Expat Workforce matches expats and employers

by Libby Zay on

Are you an expat? Do you need a job or could you benefit from having a second gig? We found a matchmaking website that might be able to help. A new job board called Expat Workforce is connecting businesses who outsource work to English speakers living abroad. And it’s absolutely free for expats.

As an expat, all you have to do is register and post a profile – which includes your location, availability, skills and education/work background – and then you are able to browse jobs. The whole process takes less than 10 minutes, so it can’t hurt to throw up your information if you’re on the hunt for a job. You can also follow the job posting updates on Twitter.

Expat Workforce is the brainchild of former expats. The website is still a brand new concept, so right now they are recruiting expats to submit profiles and promise they will “begin promoting aggressively” to businesses in the coming months. There are no success stories yet, but since it’s the only site of its kind we wanted to spread the word to all our expat friends.

[Screenshot courtesy Expat Workforce.]

Photo of the day: firecracker in Chennai, India

by Elizabeth Seward on


A friend of mine, Vishaka, was born and raised in in Chennai, India. She has now married another friend of mine, Keith, an American, and they live full-time in Indiana. But every so often, once or twice a year it seems, they make the trip back to Chennai to spend time with family and to keep their ties to Chennai’s culture tight.

This shot captures Vishaka setting off her first firecracker outside of her parents’ house in Chennai. The vibrant light is what I like most about this photo–especially with summer now in full-swing.

Have your own firecracker or summer shots to submit for Photo of the day? Upload them to the Gadling Flickr Pool so we can take a look.

Photo by: Keith Pennington

Cobras cause panic on train in Vietnam

by Sean McLachlan on


Passengers on a train in Vietnam got an unwelcome shock when dozens of cobras and king cobras were seen slithering under the seats.

The train, traveling from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi, was stopped at Quang Ngai when the incident happened. Apparently someone was smuggling the animals when they broke loose. Police gathered up 45 kilos (99lb) worth of snakes but didn’t find the smuggler.

Cobra is a popular dish in Vietnam, even though the poisonous reptiles are legally protected. Check out this video for a rather gruesome look at how one is prepared for a ten-course meal.

While snakes on a train are something new, there have been several incidents of snakes on a plane. Last year Abu Dhabi police arrested a passenger carrying four pythons on a plane. Back in 2008, smugglers shipped several boxes of snakes on a Vietnamese plane.

Google launches flight schedule search

by Kraig Becker on

You knew it was only a matter of time before Google jumped into the travel game, especially after their acquisition of ITA Software was approved awhile back. But on Friday of last week, the Internet search giant launched its flight schedule search option, allowing travelers to get a list of flight options directly from the basic Google search box that we all know and love.

The new options was announced on Google’s Inside Search blog and in typical Google fashion, it couldn’t be any easier to use. Simply type in the search term “flights” followed by the city you’re flying from and the city you’re flying to. The search engine will go to work, and give you an option on the results page to view a schedule of flights. Clicking that link will display a drop down menu of the days and times for flights offered by the major carrier.

In their blog post, Google used the example of “Flights from San Francisco to Minneapolis,” and and you can see exactly how the results are presented by clicking here. As you would expect, the results are given in a neat, clean, no-frills fashion.

So, what do you think? Will this option replace your normal online flight search tool of choice? It is nice to have such a simple approach, but for now, I personally still prefer the options presented by Kayak.com or some of the other services. But who knows, Google may just be getting started, and they’re likely to refine this over time, giving us more features and search tools in the future.

[Photo credit: Google]

Memorial Day barbecue problems? Call the Weber Grill hot line

by Laurel Miller on

This Memorial Day weekend, I’m honoring our fallen heroes by exalting the art of grilling. Being a good grill master is how the average American male proves his manhood (in public, that is). Never mind that plenty of women can and do wield the tongs in the family (I do); being unable to operate a barbecue and produce an edible–if not outright delicious–end result is about as emasculating as it gets.

That is why I’m telling you about the Weber Grill hot line (1-800-GRILL-OUT, or email grillout@weber.com). The New York Times reports that the Schaumburg, Illinois-based company receives about 500,000 calls (mostly from men) a year and 75,000 e-mails. Operators–including Ms. Olsen, a 67-year old woman who’s been on the job for 14 years–deal with frantic issues related to everything from improper flaming to how to cook a squirrel.

Memorial Day is the busiest time of the year, but Weber wants people who sell their products to know what exactly they’re dealing with. The Grill Academy opened in Schaumburg in January, in order to educate salespeople about the care and feeding of Weber grills.. According to school director Kevin Kolman, students need to study hard, so they can answer questions such as, “What is the definition of a flavorizer bar?’ or ‘What is the importance of a damper system in a charcoal grill?”

Tough stuff. So should you find yourself slaving over a hot grill this weekend, and things aren’t going as they should, give Ms. Olsen a ring. Or allow your girlfriend or wife to take over.

[Photo credit: Flickr user rachelandrew]

Check out a clip from the UK Weber Grill Academy.