J'habite rue...

As most of you will already know, my major concern regarding my time in Brussels was that I wouldn't be able to find accommodation and would end up sleeping in a cardboard box somewhere... However, things fell into place upon my arrival and within a day I found my abode for the next three months.

In earlier communications to some of you I referred to the place as "The Belgian Appartment" - in the same vein as the movie The Spanish Apartment and it certainly is that. Although it could technically also pass as The Spanish Apartment as four of the eight people here are able to speak spanish to each other! And here I was thinking I should learn french... So, as mentioned, there are eight of us residing in "Moji Flat" (Moji is our apparently sometimes rather intense landlord). Me (naturally), a Belgian, a Dutchman, a Frenchman, an Italian, a Norwegian and two Spaniards. I would have done the polite thing and listed all their names but, coming from conventional old New Zealand, I have no idea how to spell such exotic sounding names.

I have affectionately dubbed my room "Le Dungeon" due to its endearing characteristics of being at the bottom of some precariously steep and narrow stairs and having bars over its street level windows. Despite such features, however, the room is quiet, comfortable and equipped with an ensuite and so I am not particuarly discontented at all.

The flat, it seems, has a history rich in humour and unusual flatmates. La Femme Phantom was a girl who used to live in my room but was hardly ever seen or heard, a muttering french madman used to live on the top floor and was apparently oblivious to the presence of his fellow flatmates but my favourite, by far, has to be the flat celebrity: Aki Aleong. Yes, this place hosted a 72 year old American actor amongst its appropriate mix of 20-something year old students/stagieres and they still display his signed photo proudly over the mantelpiece. For more information, see: Aki Aleong

May my time here be just as eclectic and amusing...

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