2.5 years of study with relatively little to say. Covid dominated the first year or so, I made some good friends, but fewer than I would have guessed. I think the Belgian culture is one of, if not the most traditional cultures I have ever encountered. Certainly so among the highly-developed, rich, modern industrial countries I have visited. The Belgian climate is also the coldest, wettest, and least enjoyable of my tastes.
There are lines of thought I would like to dig deeper into this year. For example, how are cultures that have slow, gradual evolutions different from those that arise from rapid mixing (of 2+ predecessor cultures); how does the size of regions where one's native language (and dialect/accent) are spoken influence one's perception of (mobility in) the world, and does it make a difference if a popular language (i.e. English) is taught universally to the youth of such regions; and what makes a time the default time for later times to idealize, that is, why does a culture (Belgian) continue to believe that a time (1950-60s or even 1850-60s, but slightly more environmental) was the best time, and our lifestyle and maybe values (though not technology) ought to go back to or remain as it was in those days.
A surprising highlight was teaching DZR Jujutsu. I discovered the university had an entire room with mats primarily dedicated to martial arts, the Judozaal (pron. Yu-do-zal), and I asked if I could reserve, rent, or borrow the room for an hour or two a week at any time, hoping I would be able to practice falling alone or possibly bring one or two good friends to learn together. Marten, the athletics administrator, asked if I was able to teach classes. Faking confidence, I said, "yes, I can." He gave me 2.5 hours per week to teach, and a nominal wage to go with it! The classes become quite popular, at one point 21 or 22 people on the mat, and even a small weekend class (we even started practicing the seifukujutsu portion of the system). The nearby Sensei Eric Atienza was kind enough to make two visits in 2022 and share his knowledge too.
The future is very unknown, but promising. I'll probably get into a PhD program somewhere, and start later this year. Japan was a large contender until recently, so now it seems like Australia, Portugal, or Spain are the best in the running. Many dreams for the time between now and starting something later, big trips to Africa or South America, perhaps. 😀
A rare pretty day in at a park outside of Leuven:
