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08.02.2010 Today was finally the big day of my PhD defence! A big thank you to all the people who came to watch me suffer! It was not so bad in the end, though. I had a great committee. Even my professor could come in the end, although he is ill. I had to give a brief presentation and then I was questioned for one hour by the committee. I passed and received my PhD diploma! We celebrated with a party in the evening. I received a lot of great presents - thank you all! I am sad that this part of my life is over know, because I really had a fantastic time with great colleagues. At the same time it is a great relieve to be finished and not having to work in the evenings and weekends anymore. I also had my 5th and last paper accepted for publication today! So I am really done now and can start thinking about the next big event - the birth of Sarah's sibling...
31.01.2010 We went to Germany this weekend to celebrate my father's 60th birthday. There was still a lot of snow, so we could take Sarah out for her first sledge ride. She was not terribly impressed... But she did enjoy the party! And of course seeing her Oma, Opa, uncle and aunt.
Now some real NEWS! We have decided to move to Switzerland!
Nick has been offered a job at Nestle in Lausanne and we decided to take this
opportunity. As long as Sarah is not at school, yet, we can embark on another
adventure! We will be moving end of May, a few weeks after the new baby will be
born... What a busy year, though - PhD defence, birth, move, new job for Nick!
That's more than enough for one year! And we all have to learn French! Language
number 4 for Sarah... We are looking forward to the mountains, the lake, the
nature and the climate. We will move into a temporary furnished flat for the
first months and then try and find a house or flat to rent somewhere outside
Lausanne when we are there. We are hoping that Sarah will get a space in the
crèche for 2 days a week, so she can learn some French before starting preschool
in January next year.
Happy birthday Sarah! And more presents! Quite confusing - who brought these presents now? Sinterklaas, Kerstman, Weihnachtsmann or Father Christmas?!? Or maybe Santa Clause?!? And of course Sarah had a little birthday cake with three candles to blow out and a birthday party at the crèche with all her friends. She got to wear a crown and hand out her party bags.
Happy New Year to all of you!
27.12.2009 Christmas has been really exciting for Sarah. She got some presents on Christmas Eve from 'Weihnachtsmann' and a lot more presents on Christmas Day in the morning from Father Christmas. Unfortunately Sarah got a bit ill, so we decided that it would be better for Oma and Opa to come and visit in the New Year rather than for Christmas. Sarah was so excited about her new toys from Father Christmas that she couldn't get to sleep in the evening, woke often up in the middle of night and didn't want to go back to sleep, but instead get up and play. And she woke up early in the mornings, too. So we ended up leaving the door to her room open and the light in the hall on, so she could play a bit in her bed and we could at least get some sleep... (Now she still only goes to sleep if we leave her door open and the light on!! Should have never started it...) But otherwise is was a nice Christmas! We had especially endless fun with the marble run we got for Sarah. See also pictures in Sarah's photo gallery!
20.12.2009 I sent my thesis to the printer last week!!! We celebrated my birthday a little bit and finally put up the Christmas decorations. We also decorated our Christmas tree. Sarah was a bit ill, so we decided not to go out for a meal. On Sunday it snowed so much, that we couldn't drive to the supermarket to do our shopping! But we built a snowman instead.
13.12.2009 Nick and Sarah have been to England to visit Sarah's grandma, aunt and cousins. I stayed at home, working on finishing my PhD thesis. I quite enjoyed the weekend at home alone - first time alone at home for more than a few hours since Sarah was born! Sarah had a ride on the Christmas train in England and received presents from Father Christmas on the train (a little pink dog and a wing-flapping Tinkerbell...). Now her favourite song is 'Jingle Bells'. Photos from Sarah's England trip are in Sarah's photo gallery.
06.12.2009 We celebrated Nikolaus (or Sinterklaas as Sarah would say) today, although in Holland it is celebrated on the 5th of December. But with some things I like to stick to the German traditions ;-). Sarah got a book, a game and a few chocloates.
24.11.2009 We spent a few days in Switzerland, Lausanne. The last weeks have been quite busy for us, especially for me with starting a new job, being pregnant and working on my PhD thesis every evening. And Nick did a fair amount of travelling for work, too. It was nice to get a break and go abroad as a family for a few days. Unfortunately we were very unlucky with the weather. It was raining almost continuously... We still managed to go for a walk along the lake, do some shopping, visit friends and eat cheese fondue! Sarah found it very exciting, sleeping in a hotel in her own big bed, in the same room as us. She was very proud that she travelled by car, bus, plane, train and metro all in one day! Tomorrow Sarah will get her flu vaccination...
15.11.2009 Stefan and Ilka spent the weekend with us. On Saturday we did some shopping in Den Haag. On Sunday we went to Leiden and visited the science museum.
04.10.2009 Oma and Opa paid us a visit this weekend. We went out for a meal at an Italian restaurant. Sarah enjoyed her Spaghetti and tomato sauce (which is about the only thing she would eat at a restaurant apart from Frankfurt style sausages). On Sunday we went to the zoo in Rotterdam. Sarah is a big fan of the elephants. On the way back we had to take a long detour via Gouda, because the motorway between Rotterdam and Den Haag was closed...
06.09.2009 Grandma came to visit for a long weekend! We went to Utrecht to the Nijntje museum. It is a very small exhibition, but Sarah enjoyed it a lot. Especially Nijntje's life-size house.
23.08.2009 It was a lovely sunny day today, so we decided to cycle to the beach! We cycled to a part, where cars don't have access, so it was less crowded on the beach. Sarah enjoyed hunting for little crabs and collecting shells. There were some huge hat-shaped jellyfish lying on the beach, so we decided not to go swimming in the end. We were really exhausted after cycling back home. We finished the day off with a BBQ. Almost an Australian day! I have put two pictures in Sarah's photo gallery.
12.08.2009 Two weeks ago I submitted my PhD thesis (Doktorarbeit)
and could finally make a date for my defence. It will be Monday, 8 February,
next year! Earlier was not possible... Sarah got ill the same week - she had a
very high fever for a few days, followed by a rash. So we think it was the 6th
disease. And I also picked up my new car (Toyota Aygo), which I need for
travelling to work.
29.06.2009 We have been on holidays to the lovely Danish island of Bornholm for 2 weeks. We took our bikes and Sarah's chariot and went cycling most days. We cycled through forests, along the coast, past very old round churches and past poppy fields. We also did a boat trip to the neigbouring island of Christiansø. Sarah enjoyed the beaches with fine white sand and seeing lots of horses, cows, chickens, sheep, rabbits and birds. Our holiday home was in a pine forest with lots of birds (jays, woodpeckers, tits, finches, crossbills) and rabbits coming to visit every day. We really enjoyed these holidays and didn't want to come back home... Pictures are in the photo gallery.
05.06.2009 Time for another update!
Also, we have been at my brother's wedding party last weekend! It was a fantastic party. The ceremony took place in a lovely garden under big trees and the party was in the same garden in a big tent. Sarah was running around and danced until 23.30h!!! She was amazing. On Sunday we visited a fellow student of mine and his family in their new home near Hamburg. About a month ago we have been to the UK to celebrate the graduation of Nick's sister. It was a lovely long family weekend. Have a look at the pictures in Sarah's photo gallery!
24.04.2009 Sorry for not updating our homepage for such a long time! We
have been quite busy. In March Nick has been to Poland (on business), to the UK
to try and sell his house there, and to New Zealand. I have been busy writing
my publications. My first paper has been published in the meantime (in
Biomacromolecules), my second one has been accepted for publication in
Biotechnology and Bioengineering and the third one I submitted a few days
ago to Water Research. I have also been busy applying for jobs twice a
week. With the current economic situation it is very difficult to find a job
here. I had one interview at a biotech company, but unfortunately I didn't have
exactly the right background. We also looked abroad: Nick has been offered a job
in New Zealand, but because I haven't had any success with my applications
there, it looks like we are staying here.
18.02.2009 Christmas part III! Nick's family came over from the UK to celebrate Christmas with us. They even brought a Christmas tree with them! And lots of presents! On Monday we went to the Duinrell swimming pool. They have many water slides there, most of them really fast and long! Sarah enjoyed it a lot, too.
07.02.2009 Nick spent a few days in the UK in the snow, but luckily he managed to come back just in time for the weekend. Sarah had a really long lie-in on Friday - we had breakfast at 11am! On Saturday she was in a really good mood. She even let us know that she wanted to go on her potty (which luckily arrived with our airfreight from OZ on Thursday) and had her first 'big' success on the potty! In the afternoon we went to the playground with her where she befriended a little dog, played monkey on the slide and ordered Nick and me around to do things.
03.02.2009 Friday afternoon Onkel Stefan and Tante Ilka came to visit us. Sarah was very shy initially but she soon started chatting away with them and cuddling them. Also the painting that we had bought in Australia in Hahndorf finally arrived on Friday. It was sent almost 4 weeks ago! On Saturday also Oma and Opa arrived. We went to Scheveningen to the aquarium and Sarah loved seeing all the fish! We celebrated Christmas and four birthdays - so lots of presents to unwrap! Sarah got a pram for her doll from Oma and Opa and now she doesn't stop pushing her around anymore! On Sunday we went for lunch to the restaurant, where Nick and I got married. Oma and Opa had to leave afterwards, but Stefan and Ilka stayed until Tuesday with us. Sarah really enjoyed all the attention. She is still telling us now who was sitting on which chair! Photos from the weekend are in Sarah's Photogallery.
21.01.2009 Now I seem to have got the flue, too. Sarah has been getting better on Sunday and Monday, but had again a day with high fever on Tuesday. Today we are all staying at home together. Nick is looking after Sarah and hopes, he doesn't catch our virus, too...
17.01.2009 Sarah has only been back to crèche for 2 days and she already seems to have
picked up a flu or very bad cold. She had a very high temperature today, and
seems to feel really poorly.
13.01.2009 We are back from Australia and we didn't have any problems
with jetlag, yet. After we managed to stay awake on Sunday until 7pm, we managed
to get back into Dutch time quite well. |
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© Katja & Nick, last updated February 2010 |
Sarah
also came for the party - and stayed until the end!
24.01.2010
13.01.2010
I have been offered a job at a company called
Nutricia not
far away from where we are living. Nutricia is part of the Danone group and
produces baby food (e.g. Milupa) and medical nutrition. I will be a product
technologist for tube feeding liquids. We were just celebrating this offer in
the evening a few weeks ago, when we got a phone call from a company in New
Zealand. They had offered Nick a job some weeks ago, but because I hadn't been
able to find a job there, we had decided to stay in Holland. Now they had a new
vacancy for a job that was my dream job! So we spent 3 whole days thinking about
whether to stay in Holland or move to New Zealand. A really tough decision. In
the end we decided to stay here. We think that it will be better for Sarah,
considering the great quality of child care and education here, the proximity to
families, the European culture and history etc. So I will start working at
Nutricia in August, 4.5 days a week. That means that Nick and I will alternate
with a free Friday every week and Sarah only has to go to crèche 4 days a week
as before. Now I only need to buy a car ;-(. Public transport links here are
generally very good, but unfortunately not in this case (over 1 h versus 20 min
by car). 
Nick in Gdansk, Poland
Katja walking in Wales with Maja and some friends
Katja in Chester
Katja in Liverpool
Nick in Palmerston North, New Zealand