New blog-features

Tonight, Fedor went out with a friend from his new job. So I took the evening of redesigning my blog. Recently, part of my blog disappeared (in the links section) and even though I dont know how it happened, I still felt it was a reason for doing some redesigning. Unfortunately, it has been a long time since I did any webpage design and I had to do it the hard way. I think finally it worked out reasonably well. However, I do realise this statement only works for those people who use Internet Explorer, because it looks kinda sucky in Mozilla Firefox: bad luck for you guys!
Anyways, most of the changes are probably too subtle to be noticed (the background went from nearly-black to a-little-less-close-to-black, for example, for which I found a great tool). The most noticeable, however, is the new picture in the top, which is a photo I took today of the Naviglio, practically next to our house. I thought it was pretty.
Ciao,
OJ
PS Fedor also started a blog
PPS Earlier today, I posted this news story, which made me laugh... (people say we are poor: but if we include the illegal economy, we are really not that poor! Now that is creative bookkeeping!

Just a small thing

Interesting link

More Photos

Finally, I took the time today to take a few more pictures of the flat, furnished definitively. I know I put pictures here before, but those were from the time we didnt actually have our furniture here yet. But now we do! So, these are the pictures from how the flat looks now:

 
 
 
And finally, a quick picture from the Naviglio Grande, the canal we live very, very close to...
  

All in all, the house is very, very awesome!
As to my week, no much has been up since Wednesday. On Thursday, we went out for Aperitivo with a group of friends. This was fun, but Fedor and I didnt stay out too late as Fedor had to go to training early next morning. I have been trying to achieve some progress, which is going surprisingly well. Except on Friday, when I was simply having an off-day. The week-ends are still very relaxed (the quiet before the visitor's storm, from half October). We go to the supermarket on Saturday and clean the house on Sunday: nothing else! Finally, there is another link I should tell people about. I have mentioned SkyScanner before, which is an amazing website for looking for cheap airline tickets within Europe or Asia. But now there is Budget Long Haul, which contains information for cheap intercontinental tickets! Always very useful...
Ciao,
OJ

Another year, another Permesso

Recently, Fedor and I have been spending a lot of time on our bureaucratic affairs. For me it is the second time, but that does not make it much easier. What does make it easier, apparently, is coming to Italy to be an English teacher, instead of a student. We first went to the Police Station last week, arriving at 7AM (which, admittedly, is a bit late there). After waiting outside in the drizzling rain for one-and-a-half hours, we got to to the First Desk. Here I was told that, as an EU-citizen, renewing the Residence Permit takes place in a different office. Fedor, however, could go ahead because it was his first permesso. Afterwards, not only did we not have to wait long, Fedor also succeeded in getting his Permesso during the first attempt!!! (it ook me 4 attempts last year). And all that in only 3 hours!!! The most jealous-making thing, however, is the fact that, without asking, Fedor received a 5-year permesso!!! I am having trouble getting a 1-year extension, but Fedor gets a 5-year one without any trouble. A few days later, he managed his Municipality registration in a mere 2 hours as well... In the meanwhile, I managed to find the "other police station" where I was supposed to go. So after an hour or so waiting, I was told to return in the end of October. Which thuse means that my Medicare is running out (which can only be renewed with a new Permesso). However, I decided to go the local office again anyway, together with Fedor. Once more, he was very lucky and he got his Medicare arranged straight away! (it took my 6 months). However, I was able to borrow some of his luck and get my Medicare extension straight away too. So at least that is arranged.
The same cannot be said for my affairs in the Netherlands. Suddenly, a lot of bureacratic bullshit is arriving from my past again too. This includes a large unpaid bill and the recovery of a bank account! "A what?", you are asking, now. Well, apparently, a bank account which, to my knowledge, had been cancelled more than a year ago, still exists. I have not found out whether there is any money in that account, but I am very curious...... (probably not, though)
Ciao,
OJ

Many, many Moons

OK, I realise it has been long since I have written anything. But as my defense, I would like to suggest that NOT having Internet at home makes it significantly more difficult to stay up-to-date with a blog. However, the good news is that this problem has been solved! Since Friday we actually DO have internet at home! So I am not completely Skypable and MSNable any time of the night or day (well, sort of). Over the last week-and-a-half, quite a lot of things have happened of course. We went out with our friends Nina (whom I know from Highschool) and Antonio twice. We went out with my ex-flatmate twice (and ended up singing Karaoke twice as well), etc, etc. I have been working, at Uni. Working on a research proposal, for which I have managed to get the attention and interest of my new sort-of Supervisor. Additionally, we have been quite busy at Uni welcoming back everyone after their holidays... However, Fedor has been significantly more productive! He has had a few interviews and at all the place he went to, they decided they wanted to hire him! So he could actually simply choose a job. And there are still offers coming in!!! But he has made a final decision already and has taken up 2 part-time jobs. For one of the jobs he had his first classes on Friday, and it went really well!!! I knew he was a born teacher...
For the rest, too much has been happening to discuss it all. I will just tell about today, when we (finally) had time to celebrate my gift for Fedor's Master Degree. We started by going to the Absolut Ice Bar. It is a bar, made of ice. With tables and benches made of ice. And glasses made of ice. And everything made of ice. We drank a cocktail there (wearing big warm coats) and went home afterwards. At home, I made a lovely dinner for Fedor, including a gorgeous chocolate fondue, as a result of which we are now feeling extremely fat and kinda sick. But it was verrrrry yummie, anyway!!!
Anyways, now that we have internet at home, I will be able to update my blog more often...
Ciao,
OJ

Back from Holland

Wow, that was one exhausting week in Holland!!! At least we had a little more time then usually is the case, so we had some extra time to see friends and family. After spending 2 days in Nijmegen, we went to the North to visit Groningen. Of course, this involved heavy drinking on Saturday and Sunday, and great eating (especially witth my brother Niels, who is an awesome chef!). After Groningen, we returned to Nijmegen, with my parents' car, as well as the rest of my stuff (books, furniture). On Wednesday, it was Fedor's great day: he got his Master degree in Latin and Ancient Greek! After the award ceremony, we had a family lunch, with his entire extended family as well as a fair share of people from my side. It was all very enjoyable. Just like the party in the evening! Even though many people had to work the next day, we still managed to do some heavy drinking and partying!!! Of course, many of Fedor's friends were very sad to see him go and quite a few tears were shed... But it was an appropriate goodbye.
The next day consisted of cleaning the house and packing the car with all Fedors books and other stuff. On Friday, Fedors father and I drove to Milano with a filled-up car. The journey was actually very enjoyable and we had great weather throughout. Of course there was a bit of stress when we had to unpack the car, because of the parking situation etc, but it was not too bad. But once we had gotten everything into the flat we realised how much junk we had! I got a bit depressed thinking about where to leave everything and whether it was going to fit!

The next morning, when trying to find a parking space for the car, I managed to stupidly hit the pavement and blow the tyre of the car. STUPID. So we spent all morning on repairing the car, which I can now say I am able to do! In the afternoon and the next day, Fedor and his father went around to see the city, while I unpacked our stuff. This went amazingly well, and we are able to fit everything in quite easily! I will soon post some more photos of how it looks now that it is furnished. Very different, I can tell you! On Monday, Fedors father left again and we got back to Real Life. For me, this consisted of returning to Uni and trying to get started again. Officially, the academic year starts Monday 11th, but I wanted to get a head start. For Fedor, however, Real Life consisted of job interviews. Because suddenly, he received invitations for a number of interviews. And they went really well! In fact, they went so well that he now has 3 job offers, out of the 3 interviews he's had... OMG, this is great news!!! He can basically choose which job he will take (all English teaching), which is going to be a problem: he likes them all!
And they pay quite well, too! Better then we expected in advance, anyway...
So in conclusion: LIFE IS GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ciao,
OJ