Well there are a number problems with freelancing, the first is that it can spoil you. Unlike a regular school that guarantees your hours and is contractually obliged to pay you if they can not find courses for you during the week - and therefore WILL find you courses to keep you busy or else send you to the toilet to scrub it clean,(ok maybe not the toilet, but you will find yourself in the staff room and told to organize the heaps of paper into “quick lesson and ideas” folders) when you work freelance for a school and a class cancels, thats it! You lose the money, but you gain the free time. Almost all my classes were skiing last week. So I only had to wake up one morning, and the rest of the week I only had my private students.
The problem with freelancing is that when that happens too often you find yourself broke broke broke! As when the school is late in paying you. Which also happens a lot when you are a freelancer. This is a major reason why I tell new teachers to Germany to bring lots of cash to hold you over the first three months. Once you are here awhile you can sign up to a couple of schools, and one of them will always need you. (Chain school called me on Tuesday asking me to teach Wed - Fri from 8 am to 2 pm.) OR once you’ve been here awhile you have enough tucked away that you can laugh when chain school calls and enjoy your week off.
But then you have to readjust yourself to going back to a full course week after such a lax one. Sniff, my life is so hard. But at least I no longer have to dress up for work on Halloween. (Though truthfully I kind’ve miss it. It’s just that no one got that I was a gypsy!)
That was a perfect case of me logging in for a reason, and then totally forgetting the reason, and then assuming it was because I wanted to spread the joy of riding Betty, when really I wanted to tell you that the epic journey with the Black Devil was fabulous. After lunch I decided to expand the epic trip to a visit to Oma’s house. (How little red riding hood of me, except this Oma has the most amazing coffee machine ever, and always worthy of a visit for capresso and cake!) I have always said my affection was for sale, I just neglected to say its not for money I dole out my love, but rather for sweeties and good coffee.
However all is not well in Black Devil World. I refuse to drive at night, as though I have had a full 2 days of successful riding I am afraid I may still stall her, and some driver will then proceed to run me over. (Germans are aggressive on the road!!! I always joke the autobahn is their own formula one track to take their attentions away from repeated attempts of world domination.) Patrick went to drive her home and he got 2 feet down the road when she refused to keep going. We don’t know what is wrong with the most wonderful Black Devil. We hope to find out today. But after riding Betty.
So it is back to Spring for Germany! Today is another beautiful day and I am off to drive Betty around the ADAC compound. (Because compound driving is better than no driving!). I can feel our trip coming closer and closer! We hope to leave the middle of June, with an absolute deadline of July 1st. Wheeeeeeeee
I am in the process of renewing my work permit for Germany. Wish me luck, if I am lucky I get someone who likes their job and I will have a permit quickly. If I am not in luck I will be hit with someone who gives me the run around. Honestly, each and every person seems to have a completely different story, from friendly and lovely and quick, (as in one week), right on up to months and months before they finally quit in frustration. That I already have a work permit should help. But the fact that I am changing the type may prove aggravating.
But the proof of my health insurance arrived this week. WOO HOO. Not only do I need it for my permit, but I need it to be in the country at all. Yup, it is a criminal offense not to be insured while in Germany. (and my old insurance is running out).
But here is a pet peeve, I am under private insurance as I am a freelancer and getting into the public system is rather difficult. In fact near impossible. As I have no intention of getting pregnant I chose coverage that does not cover pregnancy. Choosing that option would have driven the cost through the roof. No offense, but if I do get pregnant I had help. Shouldn’t his insurance help chip in as well?
Anyway, so that is my peeve. But the insurance was needed. I do not even want to think about what a financial disaster not having health insurance would have been. Florida healthcare plan benefits is a viable option for people who are self employed and need affordable coverage. It took me forever to find a plan that was acceptable and that was within reason financially.
There are other things to do at the moment. Including some trip enhancing posts, as well as sharing what happened today, and the epic journey. But one last video post, partially because the novelty hasn’t worn off, and partially because all the talk of Asia makes me want to share some Korea shots from Patrick’s trip. It is also when and how I met him. Though there is no pics of me in this video, as for most of Korea I admit to feeling very little pain.
So this is it, I am about to engage on an epic journey with the Black Devil. The furthest I have gone with her is through city center, and now I am about to go clear the other way to Stuttgart to meet Patrick for lunch. (Hurray Easter, all my classes today have been canceled!) The problem is getting her and not having her stall, because she is a kick start. Honestly, the BMW is easier to drive. But the legalities of finally being able to drive is a painful process in Germany. So wish me luck! I will let you know afterwards if I join a wine club in celebration or if I threw her in front of an oncoming transport truck.
but I will anyway. Honestly, this is too funny, and yet strangely disturbing. (That sentence kind of sums up my whole life in Japan actually). I was actually looking for the angry German kid video to send my brother (because I like to give him random gifts of disturbing videos) but this is much better. I also know Flowers taught in Japan, so I felt it must be shared!
Everyone knows I am a procrastinator. I cant even write emails, seriously, I finally wrote an email today I meant to write two days ago. I get online and then I spend the next hour reading comics and catching up on blogs, and then when I open the email up before I even begin I drift over to Facebook. OR I have a week like next week promises to be, where I will not have time to breath. Come Saturday I will be begging for time to do nothing but flick around pages on the internet, EXCEPT my German course starts next week. As I have no time for anything else I have lessons on Friday evening, and all of Saturday morning.
Sniff.
The thing is I love working for myself, but I rarely have the time to properly develop it. Or when I have the time (like this week when everyone is on Easter vacation) I relish doing nothing.
Wa ha! So after all that time thinking I can not post videos (except as a link) I am now about to over kill you with you videos! Whee heee. No I promise I will not. But I have to share this video Patrick made for me from my first day on the Black Devil. I had to practice someplace safe on it first, because the damn thing stalls! Well, I have to admit, the past 2 days I have not stalled her at all, so maybe it was just getting use to the old clutch. But after 2 weeks of riding her around I felt more than confident enough to drive a standard from Germany to Italy. (It is true, until this weekend I could only drive an automatic). Go Black Devil!!
Seriously, I have had a blog for over a year and a half now, I started Gypsy princess when I moved to Turkey, though at first I never passed on links like Branson golf but rather used it as a solution to the problem of mass mailing. (who would have figured the same people who got upset that they never get a personal email have no problem with no emails at all and blog checking instead). Anyway I have never been able to embed a You Tube video. Never! And Patrick asked today why. I demonstrated it, and the video went through!
Gwa!
Apparently I need to pop in the code and never edit it again. As soon as I edit just one little thing the blog eats part of the code, and that is why it doesn’t work. Or something like that…
But at least I no longer have to dress up for work on Halloween. (Though truthfully I kind’ve miss it. It’s just that no one got that I was a gypsy!)
We hope to find out today. But after riding Betty. 
The problem is getting her and not having her stall, because she is a kick start. Honestly, the BMW is easier to drive. But the legalities of finally being able to drive is a painful process in Germany. So wish me luck! I will let you know afterwards if I join a 