Monday, May 12, 2008
Frustrating day. I drove all the way from Rotterdam to Brussels, in order to view some apartments, but the people I was supposed to meet had "forgotten" that it was a holiday, so they did not show up... Drove back to Rotterdam, spent an hour or so in a nice park, sitting in the sunshine, with a magazine. Relaxed...
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Drove to Antwerp and Brussels (again) in the morning, viewed some apartments. Will probably decide tomorrow for the one in Brussels. The location of the apartment is very close to our office, the place looks nice and it is within the budget, so it is kind of a no-brainer... Will discuss with my employer and decide tomorrow, I guess. Spent a couple of hours in the office in Holland in the afternoon.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
The First Week
Hi All,
I just created this blog which makes it easier for all of you to keep track of my European adventures, instead of me sending you seperate email messages all the time.
After saying goodbye to friends and family in Canada, some of them more emotional than others, I boarded the Martinair plane in the evening of Wednesday, April 30th. Cecilia and the kidz dropped me off at the airport. A tear or two were shed, as we will not see each other for some time, maybe 3 months... I am hoping to make arrangements to fly back to see my "crew" for a long weekend or so in June, to be determined.
I arrived at Schiphol Airport (Amsterdam) in the early morning of May 1st. Picked up my rental car which had been arranged for by my new employer (thanx again!) and I drove to my mom's place for a nice and relaxing day, trying to get rid of the jetlag.
On Friday May 2nd I drove to the new home of of my friends Ulric & Annet in Heeten. Ulric and I enjoyed a nice afternoon of window shopping and a beer or two on the patio of the "Heks" beer cafe in Deventer. I stayed over at Ulric & Annet's place.
The next day, I visited Jan, Yvet and Mik in the metropolis of Beltrum (near Groenlo, the town the entire world knows of course... (the original home of Grolsch beer). A very nice day with great weather so we were outside for most of the day, enjoying the sunshine, playing soccer with Mik, and a great BBQ. Jan and I watched some great Dutch pop history on TV until late that night, and I stayed over at Jan & Yvet's place.
On Sunday I drove back to my mom's to have lunch and gather my stuff after which I drove across the country to Rotterdam, to my hotel.
On Monday, May 5th, I started my new job at SecureComm in Berkel en Rodenrijs, near Rotterdam, very exciting! See http://www.securecomm.nl/. During the first week on the new job I already met with a couple of our vendors and with a few of my new customers in Belgium. The first impression is great; SecureComm has a young team of professionals and I am very confident that things will work out great for all of us. I am going to set up SecureComm's first office abroad, in Belgium. We have rented an office near Brussels (see http://www.mc-square.com/) which I will set up and manage. In addition I will also further develop SecureComm's channel business in Belgium and Luxembourg.
Last Tuesday, I visited my friends Willem and Ingrid and their daughter Kiki at a camp site in Rockanje (you know, ROCKANJE!!...) for a nice evening together and a (more or less improvised) BBQ dinner. Great time, good weather, good food.
This weekend has been kind of hectic, but nice. On Saturday I visited my friend Patricia for a coffee, and my dear friends Alex and Alex in Utrecht. A beer or two on Alex's balcony, a nice wok dinner at Mr. Shi's. From Utrecht I drove to my hometown of Overdinkel to visit my mom again for Mother's Day and stayed for the night and all of Sunday. My brother Arnoud and his girl-friend Inge came over on Sunday as well. We went out for dinner in Losser (An 'n Labdiek..., for all you liguistically developed people...).
Today, Monday, was a holiday in Holland (it's called Pinksteren, is it the same as Pass Over?), so I took the opportunity to set up some appointments to view some apartments in Brussels today, only to find that the people I was supposed to meet did not show up... I guess they forgot it's a holiday today when we made the appointments... BUMMERRRRR!!! :-(
We'll try again tomorrow...So, I am looking for a suitable apartment in either Brussels or Antwerp, so I expect to move to Belgium some time this coming week. Can't wait to move into a place of my "own" and to start visiting and training existing and new channel partners in Belgium and Luxembourg. It's a great challenge and I expect that business will be great.
That's it for now, I'm off to enjoy the nice weather here, 28 degrees Celsius... Blog you later!
I just created this blog which makes it easier for all of you to keep track of my European adventures, instead of me sending you seperate email messages all the time.
After saying goodbye to friends and family in Canada, some of them more emotional than others, I boarded the Martinair plane in the evening of Wednesday, April 30th. Cecilia and the kidz dropped me off at the airport. A tear or two were shed, as we will not see each other for some time, maybe 3 months... I am hoping to make arrangements to fly back to see my "crew" for a long weekend or so in June, to be determined.
I arrived at Schiphol Airport (Amsterdam) in the early morning of May 1st. Picked up my rental car which had been arranged for by my new employer (thanx again!) and I drove to my mom's place for a nice and relaxing day, trying to get rid of the jetlag.
On Friday May 2nd I drove to the new home of of my friends Ulric & Annet in Heeten. Ulric and I enjoyed a nice afternoon of window shopping and a beer or two on the patio of the "Heks" beer cafe in Deventer. I stayed over at Ulric & Annet's place.
The next day, I visited Jan, Yvet and Mik in the metropolis of Beltrum (near Groenlo, the town the entire world knows of course... (the original home of Grolsch beer). A very nice day with great weather so we were outside for most of the day, enjoying the sunshine, playing soccer with Mik, and a great BBQ. Jan and I watched some great Dutch pop history on TV until late that night, and I stayed over at Jan & Yvet's place.
On Sunday I drove back to my mom's to have lunch and gather my stuff after which I drove across the country to Rotterdam, to my hotel.
On Monday, May 5th, I started my new job at SecureComm in Berkel en Rodenrijs, near Rotterdam, very exciting! See http://www.securecomm.nl/. During the first week on the new job I already met with a couple of our vendors and with a few of my new customers in Belgium. The first impression is great; SecureComm has a young team of professionals and I am very confident that things will work out great for all of us. I am going to set up SecureComm's first office abroad, in Belgium. We have rented an office near Brussels (see http://www.mc-square.com/) which I will set up and manage. In addition I will also further develop SecureComm's channel business in Belgium and Luxembourg.
Last Tuesday, I visited my friends Willem and Ingrid and their daughter Kiki at a camp site in Rockanje (you know, ROCKANJE!!...) for a nice evening together and a (more or less improvised) BBQ dinner. Great time, good weather, good food.
This weekend has been kind of hectic, but nice. On Saturday I visited my friend Patricia for a coffee, and my dear friends Alex and Alex in Utrecht. A beer or two on Alex's balcony, a nice wok dinner at Mr. Shi's. From Utrecht I drove to my hometown of Overdinkel to visit my mom again for Mother's Day and stayed for the night and all of Sunday. My brother Arnoud and his girl-friend Inge came over on Sunday as well. We went out for dinner in Losser (An 'n Labdiek..., for all you liguistically developed people...).
Today, Monday, was a holiday in Holland (it's called Pinksteren, is it the same as Pass Over?), so I took the opportunity to set up some appointments to view some apartments in Brussels today, only to find that the people I was supposed to meet did not show up... I guess they forgot it's a holiday today when we made the appointments... BUMMERRRRR!!! :-(
We'll try again tomorrow...So, I am looking for a suitable apartment in either Brussels or Antwerp, so I expect to move to Belgium some time this coming week. Can't wait to move into a place of my "own" and to start visiting and training existing and new channel partners in Belgium and Luxembourg. It's a great challenge and I expect that business will be great.
That's it for now, I'm off to enjoy the nice weather here, 28 degrees Celsius... Blog you later!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)