I spent the last weeks in bed, desperately wondering what the hell I'm still doing here. Apart from a couple of exceptional occurrences, which I would like to talk about.

Still with puffy eyes from crying, I was at TAC for PechaKucha vol.16. PechaKucha is a presentation format first devised and held in Tokyo in 2003, now going viral globally. Twenty images advancing automatically, twenty seconds each, and architects, designers, scientists or as creative as bizarre people talking along to them.

Like Sergio from Mexico and his promotion of entomophagy culture, Julia from the Netherlands with her washable textile protective underwear and revisited Victoria's Secret shop for incontinent people only, or Ad Vlems and his inspiring talk on eco villages, permaculture, aquaponics and biomimicry. In case you wanna get a feel for what it's all about, have a look at the official Facebook page and stay tuned for the next PechaKucha event, somewhere around May.

On Saturday afternoon, right after buying the rope to commit suicide at Xenos, I stopped at the Muziekgebouw for my weekly dose of jazz and soul music. Recently increasing in popularity through word-of-mouth, the Blue Note Club Session is still one of the city's best kept secret for people in the know. Free admission, relaxed atmosphere and live perfomances of renowned bands from the region and farther afield. What else?

On Sunday evening, I finally decided my time had come. I locked up myself in a special room called XitRoom, together with a team of friends. Once there, unfortunately, they didn't let me finish my work. We had to solve puzzles instead, following cryptic clues to find the hidden door key within a certain time limit. At the end of the day, I found a way to get out and also to thank God for the improved out-of-the-box-thinking and investigative capabilities.

When finally ready to jump in front of the first sprinter to Amsterdam, my phone connected to the wifi-in-de-trein, reminding me about the TINT event I had to attend before passing away, according to scriptures and Facebook calendar. TINT is an nonprofit student association aiming towards personal and cultural development. How? Organizing workshops on communication, mindfulness and how to work pleasantly and efficiently without stress, with peace on your side. But also setting up international dinners in the magic atmosphere of the Eindhovense StudentenKapel, as happened last week for the candlelight EarthTour event or, previously, for the African Dinner or the Chinese New Year celebration.

Dear expat, I hope that with this sad, sad story I convinced you to instantly depart from the boring North Brabant area and its depressed inhabitants. But, please, before leaving, wish us good luck, we might need it.