Life in Davos

Long time no BLOG

2008-06-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

as you've probably guessed, I have been pretty busy lately, and I can't say that all the work has been successful. A bit frustrating to work hard without getting the results :(

I haven't really had much motivation to update this blog, but I can tell you that at least I have updated the Dutch one!!!

So, check that one out for some nice pics of the things I have been doing while being on a short break!!

Not sure if I will find the time to translate it all, but I'll give you a short summary now...

At easter (Pasen) friends of Siebren came to davos to do some sledging. Loads of fun!!

The last week and a half the European Football championships take place in Switzerland. We went to one game, and went to Berne to enjoy the party the Dutch fans had over there!!

Also we went for a short break to Milan!!!

Sorry to have kept you uninformed for so long, but if you were here with me, you'd understand....

So, even though I haven't written anything here, just check the Dutch BLOG for some pics!!

Work, work, work

2008-04-04T22:31:00.000-07:00

Ok Saturday morning 7.30 and I am sitting at my desk at work... Well, I want to finish in time with my experiment before Siebren gets to Davos!!

I am working on my last two experiments and I am trying to do them simultaneously. Not always easy, but I have to finish at some point... Especially the cell loading experiments take up a lot of time as I have to put them into the bioreactor every day, and also take them out again at the end of the daily 4 hours of loading...

Let's hope the results are reproducable!!! That would be great!!! Fingers X!!!!

X-mas dinner

2008-01-31T11:20:00.001-08:00

In December we had our group X-mas dinner on Stafelalp!!! We had to walk up there first and then we were welcomed with some nice tea :)

After we warmed up we had some great fondue!! I think it might be the best fondueof Davos, or maybe it just seems like that after the hike up :)

We had plenty of cheese, some wine and of course the 'house coffee' as dessert :)

After the food and drinks we played some cards and Jerome taught us how to 'just undertake it' !!!

Then is was time to sledge down... Always fun after such an evening!!! The slope was faster than I had expected (based on earlier experiences)...

Loads of fun!!!

Snow!!

2007-11-11T10:37:00.000-08:00

Winter is early this year!! Two weeks ago, it was already cold with some flurries, but now we have REAL snow!!! I drove down to Zug yesterday, but by then we already had about 50cm!! It was still coming down when I left, and I don't know how there is now, but I think it snowed a lot still. Siebren heard on the radio that there were nop trains between Klosters and Davos because of the snow!!! Next week ski season will start!!!

A weekend Arsac

2007-11-11T09:58:00.000-08:00

last week my dad turned 60!! We have celebrated this with the family at my brother's in Arsac (France). We've had a nice weekend with of course a visit to a chateau and good food:)

Siebren and I aarived on Saturday and we have visited Bordeaux in the afternoon. It is an old and beautiful city with a beautiful waterfront which they are still developing!! Parts of the city are now pedestrian zones, and a tram will take you from on side to the other side of the city center. We took a bus backl to Arsac, I am still a bit curous how often this bus is supposed to go... We had to wait quite a while!! In the evening Rogier has BBQ'd some meet local style. First on a super hot fire of grapebranches (?), and then cooking it on charcole. It was very yummie!!

Sunday was a quite day. My parents arrived in the afternoon and Siebren and I cooked for everybody. We spend some time playing with the Wii, and watched Rogier and Ivan do some bikecrossing! In the evening we watched pictures of the new appartment of my parents.

On MOnday it was super nice weather and instead of going out for lunch we decided to have lunch in the backyard in the sun!! Afterwards we visited a chateau of which I have forgotten the name... We had a nice tour and at the end we had the opportunity to try a wine from 2003 which shout be a great year because of the hot summer that year. Unfortunately, that wine was still a bit too young... Maybe in two years it will be great!

Tuesday we went for a ride through the region on the other side of Bordeaux. It was beautiful there. It reminded me a little of Tuscany. It has more hills than on the Arsac side. In Saint-Emilion (a very pretty town where you should not want to wear high heels) we had a warm wine with cinnamon! After that we went back to Bordeaux via one of the most famous and expensive chateaus, chatueau Petrus.

In Bordeaux we had a Birthday dinner in a very noce restaurant Rogier picked. On weekends it is full of people and they have musicians performing, and it ends up in a wild party! During the week, it is not very busy at all, but very nice and cosy. We had good food and a privat concert!! The host was a great singer!! So, all in all, a great birthday!

Viamala

2007-10-31T12:46:00.000-07:00

A short while ago, my mum, aunt, uncle and me have walked the Transviamal walk&run!

On the 21st of October we went to Thusis to participate in the (nordic) walk through the Viamala canyon. I planned to do the run, bit I had caught a bladder infection a week before and had to take antibiotics, so I decided that it was probably better to do the walk instead. In the end it was great that I did the walk, because now I had the opportunity to take a lot of pictures:)

We all made it ti the finish without injuries, and that was our goal! The route is really beautiful!! I had already participated 3 times before, but when you're running you don't really take the time to look around you. So, I was quite happy to take some pictures!

Vacation in Italy

2007-10-09T03:13:00.000-07:00

I finally put some pics of our vacation in Italy on my Dutch blog. First, we went to Bocca do Magra. It was great to have sun, sea and beach:) We had a room in a cute hotel with view on the harbour and close to the beach. There was also a walking trail to Monte Marcello, a small town. We walked this trail, and ended up at a very small and beautiful beach where yo9u could only come on foot or by boat. The hotel also had bikes for the guests which we used for a nice bike ride along the coast, with some beautiful views, and again we went to a nice beach for a break and a swim. In the evenings we had some very lovely seafood dinners with great wine! I even enjoyed a cappuccino!!

After two beautiful days the weather changed on the morning we left for Florence. We took a detour though Pisa and Lucca! Despite of the rain we did see a lot:) Lucca is beautiful, and yes, the tower in Pisa is leaning a lot!! Florence is a beautiful city, and I'd love to return there. Even with the rain we really enjoyed it :) Also there we had lovely food and wine :) We also shopped a bit, can't help it :p. On the last day we went to an indoor market where we bought some cheese, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

From Florence we went via Marinello (Ferrari) to Lugano. In Marinello we went to the Ferrari musem. It was a bit disappointment. There were quite a bit of beautiful cars, and they showed the history of Ferrari, bit we expected a bit more. You weren't allowed to touch anything :( On the way out we found the test circuit. They were driving a nice F1 type of car with passenger seats. WOW, that was impressive, that acceleration!!! I took a little film!!

Lugano is a beautiful city, but unfortunately, also there rain :( It is very obvious that a lot of rich people visit this place... The centre of the city is pedestrian area with very nice patios, some of them were heated :) I've also seen some nice houses :)

The drive from Lugano to Zug was nice and touristic :) We went over the Gotthard pass instead of though the tunnel. I had been over the pass before, but couldn't remember much. It is an impressive road, and there was quite a bit of snow up there!

despite of the rain, we really enjoyed the vacation:) It could have been a bit longer (of course)

Quiet week

2007-09-21T06:53:00.000-07:00

The last week was a quiet one, which was good bacause I had a couple of migraine attacks during the week... Now I am feeling much better again:)

Saturday, Siebren and I went to an outdoor outlet. Very dangerous... Of course I had to buy new sports cloths. OK, I kind of need new cloths for running and X-country skiing in winter. Siebren bought some nice hiking cloths.

I've been running a bit last weekend as well, and I have discovered some nice roads for running around Cham. The environment is quite beautiful:)

Saturday night we went out for drinks and food in Zug with friends of Siebren's. Reto who lives in London was in Zug for a visit. We had a nice evening during which I listened to a lot of stories in Swiss German. I have to say that I really understand more and more, but speaking is still a bit of a problem. I have to think too long before I say something.... Keep practicing I guess.

Next week Siebren and I will be in Italy for a short vacation!!!

Zugerberg

2007-09-14T04:51:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Siebren and I went up the Zugerberg to walk. I had no idea that it is such a big area for walking. I had been up there before, but thought that it was just a restaurant and bording school. But is actuall yis a huge park with lots of walking trails :) And some places there was a real nive view as well :) Sibren told me that when there is enough snow in winter, there will also be X-country trail :) We followed the sculptures trail. On the way we also met Phillipp woth Nathalie and Lorena :) Pics on the Dutch blog.

Laundry hostage

2007-09-14T04:26:00.000-07:00

Here in Switzerland most appartment buildings have a laundry room. All occupants of the building get 1 or days a week during which they can do their laundry. My layndry days are on Monday and Thursday. So, yesterday morning I put in one load of laundry before going to work. The great thing about these machines is that you can delay them ba couple of hours, so when you want to pick up your laundry at the end of the day, it hasn't been wet inside the machine all day. To pay for your laundry you get a so called 'washing card' when you move into the building. You can put mney on these cards and so you can pay. To start the machine CHF3 will be taken off your card, and you'll get that back at the end of the program (minus the amount the program cost). I knew that my card was amost empty, but I thought I still had enough money to do 3 loads of laundry. Unfortunately, by the time I came home last night, the machine had turned off, and I had to have another CHF3 taken off my card to be able to open the door, which I didn't have anymore :( So, I couldn't open the door, and could not take my laundry out, and put a new one in :( So, I went to the woman in our building who can recharge the cards, but she wasn't home. I left the money with her husband with the message that my laundry was stuck. This morning I found freshly charged cards in front of my door, so I could rescue my laundry and free the machine my neighbout whos laundry day it is today!

On the border?

2007-09-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

Tonight I biked over the snow line on my way from work to home. At work the bottom of the valley was green, but here in Dorf there is still snow on the ground

Ok, it is a bit funny, but I still feel that September is too early for this kind of weather...

PS. I did not submit an abstract for the ORS. My data were too complicated to just quickly write up...

Snow!?!

2007-09-05T00:26:00.001-07:00

If you want to know what Davos looked like this morning have a look on the Dutch BLOG.
It started snowing yesterday afternoon, and by the time I went home, it was still snowing... When I woke up this morning it became clear it had snowed all night.... I have to admit that it looks nice, but a bit early in the season.... I guess it will have disappeard by the afternoon, right??

Bike ride

2007-09-03T13:17:00.000-07:00

For the people who want to know if I actually managed to get my ass on my bike last Saturday, well YES, I did!!! It was super hard, and the way down was COLD.... But I am happy I did it.. .Also a bit proud that I made to just over the middle station Hohenweg of Parsenn (at 2300m) :)

Wisshorn

2007-09-03T13:03:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Laszlo and I wanted to hike up fluela Wisshorn. It's a tough one, a little bit lower than Schwarzhorn. Two years ago, we have tried as well, but didn't make it to the peak because it was a bit to scary, and exposed :(

This time we took a different route, which looked really good. Until we came to this flat rock at a steep angle. It looked like we had to cross it, but I was too scared to try. We decided not to take the risk and go back down. So, we've tried twice, and still haven't make it to the peak :( Maybe we should try again with yet again, another approach...

Even though we didn't make it to the peak, it was a beautiful hike :) Pics are posted on the Dutch Blog.

Weather forecast

2007-09-03T12:46:00.000-07:00

This is the forecast for the next couple of days...

Sad, sad, sad...

HP7

2007-09-01T02:26:00.000-07:00

Almost forgot... I havebeen quite busy reading the last Harry Potter book!!! Most of you know that I am a huge fan of the books, and of course I had to get the book on the first day of its release:) Poor Siebren, he had to share me with Harry for a couple of days... I have read the book twice, and I have to say that I like the ending...

Publication!!!!

2007-09-01T02:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I heard dat my first paper has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Anatomy!!!!!!!

Up to date

2007-09-01T01:59:00.000-07:00

So, now I am up-to-date again... Yes I know not much has happened the last couple of weeks. I have been working a lot because I wanted to get enough results to write an abstract for the ORS conference in San Fransico next March. So, I had a lot of cell cultures going on, and I also had to go in to work on the weekends. For this reason Siebren came to Davos a couple of times. We didn't do too much. I was tired of all the work, and the weather wasn't always good. So, really we haven't done much at all.

Now, Siebren is in Dubai for work, and here in Davos it is cold and wet :( I want to go for a bike ride today, but I'll wait until it is a bit warmer... If that will happen today. I have started my training for the transviamala run, and I will have to keep up the good work I've been doing :) My legs are killing me a the moment though. I have been training the uphill running, but as most people know: "What goes up, must come down". The downhill running is really hard on the muscles, but it could be much worse, I think I have developed a nice technique now.

Yesterday I tried a trail I hadn't done yet. This was really hard, but when I got back to work it felt great!! So, who knows, maybe I'll be fit again soon :)

Other than work and exercise there isn't much new... Siebren and I have decided to take a vacation at the end of September, so I am also busy looking for places to stay :)

Schwarzhorn

2007-09-01T01:56:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I finally hiked up Schwarzhorn :) This is the highest mountain of the region Davos, and for most people the first mountain to hike up. For some reason I never got around to do this, but now I have :)

Siebren and I hiked up together, and it was actually tougher than I expected, but definitely worth the effort, what a beautiful view!!!

Have a look at the pics:)

A night out in Alkmaar

2007-09-01T01:53:00.000-07:00

Since we were in the Netherlands anyway for my cousin's wedding, we also met some old friends on mine for dinner in Alkmaar city centre. It was a fun night, with good food at the 'Notaris'. It was good to be in Alkmaar again, just like the old days. I really like this city:)

A weekend in NL

2007-09-01T01:45:00.000-07:00

On 20.07.2007 my cousin Renske got married to Joost! They got married in Nieuwveen which is a small but beautiful town in the Western part of the Netherlands. Yes the part that is over populated, but when driving to Nieuwveen you don't notice it. This is a special part of the country where there is still lot's of green there.

Renske looked beautiful in the dress her mum made for her. After the church we went to this soort of farmhouse where they had the reception, dinner and party. The spot was amazing, all you could see from there was green and water, and small dikes. The party was really nice, it was good to see my family again, and it was a good opportunity for Siebren to meet a large part of the family. Unfortunately, my brother and his wife and kids couldn't be there.

I wish the happy couple all happiness!!

Oops

2007-09-01T01:43:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I never put my last postings up in English... But I'll do it now!!!

Balloon trip

2007-07-17T11:06:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we made a balloontrip :) It was absolutely fantastic!!! Siebren's dad (Sipke) had a voucher for a balloon trip from work, and he invited Meindert, Siebren and me to join! It got postponed a couple of times because of the weather, but it was definitely worth the wait. It was so beautiful, a very special experience! They're flying very slowly and very high. You get a great view and because the pilot can turn the balloon, you've got lots of time to enjoy it and take pictures, you know where to look:)

AUW

2007-07-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

I hurt myself on Friday the 6th of July:( I was cleaning out the dishwasher at work when a beakerglass brok in my hand:( I am not sure what happened exactly, but it was bleeding a lot. Ina put some bandages around my finger and all seemed to be ok. But after a while it started to hurt, and the bleeding didn't stop, so I decided to go to the hospital and have someone look at it. They put two stitches in my finger and gave me a tetanus shot to be safe. In the end it wasn't too bad, no tendons or nerves got cut, and the tetanus bothered me more than the whole cut. The whole weekend I couldn't use my arm because of an inflamation in my upperarm muscles :( I wasn't allowed to bend or stretch my fingers for the last 10 days, which was annoying.

Today, the doctor took out the stitches, and now I can do labwork again :)

Altstadtfest

2007-07-03T03:46:00.000-07:00

Lucerne had Altstadtfest last Saturday. It's a big street festival with bands playing and food and drinks being sold everywhere. It was very nice, and the weather was also very good. We were lucky, as on Sunday afternoon it started to rain heavily, and we also had some thunderstorms. The party probably would have been cancelled with that weather... At the end of the evening we went to see a salsa band. Very nice :) People dancing everywhere... I need to learn.... My hops are too stiff, I guess I am just too white to dance salsa :( I'ver put some pics on the Dutch Blog

Sunday we finally went to see 'Pirated of the Carribean, at world's end '!!! I really liked it :) I expected it to be soso, after hearing comments from other people, but I thought that they put part 1 and 2 together quite nicely! I enjoyed it :)

Wasps nest

2007-07-03T03:44:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we found a wasps nest on Siebren's balcony :( Siebren noticed several wasps flying to the same spot over and over again. We had a look, and found the beginning of a wasps nest :( His neighbours also have on hanging off their balcony, quite a large one. This one wasn't that big yet and we managed to get rid of it... Picture on Dutch Blog.

Seefest

2007-06-26T10:27:00.000-07:00

Last weekend there was a Seefest in Zug! This means fireworks and a lot of people drinking on the streets...
Siebren and I went there as well, but unfortunately I had a headache and it got a lot worse when we got there :( So, we didn't stay long, but we did watch the fireworks, it was very pretty...

Of course I had to play with my camera...

WEDDING

2007-06-26T10:24:00.000-07:00

On June 15 Carolien en Antonio got married!!!

Congratulations!!

It was great to be there!!

Hong Kong

2007-06-26T09:55:00.000-07:00

Yep, I know it took a while, but finally a bit on Hong Kong! It was really difficult to select from over 500 pics. In short: "Hong Kong was great!!!" Siebren and I have had a great time in HK. We've seen and done a lot over there. It was very warm with high humidity, so moving was hard. At the first day I already had 4 blisters, and every day I collected a couple more... But besides the sweating and the blisters it was a great experience. Of course the swimming pool at the rooftop of the hotel helped a little :) It was super nice to have swim in between walking all day and going out for dinner. Because Hong Kong has been a British colony for many years so almost everybody speaks English. Because of this it seems a bit less Asia, but it is very handy :)

Of course, it wasn't just a vacation, but that's when I took the most pictures, and I think you are more interested in that part... BUT the conference was very interesting and I have learned a lot!! I even asked a question, which resulted in a job offer in Denmark, a bit too far away.... But still, nice to have been noticed.

Pics are on the Dutch Blog!

Bordeaux

2007-05-31T11:27:00.000-07:00

I am in Davos for only three days in between trips. It is a bit stressy because I have just been in Bordeaux for a long weekend, and the day after tomorrow I will leave for Hong Kong (via NL). I have finished my poster today, and it will be printed tomorrow. The harder part is getting paperwork signed and sent off before I leave. And of course I have to do laundry, cleaning and I have to pack. But I do want to show some pics of Bordeaux.

Wednesday I left for Zug because I had to be early at Basel airport Thursday morning. From Davos it would have been a bit tight, and of course I wanted to see Siebren before leaving.

At the airport all went quickly and smoothly. The plane was very small (37 seats). I had never flown with such a small plane before. It was q good flight because gettin on and off the plane is super quick, like taking a bus :) In Bordeaux al went quickly and I was out 10 minutes after landing.

The weather was great, so after a cup of tea with my mom and grandma we had to test the swimming pool!! The water had warmed up enough for it to be enjoyable. In the evening we had a family BBQ!

Friday we went sightseeing in Bordeaux with Marcela. First we drove throught the city by car and later we went by foot. We had lunch at a very nice square where Fabi fed the pigeons.

Saturday it rained a little, but we did go to the bakery in town. Later in the day it got much worse. My mom and grandma left on saturday and I and Marcela went shopping in a big mall where it was warm and dry. Later we met up with Rogier, the kids and papi for dinner.

Sunday Rogier took me for a drive along the coast. We went to the pyla, the highest dune of Europe. The weather wasn't very nicem it rained and was very windy! We almost got blown off, but we managed to take some nice pictures. After that we went to Arcachon and drove a bit further down the coast. It was a bit abandoned because of the weather, even most surfers stayed out of the water. That was a pity, but I can imagine that with nice weather it is lot's of fun there!

On Monday we went for a tour along all the chateaus. Some of them are really incredible. We visited one of them and got a short tour and explanation about the wine making. In the evening we went to the supermarket because I wanted to buy some French goodies....

Tuesday it was time to go home....

Nice weekend!

2007-05-22T09:29:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was a long weekend in most of Europe and also here in Davos. But Siebren had to work on Friday, so on Wednesday night I drove to Zug. The drive a quite a bit more relaxing than last week, and I arrived around 8 pm. We spent the evening lazily watching a movie. On Thursday we were invited to Phillip, Nathalie and Lorena to have some Z'vieri (snacks around 4 pm). We spent most of the afternoon there, it was very nice, and Lorena is very cute :)

Firday I slept in a bit, because I was very tired from the work of the past couple of weeks. After breakfast I went for a nice bike ride around the lake (again) and in the afternoon I went to town to buy a little book on Hong Kong, and a cycling map of the Kanton of Zug! So next time I will go somewhere else :) After that I went home to Davos, because Siebren had a Men's night out in Zürich!!

Saturday, Siebren came to davos, and we made lasagne from scratch with my pastamachine!!! It was delicious :) On Sunday we went for a nice walk into the Dischma valley. It was really beautifull there with all the different flowers (look at pics)! At night we had a BBQ with real (free) Charcoal on my balcony!!

Spring :)

2007-05-19T00:27:00.000-07:00

Even though we still ahd some snow this week, Davos looks like spring :) Flowers everywhere :) I have put some pics of the flowers of this week on the Dutch Blog. The valley is turning yellow:) In a couple of weeks all will be white again :)

Pasta!!!

2007-05-15T11:14:00.000-07:00

I finally had the time to make pasta :) It is cooking at the moment, and I will eat it in a minute :) Let's hope it tastes well....

PS. It is snowing in Davos at the moment...

Danger!!

2007-05-14T12:43:00.000-07:00

Ik ben afgeleden vrijdag weer naar Zug gereden, en was later weggegaan dan gepland. Mijn werk ging wat langzamer, en inpakken ging ook niet soepel....

Last Friday I drove down to Zug again, but left a bit later than planned. Work was slow and packing was even worse...

But, ok, when I finally drove off, it was raining and dark. At first I had someone in front of me who didn't know how to drive in the mountains, he was hitting the breaks constantly!!!! OK, to tourists the riads can be a bit scary and surpricing, but that doens't mean you have to slam the breaks in the middle of the straight. At first I thought he was about to hit a deer or something, that's how stronlgly he was breaking... But after a couple of straights I figured out he couldn't drive. He was driving me nuts, I didn't even dare look into my mirrors afraid i'd drive into him. I really tried to keep distance, but it just didn't work.

In the end I decided to pull over and let sime cars get in between us, the breaklights were getting on my nerves... But then I ended up behind someone who was driving with the foglight on, also nice :(

But the worst was yet to come.... At the flat bit just before the highway a car got on the road in frot of be with broken tail lights.... This one scared me, because I couldn't see him well, and wasn't sure if the breaklights would work, I did see the headlights were working, so thought that it could have been a problem with the whole back. But the break lights did work.... When we got to the highway I wanted to pass him, so I wouldn't run into him, but he was going too fast... So, instead I slowed down a bit more to create distance. But still it isn't nice to know that there is a car in front of you you can't see well in the darl and rain. Also other cars passed me, and their drivers didn't know this car was out there... So, very scary.... Luckily I did see the car leave the highway after a while, finally I couod relax a bit and drive normally!!!

Not a pleasant drive....

Wedding

2007-05-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

Last week Siebren and I were invited to the real wedding of Petra and Markus (the official wedding was at April 20th). It was very nice but very wet and a bit cold, so the weather didn't cooperate :(

I think that the wedding pictures will turn out very beautiful because of the light and the white embrellas... :)

The wedding ceremony was planned to be outside, but because of the rain it was moved to this very pretty and cute attick. Even though the ceremony was in Swiss German, I understood quite a bit :)

The reception was in a big stable with cows (see picture). I have to say, it has some charm :) The kids loved feeding the cows :)

The dinner and the party were on top of the Rigi (mountain between Lucerne and Zug). Dinner was very good, and the party was fun with Karaoke :) We stayed at the hotel on top of the Rigi. The next day the weather was better and we did get the nice view from the train on the way down :)

BBQ

2007-05-03T11:52:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Siebren and I went shopping for balcony furnature. We spent the whole day driving back and forth between furnature stores. But, in the end we succeeded, also thanks to Meindert who lent us his car. We found a BBQ, a table and chairs :)

On Sunday I went for a nice bik eride around the lake... I took some pics :)

Miles & More :)

2007-05-03T11:18:00.000-07:00

Yeahhhhh!!!!

Miles & More gave me a credit card!!!!

Just wanted to let you know.... After all my bank rage, I finally got it :)

Halt, Velo Kontrolle!

2007-05-03T11:14:00.000-07:00

Yep, only in Davos!!!

This week I was stopped by two police agents when I was biking to work... Vello Kontrolle (Bike check). They wanted to know if I had light, brakes and the most important, my velo vignette!!! All was ok, and then they asked me how much my bike weighs. Well, I have no clue, so they made me lift it and make a guess. Ehhh, 10 kg?? Then, all was ok, because if my bike would have been 12 kg I would have needed a bell on my bike :)

I'm learning more Swiss rules every day :)

Birthday and Wedding

2007-04-22T13:10:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday I had my 31st birthday :) We had lunch at Chioccolino's, one of the restaurants that is still open. It is springtime in Davos that means all shops and restaurants are closed untill June. In the afternoon I left for Zug where I had a nice Birthday dinner with Siebren. We went for sushi!!! It was lovely, hadn't had any for a long time. We've had a very nice evening :)

Friday we were invited for the civil wedding of Markus and Petra in Lucerne. It was a very nice day. The ceremony was very short (they have a real wedding in May). After we went for drink at Montana, one of the higher situated hotels in Luverne with a great view!! After that we walked to the KKL where we had drinks (again) at the roof patio with a beautiful view. We also got a tour through the KKL, a beautiful building, and then we had dinner at the 'RED' . It was excellent! After dinner we had a drink at the Seebar and then we caught the last train back to Cham. We had a great evening, but I had very sore feet :(

Saturday I had a small B'day party, also a nice evening, and I got this beautuful Japanese teapot:) Been wanting one for a long time :)

Today we had a lazy day. The weather was beautiful and we went for a short walk. My blisteres hadn't recovered yet, so we kept it short. We enjoyed the sun a bit on my balcony, but it was very warm there... But nice.... Tonight we played with my new pasta machine (B-day gift from Siebren). This pasta machine is special, you can also make ravioli with it, so that's what we tried. It took a short while before we managed to make nice ravioli, but we figured it out, and in the end we had very tasty and nice ravioli :)

So, all in all, a great weekend :)

(pics on Dutch blog)

Last ski weekend???

2007-04-12T12:43:00.000-07:00

The last weekend is probably the last ski weekend here in Davos. It is getting warm here (about 18 degrees) and the snow is melting rapidly :(

The plan was for me to go to Zug last weekend, but I was a bit ill on Wednesday, and to fit enough to go to Zug on Thursday and have dinner with Phillipp and Nathalie. Siebren had an appointment on Friday, so he arrived in the evening in Davos, with his brother Meindert. we've had 3 days of good snowfun! Some friends of Siebren were also in Davos, so we've met with them as well. Saturday Siebren's parents also came to Davos and we had a nice dinner at the Schatzalp panorama restaurant!

On Sunday we had luch all together at the 'chicken hut' :) The weather was a bit less on Sunday, but we were lucky enough to be able to enjoy lunch outside in the sun :)

So, even though my easter weekend started with illness, I had a great weekend :)

I have put some pics on the Dutch blog! Also check out the easter bunny Siebren brought me :p

PS. The good thing about this warm weather is that I can go biking at lunchtime :)

Apres ski

2007-04-12T12:38:00.001-07:00

Some people go skiing and go for apres ski afterwards. Others only come to Davos to apres ski.... That means, sleeping in, eating lunch and then go to the bar!!!! THE place to go for apres ski in Davos is Bolgen Plaza! This is right at the bottom of the piste at Jakobshorn.

Siebren and Markus have the tradition to apres ski once a year. For this reason, Markus came to Davos 2 weeks ago. The weather wasn't that nice for skiing, and I was a bit curious, so I decided to join them. I have to admit that I had fun, but it isn't really my thing. I think I am getting old!!!!

HCD

2007-04-12T12:35:00.000-07:00

Hockey Club Davos had won the Swiss Hockey championship!! I went to the first of in the end 7 play-off games together with Thomas. It was a very exciting game :) Davos has won all the home games of the series!!! (pics on Dutch Blog)

Visit of my parents

2007-04-12T12:27:00.000-07:00

On March 16th my parents arrived in Davos, and me and my dad went night skiing that same night! I went snowboarding, because I hadn't done it in a while, and my dad skied. It went well right away, even though the piste wasn't very easy.

On Saturday, we went to Cham to meet Siebren's parents (Petra and Sipke) and to do some sight seeing. First we went to Zug to check out the beautiful old city centre. I had never been there before, and really enjoyed it :) In the evening we went for dinner at Siebren's parents. It was a good night :)

Sunday we went to Lucerne. The weather was nice so we did some sight seeing on the way. We drove along the lake of Zug and a bit along the lake of Luverne. Lucerne is a beautiful old city. Have a look at some pics!

In the evening we drove back to Davos and had some pizza there :)

Catch up

2007-04-12T12:24:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know, I am very ashamed.... Do I have an excuse?? Not really.... I've been busy, a bit sick (again), but mostly lazy, I'm afraid.... Now I have the problem that I am not sure where to start... Hmmm, I guess with the visit of my parents.

Snow fun

2007-03-14T12:41:00.000-07:00

It is almost over with the snow :( But last weekend we had some good fun on the skis :) We found some 'deep' snow and I managed to make some nice turns.... OK, this was in between the many crashes.... It's not as easy as it looks :)

This morning I went snowbairding with Svenja. In the early morning the snow is pretty good, and it went really well :) We also did the run down to Davos, and this run had wamred up a bit and was exactly at the right 'slushness' for snowbaording. It was a great morning :)

check out the pics :)

langlauf splash

2007-03-06T12:00:00.000-08:00

Sad, sad, sad...

Because of the warm weather the loipes are starting to melt :( I went X-country skiing yesterday, but instead of langlaufplausch, it became langluafsplash :( I'll check out the loipes in the shadow later this week...

Pics on the Dutch Blog

Lazy Sunday

2007-03-04T12:26:00.000-08:00

Today, I really had a lazy Sunday :) I worked all day yesterday, and had a nice girly evening with Sophie. This morning I woke up a bit early, but the weather was so nice that I HAD to go skiing... I didn't really feel like skiing, but with this weather AND fresh snow, I couldn't resist. I went to Rinerhorn and did one run, and already had enough. I was tired, the snow wasn't that good and wasn't feeling very fit. I decided to go home and sit on my balcony with a cup of tea, listening to a Harry Potter audio book. I also had a nice long chat with Siebren on the phone, he couldn't come to Davos this weekend :(

Haven't done anything else today :) I did take some pictures before leaving Rinerhorn, you know where to find them....

Night skiing

2007-03-04T12:01:00.000-08:00

Since last year it is possible to ski on Friday nights at Pardenn :) Till last Friday I had never done this because I ski enough, and they open only one piste. I always thought it would be crazy buzy and I didn't really see the point. Untill alst Friday.

Last weekend we had a full moon, and normally this means that a couple of fullmoon ski events are organized, so also this weekend. We had decided to do the fullmoon ski on Parsenn on Friday. We'd ski down from Gotschna to Klosters and have dinner at the 'Alte Schwendi' hut. Unfortunately, it was cancelled because of bad weather warnings. Then we decided to sign up for the one on Jakobshorn on Saturday, but this one was already fully booked :( We were a little disappointed, but then I found on the Parsenn website that as a special occassion the piste to Klosters would be open this Friday. This would be a great alternative :) So, we decided to go night skiing this friday.

The weather was great and so was the snow (compared to the rest of the season) and I had a great evening skiing. It wasn't busy, and the slopes were nice :) Unfortunately the piste to Klosters was closed :( But nonetheless, I had a great night :)

Pics on the Dutch BLOG

Snow

2007-03-01T11:01:00.000-08:00

YES, YES!!!!

It finally snowed :) Tuesday we actually had quite a bit :) Unfortunately it rained most of Wednesday. But I think that on the mountain it still snowed... We'll see....

Last Tuesday we had rinkbandy practive :) It was fun, but we were training outdoors, and because of the snow we had problems finding the ball after 45 minutes.... Well, I prefer to have problems finding the ball during rinkbandy practice oevr having no snow at all....

I haven't een skiing this week, but I'll see this weekend how the pistes are, and maybe even outside the pistes.... I will have to work a bit as well, after staying home 2 days....

A bit ill.... :(

2007-03-01T10:53:00.000-08:00

A bit ill again :( I hope I'll get better soon... This time it is a migrain that started last Friday and won't go away :( Yesterday, I left work early because I wasn't feeling right. This morning my head still wasn't clear so I gave in and stayed home. I think that was a good decision, because I slept a lot and am feeling better. I actually managed to get some work done :) I hope to get this paper published very soon....

Bank rage

2007-02-20T09:19:00.000-08:00

Grrrrrrr,

I've been at the bank today, and that is enough reason to be grumpy and annoyed all evening.... My agression against banks started in Canada where I couldn't get a normal bank account with a creditcard.... My experiences in Switzerland aren't much better.... I do have a creditcard now but my limit is so low that I probably won't be able to pay for food AND a hotel in Hong Kong. On top of that, for a CHF 1000 limit (About CAN$ 1000) I have to have CHF 1100 blocked on a savingsaccount with hardly any interest!!! So, what's the point of a CREDIT card if I have to give the bank more money than my limit!!! It just doesn't seem fair !!!!

Well, I have asked to have my limit increased (without having more money blocked). We'll see......

Bundle of health?

2007-02-04T02:16:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

I haven't really been a bundle of health the last week. I've been coughing, having a sore throat, covered in red spots and I've had some migraine attacks.

Today I am feeling much better, but I am taking it easy this weekend, no going out to bars, and no skiing this weekend. I did go jogging yesterday to get some fresh air, but only very easy... I did go skiing twice during last week, so I am not missing out too much.

My dad was here last week to improve his skiing skills. In a week and a half he'll be here again, but only for a long weekend. Well, with EasyJet having such great deals, why not?

Not that much exciting happened las week. Tuesday I took the afternoon off to go skiing with my dad, and on Wednesday we had ski-day with our group. That was good :) It is quite nice to ski during the week, not as many people as during the weekend. The snow is pretty good, but still not enough. At the end of the day alls the snow has been scraped down the moutain leaving very smooth and hard pistes with very little grip :( I still have some hope that it will snow again. The slopes are pretty green already...
Yesterday and today the Nordic Worldcup is taking place in Davos. I haven't been there to watch, but did watch it on TV. The race is over one of my favorite loipes, and it is fun to see them go over it so much quicker :) Yesterday I witnessed the first Swiss victory ever :) Toni Livers and Vincent Vittoz ended ex equo in first place. Which is amazing considering the race is over 15 km, and they all start individually with some time in between them (Like in Time trial cycling). It takes them about 35 minutes to finish, pretty fast!!

I almost forgot to tell the most exciting news :) I have a poster at ISSLS!!! Which means that I will probably go to Hong Kong this June :)

Brrrrrrr

2007-01-24T14:03:00.000-08:00

Yep, winter has arrived.... It's really cold now. Today at lunch time I've been X-country skiing and it was -9!!!! (Degrees Celsius). Pretty cold, especially with a bit of wind.... To be honest I am quite happy about it, it has been too warm. The loipes (X-countr trails) have suffered from the warm weather. Luckily we have also had some snow :) I think that the loipes will be recovered :)

I am keeping it short now because I have been working at a computer all day, and my neck is starting to hurt :(

More winter news later this week....

Snow shortage

2007-01-17T12:49:00.000-08:00

Not that much has happened this week, winter still hasn't arrived in Davos yet. The forecast for tomorrow even says 'rain'. Really, how is this possible, rain in January! Luckily, rain in the valley means snow on the slopes, at least we can hope :) With a little luch we'll have nice slopes on Saturday woth some fresh snow. I am still counting on a huge dump of snow, but it better come soon :)

Yesterday I X-country skied to work. It wasn't as far as I expected, but it is very nice to ski to work in the morning :) In the evening I took the Bus to town because I could pick up my car from the garage. They did a good job on it, it is looking great :) The damage wasn't too bad in the end :)

Saturday evening i will go to Zug because Siebren will come back from his trip to Saigon, Singapore and Bankok. So, I am happy my car is fine again...

This afternoon I also went X-country skiing (I hate that word, I prefer 'langlauf'). I had a great time, but unfortunately, my favorite loipe was closed. OK, it wasn't really closed, but they hadn't prepared it for a while. I did a little bit of it, but it was really bad, with rocks sticking through the snow. I guess there just isn't enough snow to prepare them. All the other loipes were looking good though :) I may go again tomorrow at lunch if it doesn't rain......

Snowboard

2007-01-14T11:51:00.001-08:00

Hmm, real winter hasn't come to Davos yet, it is warm, and there isn't much snow yet. But I have heard that other ski areas don't have any snow yet, so we are a littel lucky here. I've been snowbaording today for the third time after my bad crash of december 2005. I have tried at the end of last season, but that wasn't a great success. I have also tried three weeks ago, but that was horrible, the snow was hard, and I was scared and absolutely NOT relaxed. Today the snow was much softer and it went much better, and at the end of the day I even started to relax a bit. I even started to enjoy it a bit :) So, I am not giving up this year, I would like to get to my level of snowboarding I had before my crash :)

Not so good was the carcrash I had this week. I was lucky, I didn't get hurt, and my car seems to be OK. I will have it checked tomorrow at the garage, because I want to be sure it's ok before I take it for a longer drive. I'll find out tomorrow if something is wrong.

Last night Nora, Hanna, Sophie Esther and me went to pianobar for a 'girls night out'. It was lots of fun. Pianobar is one of my favorites, it usually is fun. For some reason it attracts different people than all the other bars here. Nora had brought her camera, but I don't have any of the pics yet, maybe tomorrow :)

New Year!

2007-01-08T08:31:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all of you!!

London was great!! We've been back for almost a week now, so time for a new post on my BLOG. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to show because my camera was acting funny again. YES, I will get a new one.... But not yet....

It was a great weekend, I have met Thomas, Vera, Reto and Vicki. Thomas and Reto are old friends of Siebren's. Reto was so kind to give us his appartment for the weekend. He had warned us that was tiny, but it was beautiful and not at all tiny.
New Year's eve we had very good Maroccan food and after we went bowling. Yes, Bowling, and it was fun! Siebren was really good at it, he won all the games... I have to say that I didn't do too badly either :)

The rest of the time we walked around a lot. We visited some markets and I wanted to go shopping a bit on the last day, but I couldn't find anything I liked, it turned out I wasn't really in a shopping mood.... The we decided to go to New Bond Street, I can't afford to buy anything there anyway. We also went to Harvey Nichols and Harrods :) (AbFab)

In the meantime Davos finally had some snow, but it is still a bit warm, so it is melting already. The forecast showed some snow for tonight, but not too much. I just hope it isn't going to rain. We'll see, I am sure there will be more snow at some point this year...

Also the preparations fro WEF have started... On the Talstrasse they have started putting up the fences, in two weeks, the whole of Davos will look like an army base... This also means I have to get a pass to get into my home (I live close to one of the major hotels where WEF people will stay), and a sticker for my car. At least it won't be very busy on the slopes then. During the X-mas vacation it was nice here, but also crazy busy...

X-mas

2006-12-29T02:59:00.000-08:00

X-mas is already over, time flies when you're having fun :). We had a good time, and even my tree made it till X-mas, but now it drying out quickly. I think it will stay till New Years, and that's it. I didn't put the little angles in, I'll leave those for next year.

On X-mas morning I went skiing with my dad, and in the afternoon I had to go to work quickly to feed some cells. I x-country skied to work on my new skies. They are lovely :) On the way back I met Siebren and my dad on Bolgen Plaza. Bolgen is always nice in winter with nice weather. A lot of people come there to Apres ski and to enjoy the sunshine :) Also lots of paragliders pick Bolgen as their landing spot, always an exciting sight.

After the sun dropped behind the mountain we went home because it became cold and I had to cook the turkey. While the turkey was cooking in the oven, we had a drink and opened some presents. I had bought some small gifts, because I think they look nice under the tree, and Siebren brought some gifts from his mum :) He had bought me two beautiful shawls.

On Boxing day (second X-mas day in the Netherlands) we went skiing on Jakobshorn, but the snow wasn't very good. We stayed there untill lunch beacause we met my mum there to eat some lovely Freddy Fries at Fuxagufer. Jakobshorn is very nice for drinking and eating, but for skiing I prefer Parsenn, especially with the small amount of snow we have now. For some reason the snow on Parsenn is just a little better.

As you can see on the picture from Schifer lift, there isn't much snow here at all. Almost all the snow on the slopes is man made. But there is some hope. According to most weather forecasts there will be a lot of snow coming from Monday on :) We need it.... If the weather stays like this, I am sure they will have to close some runs....

Well, I am off to London tomorrow morning, I will write again when I am back... Have a good New Year!!!

PS. As always, pics on Dutch Blog

Skiplausch

2006-12-23T13:22:00.000-08:00

My parents have been here for 2 days now and we have done quite some skiing already. My mum stays on the langlaufloipes (x-coutry tracks), and me and my dad have been on Parsenn. Tpday we missed an exit... We planned to go to the Schifer lift, but we ended up on the piste to Kloster... Well, that one was on the 'to do' list of my dad, so, that's one is done. The snow isn't too bad and a lot of pistes are open. OK, it is mostly artificial snow, because we've been having blue skies only. I guess we'll have to wait till January to get some real snow. I have put a picture of my dad in action in the Dutch blog :)

X-mas tree 2

2006-12-19T23:13:00.000-08:00

You know where to find the picture :) On Thursday I'll get some more decorations, so maybe when they are in the tree I will put up an other picture....

X-mas tree

2006-12-19T11:22:00.000-08:00

Yep, I have a X-mas tree, the first one of my life :) This is the first time I have an apartment where I can put one without it taling up all the space:) Siebren and I baked tree decorations last Sunday. I didn't feel like spending a fortune on X-mas balls, and I have to say, that the decorations I have now look very nice in my tree :)

It is almost X-mas, and this Thursday, my parents will arrive to spend X-mas and New Years here in Davos. My dad is very excited to use his 'new' skis :) Unfortunately, there isn't that much snow here yet, but the snow on the pistes is pretty good. I just hope it won't get too crowded over X-mas. If all goed according to plan, Madrisa, Pischa and Rinerhorn will open this Friday, so, we'll see. I know that they are making snow on Rinerhorn, so, let's see how that'll be.

I don't seem to be able to locate the cable of my camera, so a picture of my tree will have to wait till tomorrow...

I wish you all a merry X-mas!!

I almost forgot...

2006-12-12T06:53:00.000-08:00

I wanted to show you some pics from during the AO course. I have put them on the Dutch blog. You can see me sitting in the 'studio'. I had to be there almost all day playing with the switches for sound and lights :)

The other picture shows the candidates during the 'practicals'. Per pair they got a plastic model of a lower leg, and had to fix the fracture in there :)

Winter has come to Davos

2006-12-11T11:52:00.001-08:00

It is finally cold here :) We also had quite a bit of snow last Saturday. It was horrible weather to ski, but nice to lie on the couch and watch a movie :) We did go up to ski for a bit, but we couldn't see much and it was unpleasantly cold.

Sunday on the other hand was a great day for skiing, but many impatient people have wrecked their skis on not so deep, but very tempting powder snow... Too bad the layer underneath excited of rocks... I didn't do much off piste, just a little very close to the piste, and only hit one rock, no damage to the skis :) (some pics on Dutch Blog).

Also some X-country trails have opened, can't wait till I can buy new X-country skis:) I am really looking forward to start the 'skating' again. Talking about skating... They have started to make ice at the oval :) I think I'll try it again this year, just for fun.... (Hmmm, nice sunny skate at lunch time)...

A drawback of winter is not the cold (I also biked in Calgary) but the road situation. Just imagine a road covered in slushy snow. Then take a couple of cars and heavy truck cutting nice patterns into then snow with snowchains, and then imagine this cut up snow freeze again overnight. Now imagine riding your bike over this.... Sounds like fun eh!

I haven't fallen off my bike yet, let's hope I'll keep it this way.....

Banquet

2006-12-11T11:12:00.000-08:00

Last week Thursday was the last day of this years first Davos AO course week. This means traditionally that we have to celebrate by going to the course banquet. It was great! Lot's of fun, and of course great food :) The food was a bit different from last year, which was actually quite nice. We were welcomed at the congress center with some champagne, and music. When the food was ready we went to 'our' table. I'll show some pictures now (Dutch Blog), and maybe some leter when I'll get more :)

After the food there was of course the dancing. The band was funny (same as last year), and played a combination of great and less appropriate oldies, but we had a great time.

Well, have a look at the pics :)

Snow

2006-12-06T09:07:00.000-08:00

It is finally snowing :) I am still working at the AO course, playing with the sound and ligth switches but not very busy now. It will be busy in half an hour. This afternoon I went to the AO, to work in my PhD project for a couple of hours over lunch time, and on the way back, the rain was turning into snow :) I had to go outside a minute ago, and it turned into full heavy snow :) Let's ope it'll stay.

That's it for now

AO Courses

2006-12-04T09:14:00.000-08:00

This week the AO courses are taking place here in Davos. This means that the town of Davos is full of surgeons that think they need to learn more about a surgery techinques in general, or specific new or old techniques developes by the AO. Because the organization is a lot of work, many ytudents were asked to help out, so that is why I am sitteng att he conference centre right now. My job is to make sure the lights are on and ff at the right moments, and that the instruction viedeos are started, and during discussion session, we have to run around and give people that wish to speak a microphone, so the rest of the room can hear them. Sometimes it is pretty busy, especially when the microphones and the ligths have to be manned at the same time (in two different rooms).

So far it is going well, and luckily there are also plenty of times when we have hardly anything to do (now for example). I have just shown the video and all participents are drilling and screwing into plastic models of a lower leg. I guess they have to fix a fracture in the plastic Talus bone that is somewhere inside this model. It looks like a fun job, especially since the model doesn't bleed :) They are very wel made.

During the long lunchtime most participents go sliing, or hiking. Since there isn't that much snow yet the latter is probably more popular. BUT, good news... From Wednesday on it is supposed to snow!! I have even seen a forecast of 'heavy snowfall', meaning more than 30 cm down here in Davos, and more up the moutain :) So, this is looking good :)

OK, I stop now, so my team mates can use the computer :) Maybe a picture later....

December

2006-11-30T03:12:00.000-08:00

Hello,

it is almost December and still hardly any snow in Davos. Because of the snow machines there is enough snow to ski (on 4 listes), but because of the temperatures, the quality isn't very good. It is just too warm for the time of year.

Here I have some graphs from the Davos website:
These are the average max and min temperatres. In November it should be about -4 and + 4 during the night and day respectively, not + 10 as it is now.....

This is a graph showing the average amount of snow on the ground in davos and on the Weissflujoch. There should be around 10 cm of snow in Davos now, but there is none :( On this website they also keep track on which day is the first day after which the snow doesn't melt anymore. The latest that this happened so far was December 20th (in 1989). So, if this year the record will not be broken, we will still have a white X-mas...

So far, the weather forecast doesn't mention snow at all :(

Busy weekend

2006-11-27T06:20:00.000-08:00

Hi, it's been a while since my last post, a lot has happened in between. I have been pretty busy :) Last week the Netherlands had elections, and I was allowed to vote on the internet :) That was fast and simple, hope to be doing that again at the next elections. These may come sooner than normally would be planned. The outcome of the elections makes it almost impossible to form a government. It'll be a nice puzzle, no 2 parties have the majority together, so a third party is needed, and the biggest two parties were a bit nasty towards ech other during the campaign, and will have to talk a lot before they can be on the same side again. So, a bit of a mess one can say. Left nor right seem to hold the solution, could be an exciting formation :)

At midnight on the same evening, the sales of ice hockey tickets for the Spenglercup started as well. And since I had promised my dad tickets for this event at his B-day, I had to get some, so I stayed up to be able to get tickets for the most popular game: HCD (Davos) - team Canada!! Unfortunately, the bookingform crashed right from the beginning, and I couldn't get thourgh, I tried a couple of times during the night, but I couldn't get through until 7.30 the next morning!! By then Davos - team Canada has already been sold out :( But I did get tickets for two other games :) So, we are going to see Mora IK - team Canada and HCD - Mora IK. So, we will see Davos and Canada play, just not against each other.... Yesterday I heard that HCD-Canada had been sold out within 10 minutes!

On Friday I had my first try on skies this season :) The snow was pretty good, considering it has been made artifucially and it has been over 10°C the for the last couple of days. It went well, and I am sure I'll get to the level I had at the end of last year :) Sunday Siebren and I went together, and it was fun again. He is a good skier, will be difficult to keep up with him.... I do hope it will start snowing soon, because I was already looking at all my favorite pistes that won't open until there is some real snow coming down. As much fun as it was this weekend, only 2 pistes per mountain will get bored after a while.... On the other hand, the weather has been increadible :)

Saturday was a big day for me. I finally got my new couch :) I had ordered it 8 weeks ago, and I couldn't remember the colour. It is a Mango coloured couch, but mango comes in lots of different shades, pretty much everything between yellow and orange. I ordered it at a store close to Siebren, because that is where I saw it and I liked it right away. I didn't feel like looking in other stores closer to Davos for something similar. The only problem at this store was delivery. Davos is not within their delivery range, and I could chose between picking it up, or paying about 1/3 of the value of the couch to have it delivered. I chose the first. I could borrow Svenja's huge yellow Mercedes camper bus, and the couch barely fit. Also getting it out in Davos wasn't that easy, but we got it out without damaging it, and it is sitting in its place now :) I have put a picture on the Dutch Blog. So, that is it for now, till soon, maybe with some ski action pics....

Little church in the snow

2006-11-21T12:00:00.000-08:00

Check out Dutch blog for picture..... Wanted to share this....

Weekend

2006-11-20T09:18:00.001-08:00

Hi all,

I have had a weekend full of ups and downs.... It was a weekend of horrible headaches, but luckily while the painkillers did their job I did do some fun things :) Saturday night I went to a very nice restaurant in Hünenberg together with Siebren, Phillip and Nathalie. We had some real good wild!!! (No clue if you call it that in English,. but I guess you'll understand). I had a nice rehpfeffer with 'stoofpeertjes' (little pears cooked in wine, sugar and cinnamon, very yummie). And this was, of course served with spätzli. This together with the salmon as starter and the shoggimousse for desert was a lot of good food......

On Sunday we went to Myther (a ski area in the middle of Switzerland), for a nice walk with Erich and Ursi. I wasn't feeling too great, but the walk was still very enjoyable, only the ride there was rough.... (See pics on Dutch Blog)

When we got back we watched Ice Age 2, funny movie, and after that Siebren cooked me dinner, while I took a nap (isn't he sweet ???). I decided not to drive back to Davos, as my head was not clear, and driving with a headache is not the best thing to do on mountain roads.... After dinner we watched another movie, The fast and the Furious; Tokyo Drift, let's just say it wasn't the best movie I have ever seen (No story line, bad acting and senseless burning of rubber). Monday I drove back, with still some head problems, but the painkillers worked long enough to get me home safely :) I was happy to drive with daylight :)

Back in Davos, winter is still not really here.... Yes, we have some snow on the ground, yes, two ski lifts are running, but it is too warm..... It is snowing now, let's hope it'll stay..... But I guess that there won't be a 'langlaufplausch'.

Skiing!

2006-11-16T03:40:00.000-08:00

Hello, it looks like ski season will start this Saturday, not that it has been snowing much, but I guess they have been making lots of snow, at least enought to cover 1 full piste :) Even Parsenn is opening one week ahead of schedule :) But, I won't be skiing, I am going to Zug.
I remember the first year I was here, it wasn't that good anyway the first day, maybe next week.... But it is time to get my skies serviced and to buy new ski boots. My old ones fell apart last year and have been fixed, but not properly, only a matter of time when they will fall apart again :(

ISSLS

2006-11-14T10:18:00.000-08:00

I have done it :)

I have submitted an abstract to ISSLS :) Now let's hope it will get accepted...

That's all for now, from a foggy Davos...

Cheers!

Kilbi in Baar

2006-11-13T06:06:00.000-08:00

Hi, this weekend I have been to Zug again, and I have been too busy or lazy to update over the weekend, so that's why I am doing this now. I had a good weekend:) On Saturday we went shopping, and went to Grand Café (Zug still has one) for some drinks with Phillip and Reto. In the evening, we were invited to Pascal's house warming party. He only lives about 2 minutes away from Siebren, so we went there, and after that we went to a Kilbi (ehhhh, English word could be FunFair).... It reminded me a lot of the Fair in Heemskerk where I used to go with my cousin Alessandro. It has some fun rides and a big party tent :)

Look for pics on the Dutch Blog:)

Betriebsferien

2006-11-13T06:02:00.000-08:00

Hi, it is very clear that we are still in low season here in Davos. Last Friday we wanted to go to Chämibar for some cheap pizza and beer, but they were closed :) They are on vacation (Betriebsferien). They do deserve a vacation while they can, because it will be crazy all winter again. Ever since Grand Café Latino has closed, Chämibar has been our new 'place to go for Friday night beers'. They will open again in less than two weeks, but then it may become a bit busy in there as winterseason will start next week :) We'll see, otherwise we'll find another place for our Fridayevening tradition:)

Garbage bin: Sign of winter :)

2006-11-10T05:11:00.000-08:00

Good afternoon, a quick note during lunch break. This morning Davos was looking very nice. There were a lot of clouds down in the valley, at some points you could see in between the clouds onto nice white mountainpeaks. Unfortunaltely it was hard to find a spot to take a nice picture of this. I managed to take one nice picture on the way to work, see (as usual Dutch BLOG).

Today has been a very exciting day!!! They have put up a garbage bin in front of the AO (second pic)!!! This means winter is coming. You may think why on earth someone would put a garbage bin in the middel of grassland where only the occasional sheep or cow passes by! Well, in summer you'd be right, no one ever passes there, but in winter this is where the X-country ski trail will be :) So, in preparation for winter season, they put up garbage bins along the trails (before the snow is actually there).

They don't just put up garbege bins, as you can see in the last picture, they also put 'traffic signs' up, so no accidents of people colliding with each other will happen. They also build small bridges over ditches and some roads. Really, getting ready for winter is quite a bit of work here in Davos, and I am not even talking about getting ready for the down-hill season!

Hyves

2006-11-09T08:10:00.000-08:00

YES, I Hyve!!! Whatever that means.... Carolien invited me a couple of days ago to become a member of her Hyve, so now I have my own hyve as well.... The problem is that I don't really know what to do on that site, I already have my BLOG to update. So, all I did was put a link to my BLOG on there and I invited my brother, Rogier, to my hyve.

Now, my question to you is if you hyve, and if you would like to be a member of my hyve (only two 'friends' is a bit sad), and if you can explain the fun/use of hyves to me.... The thing I understand about hyving, is that it is easy to keep your friends up-to-date of what you do, and it is easy to leave messages to one another, but I can do that per e-mail, and people can leave messages on my BLOG!! Please explain it to me, I just don't understand :(

Hope to hear from you :)

I won!!

2006-11-08T11:09:00.000-08:00

Hi,

so after another day of 'playing' with SPSS I can conclude that I won :) For the people who don't know this program, this is a program that should make it easy to do some statistical tests, but unfortunately, it isn't always easy... But, I have found some interesting data in the mess of numbers :) So, it isn't all bad, and my PhD is not lost yet :) I have also written an abstract for ISSLS, and I hope it will be accepted :) First, I have to see that Keita likes it....

Well, I guess that that is all for today.... Cheers!

Funny movie

2006-11-08T08:59:00.000-08:00

Hi, thanks to James, I saw this little movie :) Just wanted to share... He has more, check out his blog :)

Enjoy!!

Spring???

2006-11-07T06:22:00.000-08:00

Hi all, just a quick note, wanted to show you this image that I took from the Davos website. This panorama was taken around 3 pm today, doesn't it look beautiful!!! If feels like spring now, the snow is melting and the sun is warm!!! It is hard to be sitting inside battling statistics, but it has to be done :( I did go for a run at lunch time, which was very nice, a good way to clear your head :)

OK, back to the battle, so far it seems like statistics are winning :(

Walk around the lake:)

2006-11-05T09:43:00.000-08:00

Hi all, having a BLOG is a good motivation to take out my good OLD digital camera. I haven't used it much lately since it is old, slow and cumbersome, but for some snap shots it is still ok, as long as you're not trying to take pictures of anything moving :)

Siebren is on his way home after spending the weekend here in Davos. He hasn't mounted his wintertires yet, so he wanted to leave before the roads may get slippery, can't blame him after my little adventure last Wednesday. It just started to snow again, but I don't think it'll continue.

This afternoon we went for a walk around the lake like all good citizens of Davos. The weather wasn't that great anymore, but at some times the sky was just beautiful!! And it is always nice to get some fresh air :) I have put some pics on the Dutch BLOG!

Beautiful morning :)

2006-11-04T03:46:00.000-08:00

Good morning :)

Last night Siebren and I met Sophie, Kirsten Laszlo and Nora in Chaemibar, that was fun!!

This morning we woke up to a beautiful day :) We will probably go into town for some ski cloths shopping, and then maybe for a walk through the snow :)

I put some pics up on the Dutch Blog.

Sheep at AO in the snow,
Chaemibar last night
This morning the view from my balcony (Parsenn)
View from my balcony (Jakobshorn)

Enjoy your day :)

Brrr

2006-11-03T00:29:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

I have put some pics of the Dutch blog of the snow yesterday and this morning. It is getting real cold here now, yesterday morning and evening it was -5 in Platz and -6 in Davos Dorf!!! Not sure how cold it was this morning, I had to concentrate on the road (and not look up to the thermometer)..... Even with spikes, biking can be a little tricky. Breaking is never fun in winter....

Enjoy the pics, and till l8r!

Netherlands

2006-11-02T11:33:00.000-08:00

Hi hi,

I have returned from my family weekend in the Netherlands :) It was nice to see everybody again. On the Dutch blog I have posted some pics :) Especially the one with my niece and nephews is cute :) It was nice to be an auntie again, even though it was only for a long weekend. They seem to like the life in France, but are still happy to see their grandparents. Ivan helped baking apple pie, it was delicious :)

On Sunday night we had a B-day party for my dad and Rogier. This was good, very busy.... On Monday I went shopping with Marcela. I still like Alkmaar, it is a beautiful city, and good shopping. I bought some pants, a nice top, and jacket. I also saw a beautiful dress, but since I need winter tires (see below), I decided not to buy this.... But, guess what... When I mentioned it to my mum, she wanted to buy it for me for the Holidays, how nice is that :)
Tuesday I had to return, and unfortunately, I had a migraine the night before, and wasn't feeling too great.... Luckily I only traveled to Zug, not Davos.

I also got to see Siebren this weekend. No, he didn't come with me (he visited with me three weeks ago), but he took me to Basle airport on Saturday morning, and I went there Tuesday evening. I went to bed early as I still wasn't feeling super, but Wednesdag was better. Wednesday was a Holiday in Zug, so Siebren had the day off. I had already taken the morning off, but decided to make it a full day. We went for a drive through the Canton of Zug, went up the Zugerberg (mountain of Zug). In the pm we went for coffee (tea for me) at his parents. So, an easy nice day... Except the weather wasn't too great. Especially in the way home I wasn't too happy with the weather. Halfway it started to rain, which turned into snow later, and on the Wolfgang pass the road was snow covered :( Not too nice on summer tires... But I noticed that my tires are pretty good, only on ice I had no grip.... I tis time to change them, and I will need two new tires.... Will get them SOON....

That's all for now. Tomorrow I'll show some pics that I took this morning (cable of camera still at work, oops)... Winter has come to Davos :)

Update

2006-11-02T02:29:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

tonight I will update you on my weekend at home... Sorry, but I have to work now....

Hike to Klosters

2006-10-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

Woo Hoo,

I managed to get the pictures up :)

They are on the Dutch blog, also with English captions :)

Enjoy!!

Day in the lab

2006-10-26T12:32:00.000-07:00

I'd like to apologize for the lack of entertainment in the following blog, I won't be upset if you don't read it :)

Nothing exciting happened today, but right now I am sitting at my desk waiting for my last run of PCR to finish, and I am a little bit bored.... Otherwise I wouldn't even bother to write a blog....

So, today I have been in the lan all day pipetting my PCR plates. Lot's of work that requires concentration.. .But I think I managed to do 4 plates without making mistakes :) Now the last one is in the machine, and it will be finished in about hald an hour. Tomorrow will be the exciting day of looking at the results :)

I haven't been here all evening, I went home just before dark bacause I don't have any lights on my new bike. I am currently using the new bike, because I lost a screw from the old one (that does have lights). On my way home I stopped at the bike shop and got a new screw, so from now on I can use that other bike again, and I don't have to be home before dark....

I tried to upload some pictures of hike I did a couple of weeks ago with Nora and Thomas, but the server is too slow at the moment, it is taking forever... So, those will have to wait :(

Not sure if I will write over the weekend, because I will be visiting my parents over the weekend :) I'll try and have something to talk about next time....

Ciao!

Elections and Transviamala

2006-10-25T06:17:00.000-07:00

Hello boys and girls,

Next month we have elections in the Netherlands, and eventhough I live in Switzerland right now, I am allowed to vote. I signed up for internet voting, and recieved all the codes needed to vote from the comfert of my own home... The only problem is that I have no idea who to vote for.... Too many parties, not enough that think the way I think.... Basically, I have no clue what I will do next month, but lucky for me, I can get some Dutch television, and hopefully that will help me sort out my problem!

Last weekend my mom was here to walk the transviamala walk and run, and since she participated, I signed up myself as well :) Pfew, that was hard. I had already done it two times before and last year was really horrible. This year it went better, but still I was exhausted after the 19 km mostly uphill... Also I have a HUGE blister on my foot, so no running for a while (I hope it will recover quickly). My mum did the 15.8 km Nordic Walk which was almost a run... It went very fast, but she finished in one piece :) We were very happy that Siebren was there to drive us back to Davos. He was so sweet to drive us to the start and pick us op at the finish... Lucky for him the weather was beautiful, and there was plenty to see :)

This is a picture of the start, I am at the far left (black top, white hat)

Here is an impression of the steep parts of the run... Check out the website for more images...

Maybe I'll do it again next year, but if I want to beat my best time so far, I really need to train a bit more....

Bye for now :)

Pics of Davos and surrounding :)

2006-10-24T06:47:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

I have posted some pics of Davos and surrounding on my Dutch blog (title: Davos en omstreken afgelopen zomer). Have a look!!!

The images show:

runners competing in the K78 marathon run (www.swissalpine.ch). This is 78km inclusing 2 mountain passes. Last year I competed in the K42, horrible enough....
A little river running through one of the side valleys of Davos named Sertig.
A nice view from a mountainbike trail going up to a mountainrestaurant (Ischalp) in Jakobshorn ski area. You can see the lake of Davos
Morteratsch Glacier, very big and dangerous glacier in the east of Graubünden (near St. Moritz)
And another view over the lake of Davos from the panoramaweg, which runs from Höhenweg station to Parsennhütte (also mountain restaurant, but in Parsenn ski area).
last picture is of the AO institute where I work... In the middle on nowhere :)

Enjoy!

First English BLOG

2006-10-24T06:06:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

It is hard to stay in touch with everybody, so two days ago, I have decided to start a webblog to keep all my relatives and friends in the Netherlands posted on what I am doing here in Davos. Today, I have decided to start another block in English. I am not sure if I will keep both of them synchronized, so it may be a good idea to check out both. I'll put a link on this site to the Dutch BLOG.

Hope you're all doing well!!!