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!! 

Ik ben Melissa. Ik woon in Amersfoort. I ben going mental!

Well… I started my Inburgeringcurses yesterday… and…. and…ya.  I’m doing the type where you sit there with headphones on and go through the lessons on an individual basis (Talenpracticum).  I’m also apparently taking a bit harder exam then the normal one given, don’t ask, I don’t know, all I know it’s called the “staatsexam”.  I have to finish these courses and take my test with in the three and a half year mark of living in the Netherlands other wise I can be fined.  I have to “work with them” on this, yes that was in the letter they gave us, well me actually not Frank since HE doesn’t HAVE to do this! (Jealously showing).  

I’ve been given two books to follow along on the tapes and also for homework purposes.  Great no problem… so yesterday I head off to my course, which is on the other end of the city basically and it would take longer by bus then by bike,  and I get there 10 minutes early.  Being the good pupil.  Well that was a waste of time since you can’t even talk the secretary until your allotted time.  PERFECT since I needed to ask questions.  So I waited and watched people come and go, and waited, and watched more people come and go…. finally the teacher came and got me.  I felt so special… or rather singled out since she flat out announced this was my first day and I had to sit at the front of the class…. great considering there were already two other people there and I had to sit in between them.  To give you an idea of how much space you have, try fitting the large eggs into the carton that is marked small.  Hmmmm yes… comfortable.   So then she starts to speak Dutch to me,  I’m sure the blank gaze I gave her was the dead give away that I didn’t understand.  Ok.. I did understand but I wasn’t going to make my head hurt by making sure I was translating it properly in my head.   I was then given Lesson 2 or for you smart ass already know Dutch people Les 2.   HEY!! WHAT HAPPENED TO LESSON 1??  I guess since I did SO well on the pre-tests for someone who has no clue with the language I can skip lesson 1.   When I say well, I mean I actually got some answers right on all 3 tests that I had to do. 

Now I’m settled in my seat and I have my two pretty red books in front of me,  she sets me up on Lesson 2 and  shows me the earphones I’m supposed to use.  I don’t think she was amused that I took out a kleenex with a dab of antibacterial cleaner on it to wipe them down.   And I settle in for my first lesson!  WHOOHOOO!!  Here’s your example of what I listened too, and repeated for an hour…

Ik woon in Amsterdam.

Ben u student?

Ja, ik ben student.

Ik studeer Engels.

Hè, dat is mijn taal.

Now… here’s the thing… luckily I understand what I was reading and repeating, but nowhere was there a translation or the teacher offering a translation.  I pretty much could have been repeating Greek and not having a clue what it meant.   Now this is pretty basic and most people can get the just of it, but at the end of this I had to listen to some sentences and write them down…. ok…. um…. That wouldn’t be a problem if it was what we just studied, but it wasn’t… needless to say I guessed on most and got nearly all wrong.  Not impressed by that.  I did however do the listen for  “i” sound as in pit and the “e” sound as in pet part perfectly.  Trust me it was harder then you think. 

Once I got home I had about 6 pages of homework to do.  I had to take the word given and write the plural.  No problem, except again I didn’t know what I was reading and I want to know the English word so next time I’ll remember.  My homework that should have only have taken 30 minutes took and hour because of all the translating I did on top of the original work.   Oh and I’m still not done, I still have 2 more pages to do.  *sigh*  Well it’s a matter of “suck it up buttercup” because I don’t have a choice but to do these courses.  So I might as well just get it done and over with now.

Oh and for anyone questioning why I took the classes this way and not in a regular class setting, I’m on the job hunt.  So if I get a job I can easily switch these classes to the night and not worry about losing out on lessons.  Plus these classes are fairly flexible so I can change times even for the day if I can’t make my normal time.  That’s the only reason why I did it this way, otherwise I would have opted for a normal class room setting.

I have classes now every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday for only 2 hours a day.  I’m not too sure what’s going to happen when I leave in March to go back to Canada for a visit.  Maybe I can double up on the lessons so I don’t fall behind.   The bike ride is about 15-20 minutes depending on the wind.  Oh that reminds me I need to get a rain cape, I have a jacket but it doesn’t cover my legs and it’s so bloody annoying having wet pants!

Other then that, New Years was an experience I don’t think I’d like to repeat.  At least not when I have Stoney still around.  The fireworks were great but they left the poor dog shaking for a week and unable to go outside and go to the bathroom properly.  I had to drug him the night of the fireworks and even then it really didn’t help too much.  The Dutch LOVE their fireworks, and well our neighbours obviously do too since it was 4 am by the time they put out the lovely bonfire in the middle of the parking lot and stopped setting them off.   The thing with the fireworks is that hey started in November and continued right through until the 3 day in January.  After nearly two months of it you just get tired of listening to them.  The fun of watching them is gone.  

I think next year I’ll find out what my aunt in Italy is doing and go visit her with Stoney!!  I know she loves him since the last time she was in Canada she gave him a bath…. and I heard about it until she left to go back to Italy…God love her 😀