#it doesn't look like cornelis was a ginger but well you can't have everything

[abrahamvanhelsings]

it's been a good few days since we made our (re)acquaintance with our good professor dr. van helsing, which means im going to do what i promised to do literal months ago and present my historical faceclaim: dutch reformed church minister (dominee) cornelis eliza van koetsveld (1807-1893):

one of the most well-known ministers of his era, he started out as a simple village preacher and ended up as court minister - he even baptised queen wilhelmina of the netherlands (1880-1962). he was also, like many dutch reformed ministers in the 19th century, a fairly popular author. it was relatively common for dutch ministers to write fictionalised accounts of their experiences, especially in the countryside, about the people and their habits, the day-to-day occurences, their own efforts to teach and guide their flock correctly and the difficulties they encountered. such accounts usually included some kind of social commentary (van koetsveld's later work was inspired by dickens) and moral lessons for the readers as well. van koetsveld's most popular book can be found here, though it is of course in dutch.

so why van koetsveld? going off his looks alone, when i saw his picture for the first time, i was struck by how in almost every single one of his portraits, he looks kind and caring and yet - there is something mischievous about him, like he's in on some joke or a little piece of knowledge that you, the onlooker, have not yet been made aware of. he looks like a knowledgeable elderly man who also knows how to have little fun - which, to me? is van helsing to a t. and it's not just in his face: his written work exudes the authoritativeness of the 19th century preacher but is full of witty comments and sharp wisecracks that still make me chuckle when i read them.

there is also something else that endears him to me, and that makes me think he's a good fit for van helsing: van koetsveld founded the first dutch school for special education of what we now know to be neurodivergent children, the 'hague idiot school' (1855-1920). the name of his institute doesn't translate particularly well to modern times, but it is important to view this in context: the children who attended this school were generally thought to be feeble-minded and therefore incapable of development, but van koetsveld disagreed with that sentiment. now i don't think van koetsveld would've believed vampires to be anything else but a baseless countryside myth, but his views on neurodivergent children show a certain open-mindedness, to think differently from other people, that is a core trait of van helsing too. (somewhat in that vein, for anyone interested, when the time comes, ill make a post on his conduct towards renfield)

tl;dr, when looking at his pictures i can easily imagine him doing any of the things we see van helsing do in the books: teasing seward, maintaining his gentle but firm bedside manner around his patients, getting up to the various nighttime shenanigans from the next few weeks, and van koetsveld's real-life temperament, as far as can be established, seems to collide quite well with the character of van helsing.

[cheyk24]

WHO I AM?

"A DIFFERENT SIDE OF ME"

Can you believe that what I am today is the different soul of yesterday? I am Joshua, and let me show you or let me tell you who I am. My name is Joshua Pruna Hernandez, and I am 21 years old. I live in Barangay Burgos Mulanay, Quezon. My father is Venancio Claveria Hernandez. He is 56 years old and getting older, but too strong for that age. My beautiful mother is Teresita Pruna Hernandez; she is also 56 years old, but she doesn't look like that age. I have four siblings: one girl and three boys. My eldest brother is a teacher; he is Doc. Marvin P. Hernandez studied well until he became a doctor of education. The second one is a girl; she is Laiza Pruna Hernandez. She is now a graduate of teacher education and also passed the board exam, but she's not teaching in regular school because, for some reason, maybe she's not ready or eager to make it. Actually, I am the third son. Let me tell you about myself later. This is my story, and I am at the top of this storyline " HUYYYYYY HAHAHAHAHA. The next one is a boy again. He is Khalil Pruna Hernandez, a grade 12 student who also wants to be a teacher. Lastly, there is a boy again. He is Justine Pruna Hernandez. He's now a 7th grade student and is striving for what is good for himself. Just sharing, we are 1/4 Chinese-blooded because my grandfather is a pure-blooded Chinese on my mother's side.

 There are a lot of people talking differently about me; they have a lot of different perspectives on who I am. Those perspectives hit me a lot in mixed emotions, maybe happy because they see me in a wealthy life; why I am sad is because a wealthy life is vice versa for me. Way back so many years, yes, they had a wealthy life when my eldest brother was the only son. According to the story they are sharing with us, we have a sari-sari store where they buy goods like bananas, coconuts, "walis tingting," peanuts, and many more. Until the day came, they had a neighbor who always drank liquor, and every time he became drunk, he always wanted to make a duel or fight with my father, and my mother was afraid of that because he knew that my father would fight back. Maybe they would have something wrong when it happened, or maybe they would kill my father. That is why they decided to leave that place, along with the loss of the business we had before.

 Then after that, my mother became pregnant with my sister, and after 4 years, she became pregnant again, and this is me. When I was a child, I had a weak immune system, which is why I was always sick, to the point that my parents couldn't afford to support my medication. That is why they decided to let me be adopted by someone who has money to support my medication in exchange for 20 pesos. As they said, the 20 peso bill is used to buy a candle, and every day it is lit for prayers to make me well. In God's will, I'll recover, and they returned me to my legal parents, saying, "Take note of any situation about this; I can't remember; maybe I was too young at that moment". The first thing that I remember in this world is the hardship. YES! At the very young age of 7, I started working just to live in this world. There's a time when we don't have food to eat. All the hardship that poor people experience. I'll experience it too. Just to survive, we do coconut and banana planting and harvesting. Because we don't have carabao, we just lift everything we harvest using our body strength. We are harvesting almost 3 thousand kilos of coconut, and we only lift it with our bodies. Imagine that at the age of 7-8, I am doing those kinds of work. That is not appropriate, but do I have a choice? Nothing but work! We are also planting rice, corn, peanuts, ginger, and everything else that can help us survive in this world.

 Imagine we have a lot of sources of food but are still out of money. That is because my brother and sister are studying in college, and I have no choice but to work. This is a time that I want to give up because it is very tiring. At my age, the only thing I want to do is play. I want to enjoy my life—my childhood life. But I'll never experience the childhood life they experienced. All I experienced was work, work, work, and work. To be honest, I'm jealous of my classmates. Why? Because they can do what they want. In my entire life, I'll never experience playing with a toy on my own. My parents didn't buy me a toy even once. When my classmates look at me just to play basketball, it couldn't happen because I have work to do. That was the saddest part of my life in elementary school.

 When I was in high school, the world became different. I don't know what they did. Take note: I am not with my parents; I am with my brother in the boarding house.

 My high school life has made me different. I encounter a lot of different people. There are people similar to my story, and there's a student who was literally born with a golden tooth. While studying, my confidence level increased. I saw the real meaning of being a student. A student who can sing, dance, and much more. The challenge is, how can I be one of them even though I don't have any background on those talents? Then I decided not to be one of them and let my academics reach the same level as those talents. I studied hard just to make my grades higher, and it worked. Yes, I became an honor student in my high school life with a high honor score of 95. Something 

 After moving up, it's time to take an exam for the strand, and I want to become a police officer, which is why I take HUMSS. My academic record belongs very much to this strand because we do writing, reporting, etc., and there's no requirement for any physical activities or even the use of talents. I have been even better and have become better step by step at a time. Then the pandemic came to us, and in God's will, we are all safe. Then, when choosing a course in college, I was taking an entrance exam for criminology, and I passed it. I was so happy—literally happy. I shared it with my parents with a big smile on my face, but it turned into sadness because they said that they couldn't afford a criminology class for me. I needed to express myself just to explain, but I didn't do it. Why? Do I have a choice? Nothing but to pursue what they can afford. They decided, Why don't I try to take an exam at SLSU? Then I tried, and in God's will, I passed the entrance exam. Now, in choosing a major where I am the best, my brother said BCAED without thinking about what BCAED is. I said yes, go; I will take it. O my God, when the online class started, all my weaknesses were here. Singing, dancing, arts, and drama—all the skills I don't have are here. I want to cry when I understand what I have been taking. But do I have a choice? Nothing but to take a risk. I am 5'6 taller, and I became 2 inches taller when singing in front of my classmates. 'huhu' I don't know how to dance, which is why I started to work dancing. I started to take the training in SINAG BANAHAW CULTURAL TROUPE, and it really helps me a lot in my dancing career. I have low confidence, but just to survive in college, I need to hide all my weaknesses and face all the challenges. Taking a risk is the best. In my entire life, even in my dreams, I never thought I would dance, but now I am one of those people competing for our school in dance for STRASUC. Now I believe that everything happens for a reason; it does not just happen because someone decides to do it to you; it happens because of God's will for us. Jesus guides us down the right pathway to make us better and more successful someday.