National Day

Just like last year (and actually like in 2004, 2005 and 2006) I went to Brussels with my brother to take part to the Belgian National Day celebrations. This time we took the car to get there, but it was quite difficult to find a proper parking lot, because it was forbidden to park in a lot of streets for "security reasons", I suppose. My brother and I walked to the Cathedral, where a so-called te deum mass was taking place; the majority of important politicians, magistrates, judges, ambassadors and some members of the royal family were attending the ceremony. On the following picture, you can see the Prime Minister's car (A.2) and Mr Reynders's car (A.3). (Incidentally, A.1 belongs to the president of the Chamber of Representatives, i.e. Herman Van Rompuy.)


In front of the Cathedral lots of pro-Belgium, pro-monarchy people were waiting for the King to appear, shouting "Vive le Roi !". Curiously I didn't hear the same slogan in Dutch. However, "België best" (instead of the nationalistic "België barst") was embroided on a flag. There were more people than last year, as I can recall.


The King, the Queen and their sister-in-law Queen Fabiola got out of the Cathedral and got in their luxury cars. (I found that quite unfortunate, since King Albert II complained about poverty in his semi-annual speech the very day before. He was saying that we (i.e. not him) had to make an effort to help people who are in need. My first reaction was to say that he could spend his own money on that, because His Majesty's fortune is one of the biggest in Europe.) The cars were preceded by a hundred of splendid horses.

After that I walked with my brother to the Place Jourdan where the famous "Friterie Antoine" is located. We bought chips (2,20 € for a pack) and we ate them in the park just next to the European Parliament and the Institute of Natural Sciences. Then we walked in the streets of Ixelles/Elsene before we slowly got to the heart of the city, finally reaching the Court Hall where the police had installed all sorts of stands promoting their administration. Here's a photograph taken from the Court Hall, showing you that a bad spell of weather was coming.

We continued our walk through Brussels, passing in front of the well-known Manneken Pis (wearing the same awful clothes as last year), then we strolled on the Grand Place.



After that, we wanted to get to the Belgian Parliament, in order to visit it for the fourth time, but there were so many people on the Rue de la Loi / Wetstraat due to the military parade that it was impossible to get to the Parliament, let alone all those umbrellas! (By the way, it was the first time in five years that it was raining.)



So we gave up, swearing that we would get back next year, unless Belgium doesn't exist anymore.



Note: you can also read my account on last year's excursion in Brussels; there are some interesting parallels. Some things changed, like the price of a pack of chips: 2,20 € instead of 2,10 €, while potatoes are cheaper than last year!

I was especially surprised by the accurateness of a prediction I had made: "Nous sommes passés devant le Ministère (non, SPF) de la Défense, où André Flahaut, à l’entrée, un verre de champagne à la main, accueillait pour la dernière fois ses généraux et autres chefs d’état-major." Indeed, we know that Mr Flahaut (Parti Socialiste) has been replaced by Mr De Crem (Christen-Democratisch & Vlaams) and that the latter's politics are far from being as liberal as that of his predecessor. As a result, there was no party for army officials in front of the Ministery! Generals and other that scum "working" in headquarters must regret Mr Flahaut and his soft politics that made of the Belgian army an amusement park.

A bit of Dutch, for a change

Here's a video from the VRT showing a Seaking helicopter bringing a mast at the top of the Atomium.



And here's a report on the reception of Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (by Dany Boon) in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais:

Long live Belgium!

Fuck YouTube! I had planned to show you the third part of Jeremy Clarkson's Top 100 Cars, as last Sunday and the Sunday before, but these videos and the others that I still had to show you were spotted and deleted. Bitches, as would thatguywiththeglasses say.

It basically means that I have to write about something else.

Today a huge demonstration to support Belgium's unity took place in Brussels. It gathered as much as 35,000 people, according to the police. A petition signed by more than 100,000 people (including myself) was handed in to Armand De Decker, president of the Belgian Senate. A lot of politicians came, too. But the fact is that most of the participants came from French-speaking Belgium, which perhaps show that the Flemish are less interested in Belgium as a united country.

A dozen of Flemish right-wing extremists were arrested because they shouted België barst in front of the Royal Palace — what a bunch of fools!

I'd have taken part to the demo if I lived closer to Brussels. That's all I have to say about it.

As Jeremy Clarkson's top 100 cars disappeared, let's watch something else:

Trip to Ghent

Yesterday all of the Bac2 students went on an excursion to Ghent.

The date was most suitable: the trade union of the SNCB/NMBS had decided to go on spontaneous one-hour strikes throughout the whole day… Nice.

About twenty students took the train in Namur, others in Mons or Liège, etc. (Because they had already gone back home to avoid carrying their luggage (I mean by that: clothes to wash) all day long.)

I was leaving from Namur. In the train, some of us played that infernal card game called Uno—I like it a lot: I played endless parties with friends when I was younger. The train arrived in the station of Brussels North round 9 pm, then it didn't want to move, for the stations of Brussels Central and South were completely stuck.

By chance, the train to Ghent that we were supposed to take in Brussels South had just stopped on the other side of the platform! In that very train we met some of Prof. Delabastita and Prof. Vandelanotte, accompanied by his newly appointed assistant for the first-year grammar course, Ms Breban.

Then the train took a kind of detour round Brussels, and before you could say "Jack Robinson", we arrived in Ghent. In the relatively kitschy station hall, we met some other students that had come either by car or by other trains.

But the problem was that 4 students who took the train in Mons had suffered the effects of the strike in Brussels, too, and after about quarter of an hour, I was asked to stay in the hall with Mr. Romero and Mr. Van Mensel, just because I was able to get in touch with the delayed students… Anyway, it was a good opportunity for me to talk in English and mostly in Dutch with both assistants. Meanwhile, the group had gone to the museum and started to visit the exhibition, British Vision.

The four students from Mons finally arrived, then we walked to the museum and several minutes later we joined our fellow students, divided into two groups for the guided tour of the exhibitions.

Our guide showed us some of the greatest paintings that were exposed, great masterworks by famous British names such as William Blake, Francis Bacon, John Constable, James W.M. Turner, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and many others. I wasn't particularily struck by those pieces of artwork, but it was still nice to see them "pour de vrai".

We got out of the Museum voor schone kunsten round 1.15 pm, then we took the bus to go to the North of the town, where we were free to do get some food. I bought a pack of chips in a typical frietkot: the chips were nice, but the packs weren't big at all… (But we're in Flanders, not in Morlanwelz.) And the fried cervelas was good, too. After that, some of us started interviewing people about their dialectattitudes: we were asked to do that as an exercise for Algemene taalwetenschap. Here are the questions (in Dutch):

1. Spreekt u dialect en/of Standaardnederlands en/of een tussenvorm (bv. tussentaal).
– Indien ja: waar, wanneer en met wie?
– Indien geen dialect, waarom niet?
2. Vindt u dialect
– mooier dan Standaardnederlands? Ja/Nee
– nuttiger dan Standaardnederlands? Ja/Nee
3. Mag, volgens u, dialect op de radio en de televisie?
– Waarom wel/niet?
– In welke programma's? Met of zonder ondertitels?
4. Kunt u twee typische uitdrukkingen (+ betekenis) in u dialect geven?
5. Waar komt u vandaan?

After that, we walked towards the British Innovations exhibition at the Museum voor Industriële Archeologie en Textiel. It was quite interesting to go back to the past and see old machines and inventions, as well as ancient texts and objects coming directly from the industrial revolution.

When we were done with this museum, those who had already done all of their interviews for Dutch could leave us to go to the station. But as I didn't want to leave so early, I stayed with a group of more than a dozen of students, plus Mr Delabastita, Mr Vandelanotte and Mr Van Mensel. We stopped at a café and we all had a drink.

But it was already 8 pm, and we had to take a tram to go to the station. There, we found out that the 6.27 pm train was about 20 minutes late. But in total, it was more than 40 minutes late, for the Oostende-Eupen train arrived at 7.05… "What a kerfuffle!" We took that train, going to Brussels. There, we caught another (delayed) train to go to Namur. It arrived in 9.05, so that I managed to catch the 9.10 bus to go back to my student room.

What a day!

[EDITED ON 28 OCTOBER:]
I wrote a blog entry on germ@namur about this excursion. Please check it out!

Gordel

I took part in the "Gordel", i.e. a 100-km route that you do on your bike around Brussels.

I was quite exhausted at the end, but I'm glad I did it. It was the last ride I did this season. I won't have the time anymore to do so. Anyway, I almost reached the 1000 km this summer. Last year, it was only 150 km. Quite an improvement!

What A Mistake, Mr Leterme!

Christophe Deborsu works as a journalist for the RTBF (Radio-Télévision de Belgique Francophone, i.e. the Belgian, French-speaking broadcasting corporation), whose Flemish equivalent is the VRT (Vlaamse Radio en Televisie). Usually, he does reports for the news, but a few years ago, he was also doing reports in a UFO-like program (Projet X) with topics about silly things that happen in Belgium. Sometimes, we was tickling politicians, finding upsetting things about their project, etc. That is the reason why he was nicknamed by some: "le fouille-merde".

I told you in yeasterday's post that I went to Brussels to attend the celebrations of National Day, and I also stated that hardly anyone can actually say why the date of 21 July was chosen as National Day, nor sing the national anthem, the Brabançonne. Ok, but what does it have to do with Christophe Deborsu? Well, I saw him yesterday: while I was waiting outside the cathedral with my brother, I saw him walking towards the official cars, running after someone. On that moment, I said to myself: "Tiens, Deborsu vient faire son fouille-merde ?". It's authentic.

That very same evening, I discovered that Frédéric Deborsu had managed to make Yves Leterme stumble on something rather symbolic… (Yves Leterme will become Belgium's next Prime Minister. There's no doubt about it.)

Watch this video: Frédéric Deborsu's whole report (originally about the lack of knowledge of politicians about the Belgian History), then the Flemish viewpoint on this case, with help of the interview of Christophe Deborsu.



The burgemeester of Ypers actually didn't know that 21 July stands for the oath-taking of Léopold I in 1831, then he sang the two first lines of the Marseillaise, the French national anthem!!! A republican hymn in front of a cathedral in which a mass was about to be given in honour of a monarchy!! Surrealism in its pure form.

There's what happened: he made a mistake. He didn't know the anthem, as the huge majority of Belgian do.

(Remember: in a previous post, I told you I was the only one in the class who could actually sing the lyrics of the Brabançonne. After some research, I realized that there are so many different versions of the anthem that it's impossible for me to determine which is the good one. I learned at school a version that doesn't seem to be the same as the one as that in Le Soir of 22 July…)

So, Mr Leterme didn't know the lyrics at all — even though I'm sure he knows the lyrics of the Vlaamse Leeuw, the anthem of Flemish nationalists — and song the first patriotic song he had in mind. The problem is that the Walloons thought of it as a provocation… It was merely a mistake, but the Walloons have a prejudice about this man. They (I'm Walloon, but I don't share their — public — opinion) think he's trying to give more powers to the Region of Flanders (and I personnaly think it would be a good idea) up to the point of splitting the country in two (and I personnally think this is not his goal at all: Flanders would lose a lot if it becomes independent).

Later on, in Dutch, Mr Leterme appologized for having offended people, even if it wasn't his intention. He said he'd made a mistake. Then, when asked to re-say it in French, he said it was out of the question. On VTM (private Flemish television), he was (implicitly) more aggressive towards the RTBF, saying that people who would want to discredit him would pay the price of it…

Already threatening the media? Usually, we can see such things in a dictatorship, I thought. Fearsome… Then I thought that the next four years were going to be great fun (I'm just being ironic) with this man as Prime Minister…

And I can say: "I was there when it happened"!!!

21 July 2007: National Day

21 July: this is our version of the American Independence Day, but in less patriotic. In fact, I shouldn't compare it to an independance day, in the sense that the date of 21 July was chosen as national day for Belgium because it was on 21 July 1831 that H.M. King Léopold I took an oath in front of the first Belgian Parliament in order to become our first king. It seems that many people don't know this (you'll get to see why in the media later on), even if this is something that should be considered as common knowledge…

Since 2004, my parents, my brother and I have been going to Brussels on 21 July, just to take part in the celebrations. In 2004, we visited the National Parliament (and some silly ass from RTL interviewed me, asking me why I was waiting in front of the grids of the Parliament; I replied ironically that I had come to see dinosaurs… — which caused many of my friends, who foolishly take everything at face value, to believe I was a fool). We came back in 2005 and in 2006 with my familly, re-visiting the Parliament House once more. Last year, we came round 2 pm, just in time to have Herman De Croo having a little speech about "his" hemicycle.

This year, my parents didn't feel like going to Brussels, and that's why I took the train with my brother. Below, you'll find my report of the day. I wrote it in French: I just wanted to use one of Belgium's three national languages. And I admit I write faster in French. Note also that "nous" means me and my brother.

Train IC à destination d’Ostende. Malheureusement, dans notre wagon, il y avait — outre un homme silencieux dans le fond — une famille constituée de deux barakîs fumeurs (dont un portait une minable veste en jeans avec Johnny dans le dos) et de deux monstres (un garçon de six ans qui n’arrêtait pas de faire chialer sa sœur d’un an ou deux…). C’était à vouloir se jeter du train en marche. En plus, ils disaient des conneries à “Mon onc’ Julien” (qui était monté à Liège et qui a travaillé cinq ans à Leuven), par exemple qu’ils allaient à La Panne en descendant à Ostende et prenant le tram pendant — estimaient-ils — une (ha ha !) heure… Et autres conneries.

Nous nous en sommes enfin débarrassés en descendant du train à Bruxelles-Central. Nous sommes remontés à la surface, débouchant à un coin qui donnait vers cette rue qui mène presque directement à la cathédrale Sts-Michel-et-Gudule. Dans cette rue, plein de voitures officielles étaient garées, parfois avec des motos de MP.

Ensuite, nous nous sommes rapprochés de la cathédrale. Les gens commençaient à s’attrouper sur le parvis, dans l’espoir de voir la famille royale un peu plus tard quand ils sortiraient du te deum. En attendant, nous sommes descendus. Marché sur le Boulevard Pachéco, où étaient stationnés environ une centaine (si pas plus) de véhicules diplomatiques. Remontés par derrière la cathédrale, puis nous nous sommes décidés à attendre à un endroit où nous verrions passer les officiels.

Les cloches se sont mises à sonner pendant une dizaine de minutes, et les officiels (haute magistratures, haut-gradés, ministres, gros pontes, etc.) sont sortis de la cathédrale petit à petit. Finalement, encadrés par l’escorte royale montée (avec même des cavaliers néerlandais — on aura tout vu, nous qui les avions bouttés hors de nos frontières pour obtenir l'indépendance !), les voitures officielles sont passées, avec le Roi et la Reine Paola, puis Fabiola (et sa tête penchée).

Ensuite, il y a eu un peu plus d’agitation, avec les gens qui commençaient à bouger parce qu’ils avaient vu le Roi, donc avaient eu ce qu’ils voulaient et partaient. D’autre part, les officiels s’agglutinaient pendant que les voitures que nous avions vues plus tôt défilaient devant “la porte de derrière” de la cathédrale (dirons-nous du côté droit du transept). À quelques mètres de nous, nous avons vu Kris Peters (le nouveau Ministre-président flamand) qui semblait avoir “perdu sa quinzaine”, sa voiture n’arrivant pas. Je suggérai à mon frère d’aller le saluer, mais Mr Peters était collé à son GSM. Finalement il a disparu.

Nous avons décidé de nous en aller pour aller chercher à manger. Nous sommes passés devant le groupe d’officiels encore présents qui montaient tour à tour dans de grosses voitures ; en voyant certains hauts magistrats, je me disais : “Belle brochette de francs-maçons…”.

Nous sommes remontés vers la Rue Royale, avant de remonter la Rue de la Loi. Devant le Parlement, dont les portes étaient ouvertes depuis un quart d’heure environ, une longue file s’étirait. On reviendrait quand il y aurait moins de monde. Nous avons continué, puis pris une rue perpendiculaire pour retomber sur la Rue Béliard et la descendre en direction de la Place Jourdan.

Sur celle-ci se tenait un marché aux puces. Beaucoup de gens s’agglutinaient et scrutaient ce que les gens avaient à vendre à même le sol. Tout ce qui nous intéressait, c’était de manger. La friterie Antoine allait passer un test de rattrapage : la dernière fois, les frites n’étaient pas assez cuites et le cervelas l’avait été avec la peau et les attaches métalliques — sans aucun doute l’œuvre d’un mauvais vendeur.

Quelques personnes dans la file devant nous (il était 11h30), mais on a été servis en moins de 3 minutes. Exceptionnellement pour ce week-end du 21 juillet, les portions étaient servies dans des raviers. Ce sera bien la première fois pour nous… Nous avons quand même pris deux portions à 2,10 €. Nous les avons mangées en marchant vers le Parc Léopold, au pied du Muséum des Sciences Naturelles et du Parlement européen. Bu un Coca.

Ensuite, nous avons contourné le Parlement, allant faire un pèlerinage devant l’iguanodon en façade du musée, avant de passer dans ce corridor venteux sous le Parlement pour déboucher devant la Gare du Luxembourg, puis marcher vers la Petite Ceinture. Nous sommes passés devant le Ministère (non, SPF) de la Défense (où André Flahaut, à l’entrée, un verre de champagne à la main, accueillait pour la dernière fois ses généraux et autres chefs d’état-major) et devant le Lambermont.

Passés à nouveau devant le Parlement, dont la file n’était pas moins longue malgré l’heure. Nous avons traversé le Parc de Bruxelles, où à nouveau on organisait des activités sportives pour les jeunes. Nous avons décidé, pour encore un peu patienter, de marcher vers le Cinquantenaire pour voir si les véhicules militaires se mettaient déjà en place.

On a donc descendu puis remonté toute la Rue de la Loi, passant même sur le rond-point Schuman avant de traverser le parc, et au-delà des arches, nous espérions nous reposer à Autoworld, mais le préposé nous avait dit que, ce musée étant privé (? depuis quand ?!?), on ne pouvait pas le visiter gratuitement… Zut. Alors nous sommes allés nous asseoir dehors.

Quand nous nous sommes remis en marche, nous sommes passés devant l’Ecole Royale Militaire, où les étudiants officiers commençaient à sortir en formation. Apparemment, ils allaient devoir marcher jusqu’à la Rue de la Loi, donc sur près de 2,5 km, au pas militaire. Youpie. Nous avons choisi de revenir vers le Parlement, mais en empruntant des ruelles de Saint-Josse. Arrêt dans un parc où les pigeons s’attroupaient autour de nous car nous lancions des cailloux — ils pensaient qu’on jetait du pain ou autre chose… Idiots.

Nous nous sommes arrêtés dans la Rue des Deux Églises devant le bâtiment quelque peu rénové du CDH. Nous avons poursuivi notre route pour reprendre la Rue de la Loi, sur laquelle les gens commençaient à s’entasser derrière les barrières Nadar. Devant le Parlement, c’était toujours la file. Nous avons marché sur le Boulevard de l’Empereur jusqu’à arriver devant le siège du PS. Ensuite, descendus vers Manneken Pis, vêtu aujourd’hui, mais même pas aux couleurs nationales… Grand-place. Beaucoup de monde.

Nous sommes allés nous asseoir quelques minutes sur la place de l’Albertine. Nous avons constaté qu’un nombre anormalement élevé de gens se promenaient avec des mini bouteilles de Coca. On en a conclu qu’il devait s’agir d’une distribution, alors on a remonté le courant comme des saumons pour finir devant la sortie principale de la Gare Centrale, où la “Coca Cola Emergency Refreshment Team” œuvrait, distribuant ces boissons sorties directement de gros bacs remplis de milliers de ces bouteilles et de mètres cubes de glace. Il devait bien y avoir une vingtaine de pareilles glacières entassées là, prêtes à être directement liquidées…

(Nous nous sommes dit plus tard que si on avait eu avec nous un frigo box, on aurait emporté une cinquantaine de bouteilles, avant d'aller les vendre Rue de la Loi à 1 € pièce : profit maximal !)

Nous sommes remontés vers la Rue Royale. On voulait repasser devant le Parlement, mais il était impossible de traverser à cet endroit. Donc nous avons décidé de faire le tour du bloc du Parlement et autres ministères. Dans la rue menant à l’ancien parlement flamand. Marché vers le Parlement. Comme on s’y attendait, en raison de l’imminence du début du défilé, et surtout du passage du Roi sur sa Jeep (ou quelque chose d’autre, parce que je le vois mal se tenir debout avec ses béquilles…), la file du Parlement avait disparu.

Il n’y avait donc presque personne dans le Parlement. Déposé le sac à dos. Rempli quasiment tout le questionnaire avant de gravir l’escalier vert de la Chambre. Nous avons arpenté ses couloirs pour la troisième fois en quatre ans, donc. On connaît à peu près tout, mais c’est toujours amusant de faire un pèlerinage. Robin s’imaginait déjà bossant à cet endroit-là. Fini de remplir le questionnaire. (Je recevrai un pin’s — encore un — du Parlement.)

Dans l’hémicycle, quasiment personne, et pas question cette fois de s’asseoir sur les bancs. Les écrans diffusaient le tirage au sort des membres des commissions. Passés dans les autres salles et salons, avant de pénétrer dans les intérieurs plus baroques du Sénat. Quelques portraits d’anciens Premiers ministres et hommes d’Etat, dont plusieurs avaient un combover.

(D’ailleurs, j’ai appris il y a un jour ou deux que Léopold I portait une moumoute — quoique j’aurais plutôt songé à un combover, mais si un historien l’affirme…).

La visite éclair terminée, j’ai rendu le questionnaire et reçu mon pin’s. (La prochaine fois, j’afficherai mes trois pin’s à ma casquette !) Nous sommes sortis, alors que les quelques bataillons de militaires à pied se mettaient en marche. Quelques cons les applaudissaient. Nous avons décidé de marcher le long de la Rue de la Loi pour remonter le cortège de véhicules militaires, et ainsi voir tout assez rapidement. Deux camions arboraient un panneau "CONVOI EXEPIONNEL" [quelle faute d'orthographe ! c'est l'Armée Belge, et on n'est pas foutu d'écrire correctement "exCeptionnel"?!?] : normal, car ils ne sortent qu'une fois par an, ces andouilles ! Nous avons rejoint ensuite la Rue Béliard avant de la remonter, tandis que les véhicules militaires nous croisaient à nouveau.

Plus haut, nous avons été obligés de nous faufiler à la foule dense massée le long des barrières pour voir les engins (alors que nous, on les avait bien vus en marchant, à l’aise, tandis que certains s’agrippaient à des barrières). C’était infernal de marcher dans ces conditions, avec des poussettes dans les pieds, des files indisciplinées, etc. Finalement, on a pu se dégager et descendre vers la Cour des Comptes, à l’heure où le défilé était officiellement terminé.

À la Gare Centrale, notre train de retour était annoncé à 18h01, ce qui nous laissait un gros quart d’heure pour aller s’asseoir à l’Albertine. (Entre-temps, les réserves de Coca avaient fondu comme neige au soleil… Plus aucune trace de leur passage).

Ensuite, nous sommes allés attendre sur le quai n°3 de la Gare Centrale. Nous pensions nous placer en tête de train, de sorte à prendre place dans un wagon peu rempli. Le fait est qu’à cause de notre relative méconnaissance de ladite gare, nous nous étions trompés de sens et nous retrouvions donc en queue de trains, où la majorité des gens étaient massés. Donc nous sommes montés et avons dû traverser plusieurs voitures avant de pouvoir nous asseoir.

Le voyage fut franchement tranquille, même s’il y avait environ 25 fois plus de gens qu’au voyage aller… Pas de sale môme qui braille toutes les dix secondes pour m’empêcher de faire mes mots fléchés… Ouf ! Nous sommes arrivés à Verviers aux alentours de 19h15, je crois. Papa nous a récupérés. Retour. On a tous mangé une pizza congelée du Delhaize.

[Slightly edited on 21 July 2008.]

La Dictée du Balfroid

On previous Saturday, it was high time to take part to the Dictée du Balfroid. (OK, when I say "take part", I mean taking part while watching the show on telly.) Basically, it's a spelling contest for kids who are currently on the sixth form of Primary School.

This year was the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Dictée, a project that came from the mind of Madame Balfroid (see second picture, next to Jacques Mercier, TV presenter), a retired Primary School teacher. Semi-finals were organised in each of the 5 French-speaking provinces (namely Brabant wallon, Hainaut, Liège, Luxembourg and Namur) and in Brussels. More than 800 pupils made it into the finals which took place at the Heysel, a series of huge exhibition halls, not far away from the Atomium.

When I was at Primary School, being the best at spelling, I got to sign up for the semi-finals, then I qualified for the finals… where I didn't win, unfortunately. Of course, I was proud to have experienced it. Back in that time, texts were longer and fairly more complicated. Now, seven years later, I can see that texts are much more easy than they used to. Here's this year's text:

L’urgence de reparler de l’eau (dictée de la finale)

Souvent les entretiens privés et politiques que nous ont relatés les journaux avaient pour objet ce précieux liquide.

Le sujet de l’eau revient en force cette année-ci, car on a enfin constaté, non sans effroi, que celle-ci allait cruellement manquer dans les années à venir.

Certains lacs orientaux sont déjà à sec. Des populations entières, assoiffées d’eau potable, arpentent des distances considérables pour trouver le puits qui les assouvira.

Les nappes souterraines se tarissent et des arbres squelettiques ont été çà et là observés.

Croyons-nous que cette matière ne nous concerne pas, nous les gaspilleurs jusqu’à outrance de cet élément vital que nous n’avons pas apprécié à sa juste valeur ?

Le réchauffement de la planète que l’on craint aura tôt fait de justifier notre angoisse d’une pénurie annoncée et d’une aridité évidente.

Quelles que soient nos appréhensions, il faut que nous gérions d’urgence notre façon de consommer puisque le temps nous est compté.

Of course, I didn't make any mistake: it was too easy. Really. I mean it. Before, you had to write it on two pages, and now on one single page. And there are less difficulties such as the accord du participe passé – a matter that petrified us in that time…

A Last Picture of Belgium Before Going to Greece

We're already in April 2006! Our school gave to 54 students the opportunity to go to Greece as last year destination, and I obviously opted for it. We had to go to Brussels to get the plane, but before leaving Belgium, my parents, my brother and I went to the chip-shop Vandervaeren not far away from the Atomium. I thought I wouldn't get any fries in Greece. Wait and see. So we ate those marvelous chips (they're the best in Brussels, even better than on the Place Jourdan) before going to Brussels Airport. Meanwhile, I took a picture of our beloved monument.

Another Day of Great Fun in Brussels

I see that the time goes by pretty fast: we are, with this picture, in January 2006, in Brussels. We were on another school trip (don't assume that we were always doing it: it was only once in a blue moon, but I talk about that here because it was special) whose goal was to see the exhibition "Made in Belgium" for the 175th anniversary of the independence of Belgium.
In the morning, we took the train in Verviers (the nearest station): we were 150 students and a dozen of teachers. An hour later, we arrived in Brussels Central and we walked to the Grand-Place, where a man (a retired one) took care of us: he was going to show us the most famous places of Brussels—strange that some of us had never ever come to Brussels… We went in front of the Manneken Pis (hence the photo) and walk towards the Royal Palace (how original), then the Royal Library, and back to the Grand-Place. Pretty boring when you have already seen that 100 times.

But wait a minute… This sightseeing took place two years before, when I was in 4th year… Oops. Actually, on 13 January 2006, we didn't get any sightseeing, but we went directly to the exhibition. Fortunately, I was in the last part of the group, and I was staying close to M. Kuta, our History teacher, one of the most funny guys I know: that's him on the picture. Instead of looking carefully at the things exposed to our eyes about the history of Belgium, the books, the medals, the suits, the statues, the pictures, the paintings, etc., we couldn't help criticizing everything and make silly comments about whatever we saw. For example, we were talking about the building of the Caroline Europe, with Charlemagne dividing his kingdom between his four (!) sons: John, Ringo, Paul and George.
Later, we arrived in the Hall of Inventions, where we found this splendid ancient engine in front of which M. Kuta stands on the picture. We were kidding by saying that it was his first car's engine. At school, he was talking of his car being a Kutamobile or Fardier de Kuta (after the name of the first steam engine), and we tought it had to be precesely that. We also found his first wheels, as you can see.

Then, we had a one-and-a-half-hour (?) break during which we could do whatever we wanted (except from robbing a bank or something mischievous), so I decided to walk towards the Friterie Jourdan, a chip-shop. (Crap! I can't even find a picture of this worldly-famous institution on Google!) That is to say that, from the Grand-Place, we had to walk for 2,5 km in order to get our fries, and back again to the Grand-Place: another 2,5 km! We did it within an hour! (Needless to say that we walked really fast.) But it was worth the effort: those fries were my favourites at that time (now, I've definitely found better).

In the afternoon, we had to see another exhibition about Russian paintings in the beginning of the 20th century in the Beaux-Arts/Bozart Museum. Pretty boring. I was still with M. Kuta, but due to the guide's presence, we didn't dare saying silly comments (even though there was enough material for doing so).

Afterwards, we had another bunch of free-time, so we went walking not too far from the Grand-Place, and I remember having been to the Quick to eat (yes, I have a healthy life). We took the train in Brussels Central Station round 7 pm and we went back to Verviers. No one was injuried during this trip.

Annual Visit in Brussels

Each year, my parents, my brother and I go to Brussels just to have a walk. Our tour starts with a cup of coffie on the Place des Palais, just in front of the Royal Palace, where there's a huge Christmas tree coming from Norway or something like that—it's sad to think that these trees are 60 or 80 years old, had overlived the War and end up to be cut and (what a glorious end) be shown to thousands of indifferent citizens.
Then, our tour brings us to the Grand-Place, the most beautiful in the world, as they say.There again, you find a giant Christmas tree and also a living barn with real sheep. We walk along the famous statue of de T'serclaes (you'll get to see a picture of it with several of my English teachers in a later post) and we continue up to Brussel's most famous statue(tte): the Manneken pis. Usually, the statue is bare, but sometimes it wears specially designed costumes (e.g. Santa Claus). And everytime I go in front of the Mannekenpis, I have to take a picture of it, just like that. So, you'll get to see other pictures that look exactly the same. By the way, a couple of weeks ago, Mr Bean came to Brussel for the advertising campaing of his new film (where he makes fun of those frog-eaters Frenchies), and of course photographers were there to immortalize this moment.

21 July 2005 in Brussels: The Atomium

As of 2004, we decided to go to Brussels every 21 July. And so, in 2005, we were back. The day usually starts with the going to Brussels with the car (about 75 minutes), then we stop not far away from the Atomium in order to buy fries at the well-known chip-shop (or as we say in Belgium "fritkot"). The fact is that you've got to be there at 11.30, otherwise there's a queue of 30 people (quite often Chinese or Italians) waiting for their "authentic Belgian fries". The best part of it is that we eat in the car, while seeing ravens which come, hoping that we give them something—if not, they eat trash from the chip-shop.
As to the Atomium, it was still being repaired in 2005, but the next year, it'll be brand new, as you will see in a next post. A mending was highly necessary for this (other) Iron Lady of 1958.