However, restrictions still apply in all aspects of life. Most people who can do work from home, people who want to go pretty much anywhere need to be vaccinated, tested, or officially recovered, and then there’s the obligation to wear masks pretty much everywhere that is nto outdoors. At least by now most people have accepted that last part.
And yet, it is in this situation that I should embark on yet another journey. Or maybe, it would be more accurate to say that the winds picked me up and spirited me away, making me travel once again, whether I like it or not.
So, what happened? You may recall that after returning from my travels, I eventually started working for a small startup company by the name of Cesonia (see Book III ~ Final Chapter ~ New Home) where I’ve been programming in Java. That worked out well in the end and yet…
…over the last year or so, things gradually deteriorated. The pressure got worse, unpaid overtime started racking up, and on top of all of that, my efforts were not being sufficiently compensated. As a result of the pressure, I didn’t manage to get a single petal ride done in all of 2021, and as a result of the stress, I started getting more irritable. I hate it when that happens. That’s not the real me. Which is why I was looking for a part-time job to begin with so I could have a better work-life balance, because I know what it does to me when my life gets out of balance, and the result is usually something that no one is happy with.
It took a total of two nervous breakdowns before Korbi - the CEO of Cesonia – finally offered me a part-time position, but only with a steep pay cut. That poor offer, combined with the fact that I had been getting mails from recruiters at a rate of several per week for months now, finally made the decision for me.
From that point onward, it took me only one month to find another job, going through the entire recruitment process and sign the contract, and since I had a notice period of only one month, I was “free” of that place only one month afterwards. It could have been nice, but alas, not with the way that things were run there.
Now, before I move on, let’s have a short look back on my time at Cesonia. The job itself was good. Programming is something that I enjoy, and I felt like I could really contribute with my skills. Unfortunately, the work-life balance was flatly the worst that I ever encountered, and the pressure that I felt was unlike any other too. The atmosphere, meanwhile, was mostly positive, although that, too, started to deteriorate towards the end. As far as extras were concerned, the Green Shnolz thankfully enabled permanent home office for me, so that’s a big plus. And finally, the pay was good, but unfortunately not that good. In fact, a big part of my unhappiness emanated from simply knowing that I was working way below market rate for my skills, which is something I would not have minded if the workplace conditions were really great, but like this… Like this, this regrettably ended up being the second-worst place I have ever worked at. It’s a good cut above the dreaded MegaZebra, but still… Thinking back, the part that bothers me about this the most is that things could have worked out. A better work-life balance and more realistic goals would have been all it would have taken. But like this, I simply had to leave before the place ran me haggard.
So, what does that have to do with the beginning of this new adventure? Well, that starts and ends with exactly which company I found my new job at. This company goes by the name of CAD Link Europe, which is the European branch office of QBuild Software, which in turn is located in Toronto, Canada.
And as chance would have it, I happen to be joining at exactly that time of the year when the European branch office visits the Canadian main branch for their yearly meeting, and they also want to have me over there for three weeks for initial training. And so it happens that on my second day of work, I am already on the road again (or rather, in the air) on yet another wholly different “work and travel” experience.
So, with that much background, let us now have another look at the countries I’ve visited so far, since even the Germany tour of 2020 (see Book IV ~ Epilogue ~ Memories of Home) somehow ended up adding a few countries. With Poland and Luxembourg added, I’ve now been to 22 countries. Time to add one more to the list.
And so, a new journey begins, in spite of the still ongoing pandemic. What will await me on that journey? What should I see? Where will it end? All that is yet even for me to find out. However, it all begins in the next chapter of the Travelling Fox Blog.
