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CAJinBE

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Everything posted by CAJinBE

  1. Students are starting to go back to school in the local schools. International schools are done for the year. My dds just finished their university finals remotely and are relieved to be done with the online learning. Even though kids are back in school, we are limited to seeing only 4 people in our home and they are supposed to be the same 4 all the time. People don't seem to be following this at all. I keep hearing about people having others over for dinner. Stores are open. Restaurants are only doing take-out still. Once the kids and most workers seem to be back together, all the other rules just seem silly. Also Belgium decided to open its borders but did not consult with its neighboring countries. France did not open its border so people were turned back. I'm not sure the EU will survive this.
  2. We used the 11th edition 5 years ago and it was good for all the general background on the topics. I'm not familiar with the current test. We used various online tools for population research and things so I think that is where you get the current data. The most helpful thing for us was to practice writing the FRQs from previous exams. This helped my dd learn how to use specific examples from history to support her answers. For instance some things that were easier for me just being aware of current events for 50 years were difficult for her. For example, one question was about physical boundaries separating people. I don't remember the specific terminology anymore, but I was able to rattle off three things like the Berlin Wall, the division between North and South Korea, and the Rio Grande. She wasn't able to do that so these questions helped us identify gaps in her general knowledge of world history and geography. We were lucky in that on her exam one of the FRQs was about language barriers in a country. Living and experiencing that in Belgium gave her tons of real world examples to answer with. So I think there is a certain amount of luck in the FRQs.
  3. I use Scribblar with a Wacom tablet. The kids have laptops though so I'm not sure how it would be on a phone.
  4. I agree it would be fine. I was surprised about the pee in a jar comment. There are so many rest areas in Belgium without toilets that we see men standing to pee alongside the road all the time. I've seen men pee in grocery store parking lots near the edges where there might be some weeds or something. I forgot that you aren't supposed to do this in the States. As a woman, I've always thought that rest areas without toilets are not really rest areas at all.
  5. I wouldn't be surprised if I had it in late November. I was so sick for two weeks and when I finally went to the doctor he said it was a bad virus, nearly bronchitis, but not the flu. I was wondering at the time how he was so sure it wasn't the flu, but went home with my inhalers and cough suppressants. In another week I was better. I stayed far away from everyone because it was so bad it didn't want to spread it to my friends at co-op. I thought at the time that these cold viruses are getting much worse and I wondered how we would cope if the trend continued. Well here we are. I will be curious to see if I ever get tested if I have antibodies.
  6. We have the same issue. Our trusty toaster died a couple years ago and we are now on our second replacement. Going spend does not help! We still get burnt toast and this thing launches the toast into the air. We actually had flames the other day.
  7. I just got the cancellation emails. They said there are flights out of Amsterdam so I'll try that route. I do want to get home. Thanks for your advice Lanny. I had seen the points guy website and it is very informative. I hope you get to see you dd soon.
  8. I was scheduled to fly from Belgium to the US on 3 June but I just checked my confirmation on Delta and it seems my trip "may have been cancelled." I am wondering why I didn't get an email. When do airlines typically let you know your trip is cancelled? Are we really supposed to keep checking and figure this out on our own? I'm very frustrated with Delta right now. I know people who have repatriated, did the 14-day quarantine thing and are fine now. I'm more worried about the travel stress than the virus at this point .
  9. I have an exercise bike next to the couch facing the TV. The couple times a year we have parties I push it into a side room.
  10. CAJinBE

    nm

    These are all interesting ideas to think about for the future. I know we can't live like this forever. I don't think we will be allowed to go to other people's house yet in May. Maybe June. A friend of mine got an expensive ticket for parking in a town that she didn't live in because she drove her boys to the forest there. The police here can tell by your license plates where you live and are actually checking parked cars. It's getting crazy.
  11. CAJinBE

    nm

    This is hard. My daughters are home from university and would love to see their friends who are also home from university but so far everyone is following the rules. We have close friends who are leaving in June and all the fun plans we had to see them before they leave are evaporating. To see them and stay six feet apart, say goodbye six feet apart sounds horrible. How do you have friends over and stay six feet apart. Will there be no sharing of food? Playing games. Are people just pretending to stay six feet apart?
  12. I've been wondering about the practicality of this also. Starting today we are allowed to walk with up to two friends (1.5 meters apart) as long as we don't go inside. My closest friend is probably 30 minutes away by car and they say we can drive a "limited distance" to do our exercise. So if we walked for one hour plus drive time it would be pushing the limit for me to find a bathroom and I don't think any are open for public use. Belgium has very few public toilets anyway. Grocery stores do not have them except for the big ones in malls but malls are not open. Most gas stations do not have them either except for the ones on the motorway. Today in addition to grocery stores and pharmacies they have allowed fabric stores to open so people can make masks. So not a lot of reason to leave the house yet.
  13. I agree with the Birks and there are lots of styles. Otherwise I always wear socks. In the summer I don't wear ballerina flats but comfy shoes that are like sneakers but not really sneakers with low ankle socks. They show a little but I think it looks okay.
  14. Dd20 and dd18 have been home since early March and haven't been anywhere at all except walks and bike rides with us.
  15. Erasmus University College in Rotterdam has announced that there will be classes in the fall on campus, online, or a hybrid. I'm not sure that cleared things up at all. Especially for the international students.
  16. The thing about shoes is they last a long time. I tend to have the same shoe is brown and black, winter and summer versions. I have a lot of boots ( three heights in brown and black). Winter walking shoes, summer walking shoes, dressy sandals, beach sandals, flip flops for the shower, snow boots, low heels. My closet is small so I have to rotate them out seasonally but they last a long time this way. My feet hurt if I don't wear good shoes.
  17. Americans can travel back to the US from Europe, but have to quarantine for 14 days. We have plans to fly home in June and so far we have only received one small change in itinerary from Delta (a longer layover at our stop in Atlanta). Notifications from the US Embassy in Brussels indicate that Americans, while not able to fly out of Brussels currently, can drive to Germany and fly out of Frankfurt. You have to be prepared to show your ticket to border guards to make the crossing. Not exactly the most convenient way to fly home but at this point I'm ready to do whatever I have to do. I realize we will be self-quarantining at our final destination and I'm glad it has a pool. Have to look on the bright side these days.
  18. People are still being very cautious in Belgium. The fines are pretty high if caught out for nonessential reasons. But after May 4th when things open up a bit more, I think police will have trouble enforcing stay-at-home so people will break more rules.
  19. My college kids had to come home early without much time to pack so they are very low on summer clothes. They ordered a few outfits online. Fortunately we know their sizes at a few of their favorite shops. Most of it fit okay. Since we still aren't going out of the house except to exercise, there hasn't been any issues yet.
  20. No protests here. But I suspect that people are quietly violating some rules such as seeing family. The police will stop cars, but not everywhere. The social safety net so far seems to be working. It seems the restaurants and bars are going to be hardest hit in the end. When things start easing up I don't know how they will be able to tell who is going out for a legit reason and who is just visiting friends.
  21. Still doing okay and adjusting to the new normal. I haven't been anywhere except for walks and bike rides since it started. Dh still has to go to work. It started as alternate weeks with teleworking but more and more he has to go in on his telework days. Belgium released a three phase plan to ease back into being open again. I think the new plan will create more questions and problems. The main thing is no restaurants, bars, or big events for a long time. Other businesses will open up after May 4 but with guidelines. Schools will start limited classes after mid-May. No specifics on how this can be implemented, but they did say they would roll back if things started to go bad again. I have tickets to fly to the States in June. I'm hoping to be allowed to do so. We did purchase at least one middle seat so I don't know how that is going to be worked out. So many questions. I definitely don't like feeling trapped here.
  22. The Dutch schools where my daughters attend haven't said anything yet about fall, but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't also stay online. My daughters have been handling it well, but I think hearing that news now would make it even harder for them to concentrate on their zoom classes. Two hour classes in things like anatomy have already been cut down to one hour due to the difficulties in keeping focus. One dd was supposed to have a bio-chem lab in the fall, too.
  23. Which school was it? I can't read the link. It seems more and more sites are being blocked to Europe.
  24. I think that 85 percent on Saxon tests is considered doing well. Saxon Algebra 2 starts with about 35 lessons of review. Maybe she just needs to bolster her confidence over the summer by doing something like Thinkwell Algebra 1 to help solidify and tie everything together.
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