Beers during

work! Today I finally managed to convince my co-workers it would be a good idea to drink some beers in the afternoon. I have been nagging them since my second day, but it seems it just not done. Since today was a really long day;  all I had to do was type up reports and the Boss was out both Leo and Toine finally gave in and I bought us a few beers from the Supermarket. It was really nice and before we knew it, it was 5 PM.

While Dutchies do like drinking it is nothing compared to the Australian culture and I must say that I prefer the latter. I really don’t see what is wrong with having a drink after work; especially on Fridays!

I also finally got round to picking up my credit card. I had left it at a friend’s house about 3 months ago and realised yesterday that I still had not picked it up! On the positive side I managed to control my spending but it does show how slack I can sometimes be…

There is not much else going on, I am gaining more respect for people who work a 40 hr office job; it really can SUCK.  I do everything to get out of the office a few times a day. I go to the post office at least twice a day  (I always forget to bring one thing so I can go back again). I go shopping once a day, while I bring my own sandwiches from home, my boss wants fresh food and therefore i get to go to the shop before lunch and pick up food for him. I really don’t care since it is a nice walk. And now I am really hoping that besides bread I will be able to buy beers on Friday!

I do realise I am sounding a little desperate with the alcohol situation and will work on it with my therapist 😉

I experienced

one of the nicest dates in a really long time yesterday.  Admittedly, dating is not one of the things I was really active in for the past well 10 years. But even if I had been, I am pretty sure that yesterday would have made my top 5.

I had asked glasses man if he wanted to come to an exhibition in Rotterdam (http://www.brazilcontemporary.nl/en/) on the weekend. Knowing that he is into art and photography I figured it would be hard to resist, whereas a “lets go shopping on the weekend.” would be a lot easier to say no to.   On sunday moring my mum dropped me off to his house which made me feel 15 again. At least this time I was not so nervous about seeing him since we had talked on phone and Skype nearly every day in the past week.

While the exhibition we went to see was nice, the museum it was held in (Boijmans en van Beuningen) was FANTASTIC.

There was a great mixture of contemporary and “old” art and I finally saw a real Rembrandt. After Boijmans we went to the photomuseum about a 15 minute walk away. By that stage we were both rather tired but still enjoyed the photographs and a really nice short movie.

The weather was great so when at 5 PM we really were done we went to a nice Italian restaurant in the city for some beers and some pasta and then hopped on the train to Roosendaal.

I am still amazed at how well we get along, I even invited him along to Switzerland for a short break after I finish work.  If we still get a long after a little holiday it will definitely be worth continuing to see each other while I am in France; if not then at least we know and not too much time will be wasted.  We still need to discuss dates, but he seemed pretty keen!

Work is still tedious but I am slowly getting the hang of everything + my blind typing is getting way better. I do still have trouble answering the phone but I guess you can’t have everything.

My new

job is a little harder than expected. Yesterday was my first ‘real’ day. And to be honest I am just not used to working 8 hrs. I was a little scared to check emails or browse the web so spend the hole day typing up a report.  I have to listen to a recording made by one of the dudes that work there while they walk through different houses. Basically they record the damage that is there, like cracks in walls etc.  It is not very challenging but unfortunately you have to also pay attention to what they are saying so there is no room to do other stuff in the mean time. The guys are all really lovely and since besides typing and answering phone calls, I also have to do shopping for lunch I do get the opportunity to leave my desk  and walk around Willemstad a little.

There is a really really cool windmill.  Contrary to popular belief there really are not that many windmills in Holland!  So this is actually quite a sight even for me.

Today work was a lot better than monday, my boss left before lunch so it was just me and Leo in the office and I could check my emails and browse the web. I also was asked to make up a final report (matching pictures to txt) nearly as frustrating as listing to a tape, but it is really a lot better than just typing + I could listen to my ipod! And we left a little earlier since the boss was out!

I realised that I only have a few more weeks left in Holland and while I am excited about starting a real job. I also feel a little sad about leaving.  Not sure if it is because of glasses man. Yep still seeing him and now that I am living a lot closer it is a lot easier to spend time with him. Or just because it is a little daunting to move to a new country where I know no one and I don’t really speak the language.  I am sure it will be fine and since glasses man and I hardly know each other I am just enjoying the time we do spend together and who knows what will happen in the next 4 weeks.

I am seriously

beginning to think I have a wee problem with alcohol.  After a lovely weekend with Conny and my first half a day at the office. I came back to Maastricht for my final week as a jobless person. Tuesday I met up with the Surgeon for dinner, what started out as a nice civilised dinner ended in him having to throw up and me stumbling home at 1 AM. We started with a lovely bottle of Australian wine that I had bought and ate a nice dinner and talked heaps! After finishing the nice wine, the surgeon opened one of his bottles and it was really disgusting, me being me decided that we had to finish it.  The next bottle was a bottle of Rose and then we started drinking whiskey  ( I don’t even like whiskey!). When the Surgeon said he had to vomit I realised I had to leave because I could barely stand!  He literally lives around the corner from where I live; however it took me 30 minutes to get home and open the door.   I was not too happy the next morning and the thought of having to go out with Linda that afternoon was not something I was looking forward to. While I was trying to focus on my work I received a really lovely email from Glasses man; and it made my day!  Feeling a lot better after a few coffees, a nice email and some brekky I was ready to pick up Linda from the station.  We walked from the station in the direction of my house and stopped at the first pub, the weather was beautiful so we sat outside on the water. After having some soft drinks we decided to order a bottle of Prosecco (this is now the thing to drink in Holland apparently).

The surgeon called saying he wanted to meet up for a drink. He knows Linda too, since we all studied in Maastricht together. By the time he arrived we had ordered the second bottle.  While Linda and the Surgeon discussed their careers, they are both doctors but specialised in different fields. I finally got the long awaited call from glasses man. Slightly tipsy we chatted for a while and agreed on our second date (WOOHOO).  After the call we were joined by Surgeon’s brother and friend and had a nice dinner and Linda and I decided to order another bottle… Surgeon and friends left after dinner to play poker and Linda and I staggered home for some coffee!  We were falling of to sleep and decided that we’d better leave and go for a wee dance.  At the bar the Surgeon called once again and joined us.  We were having a ball, but most other people found us slightly annoying with our crazy dance moves… Once again I suddenly decided that I HAD TO LEAVE NOW!!! Thinking I would go home alone I was rather surprised when both Surgeon and Linda decided to come with me. The three of us went to Surgeon’s house where I went straight to bed (OK I fell of to sleep on the floor first) while the two of them ate some pizza and got a bit further acquainted ;-). I woke up in bed with both Surgeon and Linda lying next to me, it was just too funny!! Linda was feeling really really bad and could barely move without having to throw up. We managed to get her dressed and had a lovely breakfast together on the balcony before going back to my house to pick up our stuff and leave Maastricht. Once home I was really not feeling to well at all but knew I had to pull myself together for my date!  Glasses man had invited me over to his house for dinner, by the time I got there I was so nervous it was not even funny. But like last time it was GREAT.  His apartment is really nice and I finally got to see a lot of  his art work.  He even cooked a really nice dinner and bought me some wine  (My 3rd night in a row of drinking). Still not sure what is going to happen, I mean I have already planned our whole future but do realise that I might be getting a bit carried away. I will definitely try and see him a bit more now that I am back with Mum and Dad and who knows.

Drove back to Maastricht this evening and will pack up my stuff tonight and leave tomorrow morning!

Being an office

bitch is not as easy as expected! I had my first experience at my new job Monday morning.. The office is really nice with only 3 other people.  My dear friend Leo (who got me the job in the first place), Olaf, the owner (who I used to go clubbing with) and Toine.  Astrid is the girl I am replacing,  showed me what I needed to do. While it is not really challenging; I have no experience what so ever in office work. My new job consisits of answering the phone (harder than expected) and writing up reports. I especially had trouble answering the phone; I kept forgetting the name of the company and when I answered I would never get the name of the person calling.. Will work on listening a bit better.  The office is located in Willemstad a very cute little town near my parents.  It has a lovely harbour and one of the first protestant churches. I am going to try and get a bike so I can ride to work every day.  This is my final few days in Maastricht, tomorrow Linda will be coming to visit and on Saturday I will pack up my suitcase drop my key off and move back to a very clean house and a comfy bed!

The weekend was fun as usual; I visited Conny who had just returned from her holiday and we went to another outdoor festival in Breda.   The party finished at 11.30 PM and after we went to another friends house. I was soo tired that I fell into a very deep sleep on the couch while everyone else continued on partying (I Know LAME). By 7 AM they woke me up and we went back to Conny’s house where I jumped straight into bed and slept until 12 on a not so very comfy air matress, mainly cause we were too lazy to pump it up.

Now I am trying to get myself motivated to work on my papers. The Frenchies keep sending me stuff to read for my new project and I am really way more interested in reading those papers instead of writing up my stuff. But I am going to try my hardest to get something on paper today!

It is official

I am starting on the 15th of September in France. I have already decided that I will buy a castle and grow my own veggies.. or maybe just an appartment with wooden floors or I could live at the station:

I thought I had to go to France on Monday to sign the contract, however due to holidays we decided to leave it until the 24th of August. Which suits me just fine. It means that tomorrow I can go to Breda and have a dance with Conny. Hopefully the weather clears up. And that on Monday I can go to my new temp job to hear exactly what work I have to do. Yep already found myself another job, well my friend found it for me!  He works for an enginering company and their secretary is going on Holidays and they were looking for someone to replace her. Leo knew I was not too happy with my Maastricht job so he suggested me to his boss.  Yesterday Olaf (the boss) called me to see if I was still interested and of course I was.  I have always wanted to be a secretary and have definitely improved my typing skills!

I just received another email from Frenchy, she really is lovely and even offered to put me up in her apartment when I go there. I am not too sure what exactly is the polite thing to do, so I said I would be happy to stay in a hostel too. Anyway will decide next month. I just think it is really kind of her to offer me a room in her house.

It is really all very exciting, even more exciting than glasses man. I am still a bit unsure about the whole boy thing and decided last night that he will have to contact me if he is really interested.  It was starting to feel like I was the one putting in all the effort!

At the moment I am trying to read the French Research Proposal, of course it is in French but google translate is pretty good at translating most of the words and the ones that Google does not know, I can figure out!

And I did it

this morning I went to my boss and told him to Suck it. Well not really, I told him that I got the French job and that I was quitting. It felt good when I said it, but once he started to get all frustrated I felt a little bad for leaving like that. On the other hand he left me hanging while I was trying to finish my honours degree. While that was the best thing that ever happened to me; I got a new supervisor who turned out to be the nicest and most supportive person ever, at the time it was rather frustrating…

After handing in my resignation I visited my nice supervisor, who as per usual was very supportive. We went and had a coffee (crappy coffee is all to be had here in the Netherlands) and had a very nice chat about science and our future plans.  I would really like to set up a collaboration with him once I have more experience in science.

Now I am listening to Edith Piaf and drinking red wine, figured I might as well get a bit used to the French life style. I had a lovely dinner with my flatmate Charlotte. And must admit that although quitting the job is the best thing I did, I will miss hanging out with my flatmates once I move. I am still unsure about my starting date in France, but figure it will be the 1st of September. Since I paid rent until the end of july I will stay here until then and move back home for a wee while.  Next week Linda is coming for a few days and I am having dinner with the Surgeon. I also spoke to the glasses man, which once again was lovely! Will see where that ends, he was definitely keen to come to France and see me…

My new haircut, figured I needed to look a bit smart for France! I also found a great clothing store; Designual (www.designual.com). It is a spanish brand and they make the best clothes!  Great colours and patterns, the clothes just seem to make you happy.  I bought a pair of shorts that jingle and ofcourse a new bag. Not that I have any cash but hey that is what credit cards are for!   Mum is coming to Maastricht tomorrow together with her best friend from primary school. I never really liked her friend, her husband on the other hand is really lovely.  But I am looking forward to showing them around. I think it is great that my mum is still best friends with the girl she met when she was 7!

French job!!

While not 100% official, I received an email from the French Professor informing me that the university has supported my application!!!!! YAY For me, finally my first real job as a Post Doc!

Other good news is that the boy I met at Awakenings came to visit me in Maastricht and we had a blast.  I was a tiny bit worried that we might not get along but for one he was wearing his glasses  and secondly he is really really funny and interesting to talk to! Not sure what will happen now but I will definitely try and see him before I pack up and leave. It is so exciting to be moving to a new country and starting a new job.  Definitely very challenging since I do not speak a word of French but hopefully I will be able to take a language course and pick up the language soon.

I now need to tell my crappy job that I will be leaving there sooner rather than later. I am still on probation so could leave at the end of this week but will wait and see when I need to start in France. I have paid rent until the end of July and would not mind leaving and going back home for a wee while. Will see what Frenchy says about the starting date and go from there.

This is the new library I walk past on my way to work. While the weather has been great, it has suddenly turned and gotten rather wet and cold. I don’t mind it too much since it is a lot nicer to sleep when it is cold then when it is really warm. I have been trying to take pictures everyday and most of them are rather crappy but am hoping that if I make myself take pics everyday of random things I might get the perfect picture one day!

Besides pics and boy and job I also had another party on Saturday. Judith my pregnant friend, her best friend Jeroen and his brother Joop were all turning 30 and we had a massive celebration! OK, I once again peaked a little too soon and had to leave.I actually thought it was midnight so when I heard the next morning that it was 2 AM I thought I did pretty well.

Just had another email from Frenchy asking me to come before the 14th to sign the contract!! Woohoo for ME.

Fingers crossed

until the 7th of July, that is when I will hear wether or not I will get the French job.  I really really want to get out of here so if I get a positive answer I am quitting my job immediately and leaving. I don’t think I have ever hated something so much as this. Even learning SPSS was better. And to top it off,  something messed up yesterday meaning I can run everything again tomorrow.. Oh the joys.  I also just received another rejection from my final paper.. While the reviews were not too bad the editors decided that it was not suitable for the Journal.  I am starting to think that maybe the paper is not as good as I thought.  At least it went to review this time unlike the previous 2 times, so we are moving forward.

On the other hand, my fellowship application is really coming along. My (hopefully) future boss, is really good at getting back to me. I send him stuff in the morning and the same evening he sends it back with track changes.  We are aiming to have it all done by the 1st of August.

I also called the guy I met on Saturday; I had my friend find out his name (Jeroen).  He answered which was nice, but I do think that my infatuation was driven by his glasses and the weather than him.  His voice did not do much.. we did have a nice chat, well I chatted mostly (he seemed really shy) although he did admit to googling me. And there I was thinking I was the only person who does such things when meeting new people (nothing came up when I googled him, but I am still unsure about his last name).  He said he would call me to set up a date, so will wait and see.

When I went shopping I bumped into the first guy I went out with when I just started uni. He was friends with one of my housemates. It was really nice seeing him again and he lives around the corner from where I live and he is a surgeon and he is still cute and single. How proud would my mum be.. Her main wish for me is to marry a doctor. I think it is driven by her Indian heritage although I am not 100 % sure.  He will be cooking me dinner in two weeks (has to work nights next week) and we can catch up on the past 5 yrs.