Another week with the hospital-prescribed diet that lacks all forms of substance, as well as vitamins. Now I really am very hungry... But I guess it is all for a greater good!
Well, that is what I thought anyway. Last Friday i was gonna hear the results, to see whether there really was any point to this diet. Unfortunately, after waiting for 3 hours, the doctor told me that he would not have any time for me that day. wtf?
Today, I did manage to see him and he informed me that, unfortunately, they didnt really find anything in particular, apart from the inflammation in the esophagus, for which they have no real explanation. Oh, and the diet: he doesnt really care, so "why dont you just continue the diet for another three or four WEEKS, and then start relaxing it a little". four weeks???? Are u insane? (oh yeah, those weeks would also include our holiday in Italy where I definitely will not be able to eat ANYTHING). I think I may have to have my own variation of the doctor's rules...
Oh well, on to happier topics: I did practically nothing at work last week, being mostly preoccupied with food. But during the weekend, on Saturday, we managed to go to Tristan und Isolde by Wagner, which was playing in the State Opera House. While it was enjoyable, I must admit it was also a little long: 5.5 hours of opera is a bit much... Afterwards, my friend Nicole who had joined us at the opera came to our place and we drank and chatted merrily until 4am. Well, lets put it this way: we chatted merrily and Fedor and Nicole drank merrily... *sigh*
On Sunday, then, we cycled to Spandau, which was supposed to be quite a pleasant suburb. While it was good to have seen it, we were not particularly impressed. The Citadel is not all that, the old town is kinda small (it really is only one street) and the medieval part of the city consists of one building and a piece of wall. And the way there is basically one big industrial zone, so it was not particularly impressive. But at least we have done it, on our last free Sunday before winter!
Oh wait, no, winter already started. At least that is what it seemd like last night, while I was sitting there in my warmest biggest jumper and still being cold... tomorrow's forecast says 31 degrees again though, so I guess Winter is on hold again!
Tschuessi!
OJ
PS Fedor had a job interview! And it went well...
Monday, August 31, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
German hospitals...
...are really not bad! Possibly tainted by my experience with an Italian hospital before (real story: I came out of surgery and was told: "it is very important to drink a lot of water, and you can buy water from the machine in the hallway"), but I must say that it was not too bad at all, overall. Of course I had the bad luck of being in the hospital on the hottest day of the year, so it was bloody hot, but you really cannot blame the hospital for that! The food was kinda crappy, but that was more due to the compulsory rice-potatoes-water diet than to anything else!
Oh yeah, regarding conclusions: we'll get back to you about that. They found a few other things, which they think may be correlated to the allergy/infection, but I have to wait until Friday to get the final results for that. Anyway, I will leave out the unpleasant details, I guess. One little interesting fact is that, at least until Friday, I will be on a rather strict diet. No fun things for me! Such as fruits, fish, nuts, alcohol, most dairy, sweets, spices, tomatoes, etc, etc, etc. Oh well, at least I am home!
During my 4 days in the hospital, Fedor was joined by his mother and her boyfriend, so he was not entirely lonely. I also saw them in the hospital on Wednesday, but on Thursday they returned to the Netherlands. I came home on Friday, in time for the arrival of Joost and Kim from the Netherlands in the evening. We had a great weekend together, although it probably would have been slightly more enjoyable had I been able to fully participate (very depressing to go to a Biergarten and drink water. Seriously. Or to go to a breakfast buffet with lots of lovely foods and only being able to eat bread, cucumbur and salt), and we had some lovely weather for it. Sunday afternoon, they left again (photos will follow later, I guess), and Fedor and I FINALLY managed to go and see the latest Harry Potter movie. It was pretty good!
Today, I was back at work again, going through administrative stuff that had piled up in my absence and designing a flyer for my work project. Our team assistant is totally convinced I should have gone into designing instead of economics... :-) Oh well, maybe I'll do that in my next life!!!
Tschüßi,
OJ
Oh yeah, regarding conclusions: we'll get back to you about that. They found a few other things, which they think may be correlated to the allergy/infection, but I have to wait until Friday to get the final results for that. Anyway, I will leave out the unpleasant details, I guess. One little interesting fact is that, at least until Friday, I will be on a rather strict diet. No fun things for me! Such as fruits, fish, nuts, alcohol, most dairy, sweets, spices, tomatoes, etc, etc, etc. Oh well, at least I am home!
During my 4 days in the hospital, Fedor was joined by his mother and her boyfriend, so he was not entirely lonely. I also saw them in the hospital on Wednesday, but on Thursday they returned to the Netherlands. I came home on Friday, in time for the arrival of Joost and Kim from the Netherlands in the evening. We had a great weekend together, although it probably would have been slightly more enjoyable had I been able to fully participate (very depressing to go to a Biergarten and drink water. Seriously. Or to go to a breakfast buffet with lots of lovely foods and only being able to eat bread, cucumbur and salt), and we had some lovely weather for it. Sunday afternoon, they left again (photos will follow later, I guess), and Fedor and I FINALLY managed to go and see the latest Harry Potter movie. It was pretty good!
Today, I was back at work again, going through administrative stuff that had piled up in my absence and designing a flyer for my work project. Our team assistant is totally convinced I should have gone into designing instead of economics... :-) Oh well, maybe I'll do that in my next life!!!
Tschüßi,
OJ
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Hospital!
A week of relatively low-key visitors. That is, after my brother and family, fedor's father arrived with his girlfriend but they were staying on a camping ground in Potsdam, so we didnt see them too much... They did of course come to Berlin a few times, and we went to see them in Potsdam on Saturday (nice bike ride, but 35 kms at 10am, with a mild hangover is not fun!), which is an absolutely gorgeous city btw...
Tomorrow our next guests arrive: Fedors Mum and her boyfriend. They stay until Thursday, then from Friday to Sunday we have friends of mine and from Monday til Thursday we have friends of Fedor again. Hotel Fe&OJ is in business!
However, this is all slightly interrupted by the fact that I will be taken to hospital tomorrow. The allergy-thing is not going quite perfectly and I visited the emergency ward last week. Now I will be admitted tomorrow so they can start testing what is actually wrong. I should (hopefully) be out before the weekend, so dont worry about me! It will give me time to read some books that I have been wanting to read for a long time... That is worth something, no?
Tschüßi,
OJ
Tomorrow our next guests arrive: Fedors Mum and her boyfriend. They stay until Thursday, then from Friday to Sunday we have friends of mine and from Monday til Thursday we have friends of Fedor again. Hotel Fe&OJ is in business!
However, this is all slightly interrupted by the fact that I will be taken to hospital tomorrow. The allergy-thing is not going quite perfectly and I visited the emergency ward last week. Now I will be admitted tomorrow so they can start testing what is actually wrong. I should (hopefully) be out before the weekend, so dont worry about me! It will give me time to read some books that I have been wanting to read for a long time... That is worth something, no?
Tschüßi,
OJ
Monday, August 10, 2009
just a few pictures
Well, here are just a few pictures of things. This is our Friends wall in the hallway, with the pictures hanging of a Fishnet.
And here are some pictures of the awesome visit of my brother and the family!!!
Tschüßi,OJ
And here are some pictures of the awesome visit of my brother and the family!!!
Tschüßi,OJ
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Okay, tired now
Well, well, well. As I wrote previously, the visitors' Circus has started. Fedor's Mum stazed with us for a few days. We drank a lot, we visited the Pergamon Museum (a first for me) and ate lots of good food (I have favourite dishes at all 10 restaurants within a 50 meter vicinity of our house now). Of course, I also had to work in the meantime, but at least during the weekend we were able to hang out with all of us together. She stayed until Tuesday afternoon, partly overlapping with Maartje, who arrived on Tuesday Morning.
With her we continued drinking more cocktails, and I went out for lunch with her on the day that Fedor had his first Job (well, he entertained an old guy for 2 hours, kind of practicing english with him). She only stayed til Thursday, when she left at an ungodly hour.
The next day, my friend Idil from arrived from Milano. It was great to see her and to catch up on all the gossip! We ate a lot (again), and enjoyed a lovely day out on Saturday at Schloss Charlottenburg.
It was another site I hadnt seen (well, at least not in the past 15 years), and it was great to be there. The gardens in particular, are AMAZING. On Monday and Tuesday, Idil had to kind of entertain herself, which was made easier by the fact taht Summer finally started in Berlin!!! The weather was simply stunning, and Idil had a good time seeing the city. Tuesday evening, she departed.
On Wednesday, my brother, his wife and their two daughters arrived. They were staying until this morning and it was absolutely great to have them over! The kiddos are absolutely gorgeous (hopefully there will be some photos later, once my sister-in-law has sent them to me), and good times were definitely had. Again, I didnt participate in the day programmes, but one of the highlights was apparently the fountain on Museeninsel, as it was actually visited twice! In the evenings, we drank. And ate. This was made more convenient by the IKEA visit we made on Thursday where we also bought a monitor (baby-alarm-system; babyfoon), so we could sit in a restaurant nearby (finally got to try the Chinese across the street) and still be in touch with the kids! we also played many games.
On Saturday, after a plentiful breakfast around the corner, the parents went into town and we had the kids for the afternoon. Afterwards, we went to the Berlin Beer Festival (with 2.2km of beergarten: the biggest in the world!) on Karl Marx Allee. It was fantastic, but of course we could not stay long because the kids had to go to bed. Next year, my brother and his wife are planning to come over again for the Festival, but without their children...
This morning, they managed (with difficulty) to pack everything back into the car and set off for the Netherlands. We then cleaned the whole house and finished constructing the last of the new IKEA furniture. Our hallway is finally finished!!! I am so happy... We have two little pieces of furniture with shelves, for footwear and bags etc, and a gorgeous courtain kind of construction in front of what we refer to as our basement. Very, very, VERY satisfied!
On the health front, doing pretty ok. The belly inspection found a small infection, but nothing a bunch of pills won't cure. The allergy (we still assume it is that) on the other hand shows no signs of abating. I have an appointment for an inspection at the Academic Hospital in November. However, my doctor says I cannot continue taking the current medication until then, so he has tried to arrange something for me at a different hospital. The solution of which is that, apparently, I will have to actually go to the Emergency Ward.... Strange, strange German system (what the heck are they doing with the 500€ a month that I am paying in!), but I guess that for hospitals, the saying holds: when in Berlin, act as the Berliners...
Tschüßi,OJ
With her we continued drinking more cocktails, and I went out for lunch with her on the day that Fedor had his first Job (well, he entertained an old guy for 2 hours, kind of practicing english with him). She only stayed til Thursday, when she left at an ungodly hour.
The next day, my friend Idil from arrived from Milano. It was great to see her and to catch up on all the gossip! We ate a lot (again), and enjoyed a lovely day out on Saturday at Schloss Charlottenburg.
It was another site I hadnt seen (well, at least not in the past 15 years), and it was great to be there. The gardens in particular, are AMAZING. On Monday and Tuesday, Idil had to kind of entertain herself, which was made easier by the fact taht Summer finally started in Berlin!!! The weather was simply stunning, and Idil had a good time seeing the city. Tuesday evening, she departed.
On Wednesday, my brother, his wife and their two daughters arrived. They were staying until this morning and it was absolutely great to have them over! The kiddos are absolutely gorgeous (hopefully there will be some photos later, once my sister-in-law has sent them to me), and good times were definitely had. Again, I didnt participate in the day programmes, but one of the highlights was apparently the fountain on Museeninsel, as it was actually visited twice! In the evenings, we drank. And ate. This was made more convenient by the IKEA visit we made on Thursday where we also bought a monitor (baby-alarm-system; babyfoon), so we could sit in a restaurant nearby (finally got to try the Chinese across the street) and still be in touch with the kids! we also played many games.
On Saturday, after a plentiful breakfast around the corner, the parents went into town and we had the kids for the afternoon. Afterwards, we went to the Berlin Beer Festival (with 2.2km of beergarten: the biggest in the world!) on Karl Marx Allee. It was fantastic, but of course we could not stay long because the kids had to go to bed. Next year, my brother and his wife are planning to come over again for the Festival, but without their children...
This morning, they managed (with difficulty) to pack everything back into the car and set off for the Netherlands. We then cleaned the whole house and finished constructing the last of the new IKEA furniture. Our hallway is finally finished!!! I am so happy... We have two little pieces of furniture with shelves, for footwear and bags etc, and a gorgeous courtain kind of construction in front of what we refer to as our basement. Very, very, VERY satisfied!
On the health front, doing pretty ok. The belly inspection found a small infection, but nothing a bunch of pills won't cure. The allergy (we still assume it is that) on the other hand shows no signs of abating. I have an appointment for an inspection at the Academic Hospital in November. However, my doctor says I cannot continue taking the current medication until then, so he has tried to arrange something for me at a different hospital. The solution of which is that, apparently, I will have to actually go to the Emergency Ward.... Strange, strange German system (what the heck are they doing with the 500€ a month that I am paying in!), but I guess that for hospitals, the saying holds: when in Berlin, act as the Berliners...
Tschüßi,OJ
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
New toilet!!!
The past weeks have flown by again. I have spent a lot of time finishing the toilet and now it looks absolutely amazing. Here are the pre- and post- pictures:
Doesnt it look absolutely amazing? I am so happy my brother was able to come and help a few weeks ago with the floors though, because I would so not have been able to do that myself....
Anyways, more pictures are available here
Last weekend, my highschool friend Bastiaan and his new girlfriend came to visit and we had an absolutely fabulous time! The weather could have been a bit better, but we managed to see some of Berlin and enjoy ourselves immensely with drinking, playing games and not getting enough sleep.
The visitors' season is now seriously starting, with Fedor's Mum arriving on Saturday and staying until Tuesday, after which another friend will be here from Tue until Thu and Idil will visit from Milan from Thu until Tue. After that, there are two days of rest and my oldest brother and his family will come over! I am really excited about having so many visitors, but it certainly is a good thing that Fedor still has not found a job yet!!!
On the health front, things are fluctuating a bit. I have several things, but it is an allergy that is bothering me most. When I first had it, the doctor gave me medication and I felt great again afterwards, but last week (culminating on Sunday night), it came back with a vengeance (in summary: completely swollen head, red spots everywhere, swollen limbs and terrible muscle aches). I have different medication now, but as we have no idea what I might be allergic to, these are also not working quite as well as they should. In addition to the allergy thing, I am having a belly inspection tomorrow for which I have been on a no-fiber or many other things diet for a week. Which is (1) inconvenient and (2) awfully depressing. Today is different though: today I am not allowed to eat anything at all...
Oh well, I am sure everything will be fine, and at least I am getting my money's worth out of the German Health System!
Tschüßi,OJ
Doesnt it look absolutely amazing? I am so happy my brother was able to come and help a few weeks ago with the floors though, because I would so not have been able to do that myself....
Anyways, more pictures are available here
Last weekend, my highschool friend Bastiaan and his new girlfriend came to visit and we had an absolutely fabulous time! The weather could have been a bit better, but we managed to see some of Berlin and enjoy ourselves immensely with drinking, playing games and not getting enough sleep.
The visitors' season is now seriously starting, with Fedor's Mum arriving on Saturday and staying until Tuesday, after which another friend will be here from Tue until Thu and Idil will visit from Milan from Thu until Tue. After that, there are two days of rest and my oldest brother and his family will come over! I am really excited about having so many visitors, but it certainly is a good thing that Fedor still has not found a job yet!!!
On the health front, things are fluctuating a bit. I have several things, but it is an allergy that is bothering me most. When I first had it, the doctor gave me medication and I felt great again afterwards, but last week (culminating on Sunday night), it came back with a vengeance (in summary: completely swollen head, red spots everywhere, swollen limbs and terrible muscle aches). I have different medication now, but as we have no idea what I might be allergic to, these are also not working quite as well as they should. In addition to the allergy thing, I am having a belly inspection tomorrow for which I have been on a no-fiber or many other things diet for a week. Which is (1) inconvenient and (2) awfully depressing. Today is different though: today I am not allowed to eat anything at all...
Oh well, I am sure everything will be fine, and at least I am getting my money's worth out of the German Health System!
Tschüßi,OJ
Friday, July 10, 2009
Greece-visitors-cocktails, and all that...
So that got me all charged up for returning to work with a vengeance afterwards. I have been trying to juggle a whole lot of things, research, proposals, etc etc. Unfortunately, my first proposal I wrote back in April was rejected :-(((( But hey, it was a learning experience!
In the meantime, we have also had our first real visitor coming to stay: our friend Tatiana. She wanted to visit the modern art museum, and therefore came to stay with us. It was nice to see her, but damned, I am NOT into modern art!!! It was pretty awful, in fact.... Oh well, it was a learning experience!
The last weekend, we went to see my brother and his family who are staying in a holidaypark about 75 km north of Berlin. It was nice to be out of the city and to play with the kids and all that. Two days ago, in return, they came to visit us in Berlin! This was great, because my brother, the Handyman he is, was able to help me with some flat reconstruction. in fact, the one thing that bothered me most about our flat was the toilet: it is small, dark and unpleasant. But thanks to my brother's efforts, it now has an absolutely amazing floor and a new toilet. Just wait until the weekend, when I will paint the walls etc, and it will be fantastic!!! I guess that is the positive part from the fact that our friends Jorryt and Lilian are not coming due to a medical emergency..... :´(((((((
Anyways, for the rest there isnt much to comment. Yesterday I taught a class on ethnolinguistic heterogeneity at the Humboldt University, which was actually quite enjoyable (yes, rather surprising indeed). And then we went to go to a Pub Quiz: I LOOOOOOVE pub quizzes!!! Unfortunately, and embarrassingly so, we actually were LAST! Oh well, shit happens. Today, I have been not so well, and have gone to see some doctors. Let's assume everything will be fine (I have 3 kinds of medication already!), I will inform you more about this, later.........
Tschüßi.OJ
Sunday, June 21, 2009
photo post
As promised, here are some photos:
First, from our Housewarming party (it was a cocktail party: "Stock The Bar", which would have worked very well if we hadnt been drinking cocktails all night long!)
Then another thing, that I hadnt written about yet. I had a work retreat: we went to a hotel outside Berlin, where we listened to presentations, got quite drunk and went on this train thing (that was actually kinda cool!)
The day after the housewarming we went with Cathérine and Jean-Pierre to the sand sculpture festival near the Hauptbahnhof, called SANDsation. It was pretty interesting, although we were collectively hungover....
And finally, this week there was a big power outage at work, so no work could be done. Instead, we went to the Prater Biergarten and drank beers in the sun. Pas de problème!!!
First, from our Housewarming party (it was a cocktail party: "Stock The Bar", which would have worked very well if we hadnt been drinking cocktails all night long!)
The day after the housewarming we went with Cathérine and Jean-Pierre to the sand sculpture festival near the Hauptbahnhof, called SANDsation. It was pretty interesting, although we were collectively hungover....
Tschuessi!
Dr.OJ
Dr.OJ
Monday, June 15, 2009
You've got mail (well, a new post at least)
Oh my, so many things to tell, so little time to tell them. It has been absolutely ages since I posted and so much has happened in the meantime. Well, I guess I will stick to a summary of events. I will post pictures later, because many of the things that happened deserve a picture to be shown!
So, the most important thing that happened was my trip to Milan in order to defend my Dissertation. It went really well and I am now officially Dr. OJ! Obviously, this was very exciting and I am very happy about it. It was also my opportunity to see Fedor again for the first time in about a month, so happy feelings all around! To add to the feeling of excitement, it turned out that my driving licence was finished! So I am not only Dr OJ, but I am now Dr OJ with a patente di guida!
Over the next days, friends and family from the Netherlands started arriving (including my brother and his wife, my parents, and Fedor's mum and brother), in order to attend the GRADUATION PARTY.
Ever since arriving in Milano (well, after realising it was a possibility, I mean), I have been wanting to celebrate my graduation in a tram. In Milano it is possible to rent a party tram which drives around the city and in which you can just party!!! So we did. Of course, as always, there was some bureaucratic hassle involved (including the Transportation Agency calling a few days before asking whether it was okay to postpone the party by a week... Huh? NO!!!), but it was absolutely AWESOME. It was bloody hot, but we had lots of drinks to compensate for that and simpy had an amazing party, with all my friends there!!! Afterwards, we had a serious afterparty at our house (to the dismay of our neighbours of course) and went to bed drunk and happy...
Sundaynight after the party, it was time for me to return to Berlin and to our gorgeous flat there. After another week of work, my parents arrived to see the new Berlin house. They were as excited as I am, and I was happy to be able to show them the great neighbourhood. They also brought some of the presents I had received in Milan the week before (which they had brought to the Netherlands in the meantime). AND I got a really nice new painting that complements our living room very well. The next day, they left again (taking with them the presents for my niece and nephew who are both turning 4 these days). The next evening, the next GREAT event happened: Fedor arrived in Berlin! I was so happy to be able to show him our new house, which he had seen only shortly before. Of course our furniture had still not arrived, but at least the 2500€ spent on IKEA make it all look highly furnished already!
The next weeks were spent waiting for our furniture to arrive. But, Italians being Italians, many excuses were found why the furniture could not be delivered yet. My favourite one was the "Oh sorry, the truck with furniture was stopped at the Swiss border, which caused a 3-day delay". Really, 3 days? Anyway, I was getting very frustrated with them, but finally, last week, the furniture really did arrive. All 86 boxes were accounted for and the great unpacking could begin.
And a great unpacking it was indeed: bloody hell, I didnt remember we had this much stuff! It turns out we are going to have to buy more furniture to be able to put away everything! Oh well, IKEA, here we come. AGAIN...
But anyway, so far, it looks absolutely great, as you can see on these pictures:
Now that our furniture was finally here, it was also time for our HOUSEWARMING party! That happened last Saturday, with a "stock the bar" theme. Well, I can say that the bar was definitely stocked. Unfortunately (well, I guess it is also sign of a good party) most of the bar was unstocked again during the same night! Many, many cocktails were drunk, and lots of fun was had! It truly was a great party, and a great opportunity for Fedor to meet many of my friends here (and the completely random people that were there and that nobody seemed to know).
Sunday consisted of a serious cleaning effort and a hangover-reducing trip to the Sand Sculpture festival at Hauptbahnhof (and a few beers on the artificial beach.....).
What can I say: Life is good!!!!!
Tschüß,
Dr. OJ
PS More pictures will follow. For further pictures of the house, go here
So, the most important thing that happened was my trip to Milan in order to defend my Dissertation. It went really well and I am now officially Dr. OJ! Obviously, this was very exciting and I am very happy about it. It was also my opportunity to see Fedor again for the first time in about a month, so happy feelings all around! To add to the feeling of excitement, it turned out that my driving licence was finished! So I am not only Dr OJ, but I am now Dr OJ with a patente di guida!
Over the next days, friends and family from the Netherlands started arriving (including my brother and his wife, my parents, and Fedor's mum and brother), in order to attend the GRADUATION PARTY.
Ever since arriving in Milano (well, after realising it was a possibility, I mean), I have been wanting to celebrate my graduation in a tram. In Milano it is possible to rent a party tram which drives around the city and in which you can just party!!! So we did. Of course, as always, there was some bureaucratic hassle involved (including the Transportation Agency calling a few days before asking whether it was okay to postpone the party by a week... Huh? NO!!!), but it was absolutely AWESOME. It was bloody hot, but we had lots of drinks to compensate for that and simpy had an amazing party, with all my friends there!!! Afterwards, we had a serious afterparty at our house (to the dismay of our neighbours of course) and went to bed drunk and happy...
Sundaynight after the party, it was time for me to return to Berlin and to our gorgeous flat there. After another week of work, my parents arrived to see the new Berlin house. They were as excited as I am, and I was happy to be able to show them the great neighbourhood. They also brought some of the presents I had received in Milan the week before (which they had brought to the Netherlands in the meantime). AND I got a really nice new painting that complements our living room very well. The next day, they left again (taking with them the presents for my niece and nephew who are both turning 4 these days). The next evening, the next GREAT event happened: Fedor arrived in Berlin! I was so happy to be able to show him our new house, which he had seen only shortly before. Of course our furniture had still not arrived, but at least the 2500€ spent on IKEA make it all look highly furnished already!
The next weeks were spent waiting for our furniture to arrive. But, Italians being Italians, many excuses were found why the furniture could not be delivered yet. My favourite one was the "Oh sorry, the truck with furniture was stopped at the Swiss border, which caused a 3-day delay". Really, 3 days? Anyway, I was getting very frustrated with them, but finally, last week, the furniture really did arrive. All 86 boxes were accounted for and the great unpacking could begin.
And a great unpacking it was indeed: bloody hell, I didnt remember we had this much stuff! It turns out we are going to have to buy more furniture to be able to put away everything! Oh well, IKEA, here we come. AGAIN...
But anyway, so far, it looks absolutely great, as you can see on these pictures:
Now that our furniture was finally here, it was also time for our HOUSEWARMING party! That happened last Saturday, with a "stock the bar" theme. Well, I can say that the bar was definitely stocked. Unfortunately (well, I guess it is also sign of a good party) most of the bar was unstocked again during the same night! Many, many cocktails were drunk, and lots of fun was had! It truly was a great party, and a great opportunity for Fedor to meet many of my friends here (and the completely random people that were there and that nobody seemed to know).
Sunday consisted of a serious cleaning effort and a hangover-reducing trip to the Sand Sculpture festival at Hauptbahnhof (and a few beers on the artificial beach.....).
What can I say: Life is good!!!!!
Tschüß,
Dr. OJ
PS More pictures will follow. For further pictures of the house, go here
Saturday, May 09, 2009
From a bar...
I have no internet at home!!! I mean, not to make up an excuse or anything, but it really is kinda difficult to update one's blog when one has no internet at home. I am not quite sure whether my boss would agree that updating my blog is part of a regular work activity (then again, my boss is never there, so how would he find out?). Anyways, I am at the cafe across the street from our home right now, where there is free wireless.
I moved! Into our new house, that is. Our amazingly awesome new house, that is.... The first night was quite random (I had bought a mattress, but I didnt actually have anything else at all). But on Saturday (as in, last week), my friend Cathérine went to IKEA with me to help me buy some stuff for our house. About 2000 euros worth of stuff, that is.... After taking the furniture taxi home, I had another bunch of friends and colleagues helping me carry it up (fourth floor....) and even put it all together! It was fantastic! The biggest challenge, however, turned out to be already inside the flat. I bought the previous renter's wardrobe, but it was in the wrong room. However, it was too big to move, so I wanted to take it apart.
Easier said than done!
I finally managed to take the last pieces apart on Thursday and spent about 3 hours yesterday putting it back together in the right room. But I managed!!!
Today, I have been painting. All day. Well, that is, for about nine hours. Only the hallway needs painting (a horrible shade of blue on the woodwork), but it is surprisingly much work. Panelled doors are soooo not the way to go! Anyways, I have done about 3/4ths of the red, and done the first layer for all the white, so I just need to do the second layer. It is starting to look really well!!!
Anyways, there have been some non-house related things as well. The night before Queens's Day, I partied at the embassy (and got a rather drunk.....), last Sunday I went to my first Biergarten with my Milanese friend Gerry (he was visiting friends), etc. In conclusion: good times were had!
Tschuess,
OJ
I moved! Into our new house, that is. Our amazingly awesome new house, that is.... The first night was quite random (I had bought a mattress, but I didnt actually have anything else at all). But on Saturday (as in, last week), my friend Cathérine went to IKEA with me to help me buy some stuff for our house. About 2000 euros worth of stuff, that is.... After taking the furniture taxi home, I had another bunch of friends and colleagues helping me carry it up (fourth floor....) and even put it all together! It was fantastic! The biggest challenge, however, turned out to be already inside the flat. I bought the previous renter's wardrobe, but it was in the wrong room. However, it was too big to move, so I wanted to take it apart.
Easier said than done!
I finally managed to take the last pieces apart on Thursday and spent about 3 hours yesterday putting it back together in the right room. But I managed!!!
Today, I have been painting. All day. Well, that is, for about nine hours. Only the hallway needs painting (a horrible shade of blue on the woodwork), but it is surprisingly much work. Panelled doors are soooo not the way to go! Anyways, I have done about 3/4ths of the red, and done the first layer for all the white, so I just need to do the second layer. It is starting to look really well!!!
Anyways, there have been some non-house related things as well. The night before Queens's Day, I partied at the embassy (and got a rather drunk.....), last Sunday I went to my first Biergarten with my Milanese friend Gerry (he was visiting friends), etc. In conclusion: good times were had!
Tschuess,
OJ
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Ibid.
Hmmm, it's interesting to see how bad i've been with updating my blog. There are some strong arguments in favour of updating it a lot: I am in Berlin and do many new things that I am excited about and that I really want to share. Second, I am here without Fedor, so I am actually quite bored: that should be giving me mucho extra time to update my blog.
Alas, I guess it just isnt the case!
Anyways, here I am, after all. I have been back to Milano for Easter, because Fe's Mum was visiting, and I wanted to see her (and Fedor, of course!). We had a lovely time of drinking, and I had some time to hang out with others as well. I also had an opportunity to pick up my drivers' licence... haha, that was a joke of course, because Italy wouldn't be Italy if there wasnt some reason why my licence wasnt finished. So, the reason this time was as follows: yes, well, it's true you requested it early February and it should be finished after about 7 weeks, but for an undefined reason, the request wasnt registered until march 17, so the licence wont be finished before May.... WHAT????? "Thank you for visiting: please call on us again!". Oh well, I will be in Milano for my defence anyway, so I can do it then. It is just a bit inconvenient with the whole moving etc, because I would have liked to be able to pick some stuff up from IKEA with a rental car... oh well...
The weekend after (as in, last weekend), Fedor came to Berlino. It was great to have him here, so I could share some of my enthusiasm for this city with him. While he was relatively unlucky with the weather, we still had an opportunity to walk around a lot and see some nice parts of Berlin:
And while Fedor was here, I was also able to show him our NEW FLAT!!! It is absolutely stunning: huge, renovated, great area (in fact, across the road from where I am now...), simply PERFECT (and seriously, I am not even exaggerating). But in order to fill up the 108 m2, we are going to be needing a LOT of furniture! So we also spent an afternoon at IKEA, sitting on sofas, and lying on beds. After I get the key of the flat on Sunday, I will go to IKEA on Monday night and order all the stuff, so we will have a furnished flat after that!!!! Than the waiting is simply for our stuff from Milano (and more importantly, Fedor himself) and we are all settled for our new life!!!!!
OJ=happy!
Tschüßi!
OJ
PS Also, work is fine: Today I finally met my boss!!! He is very energetic and nice...
Alas, I guess it just isnt the case!
Anyways, here I am, after all. I have been back to Milano for Easter, because Fe's Mum was visiting, and I wanted to see her (and Fedor, of course!). We had a lovely time of drinking, and I had some time to hang out with others as well. I also had an opportunity to pick up my drivers' licence... haha, that was a joke of course, because Italy wouldn't be Italy if there wasnt some reason why my licence wasnt finished. So, the reason this time was as follows: yes, well, it's true you requested it early February and it should be finished after about 7 weeks, but for an undefined reason, the request wasnt registered until march 17, so the licence wont be finished before May.... WHAT????? "Thank you for visiting: please call on us again!". Oh well, I will be in Milano for my defence anyway, so I can do it then. It is just a bit inconvenient with the whole moving etc, because I would have liked to be able to pick some stuff up from IKEA with a rental car... oh well...
The weekend after (as in, last weekend), Fedor came to Berlino. It was great to have him here, so I could share some of my enthusiasm for this city with him. While he was relatively unlucky with the weather, we still had an opportunity to walk around a lot and see some nice parts of Berlin:
And while Fedor was here, I was also able to show him our NEW FLAT!!! It is absolutely stunning: huge, renovated, great area (in fact, across the road from where I am now...), simply PERFECT (and seriously, I am not even exaggerating). But in order to fill up the 108 m2, we are going to be needing a LOT of furniture! So we also spent an afternoon at IKEA, sitting on sofas, and lying on beds. After I get the key of the flat on Sunday, I will go to IKEA on Monday night and order all the stuff, so we will have a furnished flat after that!!!! Than the waiting is simply for our stuff from Milano (and more importantly, Fedor himself) and we are all settled for our new life!!!!!
OJ=happy!
Tschüßi!
OJ
PS Also, work is fine: Today I finally met my boss!!! He is very energetic and nice...
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Housessss
So, as promised, let me start with a few photos of my temporary place. It is in a gorgeous area, with all these beautiful houses, and I love it here! This is my building:
These are the two rooms (one is more sort of a live-in kitchen. Of course, there is also a huge bathroom (with bathtub) and all that....
And here is the view from the house, towards Kolwitzplatz. Quite lively, eh?
However, this is obviously only a temporary flat, so I am looking for something more definitive. During the weekend I saw 3 places: 2 horrible, one in a bad location. This was sort of the moment I started realising that I am quite spoilt with my current flat, and that I really should be looking for something near here.
I did see one other flat, kinda close, but it was still too far away (in between I cancelled a few that, with the additional info, were too far away as well). Then there was one flat, which on the website looked AMAZING. And it's in the parallel street from where I am now. But it was really quite disappointing. No view into the street, kinda cramped, just not great. This morning, I saw a nice flat quite closeby. But it doesnt fulfil all the Fedor-criteria (the Fedor-criteria being: affordable, with balcony, old-style building, 3 rooms, nice). In fact, it didnt have a balcony and the building was quite ugly from the street side. Inside, it was all renovated and all that, but it just wasnt quite the thing.
This evening, however, I may have encountered the perfect flat! Nice area, close to metro, 3 big rooms, kitchen present, French Balcony, affordable. BUT (there always is a but), a total of 55 people responded to the ad, so it really is a question whether we may have a chance. Tomorrow evening, I will see two more: a loft in a renovated factory and a 108 square meter place in the same street I am right now that was offered to us in a more direct manner (so no 54 people to compete with). I have a bunch of other appointments for next week still, but I am already starting to lose the overview.... There are lots of nice places! But it's too difficult to choose!!!!
Anyway, after seeing those places tomorrow, I will fly back to Italy for a few days: I am totally looking forward to that!!! Mostly to see Fedor, but also to see Milano, and finally, of course, to go the Licence Office and see whether my driver's licence is already done...........
Tschüß!
Olaf
PS I think it is time for me to admit that 4 years in Italy has been a waste for me linguistically. A week in Germany and I already feel a lot more comfortable having conversations with people, include phone conversations with strangers, IN GERMAN, than i ever did about talking IN ITALIAN on the phone even to people I know!
These are the two rooms (one is more sort of a live-in kitchen. Of course, there is also a huge bathroom (with bathtub) and all that....
And here is the view from the house, towards Kolwitzplatz. Quite lively, eh?
However, this is obviously only a temporary flat, so I am looking for something more definitive. During the weekend I saw 3 places: 2 horrible, one in a bad location. This was sort of the moment I started realising that I am quite spoilt with my current flat, and that I really should be looking for something near here.
I did see one other flat, kinda close, but it was still too far away (in between I cancelled a few that, with the additional info, were too far away as well). Then there was one flat, which on the website looked AMAZING. And it's in the parallel street from where I am now. But it was really quite disappointing. No view into the street, kinda cramped, just not great. This morning, I saw a nice flat quite closeby. But it doesnt fulfil all the Fedor-criteria (the Fedor-criteria being: affordable, with balcony, old-style building, 3 rooms, nice). In fact, it didnt have a balcony and the building was quite ugly from the street side. Inside, it was all renovated and all that, but it just wasnt quite the thing.
This evening, however, I may have encountered the perfect flat! Nice area, close to metro, 3 big rooms, kitchen present, French Balcony, affordable. BUT (there always is a but), a total of 55 people responded to the ad, so it really is a question whether we may have a chance. Tomorrow evening, I will see two more: a loft in a renovated factory and a 108 square meter place in the same street I am right now that was offered to us in a more direct manner (so no 54 people to compete with). I have a bunch of other appointments for next week still, but I am already starting to lose the overview.... There are lots of nice places! But it's too difficult to choose!!!!
Anyway, after seeing those places tomorrow, I will fly back to Italy for a few days: I am totally looking forward to that!!! Mostly to see Fedor, but also to see Milano, and finally, of course, to go the Licence Office and see whether my driver's licence is already done...........
Tschüß!
Olaf
PS I think it is time for me to admit that 4 years in Italy has been a waste for me linguistically. A week in Germany and I already feel a lot more comfortable having conversations with people, include phone conversations with strangers, IN GERMAN, than i ever did about talking IN ITALIAN on the phone even to people I know!
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Ich bin ein Berliner
Well, that is, I am trying.... And not doing such a bad job, I guess! On Monday, I came to Berlin, where I stayed with my friend Dominik for a few days. From the day I arrived in Berlin (mind you, I am not suggesting causality here), the weather has been great. Sunny and getting progressively warmer (22 degrees yesterday), so I have really enjoyed my first days here. I started work on Wednesday, obviously feeling very nervous about that. But it was totally unnecessary: the colleagues are great and very welcoming. We went out drinking (way too much) on Wednesday night, and really had a good time. It's a cool group of colleagues: all are young, and it's very international (American, Argentinean, Dutch, German, etc). And funnily enough, most of the men working there are gay! I am not sure what the heck that is all about, but it's a pretty funny coincedence...
On Friday, I moved into my new (temporary) place. The appartment is about 60 square meters, and it is in one of the coolest neighbourhoods I have ever seen! All renovated old buildings, looooooooots of bars and restaurants, and many trees and greenery. It's absolutely fantastic! Of course, i am still looking for a permanent flat, but if it could be anything in this area, I would be totally happy! This weekend, I have been looking at some flats, but all of them were pretty shit (one was very cute, but in a pretty terrible area of town, so NO). Oh well, there is no hurry!
Yesterday, I also had a chance to meet up with a friend of mine from Groningen, who happens to be living in Berlin as well. And I went to a big dance party in the Kino International: the old eastern Berlin big Cinema complex. Another great feature of berlin: you can go dancing until 4AM and then take the metro home, because the metros actually go all night!
Anyway, I guess you can see that I am really quite excited about everything. I hope to upload some pictures soon...
Tschüß!
Olaf
On Friday, I moved into my new (temporary) place. The appartment is about 60 square meters, and it is in one of the coolest neighbourhoods I have ever seen! All renovated old buildings, looooooooots of bars and restaurants, and many trees and greenery. It's absolutely fantastic! Of course, i am still looking for a permanent flat, but if it could be anything in this area, I would be totally happy! This weekend, I have been looking at some flats, but all of them were pretty shit (one was very cute, but in a pretty terrible area of town, so NO). Oh well, there is no hurry!
Yesterday, I also had a chance to meet up with a friend of mine from Groningen, who happens to be living in Berlin as well. And I went to a big dance party in the Kino International: the old eastern Berlin big Cinema complex. Another great feature of berlin: you can go dancing until 4AM and then take the metro home, because the metros actually go all night!
Anyway, I guess you can see that I am really quite excited about everything. I hope to upload some pictures soon...
Tschüß!
Olaf
Sunday, March 29, 2009
The Last Supper(s)
So, during my Last Weekend in Milan, I did not use the opportunity to finally, finally go and see the famous Last Supper. I know, it's shameful, but Fedor went and he said it was quite underwhelming. Also, it's expensive and you have to book 2 months in advance. So you know what? Never mind!
Instead, I did my own Last Supper. Twice! On Friday we went for Pizza, and then on to the Vineria. It was an enjoyable evening and there was some good company! Then yesterday, I sort of had another Last Supper, going with a bunch of people to a nice Japanese restaurant: another great night!
So now I am really preparing to go. Packing the necessary stuff, trying to remember what I have to bring, etc etc. It's gonna be great!
Anyway, here are some things I have come across recently that I though were interesting:
- Sometimes you read something, and it's simply unbelievable. Here is a piece about some quotes of the Republican who might well be the Presidential candidate in 2012:LINK
- But sometimes you come across stuff that is simply hilarious. Like the Golden Oldie of the Philipine prisoners performing Mickael Jackson's Thriller:
- And if you're up for another really funny song, follow this link for an Oded Gross original!
Ciao/Tschüß,,
OJ
Instead, I did my own Last Supper. Twice! On Friday we went for Pizza, and then on to the Vineria. It was an enjoyable evening and there was some good company! Then yesterday, I sort of had another Last Supper, going with a bunch of people to a nice Japanese restaurant: another great night!
So now I am really preparing to go. Packing the necessary stuff, trying to remember what I have to bring, etc etc. It's gonna be great!
Anyway, here are some things I have come across recently that I though were interesting:
- Sometimes you read something, and it's simply unbelievable. Here is a piece about some quotes of the Republican who might well be the Presidential candidate in 2012:LINK
- But sometimes you come across stuff that is simply hilarious. Like the Golden Oldie of the Philipine prisoners performing Mickael Jackson's Thriller:
- And if you're up for another really funny song, follow this link for an Oded Gross original!
Ciao/Tschüß,,
OJ
Friday, March 27, 2009
the Last Things
It has been a week of lasts. My last meal at ARCI (it was fantastic: swordfish and aubergine pasta!!!), my last Reading Group (well, I actually skipped the last-last one, because I wanted to go to ARCI), my last seminar (actually quite interesting. I will miss some pretty amazing seminars, unfortunately). And my last (and admittedly also first) visit to San Siro! I know, some of you must think it is a shame it has taken me so long to go, but I never really had a true incentive before to go. But last weekend, Idil and I finally went to see a match: Inter vs Reggina. And [i]we [/i]won!!! 3 vs 0: it wasnt a very exciting match, basically... Here are some pics, to prove I really was there!
Furthermore, we also had Fedor's father (+donna) visiting last weekend, with whom I merely spent the evening programme. Fedor entertained them during the day, so that gave me some time to relax (and go to San Siro), which was pleasant. Let me think, what else have I done? I have been unpacking my office, and transfering everything home. Oh, and very importantly, I found a house in Berlin for the first month!!! I think I wrote previously about the flat I thought I had found, but which fell through. Well, now I have found something for real. The girl living there seems very nice, and the flat is in a great location. So I don't have to worry about that anymore, which is quite a relief.
My drivers' licence, on the other hand, is another story. Apparently it is not finished yet, so I am trying to find out whether Fedor can pick it up, or whether the office might be open on Good Friday (when I am going to be here for 2 days). It is all a bit of a hassle. Not as much hassle as the Internet company, but that is a wholly different story...
Anyway, I am just writing this post because I am meeting some friends (in fact, I believe it might be quite a few friends) for a pizza in 20 minutes and I wasnt sure what to do in the meantime: writing a blog post seemed like a good idea! Fedor is away for the weekend, to Frankfurt and he returns Monday morning. It'll be nice to see him for a moment, because on Monday Evening the moment is finally here: I will become ein Berliner!!!
Ciao/Tschüß,
OJ
Furthermore, we also had Fedor's father (+donna) visiting last weekend, with whom I merely spent the evening programme. Fedor entertained them during the day, so that gave me some time to relax (and go to San Siro), which was pleasant. Let me think, what else have I done? I have been unpacking my office, and transfering everything home. Oh, and very importantly, I found a house in Berlin for the first month!!! I think I wrote previously about the flat I thought I had found, but which fell through. Well, now I have found something for real. The girl living there seems very nice, and the flat is in a great location. So I don't have to worry about that anymore, which is quite a relief.
My drivers' licence, on the other hand, is another story. Apparently it is not finished yet, so I am trying to find out whether Fedor can pick it up, or whether the office might be open on Good Friday (when I am going to be here for 2 days). It is all a bit of a hassle. Not as much hassle as the Internet company, but that is a wholly different story...
Anyway, I am just writing this post because I am meeting some friends (in fact, I believe it might be quite a few friends) for a pizza in 20 minutes and I wasnt sure what to do in the meantime: writing a blog post seemed like a good idea! Fedor is away for the weekend, to Frankfurt and he returns Monday morning. It'll be nice to see him for a moment, because on Monday Evening the moment is finally here: I will become ein Berliner!!!
Ciao/Tschüß,
OJ
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
SanFran for a day
Well, that was a bit of a crazy weekend. On Friday, I had to get up very early in order to catch my flight to Amsterdam and then on to San Francisco. It was my first KLM flight ever and it was pretty cool: quite strange to get to speak Dutch to stewardesses all the time... But some good movies (Slumdog was pretty ok, but I was not totally overwhelmed), plenty of drinks and no problem with vegetarian food. Oh and the best of all: a return flight Milan-SF for 377 euros....
Anyway, when I got there, I headed to my hotel and dropped off my stuff, before going to see Agnieszka and Kuba, my friends who live in San Francisco. Their oldest, Julia, was very excited to see me (I stayed with them for a few days when I was there in January), and I got to take a peek at their newborn Robert. And we got to talk a bit, until the moment that the time difference caught up with me and I just wanted to pass out. The next morning, I got up early to go to my conference (seriously, an 8AM starting time for a conference on Saturday is NOT NORMAL, is it???) at San Francisco Statue University. The conference was very interesting, with many interesting topics, and some amazing speakers. All in all, it was totally worth the travelling time. In the evening, I just about managed to visit a nice sushi restaurant before passing out again at early o'clock... Sunday I had a stroll around the city and managed to finally buy the last missing part of Asimov's Foundation series (The Second Foundation has been a goal of mine at bookshops for about 5 years already). After my little walk, i went back to the Airport and flew back to Milano. yes, it was a crazily short visit, but who cares: it was useful and I don't pay for it!
Today I went back to work, but I was still a bit tired, so not overly productive. I managed to clean up my office, so it will be easier for me to move my stuff back to home now (I normally live under a mountain of papers: not anymore!). It'll also help to have a clean office when I have my German class tomorrow (Fedor's present for xmas was a mini-course in a language-of-my-choosing), so that is pretty cool. Talking about Germany, I had found a place to live for the first month, but something went horribly wrong (in other words: the guy turned out to be completely nuts, as certified by my token German friend Felix) and now I don't have a flat anymore. Anyway, it won't be too difficult to find something, I think...
Oh, and for any Facebook users out there: goddammit, the new new Facebook sucks, doesn't it? Let's hope they Facebook engineers start using their brains and either change it back or enable us to make some individualised changes (like blocking those stupid fcking quizzes from popping up in the newsfeed).
Ciao,
OJ
Anyway, when I got there, I headed to my hotel and dropped off my stuff, before going to see Agnieszka and Kuba, my friends who live in San Francisco. Their oldest, Julia, was very excited to see me (I stayed with them for a few days when I was there in January), and I got to take a peek at their newborn Robert. And we got to talk a bit, until the moment that the time difference caught up with me and I just wanted to pass out. The next morning, I got up early to go to my conference (seriously, an 8AM starting time for a conference on Saturday is NOT NORMAL, is it???) at San Francisco Statue University. The conference was very interesting, with many interesting topics, and some amazing speakers. All in all, it was totally worth the travelling time. In the evening, I just about managed to visit a nice sushi restaurant before passing out again at early o'clock... Sunday I had a stroll around the city and managed to finally buy the last missing part of Asimov's Foundation series (The Second Foundation has been a goal of mine at bookshops for about 5 years already). After my little walk, i went back to the Airport and flew back to Milano. yes, it was a crazily short visit, but who cares: it was useful and I don't pay for it!
Today I went back to work, but I was still a bit tired, so not overly productive. I managed to clean up my office, so it will be easier for me to move my stuff back to home now (I normally live under a mountain of papers: not anymore!). It'll also help to have a clean office when I have my German class tomorrow (Fedor's present for xmas was a mini-course in a language-of-my-choosing), so that is pretty cool. Talking about Germany, I had found a place to live for the first month, but something went horribly wrong (in other words: the guy turned out to be completely nuts, as certified by my token German friend Felix) and now I don't have a flat anymore. Anyway, it won't be too difficult to find something, I think...
Oh, and for any Facebook users out there: goddammit, the new new Facebook sucks, doesn't it? Let's hope they Facebook engineers start using their brains and either change it back or enable us to make some individualised changes (like blocking those stupid fcking quizzes from popping up in the newsfeed).
Ciao,
OJ
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Just some ramblings
Driver's Licence: the Saga continues.
The licencing office called me this week, because there was something wrong with one of the documents. That is, I had to make three separate payments to them, and the way this works in Italy is as follows: you go to a post office, and fill in a slip of paper. This slip of paper is then processed by the post office (of course you also have to pay for them to process it, but that's obvious). You then get two receipts for having paid. Now for all of the payments I made, I left one of the receipts at the Licencing Office (in fact, the lady there choose which one she was gonna keep). But it turns out that these are not exactly 100% identical. I still don't know exactly what the difference is, but there is one word different, or something along those lines. And she had to wrong slip for one of my payments. So I spent another 2.5 hours (it was busy in the metro) to get there and come back to give her the right f.ing piece of paper! Of course, we'll have to see whether the whole thing is finally going to work out or not: that's still completely unknown. Although my old licence has now officially expired, so if I don't get the Italian one, I'm f.ed.
For the rest, the week has been work-work-work. I have started working on a new project that I really would like to start to get going before moving to Berlin (omg, only 23 days left!), so I'm pretty busy with that. It's all pretty sad here, anyway, with lots of people leaving. Louisa had her goodbye a week-and-a-half ago, because she's moved to Trieste. Gili had her goodbye this week, because she moved back to Israel. It's getting quiet here... Our Costarican friends are leaving at the end of the year as well. Another friend of mine, however, will actually be moving to Milan probably, as he was offered an assistant professorship here. So that's cool (and we'll have a place to stay that way!).
Anyway, that's about all I have to say for now. I want you all to check out Meghan's website, with a cool blog and an online shop for the clothes she designs: It's HERE. Tomorrow, we're gonna go to Genova, as I haven't gone there yet in the 3.5 years of living in Milano and this will be the last opportunity. Because things are pretty tightly packed during the next weeks: I will go to San Francisco for a conference next weekend (yes, I know it's insane: I will be in San Francisco for a grand total of 46 hours), Fedor's father is visiting the weekend after and Fedor will be in Frankfurt the weekend after that with a friend. And then it's time for me to leave............
Ciao,
OJ
PS The weather is fantastic right now!!! Sunny, relatively warm: that is one thing I'm gonna miss about Milano!
The licencing office called me this week, because there was something wrong with one of the documents. That is, I had to make three separate payments to them, and the way this works in Italy is as follows: you go to a post office, and fill in a slip of paper. This slip of paper is then processed by the post office (of course you also have to pay for them to process it, but that's obvious). You then get two receipts for having paid. Now for all of the payments I made, I left one of the receipts at the Licencing Office (in fact, the lady there choose which one she was gonna keep). But it turns out that these are not exactly 100% identical. I still don't know exactly what the difference is, but there is one word different, or something along those lines. And she had to wrong slip for one of my payments. So I spent another 2.5 hours (it was busy in the metro) to get there and come back to give her the right f.ing piece of paper! Of course, we'll have to see whether the whole thing is finally going to work out or not: that's still completely unknown. Although my old licence has now officially expired, so if I don't get the Italian one, I'm f.ed.
For the rest, the week has been work-work-work. I have started working on a new project that I really would like to start to get going before moving to Berlin (omg, only 23 days left!), so I'm pretty busy with that. It's all pretty sad here, anyway, with lots of people leaving. Louisa had her goodbye a week-and-a-half ago, because she's moved to Trieste. Gili had her goodbye this week, because she moved back to Israel. It's getting quiet here... Our Costarican friends are leaving at the end of the year as well. Another friend of mine, however, will actually be moving to Milan probably, as he was offered an assistant professorship here. So that's cool (and we'll have a place to stay that way!).
Anyway, that's about all I have to say for now. I want you all to check out Meghan's website, with a cool blog and an online shop for the clothes she designs: It's HERE. Tomorrow, we're gonna go to Genova, as I haven't gone there yet in the 3.5 years of living in Milano and this will be the last opportunity. Because things are pretty tightly packed during the next weeks: I will go to San Francisco for a conference next weekend (yes, I know it's insane: I will be in San Francisco for a grand total of 46 hours), Fedor's father is visiting the weekend after and Fedor will be in Frankfurt the weekend after that with a friend. And then it's time for me to leave............
Ciao,
OJ
PS The weather is fantastic right now!!! Sunny, relatively warm: that is one thing I'm gonna miss about Milano!
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Berlin, here I come
OK, so I lied to you. I did not in fact post immediately after deciding to accept the job. In fact, it's more than a week ago when I took the job, and only now do I write to you here.
I HAVE A JOB!!!
Yes, it is now officially true: I am getting old and I have a job. Awesome. Anyways, so, logistically, this means the following: Per April 1, I will be post-doctoral researcher at the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin, working on a project named "Calculating the Global Costs of Conflict" (yes, it's really, really interesting!). So I will also be moving there of course, per March 30. Fedor, however, still has a job to do here in Milano, so he will stay in Milano until June 1. That's ok, because it gives me a bit of extra time to find a house, and we can do the relocation in a slightly more relaxed way. Oh, but btw, if anybody happens to hear something about a job in Berlin for Fedor, let us know!
Of course I will be coming up and down from Berlin to Milano a few times (for Easter, for example), but in principle I will be ein Berliner from April 1.
But before it's that far, I still have plenty of things to do. I started working on a new paper, I submitted some papers to journals, I have lots of reading group meetings to attend: it's all quite busy. But there is also time for fun. Like last weekend, which we spend in Cocconato, on a Couples Weekend! I know it's pathetic, but we went to this Agroturismo for the weekend, with five couples (and a dog) and we ate and drank and ate and drank until we, well, were full of food and drinks, basically...
Picture time:
Yesterday we had a lovely dinner with our Costarican friends and now we have started counting the days until I leave...
Ciao,
OJ
I HAVE A JOB!!!
Yes, it is now officially true: I am getting old and I have a job. Awesome. Anyways, so, logistically, this means the following: Per April 1, I will be post-doctoral researcher at the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin, working on a project named "Calculating the Global Costs of Conflict" (yes, it's really, really interesting!). So I will also be moving there of course, per March 30. Fedor, however, still has a job to do here in Milano, so he will stay in Milano until June 1. That's ok, because it gives me a bit of extra time to find a house, and we can do the relocation in a slightly more relaxed way. Oh, but btw, if anybody happens to hear something about a job in Berlin for Fedor, let us know!
Of course I will be coming up and down from Berlin to Milano a few times (for Easter, for example), but in principle I will be ein Berliner from April 1.
But before it's that far, I still have plenty of things to do. I started working on a new paper, I submitted some papers to journals, I have lots of reading group meetings to attend: it's all quite busy. But there is also time for fun. Like last weekend, which we spend in Cocconato, on a Couples Weekend! I know it's pathetic, but we went to this Agroturismo for the weekend, with five couples (and a dog) and we ate and drank and ate and drank until we, well, were full of food and drinks, basically...
Picture time:
Yesterday we had a lovely dinner with our Costarican friends and now we have started counting the days until I leave...
Ciao,
OJ
Thursday, February 19, 2009
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...
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...
Monday, February 09, 2009
I may have lost the battle...
.... but may still win the war!
OJ vs Italian bureaucracy, round 15: "driver's licence edition"
Today, I made another valiant attempt at getting an Italian driver's licence and failed. I did manage to get extremely close though, and I hope that next time I may manage! Anyway, the story:
I have a Dutch licence and it's expering in a few weeks. But thanks to European standardisation etc, one must replace a licence at the place of residence (as opposed to place of nationality), as long as one is within the EU. This means I have to get an Italian licence. So, I initiated some internet searching months ago and found many scary stories. However, when I found the website of the local Licence Office, it all seemed fairly straightforward. Seemed, that is.
Stage one was getting a doctor's declaration, so some time ago, i tried to make an appointment. However, an appointment could only be made with a translation of my current licence and a stamp from the Consulate. So I called the Consulate who told me that was impossible. However, apparently, they made a deal with the Licence Office that a Dutch "declaration of validity", together with the "declaration of validity regarding the declaration of validity" (I kid thee not) from the Consulate, would be sufficient. So, I requested the Dutch DoV, which obviously had to be done by mail, and cannot be done via the internet. However, i wasn't willing to give up too easily and continued my internet-search until I found, on the Ministery of Transportation website, an official list of documents that did NOT include the aforementioned documents.
So, I tried the doctor's office again, this time not really particularly mentioning that it was a licence conversion that I was looking for. And yes, success: appointment made! Of course, this means the payment of 36€ for the doctor, 14€ in tax, 9€ for the licence office and 29€ for the licence office (plus the transaction costs for all these separate contributions that can only be done in post offices), but I managed to see him. Of course, he then realised I did not have a translation or DoV, so he at first refused to sign. But thanks to my print of the ministery's website, I was able to convince him to sign anyway. Victory was mine!!!!
Unfortunately, the Licence Office is actually outside Milan, so I tried to double check whether I had all the documents by calling them several times, but to no avail (IF they answer the phone, they randomly hang up as soon as you ask a question: it's very odd). So this morning, I went for the office directly. Good news: it was open. Good news nr 2: I only had to queue for 1 hour, good news nr 3: my documents were COMPLETE...
Wait, what? I have never heard that before at an Italian office when I get there for the first time... I thought I was going to faint from surprise!!! "Sure", the kind lady says, "you can come and pick up your new licence in a month or so", and gets ready to staple my licence to the request... Uh, wait, what? Staple my licence to the request? Are you crazy, I need my licence!!! And no, a temporary replacement licence is not enough: I am renting a car in Germany this weekend...
"Oh well, in that case: come back another time, and we'll see whether your documents are complete then..."
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I was SO close! By next week, when I will make the next attempt, I am sure they will have come up with 10 new documents for me to bring etc... And I was SO close now....... *sigh*
Running tally for my Italian licence: 110€
Ciao,
OJ
OJ vs Italian bureaucracy, round 15: "driver's licence edition"
Today, I made another valiant attempt at getting an Italian driver's licence and failed. I did manage to get extremely close though, and I hope that next time I may manage! Anyway, the story:
I have a Dutch licence and it's expering in a few weeks. But thanks to European standardisation etc, one must replace a licence at the place of residence (as opposed to place of nationality), as long as one is within the EU. This means I have to get an Italian licence. So, I initiated some internet searching months ago and found many scary stories. However, when I found the website of the local Licence Office, it all seemed fairly straightforward. Seemed, that is.
Stage one was getting a doctor's declaration, so some time ago, i tried to make an appointment. However, an appointment could only be made with a translation of my current licence and a stamp from the Consulate. So I called the Consulate who told me that was impossible. However, apparently, they made a deal with the Licence Office that a Dutch "declaration of validity", together with the "declaration of validity regarding the declaration of validity" (I kid thee not) from the Consulate, would be sufficient. So, I requested the Dutch DoV, which obviously had to be done by mail, and cannot be done via the internet. However, i wasn't willing to give up too easily and continued my internet-search until I found, on the Ministery of Transportation website, an official list of documents that did NOT include the aforementioned documents.
So, I tried the doctor's office again, this time not really particularly mentioning that it was a licence conversion that I was looking for. And yes, success: appointment made! Of course, this means the payment of 36€ for the doctor, 14€ in tax, 9€ for the licence office and 29€ for the licence office (plus the transaction costs for all these separate contributions that can only be done in post offices), but I managed to see him. Of course, he then realised I did not have a translation or DoV, so he at first refused to sign. But thanks to my print of the ministery's website, I was able to convince him to sign anyway. Victory was mine!!!!
Unfortunately, the Licence Office is actually outside Milan, so I tried to double check whether I had all the documents by calling them several times, but to no avail (IF they answer the phone, they randomly hang up as soon as you ask a question: it's very odd). So this morning, I went for the office directly. Good news: it was open. Good news nr 2: I only had to queue for 1 hour, good news nr 3: my documents were COMPLETE...
Wait, what? I have never heard that before at an Italian office when I get there for the first time... I thought I was going to faint from surprise!!! "Sure", the kind lady says, "you can come and pick up your new licence in a month or so", and gets ready to staple my licence to the request... Uh, wait, what? Staple my licence to the request? Are you crazy, I need my licence!!! And no, a temporary replacement licence is not enough: I am renting a car in Germany this weekend...
"Oh well, in that case: come back another time, and we'll see whether your documents are complete then..."
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I was SO close! By next week, when I will make the next attempt, I am sure they will have come up with 10 new documents for me to bring etc... And I was SO close now....... *sigh*
Running tally for my Italian licence: 110€
Ciao,
OJ
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