Three days of skiing in New Hampshire were great, but reality waits. As of next month, I will not be employed anymore. Unfortunately this is not equivalent to being able to sit at home doing nothing. It just means I will not have an official employer. Currently I am being payed by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Next week, KWF will start paying me as part of the Fellowship I got last year (amongst other things, it also means getting paid in Euro again, hurray!)

Tax-technically, this is a complicated situation. Surprisingly, KWF does not seem to now exactly how to handle it (although they have been handing out Fellowships for years). They decided the Fellowship will be paid as a stipend, meaning I do not get a contract and that have to handle all taxes and insurances myself. This is partially beneficial: I pay taxes in the States meaning 25% instead of the 40% in the Netherlands. On the other hand, it means lots of bureaucratic troubles. For instance, how do I arrange retirement plans? What happens if I really get unemployed? Sometimes I wish I was still a Phd student, life was so simple back then…

Inevitably, I have to write something about the upcoming presidential elections. Currently, the country is engaged in the primaries, the elections being held in order to designate the Republican and Democrat presidential candidates. Although the rules for primaries can differ per state, it is common that you have to be a registered party member in order to be able to vote.

And in almost all states you do not vote directly on a candidate, but on a delegate who will vote for this candidate at the national Conventions. This is analogous to how the president is eventually chosen, not directly but through a system of state-bound middlemen. I have tried to find the reason behind this - to Europeans - non democratic way of voting, which heavily influenced the infamous election of George W. Bush in 2000. People around me have suggested that this system has been invented in the 1800s, to prevent women, native Americans and illiterates from voting. But I could not find any evidence (or contra-evidence) for this online.
Enough school stuff. Of course, it is a big media circus and the news papers are full of it. In two weeks we will have Super Tuesday, when 19 states will vote their primary. The candidates will presumably be known then, with the three biggest states (New York, California and Illinois) included that day. I think the next President will be a Republican again, as the Democrats’ candidate will not be a white Caucasian male. I am therefore really hoping John McCain is going to be the Republicans choice. He seems the most reasonable to me. If Mick Huckabee wins, I am inclined to leave this country and I also have strong doubts about that creepy Mitt Romney. In both cases this is because they are very religious and in general are not going to make this world easier to live in. They want to force people into their way of living, which I resent.
Although many Europeans seem to think that it does not really matter anyway - Republican or Democrat - but the differences are actually pretty big. Two major issues: most Democrat candidates support a general health care system, the Republicans do not, the Democrats want to get out of Iraq, the Republicans dont. Let’s hope for the best on Feb 5.

One cannot always be ignorant and get away with it easily. In my last post I reported about playing a lot of indoor football last week but that this “does not relate to my knee problems”. Obviously I am in trouble now, playing football four times a week is something that does not go unnoticed at my age. It forced me to skip playing this week to be able to play the third Harvard Indoor Soccer League match on Fridaynight.

On the bright side, my physician gave me a referral to the hospital in order to have knee X-rays taken, in order to find out if there is a structural issue. No appointment needed to be made, I could just take the written referral to the Cambridge Hospital. Yesterday morning, I found myself in the line for the registration desk. There I got tagged with a nice white wrist bracelet to indicate my category: Patient. After walking to the X-ray facility (being a patient I was expecting a wheelchair, but I could not find any) I was transferred to a changing room. Changing room? Yes, I got dressed up in some sort of night gown. My explanation that I was just there for a knee x-ray and not chemotherapy did not impress the nurse assisting me. I discussed this with some native colleagues who asked what I was expecting. And that the gown is probably protecting the hospital personnel from my excess nudity. This offended me since I think I have great legs. Anyway, x-rays taken, and will get some results soon. I do not think it will reveal much news but hopefully it will help to start physical therapy soon. A new experience every day!

I spent my days behind a computer screen. And I love it. But after a whole day on my chair, it can be a challenge to get up. My knees are not always willing to change into gear. Therefore, I went to see my physician again. As the first time, I was surprised about the personal attention he gave me, and the time he seemed to have. He even apologized for being ten minutes late!

He advised me to have some x-rays taken, and perhaps some physical therapy. And to avoid walking stairs. I knew this already because this is also what my Dutch physician told me a few years ago. But according to her, there was not much I could do against it. It will be interesting which side of the ocean is right on this one.
In the mean time, I have been playing indoor soccer a lot lately. It is by far my favorite sport and finally last week the Harvard Indoor Soccer League started. I play with a bunch of mostly Spanish guys and our first match was against the Harvard Women’s Soccer Team. Women’s soccer is really big in the States and we shitted our pants by the thought that we could very well lose! After the first half, 2 of our 5 players also had an injury and we lacked substitutes. However, through some kind of miracle, we beat them quite comfortably. Tonight is our second match, against college kids. I don’t think they will let us of the hook that easily…
The soccer does not relate to my knees, although it probably doesn’t help. Let’s see what the radiologist and the orthopedian say.

Back in Boston. Wonderful holiday, saw at least half of my blog audience. Great. Now slowly trying to get back into the working routine. Good things lie ahead so this is not a big effort. Amongst traveling around the country, I also took the opportunity to go to a sauna. In many other countries, saunas are a place with gay sex workers; what I mean is called a spa.

I love spas because they make you relaxed. There is a lot of nudity going on there but you get used to that quickly. Interestingly I have not found a spa or something similar in the States. America is very fond of the whole feel-good/wellness hype so I think that is somewhat surprising. The nudity part will probably offend many Americans but even a clothed version does not seem to be viable. It is fascinating to see how different this society is handling the human body (i.e. Nipplegate) yet in summertime and with Halloween, less clothing and more cleavage is the mantra. It also does not seem to affect the male population, considering the tons of half-naked runners that pop up once the temperature rises above 60°F/10°C. Anthropologists could have a great time studying that stuff. (I would if I was one). First blog of 2008; just in time to wish everybody a glorious year!