Parents

Making the new Friends after work or in your vacation.

Join our next meetup at Collibra on June 4th! We will have 3 talks about OpenTelemetry and will share some food and drinks while networking **Location:** Collibra, Rue Picard 11, 1000 Bruxelles **Agenda:** 17:45 : Doors open 18:00 - 18:30 : Drinks and pizza 18:30 - 19:10 : Talk #1 OpenTelemery on Kubernetes with EDOT: Getting started and what's ahead 19:10 - 19:50 : Talk #2 Taming Tenancy, Cost and Architecture at Collibra Through OpenTelemetry and Our Telemetry Backbone 19:50 - 20.30 : Talk #3 Closing the Observability Gap: OpenTelemetry Meets Elastic at Telenet 20:30 : Wrap up **Talks:** **#1 OpenTelemery on Kubernetes with EDOT: Getting started and what's ahead** **OpenTelemetry has become the default way to instrument applications and infrastructure, and Kubernetes is one of the places where it makes most sense to use it.** This talk is a tour of OpenTelemetry on Kubernetes, focusing on the Elastic Distribution of OpenTelemetry (EDOT). We will explore the OTel basics (general architecture, signals) and the recommended way to deploy OTel on Kubernetes using the OpenTelemetry Operator. A live demo with an Elastic backend will showcase the correlation of metrics and logs, demonstrating how everything ties in together. Finally, it will cover the current community effort to stabilize Kubernetes observability, including the promotion of Kubernetes attributes to release candidate status and the latest updates to the semantic conventions for Kubernetes metrics. This session is useful for beginners trying to get into OTel, and for those running OTel in their Kubernetes cluster and trying to get some insights on what is to come. *Speaker: João Marques Correia, Software Engineer at Elastic* **#2 Taming Tenancy, Cost and Architecture at Collibra Through OpenTelemetry and Our Telemetry Backbone** Operating a SaaS platform presents the same observability problems as any other enterprise, but due to the scale and tenancy, we introduce a huge multiplier on the observability signals, having an effect on cost and effectiveness. This session dives into the techniques Collibra used to tame these problems and how to maintain clarity when infrastructure spans virtual machines, modern Kubernetes clusters, and a complex mix of single- and multi-tenant architectures. Without the right context, telemetry data becomes a noisy, indistinguishable flood. We will dive into the architectural decision to leverage the C4 system model, ensuring every piece of telemetry carries the vital context of what it belongs to and where it sits in the hierarchy. Enabling us to gain insights into both signal attribution and allowing virtual chargebacks. The presentation details the implementation of a pipeline using custom-built OpenTelemetry collectors designed to handle the data and enrich it before sending it to the appropriate backends. This session will give you practical insights on the challenges SaaS platforms have, but the techniques that are used to tame them can be applied everywhere. *Speaker: Alex Van Boxel, Principal System Architect at Collibra* **#3 Closing the Observability Gap: OpenTelemetry Meets Elastic at Telenet** Modern systems generate more telemetry than ever, but without consistency, that data quickly becomes noise. At Telenet, we turned to OpenTelemetry to standardise how we collect and enrich observability data across our bare-metal Kubernetes clusters. This talk dives into how we integrate OpenTelemetry into our engineering workflows and couple it with Elastic for storage, analysis, and visualisation. We’ll walk through our architecture, instrumentation strategies, and how we ensure high-quality telemetry that engineers trust. Along the way, we’ll highlight real use cases, from debugging production incidents to improving service performance, and discuss what worked, what didn’t, and what we’d do differently today. If you're an Elastic user looking to adopt or scale OpenTelemetry, this session will help you bridge the gap between theory and practice. *Speaker: Reidar Veroft, Container Platform Engineer at Telenetgroup* **Bios** **Alex Van Boxel** is a Principal System Architect at **Collibra**. With an engineering background in Research and Development at Alcatel-Lucent, Progress Software, and Veepee he loves to focus on the fundamental building blocks of the software industry. That means reading, understanding, and contributing to specifications, as well as contributing to the Open Source projects that run through our infrastructure. He is code-owner of two components of the OpenTelemetry collector. **João Marques Correia** is a Software Engineer at **Elastic**. Having recently joined Elastic, he has been focusing on OpenTelemetry, with a bigger effort being put into Kubernetes metrics stabilization. Before joining Elastic, he worked as a Software Engineer at Cisco on a Data Center network controller. He is drawn to distributed systems, and in particular how to observe them and keep them working reliably. **Reidar Veroft** is a DevOps Engineer at **Telenet**, where he builds observable, reliable systems that power critical infrastructure across Belgium. From the 5G core to our voice core, he focuses on making sure the systems behind Telenetgroup are not only running, but fully understood through high-quality telemetry. **Thanks to Collibra for hosting this meetup!**

🇬🇧 EN 🇬🇧 🔥 SALSA CUBANA CLASSES ARE BACK 🔥 We are delighted to see you again for the start of the 2025/26 academic year 👉 Find all the needed information on our website : **[https://danzamania.be/](https://danzamania.be/horaires/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExUjNGU3gzRWdsUFlWMGJMQgEeCHgiKV40mum5hOp5szt0Lxx3U-5DyHO_wR_ZJekcr_m7EFRdpcRthKRV9EU_aem_W6hFXCri8O6Kd9el-RIuIQ)** ✅ PROGRAMME ✅ 👉 TUESDAY 16/09 7:00-8:00 pm - Salsa Level 1A @ Salle Oxygène - Angie, Octavia & Raffa 8:15-9:15 pm - Salsa Niveau 1B\* @ Salle Ste Suzanne - Tine & Sam 8:00-9:00 pm - Salsa Cubana Level 2 @ Salle Oxygène - Angie, Octavia & Raffa \*The Level 1B course is the same as the Level 1A course. It will be taught by Tine & Samuel and starts at 8.15 p.m. It allows those who wish to arrive one hour later and have a group of about 10 people. 👉 WEDNESDAY 17/09 7:00-7:30 pm - Body Expression @ Salle Oxygène - Yusnay, Tine & Raffa 7:30-8:30 pm - Salsa Level 3 @ Salle Oxygène - Yusnay, Tine & Raffa 8:30-9:30 pm - Salsa Level 4 @ Salle Oxygène - Yusnay, Tine & Raffa 👉 THURSDAY 18/09 8:00-9:00 pm - Cuban Salsa Partnerwork - Level 1 + @ Studio Empain - Zoli 9:00-10:00 pm - Cuban Salsa Partnerwork - Level 2 + @ Studio Empain - Zoli 👉 FRIDAY 19/09 8:30-9:30 pm - Rueda de Casino @ Vibrato - Team Danza Mania 9:30-12:30 am - Practica & Entertainment with DJ Joel 💃 Dale Mambo🕺

**🃏 WHAT WE PLAY** We focus on **social interaction games** that are **fun, easy to learn, and engaging**. * **Thursdays** and Saturday nights are for **fun, social games** like Dixit, Coup, Skull, Codenames, Colt Express, Secret Hitler, Exploding Kittens, Bang and more!… Easy to learn, quick to laugh! * **Mondays** are for **deeper strategic games**, for players who love to plan and outthink opponents. Of course, these are just guidelines — you’re always welcome to bring and play whatever game you love! *** **🕖 SCHEDULE** * We meet at **7:00 PM**, with an **intro round at 7:15 PM**. * Arriving later? No problem! Just see a host — we’ll do our best to find you a seat. You might need to wait for a game to finish before joining the next one. **🎉 Good News! BFG is Free Again** As of July 1st, 2025, BFG is once again **free to join**, just like last year! The costs of running the group are now shared by the hosts. If you enjoy the events and want to say thanks, you're very welcome to **offer a drink (or two 😉) to a host** during the evening. A huge thank you to everyone who supported us financially earlier this year — you helped keep the group going, and we truly appreciate it. 🙏 *** **🎒 WHAT TO BRING** * Bring your favorite games and feel free to mention them in the comments. * If we’re meeting in a **park**, bring snacks, drinks, and something comfy to sit on — the grass can be damp even in summer! *** **☕ IF THE VENUE IS A CAFÉ** Please order **at least one drink** to support the venue, and pay directly at the bar. *** **✅ REGISTRATION** Please RSVP to help us plan for space and group sizes. **⌛ WAITLIST ETIQUETTE** * If you can’t make it, cancel **before 7 PM the day before** to give someone else a chance. * If you're **on the waitlist** and your plans change, cancel your RSVP so others aren't left hanging. *** **🤝 WANT TO HOST?** Interested in becoming a host or helping out? Let us know — we’d love to have you on board! *** **💬 FEEDBACK WELCOME** Suggestions or ideas? Drop us a message anytime — we’re always looking to make BFG even better. *** ### **🌟 Let’s have fun, discover great** **games, and build and make new friends** *** ###

Socializing and Networking 🛜🆕 at PLUX on Thursday. Making new friends and drinking 🚰🎈🎉🚿🌊. Everybody Welocme, locals, expats or new 🆕 in town.

Join us for a laid-back **2-hour evening walk** in the green surrouindings of Brussels. Expect a **social, easy-paced stroll** with good company, relaxed vibes, and plenty of time to chat. We'll follow the canal paths and trace the River Zenne, discovering how these waterways shaped the heart of the city. 🕗 **When:** Evening 🚶 **Duration:** About 2 hours 🥤 **Bring your own drink** – something refreshing to enjoy as we walk 💬 **Open to all** – solo walkers, locals, and newcomers alike Let’s walk, relax, and connect—Brussels-style.

Are you a parent living in the Leuven area wanting to connect with other parents? This event is made for you! Join us in a cozy, welcoming space where little ones (up to 3 years old) can explore new toys, play freely, and connect with new friends while parents and caregivers enjoy a relaxed, friendly atmosphere. It’s a lovely opportunity for children to learn through play and for adults to meet others in the community. We kindly suggest a small contribution of €2 (optional) , which can be placed in the venue’s savings box. This helps support the volunteers and covers coffee available in the kitchen. **What to bring:** Just your baby or toddler’s essentials! The space is equipped with a changing station, as well as a variety of toys and books suitable for different age groups. **Who is it for:** International parents living in Leuven who would like to connect with other international parents of babies and toddlers, share experiences, and chat about the joys and challenges of parenthood. (Please note that this group is specifically for kids up to 3 years old.) **Location/meeting point:** Our first gathering will take place at Speelodroom, right in the heart of Leuven. To keep the space comfortable and enjoyable for everyone, we’re keeping this first session small and intimate, with a maximum of 5 families. Link for more info about the Speelodroom: https://www.speelodroom.net/ **About the volunteer:** Aileen is a mom and has a daughter who is 7 months old. She moved to Belgium 3 years ago for her job. She looks forward to connecting with other parents in Leuven!

# Tired of dating apps or surface-level social events? This is different. Relational Labs is a guided connection experience for singles who want more honest, playful, emotionally intelligent interaction — without performance, pressure, or endless small talk. This is not speed dating. Not networking. Not “pitch yourself to strangers.” It’s a facilitated relational container rooted in psychology, emotional intelligence, attachment work, social dynamics, nervous system awareness, and real-world human connection — made practical enough that you can actually live it instead of reading another 50 books about it. ## What happens • A 2-hour guided online relational experience • Real-time connection exercises designed to create authentic interaction • A format that adapts in real time to whoever is present • Optional participant-led in-person continuation afterward • WhatsApp connection thread after the session ## This may be for you if: • You’re tired of shallow or repetitive social spaces • You want deeper connection without forced intimacy • You enjoy personal growth, psychology, communication, or relational work • You’re open to meeting people in a more intentional way ## Important This experience runs with whoever is present and takes its own shape each time. Sometimes expansive. Sometimes intimate. Both are the real thing. Booking happens through our website. 👉 Reserve your spot: [https://consciousconnectionsclub.com/join](https://consciousconnectionsclub.com/join) Optional in-person continuation: same day or within 48 hours depending on the city Most people come alone. People often leave surprised by how quickly strangers can feel human, warm, honest, and real. Sometimes awkwardness turns into ease. Sometimes curiosity turns into chemistry. Sometimes people simply remember what it feels like to actually connect again.

**LIMITED SEATS!!!** **🎶💃 Get Ready to Move, Groove & Feel Alive! 🕺🔥** **✨ Join Our LIVE workshop in Brussels** Feeling tired after work or school? Need a burst of energy and fun in your day? Our high-energy Bhangra dance classes are the perfect escape — full of music, movement, and pure joy, right from your home! **🌟 Why Join Me?** ✅ Easy-to-follow sessions ✅ Perfect for **kids, teens, and adults** ✅ Great way to stay **active, fit, and stress-free** ✅ Dance like a star – no experience needed! ✅ Learn iconic moves and upbeat routines Whether you're a student, a working professional, or a parent looking for a fun break — this class is for YOU! Let’s dance, laugh, and light up your day — **Bhangra style! 💥** ***P.S. - Planning a wedding or party?*** *If you're looking to **learn Indian dance for a special event**—be it a **wedding performance, sangeet choreography, or a fun group dance for a party**—we’ve got you covered! We offer tailored sessions to help you shine on your big day and create memories that last a lifetime.*

Making news Friends doesn’t not be hard at all🤍❤️

We spend so much of the week keeping up. With work, with people, with the version of ourselves we're supposed to be. Saturday morning can be different. 🌿 Come and join for an honest conversation and a mindful walk with people who also get it. No pressure to share anything you're not ready to share. You can talk as much or as little as you like; sometimes, just being outside in nature with good people is enough. *This is part of a series of regular walks for the [Mental Fitness Collective](https://www.meetup.com/mental-fitness-collective/) — a simple, free morning to step outside, move at a gentle pace, and be around people who aren't performing either.* **📍Meeting point:** Stella - Coffee Food Bakery (in front of the tram stop Legrand), where you can buy a drink of your choice (optional). 🗓️ **Agenda:** We'll take a relaxed walk through Bois de la Cambre and a full loop around the lake, about 4-5 km, at a pace where conversation feels comfortable. We'll finish at the roundabout at the end of Av. Louise. **Small housekeeping rule:** What happens in the group stays in the group. Whatever is shared between participants during our time together stays between us. It is to make sure this feels like a safe place to be honest. I'll be there to welcome everyone. Come as you are. 🌿 Free to join, RSVP to save your spot! *The event is weather-dependent.* *This walk will run every other Saturday. Each one is standalone, so come whenever it works for you. Join our group, [Mental Fitness Collective](https://www.meetup.com/mental-fitness-collective/) and get notified of our events.*

Need some quiet time for reading? Want to share the experience with others? Join us at the charming venue of The Sister Café to read in the company of others. It’s alone, but also together, get it? We read for an hour and a half, then chat over a drink. This is a free activity except for the price of the drinks you're consuming.

Have you always wanted to learn Bachata? Now is the perfect time! Our regular classes at Albert Hall are designed to help beginners progress quickly and master this beautiful social dance that is very popular right now! 💃🕺 We have just started a new session where everyone can learn at their own pace. Come with or without a partner. After the beginner's class, there are more advanced classes, followed by a free dance party for students. 🎉 A nice venue and a warm atmosphere—don't miss this opportunity! 🔥 PROGRAM 🔥 7:00 p.m. → Bachata Beginner NEW (Room 1) 7:00 p.m. → Bachata Advanced (Room 2) 8:00 p.m. → Bachata Beginner II (Room 1) 9:00 p.m. → Bachata Intermediate (Room 1) 💥 10:00 p.m. → Bachata Social Party with DJ Felito on the decks for a wild night of dancing! 🎶 🍍 Fresh fruit buffet provided to recharge your batteries between dances! 📍 Location: Albert Hall 651 chaussée de Wavre 1040 Brussels 💸 Prices: 1 class: €15 10-class pass: €120 20-class pass: €210 Dance party only: €10 (cash) 👉 Registration on site