We're preparing to leave Belgium, so packed up some of our stuff. There's always a complication if you changed airlines at all, as suddenly we are overweight with our luggage. Etihad allows us 23 kgs, while Aer Lingus allows only 20kgs. So we'll have to pay excess on the trip to Dublin. Of course the fact we have bought presents for everyone, as well as for ourselves, doesn't help our situation.
After this we walked down to Etangs du Woluwe, just for the walk and the scenery, but we kept an eye out for squirrels, and saw quite a few. However, they wouldn't sit still long enough for me to photograph them. Nice to know there is still urban wildlife.
After this we again caught the metro into town and had frites in the Grand Place. We'll miss this, but I'm sure it will be better for my waistline not to eat frites and gaufres.
Television is similar to when we lived here - there are the Belgian French channels, the Belgian Flemish channels, the German, Luxembourg, Italian, British and Dutch channels, with the addition of Arabic, Turkish, Portuguese, Spanish and Greek. The French are great at dubbing, though sometimes the voice doesn't seem to quite match the actor. The Germans are also quite good at dubbing, it's interesting to see Paul Hogan speaking German or Arnold Schwarzenegger speaking French.
The Dutch, however, favour subtitles, which could explain why they learn English so easily, the children are exposed to the sound from the beginning of their lives. You often see very young children speaking entirely fluently in several languages, they will change languages for different members of their family. All within seconds. I don't know why we make such a big deal about children learning languages, they do it naturally until about age 12. Which is of course when we normally start teaching children languages - once they reach high school! Crazy, no wonder we're not good at them.
Tomorrow, the Tram 44 to the African Museum in Tervuren - haven't been there since 1989!
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| Etangs du Woluwe, on Ave de Tervuren |
After this we again caught the metro into town and had frites in the Grand Place. We'll miss this, but I'm sure it will be better for my waistline not to eat frites and gaufres.
Television is similar to when we lived here - there are the Belgian French channels, the Belgian Flemish channels, the German, Luxembourg, Italian, British and Dutch channels, with the addition of Arabic, Turkish, Portuguese, Spanish and Greek. The French are great at dubbing, though sometimes the voice doesn't seem to quite match the actor. The Germans are also quite good at dubbing, it's interesting to see Paul Hogan speaking German or Arnold Schwarzenegger speaking French.
The Dutch, however, favour subtitles, which could explain why they learn English so easily, the children are exposed to the sound from the beginning of their lives. You often see very young children speaking entirely fluently in several languages, they will change languages for different members of their family. All within seconds. I don't know why we make such a big deal about children learning languages, they do it naturally until about age 12. Which is of course when we normally start teaching children languages - once they reach high school! Crazy, no wonder we're not good at them.
Tomorrow, the Tram 44 to the African Museum in Tervuren - haven't been there since 1989!
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