It's getting really close...
Vacations will start. As usual flight itinerary can be found below...
Travel Plan:
25/08/2007 Brussels - Milan Malpenza 07:15 - 08:50 (AZ145)
25/08/2007 Milan Malpenza- Sofia 14:35 -17:40 (AZ532)
08/09/2007 Istanbul- Rome 17:40 -19:20 (AZ703)
08/09/2007 Rome - Brussels 21:15 - 23:30 (AZ 164)
02/09/2007 Istanbul - Antalya 10:45 -~ 11:45 (Onurair)
08/09/2007 Antalya -Istanbul 12:45 - 13:45 (Onurair)
Places to visit:
Milan (Italy)
Sofia (Bulgaria)
Plodvid (Bulgaria)
Veliko Tarnovo (Bulgaria)
Varna? (Bulgaria)
Istanbul (Turkey)
Antalya (Turkey)
Beldibi (Turkey)
One thing that I found interesting was that we will have the opportunity to go through several means of transport.. i.e.:
Airplane (as you could see above)
Car (within Bulgaria)
Train (Bulgaria to Istanbul)
Boat (on the Bosphorus canal)
Bus (in Anatalya)
And also we will have the opportunity to see:
A city with more population that any in Europe
One of the countries in Europe (Bulgaria roots came to some thousands of year ago)
One of the most famous mountains (Carphants)
2 famous beach resorts (Black sea in Bulgaria and on the Aegean/Med sea in Turkey)
2 different alphabets (Cyrillic and Turkish)
and I'm sure much more including wonderful people...
Looking really forward to it!!
Friday, August 24, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
Several
Just because I'm not posting, doesn't mean that life isn't treating me well:)
See below..
Pics from:
B-day
Playing Squash
Amazing visit to Rome
Gent Festival
Brussels Festival
See below..
Pics from:
B-day
Playing Squash
Amazing visit to Rome
Gent Festival
Brussels Festival
Friday, July 27, 2007
News
It´s true... for the good and for the bad I will stay longer in Brussels..
I´m moving job (inside the same company) and will also move apartment (goodbye to dear Zaventem soon) to somewhere (still to be discovered.. Help!!) in the center.
I´ll be travelling longer and will have less (Yes, even much less of what´s now) connection to the internet!
I´m moving job (inside the same company) and will also move apartment (goodbye to dear Zaventem soon) to somewhere (still to be discovered.. Help!!) in the center.
I´ll be travelling longer and will have less (Yes, even much less of what´s now) connection to the internet!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Werchter Music Festival
During the last week of June I had the possibility to enjoy the superb Music Festival in Werchter.
First question, you may ask, where's that?
Honestly I thought that was close to Leuven as the only recommended way to get there was to go by train to Leuven and afterwards catch a bus to the place... actually, the transportation was quite cumbersome as the distances were huge between things, but on the positive side, we can always make some exercise:) It never took me less than 1 hour and half from door to door.. the place was literally in the middle of nowhere..
Also the public audience was quite huge, mainly after the 1st day.. I would say close to 100.000 people a day. I also can say that is not the most enthusiastic audience.. sometimes can even be frustrating to see people not moving or dancing while the music is echoing in your brain and mixing with your senses.. nonetheless we made the party by ourselves as the line-up was simply outstanding.
One of the main reasons why I decided to come was to get more into the new musical bands and to understand what might be worthwhile to hear more or not...
The company was also very good and key to enjoy the concerts.
Below you could find a ranking of the performance (stage performance only!!) of the musical bands that I had the opportunity to see (many were missed):
First question, you may ask, where's that?
Honestly I thought that was close to Leuven as the only recommended way to get there was to go by train to Leuven and afterwards catch a bus to the place... actually, the transportation was quite cumbersome as the distances were huge between things, but on the positive side, we can always make some exercise:) It never took me less than 1 hour and half from door to door.. the place was literally in the middle of nowhere..
Also the public audience was quite huge, mainly after the 1st day.. I would say close to 100.000 people a day. I also can say that is not the most enthusiastic audience.. sometimes can even be frustrating to see people not moving or dancing while the music is echoing in your brain and mixing with your senses.. nonetheless we made the party by ourselves as the line-up was simply outstanding.
One of the main reasons why I decided to come was to get more into the new musical bands and to understand what might be worthwhile to hear more or not...
The company was also very good and key to enjoy the concerts.
Below you could find a ranking of the performance (stage performance only!!) of the musical bands that I had the opportunity to see (many were missed):
1. Pearl Jam (Day2) - Just unbelievably good! Outstanding!!
2. Muse (Day1) - What a professional play!!
3. Metallica (Day4) - They know everything by heart! And the people as well..
4. Keane (Day3) - Very good... was almost like a hit parade.. always involving the audience..
5. Kaiser Chiefs (Day2) - If the music is not the best, for music festivals it's really the kind of music that puts you in a good mood
6. The Killers (Day3) - Symphonic rock.. good performers
7. Bloc Party (Day2) - Audience seemed not to be in the same page.. I understand that they are normally very good in stage..
8. Bjork (Day1) - Was OK! First 30 minutes was gorgeous.. afterwards is getting a little bit repetitive
9. Queens of the Stone Age (Day2) - Rock and Rock and Rock!! Like a stone!!
10. The Chemical Brothers (Day3) - The concert where people got more involved with... surprising to see that the techno-rock really got into the people.. everyone was jumping
11. Arctic Monkeys (Day2) - Millions of records sold.. very very poor performance on stage.. Only the kids where jumping
12. Incubus (Day4) - a flop in my opinion... the sound was not good, that might work as an excuse.. no involvement with the public
13. Peter Gabriel (Day3) - Was he suppose to be playing here?
14. Marilyn Manson (Day1) - So many many problems with sound.. it literally didn’t have speakers... difficult for them, and with a Prima-Donna as Manson, it's even worse.. but is always fun to see them.
PS: Many Thanks for the pics and videos from A.C. and Luis!!
Friday, June 15, 2007
Examen de français
I received the below mail today... needless to say, on last couple months I went ZERO times...however I always love to make exams (doesn´t necessarily translates in wanting to see the results:))
Bonsoir à tous!
Je vous rappelle que l'examen de français aura lieu mardi 19 juin à 19h dans le local habituel. Je ne serai pas là, mais quelqu'un viendra vous donner les copies et vous surveiller!
Si vous avez des questions, vous pouvez m'envoyer un mail, je vous répondrai volontiers.
Je vous envoie ici le récapitulatif de ce qu'il faut savoir pour mardi prochain...
Vous recevrez vos résultats chez vous, si vous avez réussi (la réussite est fixée à 60%). Si vous êtes en échec, vous pouvez passer l'examen de la 2e session, qui se déroule le 28 août à 19h à l'Institut. En cas d'échec, je vous enverrai un mail pour vous prévenir...
L'examen est seulement écrit. Je donne une note orale en fonction de votre travail de toute l'année (pour ceux que je n'ai pas beaucoup vus, ça va être difficile...)
Comme je ne serai pas là la semaine prochaine, il y a des chances qu'on ne se revoie plus. Je vous souhaite donc bonne chance pour l'examen, mais aussi (et surtout), bonne route, et tout le bonheur du monde à chacun d'entre vous. J'ai eu beaucoup de plaisir à vous connaître et à partager mes mardis soirs avec vous!
Caroline
B1 : Récapitulatif
Vocabulaire
- l’expérience et le parcours professionnel
- le parcours scolaire et universitaire
- l’heure et les moments de la journée
- les nombres
- les jours de la semaine, les saisons, les mois
- la famille
- les bâtiments d’une ville
- la chronologie
- les sentiments
- les loisirs
- les pièces d’un logement
- les monuments
- l’orientation dans l’espace
- les mesures
- la description d’un personnage
- la description d’un lieu
- les comparatifs
- les superlatifs
Grammaire
La phrase
- la phrase interrogative (où, quand, comment, pourquoi, combien, à qui, quel, qui, est-ce que, avec quoi, qui est-ce qui, qu’est-ce qui, qui…)
- la réponse à l’interrogation (à cause de, parce que, oui, non, si…)
- la proposition subordonnée relative (j’aime les hommes qui s’habillent bien)
- la proposition subordonnée circonstancielle de temps (quand il fait beau, je vais à la mer)
- la comparaison
- il y a
Le verbe
- le présent de l’indicatif
- le passé composé conjugué avec l’auxiliaire avoir et l’auxiliaire être (accord du participe passé)
- l’impératif présent
- le conditionnel présent
- le gérondif
- l’imparfait
- le futur simple
- le futur proche (je vais + infinitif)
- le passé récent (je viens de + infinitif)
- le présent progressif (je suis en train de + infinitif)
- verbe + infinitif avec ou sans préposition « à » ou « de » (je veux voyager, je préfère continuer à discuter, j’ai arrêté de fumer)
- les verbes pronominaux
Les prépositions
- les prépositions de temps
- les prépositions de lieu
Le nom
- les pronoms compléments
- le superlatif de l’adjectif qualificatif
- quelqu’un/quelque chose
- ne…personne, ne…rien
Compétences de communication
- rédiger un Curriculum Vitae
- comprendre un Curriculum Vitae
- se présenter à un entretien d’embauche
- comprendre un texte informatif
- donner son emploi du temps habituel
- donner son avis
- demander et donner des conseils
- s’excuser et se justifier
- raconter un souvenir au passé
- raconter des événements
- demander et donner des informations sur un itinéraire
- décrire un logement
- raconter une histoire au passé
Bonsoir à tous!
Je vous rappelle que l'examen de français aura lieu mardi 19 juin à 19h dans le local habituel. Je ne serai pas là, mais quelqu'un viendra vous donner les copies et vous surveiller!
Si vous avez des questions, vous pouvez m'envoyer un mail, je vous répondrai volontiers.
Je vous envoie ici le récapitulatif de ce qu'il faut savoir pour mardi prochain...
Vous recevrez vos résultats chez vous, si vous avez réussi (la réussite est fixée à 60%). Si vous êtes en échec, vous pouvez passer l'examen de la 2e session, qui se déroule le 28 août à 19h à l'Institut. En cas d'échec, je vous enverrai un mail pour vous prévenir...
L'examen est seulement écrit. Je donne une note orale en fonction de votre travail de toute l'année (pour ceux que je n'ai pas beaucoup vus, ça va être difficile...)
Comme je ne serai pas là la semaine prochaine, il y a des chances qu'on ne se revoie plus. Je vous souhaite donc bonne chance pour l'examen, mais aussi (et surtout), bonne route, et tout le bonheur du monde à chacun d'entre vous. J'ai eu beaucoup de plaisir à vous connaître et à partager mes mardis soirs avec vous!
Caroline
B1 : Récapitulatif
Vocabulaire
- l’expérience et le parcours professionnel
- le parcours scolaire et universitaire
- l’heure et les moments de la journée
- les nombres
- les jours de la semaine, les saisons, les mois
- la famille
- les bâtiments d’une ville
- la chronologie
- les sentiments
- les loisirs
- les pièces d’un logement
- les monuments
- l’orientation dans l’espace
- les mesures
- la description d’un personnage
- la description d’un lieu
- les comparatifs
- les superlatifs
Grammaire
La phrase
- la phrase interrogative (où, quand, comment, pourquoi, combien, à qui, quel, qui, est-ce que, avec quoi, qui est-ce qui, qu’est-ce qui, qui…)
- la réponse à l’interrogation (à cause de, parce que, oui, non, si…)
- la proposition subordonnée relative (j’aime les hommes qui s’habillent bien)
- la proposition subordonnée circonstancielle de temps (quand il fait beau, je vais à la mer)
- la comparaison
- il y a
Le verbe
- le présent de l’indicatif
- le passé composé conjugué avec l’auxiliaire avoir et l’auxiliaire être (accord du participe passé)
- l’impératif présent
- le conditionnel présent
- le gérondif
- l’imparfait
- le futur simple
- le futur proche (je vais + infinitif)
- le passé récent (je viens de + infinitif)
- le présent progressif (je suis en train de + infinitif)
- verbe + infinitif avec ou sans préposition « à » ou « de » (je veux voyager, je préfère continuer à discuter, j’ai arrêté de fumer)
- les verbes pronominaux
Les prépositions
- les prépositions de temps
- les prépositions de lieu
Le nom
- les pronoms compléments
- le superlatif de l’adjectif qualificatif
- quelqu’un/quelque chose
- ne…personne, ne…rien
Compétences de communication
- rédiger un Curriculum Vitae
- comprendre un Curriculum Vitae
- se présenter à un entretien d’embauche
- comprendre un texte informatif
- donner son emploi du temps habituel
- donner son avis
- demander et donner des conseils
- s’excuser et se justifier
- raconter un souvenir au passé
- raconter des événements
- demander et donner des informations sur un itinéraire
- décrire un logement
- raconter une histoire au passé
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Crowd at Lisbon Airport Arrivals
Can someone explain me why Lisbon Airport is the one that have, proportional, more people waiting for the arrival of friends and family? (no, I didn´t base myself in any statistics)
Even though, cannot be considered as a hub given the small air traffic, gives always a warm welcome to everyone that arrives and can see most of the times, 3 or 4 times more people waiting than the ones arriving.
I must say, that I love to see and feel that welcome!
Portugal - May 2007
I spent the weekend before the last in Portugal!!
What can I say more than that was simply fabulous!!
Unfortunately, not enough time to see everyone:(
Hope to see u soon, and do not forget that you have an open door here in Brussels:)
PS: sorry for long time without writing, now I’m penciling everything in a row.. maybe too much, but have fun watching the pics.
What can I say more than that was simply fabulous!!
Unfortunately, not enough time to see everyone:(
Hope to see u soon, and do not forget that you have an open door here in Brussels:)
PS: sorry for long time without writing, now I’m penciling everything in a row.. maybe too much, but have fun watching the pics.
Limbo
With the almost extinction of the Limbo, will I get my salvation as a non-Baptized?
It´s time also to applaud the church decision!
Fading practice?
Limbo has been in limbo for quite some time, but is now on its way to extinction.
A Vatican committee that spent years examining the medieval concept published a much-anticipated report Friday, concluding that unbaptized babies who die may go to heaven.
That could reverse centuries of Roman Catholic traditional belief that the souls of unbaptized babies are condemned to eternity in limbo, a place that is neither heaven nor hell. Limbo is not unpleasant, but it is not a seat alongside God.
Catholic doctrine states that because all humans are tainted by original sin, thanks to Adam and Eve, baptism is essential for salvation. But the idea of limbo has fallen out of favor for many Catholics, who see it as harsh and not befitting a merciful God.
The Vatican's International Theological Commission issued its findings — with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI — in a document published by the Catholic News Service, the news agency of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The commission is advisory, but the pope's endorsement of the document appears to indicate his acceptance of its findings.
Limbo, the commission said, "reflects an unduly restrictive view of salvation."
"Our conclusion," the panel said in its 41-page report, is that there are "serious theological and liturgical grounds for hope that unbaptized infants who die will be saved and brought into eternal happiness." The committee added that although this is not "sure knowledge," it comes in the context of a loving and just God who "wants all human beings to be saved."
Extracted from LA Times
It´s time also to applaud the church decision!
Fading practice?
Limbo has been in limbo for quite some time, but is now on its way to extinction.
A Vatican committee that spent years examining the medieval concept published a much-anticipated report Friday, concluding that unbaptized babies who die may go to heaven.
That could reverse centuries of Roman Catholic traditional belief that the souls of unbaptized babies are condemned to eternity in limbo, a place that is neither heaven nor hell. Limbo is not unpleasant, but it is not a seat alongside God.
Catholic doctrine states that because all humans are tainted by original sin, thanks to Adam and Eve, baptism is essential for salvation. But the idea of limbo has fallen out of favor for many Catholics, who see it as harsh and not befitting a merciful God.
The Vatican's International Theological Commission issued its findings — with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI — in a document published by the Catholic News Service, the news agency of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The commission is advisory, but the pope's endorsement of the document appears to indicate his acceptance of its findings.
Limbo, the commission said, "reflects an unduly restrictive view of salvation."
"Our conclusion," the panel said in its 41-page report, is that there are "serious theological and liturgical grounds for hope that unbaptized infants who die will be saved and brought into eternal happiness." The committee added that although this is not "sure knowledge," it comes in the context of a loving and just God who "wants all human beings to be saved."
Extracted from LA Times
Series
I never expected to be so addicted to the American series, but Dr. House, Carnivale and Heroes are superb and quality productions.
I surrend! And seeing it with a good company is even better!
I surrend! And seeing it with a good company is even better!
Monday, June 04, 2007
Misspellings
Funny this article that I found on the internet…
We all make mistakes in google search that we can correct given the further suggestion, however do we know what are the most common misspellings (or should I say mispelings?).
My highlight goes to Britney Spears, which hits 2 times on the top20… that might have some correlation with the fans??
Everyone has certain words they struggle to spell correctly. When it comes to spelling, we're not perfect you can count on us to occasionally botch recieve (sic), accomodations (sic), and relavant (sic). With the Scripps National Spelling Bee on the horizon, we figured it was a perfect time to come clean about our erroneous ways.
The superb spellers at the Bee will rake in even more Buzz this year with the finals being televised in prime time on ABC. Searches on "spelling bee" have doubled over the last week and we've seen related search spikes on "national spelling bee," "spelling words," and "commonly misspelled words."
What are the common words that vex our searchers? We applied our best spell checking skills to the data and came up with this list of the top 20 misspelled words in Search...
1. Wallmart (Wal-Mart)
2. Rachel Ray (Rachael Ray)
3. Amtrack (Amtrak)
4. Hillary Duff (Hilary Duff)
5. Katherine McPhee (Katharine McPhee)
6. Britany Spears (Britney Spears)
7. Geneology (Genealogy)
8. Jaime Pressley (Jaime Pressly)
9. Volkswagon (Volkswagen)
10. Wikepedia (Wikipedia)
11. William Sonoma (Williams-Sonoma)
12. Tatoo (Tattoo)
13. Travelosity (Travelocity)
14. Elliot Yamin (Elliott Yamin)
15. Kiera Knightley (Keira Knightley)
16. Kelly Pickler (Kellie Pickler)
17. Brittney Spears (Britney Spears)
18. Avril Lavinge (Avril Lavigne)
19. Rianna (Rihanna)
20. Jordan Sparks (Jordin Sparks)
We all make mistakes in google search that we can correct given the further suggestion, however do we know what are the most common misspellings (or should I say mispelings?).
My highlight goes to Britney Spears, which hits 2 times on the top20… that might have some correlation with the fans??
Everyone has certain words they struggle to spell correctly. When it comes to spelling, we're not perfect you can count on us to occasionally botch recieve (sic), accomodations (sic), and relavant (sic). With the Scripps National Spelling Bee on the horizon, we figured it was a perfect time to come clean about our erroneous ways.
The superb spellers at the Bee will rake in even more Buzz this year with the finals being televised in prime time on ABC. Searches on "spelling bee" have doubled over the last week and we've seen related search spikes on "national spelling bee," "spelling words," and "commonly misspelled words."
What are the common words that vex our searchers? We applied our best spell checking skills to the data and came up with this list of the top 20 misspelled words in Search...
1. Wallmart (Wal-Mart)
2. Rachel Ray (Rachael Ray)
3. Amtrack (Amtrak)
4. Hillary Duff (Hilary Duff)
5. Katherine McPhee (Katharine McPhee)
6. Britany Spears (Britney Spears)
7. Geneology (Genealogy)
8. Jaime Pressley (Jaime Pressly)
9. Volkswagon (Volkswagen)
10. Wikepedia (Wikipedia)
11. William Sonoma (Williams-Sonoma)
12. Tatoo (Tattoo)
13. Travelosity (Travelocity)
14. Elliot Yamin (Elliott Yamin)
15. Kiera Knightley (Keira Knightley)
16. Kelly Pickler (Kellie Pickler)
17. Brittney Spears (Britney Spears)
18. Avril Lavinge (Avril Lavigne)
19. Rianna (Rihanna)
20. Jordan Sparks (Jordin Sparks)
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