As of yesterday at 7:30 am , we are in Brussels which is headquareters to the EU and NATO. Most people speak English, which makes it easy to get around, but native language is Dutch and you will also hear French. They are known for their mussels and beer, but I had to check it out for myself to be sure and I am happy to report they are both fantastic – for mussels we followed the advice of the Rick Steve’s travel book and went to a little restaurant off the tourist beaten path . As a group of 12 we took up most of the place, but we ordered one of each kind and ate family style - my favorites were with the marinara sauce (good sopping with a french baguette!) and one that was similar to a Rockefellar oyster.
Today we took the Metro to Antwerp that has a wonderful history from the 1600s, and although very cold and rainy, we had a great tour guide, Lode, who showed us around town and briefed us on immigration in the Belgian society. Issues and opinions around immigration are not far off from what we hear in the US – I wil not espouse an opinion on this other than to report it as an interesting observation.
This evening our guest speaker was David Rennie, journalist with The Economist – which provided great insight on the European Union. Matt and I have been back and forth trying to figure out if this is a conservative or liberal paper – according to David, it is fiscally conservatve and socially liberal whch is why it is something we both will read being a couple that sits on either side of the aisle but close to the middle.
Tomorrow NATO and an individual meetig with EuroChild – stay tuned!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
First Day
Ok, first ever blog post - with a new computer - what is that saying?... "patience is a virture...."
With just one minor meltdown to get out the door with everything on time, I have arrived in DC to begin this amazing journey. We began our day with a wonderful dicussion around European culture. An interesting question was posed - What is American Culture?
We are so diverse - a tapestry of humanity - what is our culture? I will not do the discussion justice, but an interesting point was made about our country's European settlers and their desires to withdraw from the European society they knew to create their on unique society. The early immigrants who came were willing to take risk knowing that only 20% of those who took the trip would make it. All this translates into a country that was set by European values and beliefs with the mindset of capitalism and individualism. Europeans embrace their heritage providing a sense of reliance and stability. We are a very young country, with much room to grow, and always looking for the next great thing. We are culture heavily focued on independence and self-reliance - dependency can be viewed as a sign of weakness.
One question I will take with me throughout my trip: In this fast paced world we (the US) have created - are we better off professionally, emotionally, spiritually - or are we going too fast, shooting too far in the future that we miss out on lessons we should have learned and living today?
I cannot find spell check at the moment, but much more to come....
With just one minor meltdown to get out the door with everything on time, I have arrived in DC to begin this amazing journey. We began our day with a wonderful dicussion around European culture. An interesting question was posed - What is American Culture?
We are so diverse - a tapestry of humanity - what is our culture? I will not do the discussion justice, but an interesting point was made about our country's European settlers and their desires to withdraw from the European society they knew to create their on unique society. The early immigrants who came were willing to take risk knowing that only 20% of those who took the trip would make it. All this translates into a country that was set by European values and beliefs with the mindset of capitalism and individualism. Europeans embrace their heritage providing a sense of reliance and stability. We are a very young country, with much room to grow, and always looking for the next great thing. We are culture heavily focued on independence and self-reliance - dependency can be viewed as a sign of weakness.
One question I will take with me throughout my trip: In this fast paced world we (the US) have created - are we better off professionally, emotionally, spiritually - or are we going too fast, shooting too far in the future that we miss out on lessons we should have learned and living today?
I cannot find spell check at the moment, but much more to come....
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