Antwerp - My new home (temporarily at least)

It’s been nearly 3 months now that I’ve been here at Antwerp/Antwerpen/Anvers, so am quite getting used to the place. I mean when you forget your (only) house key at the local supermarket or get drenched in a sudden shower and then have to sneak in late into the last row at your very first presentation, in damp clothes, it kind of takes away all that “new place” feeling you have initially. It’s been a good 11 weeks though.

The very first day I was here, got up quite early (which is a relative term since I’ve found that most people here turn up at office by 7 am!) for office. But the moment I stepped out of the building I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I mean, people walking around in big black hats and long black coats, with beards and long n curly strands of hair on either side, is not something I was expecting to see in 21st century Europe. It seemed a scene straight out of some movie like The Sound of Music, complete with the girls in long frocks! Have gotten used to this now, I understand there is a large Jewish population here who maintain their traditional way of dressing. Wonderful really, especially when you see the “modernization” taking place in our own way of dressing back in India.

I’ve always heard phrases like “common language”, “language of the world”, etc about English, but that premise doesn’t seem to hold much water here. The local language is Flemish (a form of Dutch), and all writing is only in it (right down to our monthly salary slips!!). Shopping at the supermarket is interesting, with you having to guess the contents of the box from the cover design. Now this is quite tricky when you are a vegetarian! Most packaging though have, very helpfully, additional text in French and/or German.

Am learning to live without an Idiot Box over here, since I understand you don’t get English channels (forget Indian!) unless you opt for the higher end subscriptions. So have to make do with an ordinary 15 Mbps Internet connection :D Miss my regular dose of “Scrubs” or “The Big Bang Theory” though :(