' ... 'beauty remains, even in misfortune.  If you just look for it, you discover more and more happiness and regain your balance.  A person who's happy will make others happy; a person who has courage and faith will never die in misery!'"

March 16th, 1944 -
"The nicest part is being able to write down all my thoughts and feelings; otherwise, I'd absolutely suffocate."

April 11th, 1944 -
"We must put our feelings aside; we must be brave and strong, bear discomfort without complaint, do whatever is in our power and trust in God.  One day this terrible war will be over.  The time will come when we'll be people again and not just Jews! ... In the eyes of the world, we're doomed, but if, after all this suffering, there are still Jews left, the Jewish people will be held up as an example.  Who knows, maybe our religion will teach the world and all the people in it about goodness, and that's the reason, the only reason, we have to suffer.  We can never be just Dutch, or just English, or whatever, we will always be Jews as well.  And we'll have to keep on being Jews, but then, we'll want to be."

May 3rd, 1944 -
"Why is England manufacturing bigger and better aeroplanes and bombs and at the same time churning out new houses for reconstruction?  Why are millions spent on the war each day, while not a penny is available for medical science, artists or the poor?  Why do people have to starve when mountains of food are rotting away in other parts of the world?  Oh, why are people so crazy?"

May 26th, 1944 -
"I've asked myself again and again whether it wouldn't have been better if we hadn't gone into hiding, if we were dead now and didn't have to go through this misery, especially so that the others could be spared the burden.  But we all shrink from this thought.  We still love life, we haven't yet forgotten the voice of nature, and we keep hoping, hoping for... everything.  Let something happen soon, even an air raid.  Nothing can be more crushing than this anxiety.  Let the end come, however cruel; at least then we'll know whether we are to be the victors or the vanquished."

July 15, 1944 -
"It's difficult times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality.  It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical.  Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart."

"It's utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death.  I see the world being transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions.  And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too will end, that peace and tranquillity will return once more.  In the meantime, I must hold on to my ideals.  Perhaps the day will come when I'll be able to realize them!"

It all started with this diary.  After their capture, the diary was saved and remained unread until the end of the war.  Her father, Otto, eventually released it for publication with one wish: "We cannot change what happened any more.  The only thing we can do is to learn from the past and to realize what discrimination and persecution of innocent people means.  I believe it's everyone's responsibility to fight prejudice."

Mini-Europe!

So in the northwest corner of Brussels, you can find the Atomium.  Next to that there are a few things to do - Mini-Europe is one of them (along with an Imax theatre, a waterpark and some restaurants).

Here are my pictures of Mini-Europe from when I went last week with Tamara!

The Brussels Grand Place!

That's the real atomium, not a mini.

Back to the Grand Place

The right camera angle can really make the places look real!

Well there it is.  There were many many more buildings to show, but I don't want to ruin the surprise and I think you should go there yourself and see them all!  The detail is really impressive and I believe the scale is 1:25.  So all of the buildings are 25 times smaller than in real life.

That's all for now!  Stay tuned for more pictures of my adventures in July!