European Mystery....

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

To all y'all folks from the Netherlands and Belgium:

If you ever run across a young woman named Cecile Hubin, you have got to let me know!  

Ten years ago, I stood at a bus stop waiting for the bus to downtown Louisville.  An older woman who runs a guest house for exchange students walks up with a beautiful creature from Belgium named Cecile.  The older woman asks me if I will let Cecile know when we've gotten to a certain street.

Of course, Cecile and I strike up a conversation and hit if off quite well, so I ask her to join myself and my wife for dinner that evening.  She accepts!

The next month was spent getting to know our new friend.  She was a lawyer doing an internship here in the States.  She was a fantastic conversationalist, not to mention good company.  When the end of her internship came up, she said her goodbyes and I just knew we'd never see or hear from her again.   :'(

Fast forward to 2003:  Suddenly, memories of that month came crashing back as I just replied to a message from Lieven about the FTP server...

Sooooooooo....if you happen to run into a lawyer named Cecile in Belgium, let me know!  I know odds are it's a total longshot, but I had to ask.  Kinda like "hey John, do you know so-and-so from America?" when the odds are no, I don't...but it was worth asking, eh?  :)

come on, do ol' Johnny a favor.  And please let me know if this is just a pretty sad ploy.  Life is funny!

[Lieven]

Hey John,

First of all, thanks a lot for the ftp-server. Just browsed to it using IE 5.0 and everything went fine. Listening to the Cactus-festival right now... the one I missed, cause I got to know MMJ just after it.
Hmm, this is really fantastic that you are so nice sharing those files!!  :D
If I'm able to get some recordings myself, I'll let you know.

I tried using WS_FTP also, but that didn't work. I could connect, but couldn't see any files/folders.

About Cecile...really nice story! If I ever bounce into that girl I'll let you (and her) know. Changes are small, but imagine... that would be real nice, wouldn't it?

10 years ago? So she must be about 32 years old now? Right?

"Cecile Hubin"...sounds french. Any idea what part of Belgium she came from?
Did she speak french or dutch? Cause in Belgium half part speaks dutch (in "Flanders") and other part (south of Belgium) speaks French and a really little part speaks German.

Maybe one day she'll sit right in front of me in a train or so... ;)

Take care!
Lieven (as in "Lee-vun")

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

She definitely spoke French...weird thing was she could speak both, but definitely better at French...she was indeed from the south....

P.S.  Glad you're enjoying the tunes!

[Lieven]

Both languages: not so weird...

In northern part, we have to learn both. Mostly dutch off course, but french also (starting at age 11). Later we get english and a bit german.

In southern part, they speak french and get a only a bit dutch. So most of them usually speak worse dutch, then northern people speak french. This leads to critics on politicians who "represent Belgium" but who can almost only speak french :-/

But enough on politics... boring!

One big holiday! Cool song and lookin' forward to it!

[Oz]

Ah, the old language battle... Let me tell you, I´m from Holland, as you know, more specifically, I´m originally from Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, wich is attached to Belgium, not to Holland, and I´ve always loved Belgium and think that Vlaams (the Belgian dialect of Dutch) is the most beautiful way to speak Dutch. I´m still trying to learn it, but unfortunately I´m not good at adapting dialects. Anyway, Belgium rocks!  :)

[Lieven]

Hallo "O",

Das fijn wat je daar allemaal zegt. Ikzelf ben van Oost-Vlaanderen. Als MMJ nog eens hier in de geburen speelt (Belgie of Holland), moeten we maar es afspreken. 'k Zal u dan wat van dat prachtige Vlaams leren  ;). We kunnen dan eens (als 't in België is) eens een goeie pint samen pakken en wat napraten over hoe super het optreden weer was.
Hou je goed!

[size=10]I just told O, that I like what he posted. I'm from East-Flanders. And if MMJ comes to Belgium or Holland, we should meet... I could learn him that beautiful dialect, and we could drink some of those famous delicious belgian beers, while talking about how superb the gig was.[/size]

[Oz]

Daar kunt ge van op aan, Lieven!  :)

[Ilse Solleveld]

Haven't been here for a long time...buuuut I just read the thingy about the languages in Belgium...you guys forgot one language: german! Near the border with Germany and Luxembourg they speak German. My grandparents used to live there (near St. Vith) so that's how I know:)

[Lieven]

don't worry we didn't forget the german part... read my first post:

in Belgium half part speaks dutch (in "Flanders") and other part (south of Belgium) speaks French and a really little part speaks German

[lfish]

Cool to read things in dutch.  And cool that the love for belgium is widespread. Although some American politicians don't like that country very much nowadays (--> the law on genocide). But hey, don't let politics spoil the love for the music. By the way, I like the positive atmosphere on this forum.  Everyone of you guys are always very friendly and optimistic, and that's nice, very nice. It's in fact strange to communicate with people you don't even know. Normally I'm not a big chatter, but it's the love for the jacket that keeps bringing me back to this forum, to read all the latest news on them and to notice the good musical taste and thoughts of the people on the forum. Thx guys.

ps lieven, ik heb de nieuwste cd van Stache gekocht, na jouw geweldige tip, en hij is echt wel goed.  Het is ergens tussen 16 horsepower en tom waits.  Leuk dat we nog zo'n groepen in België hebben.  

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

Hey, that's what it's all about.  I can't think of one single thread that got even remotely close to what I'm used to on other boards (CMJ's board, for instance) in terms of unfriendliness or nastiness.  

We're all friends here.  That's a refreshing change of pace, considering we're from all over and have such different backgrounds.  I'm proud to say I hang out here, mainly 'cause I've met such nice folks.

You guys rock.  I'm all tingly now.