The last post of the year

Well, I'm off for a long weekend, to relax and rest for the big party on Friday night.
The weather is still very bad, so I'm afraid skiing won't be an option tomorrow.
I will probably spend most of the time at Mónica's parents house, trying to install the wireless network her father bought. I had a try at installing it yesterday evening, but the network card is giving us trouble. I will have to reinstall it.

Have a great night on New Year's Eve. Make it a party to remember.
Here in Spain, it will be another traditional night. We have to wear red underwear for good luck, and at midnight, we will try to eat 12 grapes before the tower clock in Madrid has struck 12 times. Each grape represents a month of luck, and I can assure you it's not easy to eat them that fast. In fact, I never managed to do it in time.

Feliz 2005! Happy New Year!

And they lived happily ever after

On the 7th of December, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Mónica and I were in Oviedo and decided to go have a quick lunch at our favourite Italian restaurant Gepetto.
We both had a tagliatelle 'Gepetto', and a Coke.
A few days ago, I took a look at my bank account online, and saw to my disbelief that they had charged me 70 euros for the meal. So I started looking for the credit card ticket, and yes: it said 70 euros and it was signed by me.
Immediately Mónica's words came to my mind: "You never watch the amount before you sign." She has said it so many times.

I searched for the e-mail address of the restaurant and wrote a 'nice' mail to the manager, saying that they had taught me a valuable lesson that day.
I couldn't ask for a refund, because I had thrown away the restaurant check and couldn't prove what we had eaten that day.
5 minutes later, I received a mail from the manager. He had phoned the restaurant, they had searched for my check of that day, they had seen that they had made a mistake, and they were about to return me the money.
And they did. Nice man, this Gepetto.

Back to work

I'm one of the unlucky few who are actually working today. Although I didn't do much yet, and I see my colleagues are just surfing the internet as well.
The office is very empty, and the few people that did come to work today are making very little noise. So for once it's comfortably quiet in here.


We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day with Mónica's parents. It was a serene celebration with lots of food and the typically Spanish turron for dessert, accompanied by christmas specials on television.
On Saturday and Sunday we stayed in the house, because winter has finally reached Spain, with snowstorms, heavy rain and windspeeds up to 65 mph.
I hope the weather conditions will improve a little by the end of the week, so I can go skiing for the first time this year on Thursday.

Merry Christmas!

A Merry Christmas to all my visitors!
Feliz Navidad!

Nothing to worry about

I don't know how the social security system works in the States, but in Belgium we had to pay to go to the doctor, and later the system repaid part of the fee.
In Spain, going to the doctor is free. The first time you need a doctor, you get one assigned to you. On later visits, you will always see the same doctor.
The doctor I got assigned is an older man, he must be close to 70 years old. It always makes me doubt his opinions and decisions. Ok, he probably has a lot of experience, but is he familiar with new techniques and developments?


I visited the doctor this morning. You see, two weeks ago I went to the medical check-up at work, and apparently some numbers of the blood analysis were a little low. But the doctor told me I shouldn't pay too much attention to the figures, and that everything seemed fine.
As I was waiting for my turn to see the doctor, I heard other people whispering. They were saying: "shouldn't he start thinking about retiring? He is getting a little old now, isn't he?"
Apparently, I'm not the only one doubting his opinions.

Un poquito de por favor

There are some strange people in this world. I heard that some colleagues were complaining about the fact that the office is decorated with christmas decorations.
Ok, the decorations look a bit crappy, but that's not the point. They think it is totally inappropriate that the company spends money on christmas decorations and that they are forced to work in a decorated building.

Oh please! How about some respect and tolerance. I don't understand this kind of behaviour. if some stupid mistletoe decoration already makes you freak out, you better lock yourself in for the next 2 weeks.
What's your opinion on this?

First a siesta, and then to the fiesta

I live in Spain, but many people I work with live in the United States. So I have telephone meetings with people from the United States on a daily basis.
Apparently, many people seem to think that Spain is a very big holiday resort, and that we only work a couple of hours a day.

There is the misunderstanding of the so-called 'siesta'. Many people actually think that after having lunch we have some time off to take a nap. We don't. And there are no big rooms with beds in the office either. The siesta is a nap that we take on a Saturday or a Sunday afternoon, just like my parents used to do in Belgium. I have the same 9 to 6 working hours like I had in Belgium.


And there is the myth that we have an incredible amount of holidays in a year. We don't. In Spain every region has its own festive holidays. So people in Barcelona have other holidays than people in Madrid. I have 14 holidays next year. I think that is the same amount as I had in Belgium. Nothing special there either.
So there is no need to envy us, especially because the wages in Spain normally are a lot lower than in other European countries and the United States.

Does Santa even know I moved to Spain?

Do you ever want to buy something, even when you know you don't really need it?
I want to buy myself a new computer, although I know I don't really need it.
I have a computer, and it has never ever let me down. But it's getting old and slow, and it is starting to show some annoying defects. I don't have much time to use it, and it still does everything I need it to do, but...
If computers weren't that expensive, I wouldn't have a problem. But it bothers me to spend that amount of money on something I don't really need, now that I finally managed to save some money.
I wish I had the same kind of luck as a colleague of mine.
Two weeks ago, on Saturday morning, he was awakened by the sound of his doorbell. When he opened the door, all he saw was a big, heavy box. He checked the elevator and the stairs, but there was nobody there. He thought it was a joke, opened the box, and found a 42 inch flat plasma television. Price of the television: 3000 euros (4000 Dollars).
2 weeks later, he still doesn't know where the tv came from.

The name definitely fits the movie

Yesterday I watched the thriller/horror/slasher movie 'High Tension'. A few weeks ago, I accidentally saw a teaser trailer on television, and was stunned by it. This one I had to see!
And I actually loved it! Especially the feeling of tension and fear that it gave me, and that reminded me of when I secretly used to watch horror movies at night when I was a kid.


I caught myself several times holding my breath, waiting with open mouth for what was going to happen. The fear of the main character in the movie actually grabs you by the throat, and you would like to scream to her or just grab something and beat the living daylights out of the killer. At one moment in the movie she manages to kick his ass, and I could feel the relief that she had to be experiencing at that moment. It actually gave me goosebumps.

Near the end of the movie, there is a sudden and unexpected twist in the plot. Many people have been criticizing and actually hating the movie for this. It is true that the twist leaves some questions unanswered, but I think you should see the movie as the main character's version of the facts, and not try to find out what really happened.
For some scenes in the movie you need a strong stomach, because the blood and gore are very graphic.

Our first Christmas tree

I thought I'd share an image of our Christmas tree with all of you. Mónica likes it so much that she would like to keep it there for the rest of the year. The rest of the living room is decorated with little glowing lights and candles. It looks very cosy. I love the atmosphere created by Christmas decorations.


On Saturday, we went to 'Mayumana': it's a show filled with rhythm, music, acrobatics, dance and humor. The members of the show were in a grateful mood after the deafening applause at the end of the show, and continued the spectacle on the street in front of the theatre for half an hour. It was quite spectacular.
On Sunday we went visiting hotels and restaurants, to find the right place to celebrate New Year's Eve. And I think we might have found it.

Emergency bad, weekend good

I went to the company doctor for a medical check-up this morning. We are not obligated to do so, but every year we get the chance to see the doctor if we want to. So I took the opportunity to go.
There is this myth among the employees here that the doctor sometimes checks the 'crown jewels' of the male employees. So every time a colleague goes to see the doctor, they ask: "Did he take you by the .....?" I'm sure it's just a myth.

So it's friday again. I only worked 2 days this week, but it seems like it were 5. Last week and this week, we had some emergency programming, and everything had to go at the speed of light. Whenever we get an emergency, we have to handle in 2 days all the things we normally handle in 2 weeks. So that means major headache.
And of course, whenever there is an emergency, my computer acts like it is on holiday. Today I had to wait several minutes every time I needed a Lotus Notes database to open. It drives me wild.
I hope things will calm down starting monday.
I'm going to relax now. Have a nice weekend.

I had a great long weekend. Monday and Wednesday were 2 Spanish holidays, so on Tuesday I took a day off to have a longer weekend. We took advantage of the free days to go shopping for Christmas decorations and to clean and decorate the apartment.

On Saturday, we went to see the IMAX 3D version of the movie "The Polar Express". The glasses we had to put on to see the 3D images did look a little ridiculous, but the effect was spectacular, leading to people trying to catch snowflakes in the theater.
The movie was great, but I think you should really see it in IMAX 3D to be able to fully enjoy it. More movies should be made like this.


And on Tuesday we saw "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". I had read so many good reviews about this movie on the internet movie database, and was very curious to see it. But I didn’t like it at all.
The characters lack depth, there is no chemistry at all between the leading couple, and the character played by Kate Winslet is so annoying that Joel should be happy to erase her from his memory. We never see any moment of happiness in the relationship of the leading characters. The part of the movie when Joel's mind is being erased is filled with absurd images of Joel trying to hang on to his memories and doesn't add anything to the story.
And on top of it all, they tried to add some reverse-order storytelling to the movie, which only works disorienting.
I know there are many people who love this movie, but I don't have any idea why.

Exactly one year ago, at noon, I arrived in Spain.
Nervous and not knowing if I had made the right decision leaving my life, family, friends and apartment behind in Belgium.
My life changed completely in one day. I moved to another country with another language, I had a new job and I was going to live with my Spanish girlfriend with whom I had had a long-distance relationship until then (See 'A love story' on the left).
There were only 3 weeks between the day that I decided that I was going to do it, and the day that I arrived in Spain. So everything went very fast.

The first days and even weeks in my new hometown were filled with visiting the authorities to fulfill all the necessary paperwork, and all I could think of was: 'if this doesn't work out well, I'm going to have to change all this again.'
But everything did work out well: the relationship, the country, the city, the people, the language, the job, the apartment, the colleagues, the climate, the adventure.
It was a wonderful year.
There are days that I still can't believe that all this is really happening to me. I even joked about this theory that I had had an accident and was in a coma, having a great dream. If I am, don't bother trying to wake me up.

I went shopping last night, accidentally noticed one of these in a little gift shop and couldn't resist myself.


I always liked lava lamps but never had one. I knew Mónica liked them too, but we never had the right place for it in the apartment, to enjoy it at it's most.
Now we don't need that place anymore. We just plug it in.
Now I only hope it's not going to kill me:

Kent man killed by exploding lava lamp

A 24-year-old Kent man was killed Sunday afternoon when a lava lamp exploded, sending a shard of glass into his heart.

Kent police said Phillip Quinn put the lamp on a hot stovetop, causing it to explode. The King County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the death accidental.

Quinn apparently stumbled into a bedroom in his Kent trailer home after the explosion. His parents discovered his body there Sunday evening after his girlfriend reported that she couldn't get in touch with him. Police found no evidence of drug or alcohol use.

When I came home from work yesterday evening, there was a card in the mailbox, saying that I had to pick up a package at the post office. The day before, my mother had called me and asked me if I ever got the package that my sister had sent me. So she spoiled the surprise a little.
But I was curious about what she had sent me. I was even making Mónica all nervous when we were on our way to the post office. When we saw the size of the package, our curiosity got even bigger.


She sent me 2 big bags of the Haribo candy that I like so much, my favourite Belgian magazine "Humo", the newspaper of the day when the package was sent and a postcard signed by my sister, her boyfriend and the 2 kids.
So when we were watching tv last night, we ate candy until our stomachs hurt. Thanks, Sis!!

On Friday evening, we went to a colleagues house warming party. He moved to his new apartment about a month ago. I had expected that he would have the essential furniture like a couch by now, but he didn't. We entered an empty living room with only a table to present the food and drinks.
So after a few hours the guests got numb from standing and the party finished before it had even begun.

On Saturday we went shopping. First in Oviedo, and later that day in 2 malls. You see, next Thursday I will be living in Spain for exactly 1 year. On december 2nd, 2003 I arrived in Spain, my car loaded with all my stuff. So Mónica and I decided to adopt that date as our official anniversary date. And since anniversaries are synonymous with presents, we went shopping (in different shops).


On Sunday we stayed at home because the weather was bad. We huddled together under the blanket on the couch and watched the movie "50 first dates", a charming romantic comedy.

Comical.

Now, bear in mind that I never ever talked about movies to this person.
A colleague comes up to me and says:

º Did you see the movie 'Office Space'?
- Eum, no, I don't think so.
º No? Oh, it's so great. You have to see it! It gets better everytime I see it. You will laugh your *beep* off.
- Ok, I will look for it. Thanks for the tip.
º You know what? I still have it on my laptop. I will grab it for you now, so you can see it this weekend.
- Oh, ok. Thanks.

So he disappears. 2 minutes later, he passes me again with an external cd-writer under his arm, and he says to me: "You're lucky!"

10 minutes later he shows up again with a CD and says: "here it is, enjoy it. You can give me a recordable CD on Monday. But I only accept CD's of the brand Verbatim!"

I hear that the band U2 surprised New Yorkers with a free concert on a flatbed truck the other day.
Why am I never at the right place at the right time?

A few days ago I heard the much discussed song 'Vertigo' for the first time. Here in Spain they don't play many English songs on the radio. That's why it took so long.
At the beginning of the song, Bono says: "uno, dos, tres, catorce", which is Spanish for: "one, two, three, fourteen". There are many theories about why he says fourteen, because nobody can believe it is just a stupid mistake. It even seems Bono understands some Spanish.
I don't know what the reason is, but it does sound a little strange to me and Spanish people frown their eyebrows when they hear it. And why does he have to say it in Spanish anyway?

By the way, did you ever hear George Bush sing U2's 'Sunday bloody sunday'? Here's a link.

It's time to start thinking about what we are going to do on New Year's Evening.
Last year, we spent New Year's Eve together with Mónica's friends in a rented village house.
We were 4 couples and a bachelor, and we spent 3 fun days and nights at the house. But the group of friends sort of fell apart during the year, so it doesn't seem like they are going to organize anything together again.
In Belgium, we used to have these big gala parties where thousands of people would celebrate New Year together, but it seems those don't exist here in Asturias, and the local clubs get flooded with teenagers.


So I guess we should find a nice restaurant or hotel with dinner and dance.
Do you know already what you will be doing on New Year's Eve?

On friday night we went to see Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Mónica couldn't wait to see it, as she loved the first Bridget Jones.
The movie was better than I had expected. Well, the story takes some turns that tend to be ridiculous, Bridget seems to be born for bad luck and it is all very predictable, but I didn't hear so much laughter in a movie theater since a long time.

On Saturday night, we went to see a play at the famous theater Campoamor in Oviedo. The play was titled '5mujeres.com' (5women.com), and consisted of 5 comical monologues by 5 different actresses, trying to understand men. It was quite funny. I was afraid I wasn't going to understand much about it, but luckily I did.

In december Mayumana is coming to Gijon, so I should get tickets soon. We don't want to miss that show.