Today we are in Frauenweiler / Germany, fixing the last stuff and getting ready for the departure. Victor is ready, he is oiled and filled up with gas. I have a last nap on the sofa and Vil is busy packing stuff and writing the BLOG. We received our first donation via PayPal, Jupieeeee. Five Euro for a beer or a few croquettes for me.
This morning we received the first “Beer-Donation” from Spain.
Thank you, Ana.
You and Vil will have the Brown Tequila soon.
Vil cleaned Victor and removed years of dust, all liquids and filters changed, all passenger seats in the front and the back removed, the smashed rear door replaced and the back windows taped with black duck-tape to give us a little privacy. Just a few steps more and we are ready to go.
Power is important and Vil installed a 12V battery to 5V USB and 220V converter to power his laptop. For the boom, we’ve got a 100W amplifier with AUX-IN for his phone. A RaspberryPI with WIFI and SSD storage is used to feed the iPod with music and movies during the long hours on the road. Also, a TomTom Navi will help us to “stay on track”.
Now we have shelter, a place to store our belongings, two big plastic water bags with 20-liter volume each, a camping gas stove, a thermal box to protect the food and Vil’s medicine. The bed is long enough for Vil and actually, it’s quite comfortable.
We don’t have much money to spend, so we went to ALDI and bought an enormous amount of food. Literally dozens of cans with potato, pee or bean soup, canned meat, canned salad, everything canned. Coffee, soft drinks, milk, cleaning stuff, sweets, my food, spices, bread and much more. Also, a little cooling box to chill drinks, fresh stuff, and Vil’s medicine.
Victor offers enough space to carry food for more than a month and we filled him up to the brim. Brave little car!
Please stay tuned for the next post.
We are getting ready to depart from Frauenweiler in Germany!
Wherever we go, we need something to live in because we won’t be able to afford a hotel or even Airbnb. We need a place for all our belonging, our camping equipment, storage, clothing and finally a place to sleep. A cheap solution was needed, so Vil bough Victor, a 1991 VW-Polo, for 150€, that’s around 200$, to transform him into our future home.
Victor was built in 1999, he has circa 100.000 miles (170.000km) on the clock and “extreme power” of 44KW / 60PS. Victor will be transformed into a complete camper with water, gas cooker, table, bed, storage, electricity, WiFi,……. and a place for me.
After this is done we will travel to Spain, visit exciting places, eat delicious food, meet interesting people and hopefully find a job for Vil before our money runs out.
Vil decided that a town with a high density of call centers would be an opportunity. Maybe Barcelona, Dublin or Amsterdam and he checked the jobs online. LinkedIn, Monster other Job boards, and the most positive feedback came from Barcelona.
So it’s sure we will leave Germany and try to find our luck somewhere nice. We are not sure, but most likely, we will go to Spain. Vil organized already a few interviews and let’s see if one of the companies is interested and offers him a job.
Catalunia? YEAH!
So we needed to decide what to do.
“The only wrong thing to do is nothing.”
We can accept the situation and give up. We can sit on the sofa all day, play video games, have long walks and at the end of the month receive just enough financial support to stay barely alive.
We don’t accept to slowly rot on the sofa and find another option ourselves.
While browsing the internet and looking for any useful information Vil found a clause in the welfare agreement, which allows him to leave Germany for up to four weeks and still receive his payments. This might be a way to get out of Germany and look for a job somewhere else.
I think we will take option two and search for a job somewhere else. Where?
This morning Vil went to the employment office, to the health insurance and also to the job agencies to sort out his paperwork and to get back into the social system. No big deal, you might think, but when he went to the Job-Center he learned that it will be nearly impossible for Vil to get a job in Germany. The only help they can offer is an “application training” to learn to write his CV and how to behave within an interview. NOTHING useful!
If someone asks, why a very experienced and highly skilled IT Support and Sales guy won’t find a job in Germany? Long story short. First, Vil has a unique CV which is not really compatible with German CV standards because, he worked all over Europe and changed his position quite often.
Second, Vil is chronically ill with Diabetes and this is a some kind of negative “mark” on his CV. Don’t us tell that Diabetes is no issue. Vil can work very hard and normally he is well, but sometimes the damage takes it’s toll and within minutes he start to feel sick and take quite strong medicine which makes him very sleepy and then he need to go home to recover. Unfortunately the sickness itself is confirmed and some status of handicapped status was acknowledged, but in this state Vil is not sick enough to retire or get any benefit, but also he is not healthy enough to compete on the job market.
Last, but not least, Vil already passed the “magic” age of 50 years. All of this combined lead his applications directly to the bin.
Now Vil is registered for welfare and he will receive a little financial monthly payment, but there is little to no hope for a job. Welfare itself is no fun and not even enough money to have decent food. Welfare means two week of decent life and then waiting for the next payment to arrive. At the end of the month a fresh apple becomes a delicacy.
No money left to save, therefore no way to find our own place. If we want to stay in Germany, we need to find a very cheap place to stay, very fast and with no deposit or we will be homeless soon.
Mission impossible!
We booked a trip with “Bla-Bla” car in a VW-Bus with four others, the pickup was in Bayonne very early in the morning. 1.300 km in a green and noisy Volkswagen box. Time to think what we gonna do when we arrive in Germany. Vil wasn’t living in Germany for more then 10 years and he has absolutely no idea how it will work out when he registers at the town, the job-center and the health insurance. Paperwork……. BOAH!
The trip went with no issue, it was booooring and after 15 hours driving, several coffees and toilet stops we arrived late night around 03:00 am, but no one was there to pick us up. We tried to call our friend more then once, waited for around an hour, until we decided to take a taxi to his place.
When we arrived, we rang the bell several times, no one opened the door and after a few minutes trying Vil gave up. “Let’s have a smoke first.”, he said, sat down and rolled a cigarette. So we waited, tired, freezing, it’s raining and no coffee.
Around one hour our later our friend showed up. Totally wasted and surprised to see us. Unfortunately, our friend “forgot” our arrival today and was on the road partying with his freaking mobile phone switched off.
Anyhow, finally we arrived in Germany, a new country for me no long-term solution, but a place to stay for the next few days.
Good night Bark!
I am very good with cats and it was a real pleasure to watch my little friends growing up so fast!
