Week 5

I got home from Amsterdam on Sunday evening and caught up on emails from the past 3 days. I found out from my neighbor Drew that I had a summons for jury duty. GREAT. Let's see how hard it is to get out of this. Part of me is curious about the judicial process. I wouldn't mind serving on a jury as long as it was short and interesting. I think that would be wishful thinking since most people have such bad experiences. I found out that March 19th is definitely my last day for working in Brussels, so maybe I will be around to follow through with it. I'm hoping to travel from the 19th to 25th as long as I can get my return flight pushed back. I'm not sure where I'll go yet, but Paris seems like a good bet.

On Tuesday I went to dinner at my favorite restaurant in Brussels, Le IIéme Élément. I've been there twice and have ordered the same thing both times. #25 on the menu is a chicken curry dish in coconut milk - it's so good. The restaurant is located in the Ixelles neighborhood about a 10 minute walk from my hotel. There are a lot of African shops and markets in the area, and every time I've been there at night I see shady characters standing on the corner - and no, not because they are black. They always speak to me (in French) when I walk by, but I usually just ignore them and go on.

This time, I was walking along the sidewalk with my head slightly down to block the wind and I came upon three guys blocking the sidewalk. I was aware of what they were doing, so I wasn't surprised when they didn't move out of the way when I approached them. I came to a stop and attempted to get by when one of them said something and pulled out a little bag of weed. I shook my head but none of them moved. I side-stepped between two cars and walked across the street, continuing home on the opposite side. They yelled a few things at me that I couldn't understand. My blood was pumping and I know that things could've ended a lot worse. I'd love to think I could go for a run (if it wasn't so cold), but things like that make me stick to the hotel treadmill.

Totally shifting gears here, I think my weekend plans are set. A few people I met in my third week here are going to Antwerp on Saturday, which happens to be the last major city in Belgium that I haven't visited. I had plans to go there anyway, so it worked out that they will be going as well. I plan to spend Sunday in Brussels going to a few attractions that I haven't seen, namely the Atomium Magritte Museum (think apple and bowler hat) and Musees Royaux des Beaux Arts. The Beaux Arts Museum has works from famous artists like van Dyck and Rubens, but others like Frans Hals.

The reason that I'm interested in Frans Hals takes a little bit of explaining. A few years ago my dad traced my family's geneology. Our family has lived in Kentucky for a long time, and one of my ancestors saved Abraham Lincoln from drowning when they were children (my great-great-great-great-great uncle... but that's another story). The 'Hornback' line goes back to the 1600s, where he found that we were descendents of a Dutch man named Johannes van Horenbeeck. I created an online version of our family tree on Geni.com.  Coincidentally, our family comes from Hertogenbosch, only 30 km away from Carolien's hometown of Oosterhout which I visited for Carnaval.

I started Googling Johannes van Horenbeeck, and it turns out there were more than one - it was and is a family name (Johannes is Dutch for John, which is my given name as well as my dad, grandfather and great-great-grandfather). One of the Dutch Johannes' was a theologian whose portrait was painted by Hals in 1645. That painting sits in the forementioned Beaux Arts Museum in Brussels.  I don't know how or if I'm related to him, but I'm definitely going to seek the painting (pictured here).  Post note: I tried to dig up some geneology, but it turns out that the trail goes cold for my family with Warnaar Hoorenbeeck, born in 1645. There is a chance he could've been related to the portraited Johannes, but I can't prove it.

Feel free to drop me some suggestions of places I should go on my week off.  I'm open to anything!