Meeting with Belgian expatriates in Florida Manuel Molina: a highly invested consul Cynthia Legrand: the great patroness of Belgian mondays Marc de Vlieger, the Flemish knight

Le Courrier had been planning to talk about the Belgian community in Florida for a while. And it is a sad occasion that brought us forward the date of publication of this article: the attacks that unfortunately hit Brussels on March 22. They sparked a mobilization here in Florida, and turned the spotlight on expatriates who are not usually used to being cried over; sinistrosis being foreign to all belgitude!

As Consul Manuel Molina reminds us, “Belgians are not great expatriates; they are homebodies. They love Belgium and they are right! Nevertheless, they are still nearly 5,500 living in Florida, above all in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach region, but also a little on the west coast. The Belgians have long been structured around their consul Guy Govaert, who remained in office for several decades, and organized a meeting every July 21 for Independence Day. Then there was Marc de Vlieger, who in 1987 launched the Belgian club in Florida. Manuel Molina, who has been consul for ten years, took advantage of his artistic passions to launch last year (with Sophie Malaquin and Franck Bondrille) the company Entourage Entertainment, and immediately invite the French-speaking Belgian singers Arno , then Stromae, the latter having attracted more than 3,500 spectators in September 2015, a record for an artist singing in French, and a memorable performance for everyone: Belgium is on the rise! At the same time, a new expatriate, Cynthia Legrand, launched the Belgian Mondays two years ago, which allowed Belgian expatriates to meet once a month in a different place in Miami and an atmosphere that was still just as nice. There has also been a long-standing presence in Florida of the Union Francophone des Belges Abroad (www.ufbe.be), thanks to its representative in Miami, Guy Poschelle. "There is no special pressure from Belgians towards Florida", confirms Manuel Molina, "but there are still expatriates arriving, and above all a lot more tourism since JetAir started its direct flights with Brussels. . The attacks shocked, they were terrifying, but Belgium is not a territory for terrorists. There was a before and there will be an after in this pleasant country to live in. All the same, we feel that fear has increased in the Belgian Jewish community. A fear has grown and many are coming to the USA.“

As Marc de Vlieger says, “When I arrived in the United States, people had no idea where Belgium was. And then there was Jean-Claude Van Damme (JCVD)… and a lot of things have changed! Do you know that it was Gui Govaert who had solved his visa problems in Miami? Well today everyone knows where Belgium is, unfortunately, the attacks are not for nothing. And it wasn't just the legendary JCVD ​​or the great Stromae that passed through Miami: Belgium is gradually leaving its mark, through the chocolates of L'Atelier Monnier (opened by Patrick Feyten), the paintings of Jean Corliano , a large number of professors from the University of Miami (UM), coming straight from the kingdom, such as the dean of the faculty of medicine, Pascal Goldsmith, or even Jean-François Lejeune, dean of the faculty of archi ( from the same university). Lejeune is a name that is not at all unknown in Miami, since LeJeune Road is the name of one of the main axes of Coral Gables. It was named in honor of Charles Le Jeune, a pioneer of Belgian expatriation, who arrived in Miami in 1900, who acquired 57 hectares within the nascent Coral Gables in order to start growing oranges there. , grapefruits and limes. Like what, the arrival of Belgians in Florida is not at all new!

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He has been Honorary Consul of Belgium in Miami for nearly 10 years. Born in Eupen, in Wallonia, near the German border, Manuel then studied in Liège and Louvin, to become an industrial engineer, before settling in Liège. A company he worked for regularly sends him to Tampa on a mission… and that’s how he discovers Florida. Since then, he has settled there, and launched an investment fund in the field of real estate, which has three managers (including him): all Belgians! There are those who know him as clients of his company, there are those who have to deal with the consul who settles day and night the problems of distress or loss of passport of his fellow citizens... and there are those who know the Manuel Molina's artistic side. “I have always been passionate about music and cinema, American film noir, the French level wave, Italian films… My grandparents had cinemas in Morocco. I invested in a film production company in Beverly Hills called Straight Up Films. Recently we produced Jane Got A Gun, a western with Natalie Portman, or Transcendence with Johnny Depp“. And Manuel Molina announces to us exclusively – at the invitation of his company Entourage – the coming to Miami in September of the Belgian humorist Alex Vizorek (who is a hit on the airwaves of France Inter). Thus the adventure continues for the Belgians of Florida, a community that is structured year after year!

www.straightupfilms.com

Consulate of Belgium – Website

100 N. Biscayne Blvd., suite 500 – 33132 Miami-Fl

Tel:(1-305) 6000 982 – consulmiami@gmail.com

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Cynthia is a true Brussels native, but she was born… in New York State, before moving back to Belgium. Artistic studies, graphic designer for years, “I found myself completely by chance in the hotel industry in Brussels. And then they needed someone to launch a hotel in Miami Beach 4 years ago… I took the plunge, and that's how I became manager of Blanc Kara. The implementation phase was exciting. Everything had to be decided: music, decoration, breakfast products: down to the smallest detail, so that the hotel becomes what it is. I didn't think I would stay longer in Miami… but after 6 months I didn't want to leave! I was single, so expatriation was easy. I was not at all specifically looking to marry a Belgian… but that is finally what happened: I met one in Miami! And in 2014, Cynthia Legrand launched the Belgian Mondays. “I had organized quite a few events in Brussels, so it came naturally. We have already met 21 times since the creation, and people like it a lot because each month it allows them to discover a new place. I try to be creative in the choices. There is still a majority of Belgians, but obviously a lot of French too; ; we are always between 50 and 100 people. And for her, is the connection with Belgium still important? "Yes, not a day goes by that we don't have family or friends on the phone. Especially since the attacks, we were really shocked that this could happen in Brussels. Moreover, it was Cynthia who organized the rally in front of the flame of freedom (with the support of Consul Molina). "To tell you how this stuff can affect us, my sister was flying to Miami to see me, and she took off 9 minutes after the bombs went off. I thank everyone who came to support us.«

Meeting with Belgian expatriates in Florida Manuel Molina: a very invested consul Cynthia Legrand: the great patroness of Belgian mondays Marc de Vlieger, the Flemish knight

Belgian Mondays: 786 274 3034

belgianmondays.mia@gmail.com–www.belgianmondaysmiami.org

www.facebook.com/belgianmondaysmiami

Belgian Mondays in MiamiBelgian Mondays in MiamiBelgian Mondays in Miami

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As everyone knows, Belgium is the only country in the world made up of three halves: Walloons, Brussels residents and Flemings. Here is another historical figure from Belgium in Florida, Marc de Vlieger. It confirms upside down the adage of Jacques Brel according to which the Flemings would be neither chatty nor quivering: he leaps, he quivers and he never lacks projects! Marc was born in Alter, between Ghent and Bruges, “and we had the particularity of having a family musical group, which was called The Nordas. I played guitar in the band with my brothers and we wanted to be the Beatles. For 20 years, I couldn't move from Belgium, because we had concerts all the time. We made more than 2000. One day I told them: “in three years, I will leave the group”. I had wanted to travel around the world since the age of 3 and I had not been able to do it. After quite a few trips on which I wrote a book, in 1978 I arrived in the United States. I visited the country and Canada by Greyound Bus, and then I discovered Florida. This was before the internet and even before the invention of the fax! We only had the radio to be in contact with Belgium, so I became a radio monitor. We met once a year on July 21 with Guy Govaert who miraculously succeeded in importing beer. Nobody here knew if the name of our country was “Brussels” or “Belgium”, and nobody knew where it was either. Yet there are magnificent cities, there is a history, there was Waterloo, there was the writing of Marx's Manifesto, there were the World Wars... But hey... Belgium was not known... until the arrival of Jean-Claude Van Damme!”

In 1987, Marc woke up one day at 5 a.m. and said to himself “and why not set up a Belgian Club in Florida? "And that's how it went." We had up to 20 to 30 meetings a year, but that has dropped a little over the past 2 years. We will do it again next year!” These meetings often took place at Bobby Rubino's (in Pompano Beach). For those who don't know, the Flemings are above all not conversational in French (even if Marc understands this very well!) and it should be noted that his vice-president at the Belgian Club, Caroline Sucaet, and president of the Dutch-speaking school by Davie, “Oranjebloesem“. “Yes, there are a lot of Flemings who want to settle in Florida. I get calls for that every week, whereas in my first 10 years in the US there were no calls like that. We had some communities, and even a newspaper in Detroit, The Detroit Gazette, which was half Flemish and half English, but has since disappeared.” Finally, note that in 2010 Marc de Vlieger was knighted by the King of Belgium, for the role he played (especially in the media) between Belgium and the United States.

www.belgianclubflorida.com

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Photos of the rally at the Torch of Freedom in Miami, in protest against the attacks in Brussels, and in support of the victims.

Rally in Miami in support of the victims of the attacks in BrusselsRally in Miami in support of the victims of the attacks in BrusselsRally in Miami in support of the victims of the attacks in BrusselsRally in Miami in support of the victims of the attacks in BrusselsPhilippe Létrilliart (French consul in Miami), Cynthia Legrand (Belgian Mondays), Manuel Molina (Belgian consul in Miami) at the rally in Miami in support of the victims of the Brussels attacksA Belgian family at the rally in Miami in support of the victims of the Brussels attacksRally in Miami in support of the victims of the Brussels attacksRally in Miami in support of the victims of the Brussels attacksRally in Miami in support of the victims of the Brussels attacks

Following this event, at the beginning of April the Belgian consul invited to the Markowicz gallery in Miami to thank the participants, to an evening-exhibition around the Belgian painter Joël Moëns de Hase:

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TagsBelgian Belgium cynthia legrand expats Florida manuel molina marc de vlieger Miami