What a week?!

I think it was that mostly sombre photography exhibition last Sunday and the change in weather (yes, I'm in the Netherlands so I must include a comment or two on the weather!) that had me not so motivated on Monday morning.

That or my lack of things to do.

Or so I thought.

I knew I'd be getting my So-Fi number on Thursday so I started looking for work and updating my CV. Fun? No. Time consuming? Yes.

But it has paid off...kind of.

I had an informal interview on Tuesday with an English woman who has her own small school here in Eindhoven. Interested in hiring me? Yes. Any work at the moment? No.

Then I was contacted to do some online teaching for a company I taught with in Turkey. The interview is this Tuesday. Interesting? Yes. Many hours? No.

And then the nuns called.

'The nuns of Vught' AKA Regina Coeli Language Intstitute, woke me up on Tuesday morning to invite me for an interview on Friday 13th! What kind of nuns are they?!

Well, the short answer is, they aren't nuns.

A few hundred years ago religious types were allowed to be involved in mainstream education. And then they weren't. So the nuns who ran and taught at a school for girls had to find something else to do. And what do you know? They got into language teaching. They were good at it too. They taught languages to the Dutch secret service and a lot of diplomats.

Now they perform their language teaching miracles at a cost of 2390 EUROS PER WEEK!!!

Except the nuns don't do it now. Just these foreigners who turn up in the Netherlands and live somewhere near Vught, somewhere like Eindhoven.

And then apart from all the job hunting I met an Aussie. She's 30. She's here on a working holiday visa. She's living in Eindhoven. She's been here about 2 months. She has a Dutch boyfriend. She's studying Dutch. She has an interview with the nuns on Friday 13th.

No I didn't meet myself.

She's from Melbourne.

So we went out for a drink on Friday. I'm trying to swindle her out of her vegemite. Good night out? Yes. Successful swindling? Not yet!

It was Nico's birthday on Thursday but he had some work bonding session on the day so I didn't have to bake and fawn! His parents came over on Saturday with bundles of gifts and he spent the rest of the day ripping cds to his shiny new MP3 player and making 'Senseo' coffees.

It was also his grandmother's 95th birthday! We went to her soiree last Tuesday with about 100 family members. She actually remembered me from when I met her for about half an hour more than 3 years ago! Young? No. Alert? Yes!

And to end the week(end) on a high note, the sun was shining today so we went for a 47.5km bike ride! Good exercise? Yes. Did my newish gel seat prevent the 'discomfort' in my rear end? NO!