We are studying the ancient Olympics, and my professor asked to link to the website the university made this year. It's a fantastic resource! This is a great site for anyone studying the Olympics this year.

So go visit http://ancientolympics.arts.kuleuven.be !!!

I've made a second blog where I write about my spiritual/emotional/... growth. I will still post on here, and don't plan to leave homeschoolblogger.

You can find my other blog at

http://thisjourneyofmylife.blogspot.com

Hope to see you there too!

I have noticed that if I don't plan things, I don't do it. And not just planning as in "I plan to clean my room", but really plan it! I have to write down exactly what I want to do.

So my planning looked like this:

7:30 Get up ( I have a morning routine, but I won't go into details)

8:00 Go to the morning prayer

8:30 Breakfast

9:00 Make my bag for class, check for tasks to finish, make certain I have all the papers I need

9:30 Check bills and send mails to make certain people pay, send mail concerning meeting, check mail

10:00 Quick clean my room

And so on.

For the first things on my list I have a routine, and it goes well, but when I don't have a routine, I can't do it well. For instance, if I make my bag for class, I ponder putting a bottle of water in. I decide to do that, so I get my bottle. Turns out it doesn't fit in the sink. So I have to but the water in the watercooker to be able to put it in the bottle. As the water is in the cooker, I decide to make myself some tea. I sit down to enjoy some tea and turn on my computer so I can read my mail while I drink tea. As I read my mail, I see there's a new post on one of the blogs I read, so I go over and read it. When I'm there I decide I should write on my blog. So I start making a post, but I've only written a few senteces when I realise I was making my bag. So I continue making the bag . Should I put some fruit in or not? What fruit do I have? Oh, Clementines, I'd rather eat one now! My hands are sticky now, so I decide to wash them. I notice the sink is dirty and I start cleaning it. As I'm cleaning, I decide to clean the rest of my room too. All of a sudden it's past noon and I have to eat lunch, and hurry to class, where I notice I don't even have my books with me.

You know, that's a typical day for me. They even have a name for it: AD(H)D. But it doesn't really help to know that. What does help is hard work. You see, I have to plan every detail of my day and see my planning constantly to accomplish anything. I've been trying to create a morning and an evening routine, so I won't be in my pj's till noon and go to bed after midnight. It's beginning to work, but now I have to create some routines for the rest of my day. I'm using a planner I found online. It's a good one, because it doesn't only have hours, but also a list 'today's priorities'. If I don't manage to follow the planning, I can still look at that list and see what is most important. If that list wouldn't be up there, I would give up before the day was half over. I've noticed it's very good for me to know what is going to happen that day. Having a structure really MAKES my day.

I hope to keep you updated on my new routines. Maybe updating this blog will be one of those. I seem to be unable to write on here on a regular basis.

If you would like to know more about living with AD(H)D, let me know, and I'll gladly write about it.

It seems I can't keep up with this blog when life gets a bit busier. It's been almost a month! A busy, joyfull month though. October 9 was my birthday, and I had a great little party with most of my friends. I don't have pictures of the party, as I don't have a camera here. But you can believe me if I say we had fun!

During the following weekend, I went on a trip with all my roommates. We enjoyed it so much! It was good to get to know each other. We talked about religion a lot, as the place where we live is a "christian" house. Most people believe, but there are a few that don't know yet what to believe. It was great we could just relax and talk about our faith, because everyone is interested, so no one was "the wierd christian one". I guess I didn't get enough sleep during that weekend, as I fell ill the next week. That was quite irritating, as I wanted to work on my thesis, and I don't often feel like I 'want' to work on it. I got better by the weekend though.

On saterday, I went to Sluis with my dad. Sluis is a little old town just across the border in the Netherlands. It's known for its shops. So, we did some shopping, and afterwards we had a nice lunch. I really enjoyed spending time with my dad. But as always, it was good to say goodbye too. It's hard to keep up a conversationw with him. He likes to do things, while I like to talk when we are together.

In the afternoon, I went to the sea with the family. It was too cold to go in, but we enjoyed just walking along the shore and throwing sticks for the dog. It was the first time Siem saw the sea, and it was so funny to see his reaction! He just keep looking in total awe at the waves (tiny ones) rolling in. We put him down on the sand to walk, but he didn't want to, so we let him sit down, and he was intriged with the sand. He explored for a few minutes, and than he decided it was safe to walk. We went home late in the afternoon and enjoyed a good detective on the tv.

The next wednesday, I lead the music in Ichtus. It's the second time I did it, and I think I can say with certainty that I don't like it. I don't think I'm good at it either, so I won't do it again. I'm more a biblestudy leader, I feel comfortable doing that, and people say I'm good at it. So I think I'll focus on that.

Last weekend, I went to an Ichtusweekend. It was fun, but I didn't agree with a lot they said. There was a lot of "Jesus wants us to be happy and healthy", "If you focus on God you just can't get a depression", "just pray and you will get a Lambourghini/ win the lottery...". Those were things said by the students, not by the staff, but it still kind of "ruined" my weekend. It was fun to talk to friends I hadn't talked to in a while though.

So what I'm going to do this week?
Tomorrow, I'm going to my promotor to talk about my thesis. We decided that the second Jewish War would be an interesting topic to write about. So I'm working on that. In the evening, I will go to Ichtus. It will be a games evening, as we don't expect a lot of people to show up. In Belgium, november first is an official holiday, and we won't have classes on the first or the second. Most people will go home wednesday for a nice long weekend.

Thursday, I will be going to the Flanders Evangelical Family Day. I look forward to it, as almost all evangelicals in Flanders will be there, and I will see a lot of people I haven't seen in a long time. My sister and her husband are coming too, and I'm looking forward to that too. I will go home in the late evening.

Friday, I'm going to the bookfair in Antwerp. This is a huge fair, and my mother has to be there often as she has to sign books and hold lectures, so I can just come along and look for nice books in the huge halls. I'm so looking forward to the millions of books! I will probably go again on sunday.

Sunday evening, I'll come back to Leuven, so I can work a whole week on my thesis.

As you can see, I'm having a lot (too much?) of fun around here. Hope you're having fun too!

My mother asked me if I could run the household as a summer job. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. I never imagined it was so much work! Siem is just now learning to sleep through the night, so I had to get up at least once a night. My days were so full of caring for Siem and the house that I had the feeling I wasn't able to do anything else. I have so much more respect for my mom (and for moms in general)! But I loved doing it and I learned a lot. My mother bought me a small cooking book with traditional recepies of Flanders, and I can make a lot of yummy foods now. And because it was a 'job', I got money too, so I am saving a nice amount of money for later.

Siem has learned a lot the last few months. He's now crawling around, trying to hug our pets. Our cat has a new favourite place now: the high cabinet. The dog doesn't mind Siem playing with her. He's laughing really hard here.

Siem drinking mama-milk at night.

How to put on a cloth diaper...

Well, that's how mama does it!

Helping mama to write her book.

The hardest part of the holidays was when my nephews came to stay for a few days. They're lovely kids, but it was just too much. I was exhausted by the end of the week. I think the main problem was that the day wasn't organised. But we had a good time. They were really easy to take to the shop, and Renzo (3,5y) loved to 'help' in the kitchen. They had the most fun when we taped the table with wallpaper. They were drawing and playing on it for over an hour! And after lunch we put new paper on it and drew a village on it. We even connected the table with a tunnel to the couch. They just loved driving their little cars around!

Renzo (3,5yo)

Roan (2yo)

 A few days later we went on a holiday to Vaals in the Netherlands. It's the place where the borders of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands meet. The surroundings are beautiful, and we enjoyed our rest. There was a nice swimming pool. Siem loved to be in the water, and we had a lot of fun.

Splashing around

Snuggling with mama

We made a nice long walk on a sunny day and enjoyed the old little villages. Siem walked too for a while! He's getting quite good at it.

While we were there, I had a meeting with the other 'leaders' of Ichtus. We had a 3-day meeting. It was exhausting, but very rewarding. We know have a clear vision of what we want for Ichtus. We also learned a lot about each other, which is very important if we want to work together this year.

Hanna, André, Anneke and I

After the other members left, we still had another week of vacation to fully enjoy with the whole family. I have a few more pictures of Siem and also of our garden that is completly redone by my brother-in-law. It looks so nice.

Siem sitting

'Hanging' around with Hanne

Siem and I in pj's

This isn't fluid?!

More!!!

Our new garden!

I hope you enjoyed this way too long update! I feel like I've only told and showed a little bit of all the changes in my life.

Ciska

My professor said he doesn't think I will be able to do the subject I proposed. BUT he talked to me about a few other subjects, and I might still be able to do my paper for him. I will probably make a study about the time of Jeremiah, when the Israelites were divided between siding with the Egyptians and siding with the Assyrians. It's quite a complicated period, and I really look forward to study about it! I will be doing research now, and I will tell my professor by friday if I'm going for it or not. I'm so excited!

I will update more tomorrow. I have a lot to tell you all!

Ciska

Has it really been four months? Last time I wrote I was busy preparing for exams in june. Those exams were good, and I enjoyed a very long holiday. Now I'm finally back in Leuven, and I'm starting my last year.

I can't believe I have only one year to go! It's bound to be a tough year. I have to finish my masterpaper by june, so I'm visiting my professor around eleven this morning. I hope he will help me, because I don't really know what I should write about. What I do know is that I would like to investigate the cultural en religieus exchanges between the southern Levant (~Israël) and Ancient Egypt, but I don't know what aspect. I hope to write more this afternoon, and add some pictures of my summer.

Ciska

I'm sorry I didn't write the past few weeks, but I'm incredibly busy. I have to finish my bachelorpaper (deadline is friday), prepare for my exams and I had to do a lot for Ichtus (our studentgroup). I won't update anytime soon (or that's the plan anyway). I think I'll be back in a month, but I might not be back before october. I have to focus on studying now. Also, I will be leading Ichtus next year, so I will prepare myself during the holidays and will be very busy in the beginning of next year.

So anyway, don't expect updates in the next few weeks. I'm studying!

Enjoy your summer!

Ciska

I went home thursday evening, so I could look after Siem on friday morning. My mother had to give a lecture about her books at a primary school. I decided to make a lot of pictures of Siem, so I can give my mother some nice framed pictures for Mother's Day (May 13). They turned out really well. I planned to work on my paper this weekend, but I had so much fun with the family that I didn't really do anything. We had fun playing games saturday afternoon and evening, and took a nice walk in the forest on sunday. I was able to work a bit on monday, but by that time I was so tired I wouldn't concentrate as I should. Siem still wakes up twice a night. Around two when he can't find his pacifier and around five or six to eat. By seven o'clock he's awake and wants to play. I went back to Leuven on tuesday and still have to work on my paper. I have a lot of work for Ichtus right now, so I want to finish that first. I have to prepare a meeting for this evening and have a class this afternoon, so I should get to work.

Some pictures of the "photo shoot".

Relaxing in the parc...

Well, at least I had fun.

"Do I look like daddy?" (doctor)

"Or do I look like mommy?" (writer)

And some fun pictures my sister (Tamara) took last weekend

He's just so sweet!

2. Were you named after anyone?  My mother really liked Saint Franciscus of Assisi (the one who talked to animals), but I'm not actually named after him. My parents just liked my name.

3. When did you last cry?  I don't know the date, but it was a few days ago.

4. What is your favourite lunch meat?  Kolbász, a Hungarian speciality.

5. Kids?  I'd love to have a lot of kids! I would love to adopt/foster too.

6. If you were another person, would you be friends with you?  That would depend on what my character (as another person) would be. I have a friend who is a lot like me, and I love her, so I guess I would.

7. Do you have a journal?  I have tons. Usually they have two or three entries.

8. Do you use sarcasm a lot?  All the time.

9. Do you still have your tonsils? Yes.

10. Would you bungee jump? I think I would if I got the chance, but I don't think I'd pay a lot of money for it.

11. What is your favourite cereal? Oatmeal. Nothing fancy.

12.Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Always.

13. Do you think you are strong? I think I have the capacity to be strong, but as I don't work out, I'm not really strong.

14. What is your favourite ice cream flavour? Chocolate

15. Shoe size? 38-39 (6½ )

16. Red or pink? Neither

17. What is your least favourite thing about yourself? I'm the most impatient person I know.

18. Who do you miss the most? My friend Marquela, who lives in the States. It's my own fault actually, I haven't even mailed her the past year. I miss the time when we were together each day.

19. What colour pants and shoes are you wearing?  I'm wearing blue jeans and a pair of dark blue/purple slippers.

20. What are you listening to right now?  The album 'All about Love' by Steven Curtis Chapman.

21. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be?  Yellow (I don't know why, I just popped into my head)

22. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?  My friend Anneke.

23. Favourite smell?  The smell of asphalt after it rained on a warm summer day.

24. The first thing you notice about people that you are attracted to. The sound of their voice and their humour.

25. Favourite drink. Schweppes Agrum

26. Favourite sport?  I don't like groups, I don't like balls, I don't like to get hurt, I have no rhythm at all and I'm not allowed to swim. I do like walking and cycling, but I don’t really think they qualify as a sport, as I just do it to relax.

27. Hat size?  I didn't know that existed.

28. Do you wear contacts? No, but I'm thinking about getting them.

29. Favourite food?  I don't really have a favourite, but I like pasta's and everything I made on my own.

30. Scary movies or happy endings?  I don't like scary movies, but I'm not really into happy endings. I love stories like Hamlet, Antigone… It might sound weird (it does sound weird), but I like it when everyone is dead at the end. I don't want to see them die though.

31. What colour shirt are you wearing? Red. I don’t usually wear that colour, but it's a t-shirt of the student group I attend.

32. Last movie you watched at the movies?  The Illusionist. This is a must see movie. One of my all time favourites. I won't tell you what it's about, because that would spoil it.

33. Summer or winter?  I love to be outdoors in any season. I'd have to go for summer though, because I don't like walking on my own, and my family and friends don't like walking in winter.

34. Hugs or kisses?  Hugs if someone is sad. Kisses to family I haven't seen in a while. Hugs also to close friends and family. And both for Siem.

35. Favourite dessert?  Chocomousse.

36. What books are you reading?  Jeremiah, Acts, 'Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood' and 'The Hidden Value of a Man' on my own. Habakkuk in my Hebrew class. 'Cultures of the Jews' for my History of the Jews class. 'A History of Rome' for my Expansion of the Roman Empire class.

37. The furthest you've been from home? Greece, 3000 km from my home.

38. What's your special talent?  I have the ability to love.

39. When and where were you born?  I was born in Bruges, on October 9, 1985.

40. What did you watch on TV last night?  I don't have a TV here, I only watch TV in the weekends.

Posted in Love

I didn't have time to update the last few weeks. I still don't actually, so I'll keep this short. We had our Easter break, which ended yesterday. I enjoyed the time spend with my family. Tomorrow evening we will have a gala Easter party with our student group. I'm really looking forward to it.  Here are some pictures of my holidays.

Our little man was baptised in the Easter Vigil Service. It was beautiful!

We had a party on the following monday, and my sister made this great picture of my cousin Zoe

Two of my best friends came over to stay for a few days. We had so much fun, and they just loved Siem!

Cleo and Siem

Anneke, Siem and I

He loves his baths, and I love to bathe him!

He just keeps on laughing at us ...

... and has decided that his thumb is way better than his pacifier.

On a totally different matter, I would like to ask you for prayer. My sister fell down the stairs yesterday while she was carrying Siem. Luckily, my sister protected him with her arms. She has some problems with her arm because of the fall, but Siem seems to be ok. We're still worried about him though, so could you please pray for him. Thanks!

I know this was a short update, but I promise I'll post more soon. I have a few ideas that I want to write about, just have to make the time to put it on the computer.

Siem has mastered the art of smiling! He's also quite good in making funny faces. He's growing a lot, but he's not gaining a lot of weight. He's really skinny, and we're actually getting a bit concerned. We hope he wil put a bit of weight on in the coming week.

All the children and grandchildren of my mom and stepdad

Skinny Boy (as in contrast to Heavy weight champion of the baby world)

"I can smile!"

"Really!"

"What did you say?"

"You don't believe me?!"

Did you know how fast babies changes? I never realised that! Siem is changing all the time. Only two weeks ago, he was this tiny little fragile baby, doing almost nothing else than sleeping. Now he follows you with his eyes, listens to your voice and music, tries to find his pacifier and grab things... It's amazing!

This picture was taken a week ago, just before we went out for his first walk.

Here his listening to the music of his baby mobile. I have a cute video of him looking to the mobile too, but I don't know how to post those on here.

And this one is just so cute I couldn't not insert it! His hat is way to big for him, so each time we go for a walk, his hat falls over his eyes after five minutes. He doesn't mind.

I won't write a long post right now, because I should translate some more verses of Habakuk for my Hebrew class tomorrow. I don't really want to because it's really hard and it sometimes takes me twenty minutes just to find one word. Sigh. Do I really have to?

I've noticed that pictures don't show up in my rss, but they do in others. Does anyone know how I should make my pictures visible? I'm currently using links to photobucket for my uploads. But appearently that doesn't work for rss. Any idea what I should change?

On tuesday 20th of february, just past half past eight in the evening, my mother gave birth to a beautiful little boy. I'm very proud to be the big sister of Siem Zeger Ambroos. He's gorgeous. We all love him!

Mom, Walter and Siem.

Siem and I.

Siem with his typical look: he frowns at everything new.

My dad send me some pictures, and I realised I didn't have any of him online. So let me introduce you to:

(from left to right) my father, his parents (my grandparents), my stepmother Amira, my stepbrother Mixson, I am standing at the back left, then my younger sister Hanne, and my older sister Tamara.

This is a picture taken at the wedding of my father. Three of Amiras children are on the picture. The two little girls are her grandchildren, and her nephew, niece and mother also came. My brother in law, Gary, is on the picture too.

We're getting a bit impatient around here. We went to the hospital for a check up on the monitor, and everything is perfect. But they want to get the baby out anyway. My mother has to go back for a check monday, and if the baby isn't born before tuesdaymorning, they will give her something so the birth will start. We all hope the baby will come natural. I'll keep you updated.

Posted in Live

We got some more pictures of the baby. Only a few weeks to go and I will be the sister of the most handsome boy in the universe! For the time being, I'm very happy to announce you the birth of Adhémar. My aunt gave birth to a healthy little boy, and I will probably go over to visit him in two weeks, after my exams. It will be fun to have two baby boys in the family.

The picture is of the still unborn baby my mother is carrying. I don't have a picture of Adhémar yet.

I posted a slideshow in the sidebar, but I decided to post some pictures here, so you know who (or what) is in it.

The big boy on the left is Renzo. He will turn three in february. He only recently started talking, which is a lot of fun. I hadn't seen the boys for three months, and when he saw me, he just hugged me and acted like no time passed at all. When I asked him if he knew who I was, he said "a-e ika". I was thrilled, not only did he remember me, but he actually said "tante Ciska". Well, kind of. The little boy (though they are both little) is Roan. He is 14 months old, and loves playing with our dog. The two boys love each other, and Renzo always takes care of Roan. He hugs him and comforts him. They're the most amazing boys ever.

This is a picture of my sister Tamara and her husband Gary. In Belgium, we have a tradition that the groom goes to the house of the bride, gives her the flowers, and then they go to the city hall together. They got married for the church in the afternoon.

And offcourse I have to insert a picture of my mom and my soon-to-be-brother. It's amazing to watch her grow and realise this cute little guy is growing in her. It's a real nice picture of his head and hand.

In the next few pictures, you'll see our house, our living room and christmastree and the nice bridge close to our house.

There are also some pictures of my hungarian hostfamily and my best friend Cléo.

Posted in Live

Where does responsibility end? I've been reflecting upon this. I want to surrender everything to God, but there seem to be limits to surrendering. For instance, you can surrender your health to God, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't brush your teeth anymore.

The reason I have been thinking about this lately is because I got a comment from a friend about homeschooling. He was talking about how he hated school when he was younger. So we had a conversation that went a bit like this:

I: I hated school too, I would have loved being homeschooled, but I wouldn't listen to my mom when we sat down to do school, so it didn't work out.

F(riend): You can't just homeschool.

I: Oh, but you can, the law says you should study, not that you should go to school.

F: Doesn't really matter, it's not a christian thing to do anyway.

I (frowning): What do you mean, not christian? I think that God wants us to teach our children his way, instead of the 'as long as you don't do something really bad you'll get into heaven' stuff they teach at school. And I think it's really good for family life and learning to life together.

F: I'm pretty sure God doesn't want us to take them out of school.

I: I don't understand why not.

F: God asks us to surrender everything to Him, so you should just send your kids to school, and He'll take care of them.

I (not quite certain what to think of it): So, if you know someone is a pedophile, you wouldn't mind and leave your child there? Surrendering it to God?

F: Yeah, that's what a real christian would do.

I: Oh, well ... I think I'll get something to drink.

I tried to avoid him the rest of the evening. I just don't know what to think about it. I know he must be wrong, but then, where does responsibility end and where does surrendering begin? Could you please post some thoughts about this, as I really don't know what to think about this. I want to surrender unlimited to God, but it just feels like there must be some boundaries.

Awaiting your comments, I'll study some more. I know God can give me full marks if I ask Him, but I think I should just take my responsibilities and learn.

Posted in Live

The weather finally cooled down, and the whole city smells fresh. I love the smell of rain falling on asfalt. It gives me the feeling everything just started all over again, and I feel so alive.

My exam today was ok. I thought I would do better, but I don't think I failed. I took a day off, and basicly slept a large part of the afternoon. After dinner I went to church and had a nice talk with the reverend. He's Nigerian and came to Belgium to study for three years, so he has exams too. It was fun talking to him.

In the evening, Sanne and I decided to get a dvd and watched 'Keeping Mom' with Rowan Atkinson. It was quite funny, but really predictable.

Julie, thanks for letting me know the pictures are still visible. I read your post on smoking. It made me think. In Belgium they -finally!- made a law about smoking in restaurants: you can't. Guess what: everytime we go out eating someone is smoking. And it's not only that they are smoking, but the restaurants provide ashtrays! I mean, it's illegal to smoke in restaurants, but the owners put ashtrays on the table!

We're just a weird country. It's legal to use soft drugs. You can even grow your own cannabis plant. This law was made by the same gouvernement that spends loads of money in smoke prevention, and claim they find it very important that children have a good lifestyle and get healthy food.

Oh, I would want to believe them, but they make it hard, don't they? They allow the parents of those children to smoke pot, as long as the actual smoking doesn't happen when the kid is in the same room. Can you believe that?! A parent can be totally high while caring for their kids, and that wouldn't be any problem. As long as the children get their five portions of fruit and vegetables.

Posted in Learn

Could you do me a favour, again?

I changed the settings of my pictures, and I wonder if they are still visible for you. There should be a total of six pictures in my posts. Thank you so much for helping me out.

Posted in Learn

After reading AcceptanceWithJoy's comment, I concluded I'm memorizing. Except for some unimportant details about this course, I'll probably forget everything. But you know what I will remember? The fun I had with my friends and the great professor we had. He's retiring, so I'm one of his last students. I liked him. Oh, he could be very boring, but you know, he loved teaching us. He regards it as a privilege to teach us new things. Last year, I was making my exam and made a mistake. Some professor would just ignore that, others would give a big sigh, and there are a few who would start yelling at you. But this professor didn't. He started to explain what I did wrong, and why I made that mistake. He than went on to talk about one of his favourite subjects, trying to teach me something while I was actually there to make my exam. Now, you should understand this. It was very warm, he would be sitting there all day, wasting his time listening to students reciting what he said only weeks earlier. But he wasn't irritated by that. He loved to teach us just a little more before we left. That's what a teacher should be like! I'm sure going to miss him.

So ... if I fail my exam tomorrow, it's not too bad. It means I'll get to see him in September again!

I would appreciate your prayers tomorrow morning. Well, I guess that some of you will still be sleeping as 9 in the morning is only 3o'clock in New York, and exactly midnight in LA. Quite weird if you start thinking about it.

Good morning / Good afternoon / Good evening / Good night

Make your choice!

For those who wonder, I got my ice cream: citron and raspberry sorbet.

Posted in Learn

I don't know what the weather is like where you live, but temperature around here has risen above 30°C (86+°F). You don't hear me complaining though! My room has windows facing the West, I'm right next to a river and there are lots of trees surrounding our building, not allowing any direct sunlight into my room. So the temperature inside here is great. It's perfect for studying.

But you see, that's exactly what's driving me crazy. We hardly ever get weather this warm. I should be enjoying a dive in the sea and nice cold drinks. But here I am, locking myself in in my room, trying to get twenty chapters of Greek text into my head (can you actually say that in English? In Dutch we say 'learn by head' instead of 'learn by heart', so we try to get stuff into our head. You don't try to get it into year heart, do you?). There's only one thing that can cheer me up right now. Wednesday morning around ten in the morning I'm going to sit my exam, and afterwards I'll never have to think about taking Greek exams anymore.

Downside of the situation is that I should start studying for my next exam right away.But hey, I can handle it! I already decided how to keep myself focused: tomorrow, after lunch I'll go out and get some...ice cream!!! You see, life as a student isn't that bad after all!

Posted in Live

I stayed up really late yesterday changing the look of my blog. I like the way it looks now, but consider changing the picture at the top when I get some new photo's. This one is almost a year old.

Because I went to bed really late, I got up around half past ten instead of eight. That's not that bad, I still had more than enough time to study. But I don't like studying on sunday. So I enjoyed a nice brunch (it was just a late breakfast actually), called my dad and stepdad to congratulate them with fathersday and decided to check my email. I decided to check this blog too, and those of my friends. Four hours later, I was hitting the 'random blog' button every five seconds, with some nice music on the background (I just love K-Love!). I realised I should really start studying instead of wasting my time. So I studied until six. That was only two hours! I should get some selfdiscipline.

I went to church at half past six. I live at a peda when I'm in Leuven. Usually I'm in Leuven during the week, and go home for the weekends. But as I have to study for the exams, I'm staying here for a few weeks. A peda is what you would call a college. I don't get my classes here, but I have my own room, and get breakfast and dinner. It's owned by the university I attend. I love it here, and what is really great: it has it's own chapel with four services a week, all in English. I attend the Anglican church here, and it really helps me to get through the week. I'll post some pictures:

This is how it looks like from the courtyard.

This is the hall, leading from my room to the chapel.

The chapel.

As you can see, it's a fantastic place! It's really quiet here, and I have a huge room. It's actually three rooms: a study, a bedroom and a good-for-nothing room. It's perfect for me, as I have ADHD and have a lot of trouble to stay focused on my books. Having a separate bedroom makes it much easier to see my study as a place for studying only, which makes it easier to concentrate, but also to relax.

As I was saying, I went to church this evening. There were only ten of us, as there was a confirmation ceremony in Brussels which many of the members attended. However, we're not a big church. Usually, there are approximatly twenty people who attend. In comparison to last year, this is a lot, because we used to be with five.

After church I went out to eat. During the weekend the peda doesn't serve meals, and as we don't have a kitchen, we don't have much choice. Peter, a friend of mine, who lives in the same corridor as me, and also studies history, came with me. We went to our favourite Italian restaurant. The owners are actually Turkish, but they serve the best pizzas in town. Afterwards, I went to Breeze. This is a christian youth organisation, who focuses on prayer. On sundayevening however, they open a 'café'. It's really fun hanging around with all christian friends, having a drink. I met some people I hadn't seen in a while and I had a great time.

So, now I'm on here again. Writing this post which was meant to be short. I hope I'll get some more visitors over tonight. I love to see that site meter recording!

Posted in Learn

Could you do me a favour and tell me if you can see the pictures in the post below? I've posted three, but I'm not certain everyone can see them.

Thanks!

Posted in Learn

Considering many of you have never been in Belgium, let alone studied the educational system, I decided to fill you in on that. You never know it might come in handy.

In comparison to a lot of countries, public schooling in Belgium is great. Schools get paid for every student that attends the school. So they try to get as much students as possible. Which means they invest loads in educational material, good buildings, school trips, whatever may persuade people to get their child enrolled. There are a lot of schools for children with special needs, also paid for by the government. Belgian students score high on international test, and anyone with a high school degree can attend university. Why would anyone want to homeschool their children?

The reason is simple: Belgian students may be high in the international rankings for their knowledge, they're also the number one in the world ranking of students who hate going to school. They might learn to study, but they never learn to develop. And of course there are the same problems like everywhere else. There are more students who fit in the school system, because there are a lot of different systems, but there are still a lot of people who don't fit in.

A few of the parents of those students decide to homeschool their children. But homeschooling is rare and considered weird in Belgium. And there are indeed a few homeschoolers who are holistic or part of some strange sect. There are also parents who pulled their child(ren) out of school because they developed problems. But there aren't a lot of people who decided they want to homeschool their child before it has entered school. The reason for this is that people aren't aware of the choice they have! So even if it's really easy to homeschool your children in Belgium, there are only about a hundred primary school students that get homeschooled. There are no Dutch curricula. There are no homeschool groups.

I presume you understand that my dream to homeschool one day is regarded by many as the craziest idea so far. But hey, it's a dream!

Posted in Live

Hello everyone, welcome to my blog!

I just love reading the blogs around here, so I decided to start my own. There's only one tiny problem. I don't homeschool. I haven't been homeschooled either. So what am I doing here? Am I planning on homeschooling my children? Nope, I don't have children. I don't even have a husband/boyfriend/whatever. There is no reason for me to be here. I should be studying for the upcoming exams, not wasting my time on the computer. But that's exactly what I'm doing. Maybe it would be nice to those of you who are still reading to finally tell you what I'm doing here. Well, I'm addicted! "To what? The internet?", you might ask. Nope, I didn't mean that, though that might be true too. I'm addicted to the idea that one day I might be able to homeschool my family!