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Aussie City Life - March 2007

An Aussie Goes To Belgium

March 19th 2007 17:17
Sydney Spy Goes To Brussels
In Sydney, an hour by train is Wynyard to Central so it was surprising that France to Belgium is the same distance away. As our home is girt by sea, as Australians we can all rejoice that in Europe you could technically walk to another country and last Friday I walked to Belgium ...walked to the station at least.

The most exciting part of the journey there was the fat controller who probably didn't speak in a Ringo Starr voice.

Maybe you don't know much about Belgium aside from the waffles, chocolate, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Justin Henin-Hardenne. All that's there but there's also three other things. It was also the former capital of Europe, famous for the lace exports and it was where Tintin was born!!

TRIVIA: Tintin's dog Snowy, is called Milou in french.This piece of gold below is une frite, [translation Belgian French Fries] and it's the third most orgasmic feeling in the world. Belgium was the birth place of french fries ever since the first McDonalds was installed in 1400. It's common to eat them with mayonnaise and these days you can buy them everywhere in Brussels from a friterie. It's crisp without being like those gross over-fried fries at the bottom... and it's soft without being one of those super-greasy fries that could make a bank vault transparent. It's simply perfect and I think it should be on the cover of Lonely Planet: Belgium.

In case you didn't know, in Belgium they speak French and Dutch so everything is written in the two languages. Fortunately, Dutch is just English with bad spelling.

This sign comes from this shop which freaked me out since it was practically in the centre of Brussels.
That's right, Belgian Waffles are the other national symbol that feature on the flag. I didn't sell my kidneys for the ticket to Europe to eat that. Here is a picture of a different one in La Grande Place, constituting the most possibly Belgian image ever outside of a urinating Tintin wearing lace. [WARNING IMAGE NOT SAFE FOR DIABETICS]
Whipped cream, Belgian chocolate, sugar and strawberies all on a waffle. Ahh, it's the second most orgasmic feeling in the world.
One of the tourist icons of Brussels is Manneke Pis. Remember what I told you about Dutch being English with bad spelling.
It's actually a fountain of this little boy urinating and above are an example of the types of souvenirs you can buy. Here's the real statue which they like to dress up all the time.
Of course we all know the other symbol of Belgium. BEER! As seen below:
Ok... that's not Belgian beer.. it's Coke but I 'forgot' to take a picture of the beer. In Belgium you can buy beer in any cafe and it's served all day long. Something special is une rafale which is when they give you four glasses of four different types of beer served in a wooden frame. It's precious and necessary since there are so many different Belgian beers. There's more to Belgium than food and liquids though. Brussels has a really cool atmosphere - it's relaxed and friendly but still vomiting culture on you from all directions. If you go there, La Grande Place will be your home since you pass it several times when ambulating around the city.
We don't really have city squares in Australia. It's a place for pedestrians where the only danger of being run over comes from all the tourists and even they can't douse the smell of history seeping out of every paved corner. The city overall is full of this smell, come whiff:
It's an enchanting ambiance that cannot be fully consumed no matter how wide your gaping mouth of amazement hangs. The foundations of culture and Europe were here on these very roads you find yourself walking on. Each building suffered the tourment of war and a stiffled sigh releases itself from latticed lungs for the bittersweetness that such beauty came from such tragedy. Lolz, Wiener!!
And strangely, here's something you could buy in Belgium. A badge of Sandra Bullock? I instead bought a badge of the Belgian king, as a constant reminder of Brussels... and because it's a badge of some old man. Then I walked back to Paris on Sunday... well after the frites, waffles, beer and chocolate... I was rolled there.
What's the most Belgian thing you've ever participated in? Add a comment...



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French-Aussie Lessons #1

March 9th 2007 06:44
French-Aussie Lesson #1

Bonjour children, it's time to put some education into you. It's important that you all know French as it's one of the most popular languages in... France. With it, you can contract foreign diseases on the island of La Reunion, face political turmoil first hand on Nouvelle Caledonie and live in French Canada. To start with, most English words ending with -tion (emotion, action, subvention etc) are already french, just say it with an accent. Voilà, that's about 1000 words you know already. So from now on, if something is written in rouge, it means that's the Aussie pronunciation. You'll notice lots of useless s's and t's everywhere in the french spelling which are silent, so don't stress out. We're not going to bother with all that "learn the colours in a day" tedium, we're just going to give you REAL french you can use. As we go along, i'll use more and more français as I write and it'll seem très naturel and you'll find yourself understanding french very easily. ----- C'est Super! So, in French, when you want to make an exclamation (That's.., It's...) you just say "C'est..." (SAY...) like in "C'est la vie". Marie: "C'est La Vie de B*Witched? C'est terrible!" Jaques: "Non! C'est La Vie, c'est cool!" Remember your exaggerated French accent when saying "cool" and "terrible", they're the same in French. Some other english/english-stolen words you can say are "super", "magnifique", "stupide" et "ok". ---- Madame Tina Arèna

So basically, if tu want to ask someone if they like something, just say "TWO EM ....." [Tu aimes...]. Now, our own Tina Arena is actually much more populaire en France than en Australie, so she can be your conversation starting point when you meet French people. Here's un scénario très common. Pierre: "Tu aimes Tina Arena?" [TWO EM TINA ARENA?] Do you like Tina Arena? Jean-Baptiste: "Non, elle est merdique." [NOn, ELLE AY MERR DEEK] Nah, she's crap. Pierre: "Moi, je l'aime eperdument, meme si c'est un tourment." [ZHE LEM EH PEAR DOO MOHn MEM SEE SAY TUN TOUR MOHn] Me, I love her insanely, even though it kills me. So then juste start singing whatever Tina Arena song that tu know after you pose la question et french people will aime you.

----

It's All About Image

Something très important for your prononciation, c'est the french lips (lèvres francaises)! [LEH-VRUH FROn-SEZ] These here are normal lèvres australiennes:

Now to make lèvres francaises, tu juste have to projette your top lèvre et pull slightly at the corners of your mouth. There you go, parfait! Of course, tu will need to turn black white et have subtitles appear under you. Ok, if tu are intelligent, tu comprends le français now! C'est magnifique! Tu know another langue already! C'est all for today but continue à read et soon tu will read français très well. Add a comment...
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