I think a lot of expats can sympathize with me about being jobless in a foreign country. Now is a particularly brutal time due to the world economic downturn.
The only way to deal with the situation is humor. This is what I have discovered since my first full week being jobless.
Ironing isn’t as bad as it used to be when faced with nothing else to do. I ripped out the entire contents of my closet last week and ironed everything. I was seriously considering ironing Paul’s underwear, but a little voice in my head told me that might be taking it a little too far.
Cleaning the apartment and running the dishwasher/washing machine is fun damn it!
My exercise DVDs are not the demon spawn I always thought they were.
My cat ignores me.
I’m sure my husband’s dream of having a housewife vanished when I made him a grilled cheese sandwich with whole-wheat bread, low-fat cheese, and low-fat margarine (did you know that low-fat margarine exists? That’s what you discover when you have time to troll the grocery store instead of zipping through it).
Double-sided tape is a little miracle worker. One can use it to:
Train a cat
Rid furniture of pet hair
Wrap gifts without tape showing
Keep clothing in place
But so far what I have learned since being jobless is how nice people are. The people who know me have jumped to support me any which way they can. I received phone calls of sympathy, emails with links to job websites, offers to review and perfect my resume, and offers to connect me to their network. Thank you for the kindness that I have received so far. You have no idea how warm it makes me feel.
To see my professional profile please go to:
https://www.xing.com/profile/Britta_Pichler
That sucks, hope you find something soon. On the bright side, you are not “new” in Vienna anymore, so it’s not like you have just arrived and don’t know the local way of finding a job, the tips etc.
Good luck!
Yes it does suck. But you are right. I have a far better understanding of what the job market is here in Vienna. That is helpful. And as the saying goes, when a door closes a window opens.