Data entry job in L.A. = hella baht in my pocket

I got a job! Saving money for this trip just got a lot easier.

I’ve said from the start that this whole experience is an act of fate. The money hasn’t exactly been flowing on high for me for years, really – certainly not since I graduated from college. And my apartment burnt down. And I got my license suspended. (I digress.) But something always told me that everything would work out. Even as I ranted expletives about my dire straits, something still told me it would all be okay. Better than okay, it would be amazing!

Enter my dear friend Leslie King. She’s amazing. An inspiration, really. She got me a job at a production company and now I can diligently savor the sweet relief of employment (above). Also, I got a $525 traffic ticket talked down to, how much? $300? $200? Um… try $0 baby!

But it’s not all about money. As much as I can worry about it, it isn’t until I relax and allow myself and my circumstances room to breathe that things really start to work out. I elect to work with time, not against it. And I vow to not let the “zero” get in the way of my “jet set”, because if there’s anything I’ve learned it’s that with an open mind and heart, it doesn’t matter how hollow your pockets are. If you can take time to just be, fate will remind you just how sweet it is.

Special thanks to Leslie, Commissioner Alan Rubin, and my Mom. I’ll try to cuss less in future video blogs. (Try.)

Have you ever wanted to make a change?  Take on an adventure? Tell your story to the world? Change your life? 

Well, here’s your chance.

Jet Set Zero is looking for 1 or 2 more cast members for season 8.  This season starts in August and we’ll be closing applications as soon as we find the right person for the job.  The sooner you get in your information, the better.

Click the image above or right here to read more about how to apply and what happens next.

Good luck.  We’re waiting to hear from you.

My teaching experience in Quito wasn’t very satisfactory, so I quit. But I couldn’t see myself not working. Why? Because I don’t see myself spending money for two months without making any money. And above all, because this is Jet Set Zero, and the point is to show that you can travel by working while traveling.
Thus, even though it’s hard for tourists to make enough money to survive and travel in Ecuador, I decided I would look for something else.

So I had to ask myself: what should I do? What do I want to do? What could I do?

Mulligan's. The sports bar where I am a waitress.

My visa expires at the end of the month. Should I extend it for $230 and work in Quito? Should I volunteer for the time I have left here?

After a week of thinking and dropping off resumes at a few bars, I realized what I wanted to do.

I WANT TO BE A WAITRESS AT A SPORTS BAR.

Why a waitress? Because I’ve never done this before. Why a sports bar? Because it’s the Football World Cup and I’d like to watch the games and see people go crazy about their favorite team’s performance!

Last week an American-Irish sports bar called Mulligan’s took me for a three day probation period. I was a little nervous whether they would keep me because I had never waited tables before. But it seems that I did well enough! I am now officially working for Mulligan’s until the end of the World Cup. Of course it doesn’t pay much. (Don’t ask me how much, I don’t even know how many hours I’ll be working because it changes every week.) But all the staff is Ecuadorian and muy cheverre*. I get free lunch or diner. They even feed me with an enormous pancake as a late breakfast. I get to see some games. And I make new friends.

How cool is that?

* very cool

* * * * * * *

JOBS: MY NEW MISSION (PART 2)

Mon expérience d’enseignement à Quito n’étais pas très satisfaisante alors j’ai démissionné. Mais je ne me voyais pas rester un mois et demi à Quito à rien faire. Pourquoi? Parce que je ne veux pas dépenser tous mes sous pendant deux mois sans rentrées d’argent, ne seraient-elles que petites. Surtout, parce que l’objectif principal de Jet Set Zero est de montrer qu’on peut voyager sans trop d’économies en travaillant dans les pays visités.
Donc, même s’il est difficile pour les touristes de gagner suffisamment d’argent pour à la fois vivre et voyager en Equateur, j’ai décidé de chercher un autre travail.

Et j’ai dû me poser quelques questions: que devrais-je faire? Qu’ai-je envie de faire? Que pourrais-je faire?

Mon visa expire à la fin du mois. Devrais-je demander une extension à $230 et travailler à Quito? Devrais-je faire du bénévolat pour mon temps restant dans le pays?

Après une semaine de moult réflexions et de dépôt de CV dans quelques bars, j’ai enfin eu la révélation.

JE VEUX ETRE SERVEUSE DANS UN SPORTS BAR.

”Une serveuse? Et pourquoi?”, me direz vous… Parce que je n’ai jamais travaillé en tant que telle et que j’aimerais m’essayer à la tâche. Sports bar? Parce que c’est la Coupe du Monde pardi! Et que j’ai envie de pouvoir regarder les matches et voir les gens fous d’enthousiasme tout en travaillant!

La semaine dernière j’ai donc fait trois jours d’essai dans un restaurant-bar americano-irlandais: Mulligan’s.

J’étais un peu stressée de savoir s’ils allaient me garder ou pas car je n’avais aucune expérience. Mais apparemment je m’en suis plutôt bien sortie! C’est désormais officiel: je travaille à Mulligan’s jusqu’à la fin de la Coupe du Monde. Bien sûr, ça ne paye pas beaucoup. (Ne me demandez pas combien car mon emploi du temps change chaque semaine et je n’ai aucune idée de mon nombre total d’heures pour le mois.) Je suis l’unique étrangère parmi un staff 100% équatorien muy cheverre*. On me nourrit- soit le déjeuner, soit le dîner. Parfois on m’offre même un énorme pancake en guise de petit déjeuner tardif. Et quand le restaurant n’est pas trop occupé je lorgne vers les écrans télé pour suivre les matches. En plus je me fais des nouveaux potes.

C’est pas cool, ça?

*super sympas

So, as you already know, I quit my job as an English teacher.

I enjoyed being in front of my students teaching them, but I didn’t like what surrounded the actual job: my schedule, the little things that happened during my first week, some people there, working more hours than I was supposed to without getting paid for it, being paid 15 dollars less than I was supposed to for my first week of work. I felt my boss kept asking a lot while she really gave nothing in return. The last straw was on a Sunday morning when I opened a file she gave me to edit: 130 pages!

Seriously?! Didn’t she tell me ”relax and have fun this weekend” when I left school on Saturday at 1.30pm? How am I supposed to do that when I have a such a file to edit, which some students need the next day? Sure she didn’t ask me to do it during the weekend, but when else could I do this kind of thing?! I simply didn’t have time during the week!

So on Monday morning I went to my boss’s office to ask her if she was still planning to hire another teacher, as she had been saying she would do for the past two weeks. She asked why I was asking with big, bulging eyes. I said I couldn’t go on like this, that she would had to pay me more for the extra work. She said I didn’t work that much more, that I didn’t need to work at home over the weekend and that I should be able to prepare each lesson in 10 minutes.

I told her I was sorry but that my method consisted of spending at least 30 minutes preparing each lesson because I didn’t want my teenagers to get bored or my adults to fall asleep. I do enjoy teaching and I try to do some cool stuff-as much as cool can be- so that my students have fun while practising what they learn. And I’d rather not teach than being a dull, boring teacher who can’t make the classroom laugh.

We talked for half an hour. It got a little heated in the middle of the conversation. She asked how much more I wanted. I said $300. I knew it was more than what she might be willing to pay, and I had really made up my mind not to work there anymore. She said she wasn’t enjoying the conversation, and I think I said I wasn’t either. Lastly, she said we couldn’t work together anymore. I said ”Bueno!*” Then I talked to her about my last paycheck.

So I’m out of a job. I should get my paycheck for my last week of work by the end of June, as well as the $15 that were missing from my first paycheck.

After I left school for the last time, I went to the park crying. I felt bad about my students, whom I really liked. And my boss had managed to make me feel bad about myself. But I know it’s the right decision and deep down I feel good about it.

And it definitely helps having support while going through this. Thanks Jenna!

*Very well.

* * * * * * *

JOBS (Partie 1): POURQUOI J’AI DEMISSIONE

Comme vous le savez déjà, j’ai donné ma démission en tant que professeur d’Anglais Langue Etrangère.

J’aimais bien être avec mes étudiants et leur enseigner la langue, mais tout ce qui gravitait autour de mon travail me déplaisait: mon emploi du temps, les bizarreries de ma première semaine de boulot, certaines personnes présentes à l’école, le fait de travailler plus sans être payée en conséquence, le fait d’avoir 15 dollars manquant à ma première fiche de paye. Bref, j’avais le sentiment que ma directrice demandait sans cesse davantage sans rien donner en retour. La goutte qui fit déborder le vase, ce fut quand elle me donna un fichier à corriger: un manuel d’anglais de 130 pages!

C’est une blague ou quoi?! Ne m’a-t-elle pas dit, au moment de quitter (enfin) l’école à 13h30 ce samedi matin, de me détendre et de profiter du week-end? Et comment cela serait-ce possible quand je sais que les étudiants ont besoin de ce sacré bouquin le lundi suivant? Bien sûr, elle ne m’a pas dit de faire ce travail durant le week-end. Mais à quel autre moment pourrais-je le faire? Je n’ai tout simplement pas le temps en semaine!

Alors lundi matin, je suis allée dans le bureau de ma directrice pour lui demander si elle comptait toujours embaucher un autre professeur, comme elle le promettait depuis quinze jours. Elle m’a demandé avec des yeux en soucoupes pourquoi je posais la question. Je lui ai dit que je ne pouvais pas continuer comme ça, que si elle voulait que je continue à travailler plus il faudrait qu’elle me paye plus. Elle a répliqué que je ne travaillais pas tant d’heures supplémentaires, que je n’avais pas besoin de travailler chez moi pendant le week-end et que je devrais être capable de préparer mes cours en 10 minutes.

J’ai répondu que j’étais désolée mais que ma méthodologie consiste à passer au moins une demi- heure à préparer un cours de 2h, malgré l’aide du manuel et du software, car je n’ai pas envie que mes adolescents s’ennuient ou que mes adultes s’endorment en cours. J’aime bien enseigner et j’essaie de faire des choses sympas pour que mes élèves s’amusent tout en apprenant. Et je préfère ne pas enseigner du tout plutôt que d’être une prof ennuyeuse et incapable de faire rire son auditoire.

Nous avons parlé pendant une demi heure. Ca s’est un peu échauffé au milieu de la conversation. Elle m’a demandé combien je voulais gagner en plus . J’ai dit 300 dollars, en sachant bien que c’était au-delà de ce qu’elle ne ferait jamais. A ce moment-là, j’avais déjà décidé de ne plus travailler dans cette école. Elle a dit qu’elle n’aimait pas trop la tournure de la conversation. Je crois avoir répondu que moi non plus. Enfin, elle a annoncé que nous devions cesser notre collaboration. Je répondu “Bueno!*” Puis je lui ai parlé de ma première fiche de paye.

Je suis donc au chômage. C’est un bien grand mot mais c’est la réalité. Je devrais percevoir mon deuxième chèque correspondant à ma deuxième semaine d’enseignement à la fin du mois de juin, ainsi que les 15 dollars manquant à mon premier salaire.

Après avoir quitté l’école pour la dernière fois, je suis allée me réfugier au parc pour pleurer. Je me sentais mal vis-à-vis de mes étudiants, que j’appréciais vraiment. Et surtout, ma directrice avait réussi à me faire sentir coupable. Mais au fond de moi-même, je sais que j’ai pris la bonne décision et que je n’ai rien à regretter.

Et avoir un soutien moral rend les choses plus faciles. Merci Jenna!

* Très bien.

Edison, 12 years old,  was a  boy I happened to meet while walking around Quito´s many plazas in the historical center. After roaming around the colonial area of Quito I wound up right in the middle of the Plaza Grande, right across from the Presidential Palace and just a few meters from the main cathedral where I took a seat  to pack up my camera gear.  I saw a group of about 3 kids dressed in torn jeans, bleach stained t shirts, sporting paint speckled faces and dirty hands hanging out next to me under the shade of the palm tree. The kids got my attention because there was something different about them, their expressions were grave and and almost void of any signs of childhood  as they spoke about how business was that day, how much money they had made and other concerns that would have never struck me when I was their age.   They looked more like stressed salespeople on a cigarette break than any kids I had ever known growing up in Chicago.  Even last year when I was an English teacher in South Korea, where kids are in school 6 days a week and have class until about 9 pm each night, the children weren’t nearly as stressed as these children at the Plaza Grande appeared to be.  I proceeded to greet them with a quick “Hola” and began to make small talk, eventually asking them about their work.   Only Edison  seemed interested in whatever I had to say while the other 2 boys, 13-year old Eddy and 16-year old Franklin seemed more concerned about their next shoe shine than my questions.  I offered to buy them some cold cokes for their time and they were in.

Edison like countless boys his age makes a living every day carrying around his shine box and shining shoes for about 40 cents a pop.  At any given time throughout the day in Quito´s plazas you will run into these children, at first it doesn´t phase you that there are so many of them making the rounds until you realize this is usually the time they, boys aged 7-17,  should be in school learning about math, science and language, not roaming the streets for work.   Or should they? As I learned from the boys, many of them came from large families where their small contribution of about 3 dollars a day went towards helping put food on the table, clothes on the backs of the younger siblings and helping with other expenses in the household.  When does this leave time for school? For being a kid? For playing soccer in the street?  Edison, who came from a family of 8, found the time to attend night school where he loves math class and hopes to one day be an accountant.  I asked how much they usually made in a day and they told me that if they made enough to purchase a $1.50 almuerzo, a fixed meal served at many local restaurants, then it was a good day.  I asked them which was the best plaza to work since Quito has so many in  its Old Town to which they replied Plaza Grande.  I also asked about their hours of business and was surprised to hear that it was 7 days a week, averaging about 8 hours a day.

A walk around the plazas  of  Quito would definitely reveal that this life is a reality for many children not only in Ecuador but in many Latin American countries as they shine shoes, sell handicrafts, cigarettes, candies or perform at traffic lights for tips.  I really enjoyed my  conversation with the boys as they reminded me of my own father, who was just a little younger than Edison, when he was also called to help support his family doing a variety  of jobs around town in a small town in Mexico during the 1950′s.  My dad has always been a hard worker, like these boys he shined shoes, he made  leather sandals, and worked so that he could provide for his younger brother and sister.  I could see these kids weren’t too lazy to go to school, just as my father wasn’t, they were just dealt a tough hand in life and were doing the best they could to make life better for others.  They have to make adult decisions while still juggling a full time job and taking elementary school subjects at night.  The kids I had the opportunity meet were bright and articulate and full of potential to succeed.  They demonstrate maturity, responsibility and leadership as they wake up day after day to make ends meet. I just hope that they continue with their studies and give themselves all the necessary tools to make a way for themselves in life.

We sat in the plaza for a good 15 minutes while they got me to agree to let them shine my shoes.  I was wearing an old pair of Chuck Taylors that were falling apart but for the stake of the story I complied and they got to work.  Word to the wise, never get you Chuck Taylors shined, ever because they come out looking pretty bad.  As I spoke to my new shoeshine friend, a group of other kids formed around us and started asking me questions.  At their request, I agreed to take Edison and his 2 buddies out to lunch and we dined on french fries, colas, and fried chicken.

Jet Set Zero is growing.

We are looking for our first ever intern to help with the behind the scenes work that keeps the show going – everything from helping manage new projects and collaborations to working with content and outreach.

The responsibilities of this position run the gambit from coordination, content and meetings with our cast all over the world to outreach on social networks like Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. This position absolutely requires flexibility and the ability to learn new tasks quickly.

Key responsibilities include:

• Coordinating with cast members around the world to ensure timely and organized delivery of digital content (photos, videos, blog posts).
• Organizing and distributing digital content from cast members  to social networks and the production team.
• Selecting and uploading photos, featuring blog posts, and viewer interaction across jetsetzero.tv, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks.
• Coordinating with guest authors and partner sites for collaborative projects and guest posts.

We would strongly prefer someone familiar with html, CSS, and WordPress.

At the end of the day the only key requirements for this position are:

• A superhuman attention to detail and obsession with organization.
• Basic tech savvy.
• Ability to learn quickly and troubleshoot problems independently.
• Excitement for what Jet Set Zero does, and a desire to learn more about how it all works.

We expect about 15 hours/week of work, and this can be done remotely from anywhere in any time zone. As long as you have good communication skills then we can make it work.

This position starts immediately (well, as soon as we find the right person).

If you are interested in some day being a producer, videographer, cast member or otherwise on Jet Set Zero, this is a great place to start.

We’re willing to train the right person in all of these areas and to answer questions and just explain in general how everything works behind the scenes; however this is an unpaid position.

Please send all résumés, cover letters, stories, photographs, tall tales, sculptures, presents, paintings or other qualifying materials to: jobs@jetsetzero.tv

Lynne and Courtney Circa 2007 - Cirie, Italy

Moving to a different country without a clearly defined plan is definitely the way to go, with one major exception: finding employment. On the job front, doing a little research before you leave can pay off BIG TIME.  It did for team Italy!

As of next week all four of us will be teaching English to Italian children at English immersion summer camps throughout Italy with a non-profit organization called ACLE.

JOB FACTS:

• I found ACLE through a Google search in 2007 and it was my ticket out of my corporate job.
• Lynne and I met in Italy working for this very same program three years ago. Our Jet Set Zero experience will be a reunion of epic proportions.
• Sarah and Perrin are ACLE newbies.  Hazing rituals likely.
• ACLE has an important mission: To prove that the “traditional Italian scholastic system of “chalk and talk” fails to stimulate the emotions and energy that an entertaining atmosphere can provide.
• Instead of  lectures and boring workbook lessons, we’ll be teaching English through songs, theater, art, games, sports and multi-cultural activities.
• ACLE + Italy = one delicious summer.

A lot more on our sweet summer job soon, but for now check out these excellent sites to begin YOUR international job search:

Jobs Abroad
Teach Abroad
National Association of International Educators (NAFSA)
Craigslist (Search Europe/International Jobs)
Dave’s ESL Cafe
Expat-Blog (read success stories and get tips from other expats)

I have a second part-time job: I am now a French tutor ! My students are the mothers of two children I work with at the day-care center. One is Brazilian, the other is Japanese. I teach six and a half hours per week and I get paid 8 dollars per hour. I know it is not much for a private tutor, especially since it takes me the same amount of time to prepare the lessons. But, considering that I have little tutoring experience, that I enjoy doing it, that it’s a good opportunity for me to review some gramatical rules I have forgotten, and last but not least, that my students are extremely nice, I’m very happy with 8 dollars/hour.

Besides, I have started teaching workshops now and then to a group of French speaking Vietnamese students who will do their master’s degree in France. So much work, so much time, but so much fun! YAY!

* * * * * * *

DEUX JOBS ET DEMI

J’ai un deuxième travail à temps partiel: je suis désormais tutrice de Français! Mes étudiants sont les mamans de deux enfants dont je suis la maîtresse à la crèche. L’une est brésilienne, l’autre est japonaise. J’enseigne six heures et demie par semaine à 8 dollars de l’heure. Je sais bien que pour un professeur particulier, ce n’est pas beaucoup. Mais enfin, vu que je n’ai pas beaucoup d’expérience dans ce domaine, que j’aime ça, que ça me donne l’occasion de revoir des règles de grammaire oubliées, et que mes étudiantes sont très sympathiques, ce forfait horaire me convient pleinement.

D’autre part, j’ai commencé à animer des ateliers pour des étudiants vietnamiens francophones qui s’apprêtent à faire leur master en France. Tellement de travail, tellement de temps, mais tellement de plaisir! Youhou!