Maastricht: neighbors to the north

What a commentary on neighborliness! The Flamand half of Belgium is not included in the tourist and business brochures as a part of Belgium, but labeled with France and Germany as if it were its own country, so the warmth of the Wallons for their Dutch neighbors in this charming town is surprisingly more than for their own countrymen.

We paid a short afternoon visit to this Dutch town, quaint and clean and tourist friendly, a stark contrast to the industrial working city that is Liège. This medallion on the church square marks the liberation of Maastricht on 14-15 September 1944, presented by the 30th Infantry Division Association, linking us in visible form to this place.




The church of Saint Servais has roots to the 4th century when the region was evangelized by Servais. A church was built on this site after his death in 384. Those very low numbers really work in my mind, enlarging and distorting my vision of time. It is disorienting to be in a place that has existed for so long before my coming.





The altar figure of Mary is crowded with the faithful, standing and kneeling in this small entrance chapel.









Saint Servais immediately brought a smile to my face and the image of Drew and Rachel, students who will be delighted to know they have a saint watching over them.

















After a cup of tea, a taste of chocolate, and a scoop of sorbet in a sweet tea room, we crossed the working river Meuse, admiring the row of buildings along the quai, in time to see the 6:07 train to Liège rolling away. We changed money and shopped in the bookstore while waiting for the 7:07, which was of course 10 minutes late.

Our morning classes had focused on the geography of Belgium, its rural and urban landscapes and their impact on the history and culture of the country. It was Mme Gonda who cracked the joke that the resolution of the Flamand-Wallon question would come about by climate change drowning Flanders and moving the coast back to Wallonie. Flanders is flourishing with only 6% unemployment while Wallonie has 18%, yet it is Wallonie with the slate, wood of the Ardennes forest, clay, and water resources that historically made it the more prosperous region.

Madame Wéry presented the crazy organization of the Belgian education system, which makes our administrative problems pale in comparison. The bright side is the choice each student has for the secondary school focus: general course work leading to university study (medicine, law, secondary teaching), technical course work leading to the technical schools (nursing, elementary teaching, social work, engineering, architecture, fine arts), or professional course work leading directly into the workforce (mechanic, dental assistant).

The special education schools for mild to severe mental disabilities have such outstanding results that French parents often move to enroll their children in the system. But the regular student has even more choices. There are three types of schools at all levels: the official schools, which are run by the French Community, the free schools that are run by the Catholic church, and the community schools under local administration.

The education system reflects the deep divides in this small land broken by a language barrier that seems insurmountable. There are Flamand immersion schools in Wallonie and French immersion schools in Flanders, but if a bilingual Flamand and Wallon sit down for a business dinner, they speak English, as neither wants to defer to the language of the other. There is a historical resentment by the Flamands of the French speaking aristocracy that originally ran the country, hoping that the local languages of Wallon in the south and Flamand in the north would die out. The policy worked in the south where Wallon is studied but no longer spoken, but Flanders kept their language, and their resentment.

This divisiveness brings back images of the Swiss, who also have this historical divide, but who have translated their differences into unity and brokered their skills at multilingual negotiation into a salable commodity.

The news is crackling with the resignation yesterday of the Belgian Prime Minister after the parliament failed to resolve the questions under debate involving the relationship between the Flamand (Flemish speaking) and the Wallon (French speaking) Community/Region. (Wallonie comes from the Wallon language which has Celtic roots). Belgium was without a government for the better part of a year due to this conflict. There is a strong sentiment that the country should split, with Flanders independent and Wallonie attached to France. No one seems to have asked the French what they think about this plan. All in all it's a sordid dispute with historical resentments simmering and no model for a Europe seeking to collaborate while maintaining national cultural identities. The Belgians like to say that Brussels in the Capital of Europe and Liege calls itself the Heart of Europe, but frankly, there is a major cardiac arrest imminent.