Importing a car in Belgium is hard labor....

After 5 months in this country, our Volvo is still driving around with it's Californian license plate.

So far, every stage that the paperwork has to go through, we need to resend the same documents to this instance. As if none of these government instances talk to each other.

Right now, we need a "gelijkvormigheidsattest" and after several calls, it seems like we can get this from the Volvo dealership (they will send the original documents to the Belgian Volvo Co). I hope we don't need to make any modifications for Belgium...

It's been fun driving with a CA plate though, many people stare at our car (I like the attention ;-) and I've heard that this plate is not registered with the local police, so even if I get "flashed" for speeding, they can't send me a ticket.
That might explain why I haven't gotten a ticket so far :-)

For those who knew I was also looking into a teaching career

It took me a while before I understood what classes exactly I would need to take in order to be able to teach. It's called GPB and can be done as part of the "adult education classes", two half days a week for instance.
CVO Mechelen

Then it took me a little longer to figure out which classes I can give. After getting in touch with someone from KIHK, it became clearer - I can give a bunch of classes: biology, fysics, chemistry, .... Since I have a masters degree, I can give almost everything: ten minste master + BPB

But the website where I found this information was still not very clear to me so I got in touch with both schools here in Keerbergen I was interested in:

1) The Atheneum in Keerbergen (grade 3, 4, 5 and 6)) didn't have time to meet with me at this point, they only meet with new candidates in June. Too far away...

2) The Middleschool in Keerbergen (grade 1 and 2) wanted to meet me right away. I talked to the director for an hour and a half but was very disappointed when I left. My masters degree is too high to teach middleschool. Apparently we are not allowed to teach those first two grades because they want to protect the job of the "regular teachers". According to the director, a kindergarten teacher would be allowed to teach math in first grade, but I, although much better qualified, can not.
Big bummer.

So that was the end of my short lived "teaching job hunt".....

No longer a SAHM

As mentioned before, I interviewed on Jan 8 (one hour), they told me they were going to send me a contract on Jan 9, and today on Jan 18, we have come to an agreement so I will start working for kZen, part of the Cronos group.

That was easy :-)

I must admit that I am really lucky with this opportunity:
- I can work 3 days a week from 9am till 3:30 pm (with one hour extra on one of these days so I have 19 hours a week).
- I can start on Feb 11 (after the Krokusvakantie of the kids).
- I can work from home if the work permits it.
- It's only 12 km from our house (15 minute drive)
- It's PERFECT


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Another step closer to adulthood

For the last 3 weeks, Elias was struggling with one of his front tooth being loose. He kept wiggling with it but refused to take any action to help that tooth to come out. It was becoming a real hassle, that loose tooth.
Eating cookies would hurt, brushing his front teeth became painful, the next tooth was showing at the back and mom and dad got worried it would grow in the wrong direction (seeing huge orthodontic bills in their future),...

I made a dentist appointment but the earliest appointment date was early February, so we were getting a bit frustrated. But then it happened: yesterday evening we helped Elias brush his teeth and we saw that the gum around that loose tooth was getting lower and lower, I got worried something might be wrong, but Wim gave Elias a handkerchief so he had a good grip on his tooth and Elias pulled it out just like that.

We put that tooth in a little wooden canister for the tooth fairy, who put some money in it during the night.
Elias was really excited with that in the morning: "Mom - I didn't really believe in the tooth fairy, but now I know she is real!!". What money can do......

 

The New Year is going full steam ahead.

WOW - 2008 is already in full swing, Wim is back to work, driving to Merelbeke every day now and the kids are back in school.

Filling out Elias's school agenda, I had to write 2008 instead of 2007.
It made me think of my own school days, how I thought it was really cool to write the new year (and often still writing the old year). Made me just chuckle thinking about that... I must be getting old.

On Monday I returned my laptop, some servers and monitor to Cisco. I kind of hoped that I had a chance to say goodbye to some of the TAC engineers, maybe even have a quick lunch with them. But as I was "accompanied" by their manager, he walked me to his office and quickly walked me back to the front door. Five minutes in and out.
And that was the end of my Cisco career.
I didn't feel sad though - just one chapter that has closed.. on the the next one.


Speaking of the next chapter, on Tuesday I had a meeting with someone from Cronos (where Wim works). It was a "she", which I always have a tougher time talking to :-) For some reasons I'm more used talking to men when it comes to work.
But either way, she asks what I want to do, explaines what they are working on, asks if I am interested and what hours I want to do.
If I will work 3/5, this means I need to work 22.8 hours a week.
If I work half time, I need to work for 19 hours.

Since I don't have after care for the kids, I wanted to work on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 9:00 till 15:30 (with a half hour lunch break, but this brings me to only 18 hours a week). She suggested I could work a few more hours on Friday to get to the 3/5. I wanted some time to think about it and sent an email yesterday eveninjg saying I wanna do the half time, so I have Fridays off.
I am now waiting to hear back from her because they want me to meet someone else to discuss the salary and such. I'm not even sure if they want me though...
I'll just wait and see.
I hope to hear back pretty soon so I know whether I can start with the teaching classes or not (they start on January 28).

When I discussed the day with Wim, he was wondering whether it is worth to work half time in engineering. If I could find a job in a school and work full time there (which is only 21 hours a week), would I make the same?
Which would I prefer?? Not to mention the days off during Holidays....

Tough decisions...

As the end of the year comes closer....

Things are winding down these days.

- Yesterday was my last active day of work at Cisco (wasn't that active either).
- Today the kids have their last day of school for 2007.
- Luc and Nivea have left for Goa.

One more week and it will be 2008 - I am curious what the new year will bring....

But first:
- a trip to the Ardennes
- a Christmas party at our place
- several play dates lined up for Elias and Mendel
- Dec 31 in Plopsaland (no long lines apparently)
- some family visits, but limited due to the above mentioned party

HAPPY HOLIDAYS everyone

The job thing..

After some thought, I decided that I don't want to look further within Cisco for a job. Instead I have sent my resignation to my manager and my last day of work will be the 31st of December.

On one hand I feel a bit sad to say goodbye with this part of my life. I've worked for Cisco for almost 8 years, so I have made many good friends there over the years. They have treated me well, I was able to work part time when I felt this was important, and I was recognized for my performances (most of the time).

On the other hand, I've felt for a while now that I want to do something else. I wasn't enthusiastic about my work anymore. Of course I love crafts and it would be a dream come true if I could do something in that area, however, it's not something that will give me a decent income so I think that I will just keep doing it as a hobby.

I've been seriously thinking about teaching. I will have to get a BPB (Bewijs van Pedagogische Bekwaamheid) which would allow me to teach, which I could get in 2 years if I take classes for two half days a week. I can already teach while taking these classes as well.
I checked online about what classes I can teach, and it looks like I can teach about anything out there with my current diploma (I am considering the age group 12-18). So that's encouraging.
I am going to update my resume, tweak it a bit for the "teaching" job and plan to talk to the director of the Atheneum in Keerbergen and ask her opinion about it. Would be great if they have a job opening since this is where Elias and Mendel would eventually go to.

I'm also thinking about creating web pages for local businesses. It's unbelievable how many businesses here in Belgium do not have a website. Sad really. So... maybe I could start a business on the side (and Wim would help) where we could do just that (and get payed under the table). Wim has a colleague who does this and he is earning quite a nice bit on the side this way. I have no clue how hard it would be to talk the local hairdresser or flower shop into a website though :-)

So you see... I am not heart broken, just full of ideas. Throwing them out here, but who knows what I'll end up doing ....