First weekend of soccer and interviews
The spring soccer tournament in Penticton ended up in a 3rd place finish for the BU16 team. 5 games later, I feel pretty confident I learned the players on my team strengths and weaknesses and how to coach them in order to reach their best potential.
Tomorrow, we are leaving for San Diego and both of us are mentally at our destination already.
This past week I have been at a few interviews and have almost decided to begin a career in financial planning. There are a few firms I am interviewing for and I will hopefully make my decision over the vacation!
Any tips or ideas form you, the readers?
In one of my job interviews I got to do a psych. profile and I have posted the summary below. If you can think about a posting or position that looks as I am suitable for, please mention my name or let me know!
Your Personal Strengths
In Terms of Enterprising vs. Support Role Possibilities
In specific situations you would be competitive, enterprising, assertive and goal oriented. Within an established work environment that has a structured work situation, you would tend to stand out as an exceptionally well organized person who could be depended upon to get the task done. With specific training in such areas as time management and planning, and with the opportunity to apply these newly developed skills, you would be able to adjust to opportunities that required flexibility and adaptability to change.
In Terms of Your Style and Strength of Various Motivators
People would describe you as being very calm, steady, unhurried, stable, dependable and cooperative. They would see you as motivated by a deep and essentially selfless concern for the well-being and the needs of others. In your career development, you would find that your greatest satisfactions and best personal productivity would come from being able to commit your effort, within a 'people-oriented' opportunity, to the achievement of longer term goals which are clearly related to improving the quality of life of the recipients of the product or service.
In Terms of Your Independence vs. Your Need to be in the 'Team'
You would be described as cooperative, obliging, efficient and conscientious. You can function effectively in a group which is well organized but allows you leeway for individual initiative. You will accept early supervision along with training but will expect less supervision after gaining the experience.
In Terms of Your Orientation Towards the 'People' Side of Business
You would be described as somewhat sociable, enthusiastic, cheerful, lively and entertaining. You tend to value social interactions and would be perceived as quite friendly in your initial contacts with new people. The achievement of goals would be through personal relationships developed over a relatively extended period of time.
In Terms of Your Orientation Towards Technical and Practical Concerns
You would be described as somewhat logical, reflective, analytical, factual and practical. Intellectual challenges that also offered an obvious practical utility, would appeal to you. Ideally, the creative application of knowledge would provide challenge and opportunity. Ideas and concepts which were of solid practical use would be of interest to you.
Career Planning
What Types of Opportunities Should You Look For?
+ Look for opportunities which have a history of growth and development in which they have kept or expanded their associates through retraining and through flexibility and adaptability of their operations.
+ It is important for you that you find opportunities which allows you to focus your talents and your energies on products or services which you are convinced have real merit in improving the lives of people who receive them.
+ You should look for an opportunity where there is a combination of being a team player as well as an opportunity to be independent as you would find it both interesting and profitable from time to time to exercise your own initiative.
+ You should look for a situation that calls for a good amount of people contact and a some contact with new people. It is essential that some of your satisfaction would be found in the interaction with people at work.
+ Look for a situation that requires a practical implementation of any new technical information. You tend to enjoy challenges associated with the practical aspects of learning and will always acquire additional knowledge and technical information if you feel it is important to your performance.
What Types of Opportunities Should You Avoid?
- Avoid work situations that are totally unstructured or poorly organized. The ideal opportunity will have a history of established people who are encouraged to grow and adapt at their own pace. It is likely that your talents and potential can be best developed in an established, well managed opportunity.
- Avoid positions which are simply money oriented and which have no demonstrable worthwhile impact on the lives of the people who receive the product or services.
- You should avoid a situation in which you will always be a minor or relatively unimportant member of an organization. Avoid positions in which the structure is totally and rigorous controlling and restricting.
- You should avoid a situation where you are expected to perform an exclusively public relations role.
- Avoid situations that are exclusively detail oriented. Opportunities that require you to quickly learn and apply new technologies or vast amounts of new information must have a practical application to be satisfying for you.
In a nutshell, according to this test, this is me! Interesting, right?
We will post tons of pictures from San Diego!!
Solutions?
A pretty busy week with a few different and fast turns.
As soon as P found out about her not-to-be at the job, she asked her old emplyer for eventual openings and luckily enough a half time position recently opened up. This will (hopefully) smooth things in all our applications for permanent residency again. J has searched for jobs and been on a couple of interviews. There is an interesting opportunity as a financial planner and I am looking into this commission based type of job. We did decide we will look and think about this opportunity and the fit in our lives over the week in San Diego! We do very much look forward to this "vacation" and to meet some friends from the college years!
This week we have ran a soccer camp together, but mainly our minds are on the nearby vacation!
More updates coming soon!
Hmmmmm..
First of all, thanks for all the gratulations. Yes, I feel old ;).
Anyway, the weather is absolutely fantastic and the skiing is still amazing.
Spring break is here and I just found out not so much coaching work will be given to me due to prior promises to other coaches. This is both sad, but also a fork in our lives, (P and her new employer didn't really work out, because of work permits and such). This leaves us in a position where we will discuss our future and where we will go from now!
Stay in Kelowna? P has asked her old employer for work, in order for our papers to be in order. J has begun looking for jobs in Kelowna.
Move within Canada? We might look into other opportunities in some bigger and more lively cities, such as Vancouver or Toronto.
Another option is to look into college jobs for J in the U.S, trying to coach at a good university and in return receive a Master.
We have also spoken loosely about coming back to Sweden, however this is not our priority at the moment. We both still like it too much here and there is so much more to see. J has at least back up applied for some Master programs in Sweden, having options have never killed anyone, right?
My birthday present was a snowmobile tour at Silverstar. Very exciting! And the birthday/engagement party was also a hit, we had 17 guests and served pastasallad with meatballs:). P spent nearly 5 hours the day before baking a rainbow cake, it was a complete success! It was somewhat emotional though, we had the party only hours after P received the news regarding her job situation...
Next week we will organize a soccer camp together and 2 weeks from now we are on our way to see San Diego! There P will get her Christmas present; Swimming with dolphins!
Engagement party coming up
On Friday, we will combine my birthday with an engagement party. We wil have about 15 guests and will serve Swedish meatballs and pasta.
The past week has been pretty busy. P started working again and I have been running around doing coaching clinics and organized a bunch of things.
The past week we had tryouts for the local club where I am the newly appointed head coach, and as soon as they were done, I ran a coaches' clinic. My long term goal is to raise the basic standard on the young players throguh teaching the coaches easy, fun and developing drills. It will not be easy, the tradition in Canada is towards hockey and soccer has long been a "recreational sport".
I have also been appointed as "Mr Futsal" and will try to build a solid and sustainable Futsal culture for a company in town. This together with the organization of a beach soccer torunament and coaching academies make me prety busy at the moment.
Anyway, P and I have talked a little back and forth regards our wedding. Of course one of the first questions is; Sweden or Canada.. We have discussed this back and forth and believe that we might have ot in Canada, due to the simple reason this might be the only way for all our friends to come here and visit and understand why we have fallen in love wiht the town and region.. So, you could probably begin to bookmark early April 2013... However, we are open for suggestions and nothing is set in stone as of now. Your input will be taken into account.
I said Yes!
Well of course I did, it was not a tough question. We had a superb weekend at Sparkling Hill and the proposal was just as icing on the cake, a very good icing :) Both of us have basically known since the beginning that this person is the one we want to spend the rest of our lives with, so I didn't need any time to think about the answer.
Naturally I started crying when J went down on one knee and I didn't even look at the ring before I said yes. Smart as he is, J had very appropriately bought a beautiful silver Swarovski-ring to propose with. He knows how picky and specific I am with things like these and didn't have the nerve to buy the wrong "real" ring. We are going to custom make our rings and have already been in contact with two different goldsmiths for pricing on our rings. The one I have been seing in my mind can be found there and only there - in my mind. I have tried to find anything like it in stores but haven't been even close. So custom it is!
Later
A week leading up to a special weekend
Last week was slow and fast. P got only called to her work once, which means she was climbing the walls at home after a couple of days. Internet only has a certain number of websites she can visit and she got restless very fast. J on the other hand had a week full of soccer. At academies, private lessons, preparing for camps, preparing for a beach soccer tournament and negotiating terms for a head coach job at a local club. Unfortunately I was not chosen to lead the college mens soccer team this time, but more experience will be good for me!
I also prepared a little surprise, a get away weekend for P at a local luxury spa, which P can tell you more about soon.
W have also began changing the paper process for permanent residency due to Ps new employer. A few easy changes on some forms we already sent in takes months to change because of the backlogged systems..
Now, I have to leave, I have a fango (mud) treatment beginning in a few minutes!
So long,
New Job!
It took a whole of one week at home before I got back out on the job market. On monday I sent out my resume to some companies and yesterday I had my first interview. Today (thurs) I had my sencond interview for that company and this time it was a telephone call with the boss and owner, positioned in Yellowknife, Northwestern Territories. I was really really nervous! Yesterdays interview showed me what the job was about and I met with the girl I would work next to and she was a sweetheart and we really hit it off. She also has two dogs that she sometimes brings to work (yeay!!). Match made in heaven. So I got the job tonight and will sign the papers tomorrow! The pay is a set monthly salory and not paid by the hour like before (another thing that is a step up from Rapid Printing).
That was the biggest news of today even though I actually got another positive notification just about the same time as the job offer. That was that I am now a part of the PCSL Premier team out of Vernon for this season! I asked the coach a couple of days ago if I would be in or if I had to wait for the try outs in april and she said she would love to have an experienced and commited player as I in the team. Double yeay! :)
To all of you people who complained about us not updating the blog enough, please start commenting so that we actually get something back for blogging!
Later
Downtown in Waterfront Park
Job interview
Unfortunately for graphic designers in town, there is not lots of work at some places. One of these places is where P currently works, which has led to less work hours the past week(s). P's employer gave permission to look for other positions and after a brush up on her resume she fired it off to a few potential employers. She has her first interview tomorrow Wednesday!
The week that has passed has been busy with a theatre visit at the local Actor's studio, a team building event with the BU 16 team at Big White (saucer racing, music quiz, hockey, tubing and skiing/boarding on the agenda). I was somewhat rusty with my skating skills and it was P's first time on ice with a hockey stick! We must have looked pretty lost, but we had tons of fun!
Valentine was celebrated with a home cooked dinner and champagne, with pancakes for breakfast the very next day!
The week also offered a celebration of a friend's 40th birthday at an Italian restaurant in town and a few beers at a Super Bowl party. After the Super Bowl party we played soccer in our Co-Ed team, and I can sincerely recommend not to have any alcohol ahead of playing a sports game.. Ever!! Anyway, we won and I scored another goal, but somehow the refs in the league still misses my name which has lead to at least 12 goals from my feared right (and left) foot have been credited to other team members. Pernilla still awaits her first goal, though..
I have been appointed head coach for a local soccer club and prepare for the season to come (starts early March!).
P tries to get acknowledged with her X-mas present (camera) and will post some pictures soon. Long evening walks generate some high quality photos!
What have you all done? We hope all our Swedish friends look at tix to visit us! We have found some inexpensive flight deals! Ask P for details!
Pictures
January
is over.. Quite a few things have happened. The major points are
- Working permits are obtained. It took a bunch of calls, emails and a few meetings before we went to the American border, got a stamp and changed our statuses to Temporary residents and changed from visitor visas to Working visas. Now we are legal, working residents in Canada.
- Began the process to obtain Permanent Residency. A time consuming process with lots of forms and letters to be gathered from all over the world. One example is that I need to get Criminal Record Checks from Sweden, USA and Australia..
- Pernilla's U-21 team decided to give younger girls the chance to play and she is currently practicing with another team who plays at a higher level. Neither of us is assisting the team with coaching anymore. This also means the team will not play in Gothia Cup, and we expect friends to visit us in Kelowna this year!!
- Jan has more and more hours of work. We are very confident the future will bring tons of opportunities and I am keeping busy almost every day. This includes daytime work at school's soccer academies.
- We have been invited to a wedding in Lake Tahoe and another one in Kelowna.
- Booked a trip to San Diego, where I will surprise P with the best delayed X-mas present ever ;). Feel free to help P figure this present out!
- Been boarding quite a few days! The conditions are great!
- Found out that we most likely can stay in the house after our landlords return from Hawaii. The only thing we have to do is to move downstairs, into the suite! Great news!
- Finishing the weirdest and toughest day with a purchase P has longed for since.... I dont even know when. Guess what it was? It begins with a B and ends with iaga....
Weather varies, some days we have 5-8 degrees Celsius, while some other days it is - 12 Degrees. No snow in Kelowna, tons of snow in the two nearby mountains!
So long!
2010 in review and a good start on 2011
Firstly, Happy New Year to everyone.
You will notice some changes for this upcoming year's blog, due to numerous requests.;
Yes, we will try to write in English
We will change the layout
We will have quarterly reviews.
Now to the first of these reviews,
2010 was an interesting year. We came to Kelowna without knowing too much about this city except of it is close to a great ski mountain, called Big White. The first few months we stayed here and there, bought a car after 2 days and eventually moved in to a lovely couple with two dogs in the posher area Lower Mission. Pernilla found a good job as a Graphic Designer and Jan began to pursue a career within coaching soccer. We both really enjoy our time, mainly because the weather (4 seasons), great summers, surroundings and skiing, as well as the positive atmosphere and kindness we receive form everyone.
Now to the highlights of the year,
Skiing/boarding 4 months of the year.
Watching Rihanna, Kesha, Lady Gaga and Bryan Adams live.
Broadening our network.
Growing as persons through taking exciting opportunities and not playing safe.
River Rafting in Adams River appr 3 hrs from Kelowna.
Celebrated birthdays in Las Vegas and Vancouver.
Wine tastings in several of the more than 140 vineyards in the Okanagan Valley.
Discovering parts of Beautiful British Columbia.
And much more.
After recharging batteries in Sweden with friends and families, we are now back in our daily routines. After two horrible days, the first where I tended to forget everything everywhere, followed by a stressful day for Pernilla, she has finally bought her dream bag and now we are pursuing even more opportunities. As an example, Pernilla might get into a managerial position at her job, while I am called for an interview as a coach for a senior team in Kelowna.
We have been up to Big White once already, and today we decided to take a quiet day where Pernilla is finally cooking her 3-course dinner which was promised to me about a year and a half ago. Yummy (hopefully;))
We wish you all the absolutely best year in 2011, and look forward to some visits during this year!
Brädåkning i November!
Bilderna säger mer än 1000 ord! Hur många av er skulle vilja vara här just nu??
Grannens hus...
En månad till jul!
Hade tänkt att börja detta inlägget med en bild på grannens hus men hittar inte sladden till kameran så det får bli en annan gång...
Ja, kylan och snön överraskade inte bara oss utan hela Kelowna blev tagna på sängen en morgon när man vaknade upp till massa snö. Till skillnad mot Sverige ligger faktiskt snön kvar på marken här och allt är så vitt och fint. Det är fortfarande ljust på morgonen när jag går upp vid halv 8 och det är också en stor skillnad mot Svea. Det har varit kallt, ca -8 på dagarna och med vind på det sa de på nyheterna att det var ca -25 till -33gr och de rekommenderade inte folk att vara ute för långa stunder med risk för köldskador. I måndags natt var det -23 gr utanför fönstret, brrr! I samma väderprogram pratade de om att i Toronto hade de närmare 20 plusgrader häromdagen och inte direkt har samma problem. Det är iaf ett STORT land vi bor i!
En månad innan julafton, UNDERBART!! Jag längtar som bara den, nu är ju bästa tiden på året enligt mig. Julmusiken går på repeat och som ni läst har det bakats lussekatter. Vi är inne i ett riktigt bakstim för igår blev det ne... chokladbollar (shit, vilken besvikelse det var! Vad mycket godare det var när man var liten, nu var det bara äcklande tyckte jag och J fick tvinga i sig alla 25 själv.) och ikväll är det ännu en megauppsättning lussekatter i görningen.
Hittade en liten lista på en blogg och tänkte dela med mig mina svar:
4 TV-program jag ser:
1. Greys Anatomy
2. Gossip Girl
3. Dogs with jobs
4. Love it or List it
4 saker jag gjort idag:
1. Jobbat
2. Svarat på mail, bloggat
3. Ätit middag
4. Bakat (bakar) lussekatter
4 saker jag längtar efter:
1. Julen
2. Vänner och familjen hemma i Sverige
3. Få besök från Sverige
4. Anders och Ylvas bröllop :)
4 saker på önskelistan:
1. En hundvalp - en liten Xavi
2. En Balenciaga City-väska i färgen Storm
3. Att vi får svar på Visumansökan snart och att det blir ett ja!
4. Hmmm, kan inte komma på nåt mer, har redan allt jag behöver i mitt liv :) Kanske att alla vänner och familj kunde flytta till Kelowna så skulle livet vara HELT fulländat, haha!
Vår blivande vovsing!
Drömväskan som jag suktat efter i åratal...
Nej, nu har degen jäst klart och det är dags att sätta igång med själva kattgörandet!
Later
Lussekväll, spelkväll och SNÖ!!
Hej igen,
Nu händer grejer i stugan kan vi meddela. Efter återkomsten från Green Bay har det hastigt och lustigt blivit allt kallare. Den första snön har lagt sig, och vi undrar vart den korta hlsten tog vägen. Ena dagen krattade vi löv och blev klara med 3/4-delar av trädgården, för att nästa dag inte kunna kratta mer pga ett två decimeter tjockt snötäcke. I och med snön har folk börjat klä sina hus i diverse tacky juldekorationer, och vi ska allt rapportera hur USA inspirerade kanadensare är vad det gäller den avdelningen..
P har fått slängar av julfeber och försöker skapa julkänsla dels på jobbet och dels hemma. Detta ledde till att vi bestämde oss för en bakkväll. Tredubbel sats av lussekatter stod på schemat. 6 timmar senare var vi väldigt nöjda med tanke på ett berg på nästan 100 lussekatter. Vi trodde att de skulle räcka, åtminstone tills Lucia, men ödet ville annorlunda. En bortbjudning och en del ätande senare har vi inte en enda kvar..
Vi har lagat en kötbulle och mos middag till vära holländska vänner. De tog med sig sin treåriga son, och vi började direkt tänka på Leah och Alec. Det är trots allt bara en dryg månad tills vi är i Sverige igen.
Under helgen som gått var vi bjudna på en spelkväll hos ett par bekanta. De emmigrerade från England för kanske 7 år sedan, efter att de sålt sitt företag (stroleksmässigt som ICA, tror vi). De bor i ett helt fantastiskt hus med utsikt över hela dalen. I källaren spelade vi pingis, fussball, biljard, och diverse spel. Riktigt kul var det. Ps vinnarskalle var en riktig höjdare, folk måste nu officiellt veta att ingen kör över det här svenska paret i några som helst sammanhang!
Dagen efteråt hade P fika med 4 svenskor som bor i Kelowna, och senare på kvällen blev vi bjudna på en uppskattningsmiddag för en av de lokala fotbollsklubbarna där jag haft hand om U6 programmet. Mitt under middagen blev jag plötsligt presenterad som klubbens huvudtränare och tränarutbildare inför nästa säsong. Sakta men säkert börjar det arta sig inför nästa år för oss båda.
Vi har lovat varandra att prata mer om framtiden under "semesterledigheten". Då har vi trots allt varit här ett år och det är dags att reflektera, samt sätta riktlinjer för kommande år..
Saknar er alla, inte så värst långt kvar till vi ses i verkligheten!
Green Bay del 2
Sedan åkte vi till Chicago. En stad jag alltid velat uppleva. Vissa av oss var en aning bakis i bilen, men när vi väl kom fram visade sig vårat hotwire hotell i själva verket vara ett lyxhotell mitt i smeten. Ett snabbt ombyte senare, bar det av till stadskärnan. P och Natalie hittade snabbt ett (par) affärer de spanade in, medan David lyckades vinna en PS3 kamera och splitternytt spel genom en tv-spelstävling i Playstation 3 högkvarteret. Det var nog resans skräll..
När affärerna väl stängt firade vi Davids födelsedag på en indisk restaurang, innan vi tog ett par supergoda drinkar längst upp i Hancook center, Chicagos näst högsta skyskrapa, 96 våningar och drygt 300 m över gatuplan.
Nästa dag promenerade vi i staden, tittade på en del sevärdheter innan vi åt äkta Chicago pizza. Kyparen var helt underbar, skojade och hade sig.. Vi lovade att höra av oss om vi kände en trevlig singelkvinna 45-60 år gammal. Någon som har några förslag??
Sedan var det dags för andra delen av Davids födelsedag, Chicago Bulls- Portland Trailblazers (NBA basket). Det var definitivt en upplevelse och Natalie hade svindel ett tag. Det är ganska högt i tak..
Väl tillbaka i Green Bay gick dagarna ganska snabbt. Natalie åkte tillbaka till Sverige på tisdagen. Vi fick känna på hur det är att vara collegestudent igen. Jag fick vara med och träna med Davids fotbollslag, vi lagade mat åt Davids rumskamrater, och förberedde oss för Senior Day, Davids sista match på hemmaplan. En härlig seger senare var det dags för lagfest med idel svenska dr...lekar.
Ett dygn senare var vi tillbaka i vardagen i Kelowna. Senaste veckan har varit lite hektisk med en hel del småsaker i görningen. Vi har bla blivit turneringsdirektörer för den första årliga Beach Soccer turneringen som ska gå av stapeln i regionen i sommar.
Vi tränar fortfarande fotboll utomhus, men dagarna blir allt kallare, och snart är det dags för sista träningen innan vinteruppehållet. Dessutom är det i dagarna en månad kvar tills vi landar i Sverige.
Tidigare idag hade vi alternativ träning. Lazertag! P som förstaväljare fick storstryk av Jannes adepter. Efteråt var det pizzakväll och nu pustar vi båda ut framför tvn, innan det snart är dags att lägga sig!
Saknar er alla, hörs snart igen, stort grattis till Karin på hennes "23-årsdag!"
