P-day #3*

* don't worry, I won't be counting all of them down for you.

My task for tomorrow: buying a Christmas present for someone I don't know, know (almost) nothing about and who lives on the other side of the world. Oh, and sending it. I think I need some more creativity for this though...

Uhm, right that didn't work out quite...

Not much job stuff planned. Good.

And, what will hopefully turn out to be a very good weekend following: drinks in town (more internet-related activities... teehee), attempting to explain Japan to a friend, seeing the state of the world at IDFA, and entertaining parents.

And am already dreading to go back to the office on Monday.... I so need out.

(PS: It's been an emotional rollercoaster this week, bear with me with these posts for a bit...)

Princess Day 1 -> 2 *

Unfortunately my Princess Days can't be spent with empty to do lists and with magazines on couches like MsCookie. I've set some tasks for myself on my weekly day off - as usual I'm probably aiming too high.

Anyway.

P-day #1 was spent calling a bunch of agencies and emailing some people. That has now partly resulted in what will hopefully turn out to be a productive P-day #2 at the end of the week, with a coffee meeting with Mr. Airplane plus another appointment with hopefully another one in between. So, if you have any do's and dont's for (in particular) meeting nr. 1, please put them in the comments!

For the Amsterdam-readers, any ideas on some entertainment for me in between appointments (as in, around lunch, and late afternoon until dinner time)?

But first I'm off to sleep. Something must be seriously wrong with me to get me into bed this early. *yawn*

Also, I'm annoyed that I still don't know what I want to vote on Wednesday. *sigh*

* The title refers to Princess Days as coined by dutchcookie. No relation at all to any Disney-type princesses. It only refers to my (easily-gained, and as it turns out unnecessary) four-day-workweek.

And again: piiiiictures!

A preview...:









And there's more to be found here

A whole new world

Wheee, the world looks beautiful again! (apart from the clouds, the greyness and the rain of course).

By special request, a (not very good) picture of my latest purchase. They're ultra-ultra-light and it feels really really weird wearing them. But yay for new glasses (*^-^*)

How to cook pierogi

Don't worry, this won't be a recipe for great Polish food: pierogi. But, I will be trying to reproduce those as soon as I have written this.

I am heading into a winter of no travel - for once there are no trips planned - but Krakow was definitely a good end to this very good travelling year.

Poland, and Krakow, has never really been a place I have been eager to go to but things change when you suddenly find yourself with friends from far away places. This weekend to Krakow had been in the books since a close friend moved from her home there to Amsterdam. So, after three or so years we finally made it.

Highlights were being amazed at the enormous amount of highly impressive churches (I think I've seen enough for a while...), trying out all kinds of yummy Polish food, bar hopping across town and bumping into friends of my friend, but also contemplating the Easyjet-syndrome which is now hitting Krakow.

Unexpectedly it was also a weekend of confrontation with everything that's going on in the world. On Saturday we visited the World Press Photo exhibition (amazing pictures, go see it if it's anywhere close to you!).
And on Sunday we spent the afternoon wandering around Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau. I never realized that Auschwitz was actually a complex of camps. And, although this will sound harsh, after walking through Auschwitz-1 and then arriving at Auschwitz-2 (Birkenau) you got the impression that the Germans had thought 'Hey, this works! [after using Auschwitz-1]. Let's make it bigger and better!' The rows of barracks at Birkenau are endless.... It really is a must-see place for everyone.

Pictures will be up soon, am off to try out cooking original home-made pierogi!

Temptation (2)

"You should let your hair down more." (although the person who told me this probably had something very different in mind!)

"Female solidarity stops at the border." (partly tongue in cheek, I'm sure)

Just some random quotes that I've been told recently. And in between there's me thinking I think too much about consequences and more.

It's probably for the best.

On the other hand, being a good girl can be boring, no? I guess I have to find some other way to make life fun ;-)

The world re-considered

Through a recent discovery on the net, VPRO energie, I came across this pretty nifty world map.

It resizes the world proportional to their oil & gas reserves. Interesting stuff.

What I've missed:

* Friday nights in the pub catching up with friends, followed by a night of dancing and drinking.

* Saturday- and Sunday mornings, slowly waking up with coffee and the paper.

* Chatting away evenings with gossip and the latest news with more friends.

* Spending a day at the cinema, seeing weird and cool/cute Japanese movies, followed by a very natsukashii Japanese dinner (funnily enough, the cook actually recognized me eventhough it's been ages since I was there last).

In between all this there was more talk of making plans (Crossing Border, IDFA, Krakow plans!), trying out new restaurants, etc etc. Life is good. This is how I like things. And this is why being away for two months felt like way too long!

Inspiration

so, an update about my issues on networking and the seminar.

As I said, it was kind of weird opening a seminar to a group of students who are expecting success stories about how to get the job you want with your Japanese Studies degree. Clearly, I couldn't give them that, but luckily I didn't have to say much. That was why we got four other people to talk to them about what had happened to them in their career so far.

The keyphrase of the night: being at the right place at the right time.
It seems that none of the parrieakers (or at least the few I listened to) had a very clear strategy worked out but by making the most of the opportunities that came along, by getting to know people, they got to where they are now.

And mostly, you just need to DO things. Make things happen yourself. Create your own opportunities.

Needless to say, despite that the evening was intended for the current students it was very good to listen to everyone talk for me as well.

It has also made me re-consider some options that I had previously discarded. Which clearly makes it more difficult to decide what to do but also opens up some new doors.

Oh well, lots to think about. Lots of people to talk to.

Update
I realized I didn't actually mention anything about the networking post.

Well:
- I spoke to the person-I-had-never-met-who-didn't-reply-to- my-email. He gave a very interesting talk, and I talked to him for a bit in the bar afterwards. He said he'd try to find my email again and reply. So, I re-sent that email today to him. Let's see what he says.

- I called up the man-on-the-plane. But got his voicemail. Still, he now has a message from me and I'll email. I'm assuming he is somewhere in Nigeria.

- And, I have found some more people who are willing to act as a sounding board (?)/sparring partners in how I conduct my eternal jobhunt.

So maybe I should conclude that I am not so bad at this thing as I thought...