Brussels

So here's the thing about Belgium, it is officially bilingual. This means that to get a job one must speak French and Dutch. However, until a while ago the Francophones had all of the industry and all of the power. So the Dutch were used to learning French. Now it is imperative that the Francophones also learn Dutch, but none of the Wallonian teachers know Dutch. As a result, the French have 20% unemployment and businesses have a severe need for employees. As such, there are problems, since unemployment is so high. Moroccan  men have an unemployment rate of 70%. That is catastrophic. But if one wants a job here they must speak French, Dutch, and preferably English. Unless you are like the awesome sandwich lady and only speak French, but make such a sandwich that no one cares. So all in all, the poverty is pretty bad, and the poorer someone is the more they will flaunt what little money they can appear to have. As such, there is a huge market for stupid flashy crap here. It is pretty annoying. People have been complementing me on my shoes, which is something that never has happened before in my life. It turns out the first pair of shoes I have bought in nearly 4 years, for a pithy $20 is an 85 euro commodity here. So obviously, they are just complimenting my ability to buy them. Which makes me feel really uneasy. 

The point of all this is I stepped on a snail the other day. They are everywhere, and usually I watch out for them, but I was reading. They make the saddest pop sound. I have eaten them, once, it was not so great. But I didn't feel bad about it then. However, stepping on one and lifting up my foot to all of the shell fragments was terrible. Stepping on a snail I think was worse then seeing that guy die on the steps of the Bourse. But guys on the Bourse will try and steal your beer. Snails do no harm to anyone. RIP random snail driven to the parking lot because of the rain. You were a better man than I am.