Let's hope the American government is not scanning my blog;).
Just thought I'd let you know that according to www.stemwijzer.nl I should vote for the NCPN (New Communist Party Netherlands) if I was to vote in the Groningen council elections... Dear...
I guess most of you already knew this;)!
Love,
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Stress relief
Dear all,
I had a bit of a break-down at work last week. I actually cried... dear... I know it's silly! It was a combination of feeling quite ill, hormones and two very big complaints (as in from very big companies) coming in. I just felt I could not cope. Think people forget sometimes that I have only been here for 3 months, and that I don't know everything. I always ask people to help me, but they often give me minimal information and expect me to take it from there. Me crying did help, as now everyone is a lot more helpful. Should obviously have said something earlier, rather then letting it build up like that.
Yesterday I was called into my manager's office, and he talked to me about it. He was very kind actually and explained that they ususally don't recruit people straight out of univerisity, because some business experience certainly comes in handy. He also explained that I don't have to feel bad if I feel I can't cope, and that I should just go to my team leads or collegues for help. This made me feel a lot better! Of course the job is still stressful, but I try not to take it home anymore, and I try not to let it all pile up too much.
Hope you're well too! Love you all!
Love,
I had a bit of a break-down at work last week. I actually cried... dear... I know it's silly! It was a combination of feeling quite ill, hormones and two very big complaints (as in from very big companies) coming in. I just felt I could not cope. Think people forget sometimes that I have only been here for 3 months, and that I don't know everything. I always ask people to help me, but they often give me minimal information and expect me to take it from there. Me crying did help, as now everyone is a lot more helpful. Should obviously have said something earlier, rather then letting it build up like that.
Yesterday I was called into my manager's office, and he talked to me about it. He was very kind actually and explained that they ususally don't recruit people straight out of univerisity, because some business experience certainly comes in handy. He also explained that I don't have to feel bad if I feel I can't cope, and that I should just go to my team leads or collegues for help. This made me feel a lot better! Of course the job is still stressful, but I try not to take it home anymore, and I try not to let it all pile up too much.
Hope you're well too! Love you all!
Love,
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Liverpool: I came I saw, I conquered
Dear all,
I had a great great time in Liverpool:)!
First of all the drive down was an adventure! Derek and me felt quite "grown up" driving all the way down in Derek's wee car and of course I did a 'brilliant' job navigating (very difficult of course, especially when it basically involves following the M6;))! We arrived around Liverpool at about 10.30pm. We tried to follow the directions Derek had printed out, but this proved more difficult than expected. We had to ask several times even when we were only trying to get to the centre of Liverpool. Of course we blame atrocious signposting (although I would suggest next time Derek listens to me, as I knew which direction to take instinctively, and this without any sense of direction whatsoever, and turned out to be correct, though of course only in hind-sight;)). After searching for about 45 minutes we finally made it to the centre of Liverpool... Unfortunately there were no signs saying "Dee's house this way", so we stopped by the side of the road and called Dee. She explained to us that we were very close and gave us directions. Somehow (and of course I blame Derek;) hehehe) we managed to take a wrong turn, we had to ask again, ended up driving through a bus-lane, and saw most of Liverpool's city centre, but finally, at about 11.45 and after talking to Dee again (who called as she was concerned that what should have taken all of 5 minutes took more than 30!), we drove into her street! YEAH! We were treated to a very warm welcome by Dee and Alan. Their flat is lovely and it is very close to the city centre and the university, which makes it ideal. Had a cup of tea and as we were all tired we went to bed.
During our stay we strolled through Liverpool, visited one of the cathedrals and enjoyed panoramic views from the top, the docks etc. It was lovely weather and I actually, despite my bad experience last time, felt very at home there. As I said to Dee and Alan, and of course not meaning to offend anyone, "it is English but not too poncy". What I meant to say is that the atmosphere is a bit like Glasgow and that the people are friendly etc. A great place to be!
One of the highlights was when we went to see portraits of monkeys in the World museum. They were huge photographs of chimpanzees, orang oetangs, gorillas and bonobo's, most of which were orphaned and saw their parents die a gruesome death, or they were abused in some other way. See http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/wml/exhibitions/facetoface/?id=0#ape for more information. I recommend it to everyone. They all looked so incredibly human. My favourite was a chimp called Katie. She has a mental illness and she just looked so scared and vulnerable and I just wanted to give her a big hug.
Another highlight was finally celebrating Sinterklaas. Was just so nice:). Should really celebrate together every year. The poems were great and the presents even better. Especially Derek's present of two left slippers;) (they have now been replaced by the cutest ever sheep slippers complete with heads and tails:)!). Dee's present was also very cute and one day I hope to play the pictionary I got from Alan with Derek... (he is 'scared' of playing any kind of games with me since a minor fall out over a game of cards... hehehehe)
On Sunday we finished our visit by going out to dinner. We went to a Greek restaurant in a slightly dodgy area. Restaurant was lovely though and the food was good too. Was a nice way to finish.
Dee had to go back to work on Monday morning and Derek and me slowly made our way home... We will definitely make this into a regular thing:).
Work has been a bit of a nightmare the past few days, and that combined with a really bad cold (I am not one to complain, but this is definitely one of the worst cold I've had in years...) has not made work much fun. I am still learning and I sometimes find that hard to accept. I still get totally stressed out sometimes, especially when dealing with huge companies where my dealings could have huge impact on the future business. It's a bit scary. I will get used to it, I know!
Looking forward to a quiet weekend with Derek. It's mainly going to be filled with watching Peep Show (no, it's not what you think!), Extras, Monty Python, and also with a lot of eating and drinking;). Lovely. Hope to go to Lochaline to see mum, Barbara and aunt Anneke the weekend after:).
Hope you're all well!
Love,
I had a great great time in Liverpool:)!
First of all the drive down was an adventure! Derek and me felt quite "grown up" driving all the way down in Derek's wee car and of course I did a 'brilliant' job navigating (very difficult of course, especially when it basically involves following the M6;))! We arrived around Liverpool at about 10.30pm. We tried to follow the directions Derek had printed out, but this proved more difficult than expected. We had to ask several times even when we were only trying to get to the centre of Liverpool. Of course we blame atrocious signposting (although I would suggest next time Derek listens to me, as I knew which direction to take instinctively, and this without any sense of direction whatsoever, and turned out to be correct, though of course only in hind-sight;)). After searching for about 45 minutes we finally made it to the centre of Liverpool... Unfortunately there were no signs saying "Dee's house this way", so we stopped by the side of the road and called Dee. She explained to us that we were very close and gave us directions. Somehow (and of course I blame Derek;) hehehe) we managed to take a wrong turn, we had to ask again, ended up driving through a bus-lane, and saw most of Liverpool's city centre, but finally, at about 11.45 and after talking to Dee again (who called as she was concerned that what should have taken all of 5 minutes took more than 30!), we drove into her street! YEAH! We were treated to a very warm welcome by Dee and Alan. Their flat is lovely and it is very close to the city centre and the university, which makes it ideal. Had a cup of tea and as we were all tired we went to bed.
During our stay we strolled through Liverpool, visited one of the cathedrals and enjoyed panoramic views from the top, the docks etc. It was lovely weather and I actually, despite my bad experience last time, felt very at home there. As I said to Dee and Alan, and of course not meaning to offend anyone, "it is English but not too poncy". What I meant to say is that the atmosphere is a bit like Glasgow and that the people are friendly etc. A great place to be!
One of the highlights was when we went to see portraits of monkeys in the World museum. They were huge photographs of chimpanzees, orang oetangs, gorillas and bonobo's, most of which were orphaned and saw their parents die a gruesome death, or they were abused in some other way. See http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/wml/exhibitions/facetoface/?id=0#ape for more information. I recommend it to everyone. They all looked so incredibly human. My favourite was a chimp called Katie. She has a mental illness and she just looked so scared and vulnerable and I just wanted to give her a big hug.
Another highlight was finally celebrating Sinterklaas. Was just so nice:). Should really celebrate together every year. The poems were great and the presents even better. Especially Derek's present of two left slippers;) (they have now been replaced by the cutest ever sheep slippers complete with heads and tails:)!). Dee's present was also very cute and one day I hope to play the pictionary I got from Alan with Derek... (he is 'scared' of playing any kind of games with me since a minor fall out over a game of cards... hehehehe)
On Sunday we finished our visit by going out to dinner. We went to a Greek restaurant in a slightly dodgy area. Restaurant was lovely though and the food was good too. Was a nice way to finish.
Dee had to go back to work on Monday morning and Derek and me slowly made our way home... We will definitely make this into a regular thing:).
Work has been a bit of a nightmare the past few days, and that combined with a really bad cold (I am not one to complain, but this is definitely one of the worst cold I've had in years...) has not made work much fun. I am still learning and I sometimes find that hard to accept. I still get totally stressed out sometimes, especially when dealing with huge companies where my dealings could have huge impact on the future business. It's a bit scary. I will get used to it, I know!
Looking forward to a quiet weekend with Derek. It's mainly going to be filled with watching Peep Show (no, it's not what you think!), Extras, Monty Python, and also with a lot of eating and drinking;). Lovely. Hope to go to Lochaline to see mum, Barbara and aunt Anneke the weekend after:).
Hope you're all well!
Love,
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