Working At NATO

Working at NATO has been a fascinating, frustrating, and educational experience....

First let me say that the people are fantastic. Sometimes strange, often fun, but always interesting. On my team we have people from Canada, Poland, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Hungary, Slovakia, The Netherlands, Denmark, and Turkey. I enjoy watching the interactions between these different cultures as everyone has a different way of going about things...and many of the stereotypes are true. The Germans are methodical about everything. They like to organize and hate the ineffeciancy that is so common here. The Italians and Belgians seem to take their time with everything and enjoy their long coffee breaks and wine at lunch. The guys from the lesser developed countries such as Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary are lots of fun and love a good drink, but are also quite hard working. I especially love to hear stories from the Polish guys about life in a communist country...they were only allowed to purchase six loaves of bread per month, but that didn't matter since bread was rarely available at the stores. If you owned anything from America such as blue jeans or a Coke, then you were either filthy rich or worked for the government. For example, one guy told me about the time his father saved his monthly $20 salary (everyone in Poland was paid the same wage, regardless of what you did) and bought him a pair of real Levi's jeans...for $17! Apparently when he was a child, there was a food shortage and the government went on TV and told the people that America had dropped "Stonka Bugs" from a plane to eat all of their crops! At the time they believed it, as there was no independant media to tell them otherwise.

The NATO employees have a pretty fantastic deal here. They are paid very well, pay no taxes to any country, get tax free shopping, tax free cars, half price gas, free healthcare, and free education (including college). In addition, there are 19 official holidays, and they get 35 vacation days!!! Also, every two years they get an additional 10 days to return to their home country and their travel expenses for the whole family are paid by NATO. So, every other year they have 3 months vacation. When they are at work, it's generally very low stress. Since people have so many vacation days, no one is ever here. So, any time you need approval for something, you have to wait until they're back from holiday. Nothing ever gets done.

The base itself is quite large and has most everything people need to survive. Several thousand people actually live on the base, so there are small houses and apartments in the back. There are a couple of schools with soccer and baseball fields, a movie theater, bowling alley, barber, dry cleaner, and grocery store. As far as I can tell, the people who live on the base never actually leave it. Unfortunately there are very few restaurants within 10 minutes of the base, so I generally eat lunch at the cafeteria. The building that I work in is about 60 years old and has had almost no updates. The most glaring problem is the lack of air conditioning. Now that I've been through a summer here I can say that it never really gets that hot relative to DC, but there were definitely a few weeks that we were sweating it out in the office.

Absolutely everyone here works the same schedule, there are no "flex hours" like you see back home. You are expected to be here 8:30 - 5:30, Monday through Thursday and you eat lunch at 12:00. No more, no less. The nice part is that Friday is 8:30 - 3:30, so you get an early start on the weekend. I wish I could be more flexible with my hours, but when there are only 38 per week it's hard to complain. The other nice part is the coffee breaks...these guys LOVE their coffee. Most everyone takes 30 minute coffee breaks at 10:30 and 3:30. We go as a large group and spend the time socializing. As I've said in blogs before, these guys work to live, not live to work.

There are a lot of differences between the work environment here and one back in the US. The first thing you notice here is that there are almost no women. Part of this is due to the fact that it's a military base, but even the NATO civilian positions are almost always filled by men. The women that are here are dressed in ways that are just not appropriate for work in the US. Low cut tops, short skirts, tall boots and fishnet stockings are standard for the civilan women. For the military, it seems that many of the countries have a competition to see who can dress their women in the shortest skirts. The environment is similar to what I picture for the US in 1950. Women are treated as objects, not employees, and people are rewarded for their age, not their competence level. Crude jokes and bad language are the norm, and commenting on people's appearance (especially women) is perfectly acceptable. For the men, you see some very interesting outfits as well. Uniforms that are way too tight or way too big, foot-tall fuzzy hats, and handlebar mustaches are all on display here. Sometimes it's hard not to chuckle when I walk through the hallways.

The best part about working in an international environment is that I get to experience parts of other cultures in a very authentic way. The guys here love to share their favorite drinks from home...so far I have received a few bottles of Slovakian moonshine made by my coworkers father, Italian wine, and a bottle of Polish "Bison" vodka complete with a blade of grass in it. Apparently the bison urinate on the grass, and that gives it a "special" flavor. I haven't had the guts to open that one up yet. Also, many of the countries are currently holding Christmas Markets on the base where they bring authentic food, drink and products from home. Last weekend we attended the Norwegian and Canadian markets. At the Norwegian market we had some Gluvine (heated, spiced wine) to go with my reindeer sandwich. Yes, apparently I ate Rudolph. At the Canadian market I picked up a bottle of "Moose Milk"...which is more like heavily spiked egg-nog. It has nothing to do with moose other than the story behind it.

Overall, it's been a great experience so far, and I'm looking forward to another year of new experiences with my international friends.

Cheese Lady

Yesterday Keith had off for Armistice Day, marking the end of WWI. We were pretty happy to have a day to take it easy; we've obviously been on the go with the cruise and Mike's visit. As part of our day of chill we decided to check out a farm nearby that someone at the base told me about. The farm is own by a woman and her husband that make cheeses. We took some of the craziest one lane roads, winding through fields of cows and sheep, thank goodness for the GPS, I don't think we would have found it without it. The whole thing was so awesome. This was one of those unique experiences that makes living here really cool. Thea Oostendorp owns the farm and hand makes the cheeses from milk produced by their own organic cows. The cheeses are amazing, she has garlic, Italian spices, peppers, beer, nettles, plain... and so many more. After taste testing almost all of her cheeses, Keith and I bought a bunch of different flavors, our only regret.....not buying more. We both thought this unique experience was going to cost us a bundle, but were completely shocked at how cheap it all was. It was significantly cheaper than the grocery store, and so much better. Guess it just means we'll have to go back soon! Although not a glamorous destination, still one of the neatest things we've done while living here.

Mike's Visit

We were honored that Mike chose to visit us for his frist trip outside the U.S.; it was really great to see him. Surprisingly enough we didn’t leave Belgium during his entire visit. He was pretty clear about his interests…..Beer, Chocolate, Waffles, and Military History...probably in that order. So, we did our best to make sure he got to experience the best of what Belgium has to offer. He actually flew into London and took the Eurostar into Brussels which can be a real cost saver but also can make a long trip even longer. We took it easy for the first couple of days so that he could adjust to the time difference, but I was sure to take him into Mons for his first waffle. He was happy to discover they are not the breakfast waffles we are use to back home but instead are a sweet, fantastic dessert. We made our way up to Brugge to see all the chocolate shops, hopefully he can resist eating all his purchases and manage to get most of the chocolates home as gifts as intended : )

On Friday he and I headed up to Waterloo, a neat historical site, but in terms of tourism needs a lot of work, as the films and explanations are clearly dated and vague. Still incredible to see the spot where Napoleon was defeated. Although climbing the 226 stairs was not all that fun in my out of shape condition! Next, we stayed on the historical kick and the three of us headed to Bastogne (Battle of the Bulge) on Saturday to check on the WWII memorial there. The site was much better in terms of information and background, but still not as comprehensive as I might have liked. Keith also took him to a cemetery near the house that apparently is the only one to have U.S., British, and German soldiers buried in the same location. Now that Mike has seen some of the actual WWII locations he is re-interested in the Band of Brothers mini series, so we watched a few in the evenings. So with Chocolates, Waffles, and history checked off the list the only thing left was BEER.

On his last day Keith took Mike into Brussels to check out the Grand Place and a bar that we’ve been meaning to try. The Delirium bar has the Guinness World Record for having the most beers available at any one time, which amounts to 2004 different brews. So, Mike had an opportunity to try the best of what Belgium has to offer. Obviously we had plenty around the house for him to taste test, but we certainly can't compete with their selection. Due to some scheduling complications Mike decided to head back into London a day early to make sure he was on time for his flight. Although they don’t have the beers we do, I am sure he is having a great time.

Cruisin’ the Mediterranean

Last week we finally took off on our week long Mediterranean cruise that we've always dreamed of doing. Seven nights at sea on the Norwegian Gem visiting exotic places sounded like just what I needed after a few of my taxing 38 hour workweeks and work trip to sunny San Diego.

Our cruise began with a short flight to Barcelona...or so we thought. We decided to take the low cost airline, Ryanair, not realizing that when they said Barcelona, they meant Girona...a town over an hour from the city. This wasn't an issue on the way out, but since we scheduled our flight back for 6:15 am the following week, it made for a brutal morning wakeup call at 2:30am. In hindsight, we should have done more research, but live and learn I guess. After an uneventful flight and hour long bus ride to Barcelona, we were on the boat by 2:00 pm and relaxing with an umbrella drink by 2:30. The boat didn't leave until 7:00 that night, so we had a few hours to sip drinks and enjoy the views of the city from the top deck of the enormous cruise ship.

Day one was a day at sea, which we used to sleep, drink, and gamble. The ship had a large casino and plenty of areas to sit and relax and listen to music. It was a nice relaxing day, just what we needed after all of the recent travelling. The next day we arrived in the island country of Malta, a place which I had never heard of and knew nothing about. It's a small island off the southern cost of Italy and a former British colony, which meant that most people spoke English. Malta was one of those places that looks amazing in pictures and from a distance, but once you get into the city (called Valetta) there isn't a whole lot to look at. It's nice enough, but was a little old and rundown, and not many exciting things to see. We took a bus to the center of the city and then spent a few hours walking back to the ship. There were some beautiful ocean views, but not much else. The highlight of Malta was finding a small area full of little shanties housing local fisherman. There were two men on the dock fishing, with three cats waiting impatiently to pounce on anything they caught. It was fun to watch the cats jump up in anticipation every time they pulled their lines out of the water.

On day three we arrived in Naples, Italy. Since there is a major NATO base there, many of my coworkers have been to the city and warned us that it is not a place where you want to wander around on your own. We took their word for it and scheduled an excursion to a small village just south of the city called Sorrento. The drive down took us through Naples, which I must admit didn't look too impressive. However, Mount Vesuvius loomed in the background and was an amazing sight to see. Our tour guide was a native Italian whose broken English made her sound just like Borat..."we stop here and you can make the picture niiicccee." Sorrento turned out to be exactly what we were looking for, a beautiful little seaside town with small shops and restaurants. We wandered the city a little bit and then had coffee and gelato (Italian ice cream...AMAZING stuff!) at a cafe overlooking the ocean.

Day four was in Rome...or more specifically Civitavecchia, the port about 1 1/2 hours from Rome. As we had just been in Rome a few months ago visiting my mom, we decided to stay on the boat that day. Despite the predictions of rain, it was 75 degrees and sunny, so we spent the day in the pool and jacuzzi. Usually these were too crowded to enjoy, but with most of the guests in Rome it was quite pleasant.

Day five took us to Livorno, Italy, which is the port town close to Florence and Pisa. Here we decided to pay the money for a tour to both cities. After an hour drive to Florence, we had a nice walking tour of the city. Unfortunately I think we had our expectations set too high for Florence, as we were both a little disappointed. The city was very nice, but nothing too spectacular. It is a several hour wait to see Michelangelo’s David so we didn’t have time for that, and the full size replica was under renovation, so we didn’t even get to see it. The tour did include a nice lunch at a 5 star hotel which was fantastic. We had authentic Italian lasagna (good but no Stouffer’s…kidding of course) and more gelato. At the table we even sat next to another American family living in Belgium…what a small world!

After Florence the tour took us to Pisa, where we were able to stand under the famous leaning tower. This bizarre building did live up to expectations as it was both beautiful and scary…it really looks like it’s going to fall over at any minute. We took our obligatory photo of Elizabeth holding it up, and then headed back to the bus. I have to say that if you’re ever looking for a fake Rolex or Gucci bag, that is the place to go. I can’t even count how many times that I was offered a “Rolex” for only 30 Euro.

Next on the list was Villefranche sur Mer, a small town just outside Nice, France. There wasn’t really a port here, the ship just anchored in the bay, and they stuffed us on the lifeboats to go to the shore. This town was absolutely beautiful. Mansions built on the side of mountains overlooking the crystal blue water and little seaside restaurants and cafes were everywhere. We took the ten minute train ride into Nice and spent the day wandering the town and strolling along the shore. We are definitely going to plan a trip back to Nice…it seems like the perfect city to spend a few romantic and relaxing days.

Finally, the boat brought us back to Barcelona, where we spent our last day. After getting off the ship and checking into our hotel, we took the bus tour of the city, getting off a few times to see some touristy spots. There is a famous architect named Ghadi who designed many buildings there so we spent a while hunting them all down. His designes alone are worth the trip to Barcelona, as they look like something straight out of Alice in Wonderland. Dramatic colors and siding that appears to be melting seem to be his signature, and his buildings are both beautiful and bizarre at the same time. The church that he designed (Sagrada Familia) has been under construction for over 100 years as it’s entirely funded by donations. There really aren’t words to describe it, but it’s worth a few minutes of web research to see some photos of it…simply amazing.

The next day we woke up at 2:00 am to take a cab to the bus station, then a bus to the airport, and then fly back to Belgium. Unfortunately the fog was so bad at our airport that they circled for an hour, attempted two landings and aborted, then finally redirected us to another airport. From here they put us on another bus to the original airport where we finally picked up our car and drove home.

Despite the long trip home, it was still a wonderful vacation. Next up, a Scandinavian cruise!