The period between yesterday evening and today lunch time deserves a post by itself.
A colleague lives in Utrecht. That's because he met a girl, 2 years ago, who studies there. So, when he joined our company and moved to Holland, a few months ago, the choice of the city was natural.
So, he invited some of the few people who haven't left for Christmas holiday. Those were me and 2 more colleagues living in Amsterdam.
The party went to a Greek restaurant (pretty good, not cheap and not expensive).
Then, Stairway To Heaven, a bar where rock music from 60s to 90s was played, and there was also a dance floor. The walls were covered with guitars, that they claimed had been played by famous rockers. There was also a shirt worn by Kurt Cobain, enclosed in a glass box and venerated as a relic.
Unusual things happened when asking for beer. Once, we got 2 bottles of champagne of beer. This means that we got 2 bottles of beer, but they were 75cl each (!), and they looked like bottles of champagne. Then we asked for 1 beer and we got 8. After telling the waiter we needed 1, he told us to pay 1 and keep the others.
The music was good, and it was also funny to look at the drunken people. A girl with no mobile phone started dancing with us, and later she told us that there is no reality and everything is an impression. Or maybe that didn't happen, it was just an impression.
After the closure, we walked towards the station. The train was leaving in 1 minute, and we needed no less than 10 to get to the platform. And the following train was 1:01 hours later. What now? The guy living in Utrecht offered us to sleep at his place. Good!
We walked for a long way in -2°C and got there. He had the Digitenne TV service, so we told him there was a TV channel he didn't know about. What happened next, in a men-only party, can offend older people, moralists and children, so I won't tell.
I will tell what happened after that. He slept on the sofa, while I and the other 2 shared a double bed. 1 of the other 2 didn't realize he was not sleeping under the duvet, and we were...
Time to wake up. We walked to the Wilhelminapark, see previous post. Then we had a nice breakfast at the Park Café Buiten. Even too much: chocolate pie with whipped cream, apple pie with whipped cream (again), croissant, tea, coffee, wrong coffee.
And eventually we got to Amsterdam again. Time to relax. Or not? No. Some Christmas shopping (not enough), and a visit to the Anne Frank house. First time, after more than 2 years here. Why did I wait for so long? (Because the queue was always terrible, and today it was reasonable, that's why) Really moving, chilling. People who only wanted to live a normal life, and tried in all ways possible to do it. Anne Frank wrote that, after the war, she wanted to become a journalist She did not survive the war, but she did become a writer. Or, simply, she didn't realize what a great writer she already was.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Becoming a Northern European
There are already some symptoms. Maybe they don't mean I'm one yet, but maybe they do.
Summer was dismal, little sun, terrible. September was not too bad. Then, the temperature started decreasing, slowly but steadily. Some days ago, in the night ice was forming.
And, this week, for the first time the city woke up under the snow. It didn't last long, in the afternoon it had disappeared already.
The day after, it snowed again, and it stayed.
And today, I spent an unexpectedly nice morning with three colleagues in Utrecht. Wilhelminapark was covered with snow. Families with children had ice skates at their feet, usual for them (maybe), really weird for me.
And the weirdest thing: I and the colleagues walked on water, like Jesus. Well, in the sense that the pond in Wilhelminapark was frozen, and the ice was thick enough it was possible to walk on it. And skate on it. We walked, Dutch people skated.
Ice was making strange noises, like metal sheets. And we didn't know if that was something to worry about... Dutch people were not worried, and therefore we were not either... We should have been: one of my friends was doing the very last step before reaching the land, when the ice broke. Luckily, he was so close to the shore that he fell on the land.
After that, we were so scared we didn't try again. But children were skating, were playing ice hockey, and one of them was hitting the ice surface with his (her?) hockey club. Those Dutch people are scared by nothing!
Conclusion: I am actually enjoying this chilly weather with no rain! Today was especially good, sun and blue sky. Even though I like snow (maybe because I was born in a place where it never snows), I used to suffer incredibly from cold climate. Now I like it. Is it serious, doctor?
Summer was dismal, little sun, terrible. September was not too bad. Then, the temperature started decreasing, slowly but steadily. Some days ago, in the night ice was forming.
And, this week, for the first time the city woke up under the snow. It didn't last long, in the afternoon it had disappeared already.
The day after, it snowed again, and it stayed.
And today, I spent an unexpectedly nice morning with three colleagues in Utrecht. Wilhelminapark was covered with snow. Families with children had ice skates at their feet, usual for them (maybe), really weird for me.
And the weirdest thing: I and the colleagues walked on water, like Jesus. Well, in the sense that the pond in Wilhelminapark was frozen, and the ice was thick enough it was possible to walk on it. And skate on it. We walked, Dutch people skated.
Ice was making strange noises, like metal sheets. And we didn't know if that was something to worry about... Dutch people were not worried, and therefore we were not either... We should have been: one of my friends was doing the very last step before reaching the land, when the ice broke. Luckily, he was so close to the shore that he fell on the land.
After that, we were so scared we didn't try again. But children were skating, were playing ice hockey, and one of them was hitting the ice surface with his (her?) hockey club. Those Dutch people are scared by nothing!
Conclusion: I am actually enjoying this chilly weather with no rain! Today was especially good, sun and blue sky. Even though I like snow (maybe because I was born in a place where it never snows), I used to suffer incredibly from cold climate. Now I like it. Is it serious, doctor?
Company pride
The company I work for does quite a lot to build team spirit. A borrel every month (to be precise, not this month, but I didn't come in December 2005 and 2006, so that's not so bad). A summer party in June, a Christmas party in December.
It works. It is probably cheaper than increase salaries :), and the consequence is that people are, on average, very proud to work for our company. It is good for work and life satisfaction.
This year's Christmas party was better than last year's: the fact that I didn't lose my camera contributes to this. The place was not far from the centre. Food, while not exciting, was better: people were not forced to sit at a table, they could walk around, and at least the meat was not dry. Music was pretty nice, not too much house-techno (I hate it), more commercial music. Not many people went to the relaxed places: that's a pity, since the music became loud and it was difficult to talk to people. And, especially, it was nice to meet people, some after a long time, chat with them, and talk about past, present, and future.
This week, all employees got as a gift one of the latest products. A few hours later, Internet sales sites were flooded by such products being offered for sale.
And, on Friday, move time. The office where I worked for more than two years had become too small, with all the new employees. So, movers came, disassembled desks, packed computers, and made the old office almost empty. In the afternoon, since working was not possible, I and some colleagues visited the new office. It made us proud (again). It's big, spacious, and new. And there's a phone for each employee. We will miss the old office in the very centre of the city, the new one is a little further away from the interesting parts. Yet, it could have been much worse, all those dreary industrial estates that look like ghost cities after 18.00 and in weekends would have been depressing.
It works. It is probably cheaper than increase salaries :), and the consequence is that people are, on average, very proud to work for our company. It is good for work and life satisfaction.
This year's Christmas party was better than last year's: the fact that I didn't lose my camera contributes to this. The place was not far from the centre. Food, while not exciting, was better: people were not forced to sit at a table, they could walk around, and at least the meat was not dry. Music was pretty nice, not too much house-techno (I hate it), more commercial music. Not many people went to the relaxed places: that's a pity, since the music became loud and it was difficult to talk to people. And, especially, it was nice to meet people, some after a long time, chat with them, and talk about past, present, and future.
This week, all employees got as a gift one of the latest products. A few hours later, Internet sales sites were flooded by such products being offered for sale.
And, on Friday, move time. The office where I worked for more than two years had become too small, with all the new employees. So, movers came, disassembled desks, packed computers, and made the old office almost empty. In the afternoon, since working was not possible, I and some colleagues visited the new office. It made us proud (again). It's big, spacious, and new. And there's a phone for each employee. We will miss the old office in the very centre of the city, the new one is a little further away from the interesting parts. Yet, it could have been much worse, all those dreary industrial estates that look like ghost cities after 18.00 and in weekends would have been depressing.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Lookalikes
I've been told by someone, while I was walking away from the office, that I look like Luis Suarez. I wish it was true...
deep-linked from Wikipedia, license GFDL
deep-linked from Wikipedia, license GFDLNot much else. The only thing that makes me happy is to look at the Serie A standings. If looked upside down, of course.
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