The past few days, I have been taking my job hunt rather literally, by switching from "mass-emailing CV" mode to the "stake out and attack" approach. Okay, I might be a little dramatic, but it helps me maintain my aggressive mentality. :) Now, job hunting in Prague is very different than it ever was at home. In Seattle, I'd contact various employers and meet at their office, or sometimes a coffee shop or some other sophisticated locale. Right, we've all done this. But job searching here, in keeping with the whole reason I left my life at home to come here, is adventurous and incredibly random. I've found myself sprinting for metros, buses and trams, completely windblown by the time I arrive for my interview at... a construction
site outside of the Klementinum (enormous, beautiful library built in 1232...picture below.) Anyway, what I thought was an interview for a very part-time nanny position (stop laughing) turned out to be a recruiter who posted my profile on a couple of random job sites, all in Czech of course. Hoping it turns out to be fruitful.. other random interviews of the day included sprinting through a rainstorm to meet up at a McDonald's and taking a metro, tram and bus 2 hours away to meet a potential tutoring student... when a road sign informed me I was 34 km outside of Prague, I silently prayed that my wacky directional skills could get me home! Also, while it's easy to get by within the city, nobody speaks English past the last metro stop. Nobody. Let alone 30 km away from the last metro stop. Anyhow, the next day, I ventured to some actual preschools, taking the direct attack approach I mentioned earlier. This turned out to be rather lucrative, and lots of fun, as I was able to see areas of Prague I may not have ventured to yet, and of course I love visiting preschools because they are adorable, incredibly brightly colored and have the most adorable names such as Beehive, Panda and Magic Rainbow :) I ran into a random food market at the JZP metro stop, and postponed my shameless self-marketing to sample gingerbread cookies, sausages, cheese and ciders! This was also the day I sat next to a dog on the metro that looked like this:
Now I may have mentioned about the dogs here in Prague; they are the object of a very serious obsession. They are allowed absolutely anywhere- restaurants, stores, public transportation, the works. Which makes for a TON of "awwww, puppyyyyy!" moments, and this straight-up ponytailed pooch was no exception.
So while I'm still getting accustomed to the random, somewhat hap-hazard job search process here in Prague, I've got a few actual interviews scheduled for next week, at preschools (no, I didn't plan on working at a preschool when I came here, but for some reason working with the little ones is just calling my name right now! The plan is to do that most of the time and fit in private tutorings on the side.) Prague has a national holiday on Thursday, so most things will likely shut down from Wed-Friday (if not earlier.) That's the thing about Europe- people take their vacations seriously. I mean, you would never hear of someone skipping a vacation day to go into work. Most people take off for the weekends here regularly, anyway. They have this whole, crazy mentality that maybe you should actually enjoy what you do, and work so you can live. Spend time with your family, visit new places, the whole nine yards. I know. Wild. :) So, in order to stick with our new style of European living, we're taking off for Cesky Krumlov on Wednesday, a picturesque village about 2.5 hours out of Prague. Sometimes in my zest for European travel, I forget that there are so many beautiful towns to visit in the Czech Republic itself! Well, the rest of the day is for reading, coffee drinking and baking with some girlfriends- miss everyone at home tons, and if anyone is itching for a Prague trip...our current couch-surfer, Sarah, can vouch for the hospitality of our little abode :) till next time, nashledanou!
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