Just got my iZettle. It’s the European version of Square, a dongle for the iPhone which allows anyone to accept credit cards. The difference is that Square uses the magnetic strip, whereas iZettle uses the chip. In Europe, magnetic strips are quickly on their way out. I’ll be back with screenshots and a review.
Today I woke up with a slight hangover accompanied by that angst tinged feeling of trepidation that often follows a night of drinking. In Sweden we call that “bakfylleångest”.
One of the biggest differences between Swedish and English is that you can easily create new words in the former by simply putting two words together.
For example, “having to go to the toilet to do number two” has got one single word for it in Swedish: bajsnödig. It’s constructed of the words “poo” (“bajs”) and the adjective form of “need” (“nödig”). The result also doubles as an analogy for “having a stick up ones arse”.
This way of constructing words is the origin of “bakfylleångest”. (On another note, that angst is partly a result of chemical processes that alcohol starts in the body.) The word is created by taking “hangover” (“bakfylla”) and adding “angst” (“ångest”).
I’ve cured my bakfylleangst with two Advil and a shopping spree in Woodbury Common.
It’s time for me to try crowdsourcing for real. In short: I want you to help me decide what to do with my future. Since both the internet and social media are involved in the choices, I’d like to give my network a vital part in the decision. It’s a huge choice, and it’s an interesting test. Maybe many people will vote, maybe no one will.
Background:
The past (almost) two years, I’ve been working at Hyper Island. The job as learning faciliator and project manager has in many ways been my dream job, but many relationships come to a point where you want and need different things. This is the conclusion me and Hyper Island reached. I resigned. We decided to still be friends (and we are). Now it’s time for me to decide what to do next.
Here are the two choices I’ve got:
1) Become employed. I’ve got a concrete offer, and a couple of leads. The salary I’ve been offered is good, 30 000 SEK per month. The job would make use of my versatility and competence ranging from technology to social skills.
2) Start my own business and become a consultant within digital and interactive media (what in popular terms is known as “social media”), group dynamics and building effective teams.
Pros of being employed
- Co-workers and a sense of belonging
- Fixed income
- Easier to plan my days
- I don’t have to sell myself (something I’m not very comfortable doing)
- Safety on many levels
Pros of running my own business
- I get to combine areas where I’m feeling most competent and zestful: “building effective teams”, “communication”, “strategy for web 2.0” and “education”
- I get to decide the balance between “time” and “income”
- I can choose where I sit and work most of the time
- I get a larger variation of jobs
- I get to meet a wide variety of people
- Freedom on many levels
<strong>This is how you vote:</strong>
You vote via Twitter: send an @-reply to me (@kazarnowicz) with the alternative you think I should go with. The voting is open until Wednesday, October 21st, 11.59 PM CET+1.
<strong>Other factors that can affect the choice</strong>
I don’t have any savings that will last me for a long period. I have my final salary and a consulting assigment at Hyper Island that wil last me until the end of this year.
Next month I’ll be buying a new apartment, which means taking a loan of 1.7 million SEK. My cost of living increases from 3500 to 7500 SEK.
What do I do? Go!
Slightly off-topic for this blog, but it relates to the last post about English.
One thing I’ve noticed is that if you’re English speaking in Sweden, and like to work out with group fitness classes, you’re kind of left to the visual cues of the instructor to be able to follow. Now you can, at least in Stockholm. I’ve started teaching my Bodypump, Bodycombat and Bodyjam classes at World Class Nybroplan (at Nybrogatan 8) in English as I have a couple people who don’t speak English at these classes.
Bodycombat Mondays 7.05 PM
Bodypump Fridays 6.35 PM
Bodyjam Saturdays 10.30 AM
I’m one of the project managers at Hyper Island in Stockholm (for another three weeks at least). I prefer the slightly more stick-up-your-arse and much more descriptive title “learning facilitator”.
This is the first year the programs (Interactive Art Director and Digital Media) are executed in English in the Stockholm school, where I work. I’ve been looking forward to the challenge. Speaking English while on vacation, and speaking English in everyday life are two quite different things.
However, the interesting aspect which I’ve been thinking about a lot is exclusion. To be more precise, the exclusions that most likely would occur when three-fourths of the people at a working place speak Swedish, and the rest don’t.
Swedes tend to be the best among Europeans at English (the British and Irish excluded, of course), but that doesn’t mean that we’re comfortable speaking English to each other. My perception is that we’re not.
And so, we tend to switch back to Swedish whenever we’re out of the meeting room. Whenever we’re by the coffee machine, or at lunch, and only Swedish speakers are present, we feel silly speaking English and switch a more comfortable language.
The problem this causes is that every time we do this, and a non-Swedish speaking person passes by, we have excluded them. They have no chance of overhearing (“overhear” doesn’t have any equivalent in Swedish, by the way) a conversation and joining in. The instant the Swedish speaking group switches to English says “you’re not from here” and hints “you don’t belong here”.
Before the fall semester started, I made a decision to always speak English to the other co-workers when I’m outside my room. When it comes to the students, I try speaking English to them at all times. This way, I don’t ever have to make judgment calls. I feel that I’m including people. And I get a chance to become better at English in everyday situations.