Tintin, Square Pillows and a Market Symphony

So you may have been wondering why my blog is called "Chocolate & Waffles" if the address is, "inthelandoftintin." Well, after being told by my father that having two different titles was rather odd and acknowledging that this blog is NOT going to be entirely about chocolate and waffles, I'm changing the name to "In the Land of Tintin." So who is Tintin you ask? Well, some of you might think of the movie that just came out about Tintin, and while that was some pretty sweet animation, I'm going back to the old school comic strip!

When I was little, I remember attempting to read the Tintin adventures- comic strips in book form. Tintin is a young reporter who seems to have adventures everywhere from Tibet to Egypt and the Congo, solving mysteries as he goes. Note the 'attempting' to read- they were in French! Back then I had no idea, but Tintin actually originates from Belgium, the author Hergé is from here and the strip started out small and then exploded into popularity, now world-wide. That being said, the other day found me at Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée- or the Comic Strip Museum! It was really cool so see all these old collections, and how the artists developed. While I came in only really caring about seeing the Tintin stuff, I now feel a whole lot more educated on comic strips. They carry a lot more weight than I thought, having been used over the decades as social commentaries that were acceptable due to their humour or non-human characters (such as the Smurfs). Plus, some of the art on these was incredible! The amount of detail put into each panel, the careful coloring done by hand is pretty amazing. Props to you, comic strip artists!

Tintin and his faithful dog, snowy

One of the original magazines in the museum

Since I've now officially made it past the one week mark, I thought I'd share some of the funny quirks of living in Belgium that are different from the US:

-Square Pillows. What's up with that?? Luckily their pillow cases are made to accommodate this.
-Two buttons on the toilet to flush. I still don't know what the difference is between the two, or why there even are two in the first place, but there you go.
-Better notebook paper. Seriously, the quality on this stuff is beautiful- I don't know why it's so much better than the notebook paper in the US, but here, my ink doesn't bleed through the page!
-No fresh milk. This I'm not a fan of. At the grocery store, you can really only find conserved milk, which is non-refrigerated and therefore freaks me out. It also tastes different, so I pretty much stick to using it for tea and cereal.
-Belgianisms! I may have made up that word, but Belgians have made up a whole lot more! Belgium has done something pretty unique with it's language- since the country is divided into Flanders (Dutch-speaking) and Wallonia (French-speaking), oftentimes new words are created as a mixture between Dutch and French. Intriguing, no?
-Cobble stone streets- don't wear heels.
-Horns, specifically car horns. I believe the people of Brussels have a long-term relationship with their horns and therefore want to hear their voices for as long as possible, as often as possible. (this is they may share with New York)
-Beggars: I live in a really poor district, but all around Brussels there are a lot of immigrant beggars on the streets- and on the metros. It reminds me of Barcelona, and takes some getting used to.

Well that's all I can come up with for now. In other fun news, I saw the Atomium the other day! Super-famous Brussels landmark 101. It was built for the 1958 World's Fair, made to look like an iron atom.

Atomium!!

At night, all lit up!

I also visit the market at Gare du Midi on Sunday morning, which apparently is there every Sunday. While we went to go get some veggies, but there was everything you could possibly imagine. Clothes, boots, hats, frying pans and jewelry.  Fruit, veggies, cheese, meat, olives, bread! You name it, they have it! Enter the symphony of pungent smells, bright colors and loud voices singing, "One euro! one euro oranges! One euro one euro one euro!" All vying for your attention, and your wallet! Sharp smells of cheese and fish, the warm aroma of freshly baked bread drift through the air. Vivacious reds, greens, yellows and purples cluster on stands in a variety of common and unknown fruits and vegetables. I loved it! Next time I'm in town on the weekend, I definitely plan on going back!

I felt it was ironic that there were Brussels sprouts. So I had to take a picture.

Fruit at the Gare du Midi Market!