Today I woke up in Amsterdam extra early because I had to head to the bus station to find buses leaving for Brussels. Joel was leaving for London later tonight, but he insisted he would go with me to the bus station, even though it was across town. I got a bus departing at 1:00p.m, so I am happy Joel was there keeping me company until it was time for me to leave. Anyways, the bus ride was fairly long, being that Brussels in only about two hours away by car from Amsterdam.. I guess busses like these just drives extra slow, because I got in at 6 pm....
I never thought of Brussels as a place to visit until now, to be honest, Belgium never ran through my mind as a country I'd like to one day visit, but now, I am a little optimistic about this place. I obviously used to be a real close minded and ignorant person if I didn't think of Belgium as a powerful country, and worth of visiting. For Brussels has earned the title of the Capital of Europe. And it is a city that is not only enhanced by picturesque medieval streets, lively squares, beautiful boulevards, impressive monuments, spacious parks, cosy cafés, interesting restaurants and an active cultural life.. (aaah breath...in...then out) But it has also gotten it's character by the coexistence of French and Flemish culture, which nowadays is home to nationalities around the world. I would be dumb to ever pass up the opportunity to visit this place.
Well... Since it's late November and very, extremely cold this time of year, darkness falls at 5 pm; making my scary experience upon arrival even worst. So as I exited the bus, I saw a man in a raggedy old Mercedes Benz; on this empty one-way street. I figured he was waiting for someone that was on my bus. But then I realized he kept flagging someone down, waving and screaming like towards my direction! I turned around, to look if there was anyone behind me, but there was noone, every one seemed to have walked the opposite way I was walking. So I quickly realized I was alone outside the bus-station and it was really me the man was waving down. Still in disbelief of my current situation, I say to myself "What the fcuk, this can't be happening, why me, why now, why here?" But pretended to brush it off and keep on walking, minding my own business, struggling with my big suitcase on the rocky cemented sidewalk. I knew I had a friend in Brussels who is waiting on me, but I am positive this isn't him (unless he went under the knife and got a new face surgery). I have no idea who this guy is or what he is trying to tell me! So he parks his car on the side of the street, get out the car and walks towards me, speaking loud so I could hear with a friendly look on his face as if we were old time friends, while I keep on pretending to ignore him, I am feeling so confused inside my head (for a quick moment, I fell for his act, and started to tell myself that I probably knew him; but wait.. wait.. wait.. I am going crazy, I need more time to think before I act), I quickly changed directions of where I was going and started to walk in a faster pace to a location furthest away from him, hoping to hit the corner of the building as soon as possible so I can run or maybe... hide (I dont know... all I kept thinking was, that I had to be out of sight of view, to think straigh, so he doesn't see me freaking out, as a weak target).
I finally hit that corner, waving my iPhone in the air like a crazy person, in hope to get some type of wifi connection. (I thought maybe my local friend Nico sent someone to the bus-station to pick me up, but I knew I had to get to my email because Nico would have told me, if that was the case). Well while I am behind this building, away from the crazy guy sights, I am pacing a little, and panicing a lot, trying to get some type of wifi connection from the air ways, and BOOM.. It happened so fast, in a split of a second, when I feel the dude tackling me down (Great, I'm doomed, he is probably going drug me and sell me as a sex slave, if not killed)! He literally ran and tackled me to the floor, while I angrily screamed " Fcuk, let me go, I don't know you, you ass-hole." He grabbed me, while smiling all happy saying something in Dutch or French that I couldn't understand. So I'm like "No no no, I don't speak your language you fool, I speak English" and he kept speaking, but this time slower and with a few hand gestures, has if I would magically start to understand him...NOT.. At this point I was livid, more angry than scared, he was bragging on my shirt when I said "Who are you and what the fcuk do you want? I don't know you, get your hands off me, let me go!" and in a Borrat broken English voice he said " you boyfriend? need a hotel?" I said "No, fcuk off, I have a boyfriend and he is waiting for me inside the station." He than picked up my suitcase that he had knocked over when he attacked me and handed to me, dusting off any dirty that got on it, then calmly walking away. Leaving me a ball of confusion, wondering "Why does sh!t like have to happen to me? Why God, why?" and the most interesting thing about this incident was how in the middle of a dangerous situation like this, I was able to defend myself with such a bad attitude, instead of being scared, to the point I would not only confront him but offend him enough to possibly get me killed. I find myself to be fearless with the worst attitude at the wrong times with what could be the wrong people. Maybe it all really comes down to that Walter Cannon theory called Fight-or-Flight Response.
Anyways, after I managed to get into the bus station safe and sound, I ran to the nearest pay phone to call Nico; who is a friend from Brussels that I met while he was vacationing in Brasil earlier this year. When he heard I was in Europe, he told me if I decided to visit Brussels that he would prepare a whole fun weekend for me while in town. At this point I was just angry for how my night was going, I wasted about 5€ calling him because the payphone kept eating my money (which is about USD$10 by the way, and R$20 in Brasil) to call up Nico, because Dumb ole me, accidentally erased the hotel reservation that Nico had forwarded to me the day before, which contained important little details, such as: a NAME and ADDRESS to the hotel. Well thankfully, Nico answered the phone and was able to give me the address; (oh yeah, noticed I said H.O.T.E.L. and no, it is not a typo, I will not stay in a hostel while in Brussels thank to Nico offering me a nice stay, part of his welcoming package!) So, I went out to the taxi spot to wait on a cab...and well.. while 3 different taxi cabs came by asking me where I was going than said "No" by refusing to take me, and pointing at the person behind me in line and asking where they where going and inviting them in his cab to take them. I'm so angry as I think to myself ("HELLO, I'm not from here, it is late, I am freezing, don't speak French... doesn't anybody here feel bad for me? especially the other passengers who just witness the driver skip me due to my heavy traffic destination)" Apparently, nobody cared that taxi cabs kept disqualifying me from their services, because downtown was too congestioneted! (Hm, I am sorry, but I didn't know taxi drivers had a choice. Ahhh!) Gosh, they hand-pick people in the line worst than a bouncer at an upscale nightclub, except this time old man are getting picked over me, Ugh! Anyways, I finally got a older taxi driver who was polite enough to take me, and explained to me why the other drivers denied me. (Sorry for making them work while at work). Well I got to my hotel downtown with just enough time to put my bags down to meet Nico downstairs; he had came by to take me out to dinner. Nico is a nice 27 year old guy, drives an Audi, is always nicely dressed; but seems extremely shy and nervous around me, while making obvious uncomfortable faces as he struggles with his poor English. Well, so not to make this trip awkward for me on the first day, he invited one of his guy friends to join us for the dinner. Ufff.. that is a relief, because it makes it feel less of a dinner date! His friend was extremely talkative, as he felt very happy to be practising his English. Well dinner was nice, but the food was eeeh, okay because I chose to have duck meat, since it was a traditional dish here in Belgium.
After the dinner, Nico and company took me to a lounge bar close by the University of Belgium, we met up with two of his other friends; who were extremely funny guys, whom kept me laughing the entire night, all of them spoke very little English, but since I was in Brussels they expected me to understand French! It was getting late, so I asked to leave because when traveling like this, it is rare that you go out all day, and than have energy for the nightlife too.... Ugh the late night drop off that the hotel part. This is the type of moment I was avoiding, when Nico was dropped me off at at my hotel, he made a comment in a non-sarcastic way by "Maybi tunite I go to yor room" and with me trying to have a confused look on my face I said "Huh? I'm Sorry I don't understand!" He repeated it three times three paraphrasing it three different ways, but I still pretended I wasn't understanding it! So he felt kinda foolish and said "nefer mind I se iu tomoraw bodyful" Ohhhh sweet misery... it is amazing how language barriers sometimes works for the best!!
Anyways I just can't wait until tomorrow, Nico is taking me to Bruges, which is a small, beautiful town nearby, everyone speaks very highly of this town, for this whole time I have been traveling I keep on hearing from other travelers it is a town worth seeing, if ever in Belgium. So I am ready to spend the whole day there, even if it means I will freeze, or get frost bites. Ouch! I'll write again, on the way to Luxembourg
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