What a Difference a Week Makes.

Last week Paul and I were stressed out about money. We didn’t have any clue how we were going to get jobs. We felt the dreadful deadline of March approaching (since that was how far we approximated our funds would last).

This week Paul and I hopeful about our finances. I was offered a job today and Paul has an interview on Monday. March seems like it will be just another month to usher in springtime.

What a difference a week makes.

It started on Tuesday. Paul had seen a flyer looking for help at a market near the house where we live. I had also seen a gallery for jewelry made from repurposed objects. So armed with all the optimism we could muster and six of my floppy disc books we headed out into the big wide world.

And fell flat on our faces.

The market was looking for someone who could at least speak German but would prefer if they could speak both German and Russian. That put Paul out of the game. The gallery we went to was very nice but only wanted to sell jewelry and accessory items. No books. Dang.

Paul and I wandered the streets of the Altstadt while recovering from our wounds. Double denial, double slam. It didn’t feel so good.

However, as we wandered around I found a shop which was interesing. It had hipster written all over it. I went inside and introduced myself to Nora, one of the shop owners. I told the very very very brief version of my story: I am an artist who moved to Düsseldorf from California and I made books. I showed her my floppy disc books and she seemed interested in possibly selling them. I left my contact information and a book with her for an example. I will check back next week.

We left and I felt a little proud of myself. For me, the hardest part of the art world is being my own promoter. I usually leave this up to Paul or my friends. The problem right now is Paul doesn’t speak German and my friends aren’t here. I have to do it myself.

While I was basking in my own bravery Paul and I passed an Irish Pub with a sign in the window, “English speaking help wanted. Apply within.”

Within we went.

We met Anna, ordered two cokes and inquired about the jobs. Anna was very nice and asked us to write down all our information on a Bitburger notepad. This was our application. She seemed pretty confident we would be contacted by the owner soon.

I also decided to try posting some proposals for writing gigs on a freelance site. Imagine how stoked I am two of the three proposals have responded! Someone is going to PAY money to ME to WRITE! It’s not much, but it is alot of practice and a way to bolster my writing portfolio. Either way I will be getting PAID to WRITE!

As if I needed all my good news in one afternoon, the owner of the pub called that same afternoon. He didn’t have a job for Paul right now, but he did have one for me. He asked me to come in today to do a three hour trial (which seems to be standard procedure for these types of jobs in Germany). I went in, did my trial and will be starting next week!

Today, while I was doing my trial by fire, Paul was hustling too. He went door to door looking for a job. He has a trial of his own working in a kitchen on Monday. So if all goes well we will both be employed by next week. It may be small starts but it at least gets our feet in some doors.

What a difference a week makes.