After
spending 10 months in Canada, my family (and my Mum in particular) wanted me to
come “home” in order to catch up with everyone. So I hopped on a plane and
arrived in Brussels on Friday morning, June 26 only to find myself back on a
plane with destination for Portugal 4 days later for a well deserved holiday.
Although I
first had to battle my jetlag, being away from school and work for 12 days in a
row did me good…very good! I had time to read a book, sleep, swim, eat, drink,
and enjoy some time with my sister Evelien. We also visited the Vilamoura marina,
the early market for fresh fruits, vegetables and fish, and the old city of
Faro. Being a tourism student definitely changed my view on things, as I could
tell that I enjoyed looking around for unique sightseeing things and taking
pictures (yes, I became the Chinese tourist in our family :-) )
After
arriving back in Belgium, I pretty much immediately started working in the
kitchen at Il Cardinale, a fancy and unique burgerbar in the center of
Mechelen. Not only did I had the opportunity to work together with amazing and
dedicated people, but I also learned a lot about being a cook in a restaurant.
Il Cardinale’s house style is based on everything related to religion, which
makes it a very lovely place to be. With burgers like The Godfather, Mary had a
little Lamb, and Baby Jesus on the menu, I definitely enjoyed being part of a
success story.
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| Il Cardinale Swag <3 |
My family
and I visited Manneke Pis in Brussels, and went to the city of Knokke to enjoy
the seaside on my days off. Apart from that, I didn’t do anything special as
life in Belgium was busy as is. There are unfortunately enough a lot of friends
I didn’t had time to meet up with, but I hope you can all forgive me.
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| Manneke Pis |
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| Het Atomium |
But the
time to say goodbye has come again. This coming Friday, I’ll say goodbye to
Belgium for the 4th time not knowing when I’ll be back. Being here
for only such a short period of time, made me realize that I don’t want to
spend my life here. People are stressed out and forget to enjoy life to the
max, which doesn’t correspond with my lifestyle.
I do love
everyone I leave behind, but this isn’t a goodbye but a ‘Until we meet again!’.
