Belgium through the eyes of a Russian man (43 observed facts)

Our colleague from Russia, had the experience of living in different countries. Now he shares some interesting observations about the inhabitants, mores and living arrangements. Let us pass the floor to him:

I have been living in Belgium for some time now, and many things have surprised me here. It’s funny, but Belgium, which is considered to be the center of Europe, is very different from our concept of Europe, and many things here are just wild for our people. I decided to make a list of the facts that struck me most of all.

1. Belgians are not patriots, many do not know the Belgian anthem and do not like Belgians from neighboring regions. Although in our eyes they are all the same, the Belgians themselves can easily understand what region a person is from by his or her language and behavior. The inhabitants of any of the regions of Belgium consider the inhabitants of other regions a little bit dumb, but they all share a common love of making fun of the Dutch.
2. Beer is a national religion in Belgium. They don’t drink beer only for breakfast, but from 10 a.m. they drink it all the time. If alcohol, it is only beer. Everything that is not Belgian beer is piss, especially Dutch beer. The worst beer is Heineken. The most respected is Duvel.

3. Beer comes in two sizes: small 0.25 and large 0.33. You won’t find half a liter almost anywhere, not to mention our national tankards. With three “big” beers Belgians are already quite drunk.
4. Girls drink beer as much as guys. And it is not a fashionable thing to do.

5. The main national dish is fries, or French fries. Here they are called either Belgian fries or simply frites. They are eaten with mayonnaise and everywhere, in pouches, similar to a roll of newspaper, from which we used to eat seeds. Any Belgian will tell you that the first time Americans tasted French fries was when they were in Belgium at the end of World War II, and french fries is from the verb to french (“to cut”) and has nothing to do with France.
6. Sterility in Belgium is a dubious concept: any food will be served or put on your plate with your hands. If you order, for example, shawarma, you will put meat in it with your hands, then the same hands will take the money.
7. They treat clothes very negligently. They can easily throw their jackets on the ground or walk around in torn and dirty clothes.

8. The concepts of style and fashion are quite different from ours. Girls don’t wear heels and blouses with necklines, wear ripped tights and combine such colors that you get the impression that they are under LSD.
9. Very strong feminism in society. Girls are absolutely equal to guys, from which, in my opinion, they suffer. Guys don’t know how to approach girls at all, and instead watch a lot of porn.
10. If you have a girlfriend, you’re cool. Because a girl is a guarantee that you have sex, and she’s viewed in much the same way. Sometimes you get the impression that relationships in Belgium are just sex companionship and that’s it, though of course there are exceptions.
11. Belgian women in our understanding are not very attractive. And those who seem to be not very ugly, try to seem ugly and dress even worse. If you meet a beautiful girl on the street, she is either Turkish, or Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, or at the end from the Baltics.
12. The concept of “gentleman” is absent here. Letting a girl go, opening the door or helping to carry a heavy load is something impossible. There is a company of girls and guys, and the girls are carrying a case of beer – this is the norm.
13. A bicycle is the main means of transportation. Everyone rides them here: grandfathers over 80 and children from two years old. All big centers and train stations have parking lots for bicycles, and there are thousands of them here. If you rent an apartment, it will be written whether there is bicycle parking at the house.
14. Belgians are a very sporty nation. Running, cycling and ball hockey are popular. If you say hockey, it is the summer grass sport that everyone thinks of.
15. Speaking of weed: the picture of young people sitting downtown on the waterfront and smoking a joint in a circle is perfectly normal. Although drugs are illegal.
16. Belgians get up very early. On weekends at 8 a.m., the line to the bakery for fresh bread is a normal story.
17. Belgians are very narrow-minded: if there is a law or tradition, they will follow it, no matter how stupid it is. Creative or out-of-the-box thinking is rare.

18. In general, Belgians are very polite and friendly, but sometimes a little too much so. For example, you will never be told to fuck off directly, but will say something like the following: “I in no way would like to offend you or hurt your feelings, but it seems to me that it would be better for you to go to fuck, of course, if you don’t want to, you can not go. But I think you’ll be cozy there.”
19. Belgians marry usually late, at the age of 30. Before that they consider themselves young people and live quite carefree.
20. Very fond of traveling. Asia is especially honored by them.
21. Awareness of Russia is good, but their idea of our country is, of course, ridiculous. I was extremely surprised that when I said that I was from Russia, the first reaction was – great, I have long wanted to travel along the Trans-Siberian Railway. And only then – vodka, Putin, communism.
22. The attitude to Russians is rather negative: if a man is a thug, if a girl is a girl of easy behavior. And this stereotype is extremely difficult to break.
23. There are a lot of Turks and Arabs in Belgium. Their attitude to them is cool, but if you ask Belgians how they treat them, you will hear a learned tirade about how happy they are and do not see the difference. But if you approach drunken Belgians with the same question, the answer will be quite different.
24. There are a lot of lesbians and gays in Belgium. And in that order. I attribute this to the men not being the most masculine, although maybe the reason is different. Some politicians are openly gay, two prime examples being former Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo and former Flanders Education Minister (in the Peters II government) Pascal Smet.

25. Belgium is divided into two large parts: Dutch-speaking Flanders (where I live) and French-speaking Wallonia. The Flemish disdain the Walloons and regard them as something like servants.
26. Most Flemish people speak English, Dutch, and French. The Walloons speak only French, and that, according to the Flemish, poorly.
27. All Belgians will tell you that they speak Flemish, not Dutch. In fact, they are the same language.
28. The people of Antwerp are considered the most arrogant snobs.
29. No one ever shades the windows, even on the first floors you can always see what is going on in someone else’s apartment.
30. At home, no one takes off their shoes, not even boots. They will sit, sweat, but they will not take them off.
31. Belgians eat a hot meal once a day. Usually lunch or dinner is just a sandwich.

32. Belgium, as well as France, does not use qwerty keyboard, instead they type on azerty layout, I must say, extremely inconvenient and illogical thing.
33. Blow their nose very loudly, and in any environment. Sometimes you get the feeling that a shell from a howitzer exploded near you, but no, it was a miniature girl blowing her nose.
34. With a sense of humor here is hard, the concept of sarcasm is absent as a class. Therefore, if a person jokes, he adds the phrase “it was a joke” after the humor itself, otherwise many people may not really understand.
35. The boundaries of decency are quite low. Everyone undresses very simply, and everything, absolutely all saunas, spas and pools are adjacent, and it is forbidden to walk in swimsuits and cover up in them.
36. The bar of permissiveness in humor is also, by our standards, the Belgians are low. In a fairly formal setting, you can easily hear select vulgarity and blackness.
37. Belgians are very frost-resistant. A girl in minus one in ballet flats on bare feet and a guy in shorts is a common sight.
38. Belgians always have everything planned. Everyone has a diary and all appointments are arranged about two weeks in advance. Just dropping in drunk at 1 a.m. to a friend’s house is unlikely to work.

39. Belgium has strong labor unions, so strikes are very frequent. In the last two months, public transportation, schools and other public institutions have failed three times. The reasons for strikes, by our standards, are ridiculous.
40. Belgians – a very honest people, and everything here is based on honesty, receipts, checks, etc. here no one gives.
41. Belgians are very fond of compromise, as they are afraid to offend anyone. When you tell them that it is impossible to please everyone, they do not understand it and are likely to make, in their opinion, a fair decision. Which will not really satisfy anyone.
42. All stores work until 5-6, after that time you can shoot. If you buy furniture, delivery works only from 9 to 5 and only on weekdays. It’s not fair that someone will work late and someone else won’t.
43. Belgium has very high taxes, about 45%, the government has repeatedly tried to reduce them, but the majority of the population is against it, because most of the population in Belgium does not work, and lives on welfare.

If you have anything to add to these points or disagree with something, we’d love to see your opinion in the comments. It will be a nice addition to the article.