This past week I was off of work, utilizing 5 of the 30 days of paid time off I receive each year. The company policy states pretty clearly that each employee must use all of the days granted each year, or otherwise will forgo them. In previous positions I have held, there were opportunities to carry over x amount of days into the following year.
One of the most significant lessons I learned by coming to Europe was how to better under the whole concept of time off from work. Coming from a country where the average employee only receives 10 days off per year (excluding public holidays), it was a little exciting to suddenly receive three times that amount. But, I soon found that it was a lot more challenging to try and actually schedule that many days off per year.
I was discussing this with a repair partner colleague 8 or 9 years ago, and although I suspected he did not truly comprehend my issue of having so many days off of work each year, he did acknowledge that it was best to put a plan together at the beginning of each year, so as to schedule all the days strategically and efficiently over the coming 12 months.
My ultimate challenge seemed to come from the ability to plan. How the hell should I know in January when I want to take time off of work in June or July? This is where interpretation of the meaning of vacation comes into play. Additionally, one has the opportunity to learn a little about time management.
When I was working in the states during the 90s and early 2000s, I tended to work myself hard, and hardly took time off. Due to some tenure rules within the company I worked for, I did accrue additional vacation days as I approached 5, then 10 years of employment. That actually created more difficulties for me at the time, since the work structure was such that there was enough work to do that one could theoretically never take time off. However, there was a loophole that enabled an employee to receive cash in lieu of time off, and we also had a little creative plan in place that allowed for us to carry over vacation days into the next years. Yes, I wrote that as plural.
I actually had about 15 weeks of vacation accumulated at one point in 2003 or 2004.
What I failed to realize at that time was how my not using my vacation days was impacting me physically and mentally.
Part of me thought I would resolve that problem simply by moving to Europe. In the world of Bryan, living in Europe is one of the best vacations of all time.
On the other side, though, I still have the challenge of always having too much work to do, and too many vacation days that interrupt that work flow.
When I changed jobs in 2010, I told myself I would improve on my vacation planning. I would probably give myself a grade of B- for that effort.
When I started this new job in January, I made a note to improve my effort on vacation planning, and strive for an A+.
I am effectively in my probation period with the company. By law, both the company and myself have an opportunity to decide after 6 months if the relationship is going okay and that we would continue the employment contract. This is a pretty big deal in Europe, and I know a lot of people who suffer a lot of stress during their probation period, as they are so focused on the "prize" of receiving a permanent contract (which does allow for a lot of employee protection). Sadly, I have seen too many examples where someone really exerts themselves during the probation, only to slack off once the contract was permanent.
This idea is also difficult for me to understand, since I always seek to find a job that I actually WANT to do, and want to do WELL at.
True, one can't help but have that "Probezeit" thought in the back of their minds when they begin a new position. I have been fortunate that my employers were looking for a long term employee, so even in our initial discussions we were talking about my second and third year in the role. Even with that reassurance, however, there is still a little creepy thought that at the end of the six months, someone from the HR department jumps out of a jack-in-the-box and shouts, "you are done!" as they send you on your way.
It is funny how one forgets that the whole purpose of the probation is to make sure both parties are on the same page. At my career level, this is a little more significant, mainly because of the salary involved, which includes the associated costs of training and development. I intend no disrespect to positions like an admin clerk or a warehouse materials handler, but those are different types of jobs.
At the end of my first month in the new role, we were asked to submit our vacation plan for the year, as they needed to be loaded into the personnel system in the HR department.
Thanks to my conversation with the guy about planning, I recognized the importance of planning out my days off for the year well in advance. What I found a little silly, though, was making this plan after working for only 4 weeks.
I had a little chat with my boss, and he offered some decent advice on how to go about the exercise, and by early February, I had all 30 days of my annual leave loaded in the calendar. During my planning, I reminded myself of all the times in my career where I "left it too late," meaning that I suddenly found myself overwhelmed, overworked, and desperate for time off, but still 2 months away from my scheduled break. Had I simply taken a few days off more frequently throughout the year, I would not have found myself in such a state.
Thus, I scheduled about 25% of my days off during the first six months of employment. The other days I will take in the second half of the year. Next year, I expect to allocate the time off even more equally, but I will worry about that next January.
Most Germans that I know define Urlaub (vacation) using the first entry in the MW dictionary: a period of time spent away from home or business in travel or recreation. I have a friend who works as a physical therapist, and because of the overtime he works (from the nature of the profession), he has a kazillion days off each year. When we would gather at the Kiosk, we actually had to have a special calendar for him, since he ALWAYS seemed to be on vacation. (This is something that always irritated workers and people doing business with Europeans; my father regularly complained that they were struggling to get anything done at one of the European plants because someone was always on vacation.)
What I have noticed while living here, is that no European seems to be too hung up on the idea of "someone is ALWAYS on vacation," mainly because they know that they will get their turn, too. So, it is those that do not have as much time off that tend to get a little worked up about it. (To borrow the phrase, "when in Rome..." this is exactly why no one in Europe has a problem with all the shops being shut on a Sunday. It is just the way it is, so plan accordingly.)
My PT friend really does plan his vacation days, and he and his wife use those days to travel. They are very enthusiastic about it, and really enjoy their time. A photo of them hiking in the mountains could easily be shown next to the dictionary entry (entry 1, that is) to illustrate the example.
He is not alone. I have other friends who would suggest that I am not truly taking vacation when I take time of work, because I did not GO anywhere. Even family visits, which in my case involves international travel, do not really qualify as vacation.
I have a completely different opinion. As a child, like everyone else, I looked forward to summer vacation from school, when we had almost three months to be out of the classroom, with no homework or academic obligations looming over our heads. Ironically, in high school and university, I used my summer vacations to WORK. But, before those years, I did look forward to our family going on vacation, erm, during summer vacation. It was all about seeing somewhere different, experiencing something new, and for sure, all of those trips helped fuel my enthusiasm for travel, both domestic and international. Those vacations that we took as a family are certainly in the entry 1 category of the dictionary definition. Put an old photo of our family standing on the coast of California next to the photo of my friend and his wife hiking, if you like.
As a (gulp) grown-up, I concede that I do not go away too often during my vacations. But, I am quite fortunate, like I said, to appreciate the concept that by living abroad, I am constantly seeing somewhere different and experiencing something new. I am thankful for that every single day.
The trick, of course, is how to spend the time off from work. Just about everyone in Europe right now is livid because of the current restrictions. I totally understand that, but because of my view on vacations, I am not suffering like so many people who are unable to "go away" for their holidays. I really feel for the families with children (since my own experiences on vacation during summer vacation were so great), and likewise, I feel for those individuals who do feel compelled to go off and spend a week on a beach, or doing whatever they normally like to do during their vacation.
I know a fair amount of Germans who go to the same place each year on vacation, and that is simply not interesting to me. But I am glad that they are enjoying what they do. Likewise, visiting my sister in Spain year after year during my vacations 15 years on the trot is something I wanted to do, and I like to be afforded the same consideration.
In short, it comes down to HOW you spend your vacation. The key is doing something that you WANT to do. Where you do it, how much you spend doing it, and who you do it with are all factors that you have to figure out yourself.
I am no defeatist (though sometimes I play one on TV), but I think about all the people who exhausted themselves planning and paying for an event (a wedding, or a "dream" vacation, perhaps), only to find that the reality did not meet their expectations.
While I tend to keep my expectations a bit lower, it is a personal decision. A college friend used to joke that "if you assumed everything was going to suck, any little thing that was cool was a bonus." That was a bit defeatist, in my opinion, but I understood his point. I consider myself (and my personal decision making) somewhat higher on the scale, but it is still relative. Relative to me.
So, all of what I have just written brings me to my first week of vacation. I scheduled the week for April simply to use 5 days of the 30. And actually kind of forgot about it, until the 15th or 16th of April, when I realized, "crap, I am off next week."
Although I felt a little awkward taking a few days off so early in my new job, I realized that I have to start somewhere, and now was as good a time as any. My goal for the week was to really switch off, and do things that I wanted to do. If what I wanted to do involved thinking about work, so be it. It would be my decision.
Because of the restrictions, I would not really have the opportunity to try a new restaurant, or truth be told, do a whole lot socializing, but I did not let that stand in my way.
I made a little list of things that I did want to do. This provided a little structure, as some of the items were "to-dos" that I have been needing (and wanting) to do for some time, but just did not have the spare time to facilitate the task.
Cleaning out the cupboard in my kitchen was one of the things on my list. A friend of mine, upon visiting my flat for the first time about two years ago, was a little taken aback when he saw the clutter. He made a comment as such, but I also pointed out that as a bachelor, one can take certain liberties. He was looking at my flat thinking, "boy, my girlfriend would never allow this," and to that I respond, "by the way, I use paper towels as napkins," We all have our different tastes, values, and habits, and that is fine.
I did recognize that the area did need some attention, and I was glad to take all the phone books from 2006 down to the paper recycling bins. By Monday afternoon, I felt that I had improved the cupboard quite a bit, and sufficient to meet my standards. I spent a couple of hours later on in the day working some puzzles. As a birthday gift, my father sent me a virtual product offered by an online greeting card company. Last year, he sent me a virtual garden, which enabled me to plant and cultivate little flowers and plants as I saw fit. This year, he sent me something called a curio collection, which has a little setting of an international traveler's living room/study. There are little activities like puzzles, games, and other activities that provide a unique and fun way to amuse yourself.
This curio collection includes sudoku, which I really enjoy playing. I received a little book of sudoku puzzles one year in my Christmas stocking, and I have been hooked ever since. That does not mean that I have regularly played the game, though. In fact, I probably have not done a sudoku in 10 years. So, I made up for it this week, getting a puzzle or two done each morning while I enjoyed my first coffee.
On Tuesday, I made the spontaneous decision to clean the crud off of my steaming wand on my espresso machine. I probably left that a little longer than I should have, but we won't dwell on that. The little tabs I have do a great job of cleaning things up. And it was nice to tick another thing of the list.
After an enlightening conversation last weekend with Pablo, I started practicing my swiping technique. This came about as we traded experiences with typing text messages on mobile phones in multiple languages. I must say, it is kind of a fun experience. I am basically just squiggling my finger around on the keypad on my phone's display, and the word I want just pops up, whether it be in German or English, or Spanish. Cool.
As the week continued, I just enjoyed my time doing whatever the hell I felt like doing. If I felt like swiping, I swiped. If I wanted to tickle the ivories, I sat down at the piano. I took time to reflect and think, sometimes about work. Not about work, work, per se, but more along the lines of assessing my experience so far in the almost four months on the job. What do I want to improve? How do I want to approach my customers?
I found this very satisfying, similar to the way one gets bright ideas at random times. The composer who suddenly finds a new melody in their head when purchasing produce at the market, for example. Or, like in my case, where some of my best ideas come right about the time I am getting in the shower.
The weather is finally starting to get a little warmer, a little more spring like. The evenings and nights are pretty cool, but the days when the sun shines get kind of pleasant. Plants are coming to life, including a little bushy tree that has popped up outside of my balcony. This tree has some blossoms that seem to attract a fair amount of bees, which I discovered as two buzzed into my kitchen, taking advantage of the open balcony door. We had a nice little chat and then I swatted them back outside, allowing them to come back inside as and when they felt inclined.
I was feeling like I was making good use of my vacation days. Other than allow my thoughts to wander, I did not think too much about work, choosing instead to focus on doing what I felt like doing, which is closer to my definition of vacation.
There is no requirement that a vacation include "trying something new," but in the spirit of being able to experience something different, I got that chance on Thursday evening.
I have never been one who gets psyched up about tupperware parties, or group events where people come together. Throw bridal showers and book clubs into this. That is not to say that I have not participated in those things; I am just saying I do not actively seek them out as "gee, gotta do this" activities.
Enter a whatsapp party, involving cleaning products, kind of keeping in line with spring cleaning. Nadja's sister presented various things via the text messaging group. Videos were shared to show how products worked, and all of the participants could message their questions into the group.
It was fascinating.
For the better part of three hours, I learned about all kinds of stuff to better clean (sandblast) my apartment. We were asked to provide pictures of our "problem zones," but I declined that offer on the grounds that I am not about to show my crud and clutter to too many people. I knew a few of the other guests at the virtual party, and tried to keep my humorous and witty remarks to a minimum.
It was a good time, and I really enjoyed it. And I said as such when I placed my order for a few items that I needed. It was funny to see how the guests were all interacting as if we were all sitting in someone's living room doing everything in person. Obviously, the whole thing was done in German, which was fine by me. Again, I held my tongue and thumbs when the odd word popped up like "fluffy" (referring to one of the cleaning cloths) or "Mr. Flexible" referring to one of the mops.
I finished my week with a visit to the dentist, which was also a pleasant experience. I happen to like going to the dentist, despite how that might sound. My teeth are pretty good, so that explains a lot; no crud or fluffis to be had there. And now, after yesterday's cleaning, no tartar build up, either.
Now, it is the weekend, and I feel like I made good use of my time off. I look forward to returning to work on Monday, but first am going to enjoy the rest of weekend, being B.
see you out there
bryan
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