Keep your eyes wide open

I'm back from Belgium. I needed some time to sort my memories out. Hm. I spent three days in Brussels and saw all the things I mentioned in my previous post. Someone asked me if I liked Brussels and I couldn't find the answer for a long time. Now when I'm thinking about it I would say Brussels doesn't have an atmosphere. I don't know how to discribe it. Prague has an atmosphere. What is the atmosphere like I'm writing about? It's like when you stop for a while and you can feel it ... When I stopped in Brussels I didn't feel it. It's not because Prague is my beloved hometown, I felt the same in London and Paris.

On the other hand, Belgium is beautiful. Full of green fields, small villages and so calm. I love travelling by train and we travelled a lot. There are beautiful houses made of bricks just like in England. We stayed in Fraipont where the Centre for refugees and asylum seekers is. There was a beautiful sunny weather when we arrived but then it was rainy and cold most of the time. The day of our departure was sunny. Fraipont is that kind of town where is only one main road with the necessary stores ("supermarket", library, newsagent's) and pubs. Just lovely :-) In the french part of Belgium we also visited Liege that is really beautiful. We went to a big market which was on the waterfront and also to the most famous pub - La Maison du Peket. Another trip, this time with the residents of the Centre, to Brugge and, again, it was very nice. We went for a cruise because almost the whole city is surrounded by canals and fortunately we had a beautiful weather so the cruise was sweet.

The other volunteers were nice and friendly. I really liked Tetsuhiro from Japan and the Korean girl. We all had really nice time together.

Now I'm at my mother's. We have a small family reunion because on Monday my granny is going back to hospital. And in the same day Kate, Lucy and me are going to sign the contract for our rent flat. One little problem has appeared. Yesteraday Lucy told me that we have to pay 7 300 Kc each on Monday. This money should have been paid by Lucy but she hasn't got her money yet. Kate is coming back tomorrow so it will be a big shock for her. We'll manage. I hope so.

I finished reading Kafka on the Shore at the workcamp. The story was wonderful. Now I have to go back to the History of the USA ... and believe or not I haven't even finished the first chapter :-) Ehm ...

So the plan for the next week is - moving! I am so sorry for my mother but I really have to move. There is no other way.

I look forward to seeing Kate!

Suzanne