settling in
So, it's officially been just over two weeks, and I feel... at home. Even though weird little things annoy me, and I am discovering plenty of odd Americanish stuff about myself (who knew I was so dependent on paper towels and measuring spoons?) this is definitely the right place for me right now.
I'm mostly doing online work for the company I worked with in Houston, oddly enough, but I hope to be picking up tutoring (test prep) and teaching work as well. I've mostly spent the past weeks scouring Zitty and Tip and every online job source site for any available positions.
I had an interesting "interview" with a very... interesting company that said they needed people whose native language was not German to be "telephone interviewers", aka pollsters. Then, in the testing phase, they sent several people home for having too strong of accents when speaing German, and told me that my accent was "borderline". I "passed", but when reading through all the legal stuff they sent home with us prior to a training day, I was less and less impressed. They are already treading extremely finely on the line that keeps them from having to pay taxes for their workers, and I was supposed to sign in half a dozen places that I wouldn't be violating my status by working for them, even though their requirements would essentially force me to do so. Very shady. I'd much rather grade more essays and take the hit for earning dollars rather than euros right now.
I do think I will invest in elocution lessons when I have more money, though. I don't mind being taken for a foreigner, and I know I can't carry off a truly German look, but I hate being marked as an American the moment I open my mouth. I've never before been told that I have a very strong accent before, but I know that it is much worse than it used to be. I think I lost my ear trying to teach!
I'm mostly doing online work for the company I worked with in Houston, oddly enough, but I hope to be picking up tutoring (test prep) and teaching work as well. I've mostly spent the past weeks scouring Zitty and Tip and every online job source site for any available positions.
I had an interesting "interview" with a very... interesting company that said they needed people whose native language was not German to be "telephone interviewers", aka pollsters. Then, in the testing phase, they sent several people home for having too strong of accents when speaing German, and told me that my accent was "borderline". I "passed", but when reading through all the legal stuff they sent home with us prior to a training day, I was less and less impressed. They are already treading extremely finely on the line that keeps them from having to pay taxes for their workers, and I was supposed to sign in half a dozen places that I wouldn't be violating my status by working for them, even though their requirements would essentially force me to do so. Very shady. I'd much rather grade more essays and take the hit for earning dollars rather than euros right now.
I do think I will invest in elocution lessons when I have more money, though. I don't mind being taken for a foreigner, and I know I can't carry off a truly German look, but I hate being marked as an American the moment I open my mouth. I've never before been told that I have a very strong accent before, but I know that it is much worse than it used to be. I think I lost my ear trying to teach!