God, I cannot believe that I've already been back for almost eight months! That's three quarters of the time I have been away! Exactly, a year ago, I arrived in Alice Springs and got ready to see Uluru! Compared to everything I did last year, life back home really does seem a bit dull. But that's only half the truth cause even though I'm back I think I really made the best out of it .

For one thing I didn't make the mistake that most people make when they get back - I didn't start to work 45 hours, five days a week again as I did before. Instead I told my old company that I would prefer to work part-time. And that was fine with them, cause, naturally, they had gotten a replacement for me. So I couldn't just walk in and say "Move over. This is my computer". And to be honest I didn't want to do that either. As a matter of fact I had huge qualms about going back at all. In a way, returning to something I had left behind felt like a step backwards. Especially since I was rather disenchanted when I left. But looking back at the last eight months I have to admit that I was - and am - extremely lucky. My part-time schedule is roughly 2,5 weeks on, 1,5 week off. So I'm having a lot of spare time which I think is really important if you come back for a trip like that. A lot of people I met travelling went nearly crazy cause they couldn't handle the transition from travelling full time to working full time.

In my case however I decided that I didn't want it to be a transition. I decided that part-time suits me just fine, thank you. For one thing you get to escape a lot of corporate bullshit when you are not there all the time. And personally I think that corporate politics is the most annoying thing about any job. And since I hit a ceiling in the hierarchy, there is nothing I'm loosing out on by dodging all those meetings and games.

Europe - here I come

More importantly though my part-time schedule gives me plenty of time to continue travelling. I figured that after having seen large parts of the world I should take a bit of a closer look at Europe as well. So far I have been to Italy, Krakau (and Auschwitz) Barcelona (no pics since my cameras was stolen), Prague (where I couldn't be bothered to take photos) and at the end of the month I'll be in Scotland for a week to visit Joni, Rossie and Rowan for the Edinburgh Festival. I would have loved to see Rosa, too, but she is one of the people who got sick of nine to five, so she spontaneously went off to the Sinai Desert.

Aiming high

I've also started to rock climb in semi-earnest. I'm currently meeting friends once a week to go climbing on some indoor walls and I also went to Italy and Austria for some climbing on real rock. All that and the usual social activities (birthdays, weddings, getting drunk with friends) have actually made for a rather full social calendar. Which I think is great!

The next job?

Another really important thing about working part-time is imho that it gives me the time to explore new possibilities where I'd like to go in life. As I think I have mentioned here earlier I was thinking about working as a "broker" between Czech webdesigners and German companies, being the trusted, German face for cheap labour. When I came back however I discovered that I wasn't prepared to put as much sweat into this plan as it would have necessitated. Instead, I started to pursue my second career-alternative: getting a job with the UN, the OSCE, an NGO or a similar organization. I'd say I've roughly sent out one job-application per week since I got back to Germany - and I got exactly squat. I really didn't think it would be that difficult to get a job in that field, but it is! I even took a Russian-course to add another sought-after language to my CV, only to find out that Russian is slightly more difficult than, e .g. Spanish. Well, at least I can read the alphabet now. What's frustrating about applying for these kind of jobs is that you almost never get a reply. If they don't like you application you never hear back from them, which I think really sucks since they all want applications by email or through a database anyhow. And how much work would it be to generate an automated email that says "Thank you for application. But you suck. Now get on with life!" ? That'd be so easy to do. I also did the website for the German NGO Afrodent (it's not quite done yet) to get some more "points" as far as being involved with social issues is concerned.

Age-discrimination against over 30s

So I haven't gotten a new job yet. But that doesn't mean that I'm disheartened yet. I just keep sending them CVs in the hope of getting something in return at some point. What's frustrating is that I'm already considered too old at 32 at some organizations. The German foreign ministry, e.g. only hires people up to the age of 28. What kind of system is that?

New room mates

I also went through two room mates since I got back. The first, Sibylle, moved out again after five months since she decided she'd rather live in Italy. Well, can't really blame her for that, can I? It was a shame though since Sibylle was really nice. And the fact that she is a stewardess meant that I had the apartment for myself a lot, too. But I think I made a good trade with Beate, too. As a matter of fact I "stole" her from the neighbours. She was sharing the apartment next door, so I already knew her a bit. And since my flat is nicer then theirs was, she simply move over to me. And she's great! She's funny and has a lot of nice (good looking) friends that are hanging out here quite a lot. I really enjoy her living with me.

Love

Which kind a brings me to my love life. Well, to be honest, I don't really have one. But that's ok. What is not ok however is my mom starting to pester me about it. She left me alone all those years and now all of a sudden she starts the whole "When will you get married and what about children??!!?"-routine. That is really annoying!

But as you can see - I'm quite well and alive eight months after I returned from my big trip. I'm back but I also still spend time on the road and try to get more out of life than a new car. Actually, if last year taught me something then it is this: "Life is precious. Live it!" I intend to do just that.

A few cool websites I recently found:

Flickr: A great site to host and share photos
Friendster: A great way to stay in touch
Google Earth: For arm-chair travellers.