We wrapped up our European sojourn in August!
I wanted to re-start my weekly blog, with this tribute, after a long hiatus. In full transparency, this blog post will have nothing to do with analytics but is about gratitude to my spouse and daughter, colleagues, and my company, Mars Inc.
Grateful for an amazing, incredible, life-changing 4 years for all three of us in Brussels, Belgium (🇧🇪). In my opinion, Belgians are one of the most ‘chill’ people I have met, and Belgium is one of the coolest countries I have experienced. No offense to my home, USA and to my country of birth, India 😊!
Belgium has forever been at the cross-roads, literally and figuratively, of western European history, politics, and culture. From being the home of the Dutch masters during the Renaissance period to its status as host to the European Union parliament and NATO headquarters. The country has two sub-regions (Flanders and Wallonia) and 581 cities and communes. The 300 Flemish cities and communes are spread over five provinces, i.e., Antwerp, East Flanders, Flemish Brabant, Limburg and West Flanders. The 262 Walloon cities and communes are spread over five provinces, i.e., Hainaut, Liège, Luxembourg, Namur and Walloon Brabant. The Brussels-Capital Region covers 19 communes.
We lived in one of these communes, Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, right on the border of Brussels and Flanders. Our house was on the Brussels side and whenever we would cross the street we were in Flanders! Now you would think what is the big deal, right? Here is the deal, the language, the property taxes, the zoning laws, the architecture, the ‘vibe’ is all different based on which side you lived on. The Belgians are pretty serious about this fact.
Our landlord, Louis, was just amazing. He is a 77-year-old Frenchman who was super warm and welcoming to all of us. He reminded me of my dad – his calm demeanor, his energy, and affection – all of it. We rented his house and made it our home for 4 years. We had family and friends visit and stay with us and what a pleasure that was. We would have had more if the last 18 months were not what they have been for all of us.
Our home was 2 minutes away from Stockel village square. Every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday the square played host to one of Europe’s largest farmers market and boy what an experience that was. The flowers, the vegetables, the liege waffles from Jean Gaston’s pastry truck – the memories and the smells are forever with us. Our home was 10 minutes away from the airport, 10 minutes from my office, 10 minutes from our daughters’ school, and 10 minutes from the center of Brussels. Our home was a 3-minute walk to the tram, the bus, and the metro. Our yoga studio was down the street, our doctor’ office was down the street, our pharmacy was down the street, our bank was down the street, our vet was down the street, our flower shop was down the street, our bio store was down the street, our post office was down the street, our everything was down the street!
Our daughter “grew up” in Belgium. She went there as a 14-year-old and left with a high school IB diploma from the British School of Brussels. She left with a world class education, life skills for a lifetime and whole new language, French, in her repertoire. We are blessed to have had her spend her formative years in a place like Belgium. She has grown so much in every aspect, and we are super proud to see her adapt, immerse, embrace, and evolve the way she did. She was super independent, and our neighborhood and city at large supported this independence. She would take the bus, tram and metro to hang out with friends at Tervuren park, Leuven, and Brussels, till late at night as the city was super safe, imagine that!
Our dog’s kennel was literally on the battlefield of Waterloo. I would often say that Axel probably hung out with the ghost of Napoleon whenever he was there. On one occasion we arrived before the kennel opened and decided to take a walk with Axel to kill the time and we stumbled on monuments dedicated to Napoleon’s Young Guard and the Prussians. Incredible! Ever since I was 10 years old, I had wanted to visit Waterloo and Normandy; they are now checked off my list.
The people were amazing. Whether it be the town-hall, the stores, the restaurants. We were dear friends with a young couple who started an Italian restaurant, you guessed it, down the street from us. We often hung out there enjoying the brick oven pizzas, the lasagna’s, the ziti’s, the tiramisu’s and the panacotta’s. We had our daughter’s surprise 16th birthday party there. They were so sweet that they moved all the furniture and let the kids dance in the middle of the restaurant afterwards! We will miss that feeling of walking into a place and everybody knowing our names.
If this was not enough for us to miss the place, then let me tell you about all the excellent traveling we got to do. We visited London, numerous times, as it was a mere couple hour train ride on the Eurostar. We visited Oxford in the UK and drove all over Ireland. We were at Stonehenge. We were in Venice for an amazing vacation before we cruised the Adriatic sea – all of it! We took trains across the Iberian Peninsula and visited Barcelona, Madrid and Lisbon. We took my wife’s parents to see the northern lights in Ivalo, Finland, took trains to go see Berlin, Prague and watch Swan-Lake in Vienna. I drove with my father-in-law to see a football match at the Signal Iduna park in Dortmund, Germany. The match was a sold-out stadium of ~83,000 happy, drunk, screaming fans. I am so glad I got to experience that with him. Our daughter’s Kathak Guru/teacher lived a couple hour drive from us in Essen, Germany and we were able to visit her quite frequently. We drove numerous times to Paris – got to spend valentine’s day there couple years in a row ❤️! We got to explore Antwerp, Bruges, Gent, Dinant, Namur, Brussels, Leuven, and the Wallonia wine region. We took a road-trip across Switzerland – Basel, Arlesheim, Metzerlain, Delemont, St. Ursanne, Soubey, Saignelegier, St. Imier, La Chaux De Fonds, Le Locle, Neuchatel, Bern, Lucerne, Laussane, Rapperswill, Einsiedeln, Sattel, Schwyz, Brunnen, Sisikon, Gersau, Brunnen, Einsiedeln and Zurich. The list is long, the memories and experiences are longer. All this before the world shut down. We did not get to explore Southern France and Italy – will loop back to cover that. After all, there need to be excuses to come back to Belgium 😊!
The football world cup in Russia came to our own Stockel square in the summer of 2018. Every Belgium match was telecast live on a 20 feet by 20 feet digital screen. We would join in with a packed crowd, packed to every square inch you can imagine, drinking beer, singing, yelling, and enjoying the live world cup atmosphere. We were all red that summer and passionately followed Belgium’s journey till the heartbreaking loss in the semi-final. I can still feel the energy, excitement, and sheer joy that literally exploded every time Belgium scored. The square would erupt with celebration, beer flying in the air, singing, confetti, fireworks, and a chorus of chanting by all of us that still rings in my ears. I will always be rooting for the Red Devils no matter which part of the world I am in.
I could keep doing this forever as the experiences have literally left us the better for it. We are leaving Europe, healthier, and happier. We are the richer for it. This is the place I re-discovered my love for running. I have gotten back to this after almost 11 years. I ran two 20K’s and intend to run one every year going forward.
As I wrap this up I would like to thank Mars for facilitating amazing opportunities for us associates. Deep gratitude to Laurent Larguinat and Angela Mangiapane for supporting, advocating and making this rich experience possible for my family and I. I will forever be grateful and indebted. I am super proud to be working for an organization that enables its associates to explore, learn and enrich themselves. What Mars has facilitated for me on this journey is indescribable and an amazing blessing!
Ontzettend bedankt!
Un immense merci!
If you don’t know what the emblems above are, Google it; If you don’t know what the words above mean, Google it; If you do not understand why I am writing in two different languages although I lived in one country, Google it!
Go Reds!
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