A New Twist to Our Adventure

Well, after three weeks of misery, my boss and I have come to the conclusion that this was not what either of us expected it to be. Perhaps this was no surprise. A new school, a new position, and language and cultural barriers have caused great frustration on both sides that proved to be insurmountable.

My expectations were that this would be a dream job, that I would have free reign and independence to help the school become established in English while being surrounded by German culture. The reality was that I spent most of my time running small errands and trying to figure out what I was supposed to be doing without getting yelled at. I learned a couple days into the job that every email I sent, every project I worked on, had to be approved and then viewed by Frau Mock at every stage of the work. This meant that nothing I did could really be finished for days at a time, even a simple 4 line email. The Germans are so thorough, persistent, and cautious that I realized why it took so long to hear back from them about getting the job--every email that was sent to me was probably weighed, discussed, saved, and signed for before being sent to me. I felt like my creativity and independence were severely stunted in this process.

So then every day when I got home, after spending nearly 10 hours a day at the school, I was too tired and emotionally drained to do anything but want to sleep. This stress of no system yet high expectations is experienced by all of the teachers and the school is a revolving door of employees. I witnessed one lady quit after working only 4 hours as a new secretary, citing that it was too chaotic for her taste. Another lady quit on her second day after Frau Mock told her that she should stop speaking like a farmer since this is a private school. Apparently Germans value frankness over tact... Anyway, that's the unfortunate news.

The good news is, Jacob and I plan to continue to stay in Europe and travel at our leisure, which was not possible with this job (I found out when I arrived that no days off could be taken for the first six months). We are blessed that our mobility and our financial stability with his online businesses makes this possible. Meanwhile, I will decide if I want to teach English and get accredited to do so, or perhaps find another job... this is still up in the air. We still want to become fluent in German, so for probably the next 6 months we will stay, with talk of maybe living in Vienna again... :) That would be fun. Then Asia, New Caledonia, and Buenos Aires are still on the horizon...

Job

Hey this is Kalli. Usually Jacob writes these cause he's the techno guy, but I wanted to explain more about my new work.
First impression: Didn't know if I could handle it--too disorganized. Ever since, though, I've enjoyed it, because I've never worked at a job with as much variety and flexibility. Plus, I'm learning new skills every day. Like making brochures, sending business letters, creating decorations for walls, starting emailing lists, fixing fliers with poor English, answering English phone callers, and speaking in limited German to visitors (although technically I'm supposed to speak English.)

I was wary of the schoolmaster at first, because she yelled at Jacob even though he wasn't even a worker there, and she yelled at me on my first day for setting the wrong priorities, but she yells at everybody. Anyway, later, she told me she really liked my style and hoped that I would stay awhile. Everybody runs around here like chickens with their heads cut off and it's almost like they equate stress with efficiency. I decided on the first day, however, that I would not join that party. I'd rather work hard and stay calm.

But there is so much to do, another reason why I like the job. I detest jobs where you just sit around and attempt to think of something to do. This is the opposite; the list is long and you are always doing things that should have been done yesterday. Future projects for me down the road: Creating a yearbook with pictures from the year by Christmas, editing the curriculum handbook, and sending out a monthly newsletter to all the parents of the school.

Today some little girls said, "Wie heissen Sie?" and asked me how come I spoke such good German. I was quite flattered, and though my German is not so good, I hope to be fluent by the time I am finished at this position. Jacob is picking up German quickly. I read Vom Winde Verweht (Gone With the Wind) every day, and will one day start in on my German workbook.

I like the teachers at the school. They are all rather intense/extreme in their own ways, which may not be surprising considering the types of young people who travel and work abroad.

I eat breakfast and lunch in the school cafeteria. Who knew that I would return after graduating college to eating this kind of undelectable, yet healthy fare typical for school cafeterias? Today was Huenchen (chicken) cutouts, Broccoli und Blumenkohl (cauliflower), und Apfelmus (applesauce) und Schocolade Pudding. And, of course, Mineralwasser.

We are currently searching for an apartment. The dilemma is this: should we get a furnished one, one that is EBK (built with a kitchen) or unfurnished? Unfurnished means there is literally a hole in the wall for a sink. When Germans move, they take their sinks with them. Whoever came up with that idea I don't know. We also would like one fairly close to my work (I'm supposed to be there every morning at 7:30).


Jacob and I are sharing a bike. He is counting the days til we get paid in Euros and he can get a Motorrad. Right now he is headed to the court to play some basketball. Hopefully he can find it; he has gotten lost a lot this week. I think it's kind of cute how often he gets lost.

The food is delicious here. For me, there is crisp and tasty bread. For Jacob, there is flavorful meat like bratwurst and doeners. We go to the grocery store every day and eat at the bakery there.