I can't believe how fast January has come and gone. It still feels like 2009 has only just begun but that is just not true anymore. This scares me a bit as I was really living towards Christmas and now that Christmas is past I am measuring time towards and looking forward to summer. Summer, however, is still one big question mark. We are going to leave Milan, that is for sure, but I have no idea where we will be. It all depends on where Olaf gets a job (and whether or not I veto us moving there!) but it is awfully close. I do not like insecurity. I am a planner and a perfectionist and need to know what is going to happen and where I am going to go. This situation frustrates me a bit, though I manage. Leaving Milan and my life really is a frightening enough prospect as it is and will emotionally be very difficult anyway (I love Milan and feel at home here!), so I can really do without the other doubts. If time keeps moving this fast we will have left before I know it and there is still so much I want to do here. I just want to make these last couple of months a time to remember.
However, work is claiming a lot time - hey, what else is new?! - and is still worrying. We are now in a position that is somewhat more secure but even that is a temporary situation. Our largest client (roughly 50% of yearly business) have let us know they have no budget at all for language courses this year. Although we had anticipated this, the actual confirmation still came as a shock. Fortunately, this woke some people up and they realised things will actually have to be done if this company is to survive. So, this might actually have a positive effect on the atmosphere in the office as they are not as incompetent and slow anymore as they use to be. Let us see how long this will last and that it will not be too late.
On to happier topics, Olaf has finally handed in his dissertation and this was cause for a grand party to celebrate this and his birthday as well. It also means he has finally got some time for me as well, I was getting lonely!! We went to a lovely Indian Italian fusion bar where (I think) the food was very good and the alcohol expensive yet enjoyable. All his friends put their money together and they got us a dinner on the ATMosfera, the dinner tram. We decided to go as soon as possible and they fortunately had a cancellation for last Friday. We had a posh four-course dinner while being driven on a tram through rainy Milan looking out and waving at the little people. This is what it must feel like to be the queen...
Oh, and we also went to London this month. Olaf had a conference there so his flights and the hotel were all paid for and the nearest hotel just happened to be the Hilton... I had never slept in a Hilton before and it was quite exciting. In the end, the room was tiny and nothing special but the full English breakfast too mornings in a row was an amazing antidote to little alcohol-induced drowsinesses. I spent most of my time with Marike, who I had not seen for a while. We did some shopping and lots of talking (if you know Marike, you will understand why) and on Sunday we went to an exhibit on the Byzantine Empire at the Royal Academy. The Byzantine Empire was a very important, culturally rich and historically exceedingly interesting period and empire but for some reason it was never given the attention it is due while we were at university. We spent about four hours inside and learnt many things - and corrected many others as the curator obviously did not speak ancient Greek or had just not bothered interpreting the depictions on the artifacts because his interpretations were often completely off. That made us feel smart and give each other pats on the back while congratulating ourselves on choosing to study Classics. See, not completely useless!!!
We have got some interesting things coming up soon and I hope I will have enough time and energy to enjoy them as I would like to:
- Next weekend we are going to Jorryt and Lilian wedding party (as expected they did get married in secret in Australia on 31st December). They did it their way and we are coming to Holland to celebrate with them!!
- The weekend after that we are going to a Cascina in Piemonte to stuff ourselves with local specialities and lots of wine. It will be a proper couples weekend with Jen & Massimo, Louisa & Mickael and even Kate has managed to convince her new man Giammaria to come with us!!
- Sometime in March Wouter and I are going to explore the mysterious city of Frankfurt
- Both my mother and father have booked flights to come and visit us!!!
And now I am going to enjoy my Sunday. Yesterday was an interesting evening of pizza with wine, followed by just wine, followed by cocktails and dancing and Le Trottoir so I think I am going to take it slow today...
