Employed again!!

Well I’m now employed again!  Thank goodness!  Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed being home and taking time off from the rat race, but to be honest  I miss the race.  OK and my own earned money.  

For the last month and a half I have been running around the Netherlands by train, bike, and foot.  Going to intakes with agencies and on two major job interviews, both of which offered me a position.  But the one that I accepted is  in Utrecht.  Utrecht is a city of about 300,000 and is the capital of the province of Utrecht.  As for distance, it will take me an hour and a bit one way to get to work.  I have a 15 minute bike ride to the station, then 30 minutes by train to Utrecht, then 20-25 minutes to the office.  Once I get to the last stop on the run, I have to hoof it for 5 minutes to get to the building.   It sounds like a lot to do to get to work, but I’d rather be 30 minutes by train away from home then an hour and a bit by train. 

The job in Utercht will be with a consultant company, which is American owned and deals with English for all of its business transactions.  In one way it is good, I don’t have to strain my brain for the limited Dutch that I do know, but on the other hand I won’t have the practice that I need so I can pass the tests.  I will be in Accounts Payables again, which is fine even though I do prefer Receivables.   The company has a very International accounting department.  Actually the entire company is very mixed and if you are Dutch and working there you are the minority.  The accounts payable department currently has 5 people in it, but I believe they are all part time and all leaving with in the next 6 months.   I will be the only full time person there besides my boss.   The A/P is divided by countries and I will be responsible for certain countries from start to finish.   For the first 3 months I will work under contract with the job agency “The Undutchables”, then hopefully if all goes well I will be hired on by the company with a one year contract (very common to work contract here ).   I am currently entitle to 26 vacation days because it is the Netherlands (yes that is one bonus from this country), then once I’m hired on full time, I will get another 4 days to give me 30 vacation days a year.   Plus of course any public holidays.   But since I’m already using up 15 days I think this year is pretty much a write off for time off.   Also like most companies here in the Netherlands, they will pay 100% of my travel expenses.  Which is an added bonus since the train and bus would cost me about € 220, 00 a month.

I’m looking forward to going to work tomorrow, I just need to get use to getting up EARLY so that I can be at the station by 7:30am… yes…. 7:30….. this coming from the girl that used to get up at 8 to be at work at 8:30!!  I will now be the first one out the door and the last one home.   One nice bonus,  dinner will now be ready before I get home!! hee hee. 

Oh for anyone wondering about the other job, it was for adidas in Amsterdam.  Accounts Payables too, but I would be doing mainly expenses for the first few months and then once things were caught up it sounded more  like I would end up being the “do all the other crappy ass jobs no one wants to do” girl.  The building was gorgeous and the atmosphere was very casual.  The hours were extremely flexible so that as long as you put in your 40 hours a week you could come to work anywhere between 7-10.  Sounds perfect right?  Well it was tempting, but after considering the travel time, one hour plus by train and I had to change trains in Utrecht, that was one damper.  Yes the trains are great in the Netherlands, but it seemed that anytime I stepped foot on a train my original one hour trip turned into an hour and a half.  Therefore, having to take two trains it just increases the chances of my trips becoming longer then the original hour.  The slightest thing can throw the trains off schedule,  winds, freezing switches, some idiot pulling the emergency brake (yes that happened with ME on the damn train), a leaf on the track (you think I joke) or the conductor having a bad day and doesn’t feel like going any faster then snail’s pace.  My commute home end up being twice as long.  Plus the idea of becoming the office “go girl” didn’t appeal to me either.  Also no mention of travel expenses being paid, but I would get a 10% bonus.  The bonus even if it were monthly wouldn’t cover the costs of the train travel!!   I get I’m coming in to a new company but I’m too old to be the photocopy person.   So I declined and took the job closer to home. 

So now that I’m going to work full time, I had to change my hours at the school.  Now instead of going 3 times a week from 11-1pm I’ll go once a week for the time being 6:30-8:30 on Tuesdays.  I might increase the time to twice a week later on. 

This is why I haven’t been able to update the blog lately, I’ve been seeing the Dutch country side by train.   

Now to back track a bit, a few weeks ago I went to Utrecht for the intake with Undutchables and took advantage of the beautiful sunny day and hiked up the 465 steps to the top of the Dom.    I was able to get some great shots of the city from the top of the tower, once the ass cramp let up a bit and walking was an option again.  I’ve posted more pictures on my flickr site.  The tour was an hour long and the tour guide spoke English for the few English speakers in the group.  The price wasn’t horrible, it was € 7,50 and really I think it was worth it.  The only thing I would change would be the bratty ass teenagers that did the tour with us.  I know kids can be kids, but I don’t recall my friends and I acting like that on our band trips.  They would talk when the tour guide was speaking,  spit on the stairs of the tower, oh don’t get me freaking started about  people spitting in this country!!  Actually I’m not even going to bother blogging it, just go to my friend Tammy’s blog and read her entry, she says it all!!!!  If I could have,  I would have gladly thrown them off the top of the tower just to watch them bounce when they hit the street!  But besides that, the Tower is an amazing thing to visit, full of history and wonder architecture.  I would recommend it to anyone that wants to hoof  it up the 465 steps! 

And for anyone from Saxco reading this… Stoney is doing great!  He’s made this house his and he barks when someone rings the doorbell and enjoys the huge grassy field near the house.  Granted now that I’m going back to work, he’s going to be home alone all day (well the cat will be home but they don’t get along).  He’s still my suck though and will wedge his way in between Frank and I on the couch. 

Well I hope I made up for some lost time on here.  I hope to be able to keep up with the blog a little better then what I had in the past, but sometimes life just keeps you busy!!