Things are going well at work: the work is fun, and the project we are doing is really interesting, with nice colleagues. Yesterday we worked till late, today I'll go home now.

I walked to my work this morning! Our apartment is one metro stop away, but yesterday I walked with a colleague back to Court House. It takes about 30 minutes, a nice and healthy walk.

When I went for lunch I took a picture of Rosslyn, where my work is located.

This weekend we moved into our new apartment. We signed the papers and received the keys last Wednesday, but as we didn't have any furniture we stayed in Rosa's place until Friday.

We got up early Friday, and after two hours of packing Arnold, a neighbor, brought us to Arlington. We had a car full with bags and suitcases, but we didn't have any furniture to move. Saturday we had to be in the apartment at 12:00 o'clock, because a mattress would be delivered that afternoon. We ordered a mattress through "1-800-MATTRESS" and it was a good thing that they delivered the mattress on time, otherwise we would have had not place to sleep. The mattress is nice and thick. We already had the cuilt and the pillows, so at least the bedroom became usable.

Saturday afternoon we went shopping in a mall called Pentagon City, which is indeed near the Pentagon. There we bought a lot of small things, but also two large items: a TV and a vacuum cleaner (stofzuiger). We choose a Philips TV, and it's beautiful. We took a cab back home because of the large amount of things and packages we had.

Sunday morning we went to Ikea. We went there last week too, so we already knew about some of the things we wanted to get. We took the metro to Ikea College Park, which is actually located in the state Maryland. It's quite a distance from D.C. but the metro system is very extensive in Washington, so we had no problem going there by public transport. We arrived at 9:45 o'clock, before the shop opened, and therefore the coffee in the restaurant was free. You could also get breakfast for 99 cents, really cheap, but we already had breakfast at home.

We bought a lot of things. The biggest items are a bed, and a living room table with four chairs. It's fun to choose new furniture. Arnold brought us back, with the furniture. In the afternoon we assembled the furniture (my hands still hurt from the screwdriver), and around 23:30 o'clock everything was installed. Slowly but surely the apartment is changing from an completely empty place into our home. We also bought our first plant, something I am particularly happy with. It's a Yuka, about 1,5 meters heigh.

Yesterday evening we went to a party. Three colleagues of Sasha are leaving the bank and they gave a goodbye party. It was in a bar in D.C., not too far from the place where we live now.

It was a very nice evening. I spoke with a lot of different people, and as most of them work at the World Bank they came from all over the world. It was nice to meet Sasha's colleagues.

Today we are moving out! Therefore I'll start packing now -- later more.

Sasha and I took the bus downtown together this morning, and we had a very cheerful busdriver. The sign with the bus number didn't work, so at every stop he stopped and announced which bus this was: "S2! McPherson Square! S2!" . He really enjoyed that, and I suspect him of having disabled the bus sign himself.

Today we will sign the papers for our new apartment. We're both quite busy, but
we'll try to go to the apartment in our lunchbreaks. We will move in this weekend; Saturday a mattress will be delivered. It will be great to move in and start furnishing and decorating our new home.

Heard this one on my work:

"For Americans, a hundred years seems like a long time. For Europeans, a hundred miles seems like a long distance".

This weekend we found a new apartment! It's a beautiful place: an apartment in a 20-floor building on the 9th floor, very close to metro station "Court House". It's located in a great area and very close to our work, both Sasha's and mine. Later I'll write much more about the apartment, of course with pictures, but for now let me just say we're really happy with it: it's a great place.

Sunday we went to Ikea with Ed and Mila who brought us there by car (thanks!). We had lunch together there, Swedish-American cuisine.

On internet we had already found some of the things we wanted to get, but it was very useful to see them in real. We didn't buy any furniture yet, but we've made up our mind about a number of things we would like to get in our new home. We'll come back another time with a big car.

Yesterday we got some things for sleeping: a quilt (dekbed), sheets and one of the pillows. I really enjoy creating a new home together. Choosing an apartment, and now choosing the furniture and home equipment is very nice.

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Between Middenmeer and Washington D.C there's a time difference of six hours.

The first night in the States I was rather tired and after a brief waking up at 2:45, I slept nicely until 9:00 o'clock. The second day, which was my first working day, I woke up around 5:00. On Thursday I woke up at 5:45 in the morning, and yesterday around 7:00 o'clock. I went to be around 22:00 o'clock each night.

Today, Saturday, we slept in, and I woke up somewhere around 9:00 o'clock, which is a great feeling. I think my body is now pretty much adjusted to the new timezone.

Yesterday was my third day at work, and I have actually started working on a project.

It's a very interesting project and I have the feeling that I'll learn a lot in this new job. Yesterday I worked in our company's office.

We are also looking for a new apartment, and we'll probably take our final decision today. It's really fun to look for a new place. The location we are looking at is much closer to my work, as Sasha's, than where we're staying now.

When I went to work yesterday morning I took a few pictures. It was raining, the first day since I've been there.

Today was my second day at work.

Yesterday I spent the day in my employer's office and today I went for the first time to the building of a large customer of our company. I'll work for this customer, and in the morning I received a badge with my photo that will give me access to the building. The building is huge, and when you enter there's a booth with security guards checking your ID.

Somewhere in the next few weeks I'll also get a magnetic card so I can open various security doors inside. All these security things require a lot of signatures and paperwork; quite a difference with working at Chess. Really interesting. And I'll work in a cubicle! Many people in our company use "AOL messenger", so I've also installed that. My AOL name is "guusbosman".

At the end of the day Sasha came and we went to see an apartment. It's really close the our customer's building. The apartment looked very nice and I liked it a lot. Tomorrow we'll decide -- it's available immediately so we can move in quickly.

In the evening we saw the beginning of "Van Helsing": a seriously bad movie. It was "Veterans Day" in the U.S. today, so I expected there to be less traffic, but in the morning it was very busy on the road to the metro station.

Today was the first day of my new job and it was very interesting. A lot of new experiences, new people, new habits. On the way back from work I didn't exactly know which busstop was mine, so ended up many kilometers far from home and had to take the bus in the other direction.

Sasha and I celebrated my birthday tonight and we went out for dinner in a Brazilian restaurant. It was a very nice evening together.