Made the IELTS exam reservation ! And a little bet too !

Today I set us up for the IELTS exam. At first we thought we wouldn't need it, but after scrutinizing the website of the DIAC it's clear that we will need to sit the IELTS test. From the IELTS website, it appears that The Netherlands have two centres where they host the exams : One is located in Amsterdam, and the other one is located in Utrecht. The Utrecht one is booked until 21 July, so we'll go with Amsterdam, who can book us for 5 July 2008 , a whopping 3 months from now ! It's good that we book it now, it will minimize the delays of our visa application later on. Kim and me have also made a bet. Both of us being too cocky for our own good, we got ourselves in deep this time : a 2 hours massage ( with extra's ) for the winner ! I honestly can see myself losing this bet, since English is my second language, as opposed to english being Kim's first language. That being said, I'll probably come up with one trick or another to maximize my chances.

Edit : I have indeed found a way to make my chances better. It seems that there's an IELTS.pack available for download, which contains practice tests and tips and tricks for the IELTS test ! I definately will need to quietly download and use this information to my benefit !

We made the decision to go to Australia

We decided to go to Australia today. Well, that's not entirely correct. We have been in the process of deciding for weeks already, but I have now personally made up my mind and have started doing research on what is needed for our migration to Australia. We agreed that I would spend more time preparing our migration to Australia and less time working. In August 2008 I will officially be unemployed because my employer Solectron has been acquired by Flextronics. Flextronics doesn't need the old Solectron people, so we're laid off. Basically, I now have time to spend all my time preparing our future lives in Australia instead of worrying about why we ( read : my employers ) don't buy new servers or replace breaking network infrastructure, or why the toilet paper's quality has gone from 'soft' to 'sandpaper'.
We have already done the points test and we have 140 points ! That's 20 points more than is needed for a Skilled Independant Migration Visa, which is the visa we really want.

Australia : Here we come !