Jeroen Sangers

I was so busy writing about chocolate, that I completely forgot to tell the most important event of this easter.

WARNING: There is an highly increased chance of meeting me in Harmelen during easter!!

It is almost easter, and easter is a wonderful time for chocolate lovers like me. I always eat a lot of these small chocolate easter eggs. Also here in Lleida they know the tradition of chocolate. Besides the traditional eggs, small sculptures are very popular. The most popular at this moment is Harry Potter, completely with a castle.

But the biggest sculpture is the one of Prats. Prats is local patisseria and chocolate maker, who creates every year a life size statue of a famous Catalan person out of chocolate. This year, Pau Gasol has the honor. Pau Gasol????? I have to admit that I don’t know him well, but sport-lovers might know this famous basket player of the Memphis Grizzly’s.

By the way, for people wondering what I am doing at my work, the web site of Prats is hosted on our servers and created by us…

I have to admit it: the main reason to move to the south is the weather! And last week I got what I wanted. The sky was clear blue and the temperature went up far into the twenties. On Thursday the thermometer reached even up to 31°C!!!

And did I take profit of it? Well… not really. When I finish work, the sun has long gone. And we have to use the weekends to visit shops, because it is about time that we select our new kitchen, bathroom and floor.

OK, Saturday we took some time to drink a beer on a terras.

Yesterday was the day of Saint Joseph. Normally I wouldn’t have noticed this, but the fact is that my girlfriend is called MJ; and thus is named after Saint Joseph.

Here in Spain, people celebrate their saint as a second birthday, with a nice meal and presents from their family and friends.

Unfortunately, a lot of people name their children after the saint of the day the baby was born, thus denying their child an extra wonderfull day with presents and attention!

One of this victims is MJ. Though her birthday was last Friday, it was close enough to her saint to celebrate it all together. Poor girl…

And even worse, her boyfriend didn’t give her any present at all!

Anyway, for all the people who missed my birthday: my saint will be on September 30. So if you want a small party…

Yesterday I was talking with my father. He was standing outside a barn at 5°C, I was outside on the balcony with 21°C. Even though the weather here was better, my father was the one in the best situation, and I really wished that I could be there too.

Today my father turned 65, and therefore my sister and my mother had organised a surprise party in this barn. Everybody was there, his family, his friends, the neighbours… everybody except for his son.

I really like living here, but sometimes I wish I could be in Holland.

This weekend I planned to do a lot of thing with my little computer. Work on the Fimcap site, install freeBSD, find myself a new internet provider… But when I woke up this morning I realised that I would have to change my plans. You simply can’t spend the day behind the computer when the sky is blue, the first trees blossom in beautiful pink and it’s 18 degrees outside!

This morning we visited our future house again, trying to decide how we are going to reconstruct it. And every time we talk with somebody else, we are changing our plans again. Sometimes a little big frustrating, but I am sure that in the end we’l get there.

And because we were thinking about our house anyway, we decided to continue this afternoon. So we walked through the streets of Lleida, visiting every kitchen and bathroom shop we found. And we realized that there are a thousand more decisions to be made…

Due to problems at my provider, I am not able to send e-mail at this moment.

However, I am still able to read mail sent to me (they only have problems with their SMTP server).

At this moment I am looking for other providers, and maybe I am going to have to pay for an account. Because you can’t complain about the things you get for free, isn’t it?

On the long term I will be running my own mail server over xDSL, but to accomplish that I first need to finish our new house.

Anyway, I hope to write you soon again.

Life is hard when you’re getting old. I just turned 31 last Saturday, and I already feel like I am over 90. The last two day I’ve spent in bed; leaving it only to go to the toillet. It has been a long time ago since I was so ill. Anyway, at this moment I am feeling better again, and am able to go to work.

Yes, yes, I’m becoming an old man… 31 years old today!

The typical way of celebrating something over here is eating and drinking. So tonight some friends will come over for supper. I don’t know yet what to prepare, but I still have a lot of time to think about that. And after that we will go for a drink in Lleida. Not a bad way to celebrate your birthday, is it?

Normally when we visit Holland, time seems to fly. That is why we decided to go on Thursday evening. The other reason was the wedding of Ton & Mirjam on Friday.

Due to a little delay we arrived in Harmelen at 1:00 at night. Of course we had to spend some time chatting with my parents, so we went to bed quite late.

I planned to arrange some things and go shopping on Friday morning, but as usual it was impossible to get out of bed early enough. Somehow every visit to Holland feels like a holiday, and the first days of holidays I usually spent resting (=sleeping). Anyway, by the time we got up, we had to run through the shower, quickly grab a sandwich and hop into the car to arrive on time in the townhall. The ceremony was funny and entertaining and I know it’s a cliché but the bride looked pretty.

In the afternoon we had some minutes left for shopping (dropjes, tijgernootjes, …). The rest of the time we spent reading on the sofa. First of all because the weather wasn’t so good, but also because at home we haven’t got a sofa.

The party at night was also really ‘gezellig’. I had a chance to have a chat with a lot of people, and was able to hear the latest gossip. I was so occupied with talking to all those people that sometimes I forgot that MJ doesn’t understand any of it. (Sorry for that, next time I will take care of you a little bit more…).

On the same evening, Pere had arrived home, so Saturday we showed him Amsterdam and Utrecht. We found out that a Dutch guide is of no use at all in Amsterdam, because on the streets you’ll find more Spanish tourists that citizens of Amsterdam and the people in the souvenir shops speak better Spanish that I do. We also found out why groups of British boys only visit the red light district when they are completely drunk: the girls look like truck drivers.

In the evening we went to Stairway to heaven to drink some beers.

On Sunday, we went back home again. Even though we had one day more, time seemed to fly. Next time, with easter, we’ll try to stay even longer!

First of all for all the people who have asked me the last weeks: Yes, they do celebrate carnival over here! Of course a little bit different than in Holland, but they definitely do celebrate carnival.

This weekend Roberto, our Italian friend, was visiting us. He choose a nice weekend to do so, as stated above. He finished his exams on Friday, had a party at night and went directly over to Lleida. So when he arrived on Saturday afternoon, we first offered him a hot shower.

After arranging his stuff, we hurried back to the city center to see the carnival parade. I guess it was at that moment that Jong Nederland received the yearly prize of honour (and with yearly I mean that JN is receiving it every year) for their wagon. Here the parade starts when the sun sets, and I have to admit that the wagons look really good with al these lights. There were about 30 wagons, mostly crowded with children. Popular themes were indians, the north pole, and vikings.

After the tour (at was already 21:00 hours) we took Roberto to an Italian restaurant. I know that it is quite a guess to serve pasta to an Italian, but this restaurant is really good. Nine is a little bit early to eat, but on these kind of days you have to be early, or you’ll end up waiting a long time outside the restaurant.

After the meal, we went to River café, which is close to the place where the party in the evening would take place. The main party started at eleven thirty, but at midnight the hall wasn’t even half full. The band was playing really good, but Metallica and AC/DC are not the kind of music I expect on a carnival party. Around one thirty more people started entering the place, waiting eagerly for the main act: Dr. Calypso. Dr. Calypso is Catalunya’s most famous ska band, and guarantees a lot of pleasure.

The next day we didn’t do a lot, as usual on Sundays. We helped Roberto pack his stuff, as he was moving on to the mountains of Vall d’Aran for his first skiing experience.

One of the nicest features of having your own web site is playing ‘detective’.

Every day the web server produces a huge amount of data; every single page you request and every single picture on that page is recorded in the log files. I use these log files to see who visited me, when did I receive those visitors, what kind of computers do they use, which pages are the most popular, … But the most interesting is to know how they got onto my site. Especially the visitors which entered from a search engine are interesting, because they were looking for some information.

This week I noticed something strange in my logs: I received a lot of visitors who were looking for information about Astor Piazolla. I started thinking, because until I wrote this article, there is absolutely no mention about Astor Piazolla on this site. I have to admit that I like Astor Piazolla and his New Tango a lot; I even have some of his work on CD.

Aaaah, that’s it! On my former web site, I maintained a list of all CD’s I own. That list must still be in de databases of those web sites. But visitors of my old web site are automatically forwarded to the new one.

That only leaves the question why suddenly people start searching for Astor Piazolla. All the Dutch readers already know the answer, but I had absolutely no idea. Until I talked with my parents. Of course they told me about the big event in Holland: the wedding of Willem-Alexander and Maxima. And my mother told me that she liked the moment when Maxima showed some tears when they played Argentine music. And this piece of music (Adios Nonino by Astor Piazolla) is now nr. 1 in the Dutch hit charts. So thanks to the royal wedding I received a lot of hits.

Case closed.

[Update 2004.01.21]: Removed broken link

For the first time since I moved from Holland I have added pictures to my site. Today I finally took the time to dig up my old scanner (yes BJ, the one I bought from you) and connect it to my laptop. You will find some pictures from the place I am living and from a visit to Barcelona in September last year.

Oops, already a week without any notice! Yes, it’s about time that I write something new on my site. So I decided to write about the princess. Not the one of this weekend, but the one which I really missed last weekend.

As you might remember I made a small trip to Holland last weekend (exactly 24 hours and 10 minutes). O Saturday evening we went to the reception of the prince, organised by CV de Kwakbollen. And the most important question on that evening is not who will be the new Dagobert (if you know the solution to 1+1, you’re always able to figure out who he is), but how his princess will look. And if you know that Dago doesn’t have any girlfriend or wife, the first question is WHO he chose to be on his side.

The tension was really high when Dago finally appeared. Of course we faked our surprise to see him (I never could have guessed it could be him…), but immediately everybody started looking around, searching for the princess.

But no–… to our disappointment, this Dago has chosen to celebrate carnival alone. Alaaf for prince Remi XXVI!

Fimcap? You stopped the youthwork when you left Holland, didn´t you? No, I didn't!

I am still involved in Fimcap as a member of the working group for e-media. At this moment we are preparing the launch of version 2 of the Fimcap web site. On February 1st the world can finally see what I have been working on all these hours the last year.

And the address? www.fimcap.org. Go have a look after next week!

I just noticed that I haven’t written for a while about my job. And since quite some of the visitors of this site are ex-colleagues from MultiSystems/Avalix/Aino, I think that it is appropriate to write some words about my job.

The company I work for consists of three companies: ICG, a company which produces software for shops and small companies, Ricomack, a company which has a shop and delivers technical support, and finally CST consultants.

I work for Ricomack, in the department ‘internet’. This department consists of Xavi and me (and part-time Massimiliano). We handle all work which is related to internet activities and servers. Ricomack acts as a ISP for some companies, we host their web sites and their mail accounts. This is mainly the work of Xavi; he also designs the web sites (he started the one of Ricomack just today, so don’t expect too much from this one).

My main concern is the installation of new servers for clients, all HP with Windows 2000. Besides that I also repair desktops and do a lot of other small jobs. Today Xavi and I decided to make our room more comfortable, so I ended up with a drilling machine to change the TL lights. As I said, I do a lot of different things.

Unfortunately I am not so involved with UNIX anymore. Our internet server runs Red Hat, but furthermore it is all Windows.

[Update 2004.01.21]: Removed broken link to non-existing company 😉

No, I am not going to be the new secretary of Fimcap, but I was present at the unofficial training course. Wim from Chiro was this weekend in Catalunya to talk with Carme, the former secretary.

And of course, if you come all the way from Belgium, you have to see something of the country.

On Friday evening he was shown the wild nightlife of St. Feliu de Llobregat (A.K.A. the town of the single women). On Saturday morning there was a meeting of the exchanges workgroup of CCCCCE, so I took Wim to Barcelona to walk around and show him that I don’t know Barcelona very well.

After that we went with 8 people to Andorra. Why? To swim! Andorra has a really nice swimming pool, of which I already have forgotten the name, and we have spend the evening taking baths. Alveiro had arranged a nice cabin to sleep, in a house full of people who came to ski. I wonder if they knew how wonderful the swimming pool is…

Sunday morning we spent tax-free shopping, and then it was time to go home again. And the training course? Well, I think that Wim will manage…

Until yesterday, we had two cars at home: the Pajero, used by the parents of MJ, and the Opel, used by MJ and her sister and recently also by me. Yesterday, the brother of MJ received his new car (a brand-new Peugeot 307) and so his old car is also available.

This car, a white Fiat Punto, is also property of the family, and for the moment MJ and I are going to use it. This gives some relieve, because it is not always easy to car-pool with three people having a different schedule and working at different places. Sometimes I was traveling (and waiting) for one hour, while it is only 7 kilometers from home to work.

This weekend we will have to clean the car, and we are going to put in some personal thingies. Of course the frog which I once received for my birthday from my three brothers will take it’s usual place in the back of the car…

For those of you interested in my personal collection of airplane tickets, hereby a short overview:

The next ticket I have is for January 26th, returning the 27th. The reason for this visit is only the price. For 50 Euro’s I cannot stay in Alpicat!

The next visit to Holland will be from February 21st until the 24th. Again very cheap!

I know that in Holland the big parties are over, but here there is one more event left: the Three Kings.

(By the way, for those who are interested: yes, I had a great X-mas with a lot of presents and I really enjoyed celebrating the new year in Holland. In fact, I liked it soo much that I didn’t take the time to write about it.)

Back to the kings. Yesterday they arrived in Lleida (and at the very same time in a lot of other cities…) and of course we decided to have a look at them. The streets is the center were really crowded; all the children were anxious to see the guys who were going to give them lots of sweets and presents. Somehow I had to think about Paul Derks, but I don’t know why.

I expected to see three old guys on camels, but the reality was a little bit different. First the was the police creating room for the caravan to pass. Than came some clowns throwing confetti and cheering up all the people. Quite strange, because I cannot remember the presence of clowns in the original Bible story.

After that came the giants and the big-heads. These are traditional figures showing up on all the traditional events. They were accompanied by some traditional music.

After that, the whole festivity became to look a little bit like carnival: a lot of decorated wagons and walking groups passed, all throwing confetti or candy. I remember seeing the shepherds, the camels, the factory which processes all the requests of the children and a wonderful star. Finally the three kings arrived. Each king was preceeded by a wagon with children, and of course gad a beautiful wagon himself. The end of the parade was formed by some big trucks, carrying all the presents for the children. The whole events was good for more than 30 minutes viewing pleasure.

Today, we ate a special “three kings cake” as a desert. Inside the cake were a bean and a small figure of a king, and on top of the cake was a crown. The person who finds the bean has to pay the cake next year, and the person who finds the figure has to wear the crown. Luckily I found neither of them…

In Holland the weather is always the subject of the day, mainly because it is never the same as the day before. Last week, the weather has been the main topic over here as well. Not because it is changing so often (I wish it would!), but mainly because it is so bad. For the people who still think that I am in a warm sunny country: you’re wrong!!! It is f***ing cold over here!!!

It came by surprise. When I was in Holland it suddenly started snowing. And because that hasn’t happened the last decades, they are not prepared for it. Therefore it took while before they got all the material from other provinces. As a result, I was forced to spent the night in Barcelona last Sunday, because the road between Barcelona and Lleida was still blocked and it was too late to take the train. Fortunately Carme and Marta were so kind to buy already a ticket for the morning train and to pick me up. Thanks a lot!!!!!!!

At this moment most of the big roads are cleared, but the world is still very white. And to be honest: I am getting quite fed up with this weather. After all, one of the reasons I came here is the sun.

At this moment it is already a week ago since I was in Holland. Yes, I have been a litlle bit busy this week (indeed, I slept a lot).

Anyway, I can say that I really enjoyed my short visit. The wedding of Paula and John on Thursday was really great. But OK, free beer is always great, isn’t it? It was great to see everybody again. And in such an atmosphere, it doesn’t matter that the band made all the songs sound like René Froger.

Friday was another highlight, the concert of De Heideroosjes. It was a pleasant surprise that we went with 27 persons. At the busstop I found out that I was by far the oldest: The second (Jos) is 6 years younger!!! At least it shows that I am still young of heart. The body however was having some more problems. I had to go to the side a few times to get some fresh air. The concert was as I am used to.

Saturday and Sunday I have spend with my family (indeed, sleeping again). My room at home has really been transformed by my parents. They bought a new bed for me and removed the old computer desk. A think they want to tell me this way that MJ and I are always welcome.

After hearing a lot of times that having fog every day is not normal, and that it is only the case here in Lleida, I decided to check it out myself.

So last Saturday, MJ and I decided to spend one day on the beach, hoping to see some sun. We woke up early (at least for us), prepared all the stuff for a pick-nick on the beach and got into the car.

Although it was not as sunny as we hoped, the weather was good enough for a pick-nick. We found a nice spot on the beach to sit down and eat our sandwiches and our salad and drink some red wine. In the mean time we could enjoy the view of the sea in front of us. We were just in between Salou and Cambrils. After the pick-nick we walked to Cambrils to get a cup of coffee. Cambrils is a pictoresque little town with a lot of nice shops and restaurants. Unlike Salou, it hasn’t got bars and discos, and as a result the atmosphere is much different.

The 6^th of December is an important day: it is the birthday of ‘Sinterklaas’ (yes, I know it is Paul). Every year the old man leaves Spain to visit Holland for a few weeks and to give presents to all the Dutch children. As you can imagine, the Dutch children are very pleased with his visit.

But I have to warn all the Dutch parents: DO NOT TRUST THIS GUY!!!!!!! I haven’t found out yet what is wrong with him, but it is a fact that the Spanish people are really happy because he is out of the country for some time. The party here is even bigger than in Holland: here everybody receives an official free day, only because Sinterklaas is out of the country. You can imagine how much they hate him…

To celebrate our free day (día del constitución), I went out with my colleagues yesterday. It is very common to visit a restaurant with your colleagues in December. Before that I visited a pub with two others. I hoped to get to know another pub, but they decided to visit Scrub. OK, it is a nice pub, so I was not complaining.

The supper was really good, although the others were complaining a little bit about the price. Here 4000 pesetas (Fl. 53,-) is a lot of money for a meal, but for me it is a quite normal price. Afterwards we visited some pubs. And yes, the very first one (O’Sullivans) was the one where my sweet darling MJ and here friends happened to be… At 4 o’clock I met here again in River Café. She came to see me, because I had the keys of the car… 😉

This weekend MJ is in Lithuania for a Fimcap meeting. I better say ‘was’, because she is almost back again. In a few hours I will take the car and pick her up in Barcelona.

Of course I could have used this weekend to have a big party (after all, the b**** is gone…), but I decided to have a quiet weekend. Of course I went to drink a beer yesterday, but most of the time I was sleeping, reading, watching television or studying Spanish. Today we also celebrated the birthday of Cristine, MJ’s sister.

The weather here is alright. During the day it is sunny, but in the morning and after five (I had to check at the window…) there is one problem: FOG! Not a little bit, but really a lot; sometimes you can see only ten meters. That is also one of the reasons why I have decided to leave really early to Barcelona. The other reason is that I expect a lot of traffic, because this weekend the winter sport season has started. There are some places where the entrance to the pistes was free this weekend (yes, in some ways the Catalans are like Dutch).

By the way: did you know that Catalonia has over 300 pistes? Me neither.