September 2005 archive

Please fire me

Friday, 30 Sep 2005 | Leaving the Netherlands

The chances of me finding a job in Asia while not living there are fairly slim. The upcoming reorganisation at work allows me to venture out to Asia without having that job lined up. It means I can move there sooner and ultimately probably also have a bigger chance of finding a job.

As I’ve explained before, the way I would do this is by becoming a voluntary or involuntary replacement candidate. The whole process of replacement basically means I for a limited amount of time continue to get paid by my boss even though I’m not working anymore. For this period of replacement, there is no big difference between being a voluntary or involuntary replacement candidate. However, if I volunteer it means I loose my right to unemployment benefits. That doesn’t matter if I do find a job over there, but would matter if I didn’t and would have to move back to Amsterdam.

I hope not to have to use it obviously, but it’s a matter of covering my ass - which is exactly why I hope I can become an involuntary replacement candidate. How am I going to do this? Ask a member of senior management, “Hello mister senior management, I know you like me and don’t want me to leave the company. But I’m going to leave regardless, so will you please help me? I’ll be your best friend if you do!”

But I figured that probably won’t work.

November 2005 trip schedule

Thursday, 29 Sep 2005 | Bangkok and Hong Kong, November 2005

A while back I was wondering if I should go for one or two trips in between that time and my move to Thailand in February of next year. I decided on one trip. In part because Arjan suggested I didn’t need a special visit to ‘set things up’ before my move (like find a place to live, etc.) and could just do that when I arrived. So I decided to book a ticket for a one month trip.

Schedule

26/10 - 12/11: Bangkok (17 nights)
12/11 - 17/11: Hong Kong (5 nights)
17/11 - 20/11: Bangkok (3 nights)
20/11 - 22/11: Kuala Lumpur (2 nights)
22/11 - 24/11: Singapore (2 nights)
24/11 - 25/11: Bangkok (1 night)

Objective

The trip is ofcourse planned in this month because of the wedding I am attending, Arjan and Nuy are getting married on November 19th. This is by far the most important reason to visit Bangkok. However, I will also take the opportunity to have a chat with the people at the dutch embassy, perhaps talk to some recruitment agencies and maybe attend some other business related events. The same applies to Hong Kong. The idea is that I also check out Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, so I’ve got a basic idea of what those cities are like. Ofcourse it’s not going to be all business, there will be more than plenty of playtime and I am pretty sure I will have another amazing trip!

Taxes are easy, it turns out

Tuesday, 27 Sep 2005 | Leaving the Netherlands

Last Friday I visited the tax office in Amsterdam on a quest to gather some information about taxes in relation to my relocation. However, the people I spoke to were hopeless and the best advice they could give me is to look on the internet. I did, but that just confused me more. Their special ‘foreign affairs’ office is located in Heerlen, which is all the way at the southern most tip of the country. As I was in the area for a meeting, I decided to make a little detour.

I had been reading up on the internet, consulted a couple of books, etc. and found so many rules, special circumstances and exclusions that I was afraid of entering so much bureaucracy I’d need a machete to cut through all the red tape. I was pleasantly surprised, it’s fairly straightforward.

Sales pitch

Saturday, 24 Sep 2005 | Work in Asia

As I’ve explained before, I am open to move anywhere in Asia but have chosen Bangkok as my destination if no opportunities present themselves. In doing so, I’m not really making life easy for myself. Bangkok is a very popular destination and so the jobmarket for expats is a very competitive one. Especially because both locals and veteran expats feel newcomers are only there for a limited amount of time to enjoy the weather and the women, young single men such as myself in particular. And I guess there is a certain truth in that, which they have learned through experience. Although aware of this, I never really made a big deal out of it. Especially since I am going to apply for jobs at large international corporations with lots of expats, I thought the chances of me running into that sort of stereotyping were slim. Arjan recently sent me an email that said otherwise.

Arjan told me he had been thinking about a better sales pitch for me than “I was here on holiday, kinda liked it and so decided to move here”, which I agree is a very limited view of my arguments and will certainly not help getting me hired. On top of that, I will also have to explain why a company is better off hiring me than a local. So I’ve got my work cut out for me. The latter I’ll probably be able to work out myself. I haven’t spent any serious time contemplating it, but I should be okay. However, what to say to the question “why are you here?” is a little harder to think of. Things that come to mind are my long standing desire to move abroad, my fascination with Asian cultures, etc. But no real strong arguments.

So I thought I’d ask you. Since you’ve known me for a while now and we’ve spoken about this move too, I’m curious to hear why you think is my motivation. I’m not asking you to write an essay on it, just a few lines perhaps is just fine. Hopefully it will help me in making a sales pitch!

Podcasting

Friday, 16 Sep 2005 | Blogging

Since Monday I’ve been using an iPod, which my brother was kind enough to lend to me for a couple of weeks. From the looks of it, I will be getting an iPod nano before I move. One of the things that has been intriguing is how cool I feel podcasts are.

Do you ever sit down to watch the news or listen to a particular radioshow anymore? I don’t. Mostly because I want to see or hear it when convenient for me, not when the broadcaster decides. And for me, the most convenient time is when I’m en route. Podcasting is the perfect answer for me. Basically, I subscribe to a show and each new episode of this show is then downloaded automatically. Whenever I connect the iPod to my computer, it puts all the downloaded content on the iPod so they are ready for me when I head out. But you don’t need an iPod, you could just as easily listen to it on the computer.

Among others, I’ve subscribed and have been listening to what is probably the most popular podcast - The Daily Sourcecode by Adam Curry. It’s sort of a mix between a radioshow and a blog, since he does talk about his life a lot. So what is the relevance of this for sixtysix you ask? Well, it gave me an interesting idea - why not podcast once I’ve moved to Asia? I would host my own ‘radioshow’ from Bangkok and readers of this blog could also listen to me rambling about my experiences over there. It’s probably less work than writing a journal, since there is no time to carefully phrase articles.

On the other hand, I think less people would listen to podcasts than would read my blog. So maybe I’m just being stupid. Regardless, it’s an interesting concept.

Unemployment benefits

Thursday, 15 Sep 2005 | Leaving the Netherlands

Today I investigated the impact of this adventure on unemployment benefits. I had a meeting with a lady at the agency who does the intake and she explained it all to me. These benefits could, depending on how things work out the upcoming weeks, be a safety net for me. If things don’t work out for me in Asia and I come back here, these can help me through the time of trying to find a new job here.

To qualify for unemployment benefits I have to be unemployed through no fault of my own. So in my case when I am an unvoluntary replacement candidate. If I volunteer to be a replacement candidate, I give up my rights to unemployment benefits. Benefits here are a percentage of your last earned salary, kicking in at 90% of and after a while dropping to 70% of that salary. There is a maximum of €167.70 per working day, but this is supplemented for employees of the federal government. So, assuming I do qualify…

World nature art

Friday, 2 Sep 2005 | Miscellaneous

Today I visited the ‘world nature art’ exhibition in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, which attempts to shed some light on how a view of nature is dependent on the culture of the viewer. The exhibit shows nineteen different themes, each as viewed from four cultures: indigenous, Asian, Islamic and western. Natalie asked me which of the cultures I could identify with the most.

The indigenous view was to alien for me. It was an ancient look at nature, which put humans as part of nature. Not a big surprise ofcourse, considering the source. As a cityboy, I don’t really felt drawn to this one. The Islamic view of nature put to much emphasis on God, being an atheist I couldn’t quite identify with this ofcourse. The western view on the other end was something I felt I knew really well. Our view has over time changed from dominated by to dominating nature, as we gained more power over controlling nature. The Asian view however was the one I could identify with most. It is all about respect for and harmony between humans and nature.

I’m sure my move to Asia makes me more of a sucker for ‘all things Asian’, so perhaps it’s not surprising this was the outcome. I like to believe I am still capable of objectivity though.

The calm before the storm

Thursday, 1 Sep 2005 | Leaving the Netherlands

The last couple of weeks it has been fairly quiet on this blog. I think it’s safe to say this has been a calm before the storm. I don’t know exactly why I haven’t been posting a whole lot, because the move has been in my mind constantly and there is a lot to write about. There are a couple of things I have to make decisions about or start investigating soon. Some stuff you’re going to see appear soon …

• What to do about my current job. I have to research the moves I have to make and when I have to make them to make the best use of all options I have at my disposal.

• What am I going to do with my house? I could either rent it out or sell it. This will also impact what I do with surplus inventory and is a pressing matter because should I decide to sell I need to get it on the market soon.

• I’ve got to start looking into a source of income in Bangkok. Related to this is ofcourse a working visa and other things.

• The impact of my leaving this country is something I need to look into. What contracts would I want to continue having here and which ones can be cancelled. What formalities do I need to take care of, etc.

• November is approaching fast and I need to start planning and booking my trip.