People are so Easy to Impress

Happy Monday everyone- I was up and at it at 7AM today sporting the suit and tie again. My schedule at the Gymnasium was somewhat vexing, since I had to teach two hours- one at 8:00 and one at 12:30. So, I had plenty of free time to sit around and think about what I was going to say for job interview #2. Once I finished my lessons I started heading down the hill, enjoying the walk in the lovely spring weather. In the past few days its been about 20 celcius and sunny- absolutely lovely! As I was walking, a man stopped and got out of his car and approached me. "Are you the student from England?" he asked. "Um, the Englisch teaching assistant from America..." I replied. He asked if I offered tutoring and said that he would like for me to meet up with his son. He gave me his card and drove off. That was a nice unexpected economic opportunity... but it does feel a bit strange to be stalked on the street for language tutoring... such is the attraction of a native speaker wearing a suit! Thankfully he didn't take up too much of my time, since I had to be in the palace at 14:00.
The Hungarian woman at the front desk flirted with me before sending me across the courtyard and up four flights of stairs to meet with Herr Schimpl. He was very nice, gave me an espresso and a cigarette (only in Europe!!), and he didn't really ask many questions. He mainly talked about dealing with the Arbeitsmarkt in order to obtain a work permit. He said that they often take foreigners as interns, which would probably be the best way to apply for me. He asked me to fax a copy of my visa, and said that he would apply for the permit. So, he essentially offered me a job but made it clear that it all depends on the Arbeitsmarkt now. He said that once he had heard back from them we would look into different payment options, but assured me that I would earn enough money to live on. He said we would know within two weeks. All in all it went exceptionally well. So, sorry kids... but it sounds highly likely that I will be staying in good old Europe for at least another year (and hopefully longer!). I'll come back for a few weeks if I can get the time off and someone offers me a plane ticket (*wink wink*).

Meanwhile, I spent Sunday with Alexa and Konstantin in Hungary.

Here is the border, a whole 15 minute drive from Eisenstadt. I got another Hungary stamp in my passport here. I now have two.

We were on our way to Fertörákos, a small village on Lake Neusiedl.

Just a church I saw along the way.


And here is the Hungarian side of a lake. A lovely day, really.