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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...

  
The auditorium is filling up                         Before the defence

  
Signing of the diploma                               Picture with committee, beadle and paranimphs

  
Congratulations from the supervisor             Party & presents!

Sarah also came for the party - and stayed until the end!

 

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.

 

24.01.2010

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.
At the same time we are also sad about leaving Holland, which has been our home for 6 years. Holland is a very good and convenient country to live in. Certainly better than Germany or England in many aspects. It is for example the best place for children's wellbeing (see UNICEF report on child well-being in rich countries) and also very well organised. It was easy for us to combine working and family in any way we wanted. The latter will not be so easy in Switzerland. Still, what we always missed here is nature/landscape and space, both of which we hope to have more of in Switzerland!

 

13.01.2010

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.

 

01.01.2010

Happy New Year to all of you!
Sarah has luckily recovered a bit from the Christmas excitement.
Yesterday some teenager threw some fireworks into the recycling bins just outside our house and one of them started burning. The fire brigade had to come and extinguish the fire! Sarah found that fascinating to watch from our bedroom window. New Year's Eve we spent mainly waiting for the noise to be over so we could finally get to sleep - still catching up with missed sleep from the last nights of Sarah waking up a lot... But we did admire the fireworks through the living room window.
Today Sarah an I baked some cake, because Oma and Opa are coming!

 

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.
Last week I started working for Danone as a product technologist for medical nutrition. We have to be very organized now in the mornings and evenings, to ensure that Sarah gets to crèche in time, is picked up in time and we eat dinner in time, so Sarah can go to bed in time... It's quite exhausting for all of us, but we manage very well so far. Sarah still enjoys going to crèche; it usually takes a lot of convincing to get her home in the evenings...
The weekend before I started working we took Sarah to the zoo in Rotterdam. Her favourites are the elephants and monkeys. Last weekend we started painting the doors and window frames from the outside. We just couldn't stand the orange of the doors anymore...

 

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!

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).

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.
Last month I have also been to Chester to visit my friend Maja. We went for a lovely walk in Wales and visited a Beatles museum in Liverpool. That was a nice break!
We spent the long Easter weekend at my parents in Germany. The weather was brilliant and Sarah enjoyed hunting Easter eggs. We also went to a lovely zoo in Braunschweig. And we met Annika, André's & Daniela's little girl. Some pictures from the Easter weekend are in Sarah's photo gallery.

  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

 

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.
But we have some positive news, too: my first paper was finally accepted for publication! I am currently revising a second paper and hope that it will be accepted soon, too.

 

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.
Today is Sarah's second birthday! We decorated the room and baked a cake for her which we all shared for breakfast (see pictures in Sarah's photo gallery). Sarah had some presents to unwrap, too! She got a box of Duplo from us (and we ordered a little trike for her, too) and she had some clothes from her grandparents and her aunt. Then we had to take daddy to the station, because he had to travel to London. Sarah and I went to the crèche to say hallo to all the people there. Sarah seemed to recognize the place and played with her "old friends". So tomorrow she might be going to the crèche for a whole day.

    © Katja & Nick, last updated February 2010