Languages, old friends, and rain.

Well, autumn is officially here in Brussels.  We’ve had amazing blue skies with orange falling leaves blowing around but today marks the official day of rain and slimy wet leaves.  The kids informed me this morning in the car, that this is how it’s going to be for the next two months.  In December, the rain lets up and the possibility of snow comes in.

With this shift of season, I can let go of summer daydreaming and can settle more into my life here.  I start volunteering next week at the English Primary school that Theo goes to which should lead to some interesting observations.  There are many nationalities represented at the school because many parents work for the EU and embassies in the area.  Also, I am adding an additional job to my already child-centered life.  I’ll be babysitting a 9-month year old girl a couple of mornings a week.  Any assistance to my travel/student loan fund is fine with me!  The mother is actually the great niece of Vladimir Nabokov, the author of Lolita.  See what I mean about European history!  It’s everywhere, all the time.

In other news, the family is still treating me well.  I managed to get the car towed a couple weeks ago (thanks to a very sneaky looking garage door that I parked in front of) and they handled it really well.  Also, their first au pair came back for a visit and I got to talk with her outside the house about what it was like for her.  It was nice to know that she was treated the same way and observed certain family tendencies as well.  I was starting to think that maybe it was just me!  Thanks to that clarifying conversation, I have felt better about the situation here, though I have been thinking a lot about what will happen next year.  I don’t want to get ahead of my self (or how they say in French, circa Laura Ingalls Wilder: don’t put the plow in front of the cattle!) so I’m trying to live in the moment and let this year lead me where it leads me.  No need to rush. 

In the meantime, I’m successfully discovering great places to go: a cupcake/tea room in Ixelles, a coffee shop with free wifi around the corner, and my own living room with my old friend- the piano.  We have a weekly date on Wednesdays when nobody is home so I can embarrassingly trip through old pieces that take me back to high school and college junior standing.  It’s been a while since I’ve played consistently so this has been a humbling experience.  My pieces have stayed the same but I have gotten older and clumsier.  It’s hard to be with a loyal friend who doesn’t age.

My French class has been going well as I’m getting a much needed review of verbs and their bazillion tenses.  Since the class is mainly composed of foreign mothers, we tend to discuss the importance of language and being bi/tri-lingual.  In one text we read this quote:

« Plus on parle des langues, plus on est homme »

The more we speak languages, the more we are human.

Living in a truly international city makes you more aware of how different cultures and languages make life so much more interesting.  So far, I have met many people who have mentioned that they speak at least three languages.  I am obligated to reply, with a regretful tone, that I only speak one foreign language.

There are two sad aspects to my response.

1. In the States, being bilingual is less common (for people who didn’t grow up speaking a different language at home). 

2.  In Europe, two languages not enough.  I recently met the father of my employer, who is Dutch and 80 years old.  His English was amazing. Apparently, his French, German, and Spanish are as well… Not including his couple years of Japanese that he claims is purely at a conversational level.

Maybe this is one reason I love Europe.  Its focus on language, cultural discovery (or even cultural second guessing), and history fascinates me.  I think Americans are slowly adding more language emphasis in younger generations but we will never be Europe.  And maybe that’s a good thing.

Thinking of home and everyone there.

Bisous!