#asks by lis

[hilliska]

4 and 7 from the ask game :)

(for the Not from the US-ask game)

Oooh - thank you! 💜💜💜

4. Favourite dish specific for your country?

I mean, I know that french fries and/or chocolate would be the obvious choice here. And they are good! And vastly superior to other countries' versions, of course. However... I know that when I lived in Sweden, the one thing I would always ALWAYS bring from home, would be peperkoek. It's a kind of gingerbread, but more cake-like, if that makes sense? And a different combo of spices. And it's super sweet, but super good, and even though it's not something I'd buy weekly or even monthly, I missed it terribly when I was abroad :).

7. three words from your native language that you like the most?

Goesting. It's a classic, I know, but for good reason. It's sort of like "desire" but where desire come from the heart, goesting comes from the belly. It can be directed at something specific (if you feel like cookies, for example; ik heb goesting in koekjes), or if you wanna eat something but you don't know what, you can just say ik heb goesting. Can also be used for activities - and yes, that includes the sexual kind ;).

Appelblauwzeegroen. Translated literally it means "apple blue sea green" and it's this color:

You know, the kind of blueish green or greenish blue that makes you doubt your eyes? And I just really like that play on words, because this is blue, but not like the sea is blue, and it's also green, but not like apples are green. An apple'ish blue and a sea'ish green. Apple blue sea green.

Curieuzeneuzemosterdpot. Look, I have no idea, so don't ask, but a literal translation would be something like "curious nose mustard pot". Again - don't ask, I have NO idea why this is a thing. It essentially means a curious person, but like, it has a fond undertone to it. Like if a kid would go searching through the house looking for their birthday present, you could call them this - they're too curious, and they shouldn't be, but also you can't blame them for it? So it's a cute word. And it also sounds funny :).

[hilliska]

✓ top 3? ik ben nieuwsgierig 😄

Neeeeeeee... nog Nederlandstaligen?!?!?? NL of BE?

(ik heb even de hulp van mijn (niet-Nederandstalige) vrouw ingeroepen)

Apenstaartje (= monkey's tail; aka this thing: @)

Muizenstrontjes (= mouse excrements; aka chocolate sprinkles)

Mierenneuker (= ant fucker; someone who's a little too detail oriented)

Honorary mention to hottentottententententoonstellingstent because - well, look at it :D

En aan alle "ontbreekwoorden" die ze op Radio 1 uitvinden tegenwoordig, zoals verstekvreugde (relief of missing out), hamerglas (dat laatste glas waarvan je weet: als ik dit nu opdrink, krijg ik een klop van de hamer), Fuck Elise (het moment waarop een wachtmuziekje even stopt, waardoor je denkt dat je aan de beurt bent, maar dan opnieuw begint), paniekdozen (snelle opruimactie wanneer er onverwacht bezoek komt), ...

[hilliska]

☾ +☯+❀

Oooh three of them! Let me see...

☾ : favourite word from your language Goesting. Like. That's a no brainer. A classic, for sure, but it just has to be. It's a word for the feeling when you want something, like a craving, almost? Like if you want a Big Mac at 3am, you have goesting. It's not just food though - it could be sexual, it could be wanting to punch someone, it could be wanting to go out for a walk. So it's a good feeling, and also it just sounds very homely. So that :).

☯ : what do you love about your language? That is actually a very hard one... I think. The dialects, honestly? Even if I don't speak any of them properly. So idk how familiar you are with Belgium but I'm in the Northern part which means I speak Dutch. And not only does every province have its own accent - every city and even every village has a distinct vocab and dialect. Of course now it's largely sanitized and there's few people who speak actual dialects anymore, but I remember as a kid trying to use the local dialect and my dad making fun of me cause I was using words I learned from my grandparents, who were from two villages over, and someone from OUR village would NEVER say it like that :D. And I understand there's dialects in every language and such, but you have to understand that (without traffic) it'll take you less than three hours to drive from West-Flanders to Limburg - and I can guarantee you the first ones will NOT understand a word the second one is saying. And I just think that's beautiful ;).

❀ : which language(s) would you like to speak fluently? I gotta say Czech. I mean. My wife's Czech and my kids already understand it better than I do and just. Yeah. I really need to learn more Czech. But if it wasn't Czech... idk, I'm frustrated about the languages I knew but forgot (Swedish and -particularly- Portuguese), so it would be cool to have those back, but I'm also very fascinated with languages like Xhosa (which uses click consonants) and tonal languages like Thai and such - because it's so far removed from the type and structure of languages I'm familiar with. But there is absolutely zero reason for me to speak/learn those, so yanno. Compells me, though :).

[hilliska]

Are we sure he deleted the messages? We saw him deleting the number. I mean, sure, he asks Simon to, but there's no proof he did it. (let me believe this)

(in response to my tags on this post)

Well, it's not incontestible, that's true, and this may very well be one of those things I always assumed was true without really questioning it but-

To me at least it's heavily implied that Wille deleted their texts as well. If only because I think Wille knows that what he's asking of Simon is no small thing. So to ask Simon to delete the texts, without having deleted them himself? It feels hypocritial. And I'm not claiming Wille is an angel (he's not), but he's not a hypocrite - not when he has a say in it at least. I mean, him struggling with having to keep up a facade, pretending to be someone he's not, ... is sort of a central point in the series. He wants to be honest, and he hates that he's forced to lie by his mother and the Royal Court.

I just think that Wille respects Simon too much, that he wouldn't ask him to (symbolically) erase their entire relationship, if he hadn't done so himself either.

Did he regret it as soon as he did? Fuck yeah.

But he still did.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm happy for you to disagree with me, cause then at least there is a universe where he can go back and read and remember the way things started and have proof that it happened and that it was REAL.

And now I've made myself cry.

[hilliska]

✨🧡🌙SEND THIS TO TEN OTHER BLOGGERS YOU THINK ARE WONDERFUL. KEEP THE GAME GOING ✨🧡

[hilliska]

4, 14, 22 💜

(for the Not from the US-ask game)

Oh hi nonnie, nice to see you, and thank you!!

4. Favourite dish specific for your country?

Look I know I already answered this but there's so much good stuff here so I'm gonna cheat and add something else because-

Rice pudding with brown sugar.

And I know what you're gonna say! I know - you also have rice pudding. But you don't have the brown sugar, not the right kind. Trust me - the brown sugar is essential. And the combination is SO. GOOD.

So good....

14. do you enjoy your country’s cinema and/or TV?

Well, we don't have any cable in our household, so I don't see much of it; we're very US-oriented in our media consumption, I'm afraid. Which is a pity, cause we do have a couple of production houses that make really good series - we'll watch De Mol every year (sort of reality tv/game show with 10 candidates and one "mole" who tries to sabotage; it's very cleverly made), and I just watched a documentary on sexual abuse in the catholic church which was heavy but so well-made. The Flemish cinema (Northern, Dutch-speaking part) isn't as strong, and definitely not as strong as the Wallonian one (Southern, French-speaking part), but the Wallonian cinema is heavily influenced by the French and it tends to get very gritty and serious. Not exactly the escapism I prefer in my movies :D.

22. what makes you proud about your country? what makes you ashamed?

Oh gods. As I said in a previous post, we got a serious case of Calimero complex going on - it's just silly little Belgium, you know, nothing to see here. But if there's something I'm ashamed of, it's probably our governments'... unwieldiness? And look, I've lived in a few countries so I'm very aware that every citizen thinks their government is The Most Incompetent in the world but- we got 7 governments. For 11 million people. Like- During the corona crisis there were 9 (NINE!) separate ministers responsible for the various aspects of managing a health crisis. So obviously nothing got done because it was always the other minister's responsibility and just- it's so tiring sometimes. We're the world record holder for longest government formation (541 days - yes, that's a year and a half without a functional government) and I am secretly convinced we will break that record again come the elections next year. So yeah...

But I think we can be proud of our LGBTQ policies? We were the second country in the world to get marriage equality, and while we obviously still have a ways to go, Belgium is a good place to be if you're queer. And like fries. And chocolate. And rice pudding with brown sugar :)

[hilliska]

Nationality asks, 21 and 26

(for the Not from the US-ask game)

Heeey, thank you!!!

21. if you could send two things from your country into space, what would they be?

As in like, send them away to get rid of? Or to boast about ourselves to the aliens? Cause in the first case I'd probably say Dries Van Langenhove (extreme right """"activist""") and the entire institute of the catholic church, if I could (just watched a documentary on sexual abuse in the church and I'm MAD).

If I wanted to boast... eh... idk that's hard, we like, have a collective Calimero complex here. But chocolate, probably? Some Côte d'Or Double Lait bars. Beer would probably not survive. Maybe a comic book? Tintin or the Smurfs or something :).

26. does your nationality get portrayed in Hollywood/American media? what do you think about the portrayal?

Well, there's the classic joke about how Hollywood thinks that Belgium is the capital of Brussels, so I think that says it all ;). But since Brussels is sometimes considered the capital of Europe, and it's "centrally located" by those who forget Eastern Europe exists (in casu Hollywood :D), the capital city does appear once in a while. People always speak French, though, even though it's a bilingual area. Which is like... annoying, but also, whatever. As long as they don't cast a Dutch person to play a Dutch-speaking Belgian, I'm fine :).

[hilliska]

Hello. I saw you reply to the confession blog and you mentioned something about Big Bang and Edvin's latest remarks. I'm just curious what he said that would make a difference on whether or not to hold the event? Thank you.

I really stirred something with that quote didn't I? :D

I made a short post about it because there were a few anons in my inbox already, but I think it just crossed your ask - and since you're specifically asking about the event as well I think a separate answer is in order.

Just for clarity: the Big Bang event will be held. Like, it's half the reason why I started the @hillerskalibrary if I'm honest. The question is WHEN.

Imagine I open sign-ups now, give three months for writing, then publishing could start after the Christmas holidays, say. Which would be perfect if s3 airs in February or March. But if it airs in January (or even December), there's already gonna be so much going on no one will be interested in the event. And I feel like I can't really start organizing the event if I don't have a clear timeline for the writers, so I sorta need the s3 date to set a timeframe.

And I was hoping for a December release, really, if only because then we'd probably know about it soon(ish) and I'd be able to get started. But since Edvin said it's gonna air next year, probably, it's sort of like... well if it's February/March then I can get it started now and publish in January and we'll have a nice event to tide us over until s3. But if it's January then publishing BEFORE s3 is not going to work anymore and, considering people are going to need time to watch and analyse and write reaction fic etc etc, no one will care about a Big Bang until... May, probably.

So do I get it started and risk overlapping the publishing times with the s3 release, or do I just wait and do it after?

Basically I'm just anxious and running circles in my head and I should probably just do a poll to see what the writers think :).