Instead of heading back home for Christmas during my 3-month stint in Brussels, I asked my mom if she wanted to visit me instead. That way, we could go around Europe without my mom having to take too many days off. She agreed and we got to visit Rome, Athens, Paris, and Lourdes over the Christmas holidays. We finally returned to Brussels on December 31. I do regret not heading to the Grand Place to experience the New Year countdown and celebration there but I was really tired from all the traveling so at I didn't feel like getting dressed and walking 30-45 minutes in the cold. That was the first, and so far only, time I spent Christmas and New Year's Day outside of the Philippines.
Christmas trees adorned the Grand Place during the Yuletide season.
My mom wasn't the only person who visited me. I had a few friends and colleagues who were based in the UK the time - Brian, Kuki, Omar, and Amy and Duncan - and they all visited Brussels at different times. I naturally met up with them and in most cases, I performed tour guide duties by bringing them to Bruges and Ghent.
One of the things I loved about working in Brussels was our great office. It was campus-style with really nice buildings and lots of open space. The cafeteria is also one of the best I've been to. After lunch, my colleagues would normally walk around the office grounds and I would always join them.
When my Belgium assignment was finalized, a colleague in Manila introduced me virtually to Daday, another Filipino who had been working in our Belgian office for many years already. I think he knew her because they worked together before. I first met up with Daday face-to-face for coffee in the office and we've been friends ever since; 12 years later and we still make it a point to see each other every so often.
It was through Daday that I got to meet a lot of other Filipinos based in Belgium. I got to meet many of them during a Filipino gathering in Leuven and as it turns out, there are a lot of Filipino priests living in this city. Of course, it wouldn't be a Pinoy event if there was no karaoke LOL. I still remember one of the songs I sang - "I don't have the heart" by James Ingram.
The magnificently elaborate Leuven Town Hall
On my second to the last weekend in Europe, I decided to spend a weekend in Paris. While my mom and I went to Paris during her visit, we were essentially only passing through because our intent was to go to Lourdes. As such, I decided to take another trip to get to see more of the French capital while I still had the chance.
I revisited Paris on my second to the last weekend in Belgium.
The downside to taking a few trips to other countries and bringing my friends to Bruges and Ghent during the weekends is that I ended up not finding the time to see a few places in Brussels that I would have loved to visit, such as the Atomium and Cinquantenaire. I also didn't get to go inside any of the museums at the Grand Place. The biggest shame, however, was me not getting to try a Belgian waffle. They cost only 1-2 Euros and there were a lot of Belgian waffle shops scattered near the Grand Place and all over the city. I guess I need to visit Belgium again so I can do a few of the things I missed out doing while I was there. :)
More beautiful buildings at the Grand Place
My final weekend in Brussels was spent with the Filipino community again. Daday was celebrating her birthday and she decided that her party would serve as my despedida as well. The celebration lasted the whole day and apart from the karaoke singing, what I distinctly remember was the abundance of food. We were there for lunch and a lot of us stayed until dinner and even then there was still so much food left over. Daday actually had me take some food home with me.
In my last few days in Belgium, I invited my colleagues for a round of drinks in a bar not far from the office. On my last day, I got a few small boxes of Leonidas which I gave as parting tokens for the apartment building staff. Since my cleaning lady wasn't there, I asked the receptionist (who of course also received a box) to give it on my behalf and she told me that the cleaning lady would be very happy to receive a 'thank you' gift.
I will be writing about my trips to Ghent and Bruges next.
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