Johnny Mad Dog

As you may have noticed in my great and not so great things about living in Belgium post, one of my favourite things is a little magazine which comes out every Wednesday called Agenda. It lists every film showing in Brussels, summarises it in French, Dutch and English, and tells you which cinemas are showing what, and at what times. It’s actually amazing.

So for a few weeks I’d had my eye on a film called Johnny Mad Dog, since I read part of an article in one of the other weekly newspapers not long after we arrived. Each week I was getting more nervous it wouldn’t be on anymore the following week. So the other day I decided to just go and see it… on my own!

Golly, so it was the first time I’ve ever been to the cinema on my own, and it was raining and getting dark as I left, and I’d never been to this cinema before and didn’t take a map. But I found it without too much trouble…. And the building itself was SUCH a treat.

The cinema is called Styx and is a small local cinema in Ixelles (the area I live in), and when I say small… I mean small. It reminded me of the Kinema in the woods I used to go to when I lived in Lincolnshire because it had only two screens, and whilst no interval in the middle of the film, it was just as cheap! Only 5€ to see any film, any time! Amazing.

So I had to wait outside Salle 2 for about 10 minutes because there was still a film showing when I arrived. Then the 3 of us waiting went in while the credits of the previous film finished, we were all there on our own so I didn’t feel as awkward as I would no doubt have done at one of the big UGC cinemas or such like. And yes, salle 2 was indeed TINY. I’m not sure you can imagine, there were 5 seats per row, and 6 rows of seats. The screen was just a wider and more permanent kind of white screen, the kind you might have in a classroom.

It was a bit awkward waiting for the film to start as we were all there on our own, so just were sat in silence (lol) and then a couple came in talking VERY loudly, and even though it was only adverts, I couldn’t help but feel slightly indignant that they were being so “inconsiderate”, though I wouldn’t have given it a second thought in a normal cinema!

Anyhow, they piped down when the film began. I couldn’t decide if I actually wanted to see this film or not, it’s summary in Agenda says:

“With great stylistic dash, Sauvaire immerses the viewer in the insane world of an African child soldier”

And I’d started watching the last king of Scotland a few days before, and chickened out after about 50 minutes… it definitely wasn’t the easiest film in the world to watch… I guess I wanted to because it’s real. Things like this really happen around the world and I feel really uniformed about them. I’m thinking at the moment about potential dissertation topics too and as there are several former French and Belgian colonies in Africa, I’m wondering if I might be able to find a way of finding a question to write about that relates somehow to one of them, although it would be hard to research.

Sorry I’m no “Ms. Savvy” when it comes to writing about films lol, but I still haven’t even decided if I liked this one or not. Mainly because of the content… obviously you can’t “like” that. The style of the film was interesting and the unknown actors were brilliant… it was a bit crazy trying to understand though as the original language is English, but it’s a very heavily accented version of English, so I understood parts in English from the speaking, and others from the French subtitles.

I can’t say I’d “recommend” it … I guess if you’re interested then look it up on imdb and see for yourself if you think you can put yourself through it. I guess it was worth it. I do feel a little better informed, and a little less naïve about who child soldiers really are. But it’s impossible to walk away from a film like that feeling anything but disbelief that things like this still have to happen to children around the world.

the great things and the not so great things about living in Belgium

great things:

-Transport!! 30€ for unlimited travel all over Brussels for a month, using Buses, trams and the metro! Also these buses, trams and metros are ON TIME, CLEAN and REGULAR. Awesome! Also 50€ for 10 single journeys between any two ‘proper’ stations in Belgium! Oh and the AMAZING light boards in the metro stations that show you where every metro is on the line you’re waiting on! :O

-HEMA: an amaaaaaaaaaaaazing shop with lots of beautiful and relatively cheap things in. :D

-Belgians also dislike grackles (holidaymakers), having lived on the south coast of Devon for well… 4 years properly, and 2 years since (and summertime is the worst)… I have GREAT sympathy with these feelings. And can’t help feeling slightly hypocritical whenever I pose for a photo in front of some monument… I DO live here!

-waffles and chocolate. Nuff said.

-Belgians make numbers so much easier than the French! E.g. 70 in French is soixante-dix (60+10) but in Belgium, it’s septante. Obviously! And 90 which in French is quatre-vingt-dix, in Belgium is nonante! I loooooooooove it. And the Belgians love it when we English people use it. :D

-Dimanche sans voiture!!! Did I ever write a blog about dimanche sans voiture? It’s a sunday once per year in September when it’s actually ILLEGAL to bring a car into Brussels without a permit. There are police on the roads checking anyone who drives by. And there’s loads of cool stuff on it town, bands playing etc. And everyone walks everywhere or cycles, AND the public transport is FREEEEEE!! I loved it. And it was SO quiet too. I wish every dimanche was a dimanche sans voiture.

-Random but great things like Manneken Pis (the little statue of a boy weeing that everyone loves), the atomium (a giant model of an atom…?) and the copy of the arc de triumph in park cinquantenaire.

-Tintin and the smurfs. And their general love of cartoons, especially big cartoons painted on the sides of buildings.

-The European parliament (it’s at the end of my road)…(it’s quite a long road)… but I do go past it on the bus or walk past it most days which is quite cool! J

-The fact that EVERYTHING is in at least two, if not three or four languages.

-Cool places like..the Grand’ Place… especially in the dark when it’s lit up. St Katharine (I can’t wait for the German Christmas market), the fountains at flagey, and the view from the palais de justice which is just amaaaaaaaaazing.

-The parks!! I especially like walking through the parc royale on the way to church or GBU central with all its crunchy crunchy leaves!

-They play music in the metro (underground) stations! And at night time it’s classical… makes you feel “safe”. :D

-Really cool shops like…cook and book, fnac, HEMA! …… and loads of cool little places, like the biscuit shop and this record shop I found one day too with mega cheap old skool records… I love it.

-All of the daily and weekly magazines and newspapers you can get in the metro, metro is the daily newspaper that’s comes out in French and Dutch, then theres la tribune de bruxelles once per week, and agenda with ALL of the films and cinemas in Brussels and who’s showing what when… it’s brilliant! It has all the info about expos that are on and bands playing, plays and all that kind of stuff!

-Live Music Café – they have live music EVERY night. Admittedly I only went once… but I have plans to go again. They had this awesome like jazz/blues band with a giant double bass and piano and saxophone..it was faaaaaaaaaaaab. J

-Minute Maid Multivitamines juice drink… my FAVOURITE juice EVER. I will miss it sorely in the UK. Unless I find it exists there too. In which case I will be MIGHTY pleased.

Not so great things:

-UHT milk… if you’ve been abroad… you probably know what I’m talking about. This stuff is NASTY.

-Bise-ing… although I’m getting used to it and I’m going to have to hold myself back when I will proper want to BISE you all, but it’s like… WHAT ARE THE RULES?! Make some rules and STICK to them. Why must it change if you’re on the metro, or are on the phone, or if you’re English or French or Spanish… GOLLY! Stressed out much?!

-Limescale water… I have to rinse out the kettle EVERY time I use it and little flakes of white limescale come out. I can’t drink tap water… it makes me ill.

-Belgians don’t believe in carpet. Apparently…it’s just really dirty… which I guess is true, and I am a big fan of wooden floors. I just feel for the people who live underneath me.

-Crazy, crazy, CRAZY driving.

-Showers/TWIN showers in kitchens/corridors/bedrooms…. Anywhere but the BATHROOM. (thankfully tho… not in my house :D)

No Looking Back

So I thought I’d share something that really struck me the other day. I was reading this book ‘Jesus: the radical’ by a guy called R.T. France (here’s the blurb off the back to give you an idea of what it’s about):

“Some sought his death. Others left everything to follow him. Who was this Jesus, this carpenter turned wandering teacher? Why did he provoke such extreme reactions? And why does he still do so today, two thousand years after his death?

JESUS THE RADICAL highlights the impact of Jesus against the backdrop of life in first-century Judea, with its customs, its Messianic hopes, its multi-faceted Judaism and its Roman overlords. Here are many fascinating insights into the story you thought you knew.”

I was reading a chapter entitled ‘Disciples’ and the author talks about the occasion when Jesus said “Whoever loves his father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me”, and then how he deliberately put off a would-be disciple who asked permission to go and say goodbye to his family by saying “Anyone who starts to plough and then keeps looking back is of no use for the kingdom of God”.

Hmm… I guess it challenged me because I do keep looking back, and that affects me in the here and now. I can’t separate letting myself think about what I’m missing at uni, while I’m at home, and then going off to a GBU group and trying to be enthusiastic about what’s going on there! Because even though I am enthusiastic about it, it’s hard to show it when part of me would rather be back in my nice comfy life in Preston.

I guess also it’s helped me see again how I can’t do this work in my own strength, I need to be relying on God. Because I am weak, and I need Him to be working through me. He doesn’t NEED me to do this work for Him, it’s a gift He’s given to me, and I need to appreciate it more.

Please could you pray that I will be totally committed to serving God with students here in Belgium, and not keep looking back. Thanks. xx

In Bruges

I realise I never blogged about something quite wonderful that happened a few weeks ago... a trip to Bruges!

I didn't even realise Bruges was in Belgium! And while I had heard of it, I didn't know anything at all about it or what it was famous for (if anything).

Well I went with me english erasmus friend Becky, it's about an hour away on the train, having looked it up in my "Rough Guide to Brussels" where it's listed under "day trips from the city" and was really excited actually to find that it's "the best preserved medieval town in northern europe" or something like that... it managed to avoid getting bombed during the war anyway! It's also known as "the venice of the north" because it's got lots of canals and such like going round it!

So yes, we got there...wandered around... found one of it's many churches that houses a statue of Mary and Jesus by Michaelangelo, apparently "the only Michaelangelo to have left Italy, during his lifetime, and still one of very few that still remain outside Italy to this day".

We spent quite a while going round shops (we are girls...not to stereotype... but I doon't ghave loads of time for that sort of thing these days!) and we found an even bigger version of my FAVOURITE shop in Belgium... Hema. Did I write about this shop at all before... it's like an amazing version of Wilkos...with clothes too... and a bit more style. I just love it. I bought some bunting there with which to decorate my room, froa mere 2€ I believe!

We also ate.. sapghetti carbonara which was delicious, and crepes and hot chocolate later on too! And in the mean time, we found the "Basilica of the Holy Blood" where there's a 'vial' of what's meant to be Jesus' blood. Just to clarify.. I do not think it is really Jesus' blood, and I do think it silly that people go and kiss this little bottle and parade it round the town once per year etc etc. Buut it was interesting! Sadly though, since coming back I've watched a film called "In Bruges"... it's quite funny but still wouldn't recommend it like.. :S um but yes.. and they go to see this holy blood too but on the film, it's not the same room and what not as we were in sooo... yea. Not sure we really did see it or not... but still!

All in all it was a nice day anyway... it was the first time I'd left Brussels since arriving so it was nice to feel like I was actually in 'Belgium' not just... Europe somewhere... and as Bruges is in Flanders... the Flemissh speaking part of Belgium, it was quite itneresting to experience really not understanding a THING on signposts and info boards and what not. Although most places offered some english version (if not french).

I'm wholeheartedly looking forward to more day trips to exciting towns in Belgium... Ghent, Leuven, Mechelen, Antwerp....here I come! :)

GBU Camp

This weekend (23rd-25th Oct) was the first of two weekends away that the GBU in Belgium have each year. It was in a Salvation Army owned building called Villa Meyerbeek in Spa, which is a town in vaguely the south east of the country (I think!) about 2 hours away by train, from Brussels.

There were about 25 of us I think, including staff and staff’s children, there for the weekend, to study the book of Revelation (l’Apocalypse) together, taught by a guy called John Mead.

The weekend was great! Personally, I was expecting to be absolutely wiped out by the end of it because it would be the first time I had been completely immersed in the language, pretty much non-stop, for longer than 4 or 5 hours at once. Thankfully though (thank you for praying) it was fine. Although I was pretty tired on Sunday morning, but that was probably caused more as a result of lack of sleep the night before. The clocks going back an hour didn’t really help as we all reset our watches at about 10/11pm so just spent an extra hour being awake, rather than being asleep.

Saturday night we had a murder mystery … that was probably the most tiring thing I did all weekend! The guys I was in a team with all took it really seriously, and I probably wasn’t the most useful person to be with lol, but we did still correctly find out who the murderer was… (Tim!!)

Anyway, all in all was a really good weekend away, was really nice to spend lots of time with students and make friends and just chat in a really relaxed and unhurried way. Hopefully will have been a useful weekend for me, both in terms of relationships, and French.

Seeing and Savouring Jesus Christ

This is a chapter from "Seeing and Savouring Jesus Christ" by John Piper. All of his materials are available from www.desiringgod.org

The whole book is great, but this chapter probably was my favourite/most challenging.

Seeing and Savouring Jesus Christ - 8

blogs are coming...

heyho...

just wanted to say, i have blogs... they are going to be posted... but i saved them in NEW word format offline, and this computer, unlike one of the other ones in the internet cafe, doesnt have NEW word, only very very old "wordpad" sooo... yes. next time!!

also, allow me to say i am enjoying very much heather and sams happy hour on www.frequencyradio.co.uk

:)