Mailbox Surprise

In the post today:

Sehr geehrter Herr Cornwell,

vielen Dank für Ihre Bewerbung für den Bereich Schlossführungen.

Wie mir Frau Barbara Hollndonner mitgeteilt hat, hätten Sie Interesse an einer Führungstätigekeit für den Zeitraum Juni - September 2006.

Obwohl wir unsere Personaldispositionen für 2006 grundsätzlich getroffen haben, möchten wir Sie dennoch zu einem Gespräch einladen, um allenfalls eine Anstellungsmöglichkeit für diesen Zeitraum zu finden.

Ich darf Sie ersuchen, mich telefonisch zwecks einer Terminvereinbarung zu kontaktieren.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,

Schloss Esterhazy Management GmbH

This means:

Dear Mr. Cornwell,

Thank you very much for your application as a tour guide.

As Ms. Holldonner has told me, you would be interested in a position for the time period from June to September 2006.

Although we have essentially chosen our staff for 2006, we would nonetheless like to invite you to come speak with us to possibly find a position for this time period.

Please telephone me in order to set up an appointment.

With Friendly greetings,

xxxx
Esterhazy Palace Management Inc.

It sounds like they want to give me a job. But, it isn't exactly a direct offer, so I'll just have to go in and see how it turns out. I'll have to ask some serious questions about the hours and pay to determine if it's really feasible to support myself over the summer with this job. So, the summer matter is still up in the air... I apologize in advance to friends/family IF I can't come back to Athens to visit! Hmmm. Wish me luck i suppose.

GREAT News!

In my mailbox today:

"Dear Mr. Cornwell,

I am pleased to inform you that the Austrian Ministry of Education has notified the Fulbright Commission that your application for an extension of your position as a U.S. foreign language teaching assistant for the 2006-2007 academic year has been endorsed...."


I'm all ready for another year in Burgenland. I'm so happy I could cry!!!

Mini-Vacation

Just arrived back in Eisenstadt from my mini-vacation in Fürstenfeld. I must say I'm feeling a lot better and a change in scenery was much needed. Alexa, Konstantin, and I all packed into her car on Friday afternoon for the 1.5 hour drive on the A2 to her hometown. We arrived at her mother's apartment to unpack our things and we went out to dinner. I ate some mildly spicy potato-stuffed sausages, apparently a Styrian specialty, and they were delicious. Afterwards we went out to all of Alexa's old haunts to drink some wine, play darts (I won twice!), and heat up the dance floor. Along with us was her brother Michael, who happens to be the BZÖ party-head for Styria. The BZÖ is a rather far right party, and I thought I had best avoid talking politics with him, but we had some rather good discussions anyway. Turns out even the far-right in Austria are against the death penalty and think Bush is an idiot. Who knew? On the next day we went to visit Alexa's father at his home. He's a photographer and a well-travelled and genial guy. He lived in a beautiful old farmhouse in the countryside. The place was so rustically european and beautiful, but unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me at the moment. The kitchen was huge, and it had a 200-year old wood-fired oven in it. I felt so at home there because it was so cosy and reminded me of Athens in a strange sort of way. All in all it was a nice weekend escape. Here are a few more photos for your viewing pleasure:

This was snapped during a walk along the river. Sorry, Dad, but I don't remember the name of the river! Look it up on your Austria map!

And the next day we walked to the top of this hill and looked down on the city.

One of those uniquely european things that always sticks out to me: the roundabout (or traffic-circle, if you will). It's a highly effective device that's often much more practical than a normal traffic light. For example, you can turn around in the intersection; or, you don't have to wait at a red light if there's no traffic. Not only that, but they are usually very decorative too. Most of them in Eisenstadt have gardens or even miniature vineyards in them, but this one in Fürstenfeld has a fountain! I wonder if anyone ever crashes into it...
Speaking of traffic: Hey kids, why don't you go play in it!!!

Ablenkung

Must report that I'm in a mild state of depression. It's no fun not knowing what the hell is going on with my future, feeling lonely, and there being no sign of warm weather yet. I'm going to Fürstenfeld with Alexa for the week-end, which should serve as a nice change of scenery. I'll be sure to bring the camera and report back to ye grand olde masses. At the moment I've got to stop eating nutella with a spoon, clean up my pigsty of a room, and get ready to go. Enjoy the weekend everyone... and of course the Spring Break to all of my OU friends!

Party

Oh, happy birthday to me. I'm glad someone caught some of this stuff on camera. (Thanks John!)



American cultural imperialism dictates the unhindered diffusion of the beer bong!!!


Madness.


If you pass out at one of my parties, you will be loaded into a shopping cart and wheeled around wrecklessly until a crash of sufficient magnitude causes you to regain consciousness.


Ouch.

My First Job Interview in German

So, yes, I'm sure you're all waiting to hear about my professional activities. I did indeed go to the Arbeitsmarkt, the Austrian work-authority or however the hell you would say that in English, and asked them about getting a residency permit for the summer. The man was somewhat unfriendly, and said that I would have to find a firm willing to take me and submit an application for a work permit. As a foreigner, I don't have priority for a job. If they can find an unemployed Austrian to do the same work, they are required to hire the Austrian. However, people with certain qualifications (English as a native language!!) can be granted exceptions. He told me it was all very complicated and was generally discouraging. My reply: "But theoretically possible, no?"

So, I called the Esterházy palace, explained my situation, and asked if they needed tour guides. The woman said they are in the hiring process for the next two weeks and she would love it if I could come by. I thought I would just be dropping off my CV (Curriculum Vitae- the Euro-version of a résumé) and she would contact me if she liked. So, I asked if 10am on Thursday would be OK. She said no, there's a tour at that time, the afternoon would be better. This gave me the impression that she wanted to give me an interview on the spot and I was right. I updated and customized my CV and wrote a letter of interest to the Esterházy palace seeking work as a tour guide. Sandra and friends helped me with that and offered great (and grammatical) advice. Then I got up early today, put on a suit and tie, and went to school. School was chaotic and I was in a generally nervous and bad mood (had a little personal crisis last night). But, I think I had the best discussion ever with one of my least-motivated classes, because I was pushy and sarcastic. I think I really have a good teacher attitude when I'm grumpy!! Anyway, right after school I walked down to the palace to meet Frau Hollndonner, and I kept my head held high. She was very friendly and said that I spoke excellent German. I told her a bit about myself and asked questions about the tours and things like that. We ended up chatting for over a half an hour, and she told me that she thought I would make a great addition to their team and she would be happy to fill out a work-permit application, but warned me that the Arbeitsmarkt might say no. I told her I felt it was worth a try, and that I was very happy she took the time to see me. She said she would be in contact with me. When I was updating my CV, I realized that I have gotten every single job I have ever applied for (In a warehouse, at a newspaper, an architectural firm, and now this teaching gig). I hope I can keep up the trend! It sounds promising. I really believe that anything is possible if I really put forth the effort. Today felt like a victory, and I'm ecstatic. I will keep you all updated on the process as it unfolds.

This Year is Going so Fast

I've been feeling a bit depressed this weekend from thinking about the future and the logistical problems that go with it. What the hell am I doing with my life in the short and long term? Of course, I did submit my application for a year's extension, but I won't know the status of that until April. If I do get to stay (which I think is pretty probable), I want to spend the summer here working. But the problem with that is that I'd have to find a work permit and do all of that complicated bureaucratic stuff. Of course, I could go back to Athens for the summer to work and come back here in the fall. This may sound sacrilegious or irreverent or something, but I seriously don't want to! Yes, I do miss my friends and family... but there are people here (OK- one in particular) I would miss too and I know that being in the US again would just irk me to no end. I know, i'm an irretrievable euro-snob. Sorry. It's just who I am. I'd love to come back to see my friends and family for about three weeks... but three months??? I'm going to city hall tomorrow to ask about an Arbeitserlaubnis and I'll take my charm with me as a weapon. I figure if I'm going to be employed here next year anyway (hopefully), a summer job shouldn't be that difficult. We'll see what happens. The easy thing to do would be to simply come back and find a permanent job, since I've got some good experiences and would be qualified for some interesting things. But, the thing is... I'm seriously in love with this country and want to do everything I can to stay. It isn't easy... but I've had a few runarounds with the Austrian authorities and I'm up for struggling with them some more. If I'm proactive about it, it's not so depressing. It's kind of a mixture of fate, ambition, and initiative. Que sera sera.