Sport: Learn from the Best

I think the popularity of spectator sport can be largely attributed to humanity's absolute reliance on physical mimicry for our very survival since birth. After all, unlike the beasts of the earth and fowl of the air, we are born without any innate skills save those of observation and assimilation. We watch. We mimic. We survive.

So if you have some interest in an area and are not already a professional, and then you have an opportunity to learn from a master - you take it. It may cost more (nearly always), but it's worth it. From the very first moment with a pro, you feel...no..you know that you are learning more, and learning something better. This is not the muddy football pitch on Sunday with your mates. This is not the shirts and skins pickup game at the local basketball court. You observe millisecond by millisecond a superior technique, proper timing and movement. This is high quality information. It is also why sporting excellence tends to run in families.

So it was that by chance and with an adventurous spirit I scheduled a tennis lesson with a real pro. Today I had that lesson, with Gilles Elseneer. Gilles has played on all the surfaces, and hit with the best in the world. He broke the ATP top 100 rankings. I am not certain if I am among the best 100 at my local club, so naturally I was a bit nervous. How would this go? Would he laugh at my feeble attempts to return shots struck at the speed of sound? Would he gleefully send me running from sideline to sideline, like some sweating marionette until delivering the final crushing blow that sent me sprawling to the hard court?

No, of course not. He was great. He was quite patient, always offering small corrections to flaws in my form, and even praising me when I struck a (infrequent) decent shot (I am sometimes quite lucky you should know).

For me, it was supremely beneficial. I saw how effortless the form should be when correct. I got to see a glimpse of the pace the pros hit with (just a glimpse). It took him about 10 seconds to dramatically improve my serve.

In a previous post I had concerns that the Tennis Club De Belgique might be a bit pretentious. I was completely wrong. Madame Elseneer was the model of a gracious host. She guided me to my court and even returned toward the end to observe and see how the session was going. I felt like a VIP, even though (clearly) I am not (Shhh..please don't say anything).

I want to extend my thanks to the Elseneers for all their graciousness, and their club so close to the Brussels city center. I will be back as soon as time allows, and my legs fully recover.

HINTS:

• the club is just off Louise, south of City Center. You can find it HERE, and the website is HERE.
• You can also use the following google map for the blog:
  
  
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• the court fees are 13 Eu, normal lessons 30Eu/hour, pro lessons 50Eu/hour.
• take it easy on the Belgian beer the night before your lesson, or pay the price my friend.
  

Beer of the Day: Hoegaarden

Hoegaarden is sometimes called a "classic white" and I see why. The beer is extremely drinkable on a regular basis (not just for reviews). I had this from a bottle, but from what I've seen it is easily available on tap here in Brussels. It may be the kind of beer that is infinitely better here in Belgium than in export (many are like this I think).

I wouldn't call this beer exotic, and that's why I like it so much. It pours a light straw color, has a head that fades to a thin line. The scent has a bit of citrus (very light) and the taste is similar, but with a few faint herbal tones mixed in there. I found it very refreshing - perfect for a spring/summer day sitting outside. With the fairly low ABV of 4.9% this makes it an ideal beer for hanging with friends and making a day of it.

HINTS:

• Great spring/summer brew - it's like a picnic by a slow, winding river, where a warm breeze rustles the grass, in a bottle.
• Blue Moon seems more available in the states, but I think I prefer this Hoegaarden.
  
• Don't forget, according to their site: "Hoegaarden Witbier wordt niet gefilterd.
• I rate this beer a 3.5 of 5.0 on my "Pleasant Summer Beers" scale.

Sport: English Football in Brussels

Tonight the wife had a company dinner, so I took the opportunity to walk my way back down to the Ponds of Ixelles to an Irish Pub whose name escapes me at the moment because it has a very non-irish name. Something like "de valera Irish Pub" or something difficult like that.

Also, as bad luck would have it in the information age, no searches on google maps for a business by the name of "? irish pub" or anything like it on the exact street on which I know the place exists yields a result. Frustrating.

So, if you are looking for a place to watch Premier League football in the Ixelles area, search Cafe Belga, and then go across the street.


Note: I later found the website for the pub...see Hints below.

Anyway, it was a great atmosphere. They have a large outdoor deck with good seating and gas heaters (nice). Good service, plenty of beer, and an abundance of English football fans.

On the deck at least, for this Champions semi-final, the Liverpool fans greatly outnumbered the Chelsea fans (mostly silent). The cries of "Come on, Red Men" got progressively louder as the drafts flowed. Being neither (per-se), I enjoyed the game and the company immensely.

I will say this - I sat at a table with some Dutch fellows. I don't quite have a grasp on the culture just yet. They could speak English, and knew I spoke no Dutch, yet they chose to speak only Dutch the entire evening. Hence, I was left out of all the conversation, and they didn't seem to mind. No problem, I suppose - I don't speak Dutch - it's not their problem, and why should they speak anything else? Well...because it's friendly I guess. However I don't want to characterize a nation based on such limited experience, so if you have any anecdotes or insights into the Dutch culture, do please share them. I suppose it could only improve my relations, either with a new understanding or lowered expectations -whichever is more appropriate.

Now, as for the game - for a Champions semi-final, I found the level of play altogether quite low. Even after the players should have been settled into the game (2nd half) the number of bad passes, poor tackling, wild headers and such was quite absurd. The score was eventually tied to 1-1 by an own goal, so that should give you some idea. I am perhaps a Brazilian football snob, but the play was uninspiring, despite the presence of some quality players. I can hope the game later this week with FC Barcelona is better.

Cheers.

HINTS

• I finally found the pub's url and location. The name is De Valera's Irish Pub, and you can see the website with a map here.
  
• Apparently the place is named for a former prime minister of Ireland.
• It would be good if you speak a bit of Dutch if you sit with some folks who prefer it.
  
• Get there early for game days,
  

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Language: Learning French

Brussels is truly a multi-lingual city. Almost every person I have met speaks English - though of course not all. The bartender of The Flash Bar on Charleroi speaks French and Portuguese ( at least - she probably also speaks Dutch). The grocery store clerk at the Carrefour Express speaks no English (though another at the same store speaks it fluently, being from South Africa).

So, I can say that after experiencing some of Brussels, I don't need to learn French. But, my experience in Brazil tells me that if I can, I will see a side to the city and the culture that is very much worthwhile. Also, the benefits while visiting France itself is overwhelming, so I'm going to.

There are many approaches to learning a new language. Some would have you believe it too difficult in adults (absurd, I would be a vegetable if neurogenesis didn't exist). Tim Ferris says that you only need to deconstruct the language using a few sample sentences ( you can read about this technique on his blog here ).

I think his approach helps immensely, but represents only one piece of the puzzle. There is, in addition to the schema of a language a critical mass that must be achieved through acquisition of vocabulary. There was a 'moment of clarity' for me in Portuguese when I had enough words to talk with anyone just enough to learn more words from them. So, in the end memorization plays a key role, not just recognition of the more important patterns.

So, along these lines I found an interesting approach that deals with how you forget things, not how your remember them. Apparently, the best time to practice something is at the exact moment you are about to forget it.

Gary Wolf has authored an excellent article for Wired! called "Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm". It really seems insightful to me. With the approach described, you develop a system (or use a program called SuperMemo) to remind yourself when you need to reinforce information. The timing of these reinforcement sessions is critical to success. It is also quite difficult to live your life using this algorithm, but I like this rather optimistic view of memory - that we don't forget things, but that over time they become just inaccessible because of our natural mental processes.

Retrieval Strength is a measure of how well you recall something, and Storage Strength measures how "strong" or "rooted" the memory is. Your average waiter's name has high retrieval strength (during dinner), but low storage strength - you are unlikely to recall the name a week from now, and practice won't help all that much. So I suspect that the emotive aspects of a memory impart a certain Storage Strength to it. We all have experiences in our life that were very emotional, and require no reinforcement to recall perfectly. Not all knowledge can have this emotive power, so a system for reinforcement must be used.

If this theory on learning is true, then I feel it poses one rather frightening question - What if all that we identify as our 'innate' strengths, aptitudes and proclivities are nothing more than those bits of information we committed more fully by an accident of reinforcement timing? If so, then we are each shaped more by chance and our brain's peculiar cycles than any specific act of will. Of course, we do more often those things we 'like' therefore we have more chances to stumble upon effective reinforcement as well.

I hope to put this into practice to learn French. I won't be as strict as Wozniak from Wolf's article, I enjoy the company of others a bit too much for that. Wish me luck.

Beer of the Day: Tripel Karmeliet

I think you would be hard pressed to find a more interesting beer for the spring or summer than Tripel Karmeliet from the Bosteels Brewery. It's a three-grain (hence tripel) using wheat, oats and barley from a recipe from 1679. This is my first tripel, so I can't speak to the entire category yet, and I imagine some of you could suggest a few others to try? At any rate, I wish I had this sitting at an outdoor cafe' by a smoothly flowing river. I suppose now I will have to find the right location to go with this beer.

HINTS:

• I rate it a pleasant 4.5 of 5.0 "Pleasant Summer Beers."
• Pours a pleasant gold-orange color.
• The bouquet reminds me a bit of Chimay, though a bit milder.
• The flavor is a bit bready, but with a smooth finish, depite the excellent carbonation.
  
• Has a great label, depicting a medieval harvest scene - you just fall into it.
• A bit disappointed when I hit the bottom of this bottle.

The Ponds of Ixelles

If you've been reading the blog, you might think all I do is drink beer and watch cartoons, but' it's just not true! I do a bit of that, but today we did something else. The morning was warm and bright, so we set on foot to find one of the famed street markets here in Brussels. Today we chose to walk south a bit to the Ponds of Ixelles.

The ponds are just a few pleasant looking ponds (cyanobacteria? don't swim) with numerous street vendors arranged about them. They are open Saturdays and Sundays until about 1:00 PM. The vendors sell mostly food items.





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You can buy all sorts of food at The Ponds, but for me I liked best the bread vendors and a huge olive stand. You could sample the olives, in fact they insist. "Ze olives are not for ze looking, zey are for ze eating!". So we tried a few and then bought some spicy-olive mix.

We also found a cheese vendor with the Fig-filled Goat cheese we liked from Paris. I think the Ponds will now be part of our regular Sunday grocery shopping.

TV: A-Team

I must confess, I find it a bit surreal to turn on the tube and see Murdoch from the A-Team shouting his usual madness, but in French, while dressed as an Indian, and firing dynamite arrows at the 'bad guys'.

This is one of those cases where I secretly hope the Belgians think all Americans are really just like that.

They also fire what appears to be a Cotton Candy cannon at the bad-guys, covering them in pink goo. I don't know who thought this made sense - but damn I like it.

Americans have always had a maverick image in the world, but we have recently lost some of our "A-Team"- ness; our reputation for saving the day against all odds has been diminished. I hope one day we can restore it.

TV: Chasing Dragons

I am no art historian, though I enjoy the occasional friendly debate about why we categorize our creations. I will say that for all attempts to define it, perhaps art is just that which transcends linguistic communication.

Of course by that definition, someone poking you with a sharp stick is a kind of art.

So while not certain, it may be art that I find myself amused each day during my coffee by a cartoon here called Chasseurs de Dragons (Dragon Hunters) and of course I don't understand any of the French dialog. It could be that the opening music by The Cure pulled me in while channel surfing, but the excellent animation and comedic action keeps me watching. You can view the musical intro by The Cure on YouTube here.

The show is a heroic fantasy/comedy about two dragon hunters and their odd looking blue (rabbit? dog?) pet-thing traveling about having adventures and hunting dragons, and from what I can gather almost getting paid for their services.

Note: further reading revealed the blue thing is actually a tamed dragon of some type.

Unlike the reruns of Little House on the Prairie, this show has me wishing I understood more French.

Apparently the show had a short run in English on the Cartoon Network, but then was canceled after poor time slotting. I wonder how many good series have been thusly doomed? (Firefly comes to mind of course). Regardless, I guess they have made a feature film now as well, and so I wouldn't be surprised as translations trickle about to see an eventual recurrence in the US market.

HINTS:

• Don't be lulled into watching The Little House on the Prairie in French, even if it involves goat ear-pulling.
  
• You can check out the film trailer for Chasseurs de Dragons on the official site here: http://www.chasseursdedragons-lefilm.fr/
  

Shopping: Graphic Novel Nirvana

Today I had my first Lungo. Thrilling isn't it? No, this is not the breathing organs of an italian herd animal. It is a coffee, and you can read about it on wikipedia here.

Afterward I decided to wander around a bit ( a few km) and wouldn't you know it on the day when I left most of my cash (and credit cards) at home I came across a huge window display of graphic novels and manga.

The place is Filigranes on Ave des Arts. You can see their site here at: http://www.filigranes.be/fr/.

I have always been a fan of comics (books, strips, novels), and this place had an impressive selection. A very helpful employee who worked in the section informed me that in the city centre there are a few other places with even more.

So, that means this weekend I will amble my way over there to see what I can find. I snapped a few pics of about half the selection, for your amusement.

Click for larger pics, to see French versions of some you might already know.

Beer of the Day: Grimbergen Dubbel

I am really enjoying getting these beers freshly bottled here in Brussels. Today's foray into the "Beer from God" is Grimbergen Dubbel, from an Abbey (abbaye in the French) just north of Brussels. Yet again I have found a "Must Try" beer. I don't know how the flavor might change from sitting on a ship to the states, but this is a great beer.

This Dubbel comes in fairly modest in alcohol content at 6.5%, pours a nice dark ruby color and to me has a very light caramel finish.

HINTS:

• I rate this beer a very high 6.80 of 7-point "Beer from God" scale.
  
• Checkout Sebastien Van Mons site with the requisite Grimberger glasses here.
  
• The Grimberger site itself is quite good (fr) here.

Beer of the Day: Trappistes Rochefort 8

This little gem from Abbaye St-Remy (about 1 hour south of Brussels) is something I could drink on a daily basis, unlike Kasteel Bruin. Pick this one up - you won't regret it.

It comes in at 9.2% alcohol, and although I haven't established an optimal range for myself, it seems that anything more than 11% (in quantity) and I slide off on strange blogging tangents about how one day the Japanese will conquer the world with android soldiers, each an exact replica of Alizee. Thankfully that blog entry has been shelved (for now).

HINTS:

• pours a dark opaque brown, almost exactly matching the bottle color.
• a bit fizzy, with those nice nano bubbles that work on your palette like microscopic remoras.
• I find the bouquet quite light and and flavor as well - no heavy overtones here for me.
• Thus far, the best beer I have had in Brussels. I give this a 6.6 on my 7.0 "Beer from God" scale.
• For some far more sophisticated reviews, check out Beer Advocate here.

B.Y.O.B. - Bring Your Own Bag

The cool thing about Brussels is that on nearly every block there is some small grocery store selling a variety of healthy, natural products. At least that is how it seems to be here in the Rue de Louise area. I can't say enough about how nice this is compared to the sprawl of most large U.S. cities.

The not so cool thing is that they charge you for bags. At first, I thought they were just being stingy.

"Yes, I would like another bag. Yes. Yes, I would."

That was until I realized they were charging me for them, and they were actually being polite to ask if I wanted to pay for another.

I suppose, with all the enviro-friendly-thinking going on, this is a good thing. It's only a problem if you need to buy quite a lot, which you don't unless you have just entered the country for the first time and don't have most of the basics. Beyond that, you mostly go every few days and buy very little. The stores are close, and the food is best when fresh anyway, and walking is good for you.

HINTS:

• Buy a few bags on your first trip and then bring them back.
  
• Buy small things. Steer clear of bulky items like toilet paper.
  
• Eat less.
  

Lost in a Forest of Trees Made of Scraps of Tree.

Near the city center we came across this odd and enormous sculpture. I don't know the artist or the intent (if you know please comment). I don't know the name, although "Termite Heaven" seems appropriate.

It seems to me some sort of recursive environmental statement. Like we are re-making nature from our processing of parts of nature itself. Like "our manufactures are the new nature". If so, then match sticks or popsicle stick shapes would perhaps be more poignant here, but I still like this thing just because it's large and peculiar and makes you wonder if this is where all the birds from the Cuckoo clocks are caught.


Follow up: After mercurial's comments, I went back to the site and snapped this pic:

So if you're the kind of person that other people tend to try to set on fire, you might consider wearing some of this stuff.

Beer of the Day: Kasteel Bruin

First, let me say that my apartment is not yet properly equipped with the assortment of glasses you must use to properly drink the Belgian beers. The place is great, but in Belgian terms this is a gross oversight. Nevertheless, being a survivalist, I have made do.

Today I sampled Kasteel - Bruin. This beer has a chocolaty appearance, with a rather minimal foamy head - no doubt affected by my poor glass choice. The aroma is caramel, malt. It tastes very sweet - almost a liquid version of the waffle I had today (I feel the shakes coming on). Best sipped on account of the sweetness and also the fact it contains 11% alcohol (but.be.my.guest.friend...).

Thanks to the wonders of virtual elevators, you can explore the brewery online here: http://www.vanhonsebrouck.be/.

Hints:

• I suggest viewing this site before you drink the beer, or you might get confused and think you are playing a web based version of Clue. Actually, I would just suggest you try the beer and skip the site.

• Overall I would not rate this beer as the best I have had in Brussels thus far. I suppose it scores well with those who like very strong, very sweet beers. I would rate it a 2.5 on my 3.8 "Choco-licious" point scale.

Brussels - Capital of the Carb Union.

So I had my first belgian waffle today. Well, maybe not. The sign at the street cart said "Gaufres - 1.70 euro", and Gaufre is "waffle" in French. However, this waffle was to normal waffles as perhaps The Hulk is to Woody Allen. I don't know how much Gamma radiation was in this thing, but I was handed a warm, doughy rectangle coated with caramelized sugar (or perhaps crack). Apparently they are called "Liege", though I can't be sure that was exactly what I ate.

What I do know is that even my years of gorging on Halloween Candy Corn did not quite prepare me for this diabolical tic-tac-toe insulin grenade. This thing was goooood.

It was unusally cold and blustery today, so I wolfed down the Liege rapidly; perhaps sensing that the carbs and fat in this waffle would allow me to survive an impending ice age.

Not seeing a kiosk for a blood transfusion, I stood and proceeded to walk (very fast) around the city.

Tennis Anyone? I mean, besides You.

I found a tennis club quite near my residence here - Tennis Club de Belgique. Of course I called and inquired if I might play there (13 euro tennis court fee), and take a lesson (30 euro/hour), and do you have a demo racquet I might use for a lesson, to which she said "You're a tennis player who didn't bring a racquet?". This set me aback slightly. I was trying to discern if this was humor, or a sincere castigation. I laughed it off choosing to think it mostly good natured humor.

It raises an interesting point however. Despite what Wilson, Babolat, Head and so many other tennis racket companies would have you think, I'm of the opinion the racquet is not all that relevant to the skill of the player. Sure, it can affect play - the tools today are better constructed than they were 50 years ago, but the skill still lies with the player.

Don't believe me? Go challenge John McEnroe to a match. Unless you are very, very, good Johnny Mac will beat your ass with a Spongebob Racquet from Wal-Mart.

"What is the power of Steel compared to the hand that wields it?"

Of course, that didn't work out for Thulsa Doom from Conan, but you see my point. In fact Conan had the skills - not just the blade.

After a few calls around the city to the sporting good retail stores (ok, I found ONE), I truly wish I had brought my racquets, or even the damn Spongebob racquet.

I play with Babolat, a French company. The price of the racquets are exactly the same as in the U.S. - only in Euros. My Babolat Pure Drive Roddick+ cost me $189 in the US, and it costs 189 Euros here ($306.12). I suppose proximity to the headquarters doesn't help you a bit when your product is manufactured in China.

HINTS:

• If you intend to play tennis (at all) bring a racquet from the states. They are much cheaper.
  
• Better, yet bring 3 or 4 and sell the extras
  

Train to Brussels

Schipol airport is perhaps the most organized airport in the world. Disagree, please comment. It is by far, the best I have found thus far. Of course, I am comparing it also to Charles De Gaul (Paris), which while on the same continent might be the worst (rural Columbian drug cartel airstrips are not included in this sample).

Still, to an American who is slightly jet-lagged, interpreting the train charts to discern which platform (Spoor in dutch. Yes - spoor) can be a challenge.
We attended the Cashier, bought first class tickets to Brussels (don't bother - go 2nd class) and then wandered about for some time looking for the right platform. We decided it was 5-6 (whatever the hell that means) and descended. A group of transit workers ambled by and so we decided to ask if we were correct. A young lady was apparently working on her English, so her male colleague used this opportunity to force her to speak. "Ask her anything! haha! Anything at all!" he said. Her English was good - we were in the right place.

Train travel is so far superior to Air travel. There is simply no comparison in terms of comfort. We dozed off on the 2.5 hour trip, lulled to sleep by the sound of the train and the green countryside of the Netherlands speeding by. There is something about green farmland, sectioned by canals, occupied by white grazing sheep, cavorting in the grass and lounging in the sunlight.....

Hints:

• Thalys has a high-speed train from Amsterdam to Brussels. Instead, I suggest the cheaper "Inter city train". It takes a bit more time (30m or so), but one leaves every hour from Schipol, and costs much less.
• Buy 2nd class, don't bother with 1st class.
  
• Ask the cashier which "Spoor" you need when you buy the tickets. Except say "platform" not "spoor".
  
• The blue signs at the track (above) indicate which side of the platform you need for the arriving train.
  
• The yellow schedule signs (also above) are good for discerning when a train is arriving/departing, but it is not really exhaustive for that location. Many trains arrived and departed that were not indicated.
  
• They tend to announce last minute track changes so do your best to listen to the announcers.
  
• Unless you speak sanskrit, or Klingon, go ahead and ask the transit officials if you have questions, they seem quite multi-lingual.
  

Welcome to Europe! Bend Over, s'il vous plait*.

Thanks to Bush and his innovative "worthless dollar" economic policy, my first purchase in Europe was, well.....nothing. A devastating 1.75 to 1 exchange rate plus a 3.50 exchange charge whittled my meager $200 US down to just over 100 Euros. The cashier didn't laugh out loud, but I could tell he was just barely keeping that in.

I walked away in a shocked state, wondering how long my meager 100 Euros would last. I soon found out not too long.

HINTS:

• Unless absolutely necessary, never, ever exchange your currency in the airport. To do so is folly, my friend. In this case, I would have been better off eating my dollars. I found an ING bank here in Brussels late in the day offering a better rate ( 1.62 to 1 Ha! Take that Schipol! ).
  
  

* As you probably know, they speak Dutch in Amsterdam, not French, but I felt the French sounded so much better to communicate this idea.