What it means to work abroad

A few days ago, I stumbled upon an article on The Local's website. According to this article I'm not the only qualified immigrant coming to Germany for a piece of the cake. Plenty of us find ourselves in the same situation. We move to a country with a 5.1% unemployment rate (lower than Canada 6.5%), we make a few friends to network, start looking for jobs and realize through the application process that if you don't speak German, your options are very limited.

As a native French speaker I pick up English at a very young age and consider myself lucky to be able to fluently discuss in both languages. Europe is different! The proximity between all of the countries is the cause of a cluster of languages. International companies are looking for people who speak Spanish, Italian, Russian, Arabic, Dutch and the list goes on.

Certain skill sets override the language requirements. I've see a lot of engineering and computer science jobs which require only English. Makes me think about a change of career path sometimes.

As far as I'm concerned, I still have to improve my German skills to be able to pierce through the Communications and Marketing field. I've been actively searching for a position in PR firms, Communications Agencies, bigger companies such as Yahoo, Amazon and a few local craft beer companies (everybody has a dream right?)

I'm currently looking at the job market and the internship dilemma. Stay tuned for my next post.

This won’t fit in the status update box...

My 6 month internship is coming to an end in July and the next part of my first year in Munich is about to get a spin. For those who follow me on BeerFeed you’re aware of my mini trips to Bamberg and most recently Köln. We have a long weekend in Amsterdam just before we head home to Canada for a few weeks. The good thing about working in Germany is definitely the amount of holidays you get.

Morale is up and I don’t really feel homesick, I miss the casual hangouts with good friends and I used to miss hoppy beers but I recently found some niche stores that have more hops than I can dream of. I’m slowly getting used to the daily life and it’s not so different than the life in Canada. I got to meet some really nice people from around the world (mostly Europe), my geography is getting slightly better and so is my Deutsch.

I’m signing up for some intensive Deutsch courses over the months of September and October. After several comments about how difficult it is to work full-time and then go to class for 3 hours in the evening to learn a new language, I decided it was in my best interest to take morning classes and focus on learning Deutsch without any other distractions for two months.

So far, I was offered to be on a television show, I've made some friends from the four corners of the planet, I've traveled to 2 countries I've never been before and I learned a whole lot about beer. Until my next status update I welcome your questions and comments.

Ambassador Mat 

A post about mypole [sic] maypole!

Spring has finally arrived in Bavaria, the birds and the beers, love is in the air, flowers are blooming and soon will come the time to erect some poles. No joke!

I've been asking around about those tall blue and white poles all over town which seem to be associated to beer gardens and no one was really able to give me a proper explanation.

Maypoles

They're called maypoles or in Deutsch Maibaum, which literally translates to May tree. Which reminds me of a funny saying the Germans have: "Mal bist du der Hund, mal bist du der Baum." Sometimes you're the dog, sometimes you're the tree.

Back to the poles! Erection date is usually May 1st and believed to come from Germanic pagan traditions, they're also thought to symbolize the return of summer and growth of vegetation. There's a mention on Wikipedia of phallic symbolism for those of you who thought I was immature. Which I am but erections are nothing to joke about.

(insert Viagra ad banner here)

The signs added to the pole represent the different trades represented in the region. This tradition is also practiced in the Scandinavian countries, the UK, Ireland, Italy and some parts of the States.

If you're interested in learning more about poles or if you have pole related articles you'd like to share first check out this neat Bavarian website.

Check out my blog regularly as I will be posting pictures of poles pre and post (no pun intended) May 1st.

If you want to help me collect poles, send me your local poles via @valleem on Twitter or @coasterbox on Instagram.

The GEZ

They found me! I got a letter in the mail today from the GEZ they want my money, my hard earned fun-sized Euro money. Lucky for me, the girlfriend is already contributing to the GEZ regime so I don't have to, but they still try to getcha!

The GEZ is sort of the television and radio police, it used to be if you owned a tv, computer or radio (including car radio) you would be subject to pay 17,03 Euros monthly. Since 2013 everyone pays, too many people pretended not to have a television and, well, it's 2014 c'mon!

The Germans pay 17,98 Euros for tv and radio stations which are deemed essential, sort of a tax for the right to information. First you buy a television, then most people won't get many channels unless your building offers cable in the price of your rent. The other option is to buy an antenna or some cheaper satellite receptor thing... yeah that! Even then when it's bad weather outside or to many wifis running around the house the reception is often terrible.

What's cool about the car radio is that every now and then you'll get traffic status and accident reports based on your location. It can get annoying if you're listening to a really good cd and just before the solo this guy with a thick German accent comes on just to tell you that the A9 is congested (stau).

I'll be working on an article about how much mail Germans get, this is getting ridiculous, stay tuned and if you meet someone today and have nothing to say to them, why not tell them about my blog and how I write funny anecdotes on my experiences in Germany, because sharing is caring!

To work or not to work, that is a good question!

For all the curious souls who wonder when the next civic holiday is I present to you an interesting map of the civic holiday for Germany. Most holidays are related to religious events and some are specific to regions of the country, an extensive list can be found here.

If we do a little math... my accountant friends will likely request an edit of this article. Either way if we count an average of 12 civic holidays and take into consideration the fact that most stores, shops and offices are closed on Sundays, that most people have some sort of two day weekend during a week and that the average working German is given 30 days of vacation every year...

An average working German only works 219 days per year.

About Reddit

For those of you who already know about reddit and its up vote system you might find this post a little bland. If you're new to reddit you probably spent a few nights catching up on missed memes and redundant inside jokes that are exclusive to specific subreddits. Well I guess I'm the type of person who made it through the junk and managed to filter my way through the "funny", the "AnimalAdvice" and the "Gentlemanboners" to eventually get myself a job abroad.

I like to teach myself and learn thing on my own. By trying, exploring and occasionally failing, I managed to be very efficient in finding the answer to almost anything. Now, what happens when I can't find the answer... well I tell myself I'm certainly not the only one asking myself that question, usually a little google search or a well placed post on reddit will get the necessary players involved to get the information I need.

When I planned on moving to Munich I wasn't lining up a job, I was going there to immerse myself in Deutsch courses and do some volunteer work to setup a network until I can speak enough German to be considered for employment. 

I had already registered for Deutsch courses at the Deutsch Akademie and changed my location on linkedin to Munich so I would get emails about job opportunities.

But surfing at the right place and the right time brought me straight to that reddit post. One week later I had an interview. I was told I would hear from the human resources department after the holidays. To my surprise I was sent a job offer by email, I quickly accepted and offered to visit my new workplace and meet my new team in person.

It's a great feeling to be offered a job in a country that isn't yours. I haven't set a foot out the door yet and I've managed to setup a modest employment for at least the first six months abroad. To all redditors, I know some of you have been lurking and avoided making a profile but reddit can also lead you to a great network of like-minded people and maybe a future job.

Bereit zu lernen! (Ready to learn!)

I signed up for an intensive German language course. Intensive means I'll be getting 3 hours per day from Monday to Thursday for 4 weeks.

The Deutsch Akademie was recommended by friends, plus it's a short tram ride from where I'll be staying. You can choose the time blocks such as 9 AM - 12 PM or evening classes which usually fill up pretty quick. They recommend signing up 4-5 weeks ahead of time to make sure you get a spot.

The damage is 265 Euros which is around $375 CAN. Which I have to pay, you guessed it, in cash! Germans believe that if you're paying with a credit card, it means that you're poor. I just want to load my travel visa with points so I can fly for cheap.

Travel tip

If you are a frequent traveler and spend a lot of money on flights and abroad get a travel credit card. They usually have an annual fee (70$ - 120$) but I got a 1300$ flight for 187$.
I could register online and they sent me a test to evaluate how much I already know about the language... not much is my honest answer.

The test

The Deutsch Akademie sends you a test to evaluate your current German skills in order to put you in a group which matches your level of knowledge. I've been putting off the test as I was contacted for a job interview last week and I'm getting a second interview with Human Resources... I was told it's usually a good sign. More to come very soon, I'm leaving at the end of the week for my first German Weihnachten.[Remove eggnog and replace with strong beer].

Getting the call

Nothing's great about living with 6 hour time difference. Except waking up to an email requesting a phone interview for a job you applied for! I was browsing reddit.com/r/munich when a post caught my eye. Internship for native English speaker sounded like a position I'd be able to fill. With a load of office experience already on my resumé I decided to apply right away and see what happens. I was already excited to pick up my passport with my new work and travel visa approved, this was the cherry on the sundae.

I've applied for a few jobs already. My first one with GoPro, they have a Munich office and I thought I was a likely candidate for the Office Manager position, I still think the name of the position is a front for an administrative task oriented job, in any case a foot in the door is better than a foot in the mouth. I suspect my lack of German language knowledge played against me on that one. Speaking of which, cue Don't Lose Touch and carry on.

Another job in a totally different vein had a very appealing aspect, free German language classes. The position was in a private school for students from 2-6 yo... I know what you're thinking that's a babysitting job, yes 4 people to babysit 15 kids in English in exchange for money and free German courses. That didn't work out, about one thousand people viewed the job posting and I'm certain someone had better "children education skills" than me.

I'm still learning a lot of new tricks for applying for jobs in Deutschland. I need to book a photo session because apparently pics on resumés are a must! The question now is with or without the beard? 

APPROVED!

Back in November I applied for a work and travel visa through the Youth Mobility Program. I was told the process would take two weeks. At the end of the third week I started wondering and called the German Consulate in Toronto and the nice lady on the phone told me that my visa was approved! I ran to my colleague's cubicle and we jumped and screamed like little girls...embarrassing? I'm told you only live once, haters gonna hate, oh whateves y'all! I should get my passport next week in time for my trip!

Now I can sit back and relax right? Wrong. I still have to take that test which will determine my level of German language so I can register at the Deutsch Akademie for my German language lessons. I wonder if after a few beers my German will be good enough to ace that test? I might me missing the point...

Now that my work and travel visa is approved, dear employers of Germany, I'm all yours!