Welcome to my blog! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ciska/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:59:00 -0500 Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:59:00 -0500 In case you still read this blog and not my new one on blogger (thisjourneyofmylife.blogspot.com): I'm going to import this blog into my other blog. It will take some time before I have everything on there, but afterwards I will probably delete this blog or leave only one post, with a link to my other blog. So, follow me there, I've been writing on blogger for almost two years! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ciska/703467/ Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:59:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ciska/703467/ 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 !!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ciska/479340/ Tue, 12 Feb 2008 11:17:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ciska/479340/ 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! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ciska/426323/ Tue, 13 Nov 2007 15:44:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ciska/426323/ 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. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ciska/425698/ Mon, 12 Nov 2007 15:36:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ciska/425698/ 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! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ciska/418402/ Tue, 30 Oct 2007 11:56:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ciska/418402/ 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 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ciska/401213/ Tue, 2 Oct 2007 07:50:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ciska/401213/ 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 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ciska/400889/ Mon, 1 Oct 2007 16:19:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ciska/400889/ 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 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ciska/400559/ Mon, 1 Oct 2007 03:21:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ciska/400559/ You scored as Emergent/Postmodern, You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this.Emergent/Postmodern82% Roman Catholic71% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan68% Neo orthodox64% Fundamentalist64% Classical Liberal57% Modern Liberal39% Reformed Evangelical36% Charismatic/Pentecostal29% What's your theological worldview?created with QuizFarm.com http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ciska/339836/ Fri, 8 Jun 2007 13:02:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ciska/339836/ 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 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ciska/333851/ Sat, 26 May 2007 06:45:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ciska/333851/