After a few weeks in the States Steve and I have returned to back to Brussels. We celebrated a late Christmas with Steve's family and then Chinese New Year with mine. We also got to see some friends (although not as many as we would have liked to) and did some shopping and lots of eating. Lots of eating. Before even returning to the States we had already created lists of things to bring back and places/food we wanted to eat. Belgian food is just different and if I had to choose to spend a day eating in Brussels or Minnesota I would choose Minnesota easily. Brussels has some great things but overall it lacks the the variety of tastes and ethnic foods that I can find in Minnesota(which is a little shocking). So needless to say a few pounds were gained by eating Chinese food, Indian, sushi, pizza, pancakes and lots of meat (there is something about the beef here that is a little off putting to me and the bacon here is sad). I also visited Starbucks at every opportunity (the smalls there are huge compared to my small coffees here)
We got a lot of questions about if it was weird to be back in the U.S. In general there is a bit of indifference. Steve and I are beginning to feel like nomads and we use the word "home" to refer to different places depending on the conversation. Home can be the U.S, Minneapolis, Brussels, and Beaver Creek. We've gotten to a place where we have become comfortable in all of these locations. Of course that doesn't mean we don't notice differences between the different "homes" The common phrase between us has been "oh that's right, here people xyz. You don't see that a lot in the other country" For example:
Oh that's right in Minnesota people wear their pajamas in public (specifically Target, 2pm in the afternoon), you don't see that in Brussels. People are always well dressed, even their children always look like they just stepped out of gap ads.
Oh that's right in Minnesota people actually smile and say hello when you walk into a store or sit down at a table. In Brussels customer service is not as friendly. I always tell Steve it feels like all of Brussels behaves like the DMV. Working, but with no urgency and limited friendliness.
Oh that's right, people in Minnesota drive in the left lane here. Even though they are not passing, barely driving the speed limit and holding up at least a mile of traffic behind them.
Oh that's right, people in Brussels just let their dogs poop anywhere. Gross.
Then there are also things that we just see differently now that we've been in Brussels for awhile:
People seems to drive sooo slow in Minnesota. Both Steve and I were told at least once while driving "ummm you know your not driving on the Autobahn right"? I think on average people drive at least 80mph on the freeway here, not 55mph(maybe on the side roads)
Minnesota is actually really sunny. Cold but sunny. Its so rainy and dreary in Brussels.
One morning I drove Steve to the office, it was snowy and traffic was crawling. I thought to myself, why was I missing the snow again?
In Minnesota people are so...white...American. Not a judgement in any way, its just that there is a lot more diversity in Brussels. Here, I hear people speaking French, Italian, English, Dutch everyday.
Its fun looking at a place with different perspectives. It was a great trip, I miss my friends and family back home, but its good to be back home too.
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