Answer is: not too much. I’m still kicking back here in Germany but the big news is that I’ve landed a job. Sort of. Here’s the deal…
As everyone knows, I planned to come here and stay for a year or two depending on whether or not I found a job. I saved up a little nest-egg, used that to live on while traveling all over the county attending the U.S. games and extended my vacation to the end of the World Cup. Once the cup ended, it was time to knuckle down and find a job. This is where the challenges arose.
As everyone knows, I love Germans and Germany but I HATE their policies/politics. I’m pretty solidly right-of-center and hold my country up as an example of right-of-center policies and their effectiveness. Quick quiz: who has the oldest government in the world? Answer: the United States of America. You know why? Because the system, for all its flaws, fucking works. For the most part, people are held accountable for their actions and either fail or succeed on their own merits. Who do the leftists have to hold up as their examples? Soviet Russia? Cuba? “Old-Europe?” Well, we all know how the Soviets ended up, all we have to do is look down south to see how it’s going for the Cubans and Europe’s once proud economies are slowly eating themselves because they’re entitlement states. You know the Social Security crisis that they keep telling us to worry about in the U.S.? Well, it’s called “today… right fuckin’ now” in Germany. Too much money is being spent on retirement, health care and unemployment. The government proposes cuts in benefits to keep the system going and the public screams bloody murder. The government backtracks and says, “we won’t cut benefits but we’re going to have to raise your already crippling taxes” and the public screams bloody murder. Doctors are striking because they haven’t had pay increases in twenty years and their work loads have doubled (do you still want universal, government provided health care?) Employers don’t want to hire new employees because, for them, it’s like contracting herpes. You can’t fire unproductive employees because the laws are way too far in the workers' favor. Many employers are laying workers off and the ones that aren’t, aren’t taking new employees. Unemployment is still over double digits – 11%, last I checked – and the economic growth rate here was dead last in the EU.
This is the job market I chose to enter.
Of course, you don’t have to be an astute economist to figure out the difficulties I was facing. On top of that, to combat high unemployment, Germany has rules dictating the order in which jobs must be filled (more rules Germany: that’s what you fucking need, more rules…). If a job opens up, it MUST be filled by a German if they can find one that meets the basic qualifications. If they can’t do that, then the job MUST be filled by an EU citizen that meets the basic qualifications. If that fails too, then they can open the position up to foreigners.
I knew all this in advance though, so I knew what I was getting myself into. I pretty much knew that teaching English was going to be my refuge. Still though, it’s frustrating to know you can contribute to a company then not be considered because you’re the wrong nationality. I responded to job ads that I felt I was perfect for given my schooling and experience: fund-raising assistant, foreign language correspondent, etc. But whatever my qualifications are, in all honesty, it isn’t too hard to find recent grads with a few years’ work experience so I’m last in line for any open position. So, as I suspected from the beginning, I have to teach English as a start.
The good news is that I was recently hired by a language school and was able to start immediately. Once everything is finalized, I will have benefits too. The bad news is that I’m only guaranteed part-time hours and the pay isn’t too great. I’ll have to wait for my first paycheck to figure out exactly what’s going on so I’ll know whether it’s something I can live on (don’t know what rate I’ll be taxed at either. I’m REAL curious to find this out…), whether or not I’ll need a side job, or – not likely but still remotely possible – whether or not it’s hopeless and I should make my way home.
Hopefully, none of this sounds gloomy. I’m sure I’ll be able to stay here for a year or so and get some new experience under my belt. I’ve also found out that Tool is coming back through Europe and it’s definitely my mission to catch them as many times as possible in Germany. I know I won’t be missing the show in Munich. On top of that, there are still some great travel opportunities for me here. I’m considering a trip to Ireland with Vroni and I’ve also had a chance to visit Regensburg and Innsbruck, Austria. All in all, I can’t complain. Actually, yes I can. But I shouldn’t because I’m still doing something that I want to be doing and that’s more than a great many people can say.
This weekend, we went to Krumbach to celebrate Kathi's grandma’s birthday. (ed. note: Kathi's sister's name will no longer appear in these annals. I was writing a post one day teasing her a little and she flipped completely out so I don't want to include her or even mention her name in any more topics. /ed. note).
The internet: it’s a very important piece of everyday life now. I can chat with or write emails to my friends and family thousands of miles away and be immediately connected. I can post stupid messages like a diary and let those same friends know what stupid bullshit I find on the web.
