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Working Abroad

Check out the above article. It's about young Americans who move abroad for work, which is obviously an interesting subject for me. A few quotes I like: 1)"According to one estimate, 35,000 young Americans realize that working abroad, whether teaching, bartending, taking care of children, typing or picking grapes, has moved well beyond just trust-fund children. Far from being career suicide, it can actually provide a professional boost." Yeah, and about 1,000 of them have to be in Prague teaching english. And 50% of these are here because beer is cheaper in Prague than it is in Kansas City. 2) "Many aspiring expatriates live at home and work a few months to save money before they leave. " I left immediately after school, then came home and bummed around my parents house for two months, which mostly consisted of me laying by their pool. But that's okay because I left before they yelled at me to get the hell out. 3) "Many travelers depart not knowing how they will earn a living once they hit the ground. With hustle, they often find employment before the jet lag wanes (to the relief of worried parents), according to some who have taken the plunge. Those working legally tend to earn more, but their stays have a set duration — generally, four months to three years, depending on the country or program. People working illegally may earn less but can slip under the radar and stay in a country longer. A word of warning: that can result in deportation in extreme circumstances." I had no idea. I had some interviews, but then ended up drinking a lot of beer and feeling sorry for myself. I also had the unpleasant experience of receiving a letter in the mail that told me I had to leave the country within 30 days. What I love about the Czech republic is that I can totally ignore this. This place is so awesome. 4) ""Admittedly, it is a way to goof off and have a good time in a foreign country," he said, but he added that "having international experience under your belt — employers are enthusiastic."" Goofing around? I know nothing about this. As a high-flying Financial Analyst for an American multinational, I have long forgotten the meaning of fun. 5) "Foreign experience demonstrates entrepreneurship, resourcefulness and independence, according to recruiters. Rosalind Clay Carter, senior vice president for human resources at A&E Television Networks, said people who work and support themselves overseas tend to be inquisitive, flexible and adaptive — valuable skills in today's workplace." I have focused all my flexability and adaptivity on making sure I never pay more than a dollar for beer. And of this I can be proud.

New York, NY

New York was fine. I spent two days on Long Island, becoming acquainted with a number of colleagues whom I will never see again. On thursday we visited another site in Connecticut, which involved a fun ferry ride over near New Haven. The northeast is really weird, I must say. On Friday night I went out to NYC to visit my old Prague school buddies, Brian and Paul. I met Brian on the 8th floor of the Mariott hotel on Times square, where we drank beers and watched new york prepare for its evening decadence. the fact that i considered my 6 doller beer cheap just shows how depraved i had become. The evening was predictibly beer hazed, with myself and Brian finding our way through a vast array of Midtown and East Village booze haunts. We had quite a good time, and retired with a hot dog that resembled a budding religious movement, topped off with a six pack of Dos Equis. No complaints there. Saturday Brian accompanied me to the Apple store, where I purchased a small gift for my gf. That place is bizzare, by the way. They have this small auditorium set up so people can learn how to use their Mac. Brian claims the place is a notorious singles hangout, and I could understand why. That place was sexy, and the people there were feedin' off those vibes. Normally i wouldn't write such a dubious statement, but just go there and try to disagree. Just try. Oh, and saturday was topped off with the flight overseas and back to my normal booze-dens of prague. good to be home.

Spanish guy

There's an extremely loud spanish guy at the internet cafe right now. He's been talking on his phone for like 45 minutes. He laughs a lot, and generally seems to be organizing some sort of gay orgy. More power to him on that one, but I just wish he wouldn't do it, loudly, at the internet cafe. I'm trying to read about Nick and Jessica, and he's distracting me with his preposterous spanish words.

effigies and olive trees

Several people have asked me what my opinion is on the whole Mohammed cartoon 'controversy'. My consistent response: 'It's Stupid'. I really don't feel like i need to go into much more detail. But my friends have taken issue with my brevity, so I might as well give my full perspective. I thought the cartoons were funny, especially the one with Mohammed telling the suicide bombers that they've run out of virgins. The one that has pissed off everyone seems to be the one of Mo with a bomb for a turban. Considering how many moslem groups seem to use bombs as their primary religious message, this also seemed fairly amusing to me. I was heartened to see several european papers publish the cartoons in the face of calls for self-censorship. People should be able to see what is driving the protests. The response of the moslem world has been predictibly childish. I totally endorse their right to protest, I just prefer they won't go on rampages, burn down embassies and start some fun little pogroms against any local religious minorities. At this point, hasn't every single person in the Western world been burned as an effigy on the streets of Karachi. And furthermore, what are people in Karachi doing when they're not burning effigies? Do they just go to school and stockpile supplies of paper-mache american politicians? Are their vast factories producing as many foreign flags as possible? And where are the women? They never seem to be involved in this. The beard and blanket crowd seems like a lot of underemployed, immature and uneducated young men who, without the outlets of sex and beer, have decided that rioting is some good, clean, religiously endosed fun. I believe it is my right to say anything about anyone else's beliefs that I deem necessary. I don't particularly care for this Mohammed character, and Islam is not on the top of my philosophical study list. But this doesn't change the fact that I like and respect a number of Moslems as individuals, and my views on their religious beliefs don't influence the friendship and respect that I have for them as human beings. I was watching the news today, and apparently one of the afforementioned rampaging mobs attacked the US embassy. I was watching, thinking maybe the New York Times had grown some balls and actually published the cartoons. I burst out laughing when I found out the supreme court has a picture of Mohammed on it. There is a stone relief of historical law-givers, and Mo was thrown up, ironically between Justinian and Charlemagne. I was similarly amused with the Italian Prime Minister compared himself favorably with Jesus last week. I find this all very amusing, and just have no idea what the hell everyone's problem is. There is a name for laws that prohibit saying bad things about religion. It's called theocracy. Such a government results in enjoyable persuits like the Inquisition, one of the finer moments of my particular religious sect. I propose a deal with the Moslem world: if you want to protest and burn and pogrom to your hearts content, we get to do it too. I've always wanted to lead a mob on some esoteric rampage against dollar stores, or thai massage parlors. Or we could all agree that we can say whatever we want, as long as no one is physically injured. Your choice. Update: Check out the supreme court thing here: www.supremecourtus.gov/about/north&southwalls.pdf. Also I have put a picture of that depiction upon the website. I hope I don't get fatwaed.

Long Island

For some reason I'm in Long Island. A Guyanese guy drove me here, and told me that the most important thing in life is a woman who can cook and clean. Of course he was some 50 year old guy driving a cab. I'm not sure what this all means.

A Muse and his Maker.

Hoping to catch the latest episode of ‘Pimp My Ride’, I casually turned the tube to MTV the other day. Unfortunately they were playing music videos (they do that in Europe). I watched for a few minutes, and a new song came on by the name of ‘Hysteria’, by some group called ‘Muse’. In short, it rocked. I discussed this ‘new’ band called ‘Muse’ with some of my co-workers, and were disappointed to find out they all know about the group, and my frog roommate even has their CD. It’s been a long time since I discovered a new band I liked. I’ve recently been listening to my old Weezer and Radiohead CD’s, which are absolutely fantastic. But both bands recent efforts have dissappointed. Weezer has become a bit too kitsch, and the Radiohead guys have gone completely insane. Their recent musical efforts have consisted of high-pitched whines mixed with dissonant chords and a drum machine. I have no idea what’s happening there. Muse sounds a lot like a non-kitsch Weezer mixed with a sane (but not sober) Radiohead. I’ve been enjoying their music at work, listening on www.radioblogclub.com, a sort of online radio, with crappy quality but sans annoying dj’s. I just hope they avoid thinking they’re some sort of musical genius and end up recording an album consisting of them hitting a bongo for 76 minutes while on mushrooms. That would suck. I do have a pet theory that all musical geniuses eventually go insane. Look at Beethoven, Radiohead, even Whitney Houston. And if you're 60 and still playing well, you're not that great: i.e. The Rolling Stones. But the greatest musical genius turned future inmate of some institution is, of course, the King of Pop. Michael Jackson has been rumored to be planning an album of songs based on the prayers of the late Pope, JP the Deuce. His 'publicists' deny this of course, but the more Michael Jackson goes insane the more likely something like this is to happen. William Shatner did something similar, and everyone loved it. Everyone is much less critical of the fact that William Shatner is completely insane. Maybe it's because he's white and Mike is black. Or white. Michal Jackson, deciding that becoming a white woman wasn't enough of a challenge, has decided to become a submissive Muslim woman. Michael's transformation, from black man -> > white man -> white woman -> space alien -> muslim mother has been nothing short of amazing. I can't wait to see what happens next.

A difficult job

I have discovered a totally novel phenomenon in my new position: fatigue. Last evening my old boss took myself and my colleague Pavol out for dinner and a drink. At least that was the plan. Around 10 he started ordering shots of slivovice and things became hazy. Needless to say it was hard to reconcile my new hours (starting at 9am) with my usual drinking habits. This has coincided with my becoming quite busy due to the new position, training/learning and new responsibilities. Basically it’s Friday afternoon and I’m tired as shit. I’m happy though as I find my new job quite interesting and challenging. I am learning a lot of interesting systems and complex excel modeling formulas, which is a definite advantage. I’m not such a fan of my new addiction to a cup of coffee in the morning. And I don’t care for the alarm clock in the morning. One nice thing about working the afternoon shift is the ability to sleep until you wake up. Never had to worry about showing up late to work…it’s pretty damn hard to sleep past one (at least for me, as opposed to my nocturnal sibling). Update on NYC: I will be in the city from around 6 or 7 in the evening on Friday the 17th, leaving for prague at 6pm on Saturday the 18th. I have to be back at work on Monday, as my boss will be flying from the US to Prague. So for all my friends in the City (and those not too lazy to fly from the great white north), come and share a beer with me to celebrate my new job.

Finally!

I apologize for my lack of blogging over the last few weeks - I've been training my (2) replacements, and one of them started using my computer, depriving me of a blog delivery method. But last night I finally transitioned over to my new position, so I am officially a Financial Analyst. I get (1) Higher Salary, (2) Work Laptop, and (3) Training in New York. Yes - For all my NYC readers (Brian, Paul, Keija), I should be in the city on Friday the 17th. Brian - Can I crash on your couch? Please? Although this is not yet final, I'm still waiting to see some flight prices and such. More updates tomorrow.