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Published: April 7th 2009
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Thesis Editing Begins
Its written, now it needs a little bit of editing. So the time has finally come. I finished the last sentences of my thesis and felt like I could breathe for the first time in a long time. There's still loads of editing to do but at least its written. That was Sunday. Thursday I found out I was getting a Visa to Denmark to live and work here for at least a year, at which point I must renew. By the following Tuesday I had a social security number, health care, a bank account and a stamp in my passport. Wednesday was my first day of work at my new job.
To say its been a long haul would be giving this journey less credit than it deserves. Its been a helluva haul. From the start of my thesis, working at TAT, getting laid off, visiting Canada, escaping to Berlin, coming back to Copenhagen and literally living at my kitchen table until the thesis was done, all the while setting up a new job, interviewing, getting Visa documents together, trying to pay attention to the Danish language when I could, and on top of all that, worrying about getting a new apartment has been mad. Dzl has stuck through
Oak Room, post Italian food
We only lasted as long as two amazing cocktails before the Italian food kicked in and we needed to sleep! it all and helped me in so many ways. So have my friends who have listened and taken me out for nights of fun and forced reality (that I would finish all this) on me so I could survive. I know other people have *actual* problems, hunger, violence, etc, and I respect that completely but for me, this was hard, and I feel proud to have accomplished it.
Work has been good - the first day was really, really hard. I've been working on doing background research and redesigning the website with Jonas from home but the first day in the office nearly killed me. I wasn't ready, and it seems ridiculous but after being comfortable and cosy and protected and cared for in your own home for so long it was a shock to be in an office all day long, sitting at a desk, and pushing through a three hour meeting. Everyone is really nice however and we had a great get together on Friday morning and I showed them what I've been upto with the website and our ideas for moving the company ahead so that was great.
One thing that is or is not
Crazy happenings in Malmo
This was for a store opening in Malmo. great - take it as you see fit, and please, give me feedback; is lunch and food in general. The food is...amazing. Its a gourmet catering service. Its approximately $50 a month and we get a full gourmet buffet of cheeses, hot plates, salads, and sandwich materials every day. Coffee, tea and water are also provided all day, and fresh fruit, tons of it. Its really incredible. The not so good part is that there's lots left over of both lunch and fruit, and the company (not mine, the company who's building we're in) throws it away every day. Tons of food. I went to work on Monday and there was a garbage can, full size one, with an entire case of fruit thrown out since it was left over from the weekend. The fruit is so fresh, it hasn't started to brown or bruise or anything, and I'm talking pears, plums, apples, bananas and oranges. So, picture me, wearing nice office suit, digging in the garbage, looking around like a fugitive, taking as much as I can, and running back up to my office - there were two coffee cups on top of it all but who cares, I
Krooner
Live Jazz at Kassen bar washed it all and saved myself about $20 worth of purchasing fruit, and saved the fruit from being wasted. I've also managed to take home three dinners worth of food left over from lunch just before it hit the trash can, I asked the guy cleaning up if I could take it. I get the impression from people that if staff there knew I was taking it home they wouldn't be pleased, but more from a status standpoint than anything else, for instance, taking a doggy bag home from the restaurant is totally taboo here. Screw it, I'm not letting food go to waste when I can take it home, and save money at the same time.
So now that I'm all set up here, I have to get myself going on stuff - ie: setting up bank transfers internationally to pay my bills should be jolly and fantastic. Here's the thing, you have to pay your Canadian credit cards, with your Canadian bank account. But my paycheque goes into my Danish bank account. To transfer between accounts, internationally is the bank's favorite pasttime since they charge you mercilessly for it, well they did in Sweden anyway so I'm
Found a new cafe!
Found a great french cafe with amazing breakfast. Yum! hoping Denmark might not, but I doubt it. Instead, I will set up some paypal accounts, and transfer to paypal from my DK acct, then transfer into my CAD acct on paypal and into my CAD bank account. Four transfers, but a lot less to pay, I think anyway - any suggestions?
Dzl took me to a beautiful Italian restaurant to celebrate the madness ending. Its our favorite place so far since its closeby, and has a special thing that's lacking around here, friendly staff who actually care if your food tastes good or is on time. Yes, my friends, its customer service and the Italians do it well. Its hard to find, a rarity if you will here in Scandinavia but I have found it, and will visit this restaurant many times to the sounds of waiters saying, "Bella, bella, how is the food? Bueno? Bueno!" and happily saying "Prego!" every time they put give you a new plate of food or glass of wine. After that we headed for some posh cocktails at the Oak Room, a bar where the bartenders certainly know what they're doing and make amazing drinks. We had a great weekend, going flying
Gym Point of View
Working out to hip hop music videos....ahhhh :) on the Sunday afterwards, (model planes) and playing with Dzl's latest invention, laser tag with model planes. (http://geekphysical.blogspot.com/2009/02/hide-and-go-seek-gps-style.html)
We're getting ready for a lot of traveling as April brings us to Scotland for six days for the HCI Educator's conference. This is the one I went to in Rome last year and this year, we're doing a workshop there, it should be incredible and we're really looking forward to it! We're going to teach people how to use Arduino, the theme of the conference is play in education so this is perfect. Check it out here: (http://hcied2009.abertay.ac.uk/workshops.html)
Next up is what I've been waiting for, Tenerife. 7 days of sun, surf, and cocktails. Yes please! I'm going to be hitting the gym and laying off everything calorie laden until then, 25 days to go. I can't wait!
This weekend is Easter holidays! Denmark gets from Thursday-Monday off, back to work Tuesday so that should be fun. We'll probably go to the boat and do some work and spend time in the sun. Yay!
Hope everyone has a great Easter!
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