Guus Bosman

Yesterday Daniël arrived from Hungary. True to tradition we went to Coco's, near the trainstation in Amsterdam even though the last few times he has always travelled by plane.

It was a fun evening. We were 12 people, and we stayed in the bar/restaurant (slogan "lousy food and warm beer") from 17:00 o'clock to midnight. It was great to see my friends.

In the morning I had an appointment with the dentist at 8:00 o'clock. It had been a while since I had a dental examination. The teeth were fine: the dentist performed some cleaning, but I had no caries. Afterwards the dentist took two (digital) x-ray pictures.

After work I left to Middenmeer. Although I always realize I have to leave earlier for the train to Hoorn than for the others, I had to run again to make it -- the train is on a track further than the others. I arrived in Hoorn at 19:10 o'clock; had a warm chocolate milk there and I took the bus 20 minutes later.

It's nice to be in Middenmeer. It's very peaceful here and it's great to be with my parents. I slept 10 hours tonight; I guess I needed that.

I just brought Sasha to her plane. Today she's going back to the States. After a long stay here to write her thesis, she's now going back to work.

At the airport there was a group of strikers. One of their signs said "airtraffic control on strike", but luckily enough the planes were all flying regularly. Later a group of strikers came into the departure hall, but they left after a few minutes.

We had coffee together and Sasha left for the plane at 13:15. Her plane is first flying to Reykjavík, Iceland, and she'll arrive in Washington around 19:00 o'clock (local time). We had a great time here together.

Yesterday we had dinner with Ettie, Mieke, Gerben and Jaap. We went out the six of us to a restaurant here in Haarlem, "Piecks". It was a great evening, very cosy. It was a long time since had all seen each other together, so that was very nice.

Afterwards we had tea and cake at home.

Yesterday evening I went to Jennie's graduation party. My parents were there as well and it was a nice evening. Ronald showed us some pictures of her graduation last Wednesday. He connected his digital camera directly to their TV; it was a great way of seeing pictures: sharp, large screen and bright colors.

On the way back I had the last train to Haarlem. It always gives a special feeling taking the last train of the night. I was home around 1:15 o'clock.

Today we had an easy Saturday; after a nice breakfast we went into the city. When we walked towards the center we passed by a building on the Nieuwe Gracht which has a maquette of Haarlem hanging on the wall inside.

We were curious, so we rang the bell and asked if it would sometimes be open for the public. A very nice lady, who worked for the archeological institute of Haarlem, opened the door and let us in immediately. She showed us around, and after seeing the (magnificient) maquette she also showed us the first version of an exhibition for the archeological museum in the Vleeshal she was working on.

The maquette is very interesting; she said it was made by someone just as a hobby and that it had been stored in their attic for a long time. The city is shown as it was early in the 19th century. The city wall was still there as well as the various city gates. Very beautiful.

This afternoon we went to the graduation of Jennie. She studied Computer Science at the Vrije Universiteit like me, but she started a year later.

We met my father in the bookshop at the VU, that was a nice surprise.

The gradution went well. Jennie started another study already (again at the VU), so this wasn't the final ceremony for her. Anyway: congratulations!

After the graduation we met Jos Aris, my old biology teacher from Wiringherlant, my highschool.

This morning I went to participate in a national health survey, the Nationale Gezondheids tests. I went to a center in Heemstede, a place near Haarlem. My appointment was at 8.00 o'clock so it was an early morning.

The test was very interesting. My length and heigth were measured, as well as a number of other health-indicators. The biggest part was 10 minutes on a bicycle, and my heart rate was measured.

Now I'm back at Chess, but I'll take the afternoon off to go to Jennie's graduation.

This afternoon Jelly and I went to the Uitmarkt in Amsterdam.

We had a great time, even though the weather was a bit depressing. We listened to a Portugese fado band and saw a theater group called Dogtroep, among others.

We had a Suriname roti sandwich for dinner, and we spent quite some time on the book market.

It has been seven years since the last time I was at the Uitmarkt; then it was still at the Waterlooplein. The new location, at the Museumplein and Leidseplein, was much better than I had expected.

I was the first one in the office this morning -- I came it at 7.00 o'clock. Sasha left this morning to Bulgaria. Her plane left at 6.55, so we had to be at the airport quite early. We took the first bus to Schiphol, at 5.08 o'clock. It was full with people.

Sasha is staying for a week in Bulgaria, and she'll visit her parents. Ilana is there now as well, and Irena will arrive in Sofia one hour after Sasha. Really nice.

Yesterday we went to pick up Sasha's new residence permit. A simple extension of her existing permit, which she has had for many years, took more than six months to be processed. Unbelievable. The good news is that her new permit is valid for five years, so we don't have to deal with that for a long time.