EXTRAODIRNARY TOURIST

Actually it was written on March when I was doing Brussels European Forum. But it took sometime to find it because I couldn't recall where it was placed in my documents. Anyway, for those who interested in NATO and European Commission and maybe Belgium, it might suit your appetite. Enjoy it! =). Today was my third day doing simulation G20 in Leuven, Belgium. Even though the week has not finished, I believe today would be one of my favourite days during this week. I had a chance to not only being a delegation  who was being drawn with a lot of complicated agenda to be discussed,  I got a chance to explore the other fun and smart side of the well-known Brussels, Belgium. I was so grateful because this journey made me feel I was one of the extraordinary tourist. Photographer: Alyssa Hopp The first extraordinary site to visit is NATO. Before I came,  I had an expectation that me and other participants will just observe the NATO’s activities. I was satisfied with that idea. But actually, today visiting was beyond my expectation. I was grateful to be given an insight about NATO by three its experts. Furthermore, they shared about the crucial challenging issues for NATO which more less helping us to understand a worldwide complicated problem in terms of security from International perspective.  During the presentation, couple of delegations were very keen on the topic about how far NATO would deal with the unsolved piracy problem in Somalia. They were not satisfied with NATO position which steps back from this problem. NATO argued that if NATO involves and mobilises its armies to Somalia, it would just ruin the balance of life in Somalia. NATO sees that piracy is too complicated to be solved. Moreover, NATO argued that its focus is on Afghanistan and others middle east countries. From my perspective, the discussion between delegations and NATO towards Somalia was quite interesting.  Photographer: Alyssa Hopp European Commission was my next destination. Again, it was beyond my expectation which is a good thing. The expert gave us a substantial knowledge which assists us to understand about European Union’s priority agenda. Again, there were some delegations that was questioning the existence of European Commission and its progress to create better living for country members. Since they were EU citizens, they did not believe European Commission was doing its homework very well. Surely, European Commission presented the sophisticated slides to state that argument was completely wrong because it has done enough and would do better for its citizens. Since I am not the EU resident and not having sufficient information to join the discussion, all I did was just observing. From the communication area, I assume there was lack of understanding from citizens towards European Commission performance.  It may sound cliche but communication is one of the key to win people's trust Photographer: Hasina Juma After all the extraordinary trip to NATO and European Commission, I spent the rest of day to explore the fabulous Brussel. We met the Van Gogh and took a picture with him when we were heading to the popular Mannekin Pis. We were also did the ritual thing with a statue of goddess because we were told to touch it so that we get a chance to visit Brussels again.  Having a great day experience to visit to  such a great international institutions is making me feel I am the extraordinary tourist. I was not only eating Brussels waffle and seeing legendary Manneken Pis but also having a great discussion with NATO and EU Commission Experts.