Ciao tutti,
First things first. I apologise, once again, for not updating for such a long time. You must have been wondering whether I had died or something. And I also apologise for the length of this post, because it is going to be a short one. The reason for this? Well, my computer is still broken. I don't know if I have told you about this before, but some time ago I dropped my computer and broke my hard disk. That was a very stupid thing to do, I know, and I will not argue with any justified name-calling. Anyway, that was temporarily fixed by computer doctor Jorryt who set up a programme to be able to run my computer from a CD-rom. This still wasn't perfect but at least my computer was able to perform basic bodily functions like start up and access the internet. Unfortunately, this temporary situation lasted until two days ago, when the thing finally gave out. It doesn't matter that much, because there is a new, completely installed second-hand hard disk underway. Unfortunately, it won't arrive for another three weeks so I am, once again, temporarily computerless. I can use Olaf's computer for necessary things but he obviously needs it too.
On to happier topics. Here is a short update of what I have been doing the last month and a half. When Christmas break was finally over, I was able to say goodbye to boredom for once and for all and started the crazy schedule I have still got. I am teaching 30 hours a week and am working 10 hours a week in the office. This is a lot of work and takes up a lot energy, but obviously shows up on the pay checks so I am not complaining.
Work has been taking up a lot of time, but of course there were could things too. We went to Coventry in England to visit Matt and Antony the first weekend after Christmas break and had a lot of fun. When we were there we also visited the city of Worcester, famous for its sauce and ate a lot of English liquorish. You can find some pictures of this trip on Olaf's blog. The weekend after that, Olaf celebrated his birthday for the first time in years and that was cause for a great party. We decided against having a party at home this time and found a venue near Bocconi where the cocktails were nice and cheap and the food was good. It was a wild party and Olaf came home very happy and very drunk. I gave him the Godfather trilogy, as he has never seen these classics and I am curious to find out what he will think of them.
We also celebrated Amanda's birthday and Olaf organised a surprise party for Felix's birthday and both were very enjoyable. Last weekend my mother came over for a visit and I was very happy to get some much-needed mamattention!!!!! We talked a lot, ate and drank a lot and played a lot of games. I actually won trivial pursuit for the first time in years, which was an amazing event as Olaf usually beats me at this game. In order to celebrate my mum's arrival, we decided to try out a funky fish restaurant around the corner and that was a very good decision. At 'Anema e Cozze' we were treated to a wide variety of tasty seafood dishes and ate to our hearts' and stomachs' desires! It was also very affordable, so I think this one is a keeper!
Last Thursday, we partecipated in a pub quiz organised by some Irish people who live in Milan. Even though we didn't win at all, we were not bad and had a very enjoyable evening with Caroline, Niamh, Susan, Flora, Angus and sme more people. I actually forgot to have dinner because I was so intent on winning the game - but obviously kept on drinking - that I had a nasty encounter with my alarm clock the next morning. It either didn't go off or I was just too fast asleep to hear it, but I missed my first lesson, which is something that had never happened before. Fortunately, that wasn't a problem and no harm was done.
This weekend, my uncle Willem and cousin Yoeri were in Milan and we met up with them yesterday for a short tour - of things they had already seen - and to introduce them to the aperitivo concept. That was fun. I am looking forward to the two upcoming weekends, because we are going to Verona next weekend and are flying to Porto to visit Marta the weekend after that.
More updates to follow when I have time or when my computer is working again. Not updating that often doesn't mean I don't care.
Ciao, Fedor
