Hiking!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.742608145294.2190324.13306003&type=1&l=782a8cec26

Email to someone who was helping me learn Dutch

I got a job yesterday! I'll be a telemarketer with Tele-Sales Direct here in Den Bosch, and while it is by no means an ideal job at least I'll be getting paid to do something that is only biking distance away! :) Also, Katie, another girl from the HIWC works there too, so we can bike together and spend the day as direct colleagues! I'm actually pretty excited.

So I'll now have less time to work on my Dutch (and perhaps a bit less motivation now that I've found an English-speaking job?) but I definitely still want to work on it.

Thoughts on my new job

I do think it will be useful for a couple of reasons. First, I'll be earning money! Second, if I'm successful at this job, it will show other Dutch employers that I'm a good employee, even if I hope to have nothing to do with telemarketing in the future. It's not a super impressive reference, but any Dutch reference is better than no Dutch reference when looking for jobs here. Third, it gives me a better position from which to look for jobs. I think I'll seem less desperate looking to change jobs while employed than just grabbing at anything that comes my way which I've done now. I would also like to think that accepting this position means that this is the worst job I will have, as anyone else who wants me to accept their offer will have to either pay me more or give me a better job. It feels good to know that the worst case scenario for me in terms of what job I end up with isn't actually all that bad. :) Two months between jobs wasn't so bad actually! It's also really nice that the job is so close to home. I had resigned myself to looking at jobs in Amsterdam and now instead of thinking I might have a crap job with low wages in A'dam, at least I now know that for me to commute all the way there, it would have to be a much better job or much better pay for me to consider it. At least my low paying non-engaging job is right in our town!

Moral of the story, a bad job is better than no job! And I also intend to be the best telemarketer ever. :)

News...emailed to my aunt...

.I'm employed! :) I'm going to be a telemarketer! Haha. Did I mention to you my friend Katie who has a horrendous job? Well I'm going to be working with her! So we can bike to work together! The hours are 9-5 M-Th with a .5hr break each day, and I only have to work until 3 on Fridays. I'll be paid 10E/hr, but with taxes here, I'll only take home 6-7E/hr. It's only supposed to be for 2 months, though Katie has been there longer than that and she was told the same thing. Also, within that two months I can leave at anytime if I give 1-2 days notice, so there's really no reason for me to not take it and therefore be paid while I'm searching for a "real" job. On top of the 10E/hr an additional 8% of what I earn goes toward vacation money, so it's not like I have a certain number of days I can take - I can take as much as I want, but the amount of money the company will put toward it is essentially 8% of what I've earned up to that point, and beyond that it's unpaid. It's nice that I will therefore be able to determine on my own how important vacation is to me and to take what I want rather than be stuck with a certain number of days. Also, they will pay for me for any time I spend at the doctor or dentist (not the fees, but rather for my time while I'm there), and they will pay unlimited sick time, but if I take too much they'll just fire me.

So I'm excited! I'll be calling businesses in the UK.

Emails with my mom about my rejection letters...

I've received so many of these I'm starting to think they're kind of funny. This woman really gave me LOTS of feedback...

Dear madame Hansen,

Thank your for your interest in MVRO.

We will not invite you for the job.

Greetings,

MVRO

Els Korsten

Secretaresse

Mom's reaction: Oh dear. I won't invite her to dinner then!

My response: Yeah, seriously. Wenchity wench wench. I actually laughed out loud when I got that one. At least I know I could write a better rejection letter than she can...
xx

Dishwasher troubles...

The plumber is supposed to come by today "before 2" to take a look at the sink. I hope he can fix it! When you have neither a sink nor a dishwasher, the dirty dishes really start piling up! Our half bath that's on the same floor as the kitchen has a teeny tiny sink that you can barely fit your hands in and it only has a cold water tap, so that's not helpful for washing dishes. The only other sink is upstairs by our bedroom! So it's pretty inconvenient...But, we have all sorts of fun plans this weekend (starting on Thursday!) that will help us take our minds off the sink. And hopefully it will be fixed today!

Another email to Aunty Pat!

Our Groupon lunch was really good. Great value for only 9.50/person! It was super tasty. At the same time there was a Champagne tasting going on, with oysters and caviar and such, but that was 29.70 per person and we didn't feel the need to do that. We just stuck to our original plan and had lunch there. But I bet it was really good champagne! There was also wonderful live music - just one man playing guitar and singing, but he was really good. It was a great afternoon! Next weekend we get to use our massage groupons! :)

Our bad news is that our dishwasher, or maybe kitchen sink, is misbehaving! When we turn on the sink, water comes out from the bottom of the dishwasher and onto the floor! We've emailed the owner, so we'll see what he says. We've never even used the dishwasher! If he doesn't respond by this afternoon I think I'll call him. It's such a pain to not be able to use the sink at all!