So, the holidays have started. Of course, just my luck, I have been sick for about a week now. However, I feel I am recovering now, and I am ready to start cooking. Actually, I have already started cooking this weekend, but the majority of it will take place tomorrow (and the day after). My 10-course meal is looking to be absolutely lovely, I truly believe. I even managed to get fresh tuna this year, in order to make my tuna carpaccio! So that should certainly delight Jorryt and Lilian, who will be arriving in an hour or so.
And of course christmas is also about unwrapping presents, because our tree is absolutely covered in presents, right now, so there will be quite a bit of that to do as well!
Unfortunately, we're not having a white xmas :-( Unless foggy white also counts, because it's been quasi-foggy all day long today... Anyways, to compensate for the lack of snow, we'll go to towards the Alps on Thursday, using the car we're renting for that day. So, that'll be a lot of fun too!
Anyways, all I wanted to do right now is wish everyone happy holidays!!!
Ciao,
OJ
Monday, December 24, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Too much to discuss.
Well, actually, now that I am thinking about it, there's really not that much to discuss... Lots of work, a few nice evenings here and there, the works. We had friends of Fedor over for the weekend, who kept us rather busy, and we said goodbye to our friends Nina and Antonio who are moving to the Netherlands.
More specifically, I am happy to report that it's nearly christmas! And that means several things. First of all, the courses I am teaching have nearly finished, so that creates a lot of extra time in my schedule. This whole teaching business may be ridiculously overpaid, but it certainly does take up a lot of time. And it's so frustrating when students simply refuse to participate properly (they had complained after the midterm that the classes weren't interactive enough. I try and make them more interactive, but they just refuse to cooperate with me...). But it's good to know that that is nearly over... The second thing I love about xmas is all the functions that are organised. Although I must honestly say that this year there are not a lot of them. Even Fedor's job is not organising a xmas party this year :-(. But at least on Monday, there was a nice lunch of the department of Economics. Tomorrow is the xmas dinner for student representatives (but I'm not going to go) and Thursday afternoon is another session with just the PhD. So, it's not a terribly bad score, but I have had better years! The final thing that is so great about xmas here is the decorations! Milano has really expanded its decorations budget this year, that's for sure, because the city is simply gorgeous! Piazza Duomo is stunning, and I have shown photos of the Castello before: nice, wasn't it?
But, one thing is has been very disappointing: no Swarovski-decorated xmas tree in the middle of the Galleria this year. I was very sad when I found out the Swarovski tree had been dumped...
Finally, the flu has been going around and it has entered our home. Not good... (I say while blowing my nose and coughing my lungs out)
Ciao,
OJ
Well, actually, now that I am thinking about it, there's really not that much to discuss... Lots of work, a few nice evenings here and there, the works. We had friends of Fedor over for the weekend, who kept us rather busy, and we said goodbye to our friends Nina and Antonio who are moving to the Netherlands.
More specifically, I am happy to report that it's nearly christmas! And that means several things. First of all, the courses I am teaching have nearly finished, so that creates a lot of extra time in my schedule. This whole teaching business may be ridiculously overpaid, but it certainly does take up a lot of time. And it's so frustrating when students simply refuse to participate properly (they had complained after the midterm that the classes weren't interactive enough. I try and make them more interactive, but they just refuse to cooperate with me...). But it's good to know that that is nearly over... The second thing I love about xmas is all the functions that are organised. Although I must honestly say that this year there are not a lot of them. Even Fedor's job is not organising a xmas party this year :-(. But at least on Monday, there was a nice lunch of the department of Economics. Tomorrow is the xmas dinner for student representatives (but I'm not going to go) and Thursday afternoon is another session with just the PhD. So, it's not a terribly bad score, but I have had better years! The final thing that is so great about xmas here is the decorations! Milano has really expanded its decorations budget this year, that's for sure, because the city is simply gorgeous! Piazza Duomo is stunning, and I have shown photos of the Castello before: nice, wasn't it?
But, one thing is has been very disappointing: no Swarovski-decorated xmas tree in the middle of the Galleria this year. I was very sad when I found out the Swarovski tree had been dumped...
Finally, the flu has been going around and it has entered our home. Not good... (I say while blowing my nose and coughing my lungs out)
Ciao,
OJ
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Happy Sant'Ambrogio everyone!
Ho, ho, ho, it's nearly christmas! Well, maybe that's not entirely true, but we're totally getting into the xmas mood! It helped that this Friday was Sant'Ambrogio, the patron saint of Milano, so Fedor and I were both free from work (well, Fedor was free and at University, they just lock the building so it's actually impossible to work, but that's just a detail). Instead, we started on our xmas shopping! And there are so many things to buy in this city, it's very exciting to go shopping!!! Particularly because I made 200€ last Wednesday by recording the slogan for a radio-advertisement in a few European countries (I did the Dutch, German and English slogans), so I actually had money to spend on shopping!
And the city is becoming so beautiful with all lights and decorations throughout, it's enchanting! A final thing that really adds to the athmosphere are a number of markets that open around this time. The official christmas market, I haven't actually been to, but I know from other years it's really lovely. The Sant'Ambrogio market named O Bei, O Bei, however, was as lovely as always. An enormous market with lots of christmas goodies, and food and mulled wine (gluhwein). I love going there...
A separate market that started in December 1 and ended today is the Fiera Artigianale in the local convention centre. It's an ENORMOUS fair with handmade goodies and lots of food from all Italian regions, as well as many other countries of the world. It's absolutely gigantic and we went today with friends, but there was simply too much to see (and taste).
Of course we have also had a few social activities during these days, going to (finally) see the new, uhm, well, house is not appropriate, neither is appartment, but room sounds too aweful. Let's say we went to see the new "domicile" of our friends Felix and Annaig. It's, well, small. But the building is gorgeous and their kitchen is 3 times as big as ours. And they made good use of it, cooking us a grand meal on Friday. Yesterday we went out for aperitivo because Nissrine was in Milan for the weekend. She was very sad, because of all the trouble with her permesso. She actually has to go back to Canada for a few months, even though she has a job and the company is willing to do everything for her. But the bastards at the police station refuse to give her a residence permit. It's sad.
Anyways, the shopping weekend is nearly over and it's back to business on Monday.
Ciao,
OJ
And the city is becoming so beautiful with all lights and decorations throughout, it's enchanting! A final thing that really adds to the athmosphere are a number of markets that open around this time. The official christmas market, I haven't actually been to, but I know from other years it's really lovely. The Sant'Ambrogio market named O Bei, O Bei, however, was as lovely as always. An enormous market with lots of christmas goodies, and food and mulled wine (gluhwein). I love going there...
A separate market that started in December 1 and ended today is the Fiera Artigianale in the local convention centre. It's an ENORMOUS fair with handmade goodies and lots of food from all Italian regions, as well as many other countries of the world. It's absolutely gigantic and we went today with friends, but there was simply too much to see (and taste).
Of course we have also had a few social activities during these days, going to (finally) see the new, uhm, well, house is not appropriate, neither is appartment, but room sounds too aweful. Let's say we went to see the new "domicile" of our friends Felix and Annaig. It's, well, small. But the building is gorgeous and their kitchen is 3 times as big as ours. And they made good use of it, cooking us a grand meal on Friday. Yesterday we went out for aperitivo because Nissrine was in Milan for the weekend. She was very sad, because of all the trouble with her permesso. She actually has to go back to Canada for a few months, even though she has a job and the company is willing to do everything for her. But the bastards at the police station refuse to give her a residence permit. It's sad.
Anyways, the shopping weekend is nearly over and it's back to business on Monday.
Ciao,
OJ
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Where to start
You know how it works: You don't do something for a while and then you realise you really should. But when you don't have time, you jut postpone it again thinking "oh well, it's been a while, so it doesn't really matter if it takes some more time". But then, at one point, you come to the stage that it has been so long that it is too much of a hassle to do it anyway. That's where my blogging is at right now. So I will give just a short overview of the past period and promise a better life in the future.
Up to a degree, I blame Fedor, because he had destroyed his computer and we therefore had only one computer to work with. And because I am rarely home while he isnt, this meant that I basically had very little time to work on the computer without him sitting next to me, waiting for us to be able to watch a movie or something. however, thanks to Jorryt's Magic Touch, Fedor's computer now kinda works again, so I can now finally update my blog.
So, over the past weeks, lots has happened. Work, work, work, what can I say... Progress is being made, but I'll let you know when there is something more definitive.
Socially, of course there are more interesting things to discuss. Like the birthday party of my friend Idil, who celebrated in a church-turned-bar, which looked fantastic!!!
It was the same weekend that Fedor's friend Wouter was visiting, and we had a really good time with him and with all our other friends. The weekend after, Fedor went to see friends in Belgium and I went to the Netherlands to see my new-born niece. And of course, the rest of the family. I had a really good time seeing everyone (and Jorryt was able to repair Fedor's computer, so that was good new as well). Unfortunately, while my sisters-in-law took about a billion gazillion photos, I have only receive 1 so far and I am waiting for others to be able to weigh my options which one I want to put down here.... So that is for the future.
The next party was last Friday, my friend Andreja's bday. No photos for that just yet, but I am sure they will also come in the future...
This weekend, Fedor and I went to the town of Reggio Emilia, where our friend Nissrine moved to. It's a town in Emilia Romagna that is simply gorgeous. Gorgeous, but very quiet as well. So Nissrine does not have a lot to do and she was very excited to see us... She showed us the entire town and we had a lot of fun. Nice dinner, a lovely bottle of wine in a deserted wine bar, et cetera. It was good.
Today, we rturned to clean the house, do laundry and get ready for another working week. A short one, because Friday is Sant'Ambrogio's holiday, followed by the Immacolata, so that means celebrations and free days! And of course, Xmas is coming up. We're listing to xmas music, we put up the xmas tree (photos will be shown in the future) and we're very holiday spirited...
Ho ho ho!
Ciao,
OJ
Up to a degree, I blame Fedor, because he had destroyed his computer and we therefore had only one computer to work with. And because I am rarely home while he isnt, this meant that I basically had very little time to work on the computer without him sitting next to me, waiting for us to be able to watch a movie or something. however, thanks to Jorryt's Magic Touch, Fedor's computer now kinda works again, so I can now finally update my blog.
So, over the past weeks, lots has happened. Work, work, work, what can I say... Progress is being made, but I'll let you know when there is something more definitive.
Socially, of course there are more interesting things to discuss. Like the birthday party of my friend Idil, who celebrated in a church-turned-bar, which looked fantastic!!!
It was the same weekend that Fedor's friend Wouter was visiting, and we had a really good time with him and with all our other friends. The weekend after, Fedor went to see friends in Belgium and I went to the Netherlands to see my new-born niece. And of course, the rest of the family. I had a really good time seeing everyone (and Jorryt was able to repair Fedor's computer, so that was good new as well). Unfortunately, while my sisters-in-law took about a billion gazillion photos, I have only receive 1 so far and I am waiting for others to be able to weigh my options which one I want to put down here.... So that is for the future.
The next party was last Friday, my friend Andreja's bday. No photos for that just yet, but I am sure they will also come in the future...
This weekend, Fedor and I went to the town of Reggio Emilia, where our friend Nissrine moved to. It's a town in Emilia Romagna that is simply gorgeous. Gorgeous, but very quiet as well. So Nissrine does not have a lot to do and she was very excited to see us... She showed us the entire town and we had a lot of fun. Nice dinner, a lovely bottle of wine in a deserted wine bar, et cetera. It was good.
Today, we rturned to clean the house, do laundry and get ready for another working week. A short one, because Friday is Sant'Ambrogio's holiday, followed by the Immacolata, so that means celebrations and free days! And of course, Xmas is coming up. We're listing to xmas music, we put up the xmas tree (photos will be shown in the future) and we're very holiday spirited...
Ho ho ho!
Ciao,
OJ
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