Let's just forget about that last post, yeah?

So, I'm returning to this blog for a post/update.  That other stuff about recap of Australia/Indonesia/Vietnam... let's just pretend that didn't happen.  I could erase the post, but that seems like too much work for something that doesn't matter so much...

I'm currently living in Heidelberg, Germany (as I'm sure the majority of people who will bother to read this blog already know), and I have been here almost 5 months (Wow!).  It's been a pretty enlightening experience, trying to live successfully in a foreign country, and I both understand and thoroughly dislike the reasons countries make it so hard on immigrants (and even people who just want to live for a bit somewhere else).

I came here with the idea that I would find a job, and be able to get a work permit/residence visa because of it, since that's what all the official pages say.  I should have read stuff from people who had actually tried.

In certain parts of Germany, it's not very difficult to do this path.  I have met a few people who frankly amaze me at their ability to have any sort of job, especially one taking care of other people's children, but who have nevertheless been able to attain work allowing them to stay in the country.  In Heidelberg, it's not that simple.  There is a large international community here, due to the university in the middle of the old part of the city (the second oldest university in the world!!), and there is some structure to support that community (international schools/kindergartens, tons of stores/businesses from all over the world, etc...).  However, there's also a big old American Army base right in the middle of Heidelberg as well, meaning there is a surplus of Americans looking for things to do (family members of military, for example).  Also, because of the university, there is a surplus of students looking for work as well, to be able to pay their 500 euro semester fees.

Ok, I still have a shot, at least...

I applied.  First I applied at kindergartens, just to find something a bit more normal and possibly better paying than restaurant work.  Those were huge failures from the beginning.  Just like America, people don't return calls, you have to keep following up, and the average person isn't worth the time for a simple rejection email/letter.  The interviews I had were over as soon as the teachers asked "where did you get your education degree from?"  People in other parts of Germany could get jobs with children just by speaking English.  Here, I needed a degree.

During one of the "interviews," I went to talk to the kids, because I thought that would be a better measure of my ability than a piece of paper.  While I was doing the rounds, watching kids dance around the floor, read books, and pretend to be flying dragons, I asked one of the other teachers: "Oh, is this the unstructured play time part of the day?"  Her response:

"It may look unstructured, but actually, the children are learning very important lessons about interpersonal communication and how to react in social situations.  This is a very important part of the learning cycle for any developing child, and we try to foster that growth in every child. So, no, this isn't 'unstructured' play"

(I will add that the tone of this response was somewhere around "Why would you bother me with this type of question? Don't you know anything about children and child development?")

Well, that's not too bad, I thought.  I don't want to be around those types of people anyways.  I've worked at some really nice restaurants.  I have a pretty good cooking resume.  I should be able to find something more specialized than everyone else looking for jobs...

I applied.  Fabienne helped me translate my resume into German, and I went all over the place, by foot and by email, and applied to about 15 restaurants/catering companies.  Most of which I got no response back.  The catering companies wanted an interview, but couldn't provide me with a working visa.  The one michelin starred restaurant said that my experience wasn't at a high enough level (Clio has no michelin stars because there is no michelin guide to Boston yet...).  A French Bistro had me try out, and then the owner told me that he couldn't help me until March, and walked away without even saying goodbye or shaking my hand.  The politeness and courtesy that seems normal to me was completely lacking.  (Full Disclosure: He wasn't German.  He was Turkish.  And there was only one French person working at the bistro.  All of their food was heavily oversalted and cooked with one of three sauces - tomato, white, or brown)

I sent an application to the only 5 star hotel in Heidelberg, Hotel Europa (name translated for easier typing), and within an hour received a reply from the Chef, asking to schedule an interview.  So, I did.  All in German (with Fabienne's help for the email correspondence, of course).  I went in for an interview, and then a second one, and then a trial (where I made sushi with risotto rice and spinach instead of sushi rice and seaweed).  They offered me a job, and they told me they would sponsor me for a work permit.  Awesome.  Problems solved, all on time (You are allowed to stay 3 months without a visa in European countries, and I had gotten a job about 2.8 months in).  I got the paperwork filled out, and turned it in to the proper office.

Here's how it works: You give the work permit sponsorship form (filled out by the job) to the Foreigner's office.  They forward it to the Worker's office, who puts a posting on their job board for a few weeks to see if any EU citizens can take the job.  If nobody takes it, then I get the job/work permit.  That's how it's supposed to go.  This process is affected by: Specialization required of the job, how much the job pays, where the job is, what color tie the person delivering the papers has on, whether or not the person in charge of the paperwork had coffee in the morning, the nationality of the applicant, and many other very critical factors any fair and just democratic country would take into account.

I waited 3 weeks for this process, asking the foreigner's office weekly for updates, and trying to stay in the head of the hotel (they wouldn't let me just hang out and work for free, insurance is annoying).  After three weeks, I emailed my contact at the Foreigner's office, asking for an update.  I got a response saying that my application was rejected, and I'll be getting a letter soon.  This was Monday.  I went the same day to the hotel to figure out what is happening and what I needed to do.  They could do nothing until the letter came.  The letter came Friday, dated on Monday, saying my application was rejected and I had 2 weeks to figure something out or I had to leave Germany.  Not the most friendly correspondence.  The Human Resources woman for the hotel had my back, and did all she could to work things out with the offices concerned, but:

As long as there was a jobless cook within 200 km of the hotel, I couldn't have the job/work permit.  The work office had "found" an applicant for the hotel.

Nobody has applied to the hotel.  They had been looking for 4 months before I came along, and they couldn't hire me.  This hurt them and me.  I recognize that governments have to look out for their own people, but 200 km is a huge range.  If the work office has no problems finding people for these jobs, why don't they do it always through that office?  Not the best situation.

So now, I'm back in a German course, and figuring out the next step.  I have applied for the Masters program in Biology, but I won't hear anything until August.  I can't work here, and the only way for me to get a work permit is: to be sponsored by an American company (which is annoying for them), or to get married.  I have met a few people in my German classes that have taken this way, and heard many stories about how that process was undertaken just to enable one of the couple to work/live in the country.  What a way to uphold a tradition like that, huh?

Now, to be fair, I've looked into America, and it's no better.  Nobody can just come in and look for work to obtain a visa (that doesn't mean people don't do it, but it's easier to swim across the gulf of mexico and get in than to go through JFK border control).  You have to come in with a visa, the paperwork is mindnumbing and the process can take up to 2 years.  There is no temporary work permit/residence permit, if you want to move and look for work, you need to apply for a green card, which is the first step towards citizenship (it's not called permanent residency for nothing..).  Every country has their own individual way of being a huge pain in the ass for people looking to come in.

I'm not saying this because I'm unhappy here.  Heidelberg is beautiful, the majority of the people are very nice, I'm really having a great time.  But the structure of being able to live anywhere aside from where you were born is upheld in such a way to create the absolute minimum amount of people moving from one place to another.  The idea of nationalism and isolationism is not dying, as it continuously is upheld by governments around the world.  The only way to get around it is to go through a quasi-religious route (Marriage, which has been usurped by religion) or through corporations (another evil, but seemingly the only way to get nations to work together - aside from science/scholarship, but there's no political power there)

Ok, end of my rant.  I'll post something about cats and happiness, or the beauty of this place soon (maybe).  I have more photos too...