Summer is over, apparently. From the lovely temperatures in the past weeks, the temperature dropped to about 20-21° for the foreseeable future. :-( I mean, it could be worse, but it is quite a setback!
The past week was mainly work-involved. I had my "target talk" on Tuesday where I told my boss that I would be looking for a new job at the end of my current project. He was very sad, but he did understand me (and of course, it has nothing to do with the job or with him, so that is nice too). For the rest, I have been able to do a bit of work on a new piracy project that I am looking to do some time soon and finalise the Afghanistan paper. Finally, I also attended the PhD defence of one of my colleagues: It is interesting to see the difference between a Dutch, an Italian and a German PhD defence: I really was very lucky in Italy, I have to say!!!
This weekend, a friend of Fedor is visiting with his girlfriend. Because the weather is kinda shitty, we have mostly been playing card games etc. Right now, they are sleeping (at 14.30 in the afternoon.......), so I cannot vacuum the flat. Oh well, I guess we'll just continue living in this dust bowl!
Tschüßi,
OJ
PS My god, that Love Parade thing in Duisburg is really awful... It reminds me of the celebration of 20 years Mauerfall last year when I was on such a huge festival with Ellen and Kim and we nearly got crushed as well: it was quite scary, but at least nobody died that day!!!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
oopsy!
It started off with the wedding party, then I was out of town for other events for about 3 weeks, and then I had so much to catch up with that I just couldn't be bothered. Mwah, weak, weak, weak excuse, eh?
Well, let's just give a quick summary:
The wedding party was amazing!!! It was fantastic to have all our friends there, particularly because there were so many people there from different walks of life and different parts of our lives. It was simply fantastic to see them alltogether. Some I hadnt seen for years (Jo, my flatmate in Australia) and some I had just seen a few days before (my colleagues in Berlin): I was happy they were all there! And we were so incredibly lucky, with fantastic weather and a perfect location. It is simply incomprehensible how happy it all made me (us). Anyay, photos are available on Fedor's blog.
The weekend after, we travelled to the Netherlands again, for the wedding of Bart and Tineke. A beautiful party at a beach club made for a great location to celebrate. And it was cool to spend some time with them, as well as Joost and Kim, who will be our next wedding destination in the Netherlands in August. We also had the opportunity to meet up with some friends in Amsterdam before coming back to Berlin, so that was convenient.
The weeks after, I didn't spend a lot of time in Berlin. I first spend nearly a week in Turkey, going to a conference, meeting some interesting people and enjoying the lovely weather. Next, I went to France to work with my coauthor (and to enjoy some of the French delights like the food and the drinks!). Following that, I went to Amsterdam for yet another conference. For that trip, it was particularly great that I had the opportunity to spend some time with BarD, meet his new boyfriend and go partying. It was lovely to be in Amsterdam for those few days, but I was also very happy when I came home again and didn't have to venture out anymore... Except that, a week later, I went on a 2-day trip with my colleagues to Bad Saarow: a team-building event... Like last year, I wasn't particularly looking forward to it, but was actually a lot of fun...
Since then, we had Maartje and Edin over for one weekend, and then Fedor went on a few weekend trips (revenge for my "being away" for a few weeks?). Last weekend, he was in Prague with his mother, while I had Marie and Tom over for some fun times. This weekend, I was actually truly home alone, with Fedor being in Milano and me not having any visitors!!! While a bit lonely, it did give me the opportunity to do those things I have been needing to do for a while. Like proper cleaning, taxes, tanning etc... But I will be happy when he is back though.... (hopefully in half an hour or so!)
Anyways, apart from that general overview, I have to say that we have been having some good times. The weather has been amazing!!! I mean, one could nearly say the temperature has been a bit excessive (the 38° thing wasnt too much fun, working on the top floor under a flat roof and not having any aircon), but anything is better than the Winter, right? Obviously, the World Cup has been a lot of fun too, although I was away for most of it, I did manage to enjoy some of the matches. Most of our matches were spent at Kulturbrauerei, around the corner from our house, where there was a large concentration of Dutch people:
In other fun news, I have been having some discussions with the German tax office. Our marriage is not being recognised and I am obviously protesting that decision (it makes a fairly large tax difference), but so far I have not been particularly successful. Although I think I have now managed to get the decision-making process stalled until there is a final outcome from a court case currently going for the High Court, which should solve our problems... Anyway, in the meantime, they already gave me 2400 euros (yeah I know, it is not actually a gift: I simply paid too much in the first place) and I am fighting to get some more back. It is really quite exhilarating to try and fight with the system: I love it!!! Tomorrow, I will be sending them another three letters (one to protest the preliminary tax outcome, one to protest the preliminary outcome of Fedor's and one to protest the fact that we were forced to file separately: good times!!!).
Right, now that is about enough. The coming weeks will contain lots of work, and hopefully some more warm days: I love it!!!
Tschüßi,
OJ
Well, let's just give a quick summary:
The wedding party was amazing!!! It was fantastic to have all our friends there, particularly because there were so many people there from different walks of life and different parts of our lives. It was simply fantastic to see them alltogether. Some I hadnt seen for years (Jo, my flatmate in Australia) and some I had just seen a few days before (my colleagues in Berlin): I was happy they were all there! And we were so incredibly lucky, with fantastic weather and a perfect location. It is simply incomprehensible how happy it all made me (us). Anyay, photos are available on Fedor's blog.
The weekend after, we travelled to the Netherlands again, for the wedding of Bart and Tineke. A beautiful party at a beach club made for a great location to celebrate. And it was cool to spend some time with them, as well as Joost and Kim, who will be our next wedding destination in the Netherlands in August. We also had the opportunity to meet up with some friends in Amsterdam before coming back to Berlin, so that was convenient.
The weeks after, I didn't spend a lot of time in Berlin. I first spend nearly a week in Turkey, going to a conference, meeting some interesting people and enjoying the lovely weather. Next, I went to France to work with my coauthor (and to enjoy some of the French delights like the food and the drinks!). Following that, I went to Amsterdam for yet another conference. For that trip, it was particularly great that I had the opportunity to spend some time with BarD, meet his new boyfriend and go partying. It was lovely to be in Amsterdam for those few days, but I was also very happy when I came home again and didn't have to venture out anymore... Except that, a week later, I went on a 2-day trip with my colleagues to Bad Saarow: a team-building event... Like last year, I wasn't particularly looking forward to it, but was actually a lot of fun...
Since then, we had Maartje and Edin over for one weekend, and then Fedor went on a few weekend trips (revenge for my "being away" for a few weeks?). Last weekend, he was in Prague with his mother, while I had Marie and Tom over for some fun times. This weekend, I was actually truly home alone, with Fedor being in Milano and me not having any visitors!!! While a bit lonely, it did give me the opportunity to do those things I have been needing to do for a while. Like proper cleaning, taxes, tanning etc... But I will be happy when he is back though.... (hopefully in half an hour or so!)
Anyways, apart from that general overview, I have to say that we have been having some good times. The weather has been amazing!!! I mean, one could nearly say the temperature has been a bit excessive (the 38° thing wasnt too much fun, working on the top floor under a flat roof and not having any aircon), but anything is better than the Winter, right? Obviously, the World Cup has been a lot of fun too, although I was away for most of it, I did manage to enjoy some of the matches. Most of our matches were spent at Kulturbrauerei, around the corner from our house, where there was a large concentration of Dutch people:
In other fun news, I have been having some discussions with the German tax office. Our marriage is not being recognised and I am obviously protesting that decision (it makes a fairly large tax difference), but so far I have not been particularly successful. Although I think I have now managed to get the decision-making process stalled until there is a final outcome from a court case currently going for the High Court, which should solve our problems... Anyway, in the meantime, they already gave me 2400 euros (yeah I know, it is not actually a gift: I simply paid too much in the first place) and I am fighting to get some more back. It is really quite exhilarating to try and fight with the system: I love it!!! Tomorrow, I will be sending them another three letters (one to protest the preliminary tax outcome, one to protest the preliminary outcome of Fedor's and one to protest the fact that we were forced to file separately: good times!!!).
Right, now that is about enough. The coming weeks will contain lots of work, and hopefully some more warm days: I love it!!!
Tschüßi,
OJ
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