Showing posts with label volunteer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label volunteer. Show all posts

Monday, December 9, 2013

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!


Friday, December 6, 2013

The pain of waiting

The German consulate has my passport and I'm patiently waiting for my visa to be approved. In approximately two months I'll be on a flight to Munich and that is when my 1 year sabbatical leave starts. I still have to line up my German language classes. The plan is to get some intensive classes 3-4 days per week to start and see how quickly I can pick up the language. So far, I've been able to make my way slowly through the Duolingo.com exercises and I also loaded my iPhone with some German lessons. Duolingo is a lot of fun but it lacks the conversation aspect.

The second step will be to start applying for jobs and/or volunteer work. I used toytowngermany.com to offer my services to non-profit organizations. Clearly I'm hoping to get a paid job or some type of internship but in terms of networking I have a lot to offer and am willing to work for nothing if it eventually gives me enough experience to enter the German workforce while I get better at speaking and understanding the language.

It's no secret to anyone, I'm a huge beer lover and I have been looking at opportunities to work for, basically, any German beer company that will have me. For now it's all about tweaking the resumé and sending it out to the masses in the hope of catching the interest of a good company that's on the lookout for an ambitious foreigner.