Recenlty I've had two wisdom teeth removed, twice... Uhm, rephrasing that: they removed two wisdom teeth last week, and did the other two the day before yesterday. And after all the horrible stories I had heard, last week's were a piece of cake! Okay, there was some swelling, there was some blood coming out of different orifices (well, nose and moth, mostly), but I felt I was quite able to go back to work three days later, as long as I wouldn't laugh, grimace or exert myself.
This week, however, I realised that last week's experience was actually relatively severe: Now I have much less swelling and 24 hours after the surgery, I felt like was ready to go back to work!!! Oh, and only blood coming out of my mouth this time, and not too much of it at that... However, following doctor's orders means I have to apply cooling semi-continously for the first three days, and since there is no freezer available at work, I have to stay at home. The fact that it is pissing it down with rain and that cycling to work would have been terribly unpleasant is only tangentially related to that! (in fact, I had a check-up at the dentist at 9am, so I got soaking wet anyway, twice).
Before all this teethy happiness, we had Lou, Micky and Gerry visiting us two weeks ago. We had a fabulous time, mostly Karaoke-based. Of course karaoke at Mauerpark, but also a proper night in a proper karaoke-bar. Absolutely hilarious: I had never realised that doing karaoke was this much fun!!! It'll be a keeper.
In between, I've been really busy with travelling and work: After Bristol, there was Amsterdam for a conference, Frankfurt for the medical check and an unannounced trip to Brussels to replace my boss at some networking meeting. And of course, in the meantime, other requests and things pile up as well... At least my colleague Marc has returned, so I can dump some things in his lap too...
Regarding Kathmandu: no news yet. Tuesday, I will be doing a Skype interview, hopefully there will be some real news after that!!! Let's wait and see (I am getting impatient: Fedor is being driven up the walls)
Tschüßi,
OJ
Friday, July 22, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
Nr 42
I seem to have picked up a habit of visiting World Wonders in torrential downpours... I am writing this in a KLM plane that is returning me from a business trip to Bristol, which I used as an opportunity to visit Stonehenge, my 42nd Wonder of the World (at Nr 78 according to Hillman). And like Delphi three weeks ago, it was absolutely pissing it down when we tried to make our way around the monument. Unlike Delphi, though, it was also absolutely FREEZING! Who knew a trip to England in the second half of June would be accompanied with 11 degrees and quasi-hail blowing across the planes... Anyway, no problem: I saw the henge (which according to Wikipedia (and my colleague Adam) is NOT actually a henge, although the Stonehenge people were not particularly forthcoming with that information in their audiotour. Admittedly, I did not actually listen to the audiotour as I was incredibly cold and wet...) so that counts! I also managed to visit Bristol, which I had never seen before and I must say it is quite pleasant.
In other news, we have booked a trip to a friend's wedding in Niagara, Ontario in August! We will fly into NYC and make our way through NY State to then tick off another Wonder (the Falls) and go to her wedding. Afterwards, we drive back to NYC, spend a weekend there and return to Berlin. It is going to be fabulous! In other "other news", I just had a paper accepted (conditional on a few very minor changes) in the Journal of Peace Research!!!! This is a top-5 journal in Political Science, so I am very excited about this, as you can imagine... Even more excitement is happening on the job front: I will return to Frankfurt this week for a physical examination and after passing that hurdle, a final decision will be made about my potential new job... Right now, it seems about 90% certain I will get it, but just to be sure, I am going to be keeping the suspense a bit longer: Suffice it to say that it is going to be in a country far, far away!
Tschüßi,
OJ
PS Potential job in Kathmandu: moving steadily ahead... Will be undergoing a medical exam real soon and then it only requires the consent of one more person...
In other news, we have booked a trip to a friend's wedding in Niagara, Ontario in August! We will fly into NYC and make our way through NY State to then tick off another Wonder (the Falls) and go to her wedding. Afterwards, we drive back to NYC, spend a weekend there and return to Berlin. It is going to be fabulous! In other "other news", I just had a paper accepted (conditional on a few very minor changes) in the Journal of Peace Research!!!! This is a top-5 journal in Political Science, so I am very excited about this, as you can imagine... Even more excitement is happening on the job front: I will return to Frankfurt this week for a physical examination and after passing that hurdle, a final decision will be made about my potential new job... Right now, it seems about 90% certain I will get it, but just to be sure, I am going to be keeping the suspense a bit longer: Suffice it to say that it is going to be in a country far, far away!
Tschüßi,
OJ
PS Potential job in Kathmandu: moving steadily ahead... Will be undergoing a medical exam real soon and then it only requires the consent of one more person...
Monday, June 13, 2011
Loving all these 3-day weekends!
This week, Bart & Tineke came to visit us: we had a lot of fun, visiting biergartens and enjoying the weather... The World Cultures' Carnaval also took place this weekend, so we took the opportunity to see the parade and all that: good times were had! Last weekend, Jorryt and Lilian came over (not pregnant, for a change), and we visited biergartens and had a jolly good time!
That also included finishing the Berliner Mauerweg! We did it, the whole 160 kms... I should organize a bunch of photos at some point, but let's just say it is absolutely worth doing it, because you get to see some parts of Berlin that you would never randomly encounter... :-)
I also finally had the opportunity to do a Berliner Unterwelten Tour in one of the WW2 bunkers. A really interesting tour inside an old gas tower, later converted to a bunker, then converted to an old people's home, a hotel, a homeless' shelter et cetera. Fascinating stuff... That was with my colleagues, with whom we had our annual retreat (accept that there was no budget, so we couldnt actually retreat anywhere to and ended up staying in Berlin).
And as for the latest news: I had a job interview and it went really well. I have to decide whether I really want it and then they are going to decide whether to offer it to me... Exciting times, but also difficult times because the job's location isn't particularly convenient for Fedor and for the probability of him finding a job... It's in Kathmandu, Nepal... Stay tuned and I will keep you updated!
Tschüßi,
OJ
That also included finishing the Berliner Mauerweg! We did it, the whole 160 kms... I should organize a bunch of photos at some point, but let's just say it is absolutely worth doing it, because you get to see some parts of Berlin that you would never randomly encounter... :-)
I also finally had the opportunity to do a Berliner Unterwelten Tour in one of the WW2 bunkers. A really interesting tour inside an old gas tower, later converted to a bunker, then converted to an old people's home, a hotel, a homeless' shelter et cetera. Fascinating stuff... That was with my colleagues, with whom we had our annual retreat (accept that there was no budget, so we couldnt actually retreat anywhere to and ended up staying in Berlin).
And as for the latest news: I had a job interview and it went really well. I have to decide whether I really want it and then they are going to decide whether to offer it to me... Exciting times, but also difficult times because the job's location isn't particularly convenient for Fedor and for the probability of him finding a job... It's in Kathmandu, Nepal... Stay tuned and I will keep you updated!
Tschüßi,
OJ
Thursday, June 02, 2011
Athens photos!
As promised, here are a few photos...
Oh, and in answer to Esther's recent question: I have a job interview on Tuesday. The interview is in Germany, but the job brings me about 6500km closer to where you are!
Tschüßi,
OJ
Oh, and in answer to Esther's recent question: I have a job interview on Tuesday. The interview is in Germany, but the job brings me about 6500km closer to where you are!
Tschüßi,
OJ
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Athens!
Wow, that was a lovely trip to Greece! The flight to Athens, and subsequent bus trip to Volos gave me a 7-hour meeting with my boss... Totally awesome, because now I could make him read everything I wanted to and we could discuss it in extreme detail. It was great... Anyway, when we got to Volos finally, the workshop was actually pretty interesting. It was very small (like, 8 people), but it was absolutely interesting. On Friday, Fedor arrived (he flew directly to Volos, without having to do the Athens thing) and we had dinner at night. We had hoped to be able to go to Delphi on Saturday, but it was simply too complicated, so instead we took the 6.15 train to Athens. Unfortunately, it turned out that everything closes at 3pm (every day, apparently), but we managed to tick a few boxes, including the Acropolis, which was Fedor's 37th Wonder of the World). On Sunday, we did Keraimikos and then went to Delphi after all.
That is, on the way there the bus broke down. When we finally did arrive, we quietly ambled to the actual site, to hear there that it was closing at 3pm too (we arrived at 14.35). PANIC! Unfortunately, it also started pissing it down: an absolute deluge! Anyway, we ran across the site anyway (to generic disappointment: the views are great though), doing Fedor's 38th and my 41st Wonder of the World. The weather cleared up again, but we failed to get onto the 4pm bus (full). Rather, we hid from further deluges by drinking beer in a local bar and made it back in the evening.
Monday, we started by going to the Monastery of Daphni. Very cool, particularly because it was being reconstructed and somebody took us up onto the stands and scaffolding and we were able to admire the mosaics from very close. It was super! And a UNESCO World Heritage site... Unforunately, our trip to the Archeological Museum was useless, as it was closed... It felt like dejá vu to me, with the Museum having been closed for my entire period of living there, back in 02/03. It was great to be back though...
I am writing this in the airplane back to Berlin, and will post it on Blogger later. Laptops are good... Tonight, we will be saying goodbye to Carlos, my Argentinean colleague and coauthor. It is a sad day :-(((((((
Tschüßi,
OJ
PS Photos to follow
That is, on the way there the bus broke down. When we finally did arrive, we quietly ambled to the actual site, to hear there that it was closing at 3pm too (we arrived at 14.35). PANIC! Unfortunately, it also started pissing it down: an absolute deluge! Anyway, we ran across the site anyway (to generic disappointment: the views are great though), doing Fedor's 38th and my 41st Wonder of the World. The weather cleared up again, but we failed to get onto the 4pm bus (full). Rather, we hid from further deluges by drinking beer in a local bar and made it back in the evening.
Monday, we started by going to the Monastery of Daphni. Very cool, particularly because it was being reconstructed and somebody took us up onto the stands and scaffolding and we were able to admire the mosaics from very close. It was super! And a UNESCO World Heritage site... Unforunately, our trip to the Archeological Museum was useless, as it was closed... It felt like dejá vu to me, with the Museum having been closed for my entire period of living there, back in 02/03. It was great to be back though...
I am writing this in the airplane back to Berlin, and will post it on Blogger later. Laptops are good... Tonight, we will be saying goodbye to Carlos, my Argentinean colleague and coauthor. It is a sad day :-(((((((
Tschüßi,
OJ
PS Photos to follow
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Oh such a perfect day!
Apart from the fact that Fedor has to teach one class (he started at 11am), today is the perfect Sunday: I am meeting him in an hour to take the train to Greibnitzsee, from where we will continue our journey along the former Wall. approximatel 90km or so down, 70 to go. I am sure we will find a few biergartens, to soak in the Sun (although it is currently clouding over, but I am going to ignore that) and afterwards, we are going to see Haydn's Die Schöpfung in the Berliner Dom. Life is good!
Yesterday we helped some friends move (well, carry IKEA boxes up 4 1/2 flights of stairs, that is) and had a Birthday-BBQ. One of those: "omg, we're getting old" moments. It was only about a minute before we got there when Fedor told me: you know what, it could be one of those children-and-dogs-and-family-fun kinda parties actually... The thought hadn't crosse either of our minds, but of course: people in our age group have children. Maybe not when they are phd students, postdocs or language teachers living in different countries, but this was a party by a Germany person with other Germans... And yes, indeed, children, dogs, the works! Anyway, it was good fun: just an odd realisation that this is the kind of party that most of our Dutch friends in the Netherlands would also be throwing by now...
For the rest, it's been interviews central the past week. We have some positions open, and I have taken up the role of hiring advisor, spending lots of time with my boss interviewing candidates via the phone or in live interviews: some odd people out there! And it takes up a whole lot of energy! Anyway, should only be three more or so this week and basta... Anyway, the coming weeks should be nice and relaxed. Two three-day weeks (in terms of office work at least). I am flying to Athens with my boss on Thursday, making our way to the town of Volos, where there is a one-day workshop on Friday. Then on Friday, Fedor will fly in to Volos and we will hopefully make it down to Delphi and then on to Athens, returning to Berlin on Monday night. Should be fun!
Tschüßi,
OJ
PS Once we finish the whole Berliner Mauerweg, I will post some photos. The previous leg I actually forgot to bring my camera, but I will not repeat that mistake today!
Yesterday we helped some friends move (well, carry IKEA boxes up 4 1/2 flights of stairs, that is) and had a Birthday-BBQ. One of those: "omg, we're getting old" moments. It was only about a minute before we got there when Fedor told me: you know what, it could be one of those children-and-dogs-and-family-fun kinda parties actually... The thought hadn't crosse either of our minds, but of course: people in our age group have children. Maybe not when they are phd students, postdocs or language teachers living in different countries, but this was a party by a Germany person with other Germans... And yes, indeed, children, dogs, the works! Anyway, it was good fun: just an odd realisation that this is the kind of party that most of our Dutch friends in the Netherlands would also be throwing by now...
For the rest, it's been interviews central the past week. We have some positions open, and I have taken up the role of hiring advisor, spending lots of time with my boss interviewing candidates via the phone or in live interviews: some odd people out there! And it takes up a whole lot of energy! Anyway, should only be three more or so this week and basta... Anyway, the coming weeks should be nice and relaxed. Two three-day weeks (in terms of office work at least). I am flying to Athens with my boss on Thursday, making our way to the town of Volos, where there is a one-day workshop on Friday. Then on Friday, Fedor will fly in to Volos and we will hopefully make it down to Delphi and then on to Athens, returning to Berlin on Monday night. Should be fun!
Tschüßi,
OJ
PS Once we finish the whole Berliner Mauerweg, I will post some photos. The previous leg I actually forgot to bring my camera, but I will not repeat that mistake today!
Thursday, May 05, 2011
Rambling along
Happy liberation day! In the Netherlands that is… I guess you could call it Defeat Day here in Germany, but in fact: it is simply the case that nobody cares. Anyway, it is a sunny day with the temperature finally reaching agreeable heights again (although it was below 0 overnight). The weather really is crazy, with 25° at some times, and 10° max temperatures on other days! Anyway, we are in an upswing again, so I am looking forward to the weekend!
Recently, we’ve been having quite a bit of fun: lots of visitors, a fair few visits to the local Biergarten and a few holidays in between. Like last week, when we went for another fun Queen’s Day event at the embassy. This time, we did not get embarrassingly drunk (Pieter and Nicole: we miss you guys!), which was good, because it turns out that I am on the list of “Zichtbare Nederlanders”: visible Dutch people (not to be mistaken with visibly Dutch people). This explains why we were actually sent an invitation without asking for anything, rather than having to beg for one like previous years… The week before that, it was Easter. Double fun, because not only was it a four-day-weekend (and wow, four-day-weekends are FANTASTIC), it was also a full-on parents’ weekend, with both my parents, as well as Fedor’s Mum+1 coming to visit. Lots of fun was had, board games were played, Potsdam was visited, Biergartens were enjoyed, etc. It was simply great! They all left on Easter Sunday, which gave us the opportunity to start doing something we had planned for quite a while (nope, not Spring cleaning):
The Berliner Mauerweg! It is a cycling/walking path that follows the path of the Berlin Wall (link). We started off near our house, in Mauerpark and managed to do a good chunk of the 160 km that is the total length of the way. We actually made it all the way to Staaken (going anti-clockwise, obviously), which is 56 kilometers off the whole length of the way. It is a beautiful trip, coming by the lakes, through the forests, across agricultural land, wealthy suburbs and many other interesting places. I am looking forward to doing the rest of the way (it is also a great way of getting to know some different Biergartens…)
Anyway, no news yet on jobs or our future!
Tschüßi,
OJ
PS OMG, I was in the Economist!!!!! LINK
Recently, we’ve been having quite a bit of fun: lots of visitors, a fair few visits to the local Biergarten and a few holidays in between. Like last week, when we went for another fun Queen’s Day event at the embassy. This time, we did not get embarrassingly drunk (Pieter and Nicole: we miss you guys!), which was good, because it turns out that I am on the list of “Zichtbare Nederlanders”: visible Dutch people (not to be mistaken with visibly Dutch people). This explains why we were actually sent an invitation without asking for anything, rather than having to beg for one like previous years… The week before that, it was Easter. Double fun, because not only was it a four-day-weekend (and wow, four-day-weekends are FANTASTIC), it was also a full-on parents’ weekend, with both my parents, as well as Fedor’s Mum+1 coming to visit. Lots of fun was had, board games were played, Potsdam was visited, Biergartens were enjoyed, etc. It was simply great! They all left on Easter Sunday, which gave us the opportunity to start doing something we had planned for quite a while (nope, not Spring cleaning):
The Berliner Mauerweg! It is a cycling/walking path that follows the path of the Berlin Wall (link). We started off near our house, in Mauerpark and managed to do a good chunk of the 160 km that is the total length of the way. We actually made it all the way to Staaken (going anti-clockwise, obviously), which is 56 kilometers off the whole length of the way. It is a beautiful trip, coming by the lakes, through the forests, across agricultural land, wealthy suburbs and many other interesting places. I am looking forward to doing the rest of the way (it is also a great way of getting to know some different Biergartens…)
Anyway, no news yet on jobs or our future!
Tschüßi,
OJ
PS OMG, I was in the Economist!!!!! LINK
Friday, April 15, 2011
NATO's in town
And it is a hassle! Half the city is closed down, in order for a few ministers to be able to drive through... Poor Fedor nearly arrived late to work yesterday after ending up on the wrong side of the road and not being allowed to cross the road for ten minutes! Anyway, they should be leaving today, so I hope thing will get back to normal.
Oh, and guess who else was in town? The Queen!!! But since it was raining a lot this week, most of her programme went down the drain (haha). I am enjoying the Schadenfreude, because Fedor and I had wanted to go the official reception at the Embassy, but there was a lottery and we lost. So I am happy she got rained on! Anyway, that is not going to stop us from going to the Queen's Day Reception of course, because who can say no to free booze and Dutch snacks? Particularly because, for the first time, I actually received an invitation without having to ask for one: they sent it to me without prompting! I am particularly looking forward to the oysters and the fresh stroopwafels.
Anyway, before that is happening (in 2 weeks), we still have two more weekends, full of family! This weekend, Fedor's father is coming and next weekend we are going to have my parents, as well as Fedor's mum (+man). So lots of fun is going to be had!
For the rest, this week has been fairly quiet. Lots of worries about the new management possibly wanting to close the department, which causes some anxieties among my colleagues, but the danger seems to be waning now... I have been sending out a bunch of applications again as well on four different continents, so let's see whether anything comes from it. The problem with many of these applications is that the recruiting periods are incredibly long. I mean, the World Bank's YPP and the EU recruitment both have cycled of about 12-15 months, which is simply crazy, but even many other jobs take months to decide anything! Oh well, like I always say: let's wait and see!!!
Tschüßi,
OJ
Oh, and guess who else was in town? The Queen!!! But since it was raining a lot this week, most of her programme went down the drain (haha). I am enjoying the Schadenfreude, because Fedor and I had wanted to go the official reception at the Embassy, but there was a lottery and we lost. So I am happy she got rained on! Anyway, that is not going to stop us from going to the Queen's Day Reception of course, because who can say no to free booze and Dutch snacks? Particularly because, for the first time, I actually received an invitation without having to ask for one: they sent it to me without prompting! I am particularly looking forward to the oysters and the fresh stroopwafels.
Anyway, before that is happening (in 2 weeks), we still have two more weekends, full of family! This weekend, Fedor's father is coming and next weekend we are going to have my parents, as well as Fedor's mum (+man). So lots of fun is going to be had!
For the rest, this week has been fairly quiet. Lots of worries about the new management possibly wanting to close the department, which causes some anxieties among my colleagues, but the danger seems to be waning now... I have been sending out a bunch of applications again as well on four different continents, so let's see whether anything comes from it. The problem with many of these applications is that the recruiting periods are incredibly long. I mean, the World Bank's YPP and the EU recruitment both have cycled of about 12-15 months, which is simply crazy, but even many other jobs take months to decide anything! Oh well, like I always say: let's wait and see!!!
Tschüßi,
OJ
Saturday, April 09, 2011
Weeeeeeeekend!
And it's nice and sunny! So: life is good... :-)
The past week was the week of the final policy workshop of my main project, and it was great! We had about 25 people there, including representatives from the German parliament, the World Bank and a bunch of Embassies. It was a good way of getting some policy feedback regarding our results and we were shown lots of appreciation (it was also a big ego boost, which is pretty cool). After that, I took a few hours of on Tuesday morning, because I was absolutely exhausted: the workshop was stressful, we're having some debate on a different policy report, which was also very stressful and Fedor's brothers were visiting last weekend, which wasn't so much stressful, but quite alcohol-infused.
This weekend, on the other hand, is visitor-free. So we took the opportunity to go drinking with friends yesterday, will do so again today and tomorrow. Enjoying the weather, doing groceries, finishing the tax forms and all that boring stuff. But that is fine, because we ARE boring...
Anyway, in other news: I do not have a new job yet! But I am sending out lots of applications, so I have some hope that I will soon have some news to tell you. Oh, at least there has been some other good news: my publication in the Journal of Development Studies came out (it was accepted last year, but there is always a lag before it gets published) and the German journal KYKLOS accepted another paper of mine. So good news all around!
Let's hope the coming week will bring more good news... :-)))
Tschüßi,
OJ
The past week was the week of the final policy workshop of my main project, and it was great! We had about 25 people there, including representatives from the German parliament, the World Bank and a bunch of Embassies. It was a good way of getting some policy feedback regarding our results and we were shown lots of appreciation (it was also a big ego boost, which is pretty cool). After that, I took a few hours of on Tuesday morning, because I was absolutely exhausted: the workshop was stressful, we're having some debate on a different policy report, which was also very stressful and Fedor's brothers were visiting last weekend, which wasn't so much stressful, but quite alcohol-infused.
This weekend, on the other hand, is visitor-free. So we took the opportunity to go drinking with friends yesterday, will do so again today and tomorrow. Enjoying the weather, doing groceries, finishing the tax forms and all that boring stuff. But that is fine, because we ARE boring...
Anyway, in other news: I do not have a new job yet! But I am sending out lots of applications, so I have some hope that I will soon have some news to tell you. Oh, at least there has been some other good news: my publication in the Journal of Development Studies came out (it was accepted last year, but there is always a lag before it gets published) and the German journal KYKLOS accepted another paper of mine. So good news all around!
Let's hope the coming week will bring more good news... :-)))
Tschüßi,
OJ
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Spring is here!
... well, not really. It was about -6 last night, but it is sunny and when you are covered from the wind, the temperature is absolutely bearable!!!
Anyway, work has been terrible, but the worst part is coming to an end soon: next week is our big press conference and policy workshop, which is going to mean an end to most of the stress. Of course, the other stress is the job-hunt, which is not going particularly well, mainly because I dont have time to look for interesting jobs... Oh well, now that spring is sort-of-arriving, I really don't mind being here!
By the way, while I write that, I just realise that in three days, it will be my 2-year anniversary of living in Berlin. Reason for a party?
Since Manchester, we've been entertaining guests and doing fun things with friends: it's been pretty good actually! And I spent a week in Montreal. A beautiful city if there ever was one... It was fantastic to be able to meet up with people from the field, but even better to meet up with Nissrine, who came up from Toronto and whom I hadnt seen for about 3 years. And I also met up with Simon and his bf, who showed me some parts of Montreal that I didnt get a chance to see yet...
Here are a few photos to get an impression of my trip:
Finally, and I have done this before, but the song continues to be incredibly appropriate for the time of year:
Tschüßi,
OJ
Anyway, work has been terrible, but the worst part is coming to an end soon: next week is our big press conference and policy workshop, which is going to mean an end to most of the stress. Of course, the other stress is the job-hunt, which is not going particularly well, mainly because I dont have time to look for interesting jobs... Oh well, now that spring is sort-of-arriving, I really don't mind being here!
By the way, while I write that, I just realise that in three days, it will be my 2-year anniversary of living in Berlin. Reason for a party?
Since Manchester, we've been entertaining guests and doing fun things with friends: it's been pretty good actually! And I spent a week in Montreal. A beautiful city if there ever was one... It was fantastic to be able to meet up with people from the field, but even better to meet up with Nissrine, who came up from Toronto and whom I hadnt seen for about 3 years. And I also met up with Simon and his bf, who showed me some parts of Montreal that I didnt get a chance to see yet...
Here are a few photos to get an impression of my trip:
Finally, and I have done this before, but the song continues to be incredibly appropriate for the time of year:
Tschüßi,
OJ
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Manchester
We spent the weekend in Manchester, in order to meet up with my old friend Matt. Manchester is quite a cool place: interesting modern architecture and a lot of old buildings... And of course: the nightlife... After a little foray into a Lesbian club (oopsy, wrong club), we found the right place to be. Fun times in Manchester! We stayed at an alcohol- and TV-free muslem-run hotel, which was quite lovely, right off the Curry Mile...
Anyway, it was a lovely weekend. This week is another week of plentiful work (I lost 1.3 trillion $ of my estimate for the costs of conflict today due to a data construction error... oopsy again!). The coming weekend is going to be about Italian visitors, with Jen, Massi and Kate coming to visit. I cannot wait! And then afterwards, I'm off to Montreal for 5 days: enjoying the cold and the snow (apparently).
Tschüßi,
OJ
PS And I managed to make Fedor happy: I'm going to Greece for a conference in May and he is coming with, so he can finally see Athens! Hope it's in a better state than last time I was there.... (2002-03)
Anyway, it was a lovely weekend. This week is another week of plentiful work (I lost 1.3 trillion $ of my estimate for the costs of conflict today due to a data construction error... oopsy again!). The coming weekend is going to be about Italian visitors, with Jen, Massi and Kate coming to visit. I cannot wait! And then afterwards, I'm off to Montreal for 5 days: enjoying the cold and the snow (apparently).
Tschüßi,
OJ
PS And I managed to make Fedor happy: I'm going to Greece for a conference in May and he is coming with, so he can finally see Athens! Hope it's in a better state than last time I was there.... (2002-03)
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
New Favorite Film
btw, I am utterly smitten with this film: All You Need Is Love (that is the english title, anyway). It is sweet, sad and utterly hilarious. It's in our movie collection among such classics as this one, this one and this one..
Maybe I should do a proper movie review post someday soon? Hmmm, let's think about it. But for now, if you have a chance, check out All You Need Is Love...
Tschüßi,
OJ
Maybe I should do a proper movie review post someday soon? Hmmm, let's think about it. But for now, if you have a chance, check out All You Need Is Love...
Tschüßi,
OJ
Saturday, February 19, 2011
no visitors
A weekend without visitors! It is quite a moment to enjoy, although this obviously implied having to spend a few extra hours cleaning, then going to the gym and doing groceries, so it was still quite busy, but it is nice to be able to sit here and not to have to entertain (although, dont get me wrong: we love having visitors. But not-having them is nice for a change....). It also gives us the opportunity to finally visit the Historical Museum (tomorrow).
At work this week was a bit chaotic. An emergency department meeting was called to inform us that there was some talk of the department being closed down. As expected, this led to a bit of panic among my colleagues although it all turned out to be overstated. We heard on Thursday that, at least for the next 2 years, the department will not be shut down... This was naturally celebrated with a Pony Bar visit leading to lots of alcohol use... :-)
Anyway, not much to tell, otherwise. Last weekend's visit by Steef and Cindy was fun, if a little exhausting (how we ended up drinking until 6am on a Friday night without even going out is beyond me!). For the rest, I am going to be preparing for another week of work, with some serious cold coming our way (lows of -12, with a wind chill to make it feel like -19 apparently, and highs around -4 (-10): great... I thought this bloody winter was over!!!!
Tschüßi,
OJ
At work this week was a bit chaotic. An emergency department meeting was called to inform us that there was some talk of the department being closed down. As expected, this led to a bit of panic among my colleagues although it all turned out to be overstated. We heard on Thursday that, at least for the next 2 years, the department will not be shut down... This was naturally celebrated with a Pony Bar visit leading to lots of alcohol use... :-)
Anyway, not much to tell, otherwise. Last weekend's visit by Steef and Cindy was fun, if a little exhausting (how we ended up drinking until 6am on a Friday night without even going out is beyond me!). For the rest, I am going to be preparing for another week of work, with some serious cold coming our way (lows of -12, with a wind chill to make it feel like -19 apparently, and highs around -4 (-10): great... I thought this bloody winter was over!!!!
Tschüßi,
OJ
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Back in Berlin for the next few weeks
A fun trip to Dublin to meet with some PhD mates, back to Berlin, on to Oxford and London for a presentation at Brunel University, working with my coauthors and lunch with my cousin, back to Berlin and then off to Hamburg for an eighties party... Did I mention that I am happy to be staying put for a few weeks?
Anyway, it was all good fun. It was great to be in Ireland for the first time (depending on how you count, my appr. 50th country I ever visited!) and to meet up with all oud buddies. We even managed to meet up with Brian, who was a colleague of Fedor's in Milano and who returned to Dublin with his wife Elisa. Here is a picture of the whole gang (excl Brian) in front of the cafe founded by Fedor's former boss Caroline
The trip to Hamburg was another opportunity to see a new city, with Nicole joining us as so often! Hamburg really is a very pretty city. I love the modern architecture by the port, particularly in combination with the old classical buildings nearby. The only issue with the city that we noticed now (and which is apparently a constant problem there) is the WEATHER. It rained nearly continuously during our visit, but we didn't let that dampen our spirits!!!
The other main reason for going there was that Stephie was celebrating her 30th birthday by organising an eighties party! Obviously, we never let a good opportunity to get dressed up pass us by and we immediatel got our act together and adjusted to the theme...
Anyway, lots of fun ensued!
This week has been a busy one. With my coauthors in London, we are trying to create a final draft for our paper on governance and piracy, and I have been working on a Revise and Resubmit at the Journal of Peace Research. Unfortunately, I do not agree with the referees very much so I am trying to florally express my reasons why they ought to be ignored... Let's see!
In the meanwhile, the institute is getting quite some press coverage with the institute's president "deciding to take a leave of absence" (/cynicism) recently and me spending most of my spare time looking for alternative employment: fun times indeed! Anyway, I have renewed my website and starting sending out a few applications here and there... Let'S see!!!
Tschüßi,
OJ
Anyway, it was all good fun. It was great to be in Ireland for the first time (depending on how you count, my appr. 50th country I ever visited!) and to meet up with all oud buddies. We even managed to meet up with Brian, who was a colleague of Fedor's in Milano and who returned to Dublin with his wife Elisa. Here is a picture of the whole gang (excl Brian) in front of the cafe founded by Fedor's former boss Caroline
The trip to Hamburg was another opportunity to see a new city, with Nicole joining us as so often! Hamburg really is a very pretty city. I love the modern architecture by the port, particularly in combination with the old classical buildings nearby. The only issue with the city that we noticed now (and which is apparently a constant problem there) is the WEATHER. It rained nearly continuously during our visit, but we didn't let that dampen our spirits!!!
The other main reason for going there was that Stephie was celebrating her 30th birthday by organising an eighties party! Obviously, we never let a good opportunity to get dressed up pass us by and we immediatel got our act together and adjusted to the theme...
Anyway, lots of fun ensued!
This week has been a busy one. With my coauthors in London, we are trying to create a final draft for our paper on governance and piracy, and I have been working on a Revise and Resubmit at the Journal of Peace Research. Unfortunately, I do not agree with the referees very much so I am trying to florally express my reasons why they ought to be ignored... Let's see!
In the meanwhile, the institute is getting quite some press coverage with the institute's president "deciding to take a leave of absence" (/cynicism) recently and me spending most of my spare time looking for alternative employment: fun times indeed! Anyway, I have renewed my website and starting sending out a few applications here and there... Let'S see!!!
Tschüßi,
OJ
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Ethiopian photos!
See, now that I am back, I feel like I should be posting! First, I noticed that the number of visitors to this blog have not actually dropped very much during the time that I didn't post anything. To be precise, the number of visitors has actually been increasing!!!
So I did some basic statistical analysis, with N=25 monthly observations and at first sight, the correlation appears to be negative between the number of posts and the number of visits to my blog. The correlation coefficient is about -0.32 and regressing posts on visits gives a negative coefficient with a p-value of 0.12, so pretty close to significance!
However, when controlling for a linear time trend, the effect of posts becomes a lot smaller. While still negative, it is no longer anywhere close to being significant. Finally, after eyeballing the data, I think it is important to control for the month of January. I am guessing it may have something to do with my birthday, or with people being interested after xmas holidays or something, but January appears to attract a lot of visitors. Adding a January-dummy (which is highly significant, as is the time trend), the number of posts finally has a positive impact on the number of visits. So that is good to know: you do actually like it when I post something. Thanks for that!
Anyway, apart from that little geeky intermezzo, here are some of the promised photos from our Ethiopian holiday:
Summary: It was AMAZING.
Tschüßi,
OJ
PS We're off to Dublin for the weekend for a mini Bocconi reunion! Afterwards, I'm off to London for work and then we go to Hamburg for a party next weekend!
So I did some basic statistical analysis, with N=25 monthly observations and at first sight, the correlation appears to be negative between the number of posts and the number of visits to my blog. The correlation coefficient is about -0.32 and regressing posts on visits gives a negative coefficient with a p-value of 0.12, so pretty close to significance!
However, when controlling for a linear time trend, the effect of posts becomes a lot smaller. While still negative, it is no longer anywhere close to being significant. Finally, after eyeballing the data, I think it is important to control for the month of January. I am guessing it may have something to do with my birthday, or with people being interested after xmas holidays or something, but January appears to attract a lot of visitors. Adding a January-dummy (which is highly significant, as is the time trend), the number of posts finally has a positive impact on the number of visits. So that is good to know: you do actually like it when I post something. Thanks for that!
Anyway, apart from that little geeky intermezzo, here are some of the promised photos from our Ethiopian holiday:
Summary: It was AMAZING.
Tschüßi,
OJ
PS We're off to Dublin for the weekend for a mini Bocconi reunion! Afterwards, I'm off to London for work and then we go to Hamburg for a party next weekend!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Better and badder than ever before!
In answer to Gerwin: no, this blog has not died. It was temporarily comatose, that is all! But it has been revived...
What happened in the meantime? Well, I guess that would be too much to explain! In summary:
- Bavaria (incl Oktoberfest): awesome! And 1 Hillman Wonder!
- Washington DC: twice, always nice to be there
- New York: good times!
- Marie & Tom's wedding in the Netherlands: a lot of fun
- Brussels: acting like an expert at the NATO Headquarters
- vacationing in Ethiopia: superb!!! (I will post some photos later. No wonders, except that we got stuck in Istanbul, so 2 wonders for Fedor)
- Poznan: great to see Dominik, but I am not sure I would want to move there (it's pretty enough though)
Hmmm, when summarising half a year, it feels travel is the main focus: of course we also received visitors, worked, had parties (Halloween was supercool), etc.
Of course, this begs the question? Why try and revive this blog now? Well, probably because I want to share with you that I made my debute on BBC World last Friday. In a live interview on the flagship programme GMT... Being broadcast in the US on BBC America, in the UK on BBC2 and in the rest of the world on BBC World.
In summary: OH MY GOD, it was absolutely nerve-wrecking!!!! But also supercool, so that made me happy. And I learned something: if I ever see people doing live tv interviews again: respect! It is really not as easy as it seems!
Anyways, I'm back!!!
Tschüßi,
OJ
PS I realised that I have spent the past 7 New Year's Eves in 6 different countries! I think I would like to continue doing so!
What happened in the meantime? Well, I guess that would be too much to explain! In summary:
- Bavaria (incl Oktoberfest): awesome! And 1 Hillman Wonder!
- Washington DC: twice, always nice to be there
- New York: good times!
- Marie & Tom's wedding in the Netherlands: a lot of fun
- Brussels: acting like an expert at the NATO Headquarters
- vacationing in Ethiopia: superb!!! (I will post some photos later. No wonders, except that we got stuck in Istanbul, so 2 wonders for Fedor)
- Poznan: great to see Dominik, but I am not sure I would want to move there (it's pretty enough though)
Hmmm, when summarising half a year, it feels travel is the main focus: of course we also received visitors, worked, had parties (Halloween was supercool), etc.
Of course, this begs the question? Why try and revive this blog now? Well, probably because I want to share with you that I made my debute on BBC World last Friday. In a live interview on the flagship programme GMT... Being broadcast in the US on BBC America, in the UK on BBC2 and in the rest of the world on BBC World.
In summary: OH MY GOD, it was absolutely nerve-wrecking!!!! But also supercool, so that made me happy. And I learned something: if I ever see people doing live tv interviews again: respect! It is really not as easy as it seems!
Anyways, I'm back!!!
Tschüßi,
OJ
PS I realised that I have spent the past 7 New Year's Eves in 6 different countries! I think I would like to continue doing so!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Autumn? In August???
Well, I think the weekend that Andrea, Nynke and Ryanne were here (see last post) was the final pleasant weekend of the year. I mean, not so strange after all, considering it's already August, right? :-(((((
Anyway, despite the weather, good times have been had. My brother and his wife came over for a lovely weekend, during the Berlin beer festival, so we had a great time. This time, they decided not to bring their children to the beer festival, which was probably a wise decision... (Last year's visit). The weekend after, my parents came to visit. It was wonderful to see them, although they were not particularly lucky with the weather either. They are great visitors though, insisting on organising their own day-programme, giving us the opportunity to go to IKEA...
After that weekend, Fedor started his CELTA (Certificate of English Language Teaching to Adults) course, which actually takes up nearly as much time as promised. It is nice to both be in a serious working mood, although it would be nice if Fedor managed to free up his weekends a little... Oh well, too bad! Anyway, it's halfway now, so he only has 2 more fulltime weeks to go.
Last weekend, Fedor and I took the train to go to the Netherlands for the wedding of Joost and Kim. It was another beach party (like Bart and Tineke) and they were also lucky with the weather! The bride was gorgeous (and pregnant), the groom was drunk (unlike the bride) and the guests were merry: it was a perfect party!
Unfortunately, our trip back to Berlin didnt go quite as planned. We finally arrived home at about 2am (with 2.5 hours delay) and after repacking my suitcase, I only had about 2.5 hours to sleep. And being naturally stressed about this, I only slept for 1 hour.... At 5.30am, my taxi arrived to take me to the airport to fly to Glasgow for the European Economic Association. Thankfully, I arrived in time, because my presentation was in the first session on the first day. It went very well. For the next few days, I had the opportunity to meet with many old friends, meet many new ones, see some interesting sessions and enjoy Glasgow. And enjoying Glasgow is what I did! I have not got the photos from camera yet, so that will follow soon(ish), but I can tell that on the days it wasnt raining, Glasgow really is quite pleasant!
Anyway, I got home on Friday, in time to go out with Fedor's CELTA mates and to have dinner with Nicole and Pieter last night. Today some housework, and back to work tomorrow!
Talking about work, before Glasgow, I spent two weeks working on a project with my pirate-friend Anja, who works at my institute part-time. And in these two weeks, we produced nearly an entire paper. And not only is it nearly finished, it is also BEAUTIFUL. We have very, very high hopes for this paper, because it has a simple and appealing narrative and it just looks very, very promising. As soon as it comes out as a Discussion Paper (hopefully in a week or two), I will provide a link to it and tell you a little bit about it. It is just so incredibly cool, I am quite in love with it... :-)))))
For now, I say:
Tschüßi,
OJ
Anyway, despite the weather, good times have been had. My brother and his wife came over for a lovely weekend, during the Berlin beer festival, so we had a great time. This time, they decided not to bring their children to the beer festival, which was probably a wise decision... (Last year's visit). The weekend after, my parents came to visit. It was wonderful to see them, although they were not particularly lucky with the weather either. They are great visitors though, insisting on organising their own day-programme, giving us the opportunity to go to IKEA...
After that weekend, Fedor started his CELTA (Certificate of English Language Teaching to Adults) course, which actually takes up nearly as much time as promised. It is nice to both be in a serious working mood, although it would be nice if Fedor managed to free up his weekends a little... Oh well, too bad! Anyway, it's halfway now, so he only has 2 more fulltime weeks to go.
Last weekend, Fedor and I took the train to go to the Netherlands for the wedding of Joost and Kim. It was another beach party (like Bart and Tineke) and they were also lucky with the weather! The bride was gorgeous (and pregnant), the groom was drunk (unlike the bride) and the guests were merry: it was a perfect party!
Unfortunately, our trip back to Berlin didnt go quite as planned. We finally arrived home at about 2am (with 2.5 hours delay) and after repacking my suitcase, I only had about 2.5 hours to sleep. And being naturally stressed about this, I only slept for 1 hour.... At 5.30am, my taxi arrived to take me to the airport to fly to Glasgow for the European Economic Association. Thankfully, I arrived in time, because my presentation was in the first session on the first day. It went very well. For the next few days, I had the opportunity to meet with many old friends, meet many new ones, see some interesting sessions and enjoy Glasgow. And enjoying Glasgow is what I did! I have not got the photos from camera yet, so that will follow soon(ish), but I can tell that on the days it wasnt raining, Glasgow really is quite pleasant!
Anyway, I got home on Friday, in time to go out with Fedor's CELTA mates and to have dinner with Nicole and Pieter last night. Today some housework, and back to work tomorrow!
Talking about work, before Glasgow, I spent two weeks working on a project with my pirate-friend Anja, who works at my institute part-time. And in these two weeks, we produced nearly an entire paper. And not only is it nearly finished, it is also BEAUTIFUL. We have very, very high hopes for this paper, because it has a simple and appealing narrative and it just looks very, very promising. As soon as it comes out as a Discussion Paper (hopefully in a week or two), I will provide a link to it and tell you a little bit about it. It is just so incredibly cool, I am quite in love with it... :-)))))
For now, I say:
Tschüßi,
OJ
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
With the husband out and about tonight, I have some time to update my blog! First, to answer Gerwin, "yes, this will definitely involve a new city". I mean, the main reason why I want to change jobs is because I would like to live somewhere where the weather is at least bareable for more than 2 months per year (today, for example: 18° and rain: it's August...).
Anyway, during the past weekend, the weather was actually quite enjoyable, which was great because Andrea, Nynke and Ryanne came over from the Netherlands. We managed to spend some time on the beach (one of the many city beaches) and enjoyed the city's sights...
This was also Pieter's last weekend: he had to go back to the Netherlands, so we won't be taking any more fun weekend trips with him and Nicole for a while... At least Nicole is still here, so we can enjoy her company occassionally!
Anyway, for the rest there is fairly little to say. Thursday, my brother Lars and his wife are arriving for the weekend. I am totally looking forward to it, because it is going to be Berlin Beerfest and it is gonna be a lot of fun! Also, I am hoping my brother is going to be able to cure my laptop of some of its ills an viruses and so on.
By the way, I ran into this videothis video recently. It is a beautiful video of a slow-motion lightning strike! Watch it and be amazed!
Tschüßi,
OJ
Anyway, during the past weekend, the weather was actually quite enjoyable, which was great because Andrea, Nynke and Ryanne came over from the Netherlands. We managed to spend some time on the beach (one of the many city beaches) and enjoyed the city's sights...
This was also Pieter's last weekend: he had to go back to the Netherlands, so we won't be taking any more fun weekend trips with him and Nicole for a while... At least Nicole is still here, so we can enjoy her company occassionally!
Anyway, for the rest there is fairly little to say. Thursday, my brother Lars and his wife are arriving for the weekend. I am totally looking forward to it, because it is going to be Berlin Beerfest and it is gonna be a lot of fun! Also, I am hoping my brother is going to be able to cure my laptop of some of its ills an viruses and so on.
By the way, I ran into this videothis video recently. It is a beautiful video of a slow-motion lightning strike! Watch it and be amazed!
Tschüßi,
OJ
Sunday, July 25, 2010
ARRRRRRR
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!!!
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 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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