I showed up at the right place at the right time, and everyone was surprised to see me.  Not as in, I didn't know you were coming today, but as in, what are you doing here?  at all?

My paperwork is in limbo someplace in the legal system and it was kindly and gently suggested that I wait til further notice before planning another day.  I stopped at ( Read more... )

Back at work again today.   The Volunteer Coordinator actually approved all the paperwork submitted by the department and forwarded it on to JAG.  So we're waiting....

Today I spent 8 hours at the office, wrote a second newspaper article about energy conservation, watched a presentation for newly arriving soldiers, reviewed a fascinating journal for ( Read more... )

I showed up at the office, prepared to hear that they were sorry but couldn't make the arrangements.  What I heard was, of COURSE we want you!  We're very excited to have you!  We'll deal with this pesky paperwork problem, no worries!  and they showed me to an empty desk and said please write a job description for what you want to do.

I suppose ( Read more... )

I have just been told that there are serious obstacles to my volunteering at the Department of Public Works.  Not only does the Army prevent me from getting a job (I have no official status, you see) but now they tell me that I can't even F'ing DONATE my time!

Today the volunteer coordinator told me that they really only accept volunteers for work ( Read more... )

First day on the (volunteer) job and boy did I learn a lot of new stuff.  Things like: 

• The Army and Air Force hate each other big time ("but we have different mission statements, that's why".... really?). 
• Germany has no operating landfills for municipal waste, it all gets incinerated. 
• Since 1993, Germany has reduced its waste stream by 78% (um, ( Read more... )

Since actually applying for jobs doesn't seem to be working for me, I thought I'd try volunteering through the Red Cross for a while and see how that goes.  Of course, it doesn't beat actually getting a paycheck, but you never know, I might meet someone who could hire me for something ( Read more... )