Exactly one week ago I had a job interview in the morning at cSt Causa, a small tax accountancy firm, as an IT Administrator. At the end of a relatively short interview, the boss offered me a job on the spot and asked me to come back that afternoon to start following around the current IT guy. So today I'm celebrating both the one week anniversary of my successful interview and my one week anniversary on the job!
The IT administrating portion of the job is only part-time so that's all I'm working at the moment, but I'll have the opportunity to make the position full-time if I take on more responsibilities like administrative assistance, marketing, helping tutor English, and helping translate documents/their website into English. Hopefully, I'll be able to take on these additional challenges, but as of right now I'm still learning my way around and getting to know my colleagues. The office is in Vienna's inner city and the dress code is more formal than anywhere else I've worked so it's fun because both of these make me feel important somehow. It's hard to say if dressing up every day might get old after a while though. We'll see!
Showing posts with label Vienna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vienna. Show all posts
Monday, December 13, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Thanksgiving
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the USA but obviously that means nothing in Austria so there will be no turkey dinner with family. I could eat a turkey sandwich perhaps, but I just bought some chicken today so I think I'd rather make a schnitzel. I'd like to wish all my family and friends back in the US a happy Thanksgiving though, please eat a dark turkey leg for me.
I've heard Minnesota is completely snowed in which is unimaginable here. We're still having nice weather with temperatures in 40's and 50's. Sometimes there's rain, but not a hint of snow. In the Alps though, there's already plenty of snow and skiing season has begun, here in Vienna the only hint of winter is that an outdoor skating rink downtown has opened. Tom and Pete know the area well, in the summer they visited the place when it was a sand volleyball bar.
Of course Thanksgiving in the US is always the last significant event before Christmas season starts. My dad has already reminded me that this year I'll need to write a Christmas card and send it out to people since Marlene and I are technically a new family now. If anyone is wondering what we(I) might want as a gift, my old Xbox along with Rock Band 2, a guitar, and a microphone might be a good idea... I've really been missing playing video games even though I'm fully aware it would negatively affect my job search.
As far as my job search goes, I did get a piece of good news this week. I got an offer for a temp job opening as an IT support guy where the customers are mainly English-speaking, based in the UK, but it's quite a bit outside of Vienna in a town called Wolfsgraben. It would take an hour to get there with trains/buses but I told the guy I'd like to come for an interview. I'm still waiting to hear back from him. Apart from job searching I'm also looking at going back to school which makes me regret ever being educated in the US on account of the cost of universities here. Some are close to American prices like 20,000 Euros for an entire Master's program but many are only a few hundred Euros per semester, while some are free!! I'd have to pass entrance exams and be accepted but it seems crazy that Americans would pay so much for an education when it's so affordable here. Ethan, if you're reading this, please look into going to university in Spain. I'm sure you'd love it and I bet you have enough money saved up already to fly here and pay for the first couple semesters.
I've heard Minnesota is completely snowed in which is unimaginable here. We're still having nice weather with temperatures in 40's and 50's. Sometimes there's rain, but not a hint of snow. In the Alps though, there's already plenty of snow and skiing season has begun, here in Vienna the only hint of winter is that an outdoor skating rink downtown has opened. Tom and Pete know the area well, in the summer they visited the place when it was a sand volleyball bar.
Of course Thanksgiving in the US is always the last significant event before Christmas season starts. My dad has already reminded me that this year I'll need to write a Christmas card and send it out to people since Marlene and I are technically a new family now. If anyone is wondering what we(I) might want as a gift, my old Xbox along with Rock Band 2, a guitar, and a microphone might be a good idea... I've really been missing playing video games even though I'm fully aware it would negatively affect my job search.
As far as my job search goes, I did get a piece of good news this week. I got an offer for a temp job opening as an IT support guy where the customers are mainly English-speaking, based in the UK, but it's quite a bit outside of Vienna in a town called Wolfsgraben. It would take an hour to get there with trains/buses but I told the guy I'd like to come for an interview. I'm still waiting to hear back from him. Apart from job searching I'm also looking at going back to school which makes me regret ever being educated in the US on account of the cost of universities here. Some are close to American prices like 20,000 Euros for an entire Master's program but many are only a few hundred Euros per semester, while some are free!! I'd have to pass entrance exams and be accepted but it seems crazy that Americans would pay so much for an education when it's so affordable here. Ethan, if you're reading this, please look into going to university in Spain. I'm sure you'd love it and I bet you have enough money saved up already to fly here and pay for the first couple semesters.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
News in Brief August 20
Even though I thought mosquitoes only laid eggs in lakes, there were a ton in Madeira. They were especially mean to be doing all their attacking at night when I was helpless to resist. All my mosquito bites are just about healed.
Marlene decided to a vegetarian. She has lasted one week so far.
Yesterday we moved most of Marlene's possessions from Neusiedl to our apartment in Vienna and there's almost enough space for everything.
Austria Wien lost the away leg of the Europa League matchup with Aris Thessaloniki 0:1. The only goal of the match was scored in stoppage time by former MLS star Carlos Ruiz. They play the second leg of the series on Thursday in Vienna and I expect to be there. I'll also be buying my season tickets soon.
After arriving here one of the first things you notice as an American is the different models of cars they have in Europe, but one stood out from the rest and I finally got a picture of myself next to it... wearing my Twins hat of course.
Fiat Punto: The ultimate car for defensive drivers.
Marlene decided to a vegetarian. She has lasted one week so far.
Yesterday we moved most of Marlene's possessions from Neusiedl to our apartment in Vienna and there's almost enough space for everything.
Austria Wien lost the away leg of the Europa League matchup with Aris Thessaloniki 0:1. The only goal of the match was scored in stoppage time by former MLS star Carlos Ruiz. They play the second leg of the series on Thursday in Vienna and I expect to be there. I'll also be buying my season tickets soon.
After arriving here one of the first things you notice as an American is the different models of cars they have in Europe, but one stood out from the rest and I finally got a picture of myself next to it... wearing my Twins hat of course.
Fiat Punto: The ultimate car for defensive drivers.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Back in Vienna, Summary of the Rest of the Honeymoon
I'll just continue right where I left off last time...
Tuesday, Aug 10
We took an early shuttle to Funchal and boarded a catamaran to try our luck at seeing some dolphins or whales. Unfortunately all we saw was a lonely sea turtle. When we got back to the hotel, we chilled by the pool for a few hours. In the evening we had some drinks at the hotel bar then played some ping pong and billiards.
Wednesday, Aug 11
This was definitely the most exhausting day of the trip. We went on our own excursion by bus to the town Caniçal (not to be confused with the town our hotel was in Caniço), then hiked to the Eastern most tip of the island called Ponte de São Lourenço. You can see from linked map that Google maps is not very accurate for Madeira which proved quite frustrating when trying to find street names or restaurants in Funchal. The hike lasted all day, from around 9 to 4:30 and after we got back to the hotel, it was the most satisfying swim of the whole trip. We were pretty dusty and tired so it felt fantastic to jump in the pool then just lay in the sun for a bit. Then we went to the hotel's free steam bath and sauna for further relaxation. That night we stayed in and mixed our own cocktails since we found the hotel bar overly expensive. We determined everything in the hotel was overpriced compared to a bakery and bar right outside resort's walls.
Thursday, Aug 12
We took a shuttle to Funchal for our last day because Marlene wanted especially to visit Reid's Palace for a coffee or afternoon tea. We decided we were feeling lethargic so we went there right away for a coffee. The place was magnificent on the inside, if you scan through the history page on their website you'll see they've entertained guests like Winston Churchill and Gregory Peck. We wandered aimlessly around Funchal for the rest of the day. I halfheartedly attempted to find soccer-related sights so we went to a spot on the map marked Estadio which turned out to be a pretty pathetic looking pitch. It definitely didn't belong to one of Funchal's two Portuguese first division clubs. Then we shuttled back to the hotel and relaxed with some reading, some cocktails, and later packed up our bags.
Friday, Aug 13
Ooooh scary, Friday the 13th... Luckily our plane didn't crash and nothing unlucky happened. We made it back to Vienna and back to the apartment to assess the damage. We hadn't seen it since my brothers and friends who were staying there returned to the USA. It was better than I'd been expecting but it wasn't tidy enough for Marlene's standards so we've spent the last couple days cleaning it thoroughly and doing a lot of laundry. I'm very relieved that it's all finished including Marlene's Ikea wardrobe which had been sitting in an unfinished state for almost a month. I wouldn't say I'm as happy as her that it's complete though, I bet she'll have written something about it on Facebook by the time I'm done writing this.
Tuesday, Aug 10
We took an early shuttle to Funchal and boarded a catamaran to try our luck at seeing some dolphins or whales. Unfortunately all we saw was a lonely sea turtle. When we got back to the hotel, we chilled by the pool for a few hours. In the evening we had some drinks at the hotel bar then played some ping pong and billiards.
Wednesday, Aug 11
This was definitely the most exhausting day of the trip. We went on our own excursion by bus to the town Caniçal (not to be confused with the town our hotel was in Caniço), then hiked to the Eastern most tip of the island called Ponte de São Lourenço. You can see from linked map that Google maps is not very accurate for Madeira which proved quite frustrating when trying to find street names or restaurants in Funchal. The hike lasted all day, from around 9 to 4:30 and after we got back to the hotel, it was the most satisfying swim of the whole trip. We were pretty dusty and tired so it felt fantastic to jump in the pool then just lay in the sun for a bit. Then we went to the hotel's free steam bath and sauna for further relaxation. That night we stayed in and mixed our own cocktails since we found the hotel bar overly expensive. We determined everything in the hotel was overpriced compared to a bakery and bar right outside resort's walls.
Thursday, Aug 12
We took a shuttle to Funchal for our last day because Marlene wanted especially to visit Reid's Palace for a coffee or afternoon tea. We decided we were feeling lethargic so we went there right away for a coffee. The place was magnificent on the inside, if you scan through the history page on their website you'll see they've entertained guests like Winston Churchill and Gregory Peck. We wandered aimlessly around Funchal for the rest of the day. I halfheartedly attempted to find soccer-related sights so we went to a spot on the map marked Estadio which turned out to be a pretty pathetic looking pitch. It definitely didn't belong to one of Funchal's two Portuguese first division clubs. Then we shuttled back to the hotel and relaxed with some reading, some cocktails, and later packed up our bags.
Friday, Aug 13
Ooooh scary, Friday the 13th... Luckily our plane didn't crash and nothing unlucky happened. We made it back to Vienna and back to the apartment to assess the damage. We hadn't seen it since my brothers and friends who were staying there returned to the USA. It was better than I'd been expecting but it wasn't tidy enough for Marlene's standards so we've spent the last couple days cleaning it thoroughly and doing a lot of laundry. I'm very relieved that it's all finished including Marlene's Ikea wardrobe which had been sitting in an unfinished state for almost a month. I wouldn't say I'm as happy as her that it's complete though, I bet she'll have written something about it on Facebook by the time I'm done writing this.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Quick Apartment Tour
Here's a quick tour of our apartment!
This is our entryway. There's a wardrobe with cleaning supplies in the middle of the pic and a wardrobe for jackets to the right. To the right (not visible) is a chair and our home phone. To the left (not visible) is a couch and small table. Ahead and to the right is the kitchen, ahead and to the left is the living room. Behind the front door to the left is the bathroom.
Here's our bathroom. You can see our awesome bath which has plenty of room to lie down in and has massaging jets. Around the corner to the right is our sink and some shelves with supplies. The door to the right hides the toilet.
Here's our small kitchen. The picture is taken from the doorway to the bedroom so the entryway is through the door on the right. The fridge is inside the cupboard on the left. The tiniest dishwasher ever is underneath the sink and the table is where we like to eat breakfast.
Here's our bedroom. The big bookcase separates our sleeping area on the right to Marlene's working area on the left which will be more useful once it's cleaned up. My new wardrobe is not visible to the right and Marlene's wardrobe is not visible to the left. This picture is taken from the doorway between the living room and the bedroom so the kitchen is through a doorway to the right.
Here's our living room. We've got a couch and TV, and a table to the right where we do our computing. The table will probably be used more as a dinner table when we get more organized.
This is our entryway. There's a wardrobe with cleaning supplies in the middle of the pic and a wardrobe for jackets to the right. To the right (not visible) is a chair and our home phone. To the left (not visible) is a couch and small table. Ahead and to the right is the kitchen, ahead and to the left is the living room. Behind the front door to the left is the bathroom.
Here's our bathroom. You can see our awesome bath which has plenty of room to lie down in and has massaging jets. Around the corner to the right is our sink and some shelves with supplies. The door to the right hides the toilet.
Here's our small kitchen. The picture is taken from the doorway to the bedroom so the entryway is through the door on the right. The fridge is inside the cupboard on the left. The tiniest dishwasher ever is underneath the sink and the table is where we like to eat breakfast.
Here's our bedroom. The big bookcase separates our sleeping area on the right to Marlene's working area on the left which will be more useful once it's cleaned up. My new wardrobe is not visible to the right and Marlene's wardrobe is not visible to the left. This picture is taken from the doorway between the living room and the bedroom so the kitchen is through a doorway to the right.
Here's our living room. We've got a couch and TV, and a table to the right where we do our computing. The table will probably be used more as a dinner table when we get more organized.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
First Post, First Week in Vienna
Hello loyal readers, who at the moment are non-existent. I've been living in Wien for exactly one week now. My flight was easy, just a four hour layover in Toronto which I spent reading 'How Soccer Explains the World'. I couldn't put it down but it didn't really explain the world, rather I thought it demonstrated how everything that happens in life relates to soccer clubs and their players/fans.
So far in my first week I've started the process of becoming a legal resident. I think I'll actually be legal once the wedding is over but there's still other registering and work permit stuff to be done. Right now I'm waiting on my criminal record check to come back from the USA. When it arrives I'll include it with some other documents to apply for a residence permit. I think I'll document everything I have to do so that other Americans can use it as a resource, I wish I'd had a step-by-step process that would guide me through it...
Apart from the boring legal things, I had a welcoming party for myself in Marlene's hometown, Neusiedl am See, and attended a graduation party in Vienna for one of Marlene's best friends, Martina. Both of them were a lot of fun and affected by sudden downpours. Luckily our grilling was finished before the rain started both times.
Since Martina's party we've been laying low as Marlene has been feeling unwell and had a fever. Today she felt better so we finished building an Ikea wardrobe which is fantastic because that allowed me to finally unpack my suitcases and put my clothes somewhere. I'd also like to give credit to Marlene's youngest sister Vroni who helped me build the largest part of the wardrobe yesterday. Marlene took some pictures during the building process, I'll post them when I have a chance.
Finally, several months before leaving the USA I made an important decision. There are two major soccer teams from Vienna and I had to choose one of them to support. I'd like to outline the reasons, in no particular order, why I chose FK Austria Wien instead of Rapid Wien now:
- FK Austria has a better youth team, including better young Austrians. They're not as dependent on foreigners.
- FK Austria's stadium is closer to my apartment. I'm living in the same place Marlene has lived for nearly a year so I figured this out in advance.
- FK Austria's main color is purple while Rapid's is green which reminded me of my American football team the Minnesota Vikings (purple) and their biggest rivals the Green Bay Packers (green).
- When I studied abroad in Vienna in Spring 2006 I attended a derby match between FK Austria and Rapid, which FAK (not a typo) won 3:0. On a later visit I attended another derby match which Rapid won 1:4 but I sat in the FAK section because Marlene had a friend who got us tickets and we had a memorable time.
- Rapid seems to be the more fashionable club, supported by the majority of Viennese and especially young guys who are the stereotypical Europeans that Americans think look so silly. Faux-hawks or mullets, tight jeans, keffiyehs around their necks, etc. I attended an FAK match on Sunday and all their fans looked like normal people - jeans and a sweatshirt.
- Saw a football rivalries show about FAK/Rapid and it told how the conflict was re-ignited recently when Joey Didulica fouled Axel Lawarée. I'm not going to argue it wasn't a terrible foul. He deserved the red and eight game ban he received but Lawarée brought a lawsuit against him which is totally unnecessary.
- The greatest Austrian player ever, Matthias Sindelar, played his entire career for FAK before his unfortunate death/suicide/assassination.
I actually think I had a few more reasons but I'm sure that's enough to convince you ;-) Until next time!
So far in my first week I've started the process of becoming a legal resident. I think I'll actually be legal once the wedding is over but there's still other registering and work permit stuff to be done. Right now I'm waiting on my criminal record check to come back from the USA. When it arrives I'll include it with some other documents to apply for a residence permit. I think I'll document everything I have to do so that other Americans can use it as a resource, I wish I'd had a step-by-step process that would guide me through it...
Apart from the boring legal things, I had a welcoming party for myself in Marlene's hometown, Neusiedl am See, and attended a graduation party in Vienna for one of Marlene's best friends, Martina. Both of them were a lot of fun and affected by sudden downpours. Luckily our grilling was finished before the rain started both times.
Since Martina's party we've been laying low as Marlene has been feeling unwell and had a fever. Today she felt better so we finished building an Ikea wardrobe which is fantastic because that allowed me to finally unpack my suitcases and put my clothes somewhere. I'd also like to give credit to Marlene's youngest sister Vroni who helped me build the largest part of the wardrobe yesterday. Marlene took some pictures during the building process, I'll post them when I have a chance.
Finally, several months before leaving the USA I made an important decision. There are two major soccer teams from Vienna and I had to choose one of them to support. I'd like to outline the reasons, in no particular order, why I chose FK Austria Wien instead of Rapid Wien now:
- FK Austria has a better youth team, including better young Austrians. They're not as dependent on foreigners.
- FK Austria's stadium is closer to my apartment. I'm living in the same place Marlene has lived for nearly a year so I figured this out in advance.
- FK Austria's main color is purple while Rapid's is green which reminded me of my American football team the Minnesota Vikings (purple) and their biggest rivals the Green Bay Packers (green).
- When I studied abroad in Vienna in Spring 2006 I attended a derby match between FK Austria and Rapid, which FAK (not a typo) won 3:0. On a later visit I attended another derby match which Rapid won 1:4 but I sat in the FAK section because Marlene had a friend who got us tickets and we had a memorable time.
- Rapid seems to be the more fashionable club, supported by the majority of Viennese and especially young guys who are the stereotypical Europeans that Americans think look so silly. Faux-hawks or mullets, tight jeans, keffiyehs around their necks, etc. I attended an FAK match on Sunday and all their fans looked like normal people - jeans and a sweatshirt.
- Saw a football rivalries show about FAK/Rapid and it told how the conflict was re-ignited recently when Joey Didulica fouled Axel Lawarée. I'm not going to argue it wasn't a terrible foul. He deserved the red and eight game ban he received but Lawarée brought a lawsuit against him which is totally unnecessary.
- The greatest Austrian player ever, Matthias Sindelar, played his entire career for FAK before his unfortunate death/suicide/assassination.
I actually think I had a few more reasons but I'm sure that's enough to convince you ;-) Until next time!
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