This week has been fairly quiet. We presented the very, very early version of our work on Tuesday, and it went rather well. The rest of the (short) week was spent packing boxes etc.: The University has been constructing a new building for years and finally, FINALLY, it's nearly finished. That is, the 5th floor is now finished, and that's where I (and most of my friends) well be. So during these days, starting last Wednesday, the whole University is basically moving, which means packing lots of boxes, sorting through many, many, many old exams and old books and hoping that all is going to go well. In principle, from Tuesday on, my new office is supposed to be in the Via Roentgen, but you never know what may go wrong. My computer may get lost, my boxes may get lost, I may not be able to find my office (5-d2-08 is my office nr: what does that mean? No idea), et cetera. Adventures, that's what I call them!
Anyway, the week was a bit shorter than normal due to the fact that last Friday was Liberation Day! Remember, the day that Italy got liberated from the Germans? Hmmm, a slightly odd perspective, but that's how it is here. And on that day, everything is closed, incl. University. So it was also a free day for me. Which was good, because my parents came to town Thursday Night (on their way to the South), and we had a good time with them, drinking, eating, drinking, so it was good not to have to wake up too early.
Then on Friday Night, we had a Rubik's Cube Party (everyone had to come with items of clothing in the colors of the Rubik's Cube and through cloth-trading, make sure you're all wearing just one colour at the end of the night: very cool party theme). Unfortunately, this is Italy and Italians are not so good in the "look-like-a-jackass-but-just-dont-give-a-fuck"-department, so the theme wasn't overly successful. I did manage to end up in full orange garments though.... :-D My own photos aren't so great (click here for photos), but I'm hoping to see some other ones and I will post them when I do see them.
Today is just a nice quiet day: the weather is lovely, we have no obligations, it's perfect! Same for tomorrow, and we're loving it!
ciao,
OJ
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Izmir et al.
So, last Saturday I did not even have to get up so ridiculously early to be able to catch my Alitalia flight to Istanbul. It really was quite relaxing just to calmly go to Malpensa and fly there. In Istanbul, a convenient connection brought me to Izmir (after I had noticed that Istanbul is the most outrageously prices airport ever. It's about twice as expensive as Malpensa, and Malpensa is already not-so-cheap. I also noticed that I really hate indoors-smoking. How is it possible to enjoy your teeny-tiny 7 euro sandwich when everyone around you is smoking cigarettes? It's foul!!!). Anyways, I arrived that night and went to the hotel.
The next day, there was trip organised to visit Ephesos, the House of the Holy Virgin (right....) and the little wine village of Sirince. An absolutely lovely day, where I really got to know a few people.
In summary, good times were had! In the evening, it was time for the conference dinner, followed by some drinks in town. Of course, as always with these kind of things, a few drinks turned into too many drinks and it was seriously difficult to get up the next morning. I had no chocie though, as the conference was the next day. After the first few presentations, I felt much better though and I made it through the day alright.
Unfortunately, the presentations I saw were mostly not very interesting to me. Either the level was simply too low (this was a mixed undergrad-graduate conference) or the topic was far away. I did seriously enjoy a paper by an Italian PhD student from the University of Namur, though, and I got a little bit of feedback on my own paper.
At the end of these presentations, it was time for the official celebration of the founding of the University. It was similar to last year, with long-winded speeches and lots of dancing performances. The nationalistic flag-waving and reverence of Ataturk is still something I cannot get used to, though (and yes, that was an understatement, but i don't want to insult my Turkish friends by embellishing on the topic). Oh well, afterwards a nice dinner was had and we hit the town again...
The next morning, I got a ride from one of the guys in order to get to the airport at 6.30am. Mid-morning, I arrived in Istanbul again where I met up with another conference participant and her friend.
I think I am finally convinced that Istanbul truly is a beautiful city, and I enjoyed walking around and visiting the spice market etc. In the evening, Alitalia brought me home again, where Fedor was awaiting my return.
The rest of the week has been hard work, preparing my Political Economics students for their exam on Friday and running lots of computer programs to make sure we have some results before Tuesday, when Idil is going to present our joint work for the first time (and no, there is no paper yet, and not really any results: don't get me started!). Finally, i also got some grading done and went into the weekend absolutely exhausted!
But satisfied.
Uhm, is there anything else I should add now? I did have a meeting with Chris Blattman, an absolutely amazing and interesting economist who is extremely well-travelled and knowledgeable: it gave me happy feelings! Oh, and one more thing: I am moving offices next week or so. There is a new building for the University (which is absolutely unfinished), and I will be sharing an office there with Idil and someone else: it'll be great!
Ciao,
OJ
The next day, there was trip organised to visit Ephesos, the House of the Holy Virgin (right....) and the little wine village of Sirince. An absolutely lovely day, where I really got to know a few people.
In summary, good times were had! In the evening, it was time for the conference dinner, followed by some drinks in town. Of course, as always with these kind of things, a few drinks turned into too many drinks and it was seriously difficult to get up the next morning. I had no chocie though, as the conference was the next day. After the first few presentations, I felt much better though and I made it through the day alright.
Unfortunately, the presentations I saw were mostly not very interesting to me. Either the level was simply too low (this was a mixed undergrad-graduate conference) or the topic was far away. I did seriously enjoy a paper by an Italian PhD student from the University of Namur, though, and I got a little bit of feedback on my own paper.
At the end of these presentations, it was time for the official celebration of the founding of the University. It was similar to last year, with long-winded speeches and lots of dancing performances. The nationalistic flag-waving and reverence of Ataturk is still something I cannot get used to, though (and yes, that was an understatement, but i don't want to insult my Turkish friends by embellishing on the topic). Oh well, afterwards a nice dinner was had and we hit the town again...
The next morning, I got a ride from one of the guys in order to get to the airport at 6.30am. Mid-morning, I arrived in Istanbul again where I met up with another conference participant and her friend.
I think I am finally convinced that Istanbul truly is a beautiful city, and I enjoyed walking around and visiting the spice market etc. In the evening, Alitalia brought me home again, where Fedor was awaiting my return.
The rest of the week has been hard work, preparing my Political Economics students for their exam on Friday and running lots of computer programs to make sure we have some results before Tuesday, when Idil is going to present our joint work for the first time (and no, there is no paper yet, and not really any results: don't get me started!). Finally, i also got some grading done and went into the weekend absolutely exhausted!
But satisfied.
Uhm, is there anything else I should add now? I did have a meeting with Chris Blattman, an absolutely amazing and interesting economist who is extremely well-travelled and knowledgeable: it gave me happy feelings! Oh, and one more thing: I am moving offices next week or so. There is a new building for the University (which is absolutely unfinished), and I will be sharing an office there with Idil and someone else: it'll be great!
Ciao,
OJ
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
bits and pieces of news
It's because G. asked that I am posting this. No real news yet from the interview. It seems they are positive, but some minor problems have arisen. Next week there should be more news. Which means I am unfortunately going to miss the conference in Amsterdam.... that's too bad. But to compensate for that, I did get accepted for a conference in Tunisa, early June and invited to attend a week-long seminar at Brown University at the end of June (which I will attend, if I do not get the desired result from the job interview).
So all in all, things seem pretty good, eh? For the rest, I'm very busy, making sure I am all prepared before next week's conference in Izmir, Turkey. And Bart and Tineke were here last weekend and it was lovely! The weather was gorgeous and we enjoyed the city and the antiques market a lot!
I'll keep you posted on further developments!
Ciao,
OJ
PS This was the 300th entry into my blog... And while I am not going to present statistics as fancy as G., I will point out to you that my speed is declining significantly. The first 100 was reached after about 6 months. I reached 200 after about 12 months, but to reach 300, I needed a total of 32 months! It's pathetic, isn't it?
So all in all, things seem pretty good, eh? For the rest, I'm very busy, making sure I am all prepared before next week's conference in Izmir, Turkey. And Bart and Tineke were here last weekend and it was lovely! The weather was gorgeous and we enjoyed the city and the antiques market a lot!
I'll keep you posted on further developments!
Ciao,
OJ
PS This was the 300th entry into my blog... And while I am not going to present statistics as fancy as G., I will point out to you that my speed is declining significantly. The first 100 was reached after about 6 months. I reached 200 after about 12 months, but to reach 300, I needed a total of 32 months! It's pathetic, isn't it?
Thursday, March 27, 2008
poverino....
Poor Fedor. The funny Dutch people in Eindhoven had some sort of power failure at the airport and his flight got cancelled. So after a lot of calling, messaging and other hassle, his only way of getting back here in time for work tomorrow was by train. So he's in the night train right now from the Netherlands to Milano.
That's what you get for flying Ryanair! If your flight is cancelled, you're on your own... aka: you're f*cked.
Oh well, I will welcome him with all his stuff at the train station tomorrow morning so he can go straight to work!
Ciao,
OJ
That's what you get for flying Ryanair! If your flight is cancelled, you're on your own... aka: you're f*cked.
Oh well, I will welcome him with all his stuff at the train station tomorrow morning so he can go straight to work!
Ciao,
OJ
Monday, March 24, 2008
blog changes
Well, what do you think? Slightly different colour scheme compared to before, but I must say that I am rather satisfied. The only thing that unfortunately has not survived these changes was the randomised blog-title-picture :-(
But I will look into it to see whether I'm gonna be able to repair that too!
But I will look into it to see whether I'm gonna be able to repair that too!
A Very Happy Easter!
Happy Easter! A very happy Easter, in fact: lots of good news recently... I had a job inteview (by phone) for a fellowship program for this Summer, and I will hear the result from that in about a week... I was absolutely dead nervous, obviously, for the interview, but it seemed to have gone quite well!
Additionally, I had my paper accepted at 2 conferences (in Zurich and Amsterdam), although I am not sure yet I am actually going to make it to either of them, but it's always nice to hear that someone is interested, isn't it? Finally, as mentioned before, in 3 weeks, I will be in Izmir again for the weekend for a conference...
So, that was all the good news. For the rest it's been work, work, work (yesss, finally some results for my latest paper: a cooperative effort) and some R&R in between. Fedor's father and his father's girlfriend were in Milano last week. It was quite relaxing for me, because I had a very good excuse not to participate in the Day Entertainment Program... Instead I relaxed and cycled! With Fedors new bycicle, I went on a real trip to investigate the end-of-Milan! That is, I cycled down the Naviglio Grande until I was in the fields.... About 45 minutes of cycling, but it totally felt like I was back in the Netherlands. Look at this picture:
This week-end is, if possible, even more relaxed. On Saturday it was a bit stressfull, because Jorge and Diana (Costa Rican friends of ours) came for dinner and of course I had to match their excellent Costa Rican meal they made for us last month. So I spent the whole day making an entire Japanese meal. And it was a great success!!! So I was very happy about that. Fedor was not as happy, the next morning, because he had to get up early to fly to the Netherlands to see La Famiglia. But I am sure that all the festitivies in the Netherlands will cheer him up, despite his little hang-over... Anyways, I am having 2 very relaxed days, without Fedor here and the University doors locked for Easter! I watched three movies yesterday, while stuffing myself with sushi left-overs: it was lovely! Today, I may make another bycicle tour again, because the weather is gorgeous...
Now, those were my happy thoughts for the day. I will finish with a buckload of pictures of all the things that I hadn't posted pictures of yet.
downtown Porto
View from Cathedral over the river in Porto
Old City in Porto
Fedor, Nuno and Marta in the Museum Gardens
My brothers by Lake Como
Kim and Joost at the Cimitero Monumentale
Ciao,
OJ
PS I wil try and do something about this horrible colour scheme. But I'm not making any promises......
Additionally, I had my paper accepted at 2 conferences (in Zurich and Amsterdam), although I am not sure yet I am actually going to make it to either of them, but it's always nice to hear that someone is interested, isn't it? Finally, as mentioned before, in 3 weeks, I will be in Izmir again for the weekend for a conference...
So, that was all the good news. For the rest it's been work, work, work (yesss, finally some results for my latest paper: a cooperative effort) and some R&R in between. Fedor's father and his father's girlfriend were in Milano last week. It was quite relaxing for me, because I had a very good excuse not to participate in the Day Entertainment Program... Instead I relaxed and cycled! With Fedors new bycicle, I went on a real trip to investigate the end-of-Milan! That is, I cycled down the Naviglio Grande until I was in the fields.... About 45 minutes of cycling, but it totally felt like I was back in the Netherlands. Look at this picture:
This week-end is, if possible, even more relaxed. On Saturday it was a bit stressfull, because Jorge and Diana (Costa Rican friends of ours) came for dinner and of course I had to match their excellent Costa Rican meal they made for us last month. So I spent the whole day making an entire Japanese meal. And it was a great success!!! So I was very happy about that. Fedor was not as happy, the next morning, because he had to get up early to fly to the Netherlands to see La Famiglia. But I am sure that all the festitivies in the Netherlands will cheer him up, despite his little hang-over... Anyways, I am having 2 very relaxed days, without Fedor here and the University doors locked for Easter! I watched three movies yesterday, while stuffing myself with sushi left-overs: it was lovely! Today, I may make another bycicle tour again, because the weather is gorgeous...
Now, those were my happy thoughts for the day. I will finish with a buckload of pictures of all the things that I hadn't posted pictures of yet.
downtown Porto
View from Cathedral over the river in Porto
Old City in Porto
Fedor, Nuno and Marta in the Museum Gardens
My brothers by Lake Como
Kim and Joost at the Cimitero Monumentale
Ciao,
OJ
PS I wil try and do something about this horrible colour scheme. But I'm not making any promises......
Monday, March 10, 2008
bugger
Well, somehow, I am not able to change the text color anymore. Instead, I've had to change the background. Sorry for those people who are color blind or otherwise visually impaired, I bet it's completely unreadible now. I hope to soon find out how to get back to original state (which I never wanted to change in the first place: bloody blogger!)
Ciao,
OJ
Ciao,
OJ
Sunday, March 09, 2008
summary...
Well, it seems to have been quite a while since I updated... And for some odd reason, blogspot decided that Black on Blue would be an improvement, it seems... I will correct this asap, once I find out how to do so. However, since I am downloading some movies right now, I have zero-speed when trying to do things online, so I can't do it immediately. This is also the reason why I am not adding any photos here. If you want to see photos from some of the things I will describe later, just check them out on Facebook or Volkskrant Reizen... And maybe I will add some later on, anyway.
Now, I can't believe I didn't even write anything about Porto yet! That trip seems ages ago already, even though it was only about 2 weeks ago. It was realllllly nice to see Marta (and Nuno) again and they were excellent hosts! They showed us all of Porto, which I should say is a beautiful city. It could use some paint and a good cleaning, but overall, it's very charming. But of course, for us it was mostly the hosts that made it best. We ate very, very well (fresh seafood: wooohooo) and went to a Port tasting in one of the cellars. We enjoyed some walking on the beach and a glass of wine looking out on the sea. I can imagine why Marta always says she wouldn't want to leave that city! One thing I did learn, however, is that it is possible to get a jetlag from only 1 hour time difference! Admittedly, it wasn't the time difference, but the fact that our flight was terribly early. Basically, we arrived at 8AM local time and had already been awake for six hours by then! This meant we could really enjoy the whole weekend, but it also meant we were totally wrecked at the end of it.
After returning there was another whole week of work to enjoy before, last weekend, my brothers arrived. It was very cool to see them and they were lucky with the weather. On Sunday, the temperature in Milan reached some 25°C, which is uncommon for Northern Italy on March 1! We went to Como that day and enjoyed the weather, the ice creams and the views from the top of the mountain. It was awesome! Also, they brought a new harddisk for Fedor's computer, which Jorryt had arranged somehow. So now Fedor has his own computer again: VERY NICE...
And............... I'm going to be an uncle again! Niels is expecting another child in September, which means that in my competition with Fedor, I will then be leading 4-0! Beat that! Seriously though, it's very cool and it'll be another good reason to go the Netherlands again in October or so...
The past week, I continued working and received word that my negotiations with the a conference in Izmir were successful: they are paying for my entire trip, including the flights, so I will be in Izmir during the 2nd weekend of April! I can hardly wait!
This weekend, Joost and Kim arrived from Rotterdam, to spend some time here, before taking the train to Firenze this morning. We had a lot of fun, meeting with other friends of mine and walking through town. They had been here before, but that was during Easter (last year) and many things were closed that time. So we had to do the Cimitero Monumentale still, as well as Hightech. I think they enjoyed it a lot too, as did we. Although, to be honest, I don't mind the fact that they left quite early today and we basically have an entire Sunday with each other, not doing much. Very Relaxing...
Particularly because it will give us the chance to FINALLY watch The Godfather tonight. Why make 3-hour movies? It is so inconvenient for people who have to work etc! We've had these since my birthday and never actually had 3 hours of time to watch even just the first part. But today we will!
Ciao,
OJ
Now, I can't believe I didn't even write anything about Porto yet! That trip seems ages ago already, even though it was only about 2 weeks ago. It was realllllly nice to see Marta (and Nuno) again and they were excellent hosts! They showed us all of Porto, which I should say is a beautiful city. It could use some paint and a good cleaning, but overall, it's very charming. But of course, for us it was mostly the hosts that made it best. We ate very, very well (fresh seafood: wooohooo) and went to a Port tasting in one of the cellars. We enjoyed some walking on the beach and a glass of wine looking out on the sea. I can imagine why Marta always says she wouldn't want to leave that city! One thing I did learn, however, is that it is possible to get a jetlag from only 1 hour time difference! Admittedly, it wasn't the time difference, but the fact that our flight was terribly early. Basically, we arrived at 8AM local time and had already been awake for six hours by then! This meant we could really enjoy the whole weekend, but it also meant we were totally wrecked at the end of it.
After returning there was another whole week of work to enjoy before, last weekend, my brothers arrived. It was very cool to see them and they were lucky with the weather. On Sunday, the temperature in Milan reached some 25°C, which is uncommon for Northern Italy on March 1! We went to Como that day and enjoyed the weather, the ice creams and the views from the top of the mountain. It was awesome! Also, they brought a new harddisk for Fedor's computer, which Jorryt had arranged somehow. So now Fedor has his own computer again: VERY NICE...
And............... I'm going to be an uncle again! Niels is expecting another child in September, which means that in my competition with Fedor, I will then be leading 4-0! Beat that! Seriously though, it's very cool and it'll be another good reason to go the Netherlands again in October or so...
The past week, I continued working and received word that my negotiations with the a conference in Izmir were successful: they are paying for my entire trip, including the flights, so I will be in Izmir during the 2nd weekend of April! I can hardly wait!
This weekend, Joost and Kim arrived from Rotterdam, to spend some time here, before taking the train to Firenze this morning. We had a lot of fun, meeting with other friends of mine and walking through town. They had been here before, but that was during Easter (last year) and many things were closed that time. So we had to do the Cimitero Monumentale still, as well as Hightech. I think they enjoyed it a lot too, as did we. Although, to be honest, I don't mind the fact that they left quite early today and we basically have an entire Sunday with each other, not doing much. Very Relaxing...
Particularly because it will give us the chance to FINALLY watch The Godfather tonight. Why make 3-hour movies? It is so inconvenient for people who have to work etc! We've had these since my birthday and never actually had 3 hours of time to watch even just the first part. But today we will!
Ciao,
OJ
Friday, February 22, 2008
Seriously...
Wow, I found out yesterday that the fact that the government fell in January is probably gonna end up costing me about a 1000 euros!!! The 2008 budget included a proposal to increase our scholarship by some 140 euros a month (remember it's about 800 euros a month right now) and even though it has been approved by the parliament and the Senate, there is now no executive in charge to sign the bill. So we're gonna have to wait for the elections, which will probably be won by Berlusconi. And since he's not so big on Universities (he's generally not big on institutions or people that do not agree with him), he will chuck the bill out of the window for sure! So Prodi's fall is going to cost us the scholarship increase. Amounting to something in the order of 1000 euros.... :-(((((((
On to happier topics: we went to an Eritrean restaurant yesterday. And I can tell everyone, it's something you should really try! It was a great experience, which has been described before as "eating pancakes with goulash, with your hands". While this kinda covers it, it doesn't quite describe the entire experience. Definitely a good idea though!
And on to even happier topics: we're going to visit Marta in Porto this weekend. The flight leaves at an absolutely ungodly hour (6.30 AM: that means getting up at 3.30 AM), but I am sure we're gonna have a great time, nonetheless!
That's all I wanted to share today!
Ciao,
OJ
On to happier topics: we went to an Eritrean restaurant yesterday. And I can tell everyone, it's something you should really try! It was a great experience, which has been described before as "eating pancakes with goulash, with your hands". While this kinda covers it, it doesn't quite describe the entire experience. Definitely a good idea though!
And on to even happier topics: we're going to visit Marta in Porto this weekend. The flight leaves at an absolutely ungodly hour (6.30 AM: that means getting up at 3.30 AM), but I am sure we're gonna have a great time, nonetheless!
That's all I wanted to share today!
Ciao,
OJ
Monday, February 18, 2008
Valentine's Day!
A short Summary of what's been happening: work, work, work, my Mother-in-Law came to visit (woohoo, I received Rome, season 2, as a belated bday present!), lots of sun and great weather and more work. And of course, Valentine's Day:
Well, to be honest, we did't really partake in the whole Valentine's tradition and we didn't particularly celebrate it. We did, however, go to Verona for the weekend! And Verona, the city of Romeo and Juliet, is also known as the city of love, so we sort of turned it into a Valentine's weekend-trip. I had used hotelclub (see link on the right-hand side) to book a 4-star hotel for only 53 euros and it was fantastic! An enormous room, nice little thingies and an amazing breakfast: it was gooood!
The weather wasn't great, unfortunately. Cloudy mornings, sunny afternoons, but with rather low temperatures. But that didn't stop us from going around the city and visiting all the interesting sights!
We returned to Milan Sunday night, very satisfied.
In other news, did I mention I presented my second paper? Well, I did and it was received reasonably well. Currently, my supervisors are looking at it and I am waiting for several conferences to respond. It's looking good! I have also started working on my third paper (within the PhD): a cooperative project this time... So now starts the final phase of my PhD, I guess. I am trying to arrange my oral examinations before Summer and I am really aiming to hand in the dissertation before February 1. We'll see.
The week ahead: Thursday we're going to an Eritrean restaurant! Some friends recently went, and were very enthusiastic. So we're going on Thursday, with some other friends of ours. I cannot wait! Then on Saturday, we're flying to Porto, to visit Marta! It will be lovely, and the weather is forecast to be really good too, so that should be very enjoyable. Either way, it'll be great to see Marta, even when it's not sunny!!!
Yes, I realise this post is completely messy and makes no sense. Oh well, shit happens, I cannot be bothered to go through it and let it make more sense...
Ciao,
OJ
Well, to be honest, we did't really partake in the whole Valentine's tradition and we didn't particularly celebrate it. We did, however, go to Verona for the weekend! And Verona, the city of Romeo and Juliet, is also known as the city of love, so we sort of turned it into a Valentine's weekend-trip. I had used hotelclub (see link on the right-hand side) to book a 4-star hotel for only 53 euros and it was fantastic! An enormous room, nice little thingies and an amazing breakfast: it was gooood!
The weather wasn't great, unfortunately. Cloudy mornings, sunny afternoons, but with rather low temperatures. But that didn't stop us from going around the city and visiting all the interesting sights!
We returned to Milan Sunday night, very satisfied.
In other news, did I mention I presented my second paper? Well, I did and it was received reasonably well. Currently, my supervisors are looking at it and I am waiting for several conferences to respond. It's looking good! I have also started working on my third paper (within the PhD): a cooperative project this time... So now starts the final phase of my PhD, I guess. I am trying to arrange my oral examinations before Summer and I am really aiming to hand in the dissertation before February 1. We'll see.
The week ahead: Thursday we're going to an Eritrean restaurant! Some friends recently went, and were very enthusiastic. So we're going on Thursday, with some other friends of ours. I cannot wait! Then on Saturday, we're flying to Porto, to visit Marta! It will be lovely, and the weather is forecast to be really good too, so that should be very enjoyable. Either way, it'll be great to see Marta, even when it's not sunny!!!
Yes, I realise this post is completely messy and makes no sense. Oh well, shit happens, I cannot be bothered to go through it and let it make more sense...
Ciao,
OJ
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Happy Bday....
It's the season to be older.... I wonder if anyone ever researched whether there is a correlation between birth month and probability to do a PhD (actually, I know some research which does look at birth quarter and education achievement, but not on PhD level), because in my PhD it seems that by far the greatest majority is born between mid-January and May. This means: lots of celebrations. Last weekend was Felix's turn, but he decided against celebrating it. Obviously, we didn't accept this and we (well, I) organised a surprise party for him this weekend. And it was fun! Unfortunately, I did forget to bring my new party-camera I got on my own bday. So no interesting photos of the event...
For the rest it's been hard work to finish my paper before a few conference deadlines. And I managed! The first version of my second PhD-paper is now finished! "Measuring Ethno-Linguistic Affinity Between Nations": in the theatres near YOU! Well, the latter part may not be true, but I will be submitting this paper to a number of conferences (Ankara, Tunis, Amsterdam, Zurich, Athens): we'll see what's going to happen... But I must say that I am rather satisfied about the speed with which this paper has been written. I got the idea in November, so it only took about 3 months. And while it is not completely finished of course, the body of it should be just about finished. I will present it at the Graduate Seminar Series at Bocconi on Monday: let's see what people think...
I have also started brainstorming about the next paper, and it might be a cooperative work! Let's see where that goes...
Fedor and I do not see each other a lot, because we both work a lot. But at least we have the weekends together! Not for long anymore, because the bookings are starting to come in seriously now. February: fully booked. March: fully booked. April: 1 or 2 free weekends. May: fully booked. It's hard being this popular, isn't it???
This weekend: Fedor's mother. That should definitely be fun!
Ciao,
OJ
For the rest it's been hard work to finish my paper before a few conference deadlines. And I managed! The first version of my second PhD-paper is now finished! "Measuring Ethno-Linguistic Affinity Between Nations": in the theatres near YOU! Well, the latter part may not be true, but I will be submitting this paper to a number of conferences (Ankara, Tunis, Amsterdam, Zurich, Athens): we'll see what's going to happen... But I must say that I am rather satisfied about the speed with which this paper has been written. I got the idea in November, so it only took about 3 months. And while it is not completely finished of course, the body of it should be just about finished. I will present it at the Graduate Seminar Series at Bocconi on Monday: let's see what people think...
I have also started brainstorming about the next paper, and it might be a cooperative work! Let's see where that goes...
Fedor and I do not see each other a lot, because we both work a lot. But at least we have the weekends together! Not for long anymore, because the bookings are starting to come in seriously now. February: fully booked. March: fully booked. April: 1 or 2 free weekends. May: fully booked. It's hard being this popular, isn't it???
This weekend: Fedor's mother. That should definitely be fun!
Ciao,
OJ
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Happy bday to me!
Well, happy birthday to me! As I mentioned in my previous post, I actually celebrated my birthday for the first time in years! And it was lovely!!! I am absolutely doing it again next year. I found a newly opened hip bar near the University and celebrated it there with some 40-ish people present. What can I say: pictures say more than words, so I'll just post a collage of photos and you can see for yourself:
So, that should give a nice overview of what the party was like. My friend Maja had put herself in charge of taking photos and she did an admirable job! 335 photos in one night!
Although, admittedly, Fedor took the last photo, on the way home when I may have been slightly drunk, but apparently convinced that this was an absolutely gorgeous object and that I would not come home until he took a photo of me with the object:
Oh well, what can I say? It was a good party!
Yesterday, we did very little and simply watched some movies. One more movie tip of the week: Go West, an absolutely amazing movie about a gay Muslim-serbian couple who have to flee Sarajevo and are hiding in a small town in Bosnia. Not the most upbeat film you'll ever see, but certainly very interesting!
Ciao,
OJ
So, that should give a nice overview of what the party was like. My friend Maja had put herself in charge of taking photos and she did an admirable job! 335 photos in one night!
Although, admittedly, Fedor took the last photo, on the way home when I may have been slightly drunk, but apparently convinced that this was an absolutely gorgeous object and that I would not come home until he took a photo of me with the object:
Oh well, what can I say? It was a good party!
Yesterday, we did very little and simply watched some movies. One more movie tip of the week: Go West, an absolutely amazing movie about a gay Muslim-serbian couple who have to flee Sarajevo and are hiding in a small town in Bosnia. Not the most upbeat film you'll ever see, but certainly very interesting!
Ciao,
OJ
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Just some things
We were in Coventry last weekend, to see Matt and Antony. A four-hour delay on the way there, meant that we had to miss out on the restaurant we were supposed to go on Friday. Instead we stayed at home and talked and drank a lot: it was lovely. The next morning, Fedor got the English Breakfast he had been looking forward to for weeks, and so did I. Of course we got to a slow start, but finally we managed to get out of the house, on the way to the city known for its ceramic and its sauce....
Do you already know which one I mean?
Do you?
Really, seriously: do you?
Well, it was Worcester. An interesting cute little town, with an amazing cathedral and a cute city centre...
We spent a few hours walking around in the city centre and take in all the sights. It wasn't too cold and more surprisingly, it wasn't raining, so this was very enjoyable. Matt is very good at making sure we see all the cities in the entire area (previously checked of: Cambridge, Oxford, Coventry, Birmingham, Stratford, Rugby and obviously London). At night, we went out in Coventry and the next morning we flew back to Milan. It was a very enjoyable trip, and it was good to see them again. And to see their new house, which I (bad friend, I know) hadn't even realised they moved into...
Apart from that, it's been lots of work recently. Still aiming for a January 31st deadline to finish a not-so-preliminary version of my current paper and I am still hopeful to make it... And additionally, I have been spending lots of time clearing up other people's examinations mess. Some things at Bocconi are really amazingly unorganised: A group of students who had a midterm exam, but got asked a question that wasn't part of the curriculum, sure that happens. But if you collectively forget to solve this problem and ignore it when people warn you about it, that's not very nice. It gets worse though: If these students (who haven't gotten their final grade for their midterm yet) then get their exam about the rest of the curriculum, you obviously make sure that no such mistake can happen again, right? So I did that, and made sure that the questions were appropriate. Unfortunately, my advice was heeded and instead some of the exercises were added or changed. Result: Students get a 5-question exam, of which 3 questions are not actually part of the curriculum... Of the 2 questions they did get, one was so badly translated from Italian that it was impossible to answer and the other one was an extension of the material they had never seen before and could not possibly know either.
Does this sound like a mess to you? It gets worse: the responible professors are all out of town and no-one else knows what is going on.
Luckily for the students, I do. Which causes a significant upward shift in their expected grades.... This has been my time-consuming good deed of the month!
Ciao,
OJ
PS I am celebrating my birthday this year for the first time in yeeeeeears: I am actually looking forward to it!
Do you already know which one I mean?
Do you?
Really, seriously: do you?
Well, it was Worcester. An interesting cute little town, with an amazing cathedral and a cute city centre...
We spent a few hours walking around in the city centre and take in all the sights. It wasn't too cold and more surprisingly, it wasn't raining, so this was very enjoyable. Matt is very good at making sure we see all the cities in the entire area (previously checked of: Cambridge, Oxford, Coventry, Birmingham, Stratford, Rugby and obviously London). At night, we went out in Coventry and the next morning we flew back to Milan. It was a very enjoyable trip, and it was good to see them again. And to see their new house, which I (bad friend, I know) hadn't even realised they moved into...
Apart from that, it's been lots of work recently. Still aiming for a January 31st deadline to finish a not-so-preliminary version of my current paper and I am still hopeful to make it... And additionally, I have been spending lots of time clearing up other people's examinations mess. Some things at Bocconi are really amazingly unorganised: A group of students who had a midterm exam, but got asked a question that wasn't part of the curriculum, sure that happens. But if you collectively forget to solve this problem and ignore it when people warn you about it, that's not very nice. It gets worse though: If these students (who haven't gotten their final grade for their midterm yet) then get their exam about the rest of the curriculum, you obviously make sure that no such mistake can happen again, right? So I did that, and made sure that the questions were appropriate. Unfortunately, my advice was heeded and instead some of the exercises were added or changed. Result: Students get a 5-question exam, of which 3 questions are not actually part of the curriculum... Of the 2 questions they did get, one was so badly translated from Italian that it was impossible to answer and the other one was an extension of the material they had never seen before and could not possibly know either.
Does this sound like a mess to you? It gets worse: the responible professors are all out of town and no-one else knows what is going on.
Luckily for the students, I do. Which causes a significant upward shift in their expected grades.... This has been my time-consuming good deed of the month!
Ciao,
OJ
PS I am celebrating my birthday this year for the first time in yeeeeeears: I am actually looking forward to it!
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Just rambling on...
With Fedor not having to work, I am rarely home alone anymore. And it just feels a bit odd sitting next to him writing my blog. Particularly since, despite Jorryt's best efforts, his computer is now in an even sorrier state than it was before. The only thing that still runs (most of the time, not always) is a dressed down Linux version with which he can access the internet. That's it. Not so nice...
Anyways, right now Fedor's away shopping, so I have time to update my blog. Happy New Year!!! Buon Anno!!! I can't believe it's already 2008. Anyways, it's the way things go, isn't it? Time passes and the years come and go: goodbye 2007, welcome 2008! Now that I mention 2007, Christmas was a lot of fun. I think most of my courses were received well, but more importantly: we had a lot of fun! Obviously, we also had a bit too much to drink, but it was not nearly as bad as some of the christmas dinners I have organised in the past (I have half a mind of adding a picture that clearly depicts how terribly wrong things can go when drinking too much for christmas, but I have promised the person in question never to show those photos to anyone, so I won't...). Interluding the entire christmas dinners were plenty of presents. It's a fun way of spending your time in between courses: unwrapping presents! Both Jorryt and Lilian seemd very pleased with their set of presents (Lilian's new sparkly golden high-heeled shoes fit remarkably well....) and so were Fedor and I, of course! I received CD's of Sarah Brightman and the 1960's Italian singer Mina (who is AMAZING), as well as my long-desired Angels in America DVD. I only had the downloaded copy, but it's so amazing that I really wanted to have the DVD as well. Finally, two of my other presents really stand out: a chocolate fondue fountain (seriously, we now have a chocolate fondue fountain: how frigging awesome is that?) and a book I had been looking for for a long time: The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (you know, the guy who invented economics), which is an obvious must-have for any economist.
Of course, like last time when Jorryt and Lilian visited, we went on another little trip. This time, we rented a car and drove to the north-western Italian region of Valle d'Aosta (apparently the smallest and wealthiest region of Italy). It's an Alpine region, where there are apparently excellent skiing opportunities and some amazing landscapes. Of course a trip with Jorryt and Lilian isn't complete without a Hillman Wonder to see, and luckily there's the Matterhorn on the border of Italy and Switzerland to see. Or Mount Deer, as they called it in Italian (Monte Cervino).
After seeing that and playing in the snow for a bit (small bit), we had lunch in a ski resort before continuing to the regional capital Aosta. A cute little town, where it was very, very cold, so we didn't stick around very long.
The trip back to Milan was not very far (it's only about 2 hours away, really), but the fog was quite dangerous. At one point, we could hardly see the road markings, never mind about road signs or other traffic participants... I was extremely glad not to be driving (thanks to Jorryt). In the end, we made it home safely and in time to enjoy playing some more games as we do often...
The next morning, Jorryt and Lilian left and I decided to go back to work, and because my own building was closed, I went to my old office, where I was hoping to be able to use a computer. I felt very lucky when it turned out that not only were there computers available, there was even heating! That's the first time between xmas and new year that the university actually doesn't switch of the heating system... Unfortunately, they did decide to (temporarily) switch of the network, making it impossible for me to access both the internet and my own documents. Conclusion: little work was done...
Oh well, a few days later the network was back online and I have been doing quite a bit of work since then. Of course not many people are in the University, although it started picking up again the past 2 days (mind you, both 1st and 2nd year students have exams starting on Monday. So they ought to be back).
New Year's Eve was spent at the house of Belinda and Enrico, who returned from their honeymoon in the morning, after getting stuck in Dubai (piece of advice: if you're not European, make sure to bring your Permit of Stay when you leave the European Union...). It was a pretty good night and we got home around 4-ish.
Finally, we've had snow.
...
...
...
It was disgusting. It rain-snowed on Thursday and actually snowed on Thursday night. Friday during the day, it may have looked fairly pretty, if it wasn't for the rain that was falling, and the fact that the snow had already turned into one big muddy quasi-frozen Margherita. Slush, that is.
I'm glad that's over, anyway, and temperatures should be up again soon!
Ciao,
OJ
PS Movie Tip of the day: The History Boys. A BBC production based on the play that ran at the Royal Theatre in London in 2004. Absolutely excellent movie and interestingly enough, using the same cast as the play. Absolute must-see!
Anyways, right now Fedor's away shopping, so I have time to update my blog. Happy New Year!!! Buon Anno!!! I can't believe it's already 2008. Anyways, it's the way things go, isn't it? Time passes and the years come and go: goodbye 2007, welcome 2008! Now that I mention 2007, Christmas was a lot of fun. I think most of my courses were received well, but more importantly: we had a lot of fun! Obviously, we also had a bit too much to drink, but it was not nearly as bad as some of the christmas dinners I have organised in the past (I have half a mind of adding a picture that clearly depicts how terribly wrong things can go when drinking too much for christmas, but I have promised the person in question never to show those photos to anyone, so I won't...). Interluding the entire christmas dinners were plenty of presents. It's a fun way of spending your time in between courses: unwrapping presents! Both Jorryt and Lilian seemd very pleased with their set of presents (Lilian's new sparkly golden high-heeled shoes fit remarkably well....) and so were Fedor and I, of course! I received CD's of Sarah Brightman and the 1960's Italian singer Mina (who is AMAZING), as well as my long-desired Angels in America DVD. I only had the downloaded copy, but it's so amazing that I really wanted to have the DVD as well. Finally, two of my other presents really stand out: a chocolate fondue fountain (seriously, we now have a chocolate fondue fountain: how frigging awesome is that?) and a book I had been looking for for a long time: The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (you know, the guy who invented economics), which is an obvious must-have for any economist.
Of course, like last time when Jorryt and Lilian visited, we went on another little trip. This time, we rented a car and drove to the north-western Italian region of Valle d'Aosta (apparently the smallest and wealthiest region of Italy). It's an Alpine region, where there are apparently excellent skiing opportunities and some amazing landscapes. Of course a trip with Jorryt and Lilian isn't complete without a Hillman Wonder to see, and luckily there's the Matterhorn on the border of Italy and Switzerland to see. Or Mount Deer, as they called it in Italian (Monte Cervino).
After seeing that and playing in the snow for a bit (small bit), we had lunch in a ski resort before continuing to the regional capital Aosta. A cute little town, where it was very, very cold, so we didn't stick around very long.
The trip back to Milan was not very far (it's only about 2 hours away, really), but the fog was quite dangerous. At one point, we could hardly see the road markings, never mind about road signs or other traffic participants... I was extremely glad not to be driving (thanks to Jorryt). In the end, we made it home safely and in time to enjoy playing some more games as we do often...
The next morning, Jorryt and Lilian left and I decided to go back to work, and because my own building was closed, I went to my old office, where I was hoping to be able to use a computer. I felt very lucky when it turned out that not only were there computers available, there was even heating! That's the first time between xmas and new year that the university actually doesn't switch of the heating system... Unfortunately, they did decide to (temporarily) switch of the network, making it impossible for me to access both the internet and my own documents. Conclusion: little work was done...
Oh well, a few days later the network was back online and I have been doing quite a bit of work since then. Of course not many people are in the University, although it started picking up again the past 2 days (mind you, both 1st and 2nd year students have exams starting on Monday. So they ought to be back).
New Year's Eve was spent at the house of Belinda and Enrico, who returned from their honeymoon in the morning, after getting stuck in Dubai (piece of advice: if you're not European, make sure to bring your Permit of Stay when you leave the European Union...). It was a pretty good night and we got home around 4-ish.
Finally, we've had snow.
...
...
...
It was disgusting. It rain-snowed on Thursday and actually snowed on Thursday night. Friday during the day, it may have looked fairly pretty, if it wasn't for the rain that was falling, and the fact that the snow had already turned into one big muddy quasi-frozen Margherita. Slush, that is.
I'm glad that's over, anyway, and temperatures should be up again soon!
Ciao,
OJ
PS Movie Tip of the day: The History Boys. A BBC production based on the play that ran at the Royal Theatre in London in 2004. Absolutely excellent movie and interestingly enough, using the same cast as the play. Absolute must-see!
Monday, December 24, 2007
Happy Holidays!
So, the holidays have started. Of course, just my luck, I have been sick for about a week now. However, I feel I am recovering now, and I am ready to start cooking. Actually, I have already started cooking this weekend, but the majority of it will take place tomorrow (and the day after). My 10-course meal is looking to be absolutely lovely, I truly believe. I even managed to get fresh tuna this year, in order to make my tuna carpaccio! So that should certainly delight Jorryt and Lilian, who will be arriving in an hour or so.
And of course christmas is also about unwrapping presents, because our tree is absolutely covered in presents, right now, so there will be quite a bit of that to do as well!
Unfortunately, we're not having a white xmas :-( Unless foggy white also counts, because it's been quasi-foggy all day long today... Anyways, to compensate for the lack of snow, we'll go to towards the Alps on Thursday, using the car we're renting for that day. So, that'll be a lot of fun too!
Anyways, all I wanted to do right now is wish everyone happy holidays!!!
Ciao,
OJ
And of course christmas is also about unwrapping presents, because our tree is absolutely covered in presents, right now, so there will be quite a bit of that to do as well!
Unfortunately, we're not having a white xmas :-( Unless foggy white also counts, because it's been quasi-foggy all day long today... Anyways, to compensate for the lack of snow, we'll go to towards the Alps on Thursday, using the car we're renting for that day. So, that'll be a lot of fun too!
Anyways, all I wanted to do right now is wish everyone happy holidays!!!
Ciao,
OJ
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Too much to discuss.
Well, actually, now that I am thinking about it, there's really not that much to discuss... Lots of work, a few nice evenings here and there, the works. We had friends of Fedor over for the weekend, who kept us rather busy, and we said goodbye to our friends Nina and Antonio who are moving to the Netherlands.
More specifically, I am happy to report that it's nearly christmas! And that means several things. First of all, the courses I am teaching have nearly finished, so that creates a lot of extra time in my schedule. This whole teaching business may be ridiculously overpaid, but it certainly does take up a lot of time. And it's so frustrating when students simply refuse to participate properly (they had complained after the midterm that the classes weren't interactive enough. I try and make them more interactive, but they just refuse to cooperate with me...). But it's good to know that that is nearly over... The second thing I love about xmas is all the functions that are organised. Although I must honestly say that this year there are not a lot of them. Even Fedor's job is not organising a xmas party this year :-(. But at least on Monday, there was a nice lunch of the department of Economics. Tomorrow is the xmas dinner for student representatives (but I'm not going to go) and Thursday afternoon is another session with just the PhD. So, it's not a terribly bad score, but I have had better years! The final thing that is so great about xmas here is the decorations! Milano has really expanded its decorations budget this year, that's for sure, because the city is simply gorgeous! Piazza Duomo is stunning, and I have shown photos of the Castello before: nice, wasn't it?
But, one thing is has been very disappointing: no Swarovski-decorated xmas tree in the middle of the Galleria this year. I was very sad when I found out the Swarovski tree had been dumped...
Finally, the flu has been going around and it has entered our home. Not good... (I say while blowing my nose and coughing my lungs out)
Ciao,
OJ
Well, actually, now that I am thinking about it, there's really not that much to discuss... Lots of work, a few nice evenings here and there, the works. We had friends of Fedor over for the weekend, who kept us rather busy, and we said goodbye to our friends Nina and Antonio who are moving to the Netherlands.
More specifically, I am happy to report that it's nearly christmas! And that means several things. First of all, the courses I am teaching have nearly finished, so that creates a lot of extra time in my schedule. This whole teaching business may be ridiculously overpaid, but it certainly does take up a lot of time. And it's so frustrating when students simply refuse to participate properly (they had complained after the midterm that the classes weren't interactive enough. I try and make them more interactive, but they just refuse to cooperate with me...). But it's good to know that that is nearly over... The second thing I love about xmas is all the functions that are organised. Although I must honestly say that this year there are not a lot of them. Even Fedor's job is not organising a xmas party this year :-(. But at least on Monday, there was a nice lunch of the department of Economics. Tomorrow is the xmas dinner for student representatives (but I'm not going to go) and Thursday afternoon is another session with just the PhD. So, it's not a terribly bad score, but I have had better years! The final thing that is so great about xmas here is the decorations! Milano has really expanded its decorations budget this year, that's for sure, because the city is simply gorgeous! Piazza Duomo is stunning, and I have shown photos of the Castello before: nice, wasn't it?
But, one thing is has been very disappointing: no Swarovski-decorated xmas tree in the middle of the Galleria this year. I was very sad when I found out the Swarovski tree had been dumped...
Finally, the flu has been going around and it has entered our home. Not good... (I say while blowing my nose and coughing my lungs out)
Ciao,
OJ
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Happy Sant'Ambrogio everyone!
Ho, ho, ho, it's nearly christmas! Well, maybe that's not entirely true, but we're totally getting into the xmas mood! It helped that this Friday was Sant'Ambrogio, the patron saint of Milano, so Fedor and I were both free from work (well, Fedor was free and at University, they just lock the building so it's actually impossible to work, but that's just a detail). Instead, we started on our xmas shopping! And there are so many things to buy in this city, it's very exciting to go shopping!!! Particularly because I made 200€ last Wednesday by recording the slogan for a radio-advertisement in a few European countries (I did the Dutch, German and English slogans), so I actually had money to spend on shopping!
And the city is becoming so beautiful with all lights and decorations throughout, it's enchanting! A final thing that really adds to the athmosphere are a number of markets that open around this time. The official christmas market, I haven't actually been to, but I know from other years it's really lovely. The Sant'Ambrogio market named O Bei, O Bei, however, was as lovely as always. An enormous market with lots of christmas goodies, and food and mulled wine (gluhwein). I love going there...
A separate market that started in December 1 and ended today is the Fiera Artigianale in the local convention centre. It's an ENORMOUS fair with handmade goodies and lots of food from all Italian regions, as well as many other countries of the world. It's absolutely gigantic and we went today with friends, but there was simply too much to see (and taste).
Of course we have also had a few social activities during these days, going to (finally) see the new, uhm, well, house is not appropriate, neither is appartment, but room sounds too aweful. Let's say we went to see the new "domicile" of our friends Felix and Annaig. It's, well, small. But the building is gorgeous and their kitchen is 3 times as big as ours. And they made good use of it, cooking us a grand meal on Friday. Yesterday we went out for aperitivo because Nissrine was in Milan for the weekend. She was very sad, because of all the trouble with her permesso. She actually has to go back to Canada for a few months, even though she has a job and the company is willing to do everything for her. But the bastards at the police station refuse to give her a residence permit. It's sad.
Anyways, the shopping weekend is nearly over and it's back to business on Monday.
Ciao,
OJ
And the city is becoming so beautiful with all lights and decorations throughout, it's enchanting! A final thing that really adds to the athmosphere are a number of markets that open around this time. The official christmas market, I haven't actually been to, but I know from other years it's really lovely. The Sant'Ambrogio market named O Bei, O Bei, however, was as lovely as always. An enormous market with lots of christmas goodies, and food and mulled wine (gluhwein). I love going there...
A separate market that started in December 1 and ended today is the Fiera Artigianale in the local convention centre. It's an ENORMOUS fair with handmade goodies and lots of food from all Italian regions, as well as many other countries of the world. It's absolutely gigantic and we went today with friends, but there was simply too much to see (and taste).
Of course we have also had a few social activities during these days, going to (finally) see the new, uhm, well, house is not appropriate, neither is appartment, but room sounds too aweful. Let's say we went to see the new "domicile" of our friends Felix and Annaig. It's, well, small. But the building is gorgeous and their kitchen is 3 times as big as ours. And they made good use of it, cooking us a grand meal on Friday. Yesterday we went out for aperitivo because Nissrine was in Milan for the weekend. She was very sad, because of all the trouble with her permesso. She actually has to go back to Canada for a few months, even though she has a job and the company is willing to do everything for her. But the bastards at the police station refuse to give her a residence permit. It's sad.
Anyways, the shopping weekend is nearly over and it's back to business on Monday.
Ciao,
OJ
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Where to start
You know how it works: You don't do something for a while and then you realise you really should. But when you don't have time, you jut postpone it again thinking "oh well, it's been a while, so it doesn't really matter if it takes some more time". But then, at one point, you come to the stage that it has been so long that it is too much of a hassle to do it anyway. That's where my blogging is at right now. So I will give just a short overview of the past period and promise a better life in the future.
Up to a degree, I blame Fedor, because he had destroyed his computer and we therefore had only one computer to work with. And because I am rarely home while he isnt, this meant that I basically had very little time to work on the computer without him sitting next to me, waiting for us to be able to watch a movie or something. however, thanks to Jorryt's Magic Touch, Fedor's computer now kinda works again, so I can now finally update my blog.
So, over the past weeks, lots has happened. Work, work, work, what can I say... Progress is being made, but I'll let you know when there is something more definitive.
Socially, of course there are more interesting things to discuss. Like the birthday party of my friend Idil, who celebrated in a church-turned-bar, which looked fantastic!!!
It was the same weekend that Fedor's friend Wouter was visiting, and we had a really good time with him and with all our other friends. The weekend after, Fedor went to see friends in Belgium and I went to the Netherlands to see my new-born niece. And of course, the rest of the family. I had a really good time seeing everyone (and Jorryt was able to repair Fedor's computer, so that was good new as well). Unfortunately, while my sisters-in-law took about a billion gazillion photos, I have only receive 1 so far and I am waiting for others to be able to weigh my options which one I want to put down here.... So that is for the future.
The next party was last Friday, my friend Andreja's bday. No photos for that just yet, but I am sure they will also come in the future...
This weekend, Fedor and I went to the town of Reggio Emilia, where our friend Nissrine moved to. It's a town in Emilia Romagna that is simply gorgeous. Gorgeous, but very quiet as well. So Nissrine does not have a lot to do and she was very excited to see us... She showed us the entire town and we had a lot of fun. Nice dinner, a lovely bottle of wine in a deserted wine bar, et cetera. It was good.
Today, we rturned to clean the house, do laundry and get ready for another working week. A short one, because Friday is Sant'Ambrogio's holiday, followed by the Immacolata, so that means celebrations and free days! And of course, Xmas is coming up. We're listing to xmas music, we put up the xmas tree (photos will be shown in the future) and we're very holiday spirited...
Ho ho ho!
Ciao,
OJ
Up to a degree, I blame Fedor, because he had destroyed his computer and we therefore had only one computer to work with. And because I am rarely home while he isnt, this meant that I basically had very little time to work on the computer without him sitting next to me, waiting for us to be able to watch a movie or something. however, thanks to Jorryt's Magic Touch, Fedor's computer now kinda works again, so I can now finally update my blog.
So, over the past weeks, lots has happened. Work, work, work, what can I say... Progress is being made, but I'll let you know when there is something more definitive.
Socially, of course there are more interesting things to discuss. Like the birthday party of my friend Idil, who celebrated in a church-turned-bar, which looked fantastic!!!
It was the same weekend that Fedor's friend Wouter was visiting, and we had a really good time with him and with all our other friends. The weekend after, Fedor went to see friends in Belgium and I went to the Netherlands to see my new-born niece. And of course, the rest of the family. I had a really good time seeing everyone (and Jorryt was able to repair Fedor's computer, so that was good new as well). Unfortunately, while my sisters-in-law took about a billion gazillion photos, I have only receive 1 so far and I am waiting for others to be able to weigh my options which one I want to put down here.... So that is for the future.
The next party was last Friday, my friend Andreja's bday. No photos for that just yet, but I am sure they will also come in the future...
This weekend, Fedor and I went to the town of Reggio Emilia, where our friend Nissrine moved to. It's a town in Emilia Romagna that is simply gorgeous. Gorgeous, but very quiet as well. So Nissrine does not have a lot to do and she was very excited to see us... She showed us the entire town and we had a lot of fun. Nice dinner, a lovely bottle of wine in a deserted wine bar, et cetera. It was good.
Today, we rturned to clean the house, do laundry and get ready for another working week. A short one, because Friday is Sant'Ambrogio's holiday, followed by the Immacolata, so that means celebrations and free days! And of course, Xmas is coming up. We're listing to xmas music, we put up the xmas tree (photos will be shown in the future) and we're very holiday spirited...
Ho ho ho!
Ciao,
OJ
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Still Fedor's Birthday
It's amazing, his birthday seems to be unending! Not only is he still receiving presents (although we know there is still stuff lost in the mail. At least the drawings of my niece have arrived today). But more importantly, we also finally had his birthday party last Saturday. About 35-40 people in our tiny flat, for dinner... And it was a lot of fun!!!
I did spend about 2 days in the kitchen, making lasagnas, quiches, pies, pasta salads, rice salad, potatoe salad (huzarensalade, actually! Very nice...), et cetera. But it was totally worth it, because everybody seemed to appreciate it a lot. Particularly my real Dutch FE-DOR Apple pies were highly appreciated:
And nearly everyone kept with the theme of the evening: Prosecco Party! So there was lots and lots of Prosecco to go around (and actually, there was lots left as well). The next afternoon, after having finished cleaning, the glass disposal looked as if it was January 1st!
But I also had fun letting people try out some of the liquors I made. As expected, there was little praise for Rucolacello (probably because it's kinda gross), but the limoncello and arancello was liked...
All in all, I can say that I had an absolutely great time, but it is too much hassle to do on a regular basis... Maybe next year again.
Finally, great news from Holland. My Sis-in-Law gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Meet Hannah:
Isn't that lovely, with Leah sweetly caring for Hannah? I am very excited about seeing them all next week, when I go to see the family...
In other news: Fedor broke his computer. Stupido.
Ciao,
OJ
I did spend about 2 days in the kitchen, making lasagnas, quiches, pies, pasta salads, rice salad, potatoe salad (huzarensalade, actually! Very nice...), et cetera. But it was totally worth it, because everybody seemed to appreciate it a lot. Particularly my real Dutch FE-DOR Apple pies were highly appreciated:
And nearly everyone kept with the theme of the evening: Prosecco Party! So there was lots and lots of Prosecco to go around (and actually, there was lots left as well). The next afternoon, after having finished cleaning, the glass disposal looked as if it was January 1st!
But I also had fun letting people try out some of the liquors I made. As expected, there was little praise for Rucolacello (probably because it's kinda gross), but the limoncello and arancello was liked...
All in all, I can say that I had an absolutely great time, but it is too much hassle to do on a regular basis... Maybe next year again.
Finally, great news from Holland. My Sis-in-Law gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Meet Hannah:
Isn't that lovely, with Leah sweetly caring for Hannah? I am very excited about seeing them all next week, when I go to see the family...
In other news: Fedor broke his computer. Stupido.
Ciao,
OJ
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