Spending two days in Brussel deserves a blog, hm? I uploaded the pictures *click*, but a blog post was missing. So, here it is:

Day 1, 25-02-2011, Brussels
We left around 12:00 AM and arrived in Brussels around 02:30 PM. Once we arrived, we were luckily able to get in our hotel room immediately. The hotel *click* is located in the European Commission District and just 200m from the metro station. The hotel didn't look very impressive on the outside, but the room was quite spacious and we had a great view of the city. After resting a bit, we walked to the metro station “Schuman”. While walking, we saw a few European Union buildings, like the Berlaymont building and the Justus Lipsius building. We took the metro to the center of Brussels. We saw Grand Place, Manneken Pis, The Bourse and Galeries Saint Hubert. After we had a drink in the bar, we went back to the hotel. We passed the Europian Union buildings again and this time we went inside. Unfortunately there wasn't much to see, due to the high level of security. Once back in the hotel, I snapped a few more photos of the Brussels skyline. Later on we went back to the center of Brussels to find a good restaurant. After searching for a long time, we finally found a good pizzeria. The food was delicious, partly because I was so hungry. After finishing our meal, we went to a pub, where a band was performing. It wasn't my kind of music, but it was really well performed. We then decided to go to another pub, which was crowded and fun, but soon afterwards, we headed back to the hotel. We went to a taxi stand to get back to the hotel, because no more trains were running. The others decided to go to a pub nearby, but I was really tired, so I went back to the hotel.

Day 2, 26-02-2011, Brussels
After a full breakfast and checking out of the hotel, we took the car to “Musea van het Verre Oosten”. It was actually my request. They comprise a Japanese tower, a Chinese pavilion and a museum of Japanese art. We started out with the Japanese tower, which was really beautiful, the interior was decorated in Japanese style. Next we went to the museum of Japanese art, which is also focussed on the Japanese history, like weapons, armor, kimomos, etc. By the way, when we looked out the window, we saw a police car and an ambulance. We didn’t know what was going on, so we asked the museum guy and it turned out that some guy tried to kill himself, by cutting his wrists. Oh well.. Finally, we went to the Chinese pavilion, the most beautiful building on the museum grounds.

We went back to the car and this time we drove to Atomium. The Atomium is a monument in Brussels, originally built for Expo '58, the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. It’s a big monument, so we couldn’t miss it. We bought a ticket and took the stairs to discover the spheres. Each sphere has its own theme; the history of the monument, architecture, universum and so on. Eventually we stumbled upon a small restaurant, where I had my first Belgian waffle! After some rest, we took the elevator to the highest sphere, with a panoramic view over Brussels. After taking some pictures, we took the car and drove home.

Summary
Brussels is really a great city - much better than I expected. I liked the “Musea van het Verre Oosten” the most, but that’s mostly because I love Japanese stuff. The other things I really liked were: Grand Place and Atomium. The only downside is – despite both Dutch and French having an official status – the majority of inhabitants are native French-speakers. Go learn some Dutch, you Belgian bastards!

Yesterday I went to Arnhem to finally meet Claudia. We wanted to do it earlier, but our schedules couldn't match up. After she finally arrived (the bus had a delay), something funny happened. Not only did she talk to the wrong person, it turned out to be a girl! Claudia knew about my long hair, but she never saw a picture of me, so she had to guess. Luckily, after that, we found each other pretty fast.

We didn't do much, just walked around and ate some food. We didn't have much time, only a couple of hours, but it turned out that we got along very well. Around 5 o'clock, we decided to head back home, so I walked back to the station. I then realized that my parents were in Arnhem as well. I called them and it turned out that they were still wandering around in Arnhem, so I went back. After I found them, we ate some food in the Bijenkorf and headed back home. When I talked with Claudia on MSN, we both agreed it was a great meeting and we’re looking forward to the next one!

Unfortunately a problem occurred between *removed name* and I. The story began with the fact that I was heartbroken and *removed name*, my ex-girlfriend, wanted to cheer me up, because – according to her - that’s “what friends do”. After we saw each other again, we got much closer, some memories came back. She even told me things like “we’re finally together after 5 years”. But the point is.. After a short period of time, she changed her attitude all of a sudden. I asked her about it and it turned out she was no longer interested in me and she didn’t want to see me anymore, because she “suddenly couldn’t get over her ex blah blah”.

I understand her, partly, but if there is one thing I can’t stand, it is indecisive people. Indecisive people when it comes to love and relationships. When you choose something it’s because you've considered all the possibilities and then responded to it. Someone of your age should be capable of doing that.

Another funny thing is.. She started talking to me, a couple of days afterwards. Instead of asking me how I felt, the first thing she said was “Have you talked about this incident with anyone else?” and later she said “hopefully you said nothing bad about me”. So, *removed name*, if I understand you well, you care more about your reputation than the things you caused me?

You certainly have a limited perception of reality. You made me feel miserable and all you care about is your reputation. ..But hey, that’s “what friends do”, right?

I don’t like Christmas. OK, maybe it’s not really true, but I hate the “forced to be happy and social” thing. This applies to all commercial festivals and celebrations. The rest of the year we can be ourselves, but at Christmas we put on a fake smile and empty our wallets on gifts that we could have gotten for half-price if only we had waited a few more days. And why do we have to listen to the same Christmas songs all the time? Every year it’s the same “All I want for Christmas is you” and “Last Christmas I gave you my heart” crap. Can’t we hire a metal band to make a new Christmas song or something? Not even to mention that Christmas is a stolen Pagan holiday. OK, OK, I'll stop ranting now.

I didn't celebrate Christmas, it’s just another day for me. One thing I do like about Christmas is the snow! And yes, I love it, as long as I don’t have to cycle through the snow, as the roads are slippery. But for now, I don't have to worry about that, because I have vacation!

As some of you might know, I started playing World of Warcraft again. I used RAF (Recruit-A-Friend) to invite StiX, Nadiska, Maile and Merlin. This provides triple XP, grantable levels and the ability to summon each other. It stops at level 60, but you can still level other characters below 60 with triple XP for the rest of the 90 days. We started with Horde characters on Al’Akir, but we also made a few Alliance characters on Argent Dawn (RP server). All in all, it's great fun and hopefully they'll stay in the game!

We wanted Jessy to join us in WoW, but so far we failed... ;__;

Yume Ichi Ya? Glow Festival? Hasn't it been weeks?! As you might know by now, I'm not the fastest updater. Now, don't pressure me to write a blog every day, I have a life you know! *cough*

Let's start off with.. Yumi Ichi Ya, the anime night held in the Focus Cinema, Arnhem. We watched: Layton Kyouju to Eien no Utahime, King of Thorn, Evangelion 2.0 and Summer Wars. The last one was, by far, my favorite anime. The others were good too, but they didn't impress me much. For instance, Evangelion 2.0 is really a great anime, but to understand the storyline, I have to watch Evangelion 1.0 first. Oh well, I’ll prepare better next time..

In the same weekend, Eindhoven was illuminated by the glow festival. Glow is a festival full of light sculptures and projections. I didn’t really plan to go, but a friend of mine offered a free ride. Come to think of it, we should've gone by train... We had no clue which way to go (no navigation system in his car) and parking the car was a nightmare. The event itself was great and beautiful. And, of course, I took a lot of pictures, which I'll upload later. For more information about the event, click here.

This weekend will be quiet, but next week I'm going to do a Bujinkan trial lesson, so wish me luck!

I figured it was time to start blogging again. It was something I'd thought about doing for some time, but I’m lazy! Oh well..

After the break-up with you-know-who, I decided to keep myself occupied for a while and I must say, it does me good.

On my last trip (yesterday), I went to The Hague, because I really wanted to see the Japanese Garden in Park Clingendael. Due to its fragility, the garden can be visited only during a short period of the year, so I took my chance! It was really beautiful, although a little small. After taking a lot of pictures, we decided to head to Chinatown in The Hague. I bought a Maneki Neko (Lucky Cat), three Chinese lanterns and some chinese clothing. For dinner we went to - you can guess it - a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. And yes, a REAL Chinese restaurant, with Chinese food for Chinese people (not the usual lumpia / ”sambal bij?” stuff). Luckily for us, the food was actually really good.

At the end of the day we went to the Omniversum, the IMAX Dome theatre in The Hague. We saw “hubble”, a movie about the Hubble Space Telescope. The movie was fine, but they should've focussed more on the space itself.

Oh yeah, I promised Jessy to write something about her in my blog, so here it goes.. I know we don't know each other that long, but I just can't help but think of her as a very adorable person. We share the same interests, hobbies, and opinions, which makes it fun to talk to each other. In addition, I wouldn't mind meeting her in real life, but we'll see about that later.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I’m going to make an army of Jes-.. I’m going to bed!