I had planned to go to school today, as I almost always seemingly plan on going to school. In light of yesterday evening's not-picking-up-the-scooter, it was scheduled for this morning. Well, as most things worked out, it ended up being closer to mid-day and then lasted on into a bit of the afternoon. We dropped back off at the place and he said that Eva should call in the afternoon to find out what the problem was/if he fixed it.

Seeing as I had to "stick around" to find out about the computer, I spent most of the afternoon finishing up De Magneet (it's finally finished) and Joris came by to burn some CDs.

Eva called the scooter-shop at 5 and was told that he "didn't have time to look at it" and that he'd look at it tomorrow. (I'm not holding my breath that he will look at it tomorrow or if he does, that the solution will simply be a spark-plug.) Such is the story of life with an old scooter, one that ran perfectly until the front tire busted and someone peed in it. If/when I ever get another motor-powered vehicle, my first purchase (if possible) is going to get a locking gas-tank lid. It seems to me it would have saved us a lot of time and effort.

When we were coming back from dropping the scooter off, Eva's mother and I talked about the prospects of getting a car. Obviously we're at a cross-roads, as we cannot buy a scooter and a car. In fact, we don't know of we can buy either one. (we'll have to evaluate our finances) Rita (Eva's mother) said she might do a bit of sponsorship on the car to help us get a better one. (meaning she'd up the price of our dream-car to 500-600 instead of our measly 200-300 price-range) I told her that was a great idea and that I'd even make a sticker for the car that said, "sponsored by Rita) to which she laughed so hard that we nearly didn't make it through one of the stop-lights. I suppose sponsorship is a good idea, seeing as how I'm hoping to teach two of her children how to drive in it...the only catch being that they have to pass the written first so we can display the "L" in the back window and do it legally.

She also said that she's going to be going to Brazil during the summer and so Eva and I could use her car if we wanted to go on some trips. The only drawback to this being the fact that it's HUGE and drinks a lot of gas. Seeing as how we're poor and Rita added the fact that I had to promise that Eva was to never drive the van EVER, I think a smallish, gas-friendly car is more along the lines of what we're looking for. Small, cheap, sort of reliable, and with a lockable gas-tank lid. (first purchase after fix-a-flat, a container of oil and a plastic gas-container for the trunk)

I made a dinner of rookworst (cutting it into smaller pieces than usual, because we were dividing it between three instead of 2), carrots and potatoes. And while shopping for potatoes, Eva found one that was perfectly shaped in a heart. (we haven't eaten it, and probably wont until it's almost sprouty) Joris went home to catch the football game on TV, and Eva and I managed to spend a few moments of quite-time together before her father showed up.

He's getting divorced from Rita tomorrow and since he has not residence in Antwerp anymore, he needed a place to stay. We had originally thought he was staying only for the night, but it seems that he's staying until Sunday which is when Nichole and Jennifer will both arrive. It looks like we'll have a full house for the next week or so. Have I mentioned the fact that we live in a small apartment?

While I was working on a few changes that Eva had given me for De Magneet, she stumbled upon a good internship opportunity for me that would last the whole of next year. (not great income, but paid and legal) She want to bed, I pdf-ed De Magneet to the editor, and I penned my best please-hire-me-for-your-internship email ever.

One never knows if I shall even receive a reply. Sometimes I get replies back immediately, and other-times I never hear back at all. We should, in the coming weeks (after Spring Break in the states) hear more from a few other schools I've sent application packets to. Other than that, it's all wait and see. I'm sick of "wait and see" and am ready to stop applying the phrase to every part of my life/our lives. Oh sweet glory to be able to say with resolution, we shall do this or that. I should at least continue this journal until then.

IN THE NEWS:
When Joris came over, he said that the PM of Serbia, Zoran Djindjic, had just been assassinated, but that he didn't know the details: Snipers assassinated Serbia's prime minister as he walked into government headquarters at midday Wednesday, silencing a pro-Western leader who helped topple Slobodan Milosevic and declared war on organized crime.

Furthermore, Antwerp itself is in crisis. The elections are in May, and the current people in government have been found to be buying goods ranging from expensive clothes to furniture on government credit cards. Since the current group in power are the people that that we want to stay in power, the right-wing part, the Vlaams Blok (who we don't want in power) is expected to really use this against the current party when campaigning.