My eyes are bleeding

I love proofreading. Well, I am fond of it anyway. It's such a chance to look closely at language, to analyze my own assumptions on usage and meaning, and often, I get to look at cool documents that I otherwise wouldn't know about.

I hate proofreading. Well, it's a long and tedious process which tends to get dragged on for longer than it should. It makes me feel like my eyes are bleeding.

The next time I agree to proof a very very long document...I won't do it. Ever. Now let's see if I actually remember this post when I next get a request.

*Photo credit, http://www.preproof.bc.ca/*

Culture eats strategy for breakfast

I had a very interesting interview today. Actually two interviews, or maybe it was just one interview in two parts, I'm not entirely sure. It was a follow-up to the one I did back in February.

It was very surreal in some ways. For one thing, my current gravid condition cannot be hidden in any way. It's my most salient feature. By Danish law, the interviewer is not allowed to notice this, however. And I'm under no obligation to mention it. It's sort of the invisible elephant. For another thing, though I was qualified for the job as it was discussed in the ad (it was worded in a very general way), and while I think I would be able to do the job (assuming an extreme learning curve), the tasks on the job have absolutely zero connection with anything I've ever done in my entire life.

So, I'm still confused. The main thing that stuck in my mind is the article I looked at, in the magazine that was in the interview room, on the role of culture in business. I was skimming more than reading (I had only a few short minutes in between interview parts), so the main thing that I brought from it was a simple sub-heading, 'culture eats strategy for breakfast'. Just like so much of the rest of the whole experience, it sounds really good, but means essentially nothing.

It's been in my head, off and on, since. What is the connection between culture and strategy? Of course culture is important, but is it so very important? Because this multi-national company I was interviewing at is known for its extreme corporate culture.* Would this not eat local culture for breakfast, to some extent?

And what about my culture? I went into the interview with the same attitude that I had in the first one, namely that it was all about having fun with it, and getting the experience. In retrospect, that seems a very Californian approach. A sort of 'we are the center of the universe, so let's go out and sell our worth.'

And that's where my brain starts to fizzle out. So many questions, such a lack of time to ponder them. So, what do you think? Does culture eat strategy for breakfast? Or can the two not sit down at a breakfast meeting together, and discuss business?

*I realize that any of you with any knowledge of the job market in Denmark has just figured out the company in question. Please don't ask, because I won't confirm it. But you're probably right.

*Photo credit, http://www.tamarackwv.com/food_services/breakfast_menu.aspx. It's the kind of breakfast that I'd imagine culture and strategy enjoying together.*

Short-timer's disease

Yes, I am suffering from it. Which means that it's going to be a long six weeks until I go on leave. In the meantime, I've been making a list of what to do with the time I have between when I stop work, and when I become a parent. Here are some highlights:

1) go to a spa for a couple of days (this is the one I dream of most, and I hope I can do it)
2) clean the house really well and
3) get rid of all unnecessary items so that I can
4) turn a corner of one room into a nursery (we don't have a whole room for this, just a corner)
5) blog, maybe even write longer posts
6) make a month (or two) of frozen meals
7) buy any remaining baby items, and talk myself out of buying too many
8) write e-mails to everyone I haven't written to in a while (so, to pretty much everyone)
9) exercise a bit (nothing too strenuous, some of my pregnancy yoga)
10) work on my proposal some more

Am I missing anything?

(Actually, after looking at this list, work doesn't seem so bad after all! No, just kidding...I'd much rather do these things than go to work at this point. Which is odd, as I really like my teaching at the moment, and some of the stuff I like less will be handed over to my replacement very soon.)

Those who can't do, teach?

A minor event that's gotten me thinking, and then taking 15 minutes or so of that thinking to blog about. So that I can feel both deep and shallow at the same time...

In my pregnancy yoga class today, we were guided into doing something that involved standing with our feet pretty close together (not touching, but almost)...and then bending over and letting our upper bodies relax. As we all did this, and I (and the others who are due relatively soon) all seemed to emit sounds of discomfort at the same time, the teacher suddenly said, 'wait a minute, I forgot...you all have bumps! Of course you can't do this with your feet so close together, you have bumps!' Now, seeing that this is a pregnancy yoga class, you'd think it would be obvious. Actually it was quite amusing. The yoga teacher did then talk about preparing classes by trying out the yoga moves with a football underneath her shirt, which seems pretty sensible to me, but not perhaps the ideal way to go about it.

Which has gotten me thinking about jobs that you can do without having direct life experience of what it is you're working with. Take me for example. I've been teaching English as a foreign language for many, many years (I'd give the exact number, but it's too scary to do the math...well over a decade, I'll admit to that much). For the first couple years, I was firmly monolingual. Not that I'd never studied a foreign language, but just that I'd never gotten to where I could do anything in any of them. Actually, the number of languages that I've studied is really quite impressive, but the number that I can actually use in a meaningful way? Two. Which corresponds directly to the number of countries where I have lived in in which the main language of that country is not English.

The question is, is it so vital to have 'lived' the job you do? There must be single marriage counselors out there, for example. I am undecided about this. Am I a better teacher now that I'm trilingual rather than monolingual? I am a better teacher, to be sure, just because I have done it for longer, and developed more confidence and greater skill. I'd like to think that the languages help, but I couldn't say that they're necessary. And I really like my yoga teacher, and don't feel that she would be better if she had given birth before...but of course if she experiences pregnancy later, then her teaching may well become more nuanced as a result.

What is your opinion? And are you in a job which can serve as an example of what it is I'm on about here? Or better yet, a counter example?

Just a simple suggestion

Something I would recommend to anyone: pick a time in your life when you have no reason or need to find a job, or another job than the one you already have. Then, find a job which it would be cool to have anyway, apply for it, and then go on a job interview.

You won't need to worry about how to impress the company, because the stakes are not unrealistically high. You can just answer honestly and be yourself. In this case, it was a preliminary 'getting to know you' type of affair, and I had a great time not disguising any of my weaknesses, and conversely, doing my very best to play up my strengths. It was great fun.

And the best part of all is that it would actually be cool to get the job. It's a really interesting one. This is equal to the fact that whether I get the job or not, I'll be going on leave at the same time anyway. I know it sounds a bit kooky, but I highly recommend it.

Before and After

Before: Wake up at 5:30am. Leave house just before 6. Catch train, connect to another train, connect to bus, walk 10 minutes to work, for a total of almost 90 minutes transport time. Wait in front of workplace around 20 minutes until someone arrives who can open up the office. Consider reading during wait, but decide it's too cold to take my hands out of my pockets. Spend day feeling slightly tired from earlier than is comfortable wake-up time.

After: Wake up at 6:15am. Leave house at 6:45. Spend 10 minutes scraping snow and ice off the windows, then drive to work, for a total of 50 minutes ice scraping and transport time. Arrive 10 minutes before class. Spend wait in warm car and read. Feel really energetic all day from relatively late wake-up time.

How long will it take before I'm back to driving instead of biking? Or driving instead of walking? It's somehow just like being a Californian again.

Why I will most likely never be dooced

It occurs to me every once in a while that I never blog about my work, even though this item in my life takes more time and focus than pretty much anything else I've done recently (except probably my thesis). I used to think that this is because I don't want to write about things that might be private, and which might have repercussions. But then, my work is not that confidential. The truth is that I don't blog about my work because this is a personal blog. I have simply no desire to bring my work here.

Today, I realized that the reverse is also true, as today was my opportunity to tell my boss that I'm pregnant (she was visiting Denmark from Sweden, and it seemed just...nicer somehow to give the news in person). It seemed just such an awkward thing to tell, as in why should my work know about my private life in this way? I don't normally see that there is so much separation in my life between various elements...but clearly there is. In the end it was of course fine (both people I was telling have toddlers of their own, so there was never much doubt but that the reaction would be positive).

I suppose this is a good thing, this not giving hot work gossip (that is, if I knew any, though I suppose I could always make something up), for me at least, as I will probably not have to worry about saying the wrong thing and losing my job. On the other hand, maybe it's not so interesting for the reader?

Welcome to my working world

Visualize the following. You enter an inconspicuous building in the center of a Scandinavian town, and find yourself in a corridor leading to a small courtyard. Go into the first entrance to the right off of the corridor, and into company premises presumably converted from apartments. Descend a spiral wooden staircase into the basement (you might have to ask for directions to the staircase the first few times you do this), and go straight ahead into a meeting area. Hope that there is no meeting going on. Once in, set up your computer and pull over a phone. Then start calling people. Not random people; you'll be provided with information about those you will talk to. Each phone call can last up to a half an hour, but normally a bit less, which is good as you have calls scheduled every half an hour. When you call people, the idea is to get them to talk. About their jobs. About the language they use on the job. Language as in do they use English, not as in do they swear, or say nasty things about colleagues. Ask them to ask you some questions. Ask them to tell you what they do in their free time. Find out how old they are. While you're doing all of this, fill in forms on your computer. Type in lots of notes on the forms, and lots of judgments. How they sound. Are they clear? Are they grammatically correct? Do they have the vocabulary they need to talk about their job? About their hobbies? When the phone call is done, and the forms filled in, repeat the process with the next scheduled call. Three or four phone calls and then you'll probably have a break. Don't worry too much about the break, as you'll be preparing forms for the next interviews. Repeat the process until the working day is done.

Yep, welcome to my working world, at least for the next several weeks. As I might not have as much time as I would like to pay attention to posting, what with the working, the teaching, the being a student, the project, the upcoming Danish exams (yes, I am feeling just a bit over-extended), the sleeping, the eating, the still paying attention to friends, and boyfriend, I would like to show you the view from my basement meeting room. So you know where I am when I'm not on blog. As you can see, there are two windows, one to the left, and one to the right. I have not gotten up from my usual spot to take these shots; they're exactly as I see them when I have a second to look around me.

How to find work if you're me

As many of you know, I'm an English teacher. I'm well trained, and have years of experience. I've never, never, never had problems getting work in my chosen profession in any country I've lived in. Until I moved to Denmark. The English teaching market here is not conducive to steady employment; there are dozens of tiny schools, none of which are able to commit to giving anything beyond freelance hours. I'm sure it's the same in lots of other places, actually; I've just always been lucky enough before to find a school which could give me the hours I wanted whenever I wanted for as long as I wanted. I am fully aware that those days are gone.

The problem is that, since I don't have much practice at pounding the pavement looking for work, I'm also not very good at it. I'd rather do just about anything than write cover letters. And I like being able to concentrate on studying, studying Danish, and, of course, blogging. So, the issue is purely my own. If schools want me, then they should just call me out of the blue and offer me work. I shouldn't have to actually go and look for it. Yes, with that attitude, it's no wonder that I'm not getting enough hours. Especially since, when I have applied for things here, I have generally gotten a lot of interviews, and then job offers. Making it a question of motivation. Because belief that I will stumble upon teaching isn't generally enough by itself.

Except, a few hours ago, I received a phone call from a school offering me work. A school that I actually interviewed with in October or November, but wasn't able to do the work they offered me then for scheduling reasons. I had seen that they have put ads out again, and had actually thought about sending them an e-mail...but hadn't, and probably wouldn't have. They need a teacher to start on Monday. Freelance of course, not too many hours, but that kind of thing tends to lead to other things. And they have upped the money they're offering, and will pay for me to take a taxi to the lessons. I've never gotten taxi money before, ever. It's quite exciting in an 'I'm poor enough so that taking a taxi in Denmark is exciting to me' way. Of course I said yes (I said yes even before the taxi part, actually). And I'm feeling very motivated about the class itself.

So, the question is, does this mean that I'm really not a deadbeat who can't be asked to look for more work to help her financially suffering boyfriend who has to pay more than his share of the bills because his girlfriend is a deadbeat? Might I be inspired to go forth and find more schools to give me work, 2 hours here, 2 hours there, until my schedule is fully booked? So that I soon have nothing to write about in this blog except about course material that I have used, and funny things that my students have said? (My answers: I'm not sure. I hope so. I certainly hope not!)