KPN

I am still working for KPN, but in a different position now. I no longer need to call, but am a trainer. Well, I'm not allowed to say I'm a trainer since the company that does the trainings isn't aware of the fact that there is someone that needs to be trained, so they might get upset if they know I am training someone. I am however very cheap and the company asks around 500 / day, so I know why they have asked me.

I am training someone who worked for KPN 38 years already. She comes from a different task force and they didn't findher suitable anymore and she needed to find a different job within KPN to finish the last 2 years before her retirement.

The good thing for me is that I can plan my own hours and don't have to worry abut handling times, speed, etc. I can just relax, take 1 hour break etc, as no one will notice. :-) The downside is that she is old and not very capable anymore to comprehend the system and methodes very fast. It takes hours and she is sometimes so slow and does things 10x wrong after another, but it's fine. I am praised for my patience (which you need...) and am still enjoying it, so no worries there.

New Year

A bit late perhaps, but I want to wish you all a very exciting, thrilling, beloved, humorous, playful, sunny, rich, progressive, happy and above all healthy 2007. I hope you all had a splendid party and superb celebrations. I didn't. I had to work again at 8 AM in the freaking morning, so I went to bed at 00.30 and slept. Never had such a relaxing day at work though... :-)

Work (2)

Work is crap, not fun and boring. Not work in general, but what I am doing at the moment. Surrounded by nitwits and idiots I have to do the same job, listen to people's complaints, listen to my co-workers weekend stories and somehow survive it all. God, wish I was done with it all and had a good, decent job. A year of my life for that to happen anytime soon. However, guess it's my own fault, so I shouldn't really complain. Should have done more in the first years of my university-career, but not much to do about that now. Life goes on. If some day my braincells have died out of boredom and stupidity, you know why. This is my legacy.

European Institute for Democratic Participation (EIDP)

Dear all,

A couple of months ago, the idea, and vision of an organisation that deals with east-west cooperation were formed in our minds. We have been involved in different organisations before and have gained a lot of experience with (running) projects in Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia. Now the time has come to do something with this knowledge and our common enthusiasm for working on these affairs.

It is this enthusiasm that gave birth to the European Institute for Democratic Participation. (Please visit the preliminary website at EIDP).

The goals of the EIDP are:

• To support young Europeans in democratic participation

• To serve as a platform where young Europeans can jointly develop and conduct projects that stimulate democratic participation

• To promote east-west cooperation

• To support and develop civil society

We have been writing our first project proposals and concurrently we are studying ways how best to organise ourselves, in a way that we could create an organisation that would be able to both inspire and retain enthusiastic people to work on issues of democratic participation and East-West cooperation.

The idea with the EIDP is to not only organise YOUTH projects, but also the more extensive, adult and difficult projects in regard to MATRA, TACIS grants and EU/EC tenders. Projects financed under the YOUTH programme often lack its intended impact and tend to be more of "trips" or "holidays." With the EIDP we want to have a more professional and experienced approach, covering all the topics and possibilities concerned.

The reason for writing to you is to inform you of this new organisation and perhaps to make you consider working with the EIDP as a participant in a project or even as a project leader for any of the (upcoming) projects.

We offer our cooperation to you. It is our belief that in good partnership we can make a difference in the countries of the Former Soviet Union, and generally Europe as a whole

If you would like to know more, just reach us personally (Leander, Luc, or Olaf) or send an e-mail to the newly established office.

By all means, we look forward on cooperating with you, and finding common ways to act as citizens in our ever-changing world!

With regards,

Leander van Delden
With Luc Vocks & Olaf Koens

YER

Wednesday after the psychological test, I had a job interview at YER. YER is an international recruitment & selection agency that focuses on Professionals and Managers with a Bachelors or Masters degree. Well, it wasn't really a job interview, but more an informative talk about what I would like to do, what I have done till now and what would suit me. I have to say that it was a very good and enlightening talk. For the first time, someone criticized my CV, had good questions about what I would like, want and am good in. I had for myself the options management and consulting in mind, but consulting turns/turned out not to be my cup of tea. I am way better in general management and am more the person who keeps the overview and doesn't go that deep into details. I do have to work in an international environment however, but am not a very "student-like" type, so not all companies would suit me. I was labelled as the red frog in a pond with only green frogs. All this he said, not me, based on what we talked about, my answers and my CV. He hadn't seen a CV like that before from a starter (flattering of course) and he didn't see my long study time as a problem (what I feared a bit). Overall, it was a good meeting and I revised my CV and mailed it to the recruiter again. Now see what he comes up with. It will either be a management trainee ship or a intern job at a company to grow in. Both options are fine, as long as it is a nice environment, I can make some money and can work internationally.

I'll keep you posted!

Work

Today we had to do an exercise at work to look up some data in the systems we use. I was paired up with a drop-dead gorgeous girl. Not such a bad thing you (and I admit, I) would think, but she has some issues. She is extremely shy, she is a kind of Barbie-girl (make-up, clothes, etc), has little to no knowledge of computers and was irritated most of the time. She is really beautiful, but sadly there is not much inside her head. Such a waste...

My Name

I admit: my name is sometimes a bit difficult to pronounce, if you never heard it before. The HR department at KPN made it even more difficult though to write it as "Leaneart". Never heard and saw that before. Doesn't even look like it. Now I understand why the first days no one could pronounce it... :-)