My Path... To Work

Path To Work

A lot of things happened at once this month. I finally got my long-term visa applied for in Vienna, I moved into a new flat and discovered that I can walk to work along a beautiful path that takes me through wheat fields and through a green belt. The work environment here is wonderful. I began my duties for IBM really, 3 months ago. The hours are 8am to 4:30pm. When 4:30pm rolls around, the boss forces you to leave. We don't work weekends and I already have more vacation days than I ever had before for any job.

My new flat is beautiful. It is brand new, just completed in March of this year, and a huge 76 square meters with 2 balconies. I share the place with my flatmate and friend, Bogdan, from Romania who is now in Italy for a month for an IBM customer. We split the rent and utilities which makes it a reasonable place to live.

In the mornings, I get up and walk 40 minutes to work through the beautiful countryside. Work is fun and relaxing. There is no frantic multitasking and long hours that you have been the status quo for me elsewhere. I have the option of taking the very efficient public transportation just in case it rains - like it did this morning. I've had to adjust my mental attitude considerably.

People truly do know how to live here. Czech's are not just family oriented, they are people oriented, and life oriented. To them, work is just another part of life, that does not have more of a priority than the other parts. Brno, where I live, empties out on the weekends. Instead of the mad weekend rush into the cities, people go home or go out to the countryside in droves - camping, biking, picnicing. Many have weekend cottages and/or gardens that they go to, but there is a lot of publicly owned land where people can go. A lot of stores are closed on the weekend and no one does business on the weekends. Mostly, just the pubs and restaurants are open.

The Czech Republic is a beautiful land. I hope the Czechs can preserve their way of life. When its all said and done, when you are lying on your death bed, really, what is truly important?