Time to get your Belg-On (AGAIN)!
Saturday, November 13th will mark the second (annual) worldwide AlumnISB Day. This all-important holiday dedicated to celebrating US! (As if we really needed an excuse to indulge in more beer, chocolates, and waffles.) FAQ What the heck is AlumnISB Day?It’s a day of celebration, connection, and reflection of our ISB/Belgian past. It’s an opportunity to…
Find the golden stripe, win two free bags of Chokotoffs
An all-but-forgotten practice was brought back to life last month as 100 people sent special Chokotoff wrappers to the company for free bags of the chocolate toffee While they’re no longer made in Belgium, Chokotoffs are still considered a quintessential Belgian product. The chewy chocolate toffees are produced by Côte d’Or and sold individually wrapped…
Alum on the run
The Kenyans may own the marathon and Usian Bolt may be the fastest human alive but without question, the best looking runner West of the Mississippi this past weekend was ISB’s own Bill Fisher! Harkening back to those glory days of running through the bois behind ISB, Bill’s gold medal style and panache were the…
‘Somewhere over the château skies are grey’
“I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore, Milou!” Dorothy exclaimed whilst sipping a delirium just off the Petite Rue des Bouchers. Recently uncovered lyrics call into question the origins of the most iconic song from the Wizard of Oz. Sure, it can be argued that the château was built long before the creation of the…
How Covid changed the International School of Brussels
A “sponsored” article from the Brussels Times… On March 10, 2020, the International School of Brussels (ISB) closed its campus as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Thirty-six hours later, 1400 students across all grade levels had successfully transitioned to continuous learning, beginning a new way of doing school that would impact the remainder of the 2019-20…
Expat holiday shopping? DONE!
Looks like a fantastic gift for yourself or the Belgaphile in your life is about to be released: 100 Belgian Icons is a new book about the place many of us consider our heart home. This affectionate cultural guide celebrates 100 icons that make Belgium different from any other country. In 100 short, informative texts,…
Feeling horny? Get yourself to the Musical Instrument Museum
One of the sexiest sax (saxiest?) exhibits in the world can be found in Brussels at the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM). With the inventor of the saxophone, Adolphe Sax, having been born in Belgium (Dinant), it stands to reason that a suitable homage might be located nearby. This truly remarkable museum is housed in the…
Alumna takes action to be part of the COVID solution
On August 14th, like many, I was continuing to wait for news regarding advances in curbing COVID-19. I was diligently wearing my face mask. I was social distancing and really not socializing at all. Travel plans had been cancelled. In August, like the previous several months, I felt in a sort of limbo. It was…
The Strange Case of Belgium’s Unconstitutional Flag
The Belgian flag as we know it today – composed of a black, yellow, and red vertical stripe – is actually unconstitutional. You may be thinking: how hard can it possibly be to follow the instructions written in the Constitution? If people today can manage to build do-it-yourself IKEA furniture correctly, then surely this can’t be that hard? Well,…
Top 5 downtown bars from our youth still in operation (pre Covid)
For many of us, our social skills were honed on a (frequently rainy) Friday or Saturday night as we bar-hopped around the city. The destination bars had to meet one or more specific criteria… cheap beer, ambiance, specialty drink, and/or enough space for a constantly changing group size. These five bars seemed to always make…
Tis the season – Gibier!
It’s no secret that Belgian cuisine is exceptional by any standard. My parents were foodies before that was even a term and moving to Brussels became an amusement park for all of our taste buds. Our first autumn in Belgium (while I was still getting my euro-footing) had my folks gleefully anticipating “Gibier”. To the…
Brussels bans prostitution again in bid to curb Covid-19 infection rate
[An International education takes many forms. As an 8th grade transplant, one of the multitude of differences I discovered between my hometown in the States vs my new life in Brussels was the Red Light District. I hadn’t known they’d existed prior to hearing kids talking about it and then walking down the streets behind…
IB French: “Je suis rassasié”
You’ve just finished your kilo of moules Provençal avec frites. You couldn’t resist the mousse au chocolat. The carafe de vin is empty. The waiter comes around to ask if there is possibly anything else you might require to make your meal complete. Your phase of the moment, brought to you by alumnus Steve Gutzman,…
Thank you, Mr. Nimmons
It’s gotta be said that one of the pillars that made our ISB/Belgian experience so remarkable was our teachers. Like each of us, many were transplants themselves which only enhanced our connection. Today’s shoutout goes to Colin Nimmons, History teacher extraordinaire. His banter, witticisms, and long-hand chalk board missives set him in a class by…
Belgian team wins European solar car championship
Anyone else see the irony here? Belgium’s Team Agoria Solar took gold in the European solar car championship in Heusden-Zolder on Sunday afternoon, completing 352 laps in 24 hours in its Bluepoint vehicle. The Dutch Team Twente Solar made off with both second and third places in Red Shift (313 rounds) and Red E (304…
Mini-Europe to close its doors at the end of 2020
Say it ain’t so! Mini-Europe’s management has announced that the tourist park will close on December 31st of this year. The company cites the impact of the corona crisis and the lack of a new lease agreement with the city of Brussels as the main reasons. According to Brussels’ Mayor, Philippe Close (PS), a fair…
Name that Teacher!
ISB recently held a Zoom meeting with former faculty. It was an opportunity for them to meet the new ISB Director, James MacDonald. Recognize any of these iconic faces? I found one of my former teachers amidst the crowd and can name five others. How about you?
Carol Kelly honored as 2020 Marion County Outstanding Senior Citizen
The spotlight shines bright on ISB’s mega-family, the Kellys’. This just in from the Marion Star: MARION – The Ohio District 5 Area Agency on Aging Inc. Wednesday honored Carol Kelly as the 2020 Marion County Outstanding Senior Citizen Award recipient. “This is the 20th year the area agency has honored a volunteer from Marion county,” said…
Brussels to Barcelona in eight hours: Proposal to relaunch Trans-Europe Express
For many of us, our Belgian youth seemed to be awash in acronyms and initialisms. One that stands out was TEE. This just in from The Bulletin: German federal transport minister Andreas Scheuer has proposed at a European transport council meeting in Brussels to relaunch the Trans-Europe Express (TEE) 2.0 network of high-speed and night…
A Taste of Belgium – Gaufre liègeoise
An ISB alumni poll revealed that frites are the most longed-for Belgian delicacy. I beg to differ. For me, nothing soothes the soul like a fresh, piping hot gaufre liègoise. Back in the day, Belgaufra was the superior waffle. I had a map of their waffle stands pressed into my brain like the sugar-packed dough…
Meet the only person who can dress the Manneken Pis
It’s 9 o’clock on a Saturday morning at the corner of Rue de l’Étuve and Rue de Chêne where the legendary statue of the Manneken Pis stands. While the rest of the city may still be reeling from a hangover after a Friday night of drinking, tourists are already milling around Brussels’ notorious peeing boy.…
School Nurse Remembered
In 1980, the Stockhem Building was most notably the Tea House, that Wednesday tradition where we could indulge in such Mom-made treats as pizza, American sandwiches, and chocolate chip cookies. Down the hall lived the Swap Shop with its second-hand clothing. And, on the ground floor you could find the Infirmary headed by the school…
Abbey Ruins Get Better With Age
If you’ve never been or, if it’s been awhile, you really need to make Villers-la-Ville a priority. Sure, everyone you have ever met in your life that has visited Belgium has made the obligatory trek to Bruges. But how many can say they’ve experienced the abbey at Villers? It’s friggin’ fantastic! Seriously. They started building…
Kalispell Red Cross volunteer (and ISB alumna) helps CA families displaced by wildfires
KALISPELL — A Kalispell woman recently volunteered in California with the American Red Cross helping families displaced by devastating wildfires. Kalispell’s Susan Smith, a retired nurse, traveled to Santa Cruz on a week-long deployment and returned on Sept. 1. Smith worked first-hand with displaced individuals helping families find resources and supplies. She also worked with…
Belgium gives 100m² of land back to Netherlands
Belgium is 100m² smaller than it was in August 2020. When paving work in the street marking the border with the Netherlands began in Essen, Antwerp province, last week, the commission dealing with the maintenance of the border markers found that the border post turned out to be about a metre too far into the…
ISB Alumna Kicking Ass and Making the World a Better Place
The Elizabeth A. MacDonald Charitable Foundation is a Los Angeles based 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to supporting and empowering the brothers and sisters of pediatric patients in health crises. The Elizabeth A. MacDonald Charitable Foundation (eamf) is spearheading a movement to bring invisible siblings of seriously ill children out of the background and into…
Solstice phenomenon admired at Laeken Cemetery
Several dozen people lined up on the Summer solstice to get a peek at a phenomenon that happens just once a year in the historical Laeken Cemetery. Right about noon every 21 June, the sun shines through a space in the roof of a mausoleum at just the right angle, and creates a heart of…
8 ways to discover Victor Horta’s genius in Brussels
The Belgian architect Victor Horta transformed Brussels in the 1890s and early 20th century with his sublime Art Nouveau style. The city is marking the 70th anniversary of his death with the festival Horta Inside Out. Involving 20 cultural organisations, the programme offers a year of events in buildings designed by Horta, including Bozar and…
WELCOME TO THE NEW ISB ALUMNI WEBSITE!
Can anyone have too much Belgian love? Just because we are immersed in our current lives doesn’t mean we can’t take time out to smell les gaufres Liègeoise as we recall our incredible past lives in Brussels. Beyond the Château (BTC) will sporadically curate our alumni memories, current events in Brussels, ISB news, images from our past,…
ISB Announces New Alumni Center
The King of Spain has been officially adopted as ISB’s Alumni Center. Le Roy d’Espagne has received the recognition it so richly deserves. As the newly minted Alumni Center for the International School of Brussels, rumors about the venerable site’s possible use as an ISB extension campus can finally be put to rest. The recent…
Beyond the Château 