You would think that, being twenty minutes from the French border, citizens of western Belgium would speak French. But that would be too easy. Belgium splits itself up, linguisticall, by North and South. In southern Belgium, they do indeed speak French. But in northern Belgium, where I was in Gent, they speak Flemish. D'oh. The most interesting part was, after conveying the fact that I don't understand Flemish, people immediately switched to English, instead of French like I expected. It seems to be the second-most spoken language there. Odd, but nice for me. The intent of the trip to Belgium was not for Jackie to be a tourist in yet another country. It was so some Lilliputians (hahaha) could go to a drum-and-bass concert. Europeans have a much different style to their night-life than American youth;
... read more
