8:30 AM in some irrelevant time zone. I went to the bathroom and realized that it was exactly 24 hours ago that I left my hotel in Singapore. 5 More hours to go. How did I survive this the previous time? It has been a long, long day. Everything comes to an end, even flights from SIN to BOS, but the last few hours my legs got so restless that I considered cutting them off.

My luggage did not make it - screw BA, not for the first time. After I came home I took a short nap which completely screwed me up. And now I am trying to contemplate all my impressions.
First of all, the Singaporean way of doing things is great. A meeting starting at 11am starts at 11am. All week, there were two administrative staff people making sure that that my schedule was arranged, that I was in time for all my meetings, and that I got coffee, food and so on. And they would have called me doctor all week had I not insisted to be called by my first name. Second, science in SIN is not less developed then say, the Netherlands. Third, I would get an excellent position there.
So when am I starting? I have not really decided yet. I am still contemplating and need more time, more reflections. But kudos to NUS, a fine place for science.

I saw friends behaving as parents (weird - but cool), I saw my brother graduate (proud) and I saw the twins of my sister struggle with growing pains (cute). This was all last week. Then, at Sunday 6pm (+1 GMT), my parents dropped me off at Schiphol airport once again (considering that they drive four hours for this, that is totally worth mentioning). You can pick your seat as strategic as you can, but in the holiday months all flights are practically full.

Therefore, I hereby want to call out to all passengers including the eldery: please check your body odors (meaning also your breath!) before deciding to embark on a thirteen hour flight. I am also wondering how the senior lady sitting next to me could spend all the flight without going to the restroom once. On second thought: I am not sure if I want to know.
And now I am in Singapore again, lovely metropole in South-East Asia. My hotel is at the bustling center that is called Orchard Rd. Soon after arrival I decided to go for dinner. On my way, I gave a friendly smile to a random pretty girl. She ran after me, but to my disappointment it was not my compelling personality that made her do so - she was just wondering if I would be interested in a “messagee”? I was not but all the girls hanging around the shopping malls all of a sudden made much more sense. Another interesting aspect of Singapore life.

… is where the heart is. Is what they say. I am currently in the Netherlands and am having a great time (as always). As before, being here raises these existential issues. Where is my future? Who am I? Where do I want to be and why? For now, the good news is that I just found a new apartment. There were some issues with my landlord and I did not like him too much anyway. So I am changing my two bedroom apartment at Central Sq to a one bedroom apartment, at Central Square.

The good news is that the new place comes with an awesome balcony, is roughly the same size (meaning bigger rooms) and has a cooking isle. And a bathtub. I loved it immediatly would change tomorrow if I could.
I enjoy my current place and it feels like home more or less, although I refer to flying to the Netherlands as flying home too. I am comfortable with Dutch culture and customs, recognize our celebrities and television programs etcetera. I doubt that I will ever have the same with any other culture. But I do not want to live in the Netherlands, at least not for the coming years. Hopefully my new place will feel as comfortable as the luxury of my parents home…