Moved to a different apartment in Whiere, Freiburg (DE)

As I wrote before we moved to a different apartment in Freiburg on Saturday. The night before we made sure that we where fully packed. We also could leave some stuff at the Jos-Fritz-Strasse. My parents came by care to the old apartment. We lend them our bikes and after a cup of coffee they went off to discover Freiburg by bike. Matthijs and I tried to put all the bags in to the Twingo car (small car). It fitted perfectly and we drove off towards our new apartment.

We met the guy how rents out the apartment in front of the building. It is a brand new apartment. The decoration is very modern. Our first impression was very nice, but modern means also minimalistic, so little cooking space and hardly any closets. As the guy went on he told us that internet was not available. I was not so happy anymore, no internet for TWO weeks (arghhh!)

We let it sink for a wile and started unpacking our stuff. As we put everything in place it became more and more our apartment (thanks to my colourful taste:-)). Especially the bathroom is really beautiful, very large and with a good shower. There are windows over the complete length of on side of the apartment with two glass doors to get to the balcony and there you can look at the forest. So in the end it is not bad at all. And maybe it is better that I don’t have internet for a while because I have to do a lot of work for my project and the conference (to get study points) and I don’t need internet for that.

We also did something really nice on Sunday. My parents picked us up at our new apartment and we drove off to the longest waterfall in Germany. Already the road to the waterfall was beautiful, the sunny weather, the mountain landscape and of course a lovely restaurant to eat delicious cake. The waterfall it self was beautiful. Matthijs and I made lots of pictures. At 3 we had seen everything and we drove to the Titisee (a lake). We walked on the promenade that looked like Scheveningen and rented a cycle boot so we could go in the water. After making many more photos, we looked for a restaurant. We had a good German meal. Matthijs is not really happy about the rich sauces that they accompany the dishes with. Most off the time it is all over his plate, than he doesn’t like it anymore. It is a wonder that German people are not really fat (it must be the outdoor air?)

We drove back in the dark along small, steep, curvy roads. Matthijs and my father enjoyed them selves very much. My mom and I talked in the back. It was a very nice day.

Today (Monday) I went to the “stadsanwalt” to get myself registered in Freiburg. There where 106 people in front of me. I had to wait for over one hour before it was my turn. After a brief interview, I’m now officially a residence Freiburg. In the city centre I could pick up a welcome gift so I went to the city centre. There I also shopped for a while. I got a present for my brother how’s birthday is on the 15^th off October. Tomorrow I will probably go to school for the first time. So far the important approval is still missing so wish me luck….

Nederlands

Zoals ik al eerder had aangegeven zijn we zaterdag verhuisd naar een ander appartement in Freiburg. Mijn ouders zijn met onze fietsen s’ochtends de stad gaan verkennen en matthijs en ik zijn de twingo gaan volstauwen. We hadden met de verhuurder afgesproken voor het apartement. Het apartement ziet er super modern uit. Het staat dan ook pas sinds afgelopen zomer. Het ruikt nog nieuw. Dat moderne betekend alleen wel dat het wel erg minimalistisch is ingericht. Weinig kast ruimte en bijna geen kook facaliteiten. Toen hij ook nog vertelde dat hij het internet niet heeft kunnen regelen was ik even niet zo blij meer. ARGHHH twee weken geen internet.

Maar ja mischien ook wel goed voor mij want dan ga ik teminste en keer aan de slag met mijn project. Nadat we al onze spullen hadden uitgepakt werd het al en stuk gezelliger (dankzij mijn kleurgebruik ;-))

Zondag zijn we met z’n vieren naar de langste waterval van duitsland geweest. De rit er naartoe was al prachtig, perfect weer, bergen en natuurlijk lekkere taartjes onderweg. Om 3 uur hadden we de waterval wel gezien en zijn we naar de Titisee gereden (een meer) We hebben daar een waterfiets gehuurd en zin even op het meer geweest. Daarna nog wat rond gelopen en lekker gegeten. Helaas voor matthijs is bijna elk gerecht onder een dikke vette laag jus bedolven. Het is een wonder dat neit iedereen hier modder vet is, zeker de buitenlucht???

Vandaag maandag ben ik naar het gemeentehuis geweest om me officeel in te schrijven als Freiburger. Hopelijk gaat het morgen lukken om voor het eerst naar school te gaan tot nu toe mist de bestätigung weer... ik zie het morgen wel weer

A Holi"day" and tomorow moving out again

Tomorrow Matthijs and I are going to move for two weeks in to another apartment. It was not possible to stay at the apartment in the Jos Fritz Strasse. So we are going to move to the Richard Kuenzer strasse 6a in Freiburg. This apartment is very close to the city centre in a lovely neighbourhood. We are using my parent’s car to get all our stuff to the apartment. Meanwhile my parents are going to use our bikes to explore the centre of Freiburg. At 5 o’clock we are meeting again to go to a biergarten near our new place.
The apartment is just been build and looks very modern. There is a bath so I’m happy. The only downsize is that because the building it self is brand new, we don’t know yet if internet is available. It should be but maybe they didn’t install the cables yet? We are not sure, so if you don’t here back from me please don’t think I forgot you guys.

So today I had a real holiday day. Me and my parents went up the shouinsland mountain in Freiburg. We went up with a cable car and went down walking. But first we started with a good German meal. It took us 3 hours to go down. Also lucky that my father had is GPS system with him not all the signs where right. We got home at 4 pm, had some tea and than my parents left to their apartment. Me and Matthijs have to start packing now so hopefully Biss balt….

Greetings josé

Nederlands:

Morgen gaan we weer verhuizen voor twee weken naar een ander appartement in Freiburg. Richard Kuenzer strasse 6a in Freiburg. Het kon helaas niet anders. We gaan de auto van mijn ouders gebruiken om alle spullen over te krijgen en mijn ouders gaan in de tussentijd op onze fietsen de stad Freiburg verkennen. Om 5 uur ontmoeten we elkaar dan weer voor een dinee in de Biergarten vlak bij ons nieuwe appartement. Helaas is het zo dat we nog neit zeker weten of we wel internet hebben. Als je even niet van ons hoort dan klopt dat dus. Nou ja morgen de grote dag dus....

Vandaag ben ik met mijn ouders naar de berg Shauinsland gereden. We zijn daar met de kabelbaan omhoog gevaren en weer de berg naar beneden gelopen. Het was boven heel mooi weer helaas beneden iets wat bewolkt. Het leverde wel erg mooie foto's op.

Groeten jose

Go to school and my first sachertorte

Photo of the school buildings

The neighbour gave me a great tip. He said that I good get a gasthörerin pass (a person how’s allowed to follow classes in the school but how’s not allowed to make exams)
I went to the University for Social Work here in Freiburg on Thursday. (Katholische Fachhochschule fur Soziale Arbeit. This is the same as HBO in the Netherlands.) I told my situation and it got a book with the class program for the coming semester. At home I choose the lessons:

Monday 19.00 - 20.30 English for Social Work Professional
Tuesday 09.45 - 11.51 Antropologie
Thursday 09.45 - 11.15 Geschichte Theorien und Konzepten der social Arbeit
On Wednesday 24th off October I want to attend the Fachtag „Positive Peer Culture”.

The school semester is not starting until next week in Germany. So my first lesson will start coming Monday. I was really lucky to go to the school this week otherwise I wouldn’t be able to go. The voluntary work will come later. I have 3 day’s left during the week to do this.

Today my parents drove to Freiburg. They are having a short holiday and we can use their car so we can move coming Saturday. Yes we have to move again. It sucks but we had now other choice. We are moving to a apartment near the city centre. I already been cycling in the area it is really beautiful! So that’s ok.

But first things first tonight my parents will visit us an we will have sachertorte (cherry/chocolate cake) for dessert. The weather is still great (24 c) and me and my parents will have a short holiday together and discover the surroundings off Freiburg. I hope they like it as much as I do!

Greatings jose

Nederlands:

Ik heb een tip gekregen van de verhuurder dat je in Duitsland een college kan volgen zonder examen te hoeven doen. Ik ben dan ook dinsdag naar de katholische fachhochschule fur sozial arbeit (de nederlands SPH) geweest en heb mijn verhaal verteld. Ik kreeg een progamma boek mee van dit semester en heb uitgezocht welke lessen ik graag wil vlogen (zie boven) De lessen beginnen hier maandag dus ik was precies op tijd.

Mijn ouders zijn vandaag naar Freiburg gereden voor en korte vakantie. Wij kunnen hun auto dan ook gebruiken op zaterdag als we weer moeten verhuizen naar een appartement net buiten de stad. Gelukkig is het in een hele leuke buurt dus het is alleen weer een hoop gedoe.

Maar belangrijke zaken eerst... vanavond hebben we sachertorte voor toetje met z'n vieren. Ik ben benieuwd hoe mijn ouders Freiburg ervaren. Gelukkig werkt het weer ook deze week weer me met zo'n 24 graden. Groeten jose

Janusz Korczak Youth Conference 2007

The Korczak conference was held in The Nivon House in Bergen aan Zee, The Netherlands. Everyone was expected to arrive there on Saturday the 22nd off September before 17.00. And the conference ended in the morning of Friday the 29th off September. Before hand we’ve been given a choice, what workshops we could attend to. As everyone came in we all registered and got a full program overview. I wanted to go to this conference because Janusz Korczak ideas interested me a lot. He was a Polish/Jewish pedagogue how set up Orphanages for street kids in Poland. He used a method where he respected the child and respected his/her rights. He has done some remarkable things ahead of his time. He died almost heroic because he was given a choice to leave the children and the deportation train to Auschwitz during the Second World War. He decided to stay and got gassed as he arrived in the concentration camp.

Before the conference I read two books. How to love a child (hoe houd je van een kind) by Janusz Korczak and Janusz Korczak about being small and growing up (Janusz Korczak over klein zijn en groot worden) by Kees Waaldijk.
These books gave me a very good impression of Korczaks ideas on the way you could bring up a child and respect its wishes without loosing grip. He specially wrote about children with difficulties. And because I work with handicapped children it was very interesting for me to go to this conference and learn more about his ideas and work.

Saturday
I arrived at the conference by my self. I finished unpacking and went downstairs. There was a group of people in the lounge talking to each other. I decided to sit with them. We talked about where we came from and what kind of work we where doing. There where 18 different nationalities attending this conference and all where working in the social care in one way or another. I already got business cards from a girl from Malaysia and a woman from Bangladesh. They both worked with children. And they had an interesting story to tell.
After dinner we all got together and introduced ourselves by playing games.
We stayed up late, talking about our work and why we came to this conference.
Sunday.
This was the first full day at the conference. We started with:
08.00 -09.00 Breakfast
09.00 Introduction of the day.
09.30-12.30 Workshop. I had chosen; Children and multimedia.
This workshop was about children and internet use. What the risks are and how we can give the children some safety while surfing on the net.
12.45 - 13.30 Lunch time
14.00 - 17.00 A creative workshop I choose The world of animation.
I made a short movie with 2 others, by placing lots of pictures behind one another.
17.00 - 19.00 we had free time and we went outside for a walk to the beach
19.00 - 20.00 was dinner time
20.00 – 22.00 open podium. At the open podium everyone could give a presentation about their work. Today was the first presentation, it was about street work in Paris. Very interesting The second presentation was from a Dutch girl (24 years old). She visited Ghana for 6 months and set up a business with people from Ghana and with the help of micro credit. She told an inspiring story about here stay. Afterwards we talked and exchanged numbers.
22.00 - Until late… I stayed up and talked to a lot of interesting people.

Monday

Each day we had the same time schedule but with different workshops and presentations.
Today me and a small group of nice people got up very early to see the sunrise at the beach. After breakfast there was a presentation about the Rock and water program used at schools to handle aggressive boy’s and girls. Really interesting. After that I attended the second part of the workshop children and multimedia.
In the afternoon I went to a creative workshop called Build your own environment. A architect how started a project in Holland. She would let children build their own hangout place so it wouldn’t be destroyed. Our group decided to build a bench out of wooden pellets. They became popular to sit on during the long nights.
The presentation at the open-podium was about street work in Brazil. I also talked to the lady afterwards because here project interested me very much. There was also a presentation of the lady from Bangladesh how started schools for street children on the street it self. I bought a card that the children had made. Hopefully I can visit here someday and help out or send students from our school for a training period.
Tuesday
Today I woke up early 07.30 and helped out in the kitchen. After breakfast there was a very interesting workshop.
09.30 – 12.30 the workshop Integration of disabled and chronic ill children. We talked and discussed about the different views and methods that are being used in the different countries. Off course this was a direct link to my current work so a very good learning experience. It made me realize that my project about gathering information about handicapped children could be very interesting since none of the participants from the different countries knew about the different views. I kept good contact with the lady how had organize it. She would like to have a look at my interview for the project.
In the afternoon we had an excursion to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. (there where also 3 other choices) I showed the people from Russia some parts from Amsterdam. I was getting more tiered because of the little sleep I would get during the night but nevertheless it was still impressive to visit the museum. We got back at the conference at 20.00. The Dutch students organized a stoelendans in the evening (a Dutch game) we had lot of fun. I also talked to some people but went to bed early (02.00) because I was really tired
Wednesday
In the morning the second part of the workshop integration of disabled people started. We watch a American movie about integration. It was full of situations that I thought where not in the best interest of the child. In the afternoon I wet to the workshop “from rubbish to art” I made several puppets out of rubbish It was really fun doing.
There where some extra presentations during the free time. One about street kids in Lithuania and one about the Korczak organisation in Russia.
After dinner we started with a concert of Jewish story telling and singing. The lady how sang had such a beautiful voice. I got a lot of energy out of listening to the concert. After the concert we all started to exchange addresses because we all realized the conference would finish soon and there where so many interesting people to get in contact with.
At night was finally able to send Matthijs an email saying that everything was ok. I went to bed around 03.30
Thursday
The workshop on this day was about children and aggression. The lady wrote a book about here new method of getting children to stop with their aggressive behaviour, and to talk about their fear. We had to talk about our own fears. This was for some pretty hard. After such intensive contact and so little sleep lot of emotions came out. It was a hart warming workshop and very intense (it felt like a strong connected group that new each other for many years already). I bought the book afterwards so I could read more about the method of changing behaviour. In the afternoon I decided to make the decor of the play that we where going to perform in the evening. I don’t like being on stage so I did the preparations. I had my hands covert in cement because we where making huge spoons and a tea cup. It was fun making! After dinner I really needed some time on my own. So I missed the first minutes of the play. It was really funny. Afterwards there where some more improvised music performances that we listened to. I Stayed up until 04.00 talking to the Germans I met and all the other people at the conference. We didn’t want the conference to end.

Friday
This was the last morning. We could sleep half a hour later. Until 08.00 We had to clear our room and help clean the kitchen. At 11.00 we sang some songs for the last time, hugged and said goodbye. It was pretty hard to leave. The atmosphere was so special that it felt strange to be in the “outside world” again. The people that attended this conference where very serious about their jobs. Every one of them could talk passionately for hours about it. It was great to be apart of such a group of people. I learned a lot and gained many friends from all over the world. This was my first conference but for sure not my last!

Greetings josé

For more information: check

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janusz_Korczak Genaral background information.

http://www.korczak.nl/2004/index.html Dutch organisation that organised the conference.

First days in Freiburg

After arriving the fist day I had to pack again and leave to go back to the Netherlands on the 22nd of September to attend the Korczak Conference in Bergen aan Zee. I will tell more about this later.
The conference ended on Friday morning. It was pretty hard to get up since I only slept for 3 hours. After the closing ceremony I rushed myself to Duivendrecht (NL) where a girlfriend of mine lives (kitty). Together we went to the wedding of our common friend Brenda.The wedding was kept small but intimate and I really enjoyed it. They where so in love! The party finished at 12.00 for me. Kitty and here husband drove me back to my parents house. My mom was still up and we talked a bit until 1.30. At 7 my alarm went off again. We had a quick breakfast, talked about the conference and my parents dropped me at Amsterdam Central station 1.5 hours later. My train left at 09.30 as planed. The weather was horrible as I drove off. I felt really tired and just wanted to go home, home in Freiburg. During the train ride I slept every now and then. Everything went fine and as we drove in Freiburg hauptbahnhof (main station) I saw Matthijs standing at the platform. It was wonderful to be back. It really felt like home.
Matthijs bought a bicycle for me in the week before and we went for a ride to the city centre. Freiburg gives me a welcome feeling. Nice shops, cosy streets and nice looking people. We went home to eat. We watched TV for a while and went to bed early. I slept REALLY good! After one week with hardly any sleep. Sunday morning we got op early 8.30. Matthijs made breakfast for me with a croissant (so sweet of him to think of!) We decided to cycle to France. This is only 30 kilometres away. We packed our bags with food and cameras and we drove off.
I can’t describe on paper how beautiful the ride was. Sun was shining (23 degrees) beautiful mountain landscape all around, with lots of farmland. They grow fruits, corn and grapes on the hill side. We stopped at a small place where they sold freshly made apple juice. We sat in one of the fields and ate our lunch. And along the road we gathered some walnuts from the tree to eat.
After 25 kilometres we arrived in Breisach. This is a small town at the bank of the Rein (river). We walked up a steep road to go on top of a hill. There was a beautiful church, and you could overlook the whole aria. On the other side of the river was France. We decided to go there for coffee and patisserie.
At 15.00 we decided to start on our way back. We took another way home. This time we drove in the middle of the vineyards. Some of the grapes where still there (they tasted very good!) We had to climb a bit to the top of the hill but is worth while. Again a beautiful few. This time we could see Freiburg. This is the place where we are going to stay for the next 5 months, can you imagine? I feel so lucky to get this change. And I will get the most out of it! Today, Monday the 1st of October was my fist day on my own in the house. The weather was perfect, 22 degrees and sunny. Matthijs went of to work at 9. I started behind my computer. I did some laundry, talked with Frau Gruninger (the lady how rents out the apartment) and went out shopping. I must say the shops are much better here. More difference in products and pretty cheap. Also the taste of the products is better. A tomato, really taste like tomato. Matthijs came back at 6. I made a Italian noodles and cheese cake for desert (this I bought) We sat on our terrace enjoying the forest few. Can it get any better?
Tomorrow I will write about the conference because that was so GOOD!

Greetings josé

Nederlands:

Na een avond in freiburg te zijn geweest ben ik op zaterdag 22 weer terug gegaan naar Bergen aan Zee in nederland. De Korczak conferentie was geweldig! en ik zal daarover in een apparte entry schrijven. Nu vertel ik erest meer over de eerste dagen voor mij in Freiburg.

De conferentie eindigde op vrijdag morgen. Ik ben als een speer naar de bruiloft van vriendin Breda gegaan. Ik sliep die avond bij mijn ouders in amstelveen. Half 9 de volgende ochtend brachten ze me weg naar amsterdam centraal. Onderweg i nde trein heb ik veel geslapen waardoor ik nog best uitruste van die heftige dagen. Mattijhs stond me om 5 uur savonds op te wachten. Hij had al fietsen gekocht en toen ik thuis was en een beetje uitgepakt zijn we naar de stad gefietst. We hebben heerlijk gegeten thuis en zijn vroeg gaan slapen.

Zondag was het prachtig weer 23 graden. We besloten om naar frankrijk te fietsen. Dat is hier 30 kilometer vandaan. Ik kan niet op paier beschrijven hoe mooi de tocht werkelijk was. We reden tussen de boom- en wijngaarden, keken naar het heuvel landschap, dronken vers geperste appelsap, verzamelde walnoten die op de grond waren gevallen, keken uit over het dorp Breisgau, aten taratejs in Frankrijk en snoepte van de druiven terwijl we uitkeken op freiburg. Geweldig dus!!!

Vandaag maandag 1 oktober was mijn ereste dag alleen thuis. I khe bme bezig gehouden met internet en mijn email, gekletst met de buurvrouw en voor het eerst boodschappen gedaan. Alles lijkt on nee IS hier leuker en lekkerder. De tomaten smaken echt naar tomaat en de mensen zijn vriendelijk. Ja dat ga ik wel uithouden een half jaar...

jose

wir sind in Freiburg

We have arrived in Freiburg. We left at 09.00 and arrived here at 17.20 It feels like a holiday village. The apartment is on the edge of the city near a forest. Our apartment is on the top floor of a free standing house. The people renting out the apartment live down stairs. The interior is really beautiful and much better that we could have wished for. I will upload a movie of our apartment. (unfortunatly it doesn't work yet maby later???)

We left the bags in the apartment and went to the main street for some dinner. Now we installed our computers and tested the internet connection. It works! Because I have to leave at 08.20 for the train back to the Netherlands I will keep this entry short, but so far so good.
Next week you will hear more…..

Greatings jose

Nederlands:
We zijn goed aangekomen in Freiburg. We vertrokken vanochtend om 9 uur en kwamen om 17.20 aan bij het huis. Het is een vrijstaand huis dat in zo'n echt vakantie dorpje staat. We hebben eerst alles neergezet in huis en zijn toen naar een restaurant gegaan. We hebben daar heerlik gegeten. En we vinden het hier bijde echt PRACHTIG! Het appartement is heel mooi en de mensen die het verhuren zijn heel erg aardig. Het huis staat echt "Am wald rand" de eerste eekhoorn is al gespot. Kijk het filmpje voor de beelden in het huis. Omdat ik morgen al weer om 08.20 vertrek met de trein houd ik het een beetje kort. So far so good!

1 day before departure

the bags that we are going to bring with us are now on our bed

Model appartment ;-)

Today is the last day in Rijswijk. It feels a bit strange. I still have no idea what we are getting in to. I just followed the normal routine of the past week; breakfast, cleaning, clearing out the last closets and get groceries for the last meal (snijbonen, tartaartje en aardappels uit de oven,). With everything you do I realize that it was fot the last time and that tomorow will be different. I really wander how everything will be in Freiburg. Today was a day to say goodbye to the old and think about the new…

My planning worked out just fine. I don’t have lots of spare time but I’m not in a hurry. That is very comfortable. No stress, just do your thing in a relaxed way. With Matthijs is the opposite. He had two nights where he didn’t go to bed before 3 am. He had to get his laptop working. Today he has only one day to clear out his desk. Yesterday I went to the TU Delft and saw his desk and it’s more than a day work I think. The problem is that he only has one day. But I have confidence that he will get finished, maybe a little later than expected but I’m getting used to that.

Tomorrow the taxi will pick us up at 09.00 am and bring us to the Hague central station. From there we will travel to Utrecht central station and transfer to a fast train to Frankfurt. In Frankfurt we have to transfer to another fast train with the end destination Freiburg. We will arrive there at 17.00.
We are going to take a cap to our new home. We will unpack a little but more important is that we will go to the city centre and have a good “German” meal.
The next day I have to go back at 10.00 am to the Netherlands, Bergen aan Zee. The Korczak conference that I’m attending will start on Saturday around 18.00 I’ll be right on time. The conference will continue until Friday morning of next week. And this will be a special day because a girlfriend of mine is gong to get married. The wedding start at 15.00 so I have enough time to go there and party all night!
Than on Saturday the 29th of September I will travel to Freiburg permanently and see Matthijs again. And this will be the first time in one week I will be able to use the internet, so you have to wait a little for the next episode. But it will be a special one!

The next thing is final packing and leave!


Greatings josé



Nederlands:

Vandaag is de laaste dag in Rijswijk. Ik heb de routine van de afgelopen week er in gehouden; schoonmaken, kasten uitruimen, boodschappen done voor ons laatste maal (snijbonen, tartaar en aardappels uit de oven). Het is een gekke dag omdat je bij alles wat je doet realiseerd dat het de laaste keer is en dat vanaf morgen alles anders zal zijn. gelukkig hef tmijn planning gewerkt. I kheb geen tijd over maar hoef niet te stressen. Dat is anders voor mattihjs die vnadaag in een dag zijn bureau moet leegruimen en geloof me das een hele prestatie als dat lukt.


Morgen zal de taxi ons om 9 uur sóchtends ophalen en naar Den Haag central brengen. Daar pakken we de trein naar Utrecht. In utrecht stappen we in een ICE naar Frankfurt. In Frankfurt stappen we over en gaan dan in een keer door naar Freiburg. We zullen daar om 17.00 aankomen. We nemen dan ook een taxi naar ons nieuwe huis.

We pakken een klein beetje uit en gaan dan lekker uit eten in een duitst restaurant. Ik ben benieuwd. De volgende ochtend ga ik al weer terug naar NL om precies te zijn naar Bergen aan Zee. Ik neem deel aan de Korcak conferentie. Deze conferentie start op zaterdag rond 18.00 uur. en duurt tot vrijdag ochtend van volgende week. Die vrijdag wordt ook speciaal want om 3 uur trouwd een hele goede vriendin van mij. Het wordt dus partyen tot laat!

De volgende ochtend zaterdag 29 september stap ik op Amsterdam centraal weer in de trein om nu definitief naar Freiburg en matthijs te gaan. Wat een week...... Het zal ook pas na die zaterdag zijn dat ik bij het internet kan dus tot die tijd moeten jullie het met dit verhaal doen.


Het laaste wat er nu gaat gebeuren is alles definitief inpakken en vertrekken....

2 days before departure

I was not feeling very well in the morning. When I’m don’t want to get started but sit in front of the t.v. and watch national geographic I know that I’m not oké. I probably got a cold ore something like that. I stayed on the sofa until lunch time. After lunch ai started to feel better and I got myself behind the computer. I tested SKYPE. This is a perfect way to call for free to someone. This comes in handy when we are abroad. I have a web cam so I can even video-phone people. It is a great program and I can recommend it to everyone even when you are not abroad.

In the afternoon I worked on a presentation about my project. It is a power point presentation in English. It was pretty hard because I didn’t have anything in English about my project. I made 6 sides in total. Now hope that there is some room to do the actual presentation at the conference next week.

I’m off In a few minutes because Matthijs and I are invited by a colleague of Matthijs, to have dinner. He is from Malaysia and he is going to cook by him self (now doubt that is going to be delicious.)

Greetings José

Nederlands:

Vandaga voelde ik me in de morgen niet zo heel erg lekker. Beetje verkouden. Ik ben op de bank blijven hangen tot de lunch. daarna ben ik achter de computer gekropen en heb o.a. SKYPE uitgeprobeerd dat is echt super!. Hiermee kan ik gratis bellen naar andere die skype hebben. Iedereen aanmelden dus!.

Ik heb ook aan een presentatie van mijn project gewerkt. Ik hoop dat ik de powerpoint presetatie over mijn project op de korczak conferentie kan houden. Het moest in het engels dat was nogal lastig aangezien ik nog niets heb in het engels maar het ging goed!

3 days before departure

alle spullen die we meenemen

in deze tassen

I slept really well last night. I must say I can’t say I don’t like the weather change It makes you want to sleep…
But I had to wake up because I had an appointment with the barber at 09.30. As usual they didn’t cut my hair the way I like it but what can you do. As soon as I got home I shaped it into it’s normal model and I was happy. Then I was lucky because I had to cycle to Delft and it just stopped raining. I met Marije (a former classmate of mine) to have lunch. We ate, drank and talked and talked until 14.00. Marije had to go to work so unfortunately we had to finish our day. I think we could have talked all day.
As I got home I ordered a taxi cap on Friday to drive us to the Hague central station. I also packed and sealed a large box with our winter sport stuff inside. The box weighted 18 kilos. I put it on my bike and walked to the post office. The box will arrive in Freiburg next week. This is a perfect way to get your stuff in a different country. It saves us a lot of weight carrying.
Next was making pictures off Matthijs his work. He asked me to photograph a metal strip that was carved in a model that he has made. Because the sun started shining in the afternoon the photos became perfect.
I check my mail and started this blog entry, and another day has past. Time’s flying by…

Greetings José

Nederlands:

Ik heb vanacht heerlijk geslapen. Ik vind het niet zo heel erg dat het weer is omgeslagen. Je kunt er heerlijk op slapen! Maar ik moest er wel uit. Ik naar de kapper ben geweest. Daarna ben ik naar delft gefietst. Ik had afgesproken met marije een oud klasgenoot. We hebben lekker gelunched en heel veel gekletst.

Om 2 uur moest ze werken en ben ik naar huis gegaan en heb een grote doos ingepakt met alle spullen voor de wintersport. Hij woog 18 kilo totaal. Ik heb de doos achterop mijn fiets gezet en heb 'm naar het postkantoor gebracht.

Matthijs had me gevraagd om wat foto's te maken van zijn werk, een stukje metaal in en vorm die hij heeft ontworpen en waar hij de laatste weken mee bezig is. Toen was het tijd voor mijn email en het schrijven van deze blog entry. En weer is er een dag weg. Wat gaat de tijd toch snel

4 days before departure

Yesterday we packed all our stuff in bags. Yesterday I wrote that we would probably need 6 bags but it turned out that we only need 4. And as a bonus, we can also bring the clothing that we need for Colorado with us to Freiburg. This means we don’t have to repack our stuff when we move to Colorado, we now can depart two days earlier on the 4th of March 2008.
Because everything is packed into bags right now it feels pretty empty in our home. This is not what I can say about my thoughts. This morning I woke up thinking about all the things that I still have to do.
Today there was not much time to do a lot because I had to ride my scooter to my parents in Amstelveen. My brother and parents will take care of Mister Kim (the name of my Kimco scooter) while we are abroad.
It was a nice ride from Rijswijk to Amstelveen. It took me 3 hours to get there.
Unfortunately it rained all day and I got pretty wet. Lucky for me I didn’t pack my raincoat yet. After lunch and drinking tea with my mom I said goodbye to her and went home. Leaving someone and something I love behind…..

Greetings José

Nederlands:

Gisteren hebben we alles in tasen ingepakt. Het bleken geen 6 tassen te worden maar maar 4. Ook konden we de zomerkleding voor Colorado meteen meenemen. Dat scheelt een hoop tijd al;s wemoetne ompakken naar colorado. We kunnen nu een paar dagen eerder vertrekken naar Amerika.

Verder heb ik vandaag mijn scooter va nrijswijk naar Amstelveen gereden. Omdat wij er natuurlijk niet zijn gaan mijn ouders op Mister Kim (mijn Kimco scooter) passen, zodat ie niet weg roest. Na de lunch en een bakkie heb ik afschijd genomen van twee dierbare

5 days before departure

I woke up early this morning 7.30. First thing on my mind was witch clothes should I bring and witch one should I leave at home. You can’t really tell until you start working your way down in your closet. But first we had some breakfast and another walk in the park. During our walks we tray to imagine how our lives will change and how much fun it will be to live in Freiburg. We fantasize about all the things we will do and encounter. (beer und bradwurst)

When we came home we really didn’t do much until lunch time.
After lunch we decided to start to sort our clothes. I had to make a pile of clothes for:

• the conference and the wedding
• half year Freiburg (winter time)
• half year Colorado (clothes for summer time)
• Snowboard clothes

Because I’m going to a conference I go back the day after I arrived in Freiburg (22 Septmeber). When the conference is finished on friday the 28^th I’m going to a wedding of a girlfriend of mine. Than on Saturday the 29 off September I will go back to Freibrug.
This time schedule makes it very difficult to pack my bags.
Because My nephew is moving in we have to clear the closets and we don’t have the time to search all the boxes for our clothes when we are going to Colorado. Everything has to be ready to pack. As we looked at all the clothes we separated the clothes that we hardly wear. In total we brought 8 plastic bag full of clothes to the Kringloop and throw away one garbage back away full of shoes.

Tonight we are going to fit everything in bags to see if we can carry all the stuff with us. We estimated each a bag pack, and two big trolley suite cases, a laptop bag and not to forget my handbag. Hopefully we can do with a little less!

Greatings josé

Nederlands: Vandaag hebben we alle kleding uitgezocht om mee te nemen voor de reizen. Ik moest 4 stapels maken met kleding: voor de conferentie en trouwerij, voor freiburg, voor colorado en voor de wintersport. Het was vrij lastig maar het is gelukt. Tegelijkertijd heben we ook eens alles uitgezocht en wel 8 plastic zakken met kleding naar de kringloop gebracht.
Vanavond gaan we alles proberen in tassen te stoppen en kijken hoe we het mee moeten krijgen.

6 days before departure

Matthijs and I started the day with a walk to the park near oure home. It was such a lovely morning. Then we went to the Albert-hein to gather some banana-boxes. These are your best friend when your are moving. You have to find out on witch day the supermarket gets a delivery off bananas but than you are well equip with perfect moving boxes.
Today we packed only the stuff we want to bring with us such as books, electric equipment or make-up, so no clothes. It took us just two hours to get everything and put in the bedroom. Tomorrow we are getting all the clothes and start to fit everything in our bags. We also hooked my laptop on the internet for the first time. We anticipated some problems but there where none. Pfeeew. We now completed the program transfer from the old computer on to the laptop. Now I only hope that the internet connection in Freiburg will work.

Greetings jose

Nederlands:

Matthijs en ik hebben vandaag eerst een ommetje gemaakt in het park vlak bij. Toen hebben we nog wat dozen opgehaald bij de appie happie. Bananen dozen zijn werkelijk "the best" om mee te verhuizen/op te slaan.

We zijn vandaag begonnen met allen de spullen te pakken. De kleren gaan we morgen doen. Dan gaan we ook alles in de tassen passen.

Verder hebben we de laptop vandaag voor het eerst aan het internet gekregen. Ook hebben we nu alle data over gezet. Nu nog hopen dat we een goede internet verbinding hebben in Freiburg.

7 day’s before departure

I am trying to write a blog entry each day until the day of departure. We are now one week away. It still doesn’t kick-inn.
Today I was busy cleaning the kitchen. I can tell that I have been working really hard the past year. I didn’t do much cleaning so it was really necessary to give the kitchen a good cleaning. Especially when you know someone else is going to use your stuff and cook in your kitchen. I hate the thought that they have to start in my mess. But that means cleaning from 10.30 until 21.00. I was not only working the kitchen don’t worry it wasn’t that bad. I also packed the last two boxes and cleared out the shoe closet in the hall.

Because matthijs had his staff day out tonight I was home alone. I love that. I can eat what I really like (and matthijs doesn’t like). I really like to cook fore myself and I treaded myself to mussels with lots off home made garlic-mayonnaise and fried potatoes.

It was delicious!!! The sorbet mango ice-cream was a perfect dessert. Matthijs just called me that he is coming home (now 22.44) So I finish this entry. Tomorrow we are going to start packing and hock my laptop on the internet. I hope it works

Greatings josé

Nederlands:
Ik ga vanf vandaag elke dag proberen een stukje te schrijven.
Vandaag ben ik druk bezig geweest met het schoonmaken van de keuken. Ook heb ik de laatste twee dozen ingepakt en het schoenenkastje op/uitgeruimt.
Matthijs had vandaag een personeelsuitje dus ik had het huis voor mijzelf. Heerlijk vind ik dat!
Ik heb lekker mosselen gegeten met heel veel eigen gemaakte knoflook saus.
Morgen gaan we beginnen met inpakken en mijn laptop inline te krijgen......

Clearing out the closet

We are now entered the last face in the “ moving abroad” process. I organized everything with our administration, one part is coming with us and most part is staying “home”. And today I kept myself busy clearing out most of the closets, looking what could get back in and what should go into a box for storage or go with us.

I constantly think about; what are we going to need? What are we going to miss most? And what am I forgetting? There is so much to think about.
Especially now when I’m turning the house up site down, you start to feel “homeless”. Not quiet ready to move yet but now longer comfortable in your own home.

It is also hard to imagine not living here in Rijswijk for over one year. I’m really looking forward to being in Freiburg , or even sitting in the train towards Feibrurg but until that time I notice that I miss my classmates and work my “former live”. The future will be awesome but it hasn’t started yet. So in the mean time I clean up the house and pack more stuff this will keep me busy for the next week. We are only 8 day before departure….

Greatings josé


Nederlands:
we zijn in de laaste face van de verhuizing aangekomen. Ik heb de administratie al helemaal op oorde gemaakt en ben vandaag bezig geweest met schoonmaken en kasten opruimen.
Je bent dan steeds bezig met heb ik dit nodig?, zal ik dit missen? en wat vergeet ik?

Nu alles "opgeruimd wordt is het lastiger om je thuis te voelen. Je bent nog niet weg maar ook niet meer helemaal thuis. Een beetje homeless.
Het is ook moeilijk voor te stellen dat we hier een jaar niet meer zullen wonen. Laten we maar snel beginnen met het avontuur. nog 8 dagen te gaan....