Project Belgium - first 2 weeks in Flanders

Things are going smoothly so far:
- most of the admin stuff like: registration at the Commune, getting a new bank account or mobile SIM cards are solved already,
- all of the furniture is re-assembled again - my last year's birthday gift rules!!!
- most of the boxes are unpacked and the flat slowly starts to feel "like home".

On Friday drTBBE joined me here for a couple of weeks and he will do teleworking for the Danish employer - I love Scandinavia and their way of treating people! It looks like we could keep going like that for several next months :-) Simply great!!!

And it seems like my new job is going to be interesting... very promising so far :-)

There are still a couple of points to get used to:
a) surrounding of our house is pretty deserted (the buildings next to ours are not inhabited) and I suspect that people who developed Fallout (a video game) could have been inspired by this area,
b) every day at 5 p.m. there is a test of nuclear alarm sirens... Believe me or not, this sound doesn't make you feel comfortable...



Our new address:
Building to the right,
Middle of nothing,
Belgium

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the heavies and the biggest 21m3 ever

Viborg, 12 September:

  

 

Mol, Belgium, 14 September, 3rd floor:

 

 

 

Was that the heavies and the largest 21m3 ever? Or am I just getting older?
L. - thank you for carying our stuff up for 4 hours!


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changes again !!!

Belgium, here we come!!!
I was offered a job at the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO) and we decided to check if we could be happy in Belgium :-)
The offer came pretty unexpectedly, and it took us quite some time to digest it but we are quite excited about it! So, about two years after starting project Denmark we kick-off a new project: project Belgium!

It should be a very interesting experience:

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Defended!

I must admit, because I did not know what to expect, I was expecting the worst: a sequence of questions pointing into weaknesses of my PhD work. And instead I got a very constructive discussion about both, the strong and the weak parts. Plus a very positive atmosphere and a couple of jokes! And the after defence discussion was even better!

Summa summarum - a very enjoyable day !!!

And the feeling of having the 3.5 years process completed - priceless... :D

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Getting ready for the "after PhD life"

+ about 20 books in my Kindle :D

I cannot wait to start reading....

 

 

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time to finish...

Even Microsoft Office reminds me that my PhD project lasts for too long...

Time to finish... ;-)


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Long time no blogging

Hours are short these days. 4 weeks left to the end of my PhD project and I haven't started writing the thesis yet. Other writing is good though... may the force and motivation stay with me!!!

 

 

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11 weeks left

Ok, 11 weeks of work left to deliver my PhD dissertation. It seems very short considering the amount of work left, but I am glad that it is that short. I want to work from 8.00 to 16.00 again and have time for planning our holidays and weekend trips, for reading fantasy books, watching movies... Ehhh, the last months were too full of work and even if I like what I do... I am veeeeery tired...

The good news is: in two weeks me and drTBBE take off to Melbourne for a conference and stay there for two weeks holidays afterwards :D

But I have still 2 weeks to go, I better go back to work now...


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Project Denmark - our new flat

Ufff, finally we have a flat in Viborg :-)
Things were little bit slower than expected because of several reasons:

• 70% of the online advertisements of rental apartments (like this or this ) do not include photos! A short description like: number of rooms, area, floor number, location of the flat and a list fees to pay is a standard. If you are very lucky, you might get a glimpse of the house in Google StreetView but it is only available for the main streets where you probably wouldn't like to live anyway...
• housing associations (that dominate the rental apartment market) are not the best organized 'companies'... They might for example send you a list of available flats that, after you spent entire evening on selecting the ones that you might be interested in, happens to be outdated and non of the flats that you wanted to see is on the market anymore...
• drTBBE had much more busy and more stressful (and full of surprises) than expected time at work.

Another new thing that we have learned lately it the fact that in most of the housing associations in Denmark the tenant is paying the rent for the time (mostly 2 weeks) when his future flat is renovated for him. So in our case, we pay the rent from the 16th of October but we will be only able to move in on the 1st of November. As we discovered in some places it might be the other way around, you might have to leave your flat 2 weeks before the contract termination so that the housing association has time to paint the apartment and fix some small faults. I find it really awkward but every country has its own customs...

Anyway, the logistic puzzles soon will be solved and I will join drTBBE to start our common Danish adventure on the 1st of November :-)

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Project: Denmark

Project "Denmark" is already running and things should go faster and faster every day now..
Here is the sketch:

•  we drive to Poland next week :-]
• drTBBE starts telework from home on the 1st of September,
• I come back to Bergen and start to pack slowly what hasn't been packed by now,
• drTBBE drives to Viborg before the 12th of September, takes care of all the paperwork, Id numbers, permissions and looks for a new apartment,
• as soon as the new flat is set up we will arrange our removal from Bergen,
• we will settle down (at least for a couple of months ;-)) and start our new adventure in Denmark!!!

Because we gave already a notice to the owner of our current flat, the removal should take place before middle of November!  We have to work fast!
For some reason I am not too worried and started to really look forward to all these new things coming :-)
But first, a visit to Poland!!! I cannot wait to see my family and friends again :-D




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Denmark, WE are coming!!

Ufff, It looks like there should be no major problems for me to move to Denmark and to do teleworking !!!

Of course I will come to Bergen regularly for a couple of days but overall me and drTBBE will not have to live separately at all :-] Well, ok, maybe a bit in the 'transition period' but by the end of the year latest our removal procedure should be completed...


Lucky us!!! I am very happy to have such understanding and flexible supervisors!

Happy PhD student is a efficient PhD student :-]

There are some darker sides of the story as well: I will miss my colleagues and probably struggle against feeling of isolation:

but let's give it a try!!!

Project "Denmark" has been officially kicked-off!!!






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Big changes coming...

And so it happened: drTBBE got a very interesting job offer at the University of Aarhus in Denmark! :]
Even if I was totally crossing my fingers for his success, somehow I haven't realized all the consequences...
But one should not miss an opportunity like this so here we are now, planning our gradual removal from Bergen to Viborg, DK...
There are thousands of options to take into account, hundreds of ideas to consider and check and so little time to plan it all. drTBBE should start the new job on the first of September and we wanted to go to Poland for a couple of days so there is no time to waste! No more lazy weekends with book reading or hiking, at least for some time :-/
Anyway, cross your fingers for us tomorrow, I will try to convince my supervisor that I could be a very efficient and happy PhD student doing telework from Denmark...

Another thing is, I was checking how much effort I would have to make to extend my beginner's level in Norwegian into beginner's Danish but it looks pretty unrealistic after watching these movies:       :]
4min movie:

2 min movie:

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Praha

Two weeks ago we went to Prague :-) Nice trip, specially for Poles understanding quite some Czech.  It was sometimes easier to communicate in Polish than in English. The city reminded me of Krakow so I felt almost like home in there :-).

Talking about home, in childhood I was a great fun of Krtek! It was so good to see him again :-)

Karlův most (Charles bridge) was full of artists, their little kiosks and musicians - very nice atmosphere and we could stay there for hours without getting bored!. Tourists were also fascinated with the statue (below) that if you touch it (see the shiny spots), will make your wish come true.

And now, keeping in mind the shiny spots from above, check what is the most shiny place on the statue below :-)

Talking about statues... we have also found a statue of a Nazgul :-)

We have also discovered that we both love Czech cuisine!! Delicious food, not always healthy, specially when accompanied by a couple of beers, but delicious!!! :-) mniam!!!!

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Model of happiness

Let's summarize:

- our flat looks like after tornado (no cleaning in last 3 weeks),

- kitchen looks like.. well, without dishwasher probably we'd have to eat from plastic,

- fridge: not too many things, except of light and a couple of things, that we were not hungry and/or brave enough to eat,

- reserves of pasta, rice, sugar, coffee etc. - gone (including "Chinese soups"),

- wood for fireplace - just about to be finished,

- our Polo - covered with 40-60cm layer of snow (we still haven't bought shovel!),

- my leg depilatory is broken,

- I have just turned 30,

- TBBE left me alone with all that mess and flew back to Poland......

- I am very, very tired....

And it feels so GREAT!!!!!! Marvellous, excellent, just perfect!!!!

I have been waiting for this moment for so looong time!!!!

TBBE is handing in the draft of his thesis on Friday,
this Friday :-)

Chances, that our life will come back to normality, are growing.....

the best gift for newcomers in Bergen :-)

The best boyfriend's ever celebrates his name day today!

Happy name day Honey !!! :-*

The most practical gift for newcomers in Bergen - proffesionall wellies :-)

Looking for positives ;-)

Today I've spent more than 2 hours in a waiting room of the Imigration Office, full of refugees and emigrants from many exotic countries and....their kinds... at least 4 per one mother, one louder than another: screaming, screeching, yelling... WOW!!

Anyway, even if my maternity will be now postponed even more, I have the final paper confirming my work/residence permit!!!

Now only 3 weeks of waiting for the final ID number and ....I will have to notify all the places where I have registered with the temporal ID number, means:
+ the telephone company,
+ my bank - new credit card will have to be issued!,
+ car registration office - new registration card for our car will have to be issued!

Well, the administration staff should not be worried about their positions, there are always plenty numbers to change, papers to update etc...

Ok, some positives now: after heavy rain the view from my office looks like that:

Sunshine and first whitefrost

Bbbbrrrrrrr!!!! 2 degrees Celsius in the morning!!! And it is only begining of October...
The good news is: we had 2 days of sunshine in here :-) The bad news is: the Best Boyfriend Ever missed them (he went to PL) ;-) The next sunny days are forseen around springtime 2010!!! Black humor...
Anyway, I have taken very nice photo of myslef in the sun :-)
It was taken on the way to a hairdresser.
I found the address of a Polish hairdresser in the internet. It was just 3 blocks away from our house, on my way back from the office....
For this 40minutes that I've spent at her place I was feeling like being in Poland again: her kids running around on the playground shouting in Polish, her husband passing by the office, asking when the dinner will be ready (!!!! as he would not have hands) and a polish TV station in the backround showing 1564. chapter of a polish soap opera...

As usuall, the haitcut does not look as it looked on the photo, but that is quite international problem... or maybe it is just me?

Double efficiency!

So far everything went pretty smooth! Our car was imported, inspected, insured and registered! And all this in one day :-)
Another great news is: beeing an administration officer it is possible to be helpful and kind to the clients :-) Apparently noone told about this to the adminstration in Poland...

Anyway, everything goes easier when you are two...

Warm welcome

The Best Boyfrind Ever is comming today, precisly in 80 minutes :-)
11C and raining... well, the welcome will be very warm anyway!!!!
Looks like were are just about to start phase 5 of our project Norway :-)
I run to the harbour!!!!

Second day without one drop of rain!

well, not the second day in row, but in total since I'm here (20 days)...
Any wherever I look around, I see good places for take-offs...

No hope for flying anyway...

The good news is: the truck with our inventory should arrive tomorrow!
Yuppi!!! That means that I will not have to decide anymore what I want more:

• eat something warm
  
• or drink tea, coffee etc.

I have only one pan in the moment... :-)