Guus Bosman

Daniël and I agreed last night that it's really inconvenient that the shops in the Netherlands close so early. In the States, Hungary, Bulgaria... everywhere the shops are open till after 18:00 o'clock, so people who work during the week are also able to go shopping.

Alas... not in Holland. The only exception is Thursday evening (in Haarlem) when many shops stay open till 21:00 o'clock. So it's always more lively in the city and I like Thursday evenings. Tonight I had to do the things I didn't have time for during the week. Somehow there's a lot of paperwork to arrange this week and I went to the municipality to get some official paper. That went pretty quick; the people at the civil service there are very friendly.

On of the things I have to arrange is my own fault. When I came back from Washington in October I forgot to turn in my "I94-W" form, a small sheet that had been stapled in my passport when I entered the States. Now I have to send it to an office in the States, along with proofs that I did return to the Netherlands. So I'll send my boarding pass from the return flight, a copy of my passport with the stamps that prove I was in Bulgaria, and some papers of my work.