Joblessness

Today I thought I would share a few thoughts about joblessness. Specifically, my own.

Despite a personal belief that progress as a civilization should mean we have more time for non-work pursuits (e.g. arts, sports, building relationships, gardening), I had the opportunity to become somewhat of a workaholic last year. It was great. I received rewards both financial and ego-building. I didn't have to deal with any problems at home. And best of all, in a society where we place so much value on the number of hours a person works (regardless of their productivity), I got to hold my head high in all but the most unbalanced circles.

I wasn't looking forward to walking away from all that. I'd experienced unemployment before. We spent a month in Czechoslovakia as newlyweds and it got to the point that I was pleading with Czech grandmas to let me do the dishes. It just doesn't feel good to be without something that needs to get done. So, I boarded the plane for my nine month vacation with a fair amount of trepidation.

Well, it didn't take me long to forget all about work. Our first six weeks here were packed so full of day trips, long bike rides, and struggles just to buy groceries that there was no time to miss work. I was having so much fun that when I did think about work, it was only to try and figure out how to never go back to my job again.

Then it got chilly. It's one thing being a stay at home dad when you can go roving over the countryside with your three year old, but when you're stuck inside all day, it gets much harder. This may sound like I'm only trying to win points with my wife, but, truly, when you consider the difficulty of working with children and the rewards employment offers, it's easier to do my engineering job well than it is to be a professional parent. Plus, Kristine is better at it.


I wasn't completely without work during this time. While working on the first draft of my book, I was up at 5:00 a.m. (or earlier when the ideas were just burning in me) six days a week. Some days I was able to get in six hours at the keyboard. If you include time thinking about the story while walking along the river, and time spent reading (an important part of becoming a writer), I was easily putting in a full day's work. I tell you, this is the job for me. There's just one problem. I'm no good at it yet. But I've never let that stop me from doing things.

So, in eight short weeks I'll be back at Mn/DOT doing whatever it is that I do for a job. But between now and then I'm gonna live my life of independent wealthiness to the fullest.

Peter Harff, M.S., P.E., W.B.W

A brief update

It's probably time for a little update. Here's a quick rundown of happenings in the last two or three weeks.

After returning from Prague, ours was the pleasure of relishing a whole week without school. To make matters even better, it was springlike that week.  Lucy read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Unfortunately, when she goes through books like that in three days it makes it tough to keep her supplied with reading material. Caleb played World of Warcraft so he could reach level 80 (the highest until the new expansion set comes out this fall). Despite his most valiant efforts, he was still level 79 as of lights out last night. Silas did Silasy things - either being really cute or really boogery, but very little in between. We finished reading aloud Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman, so I was obsessing about how to bike from here to the Alps and climb Grosser Priel with no special equipment in early May and return all in four days. It's not possible. The book also inspired us to do some scurrying up and down bluffs in Dobra Voda and take a hike up Kluk in the slushy snow.

Atop Kluk. From 2010-02

We also spent some time hanging out and telling stories...

From 2010-02

And Kristine? She and I took a trip to the Czech Foreign Police to turn in paperwork declaring that we are starting a new 180 day time period in which we can stay in the Schengen Territory for a total of 90 days, which 90 days ends on May 20th - the day we fly out. A different fellow worked with us that day, a champion paintballer. Although trembling on the inside, Kristine maintained a cool exterior as she provided the information he requested. At one point he told us that a new law required us to carry medical insurance from a company that has an office in the Czech Republic. This pertains to foreigners here on a visa, except now as officially tourists once again, it didn't apply to us. Do you risk telling this man he's wrong and make him lose face while he has the power to make our lives difficult? The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife as she pointed out the correct information to him. "You're right," he nodded after a moment of consideration and went on stamping our passports. That's it, no more visits to the Czech Foreign Police.

Also, our clothes washer started flooding water one night and then several times thereafter, so babysitting the washer became a favorite activity.

Watching the Washer. From 2010-02	Atop Kluk. From 2010-02

Kristine turned 40 on March 1st. You wouldn't know it.

Winter returned with subfreezing (barely) temperatures and snow. It's made for the most gorgeous running in the mornings.

Last weekend, Kristine took a four-and-a-half hour train ride to a church women's conference for members in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. She met up with several women she met 18 years ago who are now raising families,too.  She listened to lectures from church leaders flown in from Scotland and loved their thick brogue She also sang in the Czech women's choir.  She ate excellent food and had stimulating conversation.  She received what she considers a huge compliment--as she was chatting with a young woman in the train, the stranger asked if Kristine was Polish.  This also happened to her several times toward the end of her mission as her accent improved from American to sounding more Eastern European.

Meanwhile, back at home, Caleb took a bus after school one day to the country place of his friend Jiři near the village Řimov. It's great that he's able to get around on his own and speak well enough to have good interactions. And we like Jiři. From Caleb's first day of school he has been very helpful. Lucy had a friend, Alžbeta, over this week, too.

We finally caught a live hockey game. Hockey is the favorite sport here so there was a lot of energy packed into Budvar Arena to watch HC Mountfield in their last game of the regular season against the Liberec White Tigers. After watching Olympic hockey on the internet, it was great to actually see the whole sheet of ice, feel the boards quake during hard checks and join in the roar of the crowd when our guys scored. The game even went into over time and we lost.

Then, last Saturday, just as we were gearing up for Kristine to return we had a problem. Our water heater doesn't produce hot water. In fact, we are happy when it comes out warm. So, to wash dishes and bathe, we heat up water on the stove. Lucy did just that. As she was carrying the pot to the tub, though, some spilled on her foot. That caused her to lurch, spilling nearly boiling hot water on her hand. She ran water on it for a long time, but it blistered up really bad. We called our friend Aleš (kind of a recurring theme isn't it) and he checked her out.

And finally, Kristine and Caleb went to the temple in Freiberg, Germany. While serving there Kristine never knew whether to speak English, German or Czech when approaching a person. A large majority of the members there that day spoke at least two of those languages.  It was neat for her to listen to the ceremonies in foreign tongues.