There are a couple of things that determine how expensive a city is; the price of coffee, rent of an apartment, the price of a newspaper and the hamburger menu.

If you want to save some money on your groceries, make sure that you avoid Moscow. If you think they are poor over there you are sadly mistaken. It is the second time that the capital has been voted the most expensive city in the world. You will pay 7 euro for a cup of coffee.

The second place went to Paris where you pay 4,60 euro for a cup of coffee. Third place went to Athene (4,50 euro) and Olympic city Beijing takes the fourth spot with 4,26 euro for a cup of coffee. The cheapest capital city for a cup of coffee is Buenos Aires where you pay only 1,40 euro.

The list of expensive cities is made by consultancy agency Mercer who research the costs of living in over 150 cities per year.

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When I drop my EntreCard on other blogs I read lots of blogposts about the Page Rank update. Some are excited about an improved page rank, others got a slap on the wrist for writing sponsored posts. Personally I don’t care about page rank anymore. I’ve lost my PR3 months ago because every now and then I include links like term life insurance in my posts. I don’t care what Google thinks. I can use the money, so page rank or not I will continue doing my sponsored posts. How about you?

The last few days I haven’t been blogging much. Reason: I am feeling VERY homesick. I’ve been counting down the days until I fly back to my home country (still 66 days to go to be exact) and it’s just taking way too long. Last week there was a family reunion and I wish I could have been there. I haven’t seen lots of my cousins and even some aunties and uncles for years. My mom took lots of pictures so at least I could see them, but pictures aren’t the same as meeting them in person.

Anyway, I don’t think I’ve ever been this homesick in the last 3,5 years. When I had my dad on the phone a few days back I was crying my eyes out like a little baby. I am evening listening to lots of Dutch music which is kind of unusual for me as I prefer music in English. I am even reading Dutch magazines that are over a year old just so I can read in my first language. It’s pretty pathetic in my opinion. I need to snap out of it. Sitting here feeling sorry for myself is not going to change a thing. If only I could ‘get away’ for awhile.Orlando vacations or any other vacation would be just fine. Just to keep my mind occupied for awhile.

Are there any other immigrants in the blogosphere who can tell me how they handle feeling homesick?

I am a big fan of funny t-shirts. Somehow they brighten up your day or at least bring a smile to your face. At roadkilltshirts.com they have them all; Funny t-shirts, vintage t shirts, Retro t-shirts, etc. Just browsing through their website makes me feel so much better.

The t-shirts at Road Kill t-shirts are sold at a very fair prize and at the moment they even have a buy three get one free deal going on. Don’t forget to use the code FREE SHIRT at the check out.

Even if you are not interested in buying as t-shirt, it’s still fun to browse around the site. If you are handy with photoshop or another photo editing software you can transform some of the funny images into great avatars.

I’m finally feeling a bit alive again. I tend to suffer from insomnia. I have times where I don’t sleep for weeks and somehow it doesn’t effect me that much. Other times I feel broken after only a couple of nights of non-sleep. This weekend was one of those hard ones.

Saturday night I went to bed early because I felt knackered, but I could not get any sleep and I ended up reading a book from start to finish. The next night it was the same thing; again no sleep no matter how tired I was. Monday I felt like a train-wreck. I had no energy at all. I didn’t feel like exercising, I didn’t feel like watching TV, I didn’t feel like getting on the internet and search for Outer Banks rentals, I didn’t feel like anything at all. All I wanted to do was sleep.

Monday night I could not sleep. After hours of restless tossing and turning I decided to take a sleeping pill. Sometimes that works, sometimes it makes me more tired but it doesn’t put me to sleep. This time I fell asleep and slept for about 20 hours straight. Even when I woke up I didn’t want to get out of bed and do anything. I wanted to sleep a bit more.

Today I finally feel a bit better again. Hopefully tonight I can get another good night sleep in, because tomorrow I have an important day ahead me.