A CRY OF ANGUISH

 

Remembrance Day in Rotterdam

November 11, 2012

 

 

Remembrance Day in Europe has so much more poignancy than in Canada.  We sent troops and we lost many lives.  It's true.

Here, many soldiers' lives were lost too but ordinary civilians lost their lives, their homes, everything they owned, their workplaces, their cities; cities that weren't bombed into oblivion turned their flower gardens into potato patches for their citizens; the civilians in cities that were bombed were terrorized for years and then spent years cleaning up the rubble; people starved and ate flower bulbs; clothes wore out...

I had the privilege of being in Rotterdam, Holland to take part in a Peace Service on Remembrance Day.  In May 1940, a German Blitz razed the centre of this city to the ground - nothing remained except the shell of one church.  Today it is a thriving hub of daring new architecture and economic growth.  They have rebuilt the heart of their city.  As I looked at the bustling port and the cranes still constructing new buildings, I was struck by the thought that the heart of this new city was younger than me.

 

Erasmus Bridge

 

 





The citizens worked together to rebuild their city

 

 

 

But the monument that silenced me

                              and retold the city's story of pain so vividly was                            

 

                                                                  the cry of anguish

on the face of this distorted bronze statue of

 

 

De Verwoeste Stad (The Devastated City)

whose heart had been ripped out



Lest we forget .........................



 

 

 

 

 

LA TOUSSAINT

Hallowe'en is not a celebration here.

La  Toussaint is.

La Toussaint is a two-day celebration of two related Roman Catholic holidays.  The first of November is All Saints' Day.  It's a public holiday in Belgium.  Families come together and usually go to the cemetery to honour their deceased relatives and put chrysanthemums on their graves.  These flowers are, strangely enough, associated with death.  People never give them as gifts!

The next day, November second is All Souls' Day.  This is the day people are supposed to go to the cemetery but since it's not a public holiday, the Belgians tend to go on the first.

Off I went to the Ixelles Cemetery to see what I could see with my camera, so come along with me!  It's a cold, blustery autumn day so wear your gloves and a warm coat and we'll see what's different in a Belgium cemetery from a Canadian one.

just like a city with avenues and lanes

memorial to those who died in both World Wars

The Solway family's tombstone was created by the Art Nouveau architect Victor Horta

Chrysanthemums are associated with death here

a bronze statue snipping the thread of life with his scissors

columbaria



Most graves are covered with a large slab of marble or stone





 





SURPRISE!!

While all you Canadians and Americans in the north (at least most of the ones I know) are pulling up wilted plants and city workers are climbing ladders to remove frostbitten hanging baskets of flowers ........

Brusselers are planting pansies for the winter season!! 

I forgot about you dear friends on the west coast who are enjoying roses right now :)

OCTOBER GOLD

Autumn comes in October to Brussels: golds, browns and some reds but I miss the intense scarlet of the sugar maples in the sunlight. 

 

                                 Rain comes more frequently, leaving shiny paving stones

 

                                                              and night falls sooner.

 

But Brusselers still sit outside at tables on the sidewalk .....They just dress a little more warmly :)

It was a gorgeous day today and I wanted to share it with you.  Brussels "cried" as she always does at least once a day: today it was about 15 minutes and then the afternoon sun came out, bringing us all out into the streets and squares to soak up the sunshine.  Coats, hats, gloves and scarves.... but all the café chairs facing the sun were full!  The paving stones on the streets were shiny, the yellow leaves too and the sun shone.  Flower stalls were full of yellow, brown and red mums.  And I had fun wandering with my camera around an old neighbourhood of Brussels called Les Marolles, looking curiously into antique shops, old junk and clothing stores, churches and a flea market, and down narrow cobblestone alleys.  An absolutely wonderful way to spend an afternoon :)

I have been very remiss in putting up posts on my blog since August.  I have been so busy with guests and some travelling that I just haven't sat down to do this.  I apologize and promise to do better, so don't give up on me!!

HERE I COME !

Today is my birthday ... my birth day.

Every year, when this day comes around, I think of my mother.  I wonder about the joy she had at my arrival, her first child.  But birthing is only part of the story: mothering is so much more and my mother was a wonderful mother.  So much of who I am, I learned from my mother.  I hope she would be proud of me today as she would watch me live.

And I think of my Dad.  Today I am 70, a long way from my birth day!  Unconsciously, I think, Dad has been my model of what Christian service is like as one ages.  Yes, I am like my mother but I have been discovering that my "heart responses", my devotion to God, resembles my father's.  I hope he would be proud of me today as he would watch me live out my faith in God.

And I think of me. Twenty years ago, I would not have imagined that my life at 70 would look like this.  Davd and I had plans, great plans for what our old age would look like.  But God had other plans for me, plans I wouldn't have chosen for myself, some that I would never have thought I could bear.  I have been through some dark valleys, I have leaned so heavily on my Abba that anyone else than He would have fallen over.  But through it all, I have learned who He is and who I am as "me".  I have learned a lot about grace and compassion.  I have learned a lot about true friendship.  I have been surrounded by loving, caring, upholding family and friends.

And I've had the fun of exploring my crazy, adventurous, spontaneous side ... and I like it!

So, today, Happy Birthday to me!  I like who I am at 70 :).  I humbly kneel before my God, my Abba, and thank Him for making me, for His faithful care, patience, strength and guidance during my whole life, and particularly these last 11 years.  Then, drawing on that strength, I stand up and say "Here I come, world!"

"Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvellous deeds.  Even when I am old and grey, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation."  .. and I'm having fun doing it!
Psalm 71:17-18

A RIOT OF COLOUR!

      For 5 days in August, Brussel's Grand'Place becomes a riot of colour!  Everyone knows about it but it's a surprise at the same time so there is an air of expectancy that floats over the city during these days.
      Every two years, the Grand'Place is covered in a carpet of real flowers.  A design has been chosen, a frame is built and flowers are shipped in from the nursery fields around Belgium - appropriate colours for the design.  This year the theme is Africa, so there are hundreds of boxes of red, yellow, pink and white begonia petals, and hundreds of boxes of white, brown and yellow mums - 600,000 flowers, we are told.  Plus loads of boxes of coloured wood shavings (mostly brown and blue this year).  Not to forget rolls and rolls of grass sod.

On the first day, the frame is made and the sod is laid, according to the design.  All the workers are volunteers - this carpet is a tradition and it's an honour to be able to work on it.

On the second day, the flowers, petals and shavings are put in place, again by volunteers.  I hadn't realised that most of the carpet is petals, billions of them.  Evening falls, the work is done and Brussels is waiting expectantly for the finished product.

And what a spectacle awaits us on the morning of the third day!!  It blows your mind!  It's absolutely gorgeous!  It's huge!

I go up on the city hall balcony but still am not able to get it all in, it's so big!

WILL NO ONE RID ME OF THIS TURBULENT PRIEST?

If you know the story surrounding this question, then you know where I've been recently :)  If not, read on....

Before I left for Canada, my new friend, Dominique Mentior, a lovely Belgian Walloon (= French-speaking) said: "Nancy, you must walk on the cliffs of Dover and see the Canterbury Cathedral".  Now, who could say no to that?  So she packed me into her car and we drove across Belgium and France to Dunkerque, where we got the ferry to Dover, England.  And the weather couldn't have been more perfect!

And the cliffs of Dover are as white as I imagined them, even up close.  Down little country roads we went (on the lefthand side of the road, of course!) to St. Margaret's-at-Cliffe, where we parked the car and hiked along the cliffs.  What a beautiful experience under a blue sky, through fields of wild flowers and alongside a busy, blue English Channel!





The county of Kent that we drove through on our way to Canterbury was exactly as one would expect England to be: villages, tree-lined country lanes, timber-framed houses, flintstone cottages, beautiful gardens, lots of roses, pubs offering ale and steak & kidney pie and an ambiance that made me feel I was on a stroll down a country lane on a Sunday afternoon.





And then, just as Chaucer's pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales, we walked through the streets of Canterbury to the history-laden cathedral.  What an exquisite building!  It stands alone in all its

beauty in an oasis of green, in the midst of a busy town.  It's so huge you can't get a full photo of it.

If this cathedral could talk, its stones would tell you many stories.   Let me tell you three that meant a lot to me.

 

 

1. Thomas Becket was ordained Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162 by Henry II .... and murdered in the cathedral in 1170 by four of his knights.  Henry is purported to have said: "Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?!"  A rift had grown between them over disagreements concernng the separation of Church and State.

                                    place in the cathedral where he was assassinated



2. In the latter half of the 16th century, after  the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in France that withdrew from the Huguenots (or Protestants) their freedom of religion, thousands of Huguenots from France and Walloons from Belgium streamed across the English Channel to England as refugees, seeking religious freedom. 

    Edward VI, being intensely Protestant and eager to have England's cotton woven in England rather than in Belgium, welcomed them to Canterbury and gave them the crypt of the cathedral to worship in.  There were around 900 of them at that time.

    As their number decreased, they were granted the chantry chapel of the Black Prince, in the crypt, and it is used by a French Huguenot/Protestant congregation to this day.  One of the older elders of St. Andrew's in Brussels, was the minister here for many years!  It was an exciting place for me to visit, so filled with history!

3. In World War II, during bombing raids, the cathedral was protected by firewatchers who sat on the roofs of the cathedral and patrolled them, dealing with incendiary bombs.

Canterbury Cathedral is a huge tourist attraction but it is also a quiet, serious place of worship.  I wanted to experience this, so Dominique and I went to Matins in the morning - a meditative, reflective Communion service, and Evensong in the late afternoon - held in the Quire and with a choir of men who sang the chants.  Very meaningful for me.

Canterbury also has timber-framed houses, good pubs, lovely gardens, lots of roses, narrow 16th century streets with cobblestones, and Roman walls.  It was fun to explore with my camera.



BEAR HUGS

July was a month of bear hugs and did I ever need them!!

It's strange how the need creeps up on you to be with someone that knows you for more than six months, to be hugged, really hugged by someone who loves you and be surrounded by dear ones who love you.

That need was met big time in July: I went back to Canada and drank in being loved on :)

I will be celebrating a rather important milestone birthday in August and since I'll be in Brussels for that occasion, family and friends at home decided that NOW was a good time for a party!

So, my women friends at my church in Repentigny had a fun birthday breakfast for me, complete with fancy hat, streamers and napkins, good food and lots of laughter.

And my dear sister Kathy brought all my Klinck family together at her farm in the Eastern Townships.  Caden and Chris and his family were able to come too, as were my niece Alison and her family from Ottawa. It was a great week-end of eating super meals, sharing laughter and walks and playing with the children.  I was spoiled!

Travelling up highway 401 from Montreal to Ontario has always been easy for me because it means a family wedding, concert, play, party or visit on the other end.  But this time the party was for me :) 
About 30 of my Hill family relatives gathered at Gerry and Carolynn Heeney's home in the Ingersoll countryside for a birthday picnic.  How I love family gatherings!  I get to see, talk to, laugh with and get caught up with people I love........what could be better?! 

My cup was overflowing with all the love and bear hugs I had shared during my holidays.  I got to watch my grandson play soccer and to splash in the water with my granddaughter.  I gathered flowers for Mummy with Donovan and tickled Gabrielle.  We ate ice-cream and hotdogs and played soccer together - making memories.

And squeezed in between all this fun was a terrific week in New York City where I taught language acquisition techniques to the new group of 55 missionaries going out into the world as Christ's servants from the Presbyterian Church of America.  I always enjoy doing this and it's a privilege to serve them in this way.  It's the 8th time I've taught this course!

An Air Canada jet brought me back to my home away from home in Brussels  I smiled to myself as I got off the plane, into the train, then in and out of the subway and said: "I"m at home here.  I have my place here for a while.  Thank-you, Lord, for this privilege and may I continue to be a blessing to those You have sent me to serve here."

As breath of God upon my heart
When I am far away,
As Gilead's soothing balm that heals
My homesickness this day.
As worry for the ones I leave
Behind me all alone
Melts into trust in You who reign
On high upon Your throne.
So all I need to do is walk
Into the pattern planned,
And trust the ones I love so much
Into Your nail-pierced hands.
(Jill Briscoe)

CANADA'S LOSS

At the end of May, I had the fun of having my brother Stephen with me for a week.

Besides doing fun things like visiting the Atomium and the Grand' Place, trying new beers and eating Indian food, we took two days and went to the World War 1 battlefields where Canadians fought and lost their lives.

We concentrated on the Ypres Salient battles, in Belgium and the Battle of Vimy Ridge, in France.  We saw scores of Commonwealth cemeteries, where tens of thousands of Canadians lie buried.  We listened to our guide tell stories of horror and bravery, gas attacks, valour and soldiers stumbling forward through mud up to their hips, loaded down with equipment.  To see the "crosses row on row in Flander's fields" was a moving, memorable vision I will never forget. 

To stand under the archway of the Menin Gate in Ypres, where the thousands of names of those Canadians whose bodies were never found are carved into marble, and to listen to the trumpeters play "The Last Post", as they have done every evening since July 1928, was a sobering experience I'll never forget.

The monument at Vimy Ridge takes your breathe away!  It's beautiful, solemn and the sculptures move you to tears.  I don't think I've every been so proud of being Canadian as I was when I stood looking at this creative piece of art in memory of the outstanding battle of Vimy Ridge, won by the Canadians, after unsuccessful attempts by the French and the British.  Pierre Berton's book "Vimy" helped me to really understand who our men were and what they went through.

Thousands of lives were lost uselessly and stupidly in the Great War; there was pigheadedness and rigidity but there were also amazing moments of bravery and glory.  The Canadians at Vimy Ridge pushed hard to fight together as a people and for the first time, they were able to do it.  Their rigourous training and comraderie won the battle.  I know now that we lost a whole generation (60-70,000) of fine young men and I think Canada took a long time to recover.  War is a horrible thing.  Thousands of tombstones or crosses "row on row" are the greatest preachers of peace.

MY BRUSSELS 401

This will be my last stab at telling you what still stands out for me after five and a half months in Belgium.  I don't run up against much anymore that surprises me :)  Hope that's a good sign!

- For the longest time I couldn't figure out why there were glass tiles in the sidewalks.....and now I know!  Because there is no space between the buildings and the sidewalk, the basements of these buildings have to have light somehow, so ...voilà!







- Belgian food is acknowledged as among the very best in Europe: it's essentially French cuisine but not as fussy, pretentious or overelaborate as in France.  It's French cuisine with Belgian portions.

- Luxury chocolates in Belgium are called 'pralines'.  White chocolate is their speciality, especially with cream fillings.

- Not only are there gypsies and the poor begging on the streets but on almost every metro and most trams, we are treated to accordion or violin music and/or singing or poems.  The child with them then comes around with a can asking for money.  It's hard to know when to give and when not to give.  I am always amazed at their boldness.  And I wonder what the child is learning about life and how it ticks and how one makes a living.  So often these little ones are used as 'bait', trying to make us feel more compassionate.

- Most of the escalators here stop moving when no one is on them.  When you approach and almost reach the first step, they start up.  Saves electricity, I guess, but it was a weird feeling at first.

- Believe it or not, there still exists a city where people stand up on public conveyances to give older people, handicapped people and pregnant women their seat.  I am so surprised every time it happens.  And what's interesting is that the majority of those giving up their seats are foreigners where respect is still an important value.

- Belgium has the only major road network in the world that is lit at night in its entirety.  It can be seen from space!

- And finally, two interesting facts about the royal family:

  a. The country of Belgium came into existence in 1830.  They wanted a monarchy and so searched for a king that would please everyone.  They chose Prince Leopold of Germany, a Protestant.  However, he married the daughter of the king of France (political manoeuvre) and so engendered a Roman Catholic dynasty to this day.

  b. In 1990, when a law liberalizing Belgium's abortion laws was approved by the federal parliament, King Baudoin, an anti-abortionist, refused to grant royal assent, prompting a major constitutional crisis.  So on the day that the law was to pass, the king abdicated.  The law passed, and the next day, King Baudoin was reinstated!  Now that's standing up for what you believe!

BRUSSELS LANDMARKS

I can't believe I haven't written for several weeks!  Time flies and I have been very busy - not pacing myself very well.  Funny, isn't it, how retired people seem to be so busy! :)

I thought you might like to see some of the landmarks of Brussels.  The architecture in this city is helter-skelter.  Over the past two centuries, the urban planning has not been coordinated and so one finds a bit of everything everywhere.  One French author calls Brussels "une ville traumatisée" from an architectural point of view.  However, things are changing and every building must now pass through an urban planning committee: the deciding factor is "architecture" and not "engineering".  For example, all the new skyscrapers being built, are different in shape but are all of glass: they reflect the sky and the clouds, making them seem lighter.

This is the Dexia skyscraper.  You can see what I mean by being all of glass.  There are others like it around it.

This is the Berlyamont building of the European Union - again, glass.  It's in a cruciform shape and its facade is covered with glass louvres which move automatically to regulate temperature and reduce glaze.

These are the Belgacom Towers, headquarters of the Belgian Telephone Company, taken on one of the many grey days here.

Les Galeries du Roi - an elegant mall with a glass roof - built by King Leopold II.  And there are some affordable shops in it!  Life here is relatively cheaper than Paris or London.

The contours, footprint and volume of the steel and glass structure mimic those of the 17th century chapel of Les Brigittines beside it.  I love the idea of paying homage to something beautiful that is already there.

The narrow elliptical shape of the rectorate building on the campus of the Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB) where I take my Flemish courses.  No room in it has 90-degree angles!  I have my written Flemish exam today and my oral on Monday......

Glaverbel - a circular building named after the Belgian glass manufacturer for which it was designed and accordingly, the facade is covered in a curtain of tinted windows.  You can see the reflection of the surrounding trees in the windows.

CBR administrative offices (cement company) - the bronze glass mirrored windows reflect the suburban location and leave the facade uncluttered.  Rather unique!

The Atomium - Brussels' Eiffel Tower - the centrepiece of Expo '58.  The design was based on an iron molecule magnified 165 billion times, with each globe representing an atom.  There are escalators along the linking tubes.

St. Augustine Church, in Place de l'Altitude Cent, the highest point in Brussels (100 m.).  Not a very pretty church (made out of concrete) but it is a city landmark.  And the square it's built in is not very elevated so you can see that Brussels, in spite of its 'hills', is quite flat.

Le Paquebot jaune, or The Yellow Steamship, as Brussellers like to call it, is a cultural arts centre on Place Flagey.  Haven't been there yet but hope to before I leave.  Another grey day....

The Basilica of Sts-Michel-et-Gudule by night.  This is the church in which the royal family is married, christened and buried.  It sits in the heart of Brussels and is very beautiful inside.  During the summer, the park outside is filled with people taking their lunch break.

La Porte de Hal, the only remaining fortified city gate from the Middle Ages.  Built in 1381, it was a gate in the second set of defensive walls around Brussels.

An outstanding example of the 'Art nouveau" style.  It used to be a store called "Old England" that sold British goods but today it is a beautiful museum of musical instruments.  Still to be visited!

The Koekelberg Cathedral, the largest church in Brussels, can be seen from all over Brussels.  It is a huge church on a 'hill' that regularly holds beautiful art exhibits.....but it is also used as a church for mass on Saturdays and Sundays.

And last but definitely not least, le Palais de Justice with its gilded dome topped by a crown.  Again, this was the work of Leopold II, a megalomanic.  The building is gigantic and always under some kind of repair.  No one around has ever seen it without scaffolding of some sort (I took the picture at an angle that covers most of the scaffolding).  And no one today really knows how to use this white elephant.  I have to admit, though, that it is very impressive.





And so this is another aspect of this beautiful, enticing city called Brussels that is my home for a year.  One of my joys is to wander around the city without an agenda, and take pictures of whatever interests me.  I'm surprised at how much I love living in a city.  I never thought I'd say that, coming from the suburbs.  But living 'downtown' means living close to so many interesting things to do and see, and public transportation takes me relatively quickly all over the city.  And my sidestreet is relatively quiet.

Hmmm........