"The Wanderer" by Caspar David Friedrich

Some secrets may best be left dead and buried….but our team kept its nose to the grindstone this year with the election run-up. Now it’s time to unwind pretty much like the string in the arrow after being stretched all along. We have hence decided to recharge our batteries, by breathing deeply in and out and let ourselves be inspired by the different members of our team about how to live life to the full, especially as all-round Europeans! Our beavers went around sniffing to build their summer nest.

Your senses are sollicited!

Colours, noise, music, beer, food……

As for me I like the theory about introverts and extraverts. The real theory stipulates that the introvert is one who to finds energy by withdrawing into himself whereas the extravert must spend time with people to do the same. It has nothing to do with people being shy or timid or open or loud! Hence it is subtle…but after reading this I will try to give it a guess at who is whom. Join me!

 As you approach, well I work just opposite Mindaugas’ office,  rhythm penetrates your bones before you realise his bulimia for music transcends just listening to anything all the time. One must listen to him playing the Birbynė. If you have not seen that instrument check it out! Beyond that our Lithuanian colleague is entirely faithful to his nationality. He plays basketball, once a week as he likes team play and strategy. But please note that this is the second religion in his country which nearly beat NBA.

 Another love of something traditional is ”táncház”. These are bars offering folk dancing in Transylvania, which also developed as an underground movement in opposition to Communism. But thank God for love….romance came to bless our Hungarian colleague one summer there as he met his wife. Today his latest hobbies include time with his children, cycling and did you say Tokay…? yes….unforgettable wine that transports one from Brussels to Hungary in a jiffy to Villány.

As our taste buds awaken we must visit the Vietnamese food restaurant in Place St. Josse that Christian, our German editor recommends for those solemn moments. A fan of non-fiction in English, not German, having accumulated miles of travelling to exotic places like Panama, Vietnam and East and Central Africa, Christian is more faithful to the sea than national mountains.

No more no less come Raffaella, beach, sun and hours of sunbathing personified. But you may also want to try her baked bread and biscuits on a dull glum day in Belgium or accompany her to alternative European cinema in Brussels.

True to the house tradition imminently established, Barbara, our Spanish editor has just returned from a cruise to the Balearic islands. Music, Spanish literature and swimming form her cup of….sangria!

Time to relax…do you hear the wind blowing, the swishing of the sea? Breathe in and out, think of colours, sun gleaming on the ocean. That was Sofia who adores the sound, smell and light of the ocean. That was just a power nap before being transported for a ride on public transport to Brazil and China.

Hang on for a second!? Florent has just come back from his second trip to China! If you missed that then look our for him sailing on the cost around Brittany. His dream is to sail around the world one day. Advise “If you give up your dreams you grow old.”

Florent also enjoys drinking beer with friends in summer. In that he joins Josh, our Slovakian colleague, who may equally be seen playing or singing along with the guitar alone or in Place Luxembourg.

Love of countryside is that of Hannariikke who is passionate about horses as they are intelligent and lovely. She hails from the country of thousands of lakes….so by extension this summer she will enjoy the Greek sea.

Leszek and Manja both love cycling…..with a difference! The first cycles to work to reduce pollution, the second cycles about 3 hours daily. A sport lover, look out for her on a racer at night. But in some ten years’ time  or later, you may want to look out in the skies to catch this lover of Polish fiction finally fulfilling his dream of flying after having obtained his pilot licence.

But beware Pavel in some thirty years’ time will also hope to be flying. At the moment his leisure is taken by a multitude of activities from juggling, to magic, to building and flying model airplanes which are radio controlled, to spending time with his two children, running and cycling. Am a bit out of exercise suddenly…shortage of breath hits me! Well, Pavel will you that “you cannot live without passion. Otherwise you can simply crawl into your grave. Leisure is the key to happiness, to enjoying life, otherwise we are impoverished. We need to find time for friends and to switch off. Just feel free to call Pavel if interested as he seems to not find enough people to share that passion.

On a quieter, pensive front, comes David, our British colleague. True to fact as I often catch him in the morning to work, he likes walking around buildings, along the sea…that is after work! and reading history books. I know where to go when I am looking for books like “Fortress Malta,” for example. Anete finds that her hobbies change all the time that it is hard to pinpoint….It is part of her wanting to learn new stuff, discover new countries, new territories, travelling like her recent trip to Corsica or Galicia….

Colourful is also Nadina’s office, our Romanian colleague….with watercolour and graphic painting in her office. Hobby thriving in spite and despite parents’ lack of support. So much goes for will power. Her latest craze is “Capoiera,” Brazilian combat dancing. She is currently reading Jonathan Safran’s book about life seen from an eight year old’s perspective. I think I will give it a shot.

Greenery, solitude……

We may all come from the EU but some of us have adopted Belgium, taken for granted by so many expats. Svetla likes walking in the Ardennes, and reading  in German and Bulgarian to maintain homecountry wit!

For those who know Belgium vaguely, this place offers nice gardens behind the grey-looking facades. Petra is in that typically Swedish and Belgian. She relaxes by touching the earth, planting flowers. Her latest craze is on “Cosmos.” but be careful to pick the slugs in time as you may see the flower disappearing before your very eyes.

Don’t you find that at one point you want to get away from it all? Thibault actually relaxes by writing…a novel  these days. He equally likes to be trasported by US thrillers and science fiction “loin du quotidien.” No , no Thibault does not escape all the time…you may catch him deftly, heftily around you taking photos. He likes portraits of people and likes working on people in photos….As long as he does not take my picture from profile I can live with that.

 Funny I wonder if our team drives Thibault, our coordinator, and Steve, the “one who responds reluctantly to the word boss”, nuts!  You see Steve also likes to “get away from it all. To unwind he thinks of…yes yes he’s British…hence hill walking somewhere “rainy and remote…in Scotland. The wilderness, the scent, the freshness. That’s the one thing he misses most in Belgium. He would love to travel to unfrequented places…Canada,  Australia…well he used to in his previous life (author’s comment). Otherwise he loves cycling and dreams of transforming his garden, currently serving as football ground to his two boys, into an English garden. That is not all. His dream is to write a great novel, you know” the novel that everyone has inside of them.” Does all this not remind you of “The Wanderer” by Caspar David Friedrich?

As for the writer, well I am currently so happy to have met all these people. That is one thing I enjoy in life. As for the rest I then need to withdraw into piano playing or silk painting, or writing but mostly reflecting and sipping a good cuppa of Earl grey in the sunshine in front of deep green-blue sea listening to the waves talking to me….!