Things to be thankful for

It's easy to feel overwhelmed. I'm fighting off a wave of it right now. I don't have a job, I'm about to begin a ten-day medical study for which I will be paid $1,980, I interviewed at Barnes and Noble for a position that pays $8.50 an hour and starts at 20 hours a week, and I've got a 6-month window to start a job as a telemarketer. And I just keep thinking things, unhelpful things, negative things, and I don't want to go there.

Instead I want to find the things I'm thankful for, and find the humor in all of this.

Being a lab rat might just be an awesome experience. I'll have loads of time to read and write, and at the end of it we'll have replenished our savings a little.

It may not be an exciting job, but darn it, there is a job waiting for me.

I can say no to a part-time job that pays crap.

I have an amazing husband who makes delicious meals for me, and he's a great actor.

We own so many awesome games.

I have no shortage of clothes because I keep finding them for free!

I am almost finished with the first edit of my book--I will finish during this ten-day study.

We live close to beaches. Real beaches.

We won tickets not only to the aquarium, but also to the Tim Burton exhibit at LACMA.

We have the most adorable dog in the world.


And those are just a few things.

The Promised "How We Afford It" blog

It's true, we're cutting it closer than we wanted. We'd hoped that by working our jobs all through our time in Europe, we'd return home with more than $20,000 of cushion, and a little more to have some fun with. We didn't really think that through. We thought we could travel and work, but it just doesn't work. Work schedules don't necessarily adapt to fit one's preferred time table, and even if they did, there just aren't enough hours in the day to do all that we want to do, and especially not with commuting, work, and all the in-between time that working requires. So we decided, with all respect and appreciation to our jobs for the opportunities and the money, we needed to quit. Stina went over this last blog, but now I'll walk you through our decision that we could, in fact, afford it.

One of the reasons we no longer find it worthwhile to work is that we just aren't earning what we were. The dollar has grown stronger in the past few months. Nearly 30% of my wages are taken out for the German equivalent of Social Security, unemploment insurance, and other things that don't quite translate. Stina discovered that she can't take many days off if she wants to make the 2€/hour bonus that her employer offers if she works at least 120 units per month.
All of this means that, on average, we've been putting 2500€ (*1.35 = $3375) into our bank account for the past 3 months before expenses, rather than the expected 3200€ (*1.5 = $4800) per month. No matter what we make, our expenses remain rather constant, and as bare bones as possible. Each month we pay about $300 for student loans. We pay 375€ for rent, water, heat, electricity, internet, and other utilities. We pay 68.50€ for our tram passes. We pay 52€ for Stina's health insurance. We pay about 200€ for food (totally a guess). And we spend maybe 100€ on luxuries each month, like going out to eat, buying games, etc. (also a guess, but pretty accurate, I'd say). All together, that's about 1000€ a month.

So, now you know. When we finish our work, we will have about $15000 worth of currency in the bank, and will live on that for the next several months. We'll reduce our food costs by dumpster diving more. We considered giving up our apartment, but having a place to come back to is necessary to our happiness. And we'll probably stop buying tram passes. We won't really increase any costs, since we'll be hitchhiking and couchsurfing. We're a little worried about the cost of airplane tickets, so if anyone sees a mode of transportation from Europe to America for less than $500 per person, let us know. At $1000 per month while here, $1000 for plane tickets home, and $1000 while we visit family in Seattle and Wisconsin, I expect that after our wedding, we will have $5000 (that's a wedding budget of $3000) left. That's a bit scary, but we're good at living cheaply, and so while we make our new homes in L.A., I expect that we'll easily find our feet before we run out of money.

Wish us luck!
Brendan and Stina

Below, find our projected budget until our wedding. Numbers rounded for safety. No sharp corners!

Brendan Verity: $5000
Stina Verity: $1000
BECU Accts $2000
Total in American Accts: $8000
Deutsche Bank Konto: 6000 €
Brendan Earn March: 300 €
Stina Earn March: 300 €
Total Euros: 6600 € Converted to Dollars: $8910
Total of all currencies: $16910
Itemized costs (in Euros)
Rent (Warm) 1200€
Internet 160€ (hopefully)
Student Loans 1800€
Electricity 175€
Food 1000€
Travel 1950€ (Includes ticket home)
Wedding Budget 2220€
Totals by month (in $)
March: 797
April: 1122
May: 1122
June: 918
July: 918
August: 1768
September: 1088
October: 408
November: 3427
Total Expenses: $11567
Money after wedding: $5342

Ages and Real Life

Yes, sadly, it's been ages since we've updated. It's time to find out what real life is like when you're an immigrant.

Stina and I have a delightful one bedroom apartment. It has high ceilings and looks into our neighbors' home. We can't avoid watching their kittens play with the blinds.
In general I work from 11:30AM to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Once a week I work until 6pm, and less often, but still possible, I start at 6AM. My commute is about 40 minutes on either side. I work at a private grade school as an Erzieher. I guess the closest equivalent is a classroom aide, but we're much more prevalent here than aides are in the U.S. I take my class (the first graders on the English track - 1e) to lunch, occasionally sub, and teach a theater class every Wednesday. In January, I'll start directing a play as one of the kids' extracurriculars.
I enjoy my co-workers. One of them reminds me a lot of my co-worker Amanda from YTN (from her keen fashion sense right down to her occasional observation of the darker side of childcare). Another one has horses, lives in Quidlinburg (sp?), and has served as sort of my guide to figuring out this job. She's been very helpful, and I anticipate that Stina and I will visit her so we can play with her horses (and get to know her and her family better, too, of course). Yet another and I have struck up a friendship. He's vegan and punk and down-to-earth and would fit quite well with our old Seattle crowd. There's also a teacher here from Vancouver, WA. I've also made friends with a young lady on her Social Year and one of the French Erziehers, who knows someone who works at Berlitz with Stina. I haven't gotten to know everyone here very well, but I'm quite satisfied with being able to look forward to chatting with the friends I have made here.

We take time to play games together and with our neighbors and friends, watch videos from the library, and go to the Weihnachtsmarkt.
We are hoping to make monthly excursions. Our first will be in January while my kids are still on Winter Break. Ski trip or Vienna trip or someplace warm? Submit your suggestions in the comments!

A fruitful busk

Last Sunday we spent a little while busking at Jackson Square. One thing learned: our target audience is children. We attract them with our juggling, engage directly with them by asking “What would you like to hear a story about?” or “What is your favorite thing in the whole world?”, we start telling the story and have the kids’ attention before the parents can successfully get away, the kids are entertained by the story, the parents feel glad that we’ve kept the kids entertained for a couple of minutes plus feel entertained themselves, and they feel obligated to give us money for that entertainment. It works so well.

Sunday we had an excellent experience performing. We told several stories that earned us several dollars per story. This suddenly seems possible. Unfortunately once an hour had passed, an artist sent by other artists told us we couldn’t be where we were and that we should move along. It’s very difficult to be on the streets. Oh, well.

Brendan has a slight cold. Where has my immune system gone?