Und jetzt?

Well, wasn't that the week-and-a-half? As posted earlier, I went to Berlin for a job market presentation at the German Institute for Economic Research. It went really well, and it turns out I know even more people at that institute than I thought! Several friends of mine actually work there, and I even did my kind-of-interview (because the department head was ill) with a guy I had met several times before. After returning from Berlin on Thursday, I had half a day of running around trying to arrange things in Milan, before taking the afternoon flight with Fedor to Bremen. In Bremen, in the middle of some-sort-of-a-blizzard, we rented a car and drove to Groningen to celebrate Jorryt and Lilian's wedding. They secretly (well, not for us) got married in Sydney (more info) and threw a big party to celebrate this. We were happy to participate in the event and enjoyed a great party!
The next day, we did our Northern-Netherlands-round, visiting both my brothers and my parents: it was nice to see everyone, especially the little kids. Isn't it amazing how fast they grow? Anyway, we might have to go back again in June because my niece Leah specifically invited us to come to her birthday and it's impossible to say no to her!
On Sunday, we drove back to Bremen and came back to Milan. In the meanwhile, I had received a message from the department head that he would like to talk to me on the phone and we made an appointment for Tuesday. So we spoke for about an hour and in the end, I was offered a job!

What?

Yes, I was offered a job!!! And it's an amazingly interesting project to work on, with some great colleagues in a brilliant place. So I am currently considering it (and discussing some of the aspects of the job), but it is highly likely that our next station is going to be BERLIN! And in fact, it is also a rather speedy change as well: If I accept the job, I will start April 1.....

(and no, it's not a joke)

So that's the great news of the day! I am totally excited, because the project is really interesting. I will discuss the project a bit more extensively when I accept the offer...

In other news, I paid another visit to the bloody-buggery-bastardy licence office and was surprisingly effective. The lady at the desk was very insecure whether she was doing the right thing, but I managed to leave behind all my documents and I received a 60-day temporary licence. Supposedly, I will be able to pick up my new licence (if all goes well) in six weeks! (just in time, before leaving the country!). Also in other news, we're going on a couples weekend in Piemonte this weekend and I am totally looking forward to it! We'll be with five couples going to relax and enjoy some wine, food and each other's company. I feel extremely burgerlijk, but oh well: shit happens!!!

That was all the good news for now, I will definitely tell more about this job, once I have decided to accept the offer...

Ciao,
OJ

EDIT: In fact, I checked and I didn't post before I was going to go to Berlin for an interview. Oh well, there you have it, anyway...