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Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Chocolate Museum and Sushi

Now that it's all over, what did you really do yesterday that's worth mentioning?  ~Coleman Cox

A little about Belgium: Right now Belgium does not have a government, yet it's national pride dates way back before it became an independent country in 1830.  The word Belgium actually comes from Ceaser around 60 B.C.  Belgium's political history is made up of a serious of compromises.  This is due to the major opinion differences in Belgium.  There are language borders and political separation. Due to the major differences in Northern and Southern Belgium, there has always been a question of whether Belgium should split into 2 separate countries.

Northern Belgium, who was once part of the Netherlands, is the Flanders area.  They speak mainly Flemish (Dutch) and are for the separation of Belgium.  The Southern area is called Wallonia, they speak mostly French and are mainly against the separation of Belgium since economically they are farther behind than the Flanders area.  This is due to the fact that after WWII most of the aid given by through the United States Marshall Plan was recieved by Flanders.  Therefore, Wallonia had more trouble recovering after the war, industrially and economically.

 
When I asked a Francaphone (native Belgian French speaker), what the drinking age was.  She said there really isn't one set.  People are responsible about what they drink and they teach their children as they grow up how to handle alcohol.  When I asked my host parents what the