Asi empieza mi columna (muy solemne, pero es verdad ...estoy feliz por que siempre quise tener un sitio donde escribir tonterias y ver si alguien las lee)
Chuck creo este blog para hacerlos reir con nuestras anecdotas pre y durante la experiencia Europea. No les voy a quitar ese placer. El Gringo es el encargado de hacerlos reir, yo intentare mi mejor redaccion para contarles un poco de como es nuestra vida y de las cosas que vamos decubriendo en Luxemburgo. (o mientras tanto desde Seattle)
Ademas soy la encargada de mantener el castellano. Parece que pasar tiempo fuera del Peru esta haciendo cosas terribles con mi ortografia y peor aun con mi vocabulario (que Chuck me corrija o hasta me ayude a encontrar palabras en mi propio idioma es suficiente humillacion). Eso si, me van a tener que disculpar la falta de acentos y enies (n~’s) hasta que vea la manera de ponerselos a este texto.Bueno, aun no hemos llegado a Europa pero a mi me pican los dedos por empezar a escribir.
Hoy estoy sentada en el 10mo (decimo) café cercano al flat, Uptown Expresso. El 10mo café?! Es que esta ciudad, Seattle, es el reino de la cafeina y de las opciones. Ok nunca he vivido en Roma o en alguna otra ciudad Italiana, pero dudo que haya otro sitio donde uno pueda ser tan exquisito y original para pedir un café y que nadie te mire raro. Me imagino que en Italia uno puede probar el mas increible café espresso, capuccino o latte. Pero en Seattle uno puede articular cosas como dopio- skinny- soya- mochaccino y nadie te mueve una ceja… eso para gente como yo, es un placer (aparentemente soy un poco complicada, eso me han dicho). Hoy dia, pedir un café con leche caliente al lado es tan simple como un café Americano (sweet!)
El Gringo y yo vivimos en la cima de Queen Anne, una zona bastante residencial en Seattle, pero a la vez llena de vida y, claro, cafes. Imaginense esto: Café El Diablo, a 100m, un café independiente especializado en cubanitos y con un local pintado a lo Mexicano. Café Ladro, a 200m, una cadena local, Café Appasionatto, donde los duenos son una familia Irani, (Irani?!) y donde siempre encuentras a un grupo de senores en sus 60’s conversando de la vida y de sus ultimas aventuras. Café Fresco, que comparte local con la peluqueria donde el Gringo se corta el pelo. Starbucks, no falta, y Café Tully’s, otra cadena de Seattle. Hasta la clinica quiropractica tiene un café (!).
Uptown Espresso es uno de mis preferidos, sera por que el café es delicioso o por que hacen unos kekes de calabaza (Pumpkin Bread) que matan (!) … llevo como 1 semana sin tentarme, ya que mis clases spinning no podian contrarrestar las calorias que estaba consumiendo en cada pedazo de keke (soy una dulcera con poca fuerza de voluntad). El sitio me lo recomendo una chica que nos recibio en su casa para Ano Nuevo del 2005 (esa es una manera de decirlo, ya que caimos como paracaidas en su fiesta).
Yo pense que despues de Londres me iba a tener que contentar con un café Americano a medias, y que poco a poco el placer de tomar un espresso iba a ir desvaneciendo… Pero esta ciudad me ha demostrado lo opuesto y ha sobrepasado cualquier expectativa. Prueba fuerte le espera a Luxemburgo. Quiza volver a Europa sea toda una aventura y un nuevo descubrimiento … pero yo hoy dia tengo mis dudas: podre encontrar un buen café para continuar mi addicion?
Podra Luxemburgo ofrecer una opcion mejor que este paraiso del café? (No duden que uno de nuetros criterios en busqueda de casa sera ‘el café de la esquina’)
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Poppa's hittin' the road again - Luxembourg Here We Come
Executive Summary: I have been offered a two-yearassignment with LARGE INTERNET RETAILER in Luxembourg. AlessandraSusana Brescia Aicardi and I will be heading that wayin the next few months.
Long rambling version:
Beloved friends,
As 2004 came to a close, I made two solemn resolutionsto guide me in the coming year. First, I resolved tolose some weight. As the classic line says, fat dumband stupid is no way to go through life.
Second, I resolved to settle dowm and stay put in oneplace for a while. Create some calm and cohesion,that was the ticket. Well, if you read the executivesummary, you know that I am not keeping my resolutionsthis year.
I have been offered a role running a LARGE INTERNETRETAILER's affiliate marketingprogram in Europe. The program is anaffiliate marketing program whereby other websites putlinks to LARGE INTERNET RETAILER and/or LARGEINTERNET RETAILER products. When websurfers click through these links and buy something onour site, we pay a fee to the referring site. Its bigbusinesss and a significant portion of LARGE INTERNETRETAILER's traffic.
The job is based in Luxembourg. Myteam includes a guy in the UK, 2 in Germany, one inFrance and finance support to be hired intoLuxembourg. The goal is simple, profitably grow thetraffic sourced through the affiliate program in Europe. It has all the basics of a great role - lots of exposure,high expectations, international assignment, house onfire, etc, etc.I am still waiting to find out how bad a relocationdeal LARGE INTERNET RETAILER is going to offer me:)Having said that, I am going to take the job and I expect to be inLuxembourg by April.
To fill you in on the details, I have created a FAQ(frequently asked questions). I apologize in advancefor the vulgarity, but several are exact quotes.
1) Didn't anyone f*cking realize that you are notremotely qualified for the job?Well, I am sure that someone realized it, but notenough people realized it. Its important tounderstand that in any group at LARGE INTERNETRETAILER of more than 5 people at least one thinksyou are an idiot. Since I was interviewed by 7 people,someone realized the truth.Having said that, going after jobs for which you arequalified is sort of like dating a woman in yourleague. You can do it, but I wouldn't advise it.
2)No seriously, what the hell happened?Not sure. I suckered some poor friend of mine in totaking my aweful job and I became a free agent. Thissame friend, who in the fullness of time will notlikely remain my friend, then refered me to the hiringmanager for this position. A week later, I have anoffer. Obviously, I am trying to get all the dealssorted before everyone starts to sober up.
3) Why Luxembourg?Luxembourg is the new LARGE INTERNET RETAILER EU headquarters. ByEuropean standards it is a "tax haven" which meansthat the VAT is less than 80% and the personal incometax tops out at 90%.
4) Where is Luxembourg?Not sure really. Its about the size of my living roomand I think it is sandwiched lovingly between Germanyand France. If you get drunk and go for a walk, Ithink you have a reasonable chance of ending up in oneof five countries.
5) What does Ale think about all this?I should have put this question closer to the top.Long story short, she is excited. As she puts it, shewas ready for an adventure in the US with me and nowshe is ready for an adventure in the EU . . . and Ithink she is happy that she will get a chance to learnFrench.Btw, I should give a brief summary of Ale's adventureto date in Seattle. The biggest news is that I thinkshe has befriended half this town. She knows all theshop keepers up and down our street and isparticularly close to all the baristas. I will haveto explain to all of you someday how Ale orders hercofee . . . but there just isn't time. Put quickly,it takes about 2 minutes to get the order out. Oh,and she came home one day to tell me that she had acoffee date for the following day with a middle-agedmidget psychologist. (I was speechless . . . and I amrarely speechless)
6) What are you plans for Europe?The list is long and growing; view a mountain stage ofthe tour de france, go to Octoberfest, see Rome, takethe entire summer off, go to La Tomatina, view aSix-Nations rugby match, eat in lots of bistros, learna little French and German.In addition to the above, Ale wants to "eskee in thealps."
7) If your team ever flew on a plane together,wouldn't it sound like a joke I knew in 4th grade?Yes, it would actially. I loved every joke thatstarted with; "An American, a brit, a German and aFrenchman" . . . . I was clearly hired, in part, formy cultural sensitivity.
8) Can I come for a visit?Absolutely. I ask for at least 2 hours notice. Iwant to make sure we have a bottle of wine on hand. Iobviously have no contact info yet, but can always bereached at this email address.
9) Wait, how did you get this f*cking job again?I stumbled ass-backward in to it. It is better to belucky than good.I hope this post finds you well.Chuckps - No, I haven't lost any weight either.
pps - The subject line are lyrics from a song. Idon't refer to myself as Poppa . . . I promise.
Long rambling version:
Beloved friends,
As 2004 came to a close, I made two solemn resolutionsto guide me in the coming year. First, I resolved tolose some weight. As the classic line says, fat dumband stupid is no way to go through life.
Second, I resolved to settle dowm and stay put in oneplace for a while. Create some calm and cohesion,that was the ticket. Well, if you read the executivesummary, you know that I am not keeping my resolutionsthis year.
I have been offered a role running a LARGE INTERNETRETAILER's affiliate marketingprogram in Europe. The program is anaffiliate marketing program whereby other websites putlinks to LARGE INTERNET RETAILER and/or LARGEINTERNET RETAILER products. When websurfers click through these links and buy something onour site, we pay a fee to the referring site. Its bigbusinesss and a significant portion of LARGE INTERNETRETAILER's traffic.
The job is based in Luxembourg. Myteam includes a guy in the UK, 2 in Germany, one inFrance and finance support to be hired intoLuxembourg. The goal is simple, profitably grow thetraffic sourced through the affiliate program in Europe. It has all the basics of a great role - lots of exposure,high expectations, international assignment, house onfire, etc, etc.I am still waiting to find out how bad a relocationdeal LARGE INTERNET RETAILER is going to offer me:)Having said that, I am going to take the job and I expect to be inLuxembourg by April.
To fill you in on the details, I have created a FAQ(frequently asked questions). I apologize in advancefor the vulgarity, but several are exact quotes.
1) Didn't anyone f*cking realize that you are notremotely qualified for the job?Well, I am sure that someone realized it, but notenough people realized it. Its important tounderstand that in any group at LARGE INTERNETRETAILER of more than 5 people at least one thinksyou are an idiot. Since I was interviewed by 7 people,someone realized the truth.Having said that, going after jobs for which you arequalified is sort of like dating a woman in yourleague. You can do it, but I wouldn't advise it.
2)No seriously, what the hell happened?Not sure. I suckered some poor friend of mine in totaking my aweful job and I became a free agent. Thissame friend, who in the fullness of time will notlikely remain my friend, then refered me to the hiringmanager for this position. A week later, I have anoffer. Obviously, I am trying to get all the dealssorted before everyone starts to sober up.
3) Why Luxembourg?Luxembourg is the new LARGE INTERNET RETAILER EU headquarters. ByEuropean standards it is a "tax haven" which meansthat the VAT is less than 80% and the personal incometax tops out at 90%.
4) Where is Luxembourg?Not sure really. Its about the size of my living roomand I think it is sandwiched lovingly between Germanyand France. If you get drunk and go for a walk, Ithink you have a reasonable chance of ending up in oneof five countries.
5) What does Ale think about all this?I should have put this question closer to the top.Long story short, she is excited. As she puts it, shewas ready for an adventure in the US with me and nowshe is ready for an adventure in the EU . . . and Ithink she is happy that she will get a chance to learnFrench.Btw, I should give a brief summary of Ale's adventureto date in Seattle. The biggest news is that I thinkshe has befriended half this town. She knows all theshop keepers up and down our street and isparticularly close to all the baristas. I will haveto explain to all of you someday how Ale orders hercofee . . . but there just isn't time. Put quickly,it takes about 2 minutes to get the order out. Oh,and she came home one day to tell me that she had acoffee date for the following day with a middle-agedmidget psychologist. (I was speechless . . . and I amrarely speechless)
6) What are you plans for Europe?The list is long and growing; view a mountain stage ofthe tour de france, go to Octoberfest, see Rome, takethe entire summer off, go to La Tomatina, view aSix-Nations rugby match, eat in lots of bistros, learna little French and German.In addition to the above, Ale wants to "eskee in thealps."
7) If your team ever flew on a plane together,wouldn't it sound like a joke I knew in 4th grade?Yes, it would actially. I loved every joke thatstarted with; "An American, a brit, a German and aFrenchman" . . . . I was clearly hired, in part, formy cultural sensitivity.
8) Can I come for a visit?Absolutely. I ask for at least 2 hours notice. Iwant to make sure we have a bottle of wine on hand. Iobviously have no contact info yet, but can always bereached at this email address.
9) Wait, how did you get this f*cking job again?I stumbled ass-backward in to it. It is better to belucky than good.I hope this post finds you well.Chuckps - No, I haven't lost any weight either.
pps - The subject line are lyrics from a song. Idon't refer to myself as Poppa . . . I promise.
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