Home is who you are

Part Three

3

Gabi and Tony arrived in Brussels just after New Year. The days were freezing cold, overcast and too short, but it didn't snow or rain for some time. They had the chance to settle and get to know their new home.

The jetlag was terrible and they had barely unpacked, but on their first morning in Brussels they were out by ten o'clock. The mix of excitement, curiosity and fright helped them ignore the exhaustion and the cold. Unpacking had proved to be far less interesting anyway.

They took the subway and stopped at the Bourse, which was the closest station to the Grand Place according to the map. They had bought a guide at the airport and intended to see as much as possible as quickly as possible, so they could stop being tourists and start living like locals.

The Bourse turned out to be the Stock Exchange building and it was big and beautiful.

"Oh, wow. Look at that!" Gabi said as they emerged from the subway station.

"Let's cross and check out the statues." Tony suggested.

"There's always a sculpture of a semi-naked person in this kind of building." They waited for the pedestrian light to turn green.

"And angels."

"Warriors."

"Don't forget the virgins eating grapes."

"Oh, and lions, of course." They had crossed and were in front of the steps at the entrance.

"At least we don't have to rub their balls for luck." Tony said.

"Ha! You know, I did rub the bull's balls in New York when I first visited." Gabi confessed.

"Oh, I've read that there is something to rub here in Brussels too, it's near the Grand Place. Do you wanna go give it a try?"

They walked towards the back of the building, stopping to watch and listen to street artists, passing by packs of Asian tourists and finally reaching the Grand Place, Brussels' main square. The building with the tall tower was the city hall. There were also some stores, cafés, museums and a lot of people, despite the freezing cold.

"Don't you just love how old this place is?" Gabi said, looking up at the buildings.

"Yeah, imagine how much it has witnessed. I can't help but wonder how life was here decades, centuries ago." Tony said.

"It's amazing! We might see things this year that are older than our home countries."

"Let's walk that way, I think the lucky statue is over there."

They touched the golden sculpture on the wall, took some pictures and walked a bit further, trying to find a place to eat.

"How about that waffle place over there?" Tony pointed. "We should try one covered in whipped cream and strawberries!"

"What's with the crowd?" Gabi pointed to a corner on the left.

"No idea."

They got closer, trying to see through all the people gathered around.

"Oh, it's that little boy's statue. It's so small! What's his story again?" She asked, now trying to disentangle from the hoard of tourists.

"Something about saving the city from a fire with his pee. That's why he is called Manneken Pis. It means 'the little man who pees' in Dutch." Tony explained.

"How noble. So – food?"

"Sure. But then we will look for the Royal Palace and we should really get some rest before meeting Charles and Jen."

"Deal."

They met Charles, one of Tony's new colleagues, and his wife later that evening. The American couple took them to a restaurant where they would eat the famous moules frites – mussels and fries. Seafood wasn't really Tony's thing and Gabi had never tried mussels before, but as they drank white wine and dipped their fries in mayonnaise "as the Belgians do", a warm and comfortable feeling took over them.

Charles and Jen were not much older than them, maybe in their late thirties. It was nice to meet people from home to ease the transition, since their French was still anything but sufficient.

"It's still early." Jen said when they were ready to leave. "How about we catch a movie?" They had hired a babysitter for the night and intended to enjoy all they could. "And you can already see the Atomium. There's a movie theatre right there."

"I don't know, I'm really tired." Gabi shot a questioning glance at Tony.

"We could sleep in tomorrow. We have to stay home and unpack anyway." He said.

"Hum... okay."

They saw a movie Gabi couldn't really remember, partly because she was sleep-deprived and partly because she couldn't take her eyes off the subtitles: French and Dutch, one under the other. What am I doing here? Oh my God, how am I going to survive in this country? I can't make sense of anything! How can they do this?

She woke up with a start and for a moment she didn't know where she was. The bed was wrong, the room was wrong, even the smell was wrong. Disoriented, alone in bed, she started crying. Fragments of a bad dream lingered in her mind.

Tony came in holding two cups of coffee. "Bonjour!" He stopped on his tracks when he saw the tears rolling. "What's wrong?"

"Jetlag." She reached for the mug.

"How about we take it easy today?" Tony sat on his side of the new bed.

"No, I'm fine. Let's unpack, settle in and maybe go for a beer later." She gulped her coffee. "Une bière belge, baby!"

"Alright! That's my girl." He said, kissed her forehead and got up. "Already knows the most important words in French."

***