Antwerp 2009 “Sinksenfoor” funfair opening night

Trust me, at the opening of the 2009 “Sinksenfoor” funfair I only had Belgian waffles. No 75m (230 ft) speed-rides for me.

Antwerp’s unofficial 2009 Summer Season Opening

Yes folks, it’s that time of year again: open-air pools, BBQs, the upcoming yearly one/two week vacation along the Med, long evening nights and obviously, somewhat less time spent in front of computer screens. But don’t run away now, I’ll make sure sure to keep on posting [disclaimer: intentional statement], even if the temps break the 100°F/37°C limit. To be totally honest, the chance of that happening is as remote as winning the Belgian state lottery in this rainy country by the sea

2008/2009 has been a pivotal year for both this blog and for myself.  Antwerp Calling dropped from 1,000 hits a day to a more modest 300 daily readers, predominantly caused by the massive success of social networking sites like Facebook and the multitude of Web 2.0 “I must be on it” applications like Twitter. Several of my once most loyal readers closed down their own blogs, one realizing a Pulitzer was beyond her reach, some just faded away or started financially more lucrative endeavours, with people I’ve never met in real life still leaving their much appreciated comments.  My personal life became a bumpy ride for a while, but at present I’m back in the driving seat.

Today showed the halmarks of an enjoyable Belgian summer’s day: 25°C/80°F on a leisurely Sunday spent at Antwerp’s left-bank beach and open-air pool. [My photo: an ice-cream stand on the historic Antwerp "plage" (French for "beach") at 4 pm]. I haven’t got a clue what the end of May felt like in your part of the world, but feel free to share.

Twitter: The Final Word

[Author: unknown.] Most Tweets bore me senseless, but this one made me smile.

Not available on Twitter, Facebook or WordPress

“Sure”, my dearest family members just told me over the phone, “feel free to use the pictures of Reinhartstein castle, the family reunion trip to the Robertville lake & dam and every shot you took during our three day weekend. But not on Twitter, Facebook or WordPress.” Since they managed to get their face on virtually all shots worth posting, I have to leave you with these rather generic images, pictures that hardly manage to evoke the atmosphere in eastern Belgium last weekend.

Privacy, it’s a weird issue, isn’t it? “Personal photo blogging is like leaving your home front door wide open while shouting “just drive in”: you lose all control”, my brother mentioned ever so polite. “Twitter? That’s like texting to the whole world. Facebook? Did you ever check how some of these ‘500-friend’ users handle their accounts?” Oh well, enjoy these first generic shots How do you feel about online privacy?

Belgian Gay MP marries male partner

Jean-Jacques Flahaut, Belgian member of parliament will marry his male partner next Saturday. The happy couple, who met in 2006, was congratulated by several government members, including the (Christian/Catholic) Belgian prime minister. Flahaut is the fist gay Belgian MP to marry after Belgium legalized same-sex marriages back in 2003.

You know, whenever I read these happy tidings I need to take a break, not sure how I really feel or whether I need to reevaluate my ideas about gay marriage. Like you may or may not know, I’ve been in a relationship with my male partner for quite some time. The past few years I’ve become increasingly uncomfortable attending weddings of straight friends, with one recent gay marriage in Antwerp making me want to leave early.

Facing up to my true feeling I realize I’m just like most of you: I’d enjoy that same kind of social acceptance that seems to be reserved to those who take the plunge, realizing that at times it’s all much more than a signed piece of paper and a big party. It can actually become a social entry ticket that reads “you’re one of us”.

Reach out and touch an Antwerp local

I’d love to meet you. Don’t run now: it’s all quite simple and I’d like to explain.

When I started this blog way back in 2006 I basically jumped on the blogging bandwagon because “all my friends were doing it”: it seemed a natural and easy way to share a small part of my life. Although I spent virtually all of my free time with my diving buddies in those days, I actually met several expats (notably from the US and NZ)  living in Antwerp through blogging – empathic people who invited me into their homes and who became acquaintances. Unfortunately most expats have an embedded social expiry date by nature. 2007 turned into a pivotal year: no longer being able to dive after an injury, my longstanding close diving friendships faded surprisingly fast, with my last family members moving out of Antwerp in 2008.

A US expat once elaborately explained how hard it was to bond with locals in Antwerp, being a new face in town. But trust me, at times it’s just as complex for many who were born in this place. Dutch speaking Belgians have a reputation to keep their distance, with an Antwerp urban setting anno 2009 further complicating building new social contacts with relative strangers. While it’s great knowing I have some close friends and family to share my most personal emotions with, meeting some of the Antwerp inhabitants who actually read this blog could be a delightful experience. I’ve met amazing people through blogging and I’d love to repeat the experience.

So if you’ve been reading this blog and feel we might put a smile on each other’s face, don’t hesitate: reach out and touch an empathic Antwerp local. There’s no need to rush   Contact information can be found at “about the author”.

Belgian elections: the best-paid, weirdest and most indifferent politicians in parliament

Vanderpoorten: queen of cumulation: €342,270

Belgian local (=non federal) elections are just around the corner, along with the EU elections on June 7th. During previous campaigns I had no trouble finding a candidate worthy of my vote, knowing that Belgium is ruled by a mind-blowing multitude of ever changing coalition governments – no matter who you voted for, rest assured you will never get anything even remotely resembling the platform you picked in the ballot box.

Hermans: "let's castrate addicts": our funniest politician

The overall current trend is an overtly visible swing towards more conservatism, more hard-line “me first” programs, in a society that has become colder and ever more distant since the recession struck many of us. The crash of 2008 painfully showed how impotent politicians really are.

So this year I skipped the rhetoric and made the only sensible move: check what the (Dutch speaking) election candidates actually did in 2008 during their neverending sessions. Feel free to do the same at the Belgian parliament evaluation website by a national newspaper  (in English by Google).

There were no real surprises, although I’m still puzzled why my former, mediocre history teacher turned Minister Vanderpoorten now makes €342,270 a year (MP, parliament speaker and mayor, working a stunning three goverment “jobs”), why former overweight singer Hermans feels that “addicts should be castrated” (she’s no longer welcome in any bar, it appears), or even more surprising, why Antwerp mayor Janssens hardly ever showed up in parliament at all.  Extremist and populist parties will get +50% of the local votes, making me feel ever more uneasy about our future. High taxes, polical instability: way to go Belgium. Are you better off?

Singer Helmut Lotti’s fairy tale wedding in Antwerp

Belgian singer Helmut Lotti (website) leaves Antwerp city hall at 3 pm after marrying his third wife Jelle van Riet. “We’ll never divorce” the happy bride shouted on stage. Having received over 90 platinum and 70 gold albums, let’s hope Lotti will finally find not only professional, but also much needed marital bliss. Anyway, thanks for the “free beer for everyone” Helmut, much appreciated by all.

Return to Reinhardstein

I’m not sure if you are into ‘trips down memory lane’, but I’m unexpectedly about to embark on one. You see, my dearest family decided that to reignite the somewhat faded “we are family” feeling, a trip with all my siblings to the lovely area near the German/Luxembourg border would be a great idea. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I received the email invitation last week: they picked Reinhardstein, a castle I visited as a 20-something-in-love.

Many years have passed, my life has changed profoundly, but still, revisiting this place that holds so many memories made me recall those “innocent and in love” years, a time when the future was yet unwritten and life was overflowing with possibilities. Some people advice against these ‘trips down memory lane’, as some precious memories are best left untouched. I’m not sure how I’ll feel when driving the 250 km to Reinhardstein,but if I only experience a fraction of the pure happiness when I first visited, it will be worth my time.

Average home price $18,000 – Unemployment rate 21%

OK, so the world’s economy has crashed, many of us have lost their jobs, but some clever folks have found all this bad news a perfect way to sell us some rather pathetic religious nonsense (’surviving the end of the world’ obviously serves no purpose), as we all know the ‘authentic’ god is standing by to save the world’s severely crippled economy.  I just stumbled upon this charming picture posted on Twitter pics (source), at times a neverending stream of mindless drivel in 160 characters or less, but sometimes a place to find real gems.

So how are you coping? You still can afford a computer to read this post, but many people in Detroit (‘Average home price $18,000 – Unemployment rate 21%’) no longer can. Antwerp, Belgium is being hit pretty hard, being a port city during a time where transport and production are cut beyond belief. I realize very few readers care about yet another post on the stumbling economy, but will this become a time of desperation, a time to turn to the divine and hope he/she will save us from even more bad news?  If you are still too confused facing the fact that we’ve collectively lost much of our wealth, I can understand your silence.

But even if everything comes crashing down around you, follow Lee Ann Womack’s advice: “just dance”. Like they did on the Titanic.

[Blog author notice: simply reposting the 3rd party Antwerp Central station dance video got me 1,000 visitors a day. Nobody will read yet another post about how the economy is impacting us all.  I understand your need to be entertained, your need to feel good in these troubling times. Times change, people change, blogs change. So I will continue posting (be it somewhat less frequent) about what your are really looking for: the fun part of Antwerp, trying to avoid the intentional feel good posts about fluffy animals ]