Flemish schools FAQ

Gosh, we are having the most beautiful day here! It's bright and sunny out, so I am going to do my shopping in just a bit and luckily I don't have too much to buy, so I can go by bike and enjoy the sunshine.

It was chilly this morning when I biked to the gym, but I couldn't waste the good weather by taking the car. I did my weights and then an interval run that felt really hard! At one point I had to make myself think of my sister Jenny, who is training for Boston, and does much harder runs than I do, just to keep myself from wimping out. I was so glad - and was dripping with sweat - when I was done.

When I saw the comments on yesterday's post, there were a few questions about the schools here. In Belgium there is freedom of choice in education, which means in principle you can send your child to any school you want. In addition to that, all schools are free, except for books, some supplies, field trips and those kind of extras. There is a network of Catholic schools, community schools, city schools, alternative schools (Freinet and Steiner) and some other religious schools (mainly Islamic and Jewish), but they are all funded by the government and there is no big difference in cost from one network to the next.

In practice, most people choose a school close to home and one that offers the subjects your child wants (or is able to) study, and in some cities there are schools that are more in demand than others, so even though you might want to send your child to a certain school, you might not get a place. Some parents actually camp out for up to a week outside of some very desired schools to make sure they get their child signed up!

We were lucky - in our city there is a system for signing up kids into the Catholic secondary schools: on one evening in May they have a call center and you have to phone in to get your child signed up in - hopefully - your first choice school. We only had to do this with our oldest, because once you have an older child in a school, you have priority in that school for your younger children. I will say, even though it was better than having to camp out, it was very stressful - we had our neighbor help us phone and with four phones it took us 45 minutes to get through and there were just a few spots left in our first choice school!

Thankfully we got our first choice and we have been very happy with it ever since - it is a Catholic school with a reputation of being at a very high level. I feel like my boys are getting the equivalent of an excellent private school education, at a fraction of the cost such an education would cost in the US. And, so far, they love it there. They also get to do subjects like Greek and Latin, and are getting really well prepared for university.

Anyway, I think that about answers the questions that were asked - if there is anything else you're curious about, just let me know!

Back to school!

Today was the day all the sixth graders in my youngest son's school got to visit their future secondary schools. This year I volunteered to go along. Another mom and I biked with our kids and four other kids to visit the high school where my two oldest already go.



It was about a 20 minute bike ride so I was glad it wasn't raining! It was actually quite pleasant, since the route goes through fields - although now I know why there is so much mud tracked around my house - some of the paths were so muddy I felt like a cyclocross biker!




We got a tour around the building and beautiful grounds, treated to a drink and a pastry, and then got to attend a Greek class, which was very interesting - it was all about the Greek gods and goddesses, and the teacher made it fun - I could see my son was really enjoying it. I enjoyed it too!

Then we biked the kids back to their current school and dropped them off, just in time for lunch.

It will be quite a change for me next fall when all three of my boys are in secondary school... I am so thankful we found such a good school for them.

Happy Valentine's Day

After our run yesterday, I spent a good hour in the kitchen making an Indian feast for our family. I tried out this recipe: Chick Pea and Spinach Curry recipe - BBC Good Food and it was very good! I just had the leftovers for my lunch - yum! If you are looking for curry recipes, the BBC website is a good resource, and most of them are super easy.

My legs felt pleasantly wobbly after 45 minutes of yoga this morning - I did a Jason Crandell class from the Yoga Journal website, and it was awesome to get myself all stretched out. Now I need to plan my menus for the week and get my shopping done before the kids get home from school...

Have a happy Valentine's day!

Blogger's Healthy Heart Weekend Run

Lori over at Finding Radiance organized a Healthy Heart Weekend for all of us bloggers and so when I set out on my long run this morning it was with her in mind and my "sweetheart" next to me! We had 8 km on our schedule and so we set out for the lake, ran one loop around it (if you have a look at my Garmin map below you will notice the loop around the lake is actually slightly heart shaped - how cool is that?) and then headed home, for exactly 8 km in 55 minutes.

Here I am after my run, with a valentine's card my youngest son made - with my usual red, sweaty face:

If I look happy it's because I got my run done and I can make our lunch - we are having Indian food today - yum!

Hope you all have a great Sunday, a Healthy Heart Weekend, and a very romantic Valentine's day tomorrow!

Done and dusted

I was lucky - while my butt was getting numb sitting in front of the computer, the sun actually came out! So I quickly got my essential gear together - Garmin and Ipod - and headed out the door:



Can I just say the "bird's eye" view you can see when you click on the Details button and get to the bigger map, is SO COOL!

Ewa asked how it is possible that just putting on my workout clothes is enough to make me do my workout. Hmmmm....I guess it has to do with my running bra. I wear two doubled up and they get so uncomfortable after a few hours that it sounds better and better to just go and do my run so I can finally get showered and changed.

Plans and good intentions

I am sitting here reading blogs and waiting for the day to brighten up a bit so I can go do my fartlek run. It's not cold but the day started out very gray and part of me feels like just getting stuff done around the house and then curling up with a good book. But I put my running clothes on first thing this morning so I would have no excuse not to get out there and run. Another thing that helps is I often tell myself that I have to take a shower anyway, so why not get good and sweaty first?

Another thing I did to make myself more motivated to get my weight workouts in, was only choose exercises I really enjoy - and none that I always dreaded doing, whether it was because of the equipment I had to use or the location in the gym. This helps me a lot to not feel stressed out about what I need to do in the gym, and instead actually look forward to it - well, sometimes, anyway ;-)

I'm so excited that Ewa has a Loving Hut restaurant (see my previous blog post) nearby, too! Be sure to let me know if you go there. According to the website, each restaurant has its own individual menu, suited to the location and the chef, which I think is pretty neat for a chain restaurant.

And for Kim, who was wondering - my kids only come home for lunch on Wednesday because Wednesday is always a half day of school here. So my Wednesday mornings usually seem really short and I try to have a warm meal on the table by the time they get home. I just squeaked by yesterday!

All Tuckered Out!

I'm exhausted! I feel like I haven't had a moment to myself all day. This morning my friend Linda and I biked 30 minutes at a brisk pace to visit another friend of ours, Paula, at her home out in the countryside. We had a lovely "koffieklatch" with her and then biked the 30 minutes back home, just in time for the boys to arrive home for lunch.

Yesterday I biked to the gym, did my interval run and weights, biked home, showered, and then biked downtown to meet my friend Catherine. She had been wanting me to try this new little vegan cafe that recently opened, called the Loving Hut. It was a really cute little place, with very limited seating and two very friendly girls doing the cooking and serving. I had try the vegan burger, which was yummy, and I bought three of the large chocolate chip cookies home for my kids, which were very quickly gobbled down.

I was really surprised when I looked at their website this morning - there are numerous Loving Hut restaurants all over the world - Asia, Australia, New Zealand, USA (including in Arlington TX and Tampa FL where I have family; ever been to the one in Chicago, Kim?), and Europe. And the one and only branch in Belgium just happens to be right in my own home town on the Tiensestraat, a ten minute bike ride away. How neat is that? I will definitely be going back.