June One, 2007

today, friday, june 1st (ok its really tomorrow- saturday june 2nd, but procrastination is expected in europe), we had quite a packed day. under the guidance of omar we arrived at 'Atlas,' an immigration center in Antwerp which aids in the transition of newcomers to Belgium. with the slogan 'integration, not immigration,' Atlas is just one organization that promotes the diversity of Antwerp.

next, we arrived at a buddhist temple just a few blocks from Atlas. Here we learned a bit about the basics of the buddhist religion, witnessed luis' uncanny ability to understand all languages, and observed the limitlessness of worship; for a seemingly ordinary house had been transformed into this beautiful temple.

as this house had become a temple, we next visited the most amazing church. about 9 years ago this church was squatted and has been successfully held by the squatters since. the monastery attached to the church now houses immigrants and refugees, while a back room of the actual church serves as a make-shift bar once a week.

finally, we walked down to the pink house where we had lunch and learned about the organization. the pink house gives presentations, to different religious groups in particular, concerning the awareness, complete acceptance and integration of the lgbt community.


the above is a short summary of the logistics of the day. as for the gieu group itself...

we are doing quite well.

i apologize for the lack of creativity in this post, but will blame this on the mess of a keyboard on which i am now typing, for just wrtiting this has taken about 45 minutes.

well for now, signing out from this side of the ocean...

gieugieu.