Job Center Epic

So I had my second and as it turns out final session at the Job Centre in Wiesbaden. At the appointed time, I sat waiting outside my advisor’s office. One of her colleagues came past and asked who I was waiting for? When I answered she said:”Oh you must knock on the door, she is probably waiting for you already”. And as it turns my lady was waiting for me. On my previous visit, the advisor had come out of her office and invited me in. The point is: how was I supposed to know to knock on the door when my previous experience had been the exact opposite. This raises two points to consider. Often our past experience (the Past) leads us to draw the wrong conclusion about what course of action to take in a new situation (the Present). Plus, people very often expect us to interpret a situation in the same way they do. The “Theys” and “Thems” (the Critics) of the world are utterly amazed that anyone could act even think of acting in such a strange way (differently to the way they would). This is pretty common when people find themselves in a different culture to the one they are used to. I will provide another example from my own intercultural travels.

In 2010 I moved to the England after living in Germany for about eight years. In that time I had lived in Munich (München), Berlin and Nuremberg (Nürnberg). In Germany, if you have a bus pass (monthly ticket) you simply show it to the diver as you walk past. When I tried to do this in England, the driver became extremely upset. He thought I was not waiting my turn in the queue. He wanted to check my bus pass, perhaps because UK bus passes have photographs, while the German ones generally do not. Oh the fun of cultural differences.

 

I must however return to my Job Center Epic. Once again my advisor was extremely friendly. She actively engaged with whatever I told or showed her, offered additional suggestions about where I could look for job opportunities. I did find it strange that she did not take ask to see the application she had suggested I make. Perhaps a brief perusal of the covering letter would have been in order.  Perhaps she did not ask to see it because I had mentioned I did not really consider myself suitable for the position. I am not sure. She repeated some of the ideas that had been mentioned in our previous meeting. I felt that the meeting began to run out of stream, with me doing most of the talking about my ideas. No doubt helped by my mentioning that I was considering further study. At about 9.55 am there was a knock on the door. The next appointment was there and this person clearly knew to knock on the door. So my meeting and consultation drew to an end without me being offered anything tangible (a course or some sort of training) by the job centre. My advisor did promise to send me any further insights she might have by email. To which I responded by giving her my blog address. Good Morning Frau. X. if you are reading this.

I had sought out the Job Center hoping to receive some sort of training to make myself more marketable in the German Labour Market. But I think my problem is that I do not receive any unemployment benefits – so cost nothing – and why then should the Job Center finance any additional training for me – which would cost something. I might be wrong and am clearly biased. Perhaps my evidence is only anecdotal, but I feel that if I was actually costing the Job Center money; they may have been prepared to pay for my skills to be updated and so made more directly relevant to the German job market. Then again perhaps not, but this is the truth about how I feel. This probably means that I will still not appear in the unemployment statistics – and so remain invisible – and that I find rather annoying. I do not even have a customer number. So in one way going to the Job Center was not terribly useful, but I have at least investigated it as an option. I have realised that I will have to find my own ways of generating income in Germany. And strangely enough I find this quite motivating; to try and find my own solutions. This then is my challenge and to be honest I did not have high hopes before I visited the Job Center. It was an avenue that needed to be investigated and so I can now tick it off the list of options.

Ancient Languages and Books

While I doing some research about on-line Masters Degrees in Classics and Ancient History, I discovered the University of Trinity Saint David, in Wales. They offer some interesting, and more important for the UK, affordable programmes. I was very impressed with the rapid response I received to my queries about courses and fee structures. Unfortunately, it has become very clear that I would have to study Latin or Greek if I wished to pursue this further. I did an introductory course in Latin, in the last century - as I like to call it (1988), but remember almost nothing. Except perhaps for Rosa, Rosam, Rostatis; and that the name of the textbook was Wheelock and it had a red cover.  By the end of the year cover had fallen been ripped-off. From over-use and not my violent outbursts at getting my declensions wrong again! Strangely enough this book is not in my library anymore. I supposed somebody borrowed it twenty years ago and failed to return it. This is an absolute pet hate of mine, people who run off with books and do not return them. I few years ago I did get “the Dummies Guide to Latin” but did not make great progress.

Catullus
Well I have decided that I need to learn some Ancient Greek. I have ordered a book from the UK, even though I live in Wiesbaden, Germany. It is actually cheaper to order a book from AMAZON in the UK than the Germany version. Even with postage charges the cost of ordering from the UK is often less. I assume it is because there are more sellers of English books in the UK than in Germany. And of course in the UK we do not pay VAT – Value Added Tax - on books while we certainly do pay tax on books in Germany. Not just English ones, but all books. That is assuming that you can get the books you need. I bought most of my ancient history text books this way a few years back when I Iived in Nuremberg. I know that we should be going into our local books shops and supporting them rather buying books from amazon. Given Amazon’s rather strange attitude to paying tax in the countries that they actually sell their books in. When I lived in the UK, I saw firsthand how independent books sellers struggled to survive. The Sussex Bookseller group closed down in 2011, and put lots of good book people out of work. But here in Wiesbaden, my local bookshops do not have the books that I am looking for, so I have an excuse. The next post will have more pictures and less text.

Dr Michael Scott's "Who Were The Greeks", Episode 2

I am very grateful to the people who put the second episode of “Who WereThe Greeks” on Youtube. Meant that I was able to catch the programme on
Friday afternoon, only a day after it was show on BBC 2. (I have to
interrupt his post and go and hang up my washing, it is Monday after all!
All done, the rest can wait until tomorrow.) In this installment he
continued to show how the Greeks were different to us, but were also
very different to the way we have come to see them.

One of the biggest differences is that the Ancient Greeks painted their
monuments. There were not just the off-cream marble that we now tend to
think of. Assuming that we think about the Ancient World at all. The
fact the monuments were painted makes sense when you think about how
bright the sun is in Greece. I know this is a very simplistic reason.
There are more technical things like: showing the splendour of the gods,
the wealth of Athens, creating awe in the onlooker etc. But on the
basic level if the background is very bright then you need to use
colour to highlight the object in question.

I spent about a day in Athens between flights from Johannesburg, South
Africa to Berlin, Germany some years back. I recall that it was both
extremely hot and bright. I think it is quite amazing when you think
what the Greeks achieved in spite of so much heat. Yes, I know that other
cultures have also achieve much in spite of their locations. It is just
that I know less about them then I do about the Ancient Greeks and
Romans. The point I am trying to make is that I would probably have been
hiding under a tree to avoid the sun, then building the Parthenon.
Perhaps all I can say is that I prefer it a bit cooler.

Dr Scott also looked at the site of the original Olympics at Olympia. This
is obviously a very popular topic as the 2012 Olympic Games in London
are not yet a distant memory. A really magical summer. I lived near
London, last year and it was a truly wonderful time. My favourite part
was seeing so many hyper-masculine athletes crying. I really enjoyed the
very un-British outpouring of male tears.

Dr Scott once again challenged our sanitised view of the ancient
Olympics. Describing the pain, scars and even death of some of the
ancient athletes. All very interesting and thought provoking, done with
his very dry humour. There was also a section on Greek Drama and among
other things Michael (sorry Professor but I am getting tired of referring
to you as Dr Scott) looked at the use of masks in Greek Comedy. The way
the actors were able to show emotions in spite of their somewhat
cumbersome masks. He said the main question that Greek Tragedy asked the
audience was along the lines of: “What should I do in this impossible
situation?”

What would you do in Oedipus's situation, when you discovered that you
had killed your father and married your mother and had children with
her. And contrary to popular understanding of the Oedipus complex, the
poor guy had done it all unknowingly. I wonder how a modern soap opera
would deal with that situation? Perhaps it has been done already, but
then again maybe not. Bit too over the top. Guess that is why we call it
Greek Tragedy.

For me “Who Were The Greeks” once again reinforced my passionate
interest in Ancient History. So now I will just have to wait for
Assistant Professor Scott's next TV programme. Finally, on the topic of
Greek Drama found a really good post written by a Welsh writer.

Historical Background - How I came to be in Wiesbaden, Germany

We all like stories. Telling them and listening to them. If this were not so, the publishing, film and TV industry would not be the money spinners that they are today. In fact you can include the music industry as well because after all songs tell stories. Although most people do not listen to the words, I am told. Well I do listen to the words. The point is that stories are very important to us, especially our own versions of events. How often in the retelling of an event, do we not add little things to make the story and thus ourselves seem more: interesting, scary, tough, weak and desirable then the actual events themselves support. So I would like to share my stories and in the process try and sort the facts from the fiction. The Ancient Greeks took story telling very seriously and acknowledged the effect that drama has on the viewer. They realised that we are drawn into the story and can experience arrange of emotions without actually having to go through the pain and gain in real life. This is certainly one of the reasons that I went and saw The Great Gatsby at my local Cinema in Wiesbaden, in 3D and in English.

We are told that stories need an introduction. My introduction will aim to tell the story of how I came to be in Wiesbaden in 2013.  I think it might be a rather long introduction but we will see. At this point I will try not to turn it into a either a Comedy or a Tragedy.

I was born towards the latter half of the last century in the Western Cape, South Africa. After leaving school I attended University in Johannesburg, South Africa. There I studied Business and Law. After leaving University, I worked in the administration and accounting in Johannesburg. I left South Africa in March 2002 and relocated to Munich, Germany to join my partner. My residence permit did not allow me to work in Germany. I used the time to improve my German – an ongoing process- and started a correspondence degree, majoring in the ancient history and culture. I also helped a German friend improve her English and assisted her with her English Exam preparations.

In mid-2003 I moved to Berlin from Munich after spending about a month in South Africa. I returned to South Africa at the beginning of 2004. The plan was to stay and find a job, but after one week I decided to return to Germany. I applied for and was accepted on Masters Programme in Berlin at the Humboldt University.  My particular focus was British Culture and History. As part of the programme, I spent three months in Manchester on a student placement. During this time I researched and wrote articles for the organisation’s magazine and other publications. To complete the Masters I wrote a 20 000 word thesis on “The Internal Limits of Third Sector Organisations in the UK”.  Once the Masters degree was complete I turned my attention to finishing my degree in Ancient History and Culture. I finished my BA in 2008 with a distinction, something that I am immensely proud of. 

In 2007, I moved to Nuremberg. At the beginning of 2009 I finally approached the Job Centre for assistance. I ended up participating in a six month German Language course. At the end of which I found an unpaid internship at a local company. And although, I received a glowing reference the company was not able to offer me remunerated employment. In August 2009 I received my German citizenship.

My partner was offered a position in the UK in April 2010. I was responsible for organising our move from Germany to England. I was able to find temporary work on an off and on basis in administration and accounting. My longest contract was ten months, my shortest four days. I lived about 45 minutes from London. Close enough to go to London to watch Dance or go to the Theatre on a special night out, but otherwise London was too far away. In any case this all came to an end when I moved back to Germany in February 2013.

After staying in a furnished apartment for a few months, I have finally moved to a really nice apartment in the Rheingau quarter of Wiesbaden.This then is the first chapter of my story. I am now seeking a way to make Germany work for me, or rather for me to find a way of earning money in Germany, so Wiesbaden as a Foreign Language.

So what things am I passionate (overused word- but cannot think of a better one)? Even if the answer is not obvious from what I have said above: History and Culture, and especially the ancient world of the Greek city states and the early Roman Empire.