Undutchable?

The first week of the Intermediate Dutch classes went well. The American woman (Laurie) and I were joined by a Turkish expat. It's nice to have a small class again. It's also nice not to have class 4 days/week. It was a pretty intensive pace. Now, I'm going just twice a week, which gives me time to explore the job market some.

Last night, I met with a recruiting agency in Rotterdam. The Undutchables specializes in recruiting non-Dutch candidates for jobs in business. The lady who interviewed me is a South African expat (named Petra). I think the interview went well. (It was not an interview for a job per se, but one to gather more information about me and my background so I could be entered into the Undutchables database.) Petra gave me some additional ideas of websites to explore, and she was very positive about the steps I've been taking thus far to look for work. She was impressed with my Dutch--especially given I've not been here very long--and described it in her notes as "good." I think that will help open doors. Next week, I'll probably go to visit a Dutch Reformed School in Gouda. Our wedding photographer's husband teaches there, and he encouraged me to come by. We arranged an appointment with the director of the school so we can get acquainted. Who knows what can happen there....

Legally, I can't work yet (which is nice to remember when an application is politely rejected), but I should receive my residency permit sometime next month. At our first meeting with the IND (Immigration & Naturalization Dept), Liesbeth and I were unhappily surprised that her gross salary was too low for my request for residency to be granted. We had spoken with the IND in May/June, but on July 1, the laws changed, and the minimum income was revised upward. We were 13 euros too short (that works out to about 50 cents per day!). Fortunately, Liesbeth's employer was able to work out a solution by somehow revising the accounting relationship between vacation days and gross salary. The next week, I returned to the IND. (Since we're married, Liesbeth didn't have to go with me; if we we're simply "partners," she would.) I arrived an hour early, because there was no point in returning home from Rotterdam after my class only to leave immediately for the appointment. I was so surprised when I was led directly to an agent who looked over the papers and approved everything for processing. I didn't have to wait one minute to be seen!

This afternoon, I'm going to do some household chores, and then this evening we're off to church. Stefan and I have worked out that Friday evenings are my night to be the A/V man. The sound board isn't too hard, but sometimes song projection can be difficult, as if the songleader goes off his list, I have to find some Dutch song in the listing!