I’ve been waiting to find a way to write this for almost a week. But I did’t come up with anything good, so I guess I’ll just have to jottle it down someway.
The Milan office hired me.
*me doing happy dance*
I’m going down there on Monday to sign a few papers (and to discuss benefits), but it’s done and confirmed, I’ll start there in March.
I am really glad, because lately my office SUCKS big big time, and I really wanna drag my sorry ass out of here…
The Parents were so happy that the Panther went almost histerycal. Then they asked me 10 millions questions (like which part of the city are you going to live in, when are you going to hunt for apartments, what are you going to keep of all the stuff you have in France, blah, blah, blah). Then they went histerycal again.
And honestly? With the Sponsor not going well and all these things going on, the mail of confirmation couldn’t arrive in a better moment!
KS was happy for me, we had of course discussed the thing before I officially applied for Milan, so it didn’t come out of the blue. The plan is that he should move also two or three months after me, to join me, but of course he’ll need to find a job. However, it is likely that he will manage to be transferred within his company (they have a desk in Milan as well), so hopefully everything will go well.
The Parents also promised that they will come over with a truck in order to help me collecting my things and move (or if they don’t feel well enough they’ll have the brothers do it).
I don’t have a lot of rubbish, but my stuff can be described as:
BOOKS. This is the main part of it. I spend thousands (literally) of bucks every year in books, I really read a lot. So, in three years spent here, I have collected A LOT of books, and I have no intention of throwing them away.
PLANTS and FLOWERS. I have a lot of them and love them, and I have no intention to leave them behind (also because KS is NOT reliable when it comes to taking care of plants). Of course a few of them will be offered to friends, but I really want to bring along the biggest and most expensive apartment plants, because anyway I would need to buy new ones in Milan (I hate living in the city, since I’m a country girl I need some green in the house).
CLOTHES. I don’t have tons of them though. And I’m seriously going to take old things to charity and maybe sell a few things on e-bay.
COOKING STUFF. I bake and cook all the time. You may know that I dream about having a catering or a restaurant one day. So I cannot leave this stuff behind, or I’d need to rebuy it. So I’ll have to move a LOT of baking pans and moulds, my cupcake carrier, my kitchen aid,…
Well enough for today!
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Where are we going?
Of course I’m not the first one to discover a crisis is going on, that worldwide banks experience difficulties and so on.
In order to explain the situation, I need to write a note mainly for North Amercian readers, I guess.
In most of Europe, and definetly in France and Italy, you cannot simply “lose your job”. Once you’re past the junior stage, you have a “permanent” contract, and unless you do something very serious, they can’t fire you. I know Americas usually find this weird, but if you see it from the worker side, this is absolutly great.
Anyway, even though the crisis has fully hit down here, we still thought that we would have work to do, probably because my tream is still recovering from the last job and the 7 weeks spent on work leave.
Apparently we were wrong. We all knew that corporate companies would stop M&A deals for a while, but we were confident that Private Equities would instead take advantage of the situation. This would have given us enough work for the following 5 or 6 months.
Instead, today the partner told us that he has already called most of our PE clients, and they are all out of cash, so they don’t consider any deal at the moment. Since the banks are not making any loan, this means no work for the next few months. UGH.
The partner pretty told us that if some of us should decide to quit the Company, it would be good.
Yeah, great, only who the hell does he think would hire us???
So right now most of my coworkers are wondering what will happen to us. Some actually say that withing 6 months or 1 year our job will disappear, at least in continental Europe.
I don’t think it’s so bad, but who knows really?
On my side, I’m waiting for some news from the Milan office, and meanwhile I managed to have myself staffed on a mission for the Paris office in November. And I really hope this shows some people from my office, that while they have nothing to do, the Paris office WANTS ME TO WORK. Just so that we can make things clear about whose work is considered valuable.
In order to explain the situation, I need to write a note mainly for North Amercian readers, I guess.
In most of Europe, and definetly in France and Italy, you cannot simply “lose your job”. Once you’re past the junior stage, you have a “permanent” contract, and unless you do something very serious, they can’t fire you. I know Americas usually find this weird, but if you see it from the worker side, this is absolutly great.
Anyway, even though the crisis has fully hit down here, we still thought that we would have work to do, probably because my tream is still recovering from the last job and the 7 weeks spent on work leave.
Apparently we were wrong. We all knew that corporate companies would stop M&A deals for a while, but we were confident that Private Equities would instead take advantage of the situation. This would have given us enough work for the following 5 or 6 months.
Instead, today the partner told us that he has already called most of our PE clients, and they are all out of cash, so they don’t consider any deal at the moment. Since the banks are not making any loan, this means no work for the next few months. UGH.
The partner pretty told us that if some of us should decide to quit the Company, it would be good.
Yeah, great, only who the hell does he think would hire us???
So right now most of my coworkers are wondering what will happen to us. Some actually say that withing 6 months or 1 year our job will disappear, at least in continental Europe.
I don’t think it’s so bad, but who knows really?
On my side, I’m waiting for some news from the Milan office, and meanwhile I managed to have myself staffed on a mission for the Paris office in November. And I really hope this shows some people from my office, that while they have nothing to do, the Paris office WANTS ME TO WORK. Just so that we can make things clear about whose work is considered valuable.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Step 1: done!
Yesterday I finally found the guts to tell the big big boss I want to be transferred to the Milan office. Given the world economy situation, he was pretty cool about it, confiding me that he would surely not mind if someone else would leave as well, since (according to him) we’ll have no business going on for the next few months.
Let me explain that this is pure hypocrisy: my office makes TONS of money. I myself invoice 350 Euros per hour I work to our clients. Out of these, less than 20 get to my pockets. The difference? Well, let’s just say that the big big boss bought a castle last year and renewed it.
So I pretty hate when he complains about the economy, and it’s not about me, because let’s be serious, I do pretty well, okay I work hard but I have no reasons to complain. But in this part of Europe a recent study proved that over 10% of the population lives in poverty, meaning they do not have access to basic services (hospitals, food and a roof over their head). So I hate this hypocrisy.
Anyway…
The only objection the big big boss opposed is that, given the situation, the Milan office may not want to hire at all. Which of course is my main issue about the whole job thing, but you cannot know if you don’t give it a try, right?
So last spring, when I went to Milan to work with people of that office for a week or so, I hinted that I would eventually like to join them on permanent basis. Of course, since it was Milan and I wanted to make good impressions, I had worked my fingers to the bone, as well as dressed up in my best tailleurs during the whole week, and I had even invested in hairdresser.
So at the time, when I mentioned I would eventually like to move to their office, I had some pretty positive answers.
So I called the senior manager I had spoke to, which I’ll refer to as O’Frog, because his family name means frog and due to his red hair, people often refer to him as the Irish.
So I dialled O’Frog’s number and introduced myself this way:
“Hello O’Frog, this is DDgirl from the French office…” (and I was going to ask “Do you remember me?)
His answer “DDgirl! So nice to hear from you!! So did you finally decide to join us?”
In my opinion, this is a good start isn’t it??
We discussed a little, of course the economy may be an issue, but he seemed positive to me and told me he will get in touch with me soon.
So hopefully, fuck my boss, I’ll be out of here in a few months! Yay!!!
PS: A hairdresser appointment is ALWAYS a good investment!!!
Let me explain that this is pure hypocrisy: my office makes TONS of money. I myself invoice 350 Euros per hour I work to our clients. Out of these, less than 20 get to my pockets. The difference? Well, let’s just say that the big big boss bought a castle last year and renewed it.
So I pretty hate when he complains about the economy, and it’s not about me, because let’s be serious, I do pretty well, okay I work hard but I have no reasons to complain. But in this part of Europe a recent study proved that over 10% of the population lives in poverty, meaning they do not have access to basic services (hospitals, food and a roof over their head). So I hate this hypocrisy.
Anyway…
The only objection the big big boss opposed is that, given the situation, the Milan office may not want to hire at all. Which of course is my main issue about the whole job thing, but you cannot know if you don’t give it a try, right?
So last spring, when I went to Milan to work with people of that office for a week or so, I hinted that I would eventually like to join them on permanent basis. Of course, since it was Milan and I wanted to make good impressions, I had worked my fingers to the bone, as well as dressed up in my best tailleurs during the whole week, and I had even invested in hairdresser.
So at the time, when I mentioned I would eventually like to move to their office, I had some pretty positive answers.
So I called the senior manager I had spoke to, which I’ll refer to as O’Frog, because his family name means frog and due to his red hair, people often refer to him as the Irish.
So I dialled O’Frog’s number and introduced myself this way:
“Hello O’Frog, this is DDgirl from the French office…” (and I was going to ask “Do you remember me?)
His answer “DDgirl! So nice to hear from you!! So did you finally decide to join us?”
In my opinion, this is a good start isn’t it??
We discussed a little, of course the economy may be an issue, but he seemed positive to me and told me he will get in touch with me soon.
So hopefully, fuck my boss, I’ll be out of here in a few months! Yay!!!
PS: A hairdresser appointment is ALWAYS a good investment!!!
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Something is starting to fall in its place
So, as you all know, each time I go to see my parents (which is definitely not often enough..), the leaving is pretty devastating.
A song I really like, half in French and half in English keeps running in my head in these days… I actually rearranged the lyrics:
I walk into the streets, God in my pocket
I walk in the big city, and it’s cold
The Earth is my friend, and sometimes I sleep on it
And I think about my country, which was so small
Farewell my small country, farewell my family
Farewell … Italy! Farewell my lake!
I remember my country, Down Memory Lane
The wind is my best friend: it alays blows for me
Neons in the distance dear as daylight
Sometimes I think that I'm not of this world
I remember this song
Oh farewell my country, my Mediterranean land
Oh farewell Italy, the sun I just can see
I remember the streets, and the nights in Milan
And I’m always a foreigner, at the train station
The wind would blow on me, as far as he could
And I know this sound
Farewell my small country, farewell my family
Farewell … Italy! Farewell my lake!
The sun I just can’t see
Well, to make story short, I finally took matters into my hands and spoke about my leaving to KS over the weekend.
He didn’t take it very well, but not very bad either. I the end we agreed that I’ll try to make arrangements to move in March.
Now if I don’t sound super excited about it is because I still have to talk the company into transferring me to the Milan office, and due to the crisis, this may be harder than expected. But somehow I’ll deal.
A song I really like, half in French and half in English keeps running in my head in these days… I actually rearranged the lyrics:
I walk into the streets, God in my pocket
I walk in the big city, and it’s cold
The Earth is my friend, and sometimes I sleep on it
And I think about my country, which was so small
Farewell my small country, farewell my family
Farewell … Italy! Farewell my lake!
I remember my country, Down Memory Lane
The wind is my best friend: it alays blows for me
Neons in the distance dear as daylight
Sometimes I think that I'm not of this world
I remember this song
Oh farewell my country, my Mediterranean land
Oh farewell Italy, the sun I just can see
I remember the streets, and the nights in Milan
And I’m always a foreigner, at the train station
The wind would blow on me, as far as he could
And I know this sound
Farewell my small country, farewell my family
Farewell … Italy! Farewell my lake!
The sun I just can’t see
Well, to make story short, I finally took matters into my hands and spoke about my leaving to KS over the weekend.
He didn’t take it very well, but not very bad either. I the end we agreed that I’ll try to make arrangements to move in March.
Now if I don’t sound super excited about it is because I still have to talk the company into transferring me to the Milan office, and due to the crisis, this may be harder than expected. But somehow I’ll deal.
Friday, October 03, 2008
Smoke and snow
I’m still working in the middle of nowhere, and office bookmaker forecast say we’ll stay here for another month. Ouch.
This morning I got up at 6h30 (as I do here at the hotel) to running. Now I always have a hard time running this early in the morning, but I don’t really have the chose as long as I’m staying in this place. The main problem is that days are getting shorter, and today I already had difficulties in seeing my path, because well, at 7AM it’s still night and I run on a trail in the country (I even spotted a fox two weeks ago!)
Today it was even colder than usually (note to self: next week don’t forget bringing a long sleeve top), but while running uphill it was still so dark I didn’t notice what became obvious after breakfast: 200 meters higher on the hills, it has bee snowing all night long.
Now it’s afternoon and the landscape is still pretty much covered in snow. And in case you were wondering, no, this is not normal around here on October 3.
Anyway, in order to shake up the daily routine of the factory I’m staying at, today a fire exercise took place. Which would have been normal, except for here they spread real smoke EVERYWHERE in the building. Now I stink and I’m coughing and afraid my asthma may settle in. Yay!!
I really need to focus on the fact that tonight I’m going clubbing…
PS: I finally read the first Twighlight book, and well, I'm totally a sucker, but I CAN4T WAIT TO RECEIVE BOOK 2!!!!!!
This morning I got up at 6h30 (as I do here at the hotel) to running. Now I always have a hard time running this early in the morning, but I don’t really have the chose as long as I’m staying in this place. The main problem is that days are getting shorter, and today I already had difficulties in seeing my path, because well, at 7AM it’s still night and I run on a trail in the country (I even spotted a fox two weeks ago!)
Today it was even colder than usually (note to self: next week don’t forget bringing a long sleeve top), but while running uphill it was still so dark I didn’t notice what became obvious after breakfast: 200 meters higher on the hills, it has bee snowing all night long.
Now it’s afternoon and the landscape is still pretty much covered in snow. And in case you were wondering, no, this is not normal around here on October 3.
Anyway, in order to shake up the daily routine of the factory I’m staying at, today a fire exercise took place. Which would have been normal, except for here they spread real smoke EVERYWHERE in the building. Now I stink and I’m coughing and afraid my asthma may settle in. Yay!!
I really need to focus on the fact that tonight I’m going clubbing…
PS: I finally read the first Twighlight book, and well, I'm totally a sucker, but I CAN4T WAIT TO RECEIVE BOOK 2!!!!!!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
If God will send his angels...
Things have been busy and complicated, lately…
Ten days ago or so, I called home and the Panther wasn’t there, so I got to talk to the Sponsor who spoke “freely” (he never talks about his health problems with the Panther, since he doesn’t want to worry her). This was great, but it really scared me: after a few minutes he started crying on the phone!! And this is so unlike him I got really really worried.
The thing is, in addition to his health problems, he works way to much and he’s really too tired to keep up with things.
The Sponsor is a cardiologist, and the problem is that he cannot manage to refuse to help anyone who is sick and reaches for him. Which is a great thing, but now, after 9 month of treatment which are giving him a lot of side effects, is tiring him.
Luckily a managed to go home on the next weekend and cheer him up a little, but I’m still worried about him.
Last weekend we celebrated KS weekend, and we had 15 people over for Saturday night (8 staying for the whole weekend), and the party itself went great. I had baked a beautiful cake (I’ll try to post a pic later this week) and prepared lots of food and booze, and everyone seemed happy.
However, KS and I had a MAJOR argument.
After the party we went out and headed to a local pub known for dancing on tables and on the bar. Since getting in can be difficult, we split into small groups and I got in first with Maria and another friend. A song I really like was playing, lots of people were dancing, and I immediately climbed on the bar and started dancing, while watching at the door at the same time, in order to spot the others as soon as they got in and wave at them.
2 or 3 minutes later (I’m sure it was no more than that, because the same song was still playing) KS got in and gestured at me to get down to the floor. I did so carefully, in order not to fall, and as soon as I was stood next to him he shouted at me (I didn’t get a word though, since the music was loud) and then pushed me against the door. Only, he pushed me real hard, and I almost lost my balance, and then he grabbed my arm (and I had bruises on the next day).
Now, I’ve been taught NEVER to let a man raise his hands on me, and he really scared me. Add a little drunkenness, the fact I was tired and everything, and I burst in tears. Instead of excusing himself, KS started arguing with me, because apparently the others did not manage to get in to the club and I made everyone wait (but I know for sure I didn’t stay in for more than 4-5 minutes).
But the thing is that I felt humiliated and pushed and I got scared, and so I broke down and we made a scene in front of everyone.
In the end he asked forgiveness and promised he won’t ever do it again, but he still made me feel guilty for making a scene. We tried two more clubs but they were too busy to get in, so we ended up going back to our place and I went straight to bed. The rest of the weekend was okay, but…
Add to all this that I’ve been working 12 to 15 hours every day for the whole month (and it’s not going to change for at least 2-3 weeks), and most of the time I’m working 2 hours drive from the city. This is not living, it’s surviving.
And if God will send his angels, I could use them here right now...
Ten days ago or so, I called home and the Panther wasn’t there, so I got to talk to the Sponsor who spoke “freely” (he never talks about his health problems with the Panther, since he doesn’t want to worry her). This was great, but it really scared me: after a few minutes he started crying on the phone!! And this is so unlike him I got really really worried.
The thing is, in addition to his health problems, he works way to much and he’s really too tired to keep up with things.
The Sponsor is a cardiologist, and the problem is that he cannot manage to refuse to help anyone who is sick and reaches for him. Which is a great thing, but now, after 9 month of treatment which are giving him a lot of side effects, is tiring him.
Luckily a managed to go home on the next weekend and cheer him up a little, but I’m still worried about him.
Last weekend we celebrated KS weekend, and we had 15 people over for Saturday night (8 staying for the whole weekend), and the party itself went great. I had baked a beautiful cake (I’ll try to post a pic later this week) and prepared lots of food and booze, and everyone seemed happy.
However, KS and I had a MAJOR argument.
After the party we went out and headed to a local pub known for dancing on tables and on the bar. Since getting in can be difficult, we split into small groups and I got in first with Maria and another friend. A song I really like was playing, lots of people were dancing, and I immediately climbed on the bar and started dancing, while watching at the door at the same time, in order to spot the others as soon as they got in and wave at them.
2 or 3 minutes later (I’m sure it was no more than that, because the same song was still playing) KS got in and gestured at me to get down to the floor. I did so carefully, in order not to fall, and as soon as I was stood next to him he shouted at me (I didn’t get a word though, since the music was loud) and then pushed me against the door. Only, he pushed me real hard, and I almost lost my balance, and then he grabbed my arm (and I had bruises on the next day).
Now, I’ve been taught NEVER to let a man raise his hands on me, and he really scared me. Add a little drunkenness, the fact I was tired and everything, and I burst in tears. Instead of excusing himself, KS started arguing with me, because apparently the others did not manage to get in to the club and I made everyone wait (but I know for sure I didn’t stay in for more than 4-5 minutes).
But the thing is that I felt humiliated and pushed and I got scared, and so I broke down and we made a scene in front of everyone.
In the end he asked forgiveness and promised he won’t ever do it again, but he still made me feel guilty for making a scene. We tried two more clubs but they were too busy to get in, so we ended up going back to our place and I went straight to bed. The rest of the weekend was okay, but…
Add to all this that I’ve been working 12 to 15 hours every day for the whole month (and it’s not going to change for at least 2-3 weeks), and most of the time I’m working 2 hours drive from the city. This is not living, it’s surviving.
And if God will send his angels, I could use them here right now...
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Someone is coming home..
Let’s face it: I’m not really working. I keep scrolling through internet sites of recipes, keeping my excel spreadsheet open in case anyone approached my computer.
So, I thought I may as well update my blog, that lately lacks of new posts.
The thing is, although I’m too tired to be efficient today, I’ve been working very hard lately. I have started a new mission at work, for a client that, although not far away, is not exactly next door, requiring almost two hours to go there (plus the go back). So I’ve been away most of the time.
Furthermore, I’m training pretty hard (I try to run 6 miles at least 4-5 times a week, 10KM), and a few days ago I decided to go back to a strictly fruits and vegetables diet (all cereals and potatoes are banned).
Add this to the usual 11 hours working days, and you may guess how tired I am when I go back home at night.
KS birthday is coming up soon, and we’re hosting a big party, as usual. Plus, since we have a lot of friends coming from far, we’ll have 8 people sleeping at our apartment for the whole weekend (27 September). I still have to figure out where I’ll put all of them, and whether I have or not enough plaids, comfys and so on. We’ll see. I’m trying to have a Friday off for the occasion, in order to prepare food, have my hair cut and so on before everyone arrives, but I’m still not sure if I’ll manage to skip work or not. Ugh.
On the family front, I have some updates, although I haven’t been back in Italy since August 17 (ouch).
Crea, my eldest bro, has been dumped by his girlfriend. A little resume of the story: they met when Crea was working over the summer at a diving school when he had just finished grad school. Shortly after, she convinced him to move to Florence (far from where we’re from), so he did not pursue a career in his field (he’s a marine biologist), chose a boring job and left his family all to stay with her. She and I never went along well, mainly because she is jealous
Now in August, Crea lost his job, because his company went for bankruptcy. At the same time, the bitch dumped him. Which could be acceptable, since I can understand that relationships do sometimes end. But what makes me hate her is that she told him that over the 4 years they have been together, she has never been in love with him, but she wanted to have someone beside her because of her family issues (her bro is a psycho, lives in a psycho hospital).
Now Crea is such a great person, always generous, friendly and open hearted, never mean, and he really did not deserve something like this.
The good thing in this whole shitty situation is that he will most likely move back at the lake, so he’ll be close to the family, and I’ll get to see him much more!!!!
So, I thought I may as well update my blog, that lately lacks of new posts.
The thing is, although I’m too tired to be efficient today, I’ve been working very hard lately. I have started a new mission at work, for a client that, although not far away, is not exactly next door, requiring almost two hours to go there (plus the go back). So I’ve been away most of the time.
Furthermore, I’m training pretty hard (I try to run 6 miles at least 4-5 times a week, 10KM), and a few days ago I decided to go back to a strictly fruits and vegetables diet (all cereals and potatoes are banned).
Add this to the usual 11 hours working days, and you may guess how tired I am when I go back home at night.
KS birthday is coming up soon, and we’re hosting a big party, as usual. Plus, since we have a lot of friends coming from far, we’ll have 8 people sleeping at our apartment for the whole weekend (27 September). I still have to figure out where I’ll put all of them, and whether I have or not enough plaids, comfys and so on. We’ll see. I’m trying to have a Friday off for the occasion, in order to prepare food, have my hair cut and so on before everyone arrives, but I’m still not sure if I’ll manage to skip work or not. Ugh.
On the family front, I have some updates, although I haven’t been back in Italy since August 17 (ouch).
Crea, my eldest bro, has been dumped by his girlfriend. A little resume of the story: they met when Crea was working over the summer at a diving school when he had just finished grad school. Shortly after, she convinced him to move to Florence (far from where we’re from), so he did not pursue a career in his field (he’s a marine biologist), chose a boring job and left his family all to stay with her. She and I never went along well, mainly because she is jealous
Now in August, Crea lost his job, because his company went for bankruptcy. At the same time, the bitch dumped him. Which could be acceptable, since I can understand that relationships do sometimes end. But what makes me hate her is that she told him that over the 4 years they have been together, she has never been in love with him, but she wanted to have someone beside her because of her family issues (her bro is a psycho, lives in a psycho hospital).
Now Crea is such a great person, always generous, friendly and open hearted, never mean, and he really did not deserve something like this.
The good thing in this whole shitty situation is that he will most likely move back at the lake, so he’ll be close to the family, and I’ll get to see him much more!!!!
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