Luuk@Singapore

Goodbye Singapore

2009-05-12T23:54:00.001-07:00

I am leaving Singapore tomorrow. Will arrive in AMS on Friday morning.
Hope to see you all soon!!!

weekend with Rene

2009-04-15T02:39:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, my friend Rene visited. He was on his way back from a vacation in Australia. We had a great time. It’s nice to see a friend after not seeing him (or any real friends for that matter) for a while.
On Friday, I picked him up at the airport around 21:00. We sat in the whirlpool and drank a beer. Nice!
On Saterday, we did some hanging around the pool and basketball. We went to Little India to do some shopping and sight seeing. In the evening, we went to Clarke Quay to have a beer. We met up with one of my colleagues and went to a latin club. Good times!
On Sunday, we went to Hope Church (my regular church here). There were 2000 people and the service was quite good. There was a couple who told the story of the husbands infidelity and their separation for four years (and his return), very emotional. There were a lot of young people who offered their old life at the cross, a beautiful impressive sight!! After church, we went home, hung around some more, and watched a movie. We had dinner at Newton Circus, excellent food!!
On Monday, we did some more shopping and sightseeing (Raffles, China Town). We played a round of golf (not too bad) and watched a movie.
And that was pretty much the weekend…

Next weekend: Bali!!

alone

2009-04-04T05:20:00.001-07:00

So I have been alone for a week now.
It's not been too bad. I work out more, I wander around more, I go out more, I buy more chocolate (lol@amanda), and I shop more:

bought a phone and sunglasses (1EUR!).
Got my watch fixed. Set by the pool, read Forbes magazine. Got a whole grain cheese sandwich (sooooo good). Walked around in little India. Got back, watched 24 (season 1). Now I am skyping with Amanda :)

Sweet Sweet Bali

2009-03-26T02:08:00.000-07:00

So Bali was pretty awesome...

On day 1, we laid out on the beach (legian) and I took a surfing class (and did pretty good if I may say so myself):

On day 2, we hired a driver and drive all around the island. We checked out this monkey park in ubud, which is the souvenir sanctuary of the world.

On day 3, we checked out this view and laid out on a gorgous beach (nusa dua):

Bali

2009-03-19T02:04:00.001-07:00

...and we're off to Bali for 4 days!

Fizzle fa Shizzle

2009-03-11T18:11:00.000-07:00

This is what happend:

This is how it happend (for 1 EURO): This is what it was before...

It feels FINE!

A day at the office

2009-03-11T03:57:00.000-07:00

This is an impression of a day at the office:

In the overcrowded metro that leaves every 2 minutes...

Busy busy...

Raffles Place, the central square of the business district. This is where I get out of the metro.

My cubicle :) BUT it's colorful!

Not a bad view, huh?

Eating in the local food court:

Recap of the rest of the Nam trip

2009-03-08T21:35:00.000-07:00

From Amanda's blog:

After a visit to the Cu Chi tunnels (where the Vietcon guerillas lived and fought during the war, which in the end was a great factor in defeating the Americans) and the War Remnant Museum (which made me glad to be in Vietnam on my Canadian passport), we escaped the dirt, smog, and traffic of Saigon and took a night train to the quieter, cleaner beachtown of Nah Trang.

Highlights included a trip on a bike-cart (picture a short, skinny, Vietnamese dude huffing us big Westerners up and down the hills of the town, though don't feel too bad, he was paid well by both us and the owner of the sea-food restaurant he took us to); a giant Buddha statue at a monestary (where we were guilted into buying some postcards from some monks-in-training and where we found a group of young boys of various ages who were well-experienced in begging and one of whom carried an expensive looking camera I am sure he did not get for his birthday, and where I was felt up by a 2-foot-tall four-year-old who was, it seems, being instructed by an older boy to either find hidden pockets or search for something little four-year-olds shouldn't even know about...); and a group of Hindu temples from the 7th century, darkened on the inside from hundreds of years of inscence and prayers.

The most interesting experience was the boat tour, the highlight of which was our crazy guide who kept making and laughing at his own jokes that no one understood; at one point he pulled out a styrofoam slab, on which was stuck a plastic basket with several bottels of what he, to the amusement of some and the shock of others, repeatedly called "fucking-mingen-Vietnam wine", which we all figured out really means "really really bad wine". This was our floating bar, around which we floated in our tubes, wine in hand.

Our next stop was Da Lat, a city in the mountains. This place has a bit of a French Alp resort feel to it, only tropical and littered with garbage. Apparently Vietnam royalty used to spend vacations there, and we can understand why. The mountains are beautiful and the temperatures are much more bearable. We took a tour with the Easy Riders (dudes on motorcycles); we each sat on the back of a bike and followed out guides through the mountains to surrounding villages where we saw how silk is taken from the cocoons and turned into the thread and then into cloth; then how "happy water" is made from fermented rice (it is some of the nastiest drink I have ever tried), and how mushrooms are grown out of fermented tapioca and sweet potatoes ("same same, but different", as they say). And of course we took many pictures of the layered farms where families grow all sorts of fruits and vegetables sold in the rest of the country. The day we left Da Lat we took golfing lessons at the incredible golf course on top of a hill, the view being green and mountains; then we flew back to Saigon in a propeller airplane.

Our final adventure was a tour through the Mekong Delta, the highlights of which included the boat ride through a palm tree and bamboo sided canal and the Jewish Israeli guy with a somewhat French accent we met whose greatest joy on this trip was not the food, culture, or scenery, but rather bargaining.

The strongest impression of the whole trip was how similar Vietnam was to Central America and Mexico. Different food, different language, but similar colours, buildings, people, professions/methods of survival, fruit, dirt, treatment of environment, poverty/wealth dichotomy, friendliness. Same same but different, I guess.

(Hmm...I was going to post some pictures but can't find our adapter...That's not good.)

P.S.: Interesting food we tried while in Nam included frog legs, crocodile, pigeon, and snails. Luuk will have to remind me if I missed any interesting ones...
EDIT: goat!

Ho chi min city

2009-02-28T07:15:00.000-08:00

We arrived safely. The true danger is posed by the traffic in this city which is crazy. Its normal to hire a moped to drive you around (or yourself) but i dont dare yet :)
we got a 1 hour massage vor 2,50E... that was freakin brilliant. plus, we helped the blind since this place is run by the blind institute or something.
anyway, 2morrow we check out the Cu Chi tunnels (of the VC) and some temple. at 11pm, we catch a night train to the beach at Ahn Trang or something :)

Vietnam

2009-02-27T13:26:00.003-08:00

It's 5:25am and we are taking a cap to the airport. We're off to Vietnam!!
But did it have to be so early??

Church

2009-02-22T21:13:00.000-08:00

Singapore has many Christians. In fact, of my 7 direct Singaporean colleagues, 5 are Christian. Most of them are of Chinese decent. Singapore has three mega-churches. I have always wanted to visit one, so we decided yesterday to go to New Creation Church (+/- 20.000 attandants every Sunday) of pastor Joseph Prince. He is pretty well known in Holland actually. He's criticized mostly by reformed media if I remember correctly. Well, I just came for the show ;)

After standing in line for 10min and being unsure whether or not we would actually fit in, we got inside. We had to sit on the floor but were upgraded to a real seat shortly. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that Darlene Zschech was leading worship, she is famous singer/songwriter. It wasn't too impressive. I like the songs "the time has come (today, today is all or nothing...the praise goes out to You!) and Hillsong's This is Our God. Very powerful.

The sermon was long but quite a bit better than I expected. It was funny and he used several good theological methods to explain a text (use of Hebrew, first use, etc) and make it applicable. I did a good job on Eccl 9:11-12 which is very applicable to the crisis.

Interesting Encounters

2009-02-19T19:30:00.000-08:00

What happens if you are the only rich country in a region with a lot of poor girls? Right, you attract girls. Where do you run into them? Right, bars....

Anyway, I am not sure what to write. It's sad, very sad. Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, they come from everywhere to work here 5 days, 2 weeks, sometimes a month. But if you had a beer or 2 it's amusing (in a really bizar way) and it makes for funny pictures.
But honestly, I don't I'll be going back to those kind of place. It makes me feel icky (the day after that is).

Taipusam

2009-02-13T18:47:00.000-08:00

Quiz: what is this man doing?
Hint: those little rods are hooked into his flesh.
Hint2: It has something to do with that can he is carrying.
Hint3: Hard to see but his tongue and his cheek are pierced with a rod...
ANSWER:

Thaipusam
This famous Hindu festival has to be witnessed to be believed. In a gesture of penance and seeking forgiveness from the gods, male Hindu devotees make the three-kilometre walk from Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple to Sri Thandayuthapani Temple, laden with enormous kavadi, or portable shines. The kavadi is pierced to the devotees' body by spikes and skewers; it is normally borne on the body, and sometimes dragged by the devotee like a chariot. Supporters of the kavadi-bearer gather around him, chanting prayers, clapping and shouting their encouragement along the way
This fascinating, logic-defying ceremony lasts the entire day, and observers are welcome.

EDIT: So this dude is carrying that can of milk that is supposed to signify something to this temple. Other guys where pulling waggons with a god with their backskin. pretty crazy stuff. We got free food along the way though. is nice, i like.

Some pictures

2009-02-12T16:30:00.000-08:00

Dit zijn twee foto's van het appartement.
Hier zie je de computer, de deur naar buiten zit links. De keuken is apart en je ziet daar de ingang. Ik sta nu in het halletje dat de keuken met de slaapkamer verbind.

Dit is de slaap/woonkamer, het is tenslotte een studio. De bank kijkt uit op een tv en rechts daarvan de badkamer.

Kusu Island

2009-02-11T20:23:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, we went to this tiny island close to Singapore.
Amanda wrote about it, so I just have to quote :)
check hers for a couple of pictures.

http://chokan.blogspot.com/2009/02/kusu.html
This past weekend Luuk and I took a boat, fashioned like what I would imagine an old Chinese sail boat for royalty used to look like, to a tiny island of Kusu. It is small. I know people who's yards are bigger than this island (no, not in the Netherlands).
Anyway, story goes that years ago some fishermen were caught in a storm and would have died were it not for their rescue by two giant turtles. These men built a shrine on the island where the turtles brought them and today this island contains a Buddhist temple (where a family lives and spends their days watching tv next to shrines, candles, and fat smiling Buddha statues) and a strange haphazard semi-open completely yellow 'building' of sorts on top of what looks like one giant rock. People come to the island to climb the 152 steps up to this yellow place to ask the gods or ancestors or turtles to give prosperity, luck, and/or children. It's especially good luck for a newly married couple to climb the stairs, pay a few dollars, and ring the bell.
The island also contains a turtle sanctuary with seriously a good hundred or so turtles of all sizes. They are not afraid of people. In fact, they scramble straight to you in hopes of being given some of that nasty looking red crap we were handed to share with the turtles. Some of those turtles have some pretty freaky looking mouths. But they are still cute. Especially their little bums, with their fat legs sticking out of their shells and that cute little tail... (Teehee!). If they were more interesting, maybe I'd adopt one.
The website describing the island claimed that people loved to come here to swim in the beautiful lagoons. When I think lagoon, I think lush tropical trees on either side, backed by cliffs and waterfalls, with clear blue fresh water in the middle with perhaps a shiny fish or two... Well, it wasn't exactly that...but good enough. Sunshine, palm-trees, sand, water...what more could we want? And all this with almost no one in sight. We bought lunch from the family at the temple and spent the day reading next to one of the lagoons facing the Singapore sky-scrapers across the water. That's hard to top.
But we are gonna try: 28 Feb, we are on our way to Vietnam!

We did it!

2009-02-08T16:49:00.000-08:00

We did it! All 60, all the way. Our combined time is approximately 66 min! I was third, around 13:40. My boss almost caught up to me in the end. Since he is at least in his late forties, I could not let that happen! Surprisingly, my legs don’t hurt so much this morning. I would have expected them to, lucky me!

EDIT: my actual time was 13:22. Our total time 63.39. Our fastest guy ran 10.19, #2 13:04, I was #3.

ps. If you think my shirt is sexy, you are absolutely right.

ps2. I'll let you know how much money we raised for Chances for Childern later.

No Way Out

2009-02-04T18:25:00.000-08:00

Well, I am going to do it! The stakes have been raised:

Dear all,
This Sunday, February 8, there is the Vertical Marathon in Republic Plaza - Raffles Place.
Before we knew it meant running up 60 floors or 1’440 stairs - Luuk, Gerbrand, Rob, Berend and Jeroen had ‘volunteered’ to test their knees! The reason we are running is not to set an ING record, let alone a Singapore record, rather it is to collect funds for ING Chances for Children – and therefore we need your help!
Our goal is to run separately in a combined time of 75 minutes. Some of us will need more than 15 minutes, while others might be faster. However, it is a team approach and we feel fit to make the 75 minutes mark. If you agree that this is a considerable achievement, like we do, you are kindly invited to help us raise funds for ING CfC.
If you want to put us to the test and reward us for an even faster time, we will promise - as decent bankers - that any financial incentive will definitely make us run faster!
WB Asia region has kindly offered to double the total donations in case we will be faster than 75 minutes.
For your donations, please contact Silvia Yeo (19th flr - #6269) or Mabel Cheng (21st flr - #6231) tomorrow or latest Tuesday, February 10. Donations received until then will be included in the matching programme - hopefully…...
Thanking you in advance for your moral and financial support!
Luuk, Gerbrand, Rob, Berend and Jeroen

CFA

2009-01-28T06:26:00.000-08:00

January 2009 6207191 Frederik Hendrik Lucas von Meijenfeldt
Level 1: Pass

OH YEAH BABY. PASS PASS PASS!
__________________________________

Edit:
CFA is an analyst degree that consist of 3 levels. I just passed level 1 which is great b/c only 35% passes. So I am happy I don't have to do it again. I am required to pass for my job. Half of my colleagues didn't pass. So yeah, I am relieved.

Inevitable (2)

2009-01-28T06:24:00.000-08:00

So after some bad food and the, inevitable, major diarrea, what do you do? You stay home. What do you do in Singapore when you stay home? Right, you sit in the sun. And what happens if you sit in the sun 1degree north of the equator. Right, you burn. Inevitably.
*sigh*

Inevitable

2009-01-27T18:47:00.000-08:00

Really, it wasn't a question IF but rather WHEN we would get the runs from the food here. This city is really clean but different cultures just treat hygenics differently. Their stomachs can take more crap as well probably :)
It all happend over Chinese New Year, which was celebrated last weekend, Monday, and Tuesday. It's kind of like Christmas in Hollland because it's all about decorations, treats, sweets, lots of special CNY food, and family reunions. Similarly, people take the whole week off, so it was very quiet in the metro this morning (meaning, I did not have at least 3 bodies squished against mine, of course I still had to stand. It's only 3 stops so I am not complaining.) Anyway, I did not have to work on Monday and Tuesday. So on Monday, we went to play golf (cloudy, so bearable). After a not-too-great round of 9 holes (score 43, on Saterday I had 41..), we went to the world famous botanic garden right next to the golf course. After some walking around, enjoying the scenery, not really caring about the particular flowers, we decided to head to the food court. Only one place was open, Indian food (makes sense, the chinese are at home celebrating). I love Indian food! We both got the banana leaf mix or something which was absolutely great. Problem is that the food had been sitting in their half-heated containers all day.
To make a long story short, we both woke up around 4am...

But I feel better now!

ps. We watch the Band of Brothers mini-serie. Great stuff, I recommend it. Especially if you like war stories (based on true stories).

Vertical Marathon

2009-01-22T00:07:00.000-08:00

Here is something crazy for ya:

Vertical Marathon, 60 (!) storeys.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_Plaza,_Singapore
This is the building I work in, actually.
So it's an individual race (you can also do a chicken relay with 5 people).

To get some perspective:
-The NN building in Rotterdam (tallest is Holland) is only 39 storeys and 150m. So this one is almost twice as high.
- The best time for a nearby building's 73 storey race is 6:50m.... So it should take me about 20 minutes.

Weekend

2009-01-18T21:38:00.000-08:00

Our first weekend in Singapore! Saterday morning, we went to Little India. This is a section of town that, as you might expect, is inhabited by many Indian people. Basically, it’s a little Indian town in Singapore with lots of Indian businesses/shops, food stalls/restaurants, and religious places (mainly Hindu and Buddhist). Amanda had been there before so she knew where to go. This way, we could see a lot of the temples and the market efficiently. It’s interesting to see how serious people take the Hindu rituals in the temples. The temples are really colorful and full of gods. In every temple, a few gods have their own private place with their own servant. The servant takes peoples money/offerings and performs whatever rituals are necessary. Often people walk around the god a number of times. It’s almost like the obligatory catholic hail mary’s J
The Buddhist are a little calmer, they light incense mostly. They also offer ‘gifts’ (candy mostly) to the Buddha which seems weird since you are supposed to get rid of all earthly attachments. Interesting stuff.

After the temples, we went to a mall where I bought a new watch. The brand is Titan which is the 5th watchmaker in the world and India’s largest. I think it was founded by the Tata group (the imperium of one of India’s richest families). It’s a pretty cool brand with good designs and decent prices. So I am contend J

After some souvenir shopping, we went back to the apartment building to hang around the pool. I have been reading the book about ABN AMRO’s demise. It’s very interesting how corporate politics works but scary at the same time. Big ego’s and other inter-personal factors in management really determine the company. It always makes me wonder how and what I would do in such a situation. Would I want to play those games?

Sunday, we went to church, the same church as last week. We met up with Elain and her friends again (who I met last week). After church, we had lunch again which was nice. I think we will start hanging out with these people more during the week. That’d be nice because I’ll be here alone after Amanda leaves and I don’t like spending weekends alone! After church I got sick. I felt dizzy, weak and I couldn't eat. After an afternoon in bed and a get nights rest, the flu seems to have gone. Lucky me. It's probably a transitional thing...

Next weekend is Chinese new year. I have Monday and Tuesday off. Maybe we’ll make a trip or something but we really do want to see the Chinese firework and the new year’s parade!

Work

2009-01-14T02:25:00.000-08:00

I started working right away on Monday so I have not seen too much of the city yet. Basically, I have seen the part of Orchard Rd that we live close to (incl the cheap food stalls that we eat at every day)
My colleagues are very nice (as is virtually everybody in Singapore, it’s really amazing) and they are highly capable too! I like being the dumbest guy J It does mean that I am walking ‘on my toes’ to catch on. So I hope they are not going to be disappointed.

Food is great here. For 2 EURO, you can get a big plate or bowl of local food. In the business district where I work (Raffles place, after the founder of Singapore), food is a little more expensive but it’s still great value for money (edit: I just found an equally cheap food court! yeeeeh)! What’s nice is there is food from all over Asia (European food is more expensive and not that great anyway). So basically, everybody eats out twice a day, 7 days a week because the grocery stores are actually expensive. So there is no way to beat the price, taste and convenience of eating out.

Speaking of which… I am going to get some now!!

Leave comments… Is nice... I like

Also check: chokan.blogspot.com for Amanda's posts.

2009-01-12T01:17:00.000-08:00

Amanda is inmiddels ook aangekomen en ik zit nu voor mijn eerste dag op kantoor. Het is opvallend dat ze hier wel gewoon IT zaken in 1x (of iig in 1 dag) kunnen regelen. NLers kunnen blijkbaar slecht organiseren. Misschien komt het ook wel omdat hier minder mensen werken.
Anyway, ik ben erg goed ontvangen!

Ik probeer nu mijn jet lag te minimaliseren. Ik ben gister de hele dag op gebleven en was echt kapot aan het einde van de dag. Om 21:00 lag ik al te ronken. Heerlijk geslapen en merk nu weinig van de vermoeidheid.

Heb net een telefoongekocht waar je me op kunt sms-en (volgens mij voor weinig! ik kan terug sms-en voor 7,5 eurocent) en bellen (via 0900-8100 kost het 1ct/min in het weekend). Het nummer is +65 90852935.

Singapore kick-off!

2009-01-10T21:24:00.000-08:00

Hey folks!!

Ik ben fris en fuitig in Singapore aangekomen na een prima reis met Singapore Airlines. Ik kreeg zelfs een heuze steak in het vliegtuig, nice! SA is met alles gewoon net iets beter dan anderen, zo krijg je bijv metaal bestek. Tja, dat eet gewoon lekkerder :)
Verder geen vertraging gehad. Eindelijk ben ik een keer opgehaald door zo'n dude met een naambordje (nice!). Netjes afgezet, ingecheckt.
Meteen het zwembad ingedoken en de faciliteiten bewonderd: basketbal court, tennis court, squash court, fitness, lounge (met elke ochtend gratis ontbijt) en de onvermijdelijke sauna.
Ik vermaak me wel. LMFD!

Het weer is heerlijk, het ruikt een beetje naar Midden-Amerika, dezelfde vochtige, drukkende, warmte. Maar niet te warm. TOP!

Ik was nog helemaal niet moe dus ben ik na mijn duik gaan ontbijten en heb ik ff een kerk gegooglet. Na ontbijt naar de kerk gelopen (5min, ik zit pal in het centrum, ik heb 1000 winkels op 5 min lopen, de kerk is in een shopping mall). Ik kom binnen in een herrie van in tongensprekende mensen, dus ik was niet meteen verkocht. Ik zat nog geen 5 min en toen kwam er iemand naar me toe en vroeg of ik bij hen wilde zitten. Tja, zo maak je snel vrienden. De dienst bleek nog niet begonnen te zijn en de toen de dienst wel was begonnen bleek de band wel heel goed te zijn. Het wel super happy clappy enzo, maar de mensen zijn echt super aardig!! Na de (zeer lange) dienst (gaap preek, lekker oppervlakkig, helaas) mee gaan lunchen. Heerlijke soep met weet ik wat niet erin. Helemaal top.

Ik ben in mijn element.

Vanavond Amanda ophalen. Can't wait to show her around!

Nu even het basketbalveldje ontmaagden.

Cheers, Luuk

Christmas and such

2006-12-30T06:36:00.000-08:00

And so it is a Christmas... and new year (almost). Today, Saddam Hussein was hanged. Serves him right, i reckon. I am not a big fan of capital punishment but he is h'or categorie as the French would say.

We (Amanda and I) celebrated christmas at my parents'. My grandma was there and my uncle and aunt with my twin counsins came as well. The day after that the whole family of my moms side came to my parents for dinner. Seriously, there was so much food. Turkey, hare, beef, pork, and deer were on the menu. The funniest thing was that Amanda tried on a shirt in a store the next day. It fit rather tight but I liked it and she got it. She is wearing it today and it fits her perfectly now. Apparently her stomach shrunk since the day after Christmas. Let's say that I did not find that surprising at all ;)

The days after Christmas are always the worst days in the year for my wallet. First, it was our 4th year anniversary on the 27th. That was very nice, except for the fact that I gave her a ticket to latin america for the summer. Then, I bought 2 pairs of shoes, a polo shirt, 13 movies, and 2 pairs of yeans (and i paid for amanda's purchases as well). So, guess what my monetary situation is? On a scale from 1 to 10 I'd give it a 4. ;)
Ah well, at least I got us tickets!!!! (and the clothes are very fancy)

The upcoming month is gonna suck. The end of the month is 'celebrated' with the worst exam I'll ever make: macroeconomics IV. And 5 days later, I'll have to pass microeconomics IV somehow. Ugh, so it'll be a month of studying. But all these little things/appointments ruin my study schedule. Plus, I still have to write a 10 page critical commentary on one of the toughest papers in monetary economics EVER. For crying out loud... It's about the contagion of monetary crises in the world (how one crisis in country A can lead to another crisis in country B, eventhough they are not obviously related).

Tomorrow is going to be fun. We are having a lot of people over for New years, about 20. We have tons of beer and wine and of course TONS of oliebollen (greasy balls of deep fried dough and raisins, soooo good). We are also buying fireworks, so it's going to be fun. :)

God bless you in 2007!!

finished!

2006-12-18T04:56:00.000-08:00

Finally, I finished my paper!! woohoo!! seriously, such a 'delivery'. I am pretty content with the whole thing. It argues that Keynesian policy is bound to fail in a parliamentary democracy. Government has this tendency to screw things up, to lower incentives and to create a very soothing status quo of low effort, low risk taking (entrepreneurship), and low growth.
Good thing Thatcher fixed a lot of things for Britian.

Tonight I am going to meet with my coach for the first time. He is a middle-aged teacher Greek and Latin who knows a lot about faith, the bible, and its daily application. Very nice!

Interesting day

2006-12-14T07:20:00.000-08:00

I had an interesting day of ups and downs.
- The major up is that I am going to get major cash for my student representative job. This means I get to invest more or pay for plane tickets for the summer. woohoo!
(this btw, is my regular fee for doing that student representative thing. at least, it's part of it. so it doesnt come as a surprise. I was kinda worried about when they would transfer part of it for tax purposes.)
- Another up is that I got Amanda a small job. She gets to proof read articles for our faculty website! So she can make some money. It aint much but it is something. I am not sure how much it could be (in the most positive case, if every article goes through you, 6/7 articles a week. and they are short. She could probably get 10 euro's per article. I'd say that you can count on 1 or 2 a week. Easy money :)

- The major down was that I got quite some comments on my paper after handing it in (without a conclusion, lol) on Wednesday night. It was not super negative per se but it basically comes down to the fact that i'll have to do quite a lot for it this weekend. which sucks. I want to keep the weekends reserved for time with Amanda but I HAVE to do this before Sunday. I really want an 8 in that class so I NEED a 7.5 for this paper. At least the guy gave me some helpful material. It's gonna be a long long day tomorrow (after spending about 36 hrs in 3 days on it this week already).

oh, and I get to interview one of the best Dutch economists (who actually lives in Maryland) for an article on our website (which is part of my job as student representative). He finished first in some publications/citations ranking over the 2000-2004 period (publications take time to get through I suppose). Pretty sweet!

New Blog

2006-12-11T12:06:00.000-08:00

So I started my last blog with my junk emailaddress not knowing that I'd have to sign in to that gmail account every time I wanted to blog... egh. Anyway, I started this one as a substitute.

I am busy writing that paper still. Seriously, I had a good day but the end is still so far far away
:(
papers suck. but they are useful, i'll admit.