Life goes on… in Amsterdam!

Wooooohoooooo!! Rebecca is going to work next Monday! Yes, negotiations succeeded. They didn’t agree with what Vik suggested immediately though, but we insisted (nothing to lose, if they say no, then I’ll just do what I usually do at home, haha). So after some further discussion, they agreed. It is actually a win-win situation, they are still paying the same for hiring me, just that on my side, I won’t be taxed by the goverment end of the year (only applicable to minijob, subject to rules and regulations, which I still hardly understand by now), and it is not a practical anymore, but a contract job, for 3 months.
If you are interested, it is a language school which I am going to work for, located in Frankfurt, called Sprachcaffe Language PLUS . But don’t get me wrong, I am not going to work as a teacher (not qualified yet, hehe), just as an organiser for holiday courses. So it’s going to be like the time back in American Express, administrative tasks, easy. Yet it’s going to be challenging for me, as I am going to do all this in another language, German (can’t imagine how it’s going to be like…). Anyway I guess it is going to be an extremely good opportunity for me to improve my German, and hopefully I will be able to make some new friends too.
Am feeling excited, anxious and thankful at the moment. All this would be impossible without Vik’s help and support. And I am grateful to some of my friends back home, for their concern and motivation. Not to forget my family members, who constantly pray for me. I guess I am one of the happiest and the most blessed person in the world now :p  Looking forward to next Monday, and I better get back to my German books now! Hugs! (end)

Email received yesterday. They want to hire me. Suppose to be a good news, but in my reply I didn’t say yes. After discussing with Vik, we decided to NEGOTIATE with them. The thing is, the taxation system in Germany is driving me crazy! To quote from Wikipedia - Taxation is one of the most criticized matters in Germany. Germans themselves assume that it is the most complex system in the
world. Ten percent of the literature on taxation in the world refers to
the German tax system. There are 118 laws, 185 forms, 418 exceptions
and 96,000 regulations (just one comment to taxation covers 2,671 pages)… Wikipedia

I am still not fully capable of explaining it now, it is just far too complicated for me. All I know is, if they are going to say no to the conditions I suggested, I will have to say ‘Sayonara’ to them. It just doesn’t make sense to pay so much tax for such a position. I don’t plan to earn a lot, as the main reason for me to go to work is to meet people and learn new things, but still I don’t want to be taken advantage of. If there is another better way of employing me, which won’t harm them, they have to consider. And I give them time to consider… (to be continued)

” Well guess what, about 20 minutes after my second application was sent,
unbelievably I received a reply asking for my full CV. Hahaha, that
must be a joke, I told myself at the point I saw the email, but part of
me was happy too. So I took some time to look through my funny German
CV, and sent to them, hoping that somehow, somewhere, someone or
something will like it… (will continue about this job next week).”  Taken from my previous entry - I worked yesterday!

Ok, so like I promised, I am here to tell the rest of the story…

After a few more minutes came another email, curious, the lady
wanted to know why on earth am I applying for the position, as she didn’t see
anything related to the field of Tourism in my CV. By the way, the position I applied for is ‘Practikum beim Sprachreiseveranstalter’, direct translation to English will be - practical for language travel organiser (funny ehh?). I forward the email
from her to Vik, Vik said it’s a very typical German reply, because people here
are not like me (with my simply hentam attitude), Germans are very particular
about things. If you want to work in the field of Tourism, you must study
Tourism. Your studies will determine what job you can get.
I was nervous, I didn’t know how to reply. It is either I replied in a way
which sounds like I am begging for the job, or I can be a bit ‘LC’ (very proud
in Cantonese, if you know what I mean) , tell them Psychology graduates are
able to work in every field that sort of stuff (isn’t it true? hahaha). Well, my reply
to her questions was answered in English, because I thought it was time for her
to know that I am not really that good in German. The last sentence of the
letter goes like this ‘ If you are convinced, I am ready for an interview’. So on Monday afternoon, the reply was sent, and all I can do after that was just wait…
And they really made me wait… Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (didn’t really wait on this day, cause I was in Frankfurt promoting Basmati rice :p). After work Vik drove me home. I switched on the pc, and as usual clicked on my Firefox, and then there was a reply from the lady. Anxious, I clicked to read the message… hahahahaha (I felt like the world must be crazy), she invited me for an interview! Man, I might as well go and buy Lotto, such a lucky week for me! Still excited, I replied and an appointment was made on the next Monday 1pm…

Today is Tuesday, so the interview was yesterday. My first job interview in Germany, I can’t describe how anxious I was (Vik was even more anxious than me, hahaha). The weather was not too good, it rained, made me felt kind of moody too. To cut the long story short, I can only say that I have tried my best. It was not really good, I have no problem understanding them, yet I could not express myself very well in German, so I used English (quite rojak). I did not impressed them, I think. Well, I have nothing to loose, in fact I earned myself a new experience, cool ya :p  Anyway, they will let me know if they are going to take me or not by this week. So, I will have to wait again, but will I get it? I am hoping for the best, and preparing for the worst… (to be continued)

First time in my life, I worked in a foreign country and earned money!
The story started on Monday, after I came back from Cologne, Vik found me an online job search company in Germany (http://www.jacktiger.com). Feeling lazy and not really motivated (as my first job application in Germany was turned down 6 months ago, and ever since then I did not apply for anything anymore), I registered myself and quite reluctantly browsing through the jobs available there. I must say that it was Vik who helped and motivated me a lot throughout the whole process, end of Monday I applied for 2 jobs from that website, doubting the possibilities of them taking me.
It was really hard work though, as I have to write my cover letters in German and frankly speaking, my German is not that good yet (and after my 2 months ‘free-from-German’ holiday in Malaysia, it gets worse than before). So Vik has to help me to do the proofreading and making amendments and all… Well guess what, about 20 minutes after my second application was sent, unbelievably I received a reply asking for my full CV. Hahaha, that must be a joke, I told myself at the point I saw the email, but part of me was happy too. So I took some time to look through my funny German CV, and sent to them, hoping that somehow, somewhere, someone or something will like it… (will continue about this job next week).
As for another application, no reply and whatsoever.
Then on Tuesday afternoon, my mobile rang. I picked up the phone, and then a lady started talking to me (non-stop, bla bla bla)… When I finally hung up the phone, I was laughing to myself, hahahahaha, Oh my God I got myself a job! It was the application which I didn’t receive any reply from, it is a rice company, Tilda is the brand, and my job is to promote Basmati rice. As the promotion in Frankfurt was just yesterday, and the coming promotions will be in Düsseldorf and other cities, so it was a one day job for me. I am very happy with the payment, 10 Euro per hour, fair and square… The job was simple, I didn’t have to sell anything, just cooked some rice, let the passers by tried the rice, gave away 500g pack rice for free, and then cleaned up the booth, that was it. Ohh and I was busy the day before reading about basmati rice (all the documents are in German… so you can imagine…)
Not a permanent job (I don’t think I want to do that permanently anyway), but a good start for me in Germany, and it does encourage and motivate me a lot (I talked to total strangers in German, man… I still can’t believe it!), as I am now more convinced, that getting a job in Germany is possible for me. Vik is proud of me too, and I really have to thank him for the support and love, without him, I would be so lost…
Life goes on, wish me luck, I’m looking forward to a better job! :p