Was ist EG Austria?

Die EG Austria ist eine Energiegemeinschaft im Sinne des EAG (Erneuerbaren-Ausbau-Gesetz) und ermöglicht:

• Bezug von regional erzeugtem Ökostrom zu einem Fixpreis von 9,95 ct/kWh netto (2025)
• Einspeisung von PV-Überschussstrom zu demselben Preis – stabil & fair
• Strom schenken innerhalb der Gemeinschaft
• Und das Ganze bei voller Transparenz, ohne Grundgebühr, ohne Anbieterwechsel

Warum ich mitmache

Ich betreibe selbst eine PV-Anlage mit Speicher und wollte meinen überschüssigen Strom lieber anderen Haushalten direkt zur Verfügung stellen, statt anonym ins Netz zu speisen. Gleichzeitig können Haushalte in meiner Umgebung deutlich günstiger Strom beziehen – auch ohne eigene PV.

Wie viel kann man sparen?

Zum Vergleich: Mein April-Stromverbrauch (434,50 kWh) hätte bei einem herkömmlichen Anbieter rund 108 € gekostet. Über die EG Austria wären es nur etwa 27 € gewesen – eine Ersparnis von über 80 €.

Der Trick? Neben dem günstigen Bezugspreis spart man auch bei den Netzentgelten:
28 % weniger Netzarbeitspreis
Keine Elektrizitätsabgabe
Kein Förderbeitrag für Erneuerbare

Wer kann mitmachen?

Strombezieher ohne PV-Anlage
Einspeiser mit PV-Anlage
Haushalte, Betriebe oder Vereine

Voraussetzung ist lediglich ein Smart Meter mit viertelstundengenauer Auslesung (IME). Du bleibst bei deinem bisherigen Stromanbieter (Kelag, Stadtwerke, etc.) und bekommst den EEG-Strom einfach als Ergänzung.

Interesse geweckt?

Wer in Klagenfurt, Magdalensberg oder Umgebung wohnt, kann über folgenden Link direkt beitreten – der Mitgliedsbeitrag beträgt nur 1 € pro Monat: EG Austria – Energie teilen, Zukunft sichern

Wenn du Fragen hast oder Hilfe beim Einstieg brauchst, melde dich gern bei mir.

Gemeinsam können wir Stromkosten senken, regional investieren und unabhängiger werden.

The post Energiegemeinschaft EG Austria: Günstiger Ökostrom aus der Region – auch ohne eigene PV-Anlage appeared first on naschenweng.eu.

So I built a simple solution: a Python-based tool that syncs ICS feeds directly into a CalDAV calendar (like mailbox.org), complete with:

• Emoji support
• Deduplication of events
• Location-based filtering for Austria
• Docker support
• Dry-run mode so nothing breaks

Check out the console output in action

Why I Built This

There are lots of calendar tools, but none let me do exactly what I wanted:

• Pull in multiple .ics feeds
• Filter events based on location (e.g., only Kärnten, Steiermark)
• Add emojis to event names ( for trash, for public holidays)
• Avoid duplicate imports (using UID hashing)
• Easily run as a scheduled task on my Synology NAS

It started as a quick utility for my own use. Now it’s open source and available for anyone to use!

Features at a Glance

• Sync any .ics feed to CalDAV
• All-day events handled properly
• Support for Austrian public holiday feed, with filtering by Bundesland
• Deterministic UID generation using hashed content
• Dry-run support to preview changes
• Docker & Docker Compose support
• Built-in cleanup option for previously imported events

How It Works

1. Loads your config.json with ICS feeds and emoji mappings
2. Connects to your CalDAV calendar (e.g., mailbox.org)
3. Checks for duplicate events using a unique hash-based UID
4. Applies emoji mappings to the event title
5. Filters events based on date range and, if set, import_locations
6. Imports events, replacing duplicates if needed

You can even preview everything with:

docker-compose run --rm calendar-sync --import --dry-run

Example Config

{
  "caldav_url": "https://dav-sso.mailbox.org/caldav/...",
  "username": "you@mailbox.org",
  "password": "your-app-password",
  "timezone": "Europe/Vienna",
  "uid_prefix": "ICS-",
  "future_event_limit_days": 365,
  "ics_feeds": [
    {
      "url": "https://example.com/feiertage.ics",
      "import_locations": "K,St",
      "emoji_mapping": {
        "§": "🇦🇹",
        "default": "🗓"
      }
    }
  ]
}

If you set "import_locations": "K,St", the log output will show you which events are skipped due to unmatched regions like this:

INFO: ⏭ Skipping 'St. Florian' (2025-05-04) due to unmatched location: OÖ

Use on Synology or Server

I run this on my Synology via a scheduled task:

cd /volume2/docker/appdata/calendar-sync
docker-compose run --rm calendar-sync --cleanup
docker-compose run --rm calendar-sync --import

Runs every day at 01:00 — and my calendar is always up to date.

Where to Get It

You’ll find the source, Dockerfile, instructions and everything here:
GitHub – magicdude4eva/calendar-sync

Support & Contributions

This project is MIT-licensed and open to PRs, ideas, or feedback.
If you found this useful, consider supporting my work:

(CRO)    0xBAdB43af444055c4031B79a76F74895469BA0CD7 (Cronos)
(USDC)   0x5986f713A538D6bCaC0865564dCD45E2600A3469
(ETH)    0x5986f713A538D6bCaC0865564dCD45E2600A3469
(BTC)    bc1qdgdkk7l98pje8ny9u4xavsvrea8dw6yu8jpnyf
(BNB)    0x5986f713A538D6bCaC0865564dCD45E2600A3469
(LTC)    ltc1qexst2exxksfyg7erfzlfrm23twkjgf7e5fn64t
(DOGE)   DMQsxc9XGF6526drBJDZeX7AjFDJsEz4mN
(SOL)    t4bYQCUuoCUrp7kJ4Mz314npcTuKoUSXj28UgdMrfTb
Crypto.com PayString: magicdude$paystring.crypto.com	

Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/ref6ayzqvp to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD

During signup use my referral code ref6ayzqvp to claim your reward
Go to Curve.com to add your Crypto.com card to ApplePay (get 1% cashback)

The post 📅 Sync ICS Feeds to Your CalDAV Calendar with Emojis, Deduplication, and Docker appeared first on naschenweng.eu.

We are going to buy 36 months of Xbox Gold and then convert it to Ultimate. 36 months is the absolute maximum you can convert.

This has been verified working as of 20th December 2021 and you will need to do the following:

1. Ensure that your billing address is accurate and in the country in which your Xbox account is currently being used.
2. Ensure that any options like auto-renew, recurring payment etc are disabled or not agreed if presented
3. If you do not have a credit-card, go to Get your free Mastercard with 1% cashback and €5 sign-up bonus
4. We will purchase the cheapest Xbox Live Gold 12 months Membership – at the moment you can get this via Turkey through eneba.com.
5. Go ahead and add up to 3 units at checkout and pay (try at Eneba discount codes: BRUCE or XLGT or XLTRVPN or EASTERNAS or YOMAX to get a further $4 off))
6. Connect to Turkey via VPN (I am using the Windscribe Chrome extension which is free)
7. Verify via whatsmyip.com that you are connected to Turkey
8. Once connected go to redeem.microsoft.com, sign in with your normal account and redeem the codes
9. Disconnect from the VPN
10. Check that you now have 36 months of Xbox Live Gold membership
11. Go to the Xbox Live landing page and either purchase the $1 Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (or if you had Ultimate in the past, purchase one month for $14.99)
12. Go back to step 10) and verify that your membership has been upgraded

The above works for any type of Xbox Live Gold membership and memberships from Turkey or Brazil are a fraction of the cost compared to US or EU.

If you find my crypto articles valuable, then do me a favour:
Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/ref6ayzqvp to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD
During signup use my referral code ref6ayzqvp to claim your reward
Also go to Curve.com to add your Crypto.com card to ApplePay (and get 1% cashback)

Disclaimer:
The above was verified working and is currently used by many people. Microsoft might deem this hacky, because you redeem Xbox Live memberships bought from a country where this is cheaper and then converting them to Ultimate.

Affiliate Disclaimer:
Some of the links the site uses are affiliate links. They don’t cost anything to use; If you don’t wish to use them, feel free not to! 

The post Get 3 years of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for under $3/month (€85 for 3 years) appeared first on naschenweng.eu.

• Bling Swap: Swap supported tokens at low fees and fast speed. Supply liquidity by providing a pair of assets, receive Liquidity Provider (LP) tokens as proof of ownership, and earn proportionate 0.2% transaction fees whenever the pair is traded.
• Crystal Farms: Stake your LP tokens to receive VVS rewards. We value your platform patronage and want to shower you with shiny bling bling.
• Glitter Mines: Stake your newly earned VVS tokens to receive even more VVS. Stake, forget, and collect! Low risk, maintenance-free passive income for your coffers.

In this guide I will show you how to use Crypto.Com CRO to Glitter Mine VVS.

Getting Started with the bling-bling

VVS is a Decentralized Application and as such the platform uses a non-custodial Crypto Wallet. The Crypto Wallet holds your assets and each time VVS needs to perform a transaction on your behalf, it will need to be confirmed on your wallet for security reasons.

I am personally using Metamask as it integrates easily into the browser. Alternatively you can also use Crypto.com DeFi Wallet. Although you can use almost any crypto-token, I suggest that you use Crypto.com CRO as native CRO tokens are substantially lower in gas transaction feeds compared to ERC-20 tokens.

Also the Crypto.com ecosystem has many more benefits: I would appreciate if you use my referral during signup: Crypto.com Visa Debit Card with Cashback and 100% rebate on Netflix, Spotify & Amazon Prime.

 Careful: Most wallets will use a seed-phrase. Never-ever-ever-ever paste the seed-phrase into a browser, give it to someone or expose it in any way. If it gets in the wrong hands or you lose it, your Metamask-wallet is gone!

Transferring CRO and doing a “Bling Swap”

Before you become a Glitter Miner you will need to convert crypto into VVS. In my case I transfer CRO from my https://crypto.org/desktopwallet to Metamask (I am using the MacOS Desktop DeFi app as it is more convenient than the iOS app): Via the desktop app this is fairly simple:

1. Go to “Cronos Bridge”
2. Select From “Crypto.org Chain” to “Cronos Beta“, select CRO as currency and enter the amount
3. Copy the Cronos Mainnet address from your Metamask wallet and select “I want to send funds to a custom destination address”
4. Enter the app password, verify the details and confirm

You will see that the transfer of CRO is almost instant and does not cost as much as a traditional ETH transfer. Once your funds are in Metamask, we now want to use the Bling Swap via https://vvs.finance/swap to exchange our CRO into VVS:

1. Enter the amount of CRO you want to Swap
2. Select VVS as a currency
3. Review the swap and confirm the transaction in Metamask
4. Wait a few seconds until the transaction is confirmed and VVS displays in your wallet

The last step is to mine your VVS and restake – for this you go to https://vvs.finance/mines and then Enable staking and add your funds:

With the “Auto” option any funds you stake in this pool will be automatically harvested and restaked (compounded) yielding a higher ROI for your funds for a small convenience and performance fee.

Leveraging your staking with Binance Locked Staking

If you really want to maximise your Glitter Mining, you need to have a Binance account (or use my referral and you and I earn each 10% on our trades). Once you have signed up, you will need to purchase AXS and then visit “Binance Locked Staking” and stake AXS for 30 days with a 110% APY:

The return is paid out daily, you will then take the earned AXS staking income to either re-stake into Binance or (what I do) convert to USDT, send it to Crypto.com, convert it to CRO, send it to the DeFi wallet, then bridge it to Cronos as I have explained above in order to swap for VVS. It is a hamster wheel, I tell you

If you find my crypto articles valuable, then do me a favour:
Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/ref6ayzqvp to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD
During signup use my referral code ref6ayzqvp to claim your reward
Also go to Curve.com to add your Crypto.com card to ApplePay (and get 1% cashback)

* To get the $25 Bonus, you must Stake at least 5.000 CRO in the app.

Disclaimer:
I’m not a professional investment advisor and the above information is not an investment suggestion, only a guide to help you. Always keep in mind that investment = risk! Especially when we’re talking about cryptocurrencies, which are incredibly volatile! Only invest money you’re willing to lose!

Affiliate Disclaimer:
Some of the links the site uses are affiliate links. They don’t cost anything to use; If you don’t wish to use them, feel free not to! 

The post Carts full of bling bling – Glitter Mining with VVS and CRO appeared first on naschenweng.eu.

Blockchain domain NFTs are the latest arrival in the block(chain) party. Part URL, part collectible, these fascinating assets are becoming the hottest new crypto in town. In this introductory article, we’ll walk you through the basics of blockchain domain NFTs.

What Are Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)?

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of NFTs, you need to understand the blockchain. Since its conceptual introduction in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto, the blockchain has perplexed the world. This decentralized ledger uses cryptography to permanently string together blocks of data.

Blockchain is the technology that powers Bitcoin, Ethereum, and every other cryptocurrency in the world. It leveraged this decentralized public ledger to solve a theoretical riddle for digital currencies, the “double-spend” problem.

Cryptocurrencies are what’s known as fungible tokens. Much like with two separate dollar bills, there’s no difference between one Bitcoin and another. They’re completely identical in every way. Cryptocurrencies aren’t the only thing that blockchains are capable of, though.

Non-fungible tokens exist at the opposite end of the spectrum. Like cryptocurrencies, they are cryptographic tokens registered on a specific blockchain. However, they’re each entirely unique (and therefore, not mutually interchangeable) — like serialized collectibles of the digital world.

There are multiple types of NFTs out there. Digital art can be registered on a blockchain, for example, as a way to certify authenticity and ownership. The result would be digital art NFTs that represent ownership of original, authentic artworks.

Blockchain Domains vs Regular Domains

A blockchain domain is a type of domain name that is stored on the blockchain. Therefore, it is decentralized and is not stored on any particular server. Some examples of blockchain domain zones or extensions are .eth, .crypto, and .zil. Blockchain domains using the .crypto and .eth extension names live on the Ethereum blockchain, while those under .zil fall within the Zilliqa blockchain.

The most apparent difference between blockchain and regular domains is that the former is decentralized, like any innovation built on the blockchain. Blockchain domains are stored on the owner’s cryptocurrency wallet, so only he/she has control over them.

On the other hand, regular domains, such as those under the .com and .org zones, are regulated by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). A successful complaint or court order against the domain would generally require ICANN to hand it over to the complainant.

Owning blockchain domains is pretty straightforward, as whoever owns the keys owns the domain. The owner can sell it anytime, which entails passing on the key to the buyer. Losing the key would also mean losing the domain forever.

Another difference is that instead of resolving to Internet Protocol (IP) addresses as regular domains do, blockchain domains are tied to the owner’s crypto address.

Why should I use a blockchain domain?

Besides the benefit of openness, security and increased functionality, one is the ability to send cryptocurrency more easily as Blockchain domains can work as a naming registry for crypto addresses, which makes the process of sending and receiving crypto much more user-friendly than it was without blockchain domain names.

Use your NFT domains as your:

• Universal username across apps and websites
• Website URL
• Payment address for wallets

Blockchain domains can work as a naming registry for crypto addresses, which makes the process of sending and receiving crypto much more user-friendly than it was without blockchain domain names.

Another major advantage to blockchain domains is the ability to build decentralized websites. You can point your blockchain domain name to a website on a peer-to-peer hosting platform like IPFS, for example. It’s also possible to connect domains to social media accounts to verify identity and set up things like email and chat protocols associated with your domain.

How do I register a blockchain domain?

Registering a blockchain domain is easy with Unstoppable Domains. All you have to do is go to the website, type the domain you want into the search bar to see if it is available, and follow the steps to register it – better yet, if you click the banner below, you will get a $10 credit:

Once the domain is chosen and added to the cart, you can proceed to checkout. If you choose not to buy with store credit then payment options available are PayPal, card, or crypto. I suggest that you read my article about Crypto.com to additionally get cashback when paying with Crypto.com Pay feature.

Minting your domain via Metamask

Once you purchase a domain of your liking you will be requested to claim the domain. Claiming your domain is important as the name you purchase lives in the Unstoppable database until it is claimed. I recommend using the Metamask wallet for claiming and storing your Blockchain domains.

At this point, you can fully manage your domain and maintain control. Until it’s claimed, full control of the domain doesn’t belong to you. You must have the private key in order to manage your domain. Similar to cryptocurrency your domain is tied to a private key. Not your keys, not your domain.

If you find my crypto articles valuable, then do me a favour:
Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/ref6ayzqvp to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD
During signup use my referral code ref6ayzqvp to claim your reward
Also go to Curve.com to add your Crypto.com card to ApplePay (and get 1% cashback)

The post Own your own Blockchain NFT-domain forever appeared first on naschenweng.eu.

Crypto.com is a mobile application which gives you the ability to buy and sell digital currencies (7 Fiat currencies and 80+ Cryptocurrencies), store them (Wallet), invest them (Invest Feature), get interest on them (Earn Feature), get loans with them as collateral (Credit Feature), and get paid in them (Pay Feature).

The app comes along with a VISA debit card (Crypto.com Card) which allows you to pay for your daily transactions in cryptocurrencies (I’ll explain more later).

This card offers amazing benefits (you won’t find anything similar in the market) like cashback return (in CRO) from 1% to 8% on all your purchases and a 100% cashback for services like Spotify and Netflix.

The crypto debit card can be funded via crypto deposits, which are instantly converted to the user’s currency of choice as well as via top-ups through the FIAT-wallet. Payments and ATM withdrawals are supported wherever Visa is accepted.

All Crypto.com Visa cards (exclusive to CRO token holders) are metal, beautifully crafted, offer CRO rewards, and much more to save Crypto.com App users a ton of money! Banks usually charge their most valuable customers hundreds of dollars per year for metal cards. Crypto.com is offering them to CRO token holders for FREE:

• NO monthly fee
• NO annual fee
• NO shipping fee
• NO setup fee
• You can pay in foreign currency using real exchange rates (just like the Digital Banks of Revolut, N26, etc.)
• 1% to 5% Cashback on all your purchases
• Free ATM cash withdrawals
• Cool metallic design (not for the basic card)

The only commitment you as a Crypto.com App user have is to own CRO tokens and stake them for 180 days.

In regards to the lending service, users can deposit crypto as collateral and obtain an instant loan in USD, PAX, USDC or TUSD. The credit can be spent directly via the company’s Visa card. Improved interest rates are granted to those who stake CRO, a native token enabling cross-asset currency settlement within the Crypto.com blockchain.

???? Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/ref6ayzqvp to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD ????
???? During signup use my referral code ref6ayzqvp to claim your reward ????

Perks and rewards: free Spotify, Netflix, Amazon Prime

When signing up for a Crypto.com card, users can choose to stake CRO (the Crypto.com cryptocurrency) in order to obtain perks and rewards. CRO is obtained either by purchase or as a reward for spending via the card. Higher CRO staking will gain you access to improved card tiers.

With this in mind, users can unlock cashbacks together with free Spotify, Netflix, and Amazon Prime subscriptions. Expedia and Airbnb discounts are available as well. High tier card owners will unlock bonus interest, a private concierge, a merchandise welcome pack, access to airport lounges, and higher no-fee limits.

You can apply for the free card, earning up to 1% cashback or choose to stake CRO for a higher reward card:

“Staking” means that you purchase for example $400 of CRO and then lock it for 180 days for a “Ruby Steel” Visa Card. During the 180 days you earn interest in CRO. For example staking $4000 of CRO for an Indigo card will earn you 10% p.a. in CRO interest of the staked amount. You will only be able to “unstake” and get your CRO back after the 180 days. Your virtual Visa Card will be issued immediately and your physical card will be shipped within 2-4 weeks.

While the Ruby Steel and the Midnight Blue do not offer any other card benefits, it starts to become interesting once you stake for the Royal Indigo & Jade Green Visa Card. Here you will get your monthly Spotify and Netflix subscription returned in CRO – the requirement is purely that you pay monthly via your Crypto.com Visa Credit Card. From the Royal Indigo & Jade Green-tier upwards you will also get Free Airport Lounge Access (at a value of $32 per visit).

Staking for the Frosted Rose Gold & Icy White (requires $40,000 to be staked) gives you Spotify, Netflix, Amazon Prime as a 100% rebate but also a 10% Expedia discount. In addition you will get a private welcome-pack (t-shirt, hoodie, cap) and you can take an additional guest for free into the airport lounge.

Each credit card will also earn you between 1-8% (depending on tier) in cashback off the total paid back in CRO.

How do I apply for the Crypto.com Visa Card?

You need to stake CRO tokens for a period of 180 days to apply for a Crypto.com Visa Card.

To do so, first sign up for a Crypto.com App account (please use my referral code “ref6ayzqvp“) and complete our KYC verification. Next, purchase CRO tokens and deposit them into your Crypto Wallet in the App. If you buy CRO directly in the App, then no action is required. The amount of CRO depends on the card tier you’re applying for.

Once you’ve downloaded the App and completed our KYC, navigate to the “Card” page” which is located at the bottom right corner of the app:

Finally, go to the ‘Card’ tab in the App, select your desired Crypto.com Visa Card, tap the ‘Stake CRO’ button, and follow the on-screen instructions. You will be issued a virtual card which can be immediately used and you will get a notification when your physical card ships – you should have your card within 2-4 weeks.

Note: EU/UK and US users will receive a virtual card in the App, shortly after the review of the address documents is complete. A physical card (optional) can be requested to be delivered thereafter.

How do I redeem CRO rewards and purchase events?

All card rewards are paid in CRO and deposited into your Crypto Wallet in the Crypto.com App. CRO Rewards are instantly reflected with each eligible transaction. Purchase rebates are reimbursed to the USD/EUR equivalent, and the rebate cap is reset on the first day of each month.

How do I top-up my card?

You can top up your card using your Fiat Wallet, Crypto Wallet, or credit/debit card in the Crypto.com App. Go to the ‘Card’ tab, tap ‘Top Up’, and select your preferred method.

The Crypto.com App and some features

Using the Crypto.com App allows you to manage the credit-card within the app:

Since it is a Visa Debit Card, the card needs to be “topped-up” via the App either through your Crypto Wallet (supported are many popular currencies such as USDC, BTC, ETH, XRP, DOGE, LTC and more), your Fiat Wallet or through a credit card.

Within the Crypto.com app you will also see your card transactions, staking period and cashback transactions:

CRO stake rewards are paid weekly and you will get an app notification:

Mining DeFi tokens with the Crypto.com Supercharger

If you have used the Crypto.com App or Exchange, you may have noticed that both of them have this function, called the Crypto.com Supercharger:

Crypto.com’s Supercharger is a fuss-free way to deposit your CRO tokens and mine DeFi tokens as your reward. There are no fees charged, and you are able to withdraw your CRO tokens at any time as well, making this a flexible way of earning these DeFi tokens. When you deposit your CRO tokens into Supercharger, you are adding liquidity to the centralised pool.

As a reward for providing this liquidity, you will be issued a DeFi token. The token you receive depends on the current Supercharger event that is happening. The amount of tokens that you receive will be based on your liquidity score. The higher your liquidity score, the more tokens you will receive!

How does Crypto.com’s Supercharger work?

The Supercharger has two periods: the Charging Period and the Reward Period. The Charging Period is the period that you’re depositing your CRO into the liquidity pool. Meanwhile, the Reward Period occurs immediately after, where you will receive the DeFi token over a period of time.

The Charging period can last anytime between 30-45 days, depending on the event. Once the Charging Period has ended, your liquidity score will be calculated. Your liquidity score is based on the liquidity you provided during the Charging Period.

Once the Charging Period has ended, the amount of rewards you’ll receive will be calculated. When your reward has been calculated, you’ll be given a notification to accept your rewards:

To receive your full reward, you’ll have to accept your reward before the start of the Reward Period. If you only accept your reward halfway into the Reward Period, you will lose your rewards for the previous days! As such, it would be best for you to keep a lookout for this notification when the Charging Period has finished.

After accepting your rewards, the total allocation will be split between 30-45 days. During each day, your reward will be issued to you. For example, you may have accepted a reward of 30 X tokens. If the Reward Period lasts for 30 days, you will receive 1 X token each day.

There are no fees or risks involved in participating in the Supercharger. You will obviously need to have your CRO charged for the entire period to achieve the highest liquidity score and you should accept the reward as soon as you are notified. Since the rewards are paid out daily, the later you accept the more payouts you will miss.

Once the Supercharger period is over, you will automatically participate in the next Supercharger event (I moved for example from HBAR to the current ETH event).

What is the CRO Token?

The operation of Crypto.com Chain, ie the public blockchain of Crypto.com on which the operation of the platform is built, is based on a cryptocurrency (Utility Token) which has been developed by the company itself. It’s the CRO (Crypto.com Coin), based on Etherium‘s Blockchain and it can be stored in any wallet that supports ERC-20 tokens.

What is Crypto Staking?

If you’ve even entered the app’s website (or have downloaded it already), then you’ll certainly have seen the term “Staking“. If you’re a Poker player, you’re probably already familiar with the term. In the Poker world, staking is having a third party “fund” a player’s capital, expecting him to win so that the funding party can keep a percentage of the winnings. It’s like an investment on a player’s skills.

In the Crypto-world, Staking is the process of holding funds in a cryptocurrency wallet to support the operations of a blockchain network. Essentially, it consists of locking cryptocurrencies to receive rewards. So, buying and Staking CRO Tokens in Crypto.com means you “support” the company by investing your capital in its Token. “Staking” in Crypto.com means that you keep your CRO in your Crypto.com Wallet for 6 months and you can’t sell them or exchange them. They’re locked for six months.

As you can understand, it’s very important for the company’s growth that users invest their capital in its own Token and keep it there. For this reason, the company offers many advantages to those staking CRO Tokens.

Some of these advantages include:

• Premium Metal Crypto.com Debit Cards (with higher Cashback rates and Benefits)
• Higher yearly interest rates in the Earn Feature (up to 20% APR)
• 50% Discount to the Invest Feature’s fees

In order to to apply for a Crypto.com Visa Debit Card you will need to Stake Cro. To “upgrade” your profile to a higher card Tier and enjoy the respective privileges, you need to Stake CRO Tokens for 6 months. The Staked CRO Tokens aren’t lost, they remain in your possession and are available for use after 180 days. Think of it as a time deposit.

Then, after the 6 months, you can continue using your premium card with no extra charges, forever. (If you choose not to stake your CRO, then your privileges will be significantly fewer.)

Which Crypto.com Card should I choose?

If you read the analysis of the cards, you must be “drooling” over the high-end tier benefits. I think that there are no cards out in the market right now that offer so many benefits to the user.

I chose the Jade Green/Royal Indigo card (€ 3500 CRO Stake) – as an example:

• By doing the math, regarding the 100% rebate for your Netflix and Spotify subscriptions, I get the following:
  (7.99€ * 12) + (12.99€ * 12) = 251.76€
• And if I consider that you would spend about 3,000€ in a year, with the 3% Cashback, I get:
  3.000€ * 0.03 = 90€

That brings the total benefit to 341.76€ per year.

With the Jade Green/Royal Indigo tier card, you’ll need to Stake 3,500€ in CRO (at the rate of €0.32 this would be 10,900 CRO). In essence, it wouldn’t cost you anything, since your Stacked CRO Tokens remain yours after the six months. Also, keep in mind that in the 3rd tier Crypto.com offers an additional 10% interest rate on the 10,900 CROs you have stacked. This means that, by the end of the 6th month, you will have gained 545 additional CROs, valued 174.40€.

As profitable as the specific deal might be, do not forget that no one guarantees that the commitment you will make is safe. CRO is a Crypto Token. This means that it comes along with the volatility that all cryptocurrencies are characterized by. Their value can go up or down very quickly, without warning. If the CRO to Euro exchange rate drops to 0.20€/CRO, for example, then your starting capital of 3.500€, will now be worth 2,180€.

Finally, keep in mind that your CRO will be held in the wallet of Crypto.com, and as such it will be susceptible to hackers, or a possible bankruptcy of the company. So, the question becomes: what’s the maximum risk you’re willing to take?

I chose the Royal Indigo Crypto Card which requires staking €3,500. It is an amount of money that I am currently comfortable losing, for whatever reason. I strongly advise you to do the same.

How to open an Account on Crypto.com

The process of creating an account on Crypto.com is simple, fast, takes place online, and doesn’t have any fees.

What you need to have before you get started:

• Passport, Driving License, or ID.
• Your Referral Code to get $25 → ref6ayzqvp
• Your mobile phone.

Referral Deals – get $25 worth of CRO for signing up with the App

If you are interested in signing up for a Crypto.com account, you can use my referral link and enter the code ‘ref6ayzqvp‘.

Referral Deals – get $10-$50 worth of CRO for signing up with the Exchange

You should sign up for the App and the Exchange as there are additional benefits with the Exchange. If you are interested in creating a Crypto.com Exchange account, you can use my referral link and enter the code ‘ref6ayzqvp‘.

Depending on the amount of CRO you stake on the Crypto.com Exchange, you are able to earn between USD $10 to USD $50:

If you find my crypto articles valuable, then do me a favour:
Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/ref6ayzqvp to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD
During signup use my referral code ref6ayzqvp to claim your reward
Also go to Curve.com to add your Crypto.com card to ApplePay (and get 1% cashback)

* To get the $25 Bonus, you must Stake at least 5.000 CRO in the app.

The Crypto.com (CDC) Visa card FAQ

• No, you can’t use the CDC VISA to buy crypto. It is an infinite money glitch and they are smart enough to not let that happen. Apparently this is different in the USA, but everywhere else it stands.
• Your “Sign-Up Bonus” will be unlocked when you stake for the Ruby Steel card. And yes, it will be unlocked at the amount of CRO that was the $25 equivalent at the time you signed up. You got 150 CRO for signing up? Great! That what’s unlocked.
• If you top up your card, you can’t transfer it back to your fiat wallet. You would need to use an ATM. Think about what you want to spend the money on the card for first before blindly transferring things around.
• Yes, there is a card upgrade fee. This covers the cost of the physical card. If you don’t want to change the physical card, talk to support. Check here if you want to see if you will be charged. Don’t want the physical card? Click “no, maybe later”.
• When you receive you card, please be aware the first time you use it, it may be declined. That’s normal. Changing the PIN can cause a decline as well. Check here to see if that will happen to you.
• Sometimes you’ll be charged more upfront as a “hold” on your card. It will revert back to your card, but make sure you have enough to cover that 20% difference, or it will be declined. This usually happens at petrol-station pumps, restaurants, hotels, etc. This doesn’t apply to every region.
• While on the topic of charges, you’ll be reimbursed UP TO a certain dollar amount for Spotify, Netflix, and so on. Here is the link for the reimbursements. Anything past that will be reimbursed at your normal cash back level (IE. you have Jade, spend $14.99 on Netflix for 4K [the number may be different, I’m Canadian and not too sure], you get $13.99 100% reimbursed, and 3% back on the remaining $1.00)
• You can upgrade your card at any point you wish simply by staking more funds to match the higher requirement. If you pay to get the higher physical card this will take time to arrive in the post, they are extremely busy and are doing their best. Your existing funds on the card will be locked for a period but will also be transferred to the new card when it is issued.
• At the end of your staking period for a card you have 3 options:
  1) Leave it staked, you retain all you benefits and have instant access to the funds should you need them.
  2) Unstake and immediately restake only the required amount. You’ll keep your existing card and all the benefits, release a portion of your funds but you’ll get less back in CRO interest due to having less CRO staked
  3) You can remove all of your stake, you’ll keep the card and some cash back but lose many of your benefits – information for each card can be found within the app where you can view full card details and toggle on and off with staked CRO.

Disclaimer:
I’m not a professional investment advisor and the above information is not an investment suggestion, only a guide to help you. Always keep in mind that investment = risk! Especially when we’re talking about cryptocurrencies, which are incredibly volatile! Only invest money you’re willing to lose!

Affiliate Disclaimer:
Some of the links the site uses are affiliate links. They don’t cost anything to use; If you don’t wish to use them, feel free not to! 

The post Crypto.com Visa Debit Card with Cashback and 100% rebate on Netflix, Spotify & Amazon Prime appeared first on naschenweng.eu.

Installing Homebrew

The most popular package manager for macOS is called Homebrew, or brew for short. We will use it to install the rest. First we need to install CLI tools for Xcode. Open a terminal and run this command:

xcode-select —-install

To install brew you simply open a terminal and paste this command:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"

Installing iTerm2

You can download the app manually from the iTerm2 website or you can save yourself some trouble by using cask which helps you install apps from the command line. Open your terminal and write the following commands:

brew install cask
brew cask install iterm2

Customising iTerm

• Download the fonts and install in iTerm.
• Download the iTerm theme iTerm-material-bright.itermcolors and select it in iTerm

Installing Oh My Zsh

Install it by opening iTerm and write the command:

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

Install Oh My Zsh plugins

zsh-autosuggestions is a great plugin that will suggest auto completions based on what you type.

git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions

zsh-completion aims at gathering/developing new completion scripts that are not available in Zsh yet

git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-completions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:=~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-completions

zsh-syntax-highlighting provides syntax highlighting for the shell zsh. It enables highlighting of commands whilst they are typed at a zsh prompt into an interactive terminal. This helps in reviewing commands before running them, particularly in catching syntax errors.

git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting

Next, edit your ~/.zshrc file to activate it. Add the plugins to the list of plugins:

plugins=(evalcache zsh-nvm osx git npm zsh-autosuggestions zsh-completions zsh-syntax-highlighting sublime)

Install PowerLevel10K

Powerlevel10k is a theme for Zsh. It emphasizes speed, flexibility and out-of-the-box experience.

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/themes/powerlevel10k

Next, edit your ~/.zshrc file to activate it. Adjust the THEME-setting:

ZSH_THEME="powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k"

Open a new terminal tab and if the powerlevel10k setup does not start, run it manually:

p10k configure

Fuzzy find everything

fzf is a general-purpose command-line fuzzy finder. It’s an interactive Unix filter for command-line that can be used with any list; files, command history, processes, hostnames, bookmarks, git commits, etc. Activate it with CTRL+R:

brew install fzf

Install the keybindings and completion

/usr/local/opt/fzf/install

Update your .zshrc:

[ -f ~/.fzf.zsh ] && source ~/.fzf.zsh

Forgit

forgit is an utility tool for using git interactively. This tool is designed to help you use git more efficiently. It’s lightweight and easy to use.

Install via Cloning into plugins:

git clone https://github.com/wfxr/forgit ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/forgit

Source via .zshrc:

[ -f ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins/forgit/forgit.plugin.zsh ] && source ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins/forgit/forgit.plugin.zsh

Delta – better git diffs

git-delta aims to make this both efficient and enjoyable: it allows you to make extensive changes to the layout and styling of diffs, as well as allowing you to stay arbitrarily close to the default git/diff output.

Install via brew:

brew install git-delta

Adjust your git global via git config --global -e:

...
[core]
    pager = delta

[interactive]
    diffFilter = delta --color-only	
[delta]
    features = side-by-side line-numbers decorations
    syntax-theme = Monokai Extended	
    line-numbers = true
    plus-color = "#012800"
    minus-color = "#340001"
    side-by-side = false
    whitespace-error-style = 22 reverse
[delta "decorations"]
    commit-decoration-style = bold yellow box ul
    file-style = bold yellow ul
    file-decoration-style = none
...

(CRO)    0xBAdB43af444055c4031B79a76F74895469BA0CD7 (Cronos)
(USDC)   0x5986f713A538D6bCaC0865564dCD45E2600A3469
(ETH)    0x5986f713A538D6bCaC0865564dCD45E2600A3469
(BTC)    bc1qdgdkk7l98pje8ny9u4xavsvrea8dw6yu8jpnyf
(BNB)    0x5986f713A538D6bCaC0865564dCD45E2600A3469
(LTC)    ltc1qexst2exxksfyg7erfzlfrm23twkjgf7e5fn64t
(DOGE)   DMQsxc9XGF6526drBJDZeX7AjFDJsEz4mN
(SOL)    t4bYQCUuoCUrp7kJ4Mz314npcTuKoUSXj28UgdMrfTb
Crypto.com PayString: magicdude$paystring.crypto.com	

Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/ref6ayzqvp to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD

During signup use my referral code ref6ayzqvp to claim your reward
Go to Curve.com to add your Crypto.com card to ApplePay (get 1% cashback)

The post Improved Terminal Experience with Oh My Zsh, iTerm2, PowerLevel10K appeared first on naschenweng.eu.

As with most other countries across the world, you are allowed to use your South African drivers license for six months provided that you have an international translation.

If you move your main residence to Austria, your South African drivers license will become invalid after six months and needs to be converted within that period. In most cases you will be required to do a practical driving test, unless you are a resident of any of the following countries:

• No test required for all vehicle classes for residents of: Andorra, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Japan, Jersey, Monaco, Montenegro, San Marino, Switzerland, Serbia
• No test required for all vehicle classes “B” (cars not exceeding 3,500kg and 8 seats) for residents of: Australia, Bosnia, Hongkong, Israel, Canada, Macedonia, New Zealand, Republic of South Africa, South Korea, USA and UAE

It is important to note that once you register your residence (“Hauptwohnsitz”) and have a “Meldebestätigung” (it is compulsory to register if you take up occupation) you are required to convert your drivers license with six months. Any time thereafter it is not possible to convert and you have to redo your drivers license in Austria from scratch (which can cost up to €1500).

You can apply at any Magistrate (“Bezirkshauptmannschaft“) where you need to apply with the form “Antrag auf Umschreibung des ausländischen Führerschein” – you need the following documents (original and copy):

• Passport and Permit of Stay (“Aufenthaltstitel”) – original and two copies
• South African drivers license – must not expire within 6 months – original and two copies
• Translation of the drivers license (this was not required for my wife)
• A passport-photo in portrait mode 35mm x 45mm – best is to comply with photo-criteria
• A medical certificate (“Ärztliches Gutachten”) – must not be older than 18 months
• Proof of residence – this is your “Meldezettel / Meldebestätigung” – original and one copy
• A record of driving from the RTMC – must not be older than 3 months
• A processing fee of €60,50

The conversion process in Austria

This is fairly simple: Obviously a good command of the German language will help (if you struggle, bring a local with. In our case we visited the “Bezirkshauptmannschaft Spittal an der Drauf“, asked for the forms and were explained what is needed.

Thankfully the official was very helpful and friendly and he did not insist on a translation of the drivers license or any of the other documents. It certainly helped that we already had the permit of stay and the the proof of residence.

The medical report (“Ärztliches Gutachten”) requires you to visit a medical professional who is listed with the magistrate and this can not be just any doctor. It is best to ask the magistrate for a list of doctors, or you can look them up on the Austrian Government website. My wife got a list of doctors, where one of them once down the road from the magistrate and she walked in to ask for an appointment and to her surprise was immediately taken in. The tests took about 30 minutes and included a basic eye-test and checking the basic vitals. Within an hour she had the report (which I think cost about €50 for the report and assessment).

Verification of South African drivers licence and dealing with the RTMC

The South African Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) will upon request, issue a printout of the licence required and supply a Letter of Confirmation of the licence. This letter reflects the date the licence was first issued and that the license is still valid / has no infringements / suspension.

The RTMC verification should really be very simple: Request the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) (in writing) for a printout and Confirmation Letter of your drivers licence. Your request must include your contact details (including fax number), a copy of your ID and a copy of your drivers licence.

The bigger challenge was getting the verification from the South African RTMC. In essence this is an extract from eNatis/RTMC, stating that the current drivers license is still valid, has no infringements and RTMC does not object the conversion. What was problematic for us is that the RTMC website was blocked from Austria and we knew that we could possibly get the form through them. We had no-one left in SA who was willing to help (“I would do anything for you, but go to the Traffic Department”) and we finally found contact details (details from December 2018):

Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC)
Private Bag X147
Pretoria, 0001

Street Address: Boardwalk Office Park – Phase 5, Boardwalk Boulevard, Faerie Glen, 0043

Telephone: 087 301 8200 / 012 999 5200 / 0861 400 800 (not toll free)
Fax: 086 602 5928

E-mail: Info@rtmc.co.za / tshwarelom@rtmc.co.za / davidm@rtmc.co.za / rhodad@rtmc.co.za

This is when the “fun” started: It is already challenging to get help from a South African government department when you visit them in person. It is tough to do it telephonically (we tried) and it is agonising when doing it via e-mail. It was a matter of 2-3 weeks of back-and-forth and the RTMC issued the letter. We then used WeQ4 to pick up the letter and DHL it over to us – this cost a good R2500 as we paid for the queuing service and the shipping of an envelope.

Getting the Austrian drivers license

With all the supporting documents in hand, we headed back to the Bezirkshauptmannschaft, paid the application fee and were told that it will take a few days for the license to be issued. It took 3 working days until my wife had her shiny new card:

Some pointers / hints

We did the above in December 2018 (over the Xmas holidays) and generally found that Austrian government institutions are super efficient. In most cases you will pull a number and will be served within one hour. Unlike in South Africa, there are no long queues and the officials are really efficient and there to help you. To cut your queue time short, arrive shortly before the offices open (8am).

It is very possible that the process of conversion will change, so it is best to check the Austrian Government website (English) – you will notice that the German version provides a lot more detail and explanation.

Make sure that your South African drivers license does not expire and that it is at least valid for another six months when you touch down in Austria.

For us the RTMC / eNatis “record of driving” was a surprise as it is nowhere mentioned – to avoid this stress, rather organise it while you are still in South Africa.

IMPORTANT: Apostile everything!!!! You will very quickly learn this when applying for your Aufenthaltstitel, that documents issued by any South African government agency require to be legalised for use abroad. This can easily be done by DIRCO – I must add praise for DIRCO – stepping into their offices in Pretoria felt like we arrived in another country: no queues, clean government offices and friendly/efficient staff. The legalisation of the documents to no more than one hour (while you wait).

The post Converting your South African drivers license in Austria appeared first on naschenweng.eu.

Our flight was fairly uneventful. We treated ourselves to the Bidvest lounge (Mastercard customers have free entry) for one last shower and free drinks and snacks. The lounge has always been our go-to place before a flight out, as it is quiet, clean and away from all the hustle Johannesburg airport normally brings with you. Our SA263 flight to Munich was almost empty and we had reserved emergency seats for that extra leg-room:

Munich greeted us with a -7 degrees at 7am in the morning (and it was obviously completely dark). Instead of flying from Johannesburg via Frankfurt via Vienna to Klagenfurt and then traveling with 3 cats, 1 dog, 7 suitcases, 1 guitar-case and 3 back-bags by car a further 80 km, we decided to fly from Johannesburg to Munich and then travel with a hired bus to 4 hours to our final destination.

It turned out that the pets were cleared already at 9am (we expected it to be 1pm) and thanks to our driver, we managed to find the cargo area and were on the way home at around 12pm. We had not even left Munich, when we heard of an accident in Salzburg, closing our route down for 6 hours. Instead of waiting, we took a detour through Tirol, which gave us some fantastic winter scenery:

We made the most of it and stopped a few times along the way and finally arrived home at 7pm with a 2 hour delay, but relieved as we could finally settle.

Mobile Communications in Austria

On the Thursday evening we activated our SIM cards (spusu.at has some insanely good tariffs – EUR 10/pm buys you 21GB and 500 minutes voice per month) and started changing our phone numbers.

Pro tip: CellC is among the few mobile carries supporting WiFi calling on iOS. Once activated on iOS you do not need roaming as you can use a WiFi connection for South African calls and messages (think of it like roaming without the cost). To this day I still have my old CellC SIM in an old iPhone to receive SMS and other notifications.

We have decided to use Spusu.at as they provided the cheapest pre-paid option and their unused data rolls over for another month. There are several other providers such as A1, T-Mobile, Drei.at and HoT. As of 1. January 2019, all new SIM cards require registration (similar to the South African RICA requirement).

Don’t forget to change your 3D Secure and Banking OTP

Months before we left, we changed our banking and 3D Secure to receive one-time-PINs via email instead of SMS. Although this was super-painful (Standard Bank sends OTP as PDF) while in South Africa, it was vital to continue having access to internet banking services when abroad.

At the same time we also deactivated all our 2FA services and security mechanisms relying on SMS OTP. If you are using Authy, have a read over https://authy.com/phones/change/.

The first week – the “Meldezettel” and public transport

We hit the ground running. The first day we organised our “Meldezettel” as every person living in Austria needs to report to the closest government office and register where he/she lives. This information is used for essential services (such as revenue office, your social services, opening a bank account and even when applying for a cellphone contract).

My son was surprised that weeks after registering he received his “e-card” (the Austrian social security card), an invitation from AMS (the Austrian employment service) to explore job opportunities and a call from the Bundesheer (Austrian army) to come for his conscription test.

Public transport is highly efficient and we use a monthly ticket costing €140 per person, which allows us unlimited travel across the province. Once you start working in Austria, the revenue service will also credit you up to €160 per month when using public transport (and the European Union will give you €160 as a “Pendler Euro). This all works quite seamless by filling out a form and registering it with your employer.

The lifestyle and the adjustment from living in the big city

Living in South Africa for over 20 years shapes a person through colleagues being hijacked, frequent smash-and-grabs, armed robberies in malls and the constant worry about the well-being of your loved ones. Add to this economic and political uncertainty and we find ourselves becoming numb and helpless to those issues. The biggest worry was always how brutal and violent crimes in South Africa turned out to be – it was not enough to rob a house, and one could call themselves “lucky” if the family was not murdered or robbed during the ordeal.

The biggest adjustment so far is that the chances of becoming a victim of violent crime in Austria has a very low possibility (especially when comparing to the daily 100 murders and 50 rapes per day back in South Africa). The most liberating aspect of living here is to know that you can walk to your local supermarket 1km away in the dark without a worry. Or not having to worry at a red traffic lights that a smash-and-grab will happen or you will get hijacked.

The South African “normal” is far from normal from the locals. People here do not understand that it is perfectly normal for load-shedding for weeks or that locals burn down government buildings, universities or trains if they are not happy with something.

We have thus resorted to leave the South African life behind as it is impossible to explain within a civilized context. Although this is still a daily struggle, it has certainly subsided and the fear and worry about something bad to happen is slowly disappearing.

It is therefore such a great relief to see that everything just works:

• Most grocery shops open up from 6:30 or 7am and stay open until 6pm-7pm.
• Government facilities are highly efficient. Tasha’s residence permit was ready when we got there and was issued within a few minutes. In addition she got a €700 voucher to complete her A2 exam.
• Taxation is comparable high as in South Africa with the difference that things just work – be it public transport or traffic lights (for the non South African: During my 8km commute to work, I have to pass through 11 traffic lights – in the last year not a week has passed where all of them worked) or that no-one litters.

Although I started work 4 days after we arrived here, we had enough time to soak up some of the Christmas markets, Glühwein, Glühmost and other specialties Carinthia has to offer. We exclusively have used public transport (mostly ÖBB railways) and occasion buses – all of which are reasonably cheap (a monthly ticket to travel across the whole province as many times as you want costs €140).

While settling in, we spent weekends on hikes, did some Geocaching and started developing a routine around recycling and grocery shopping. The market-town Lurnfeld with it’s 2,500 residents requires some getting used to the “small-town” living as everyone knows everyone and our style of living is seemingly “not normal” (i.e. it is supposedly unusual to go recycling on a weekend or evening – no clue how other people do it if they finish work at 5-6pm). Despite it’s small size, the town has 3 grocery stores, a pharmacy, petrol station, several bars and restaurants, two pizzerias and the train-station is a 7-minute walk.

The short four weeks we have been here feel much longer (in a good way) and South Africa has become a somewhat distant memory. Not a day goes by here appreciating the simple things in life, such as taking a walk through the forest, ice-skating or during our outings to run into deer.

It is certainly not easy to give everything up back in South Africa to start over again somewhere else, but many people have shown that with motivation and grit it is possible. We are far from where we want to be, but have found the right place to make this happen. In hindsight we should have made the decision much earlier as our savings are getting a beating with the weak Rand (and it will only get worse) and we would have been much further had we pulled out two or three years ago.

The future here is however bright. Find a job was really easy with plenty of opportunities in the IT environment. My son is currently attending an event with the EYP (European Youth Parliament) and will very soon start his intensive German course at the Alpen Adria University in Klagenfurt. Thereafter he will meet with the AMS (Department of Labour) to discuss career opportunities and then join the Austrian Armed Forces to serve his conscription.

The only thing left to do in South Africa is to complete the financial emigration which we started two weeks ago and convert my wife’s South African drivers license (it is a simple transfer, as South African drivers licenses are accepted in most of Europe).

The post Reflecting on four weeks in Austria appeared first on naschenweng.eu.

How I got to South Africa

After I finished matric at hakspittal.at in 1990 I could not afford further education at university and like most of my peers, I finished conscription at the Austrian army with an overdrawn bank account. I was lucky to participate in a government-funded C++ training course which landed me my first job at a Carinthian software company.

Through a comedy of errors (who would have thought that the German sounding city of “Johannesburg” was actually not in Europe) I found myself on the way to South Africa in 1992 for a project implementation with Standard Bank of South Africa. After all, back then the Internet did not exist and any time away from home sounded like a good enough adventure. I must say that it was quite comical when the Austrian Airline plane pushed back on the tarmac and the pilot announced:

Herzlich Willkommen zu unseren 10-stündigen Flug nach Johannesburg. Sobald wir über Afrika sind, beginnen wir mit dem Abendessen.

It will turn out that most of my life-choices thereafter had been coincidental and were “spur-of-the-moment” events. I am grateful for those random events bringing me to South Africa, allowing me to raise a fantastic kid and being married to a beautiful and intelligent woman. The rest of my career is better described on my CV @ naschenweng.eu.

I made South Africa my home, became permanent resident in 1996 and gave up my Austrian residence at the same time. It still took another 7 years and 13 identity book-applications until the Department of Home Affairs managed to issue me with a South African ID document. At that time I had given up attempting to become a South African citizen and relinquish my Austrian citizenship.

When I innocently arrived in South Africa in 1992, the apartheid regime crumbled and the country was filled with hope and was going through a lengthy reconciliation process led by archbishop Desmond Tutu. South Africa during that time had the same spirit as I could witness when the Berlin Wall fell and how the Nazi regime was dismantled by the allied forces during WW2. It was obvious for me that a country with Nelson Mandela as president would make strides going forward and I was excited as infrastructure (such as banking) was years ahead of European counterparts. To my dismay and shock I also learned that Austrian schools did not cover the Dutch or British colonisation or apartheid and the struggle of South Africans.

Bombs rock South Africa and we vote ~ “No long queue is going to stop us”

The next two decades were filled with excitement – a new political party started leading the country, South Africa hosted and won the 1995 Rugby Worldcup and in 2010 was the host-country for the FIFA World Cup.

The run-up of the first free elections saw outbreak of violence (Shell house massacre) and an orchestrated bombing-campaign by the right-wing AWB in an attempt to disrupt the elections. I still remember when I was on the way to work on Sunday, 24th April 1994 as a 100kg car-bomb ripped through buildings near the ANC head office at about 10am. Only days later I learned that 10 people were killed and over 100 people injured.

The bombings and bomb-threats continued for days and the most disturbing part was when we were evacuated during a Sunday lunch from a shopping mall and South Africans showed no panic or uneasiness. This level of violence and crime was new to me, but it very quickly became the new “normal” as citizens have made it part of life.

Only three days later, on the 27th April 1994 (Freedom Day), South Africa votes. I remember standing with friends in the cold winter-morning at the voting station so that they could cast their votes. Voting would continue for another two days as the elections were seriously disrupted by logistical problems. Despite kilometre-long queues, administrative blunders and disappointments, the party mood rarely sagged. People of all backgrounds and races made friends in the long queues, swapping stories, alcohol and food. We stood patiently from dawn to dusk while the bureaucrats and politicians squabbled. We arrived at the end of the queue at 6am on 27th April 1994 and friends cast votes 11 hours later (I was in South Africa on an extended work-permit and could not vote).

That excitement continued for years and one of my first notable and disappointing memory was when HIV/AIDS was long denied by President Thabo Mbeki and his health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who insisted that the many deaths in the country are due to malnutrition, and hence poverty, and not HIV. This went as far as the Department of Health calling on people to treat HIV/AIDS by eating beetroot and African potatoes. From this time (2006) I started to pay more attention to local politics, familiarised myself with local laws, the Constitution and started to become active with a number of civil societies and causes.

Fast-forward and why we are leaving

We were fortunate enough as a family to take two overseas-trips in the last 10 years which allowed us to gain some distance and a different perspective of what South Africa has become. It is very easy to accept that it is normal to live in gated communities, have armed guards, skip red lights at night to avoid being hijacked and generally be alert to avoid becoming a victim of crime.

There is just something wrong when you have to say to friends after an armed burglary: “I am glad that you are all alive and your wive and daughters have not been raped”. I would argue for years that crime will decrease and things will become better and for the time being we could deal with the extra security and the vigilance.

When I first arrived, I realised that South Africa was a really strange place, but stayed because I wanted to make a career for myself away from home. I arrived here with a suitcase of clothes and was able to save and invest. What I have achieved here is the same or slightly worse than friends in Europe. I paid my taxes with the hope that those taxes could provide whatever is needed to uplift the country.

Socio-economic situation, racism and crime

Over the last three decades I witnessed huge improvements in race relations and there are amazing stories of goodwill. Racism was always a foreign concept for me – it did not exist during my upbringing in Austria. There was every little evidence of racism in the work environment and I mentored many people and was never aware of any antagonism, but have no doubt it exists on both side, but it is not universal.

The first time racism became real for us was when my son was called derogatory names by his school’s canteen-staff in 2017. The second incident by different administrative staff occurred a few months ago. While we have been fortunate enough to never been victims of serious crimes (theft, burglary and smash-and-grabs are mere insurance-claim cases and will never be investigated) we felt that it is time to move.

Reason for exit: Crime and constant safety concerns are a major reason for our move.

Political instability and populist government

In 2019 Cyril Ramaphosa will likely become South Africa’s fifth state president. He will be faced with an economic mountain to climb, youth unemployment nearing 50% and an impatient population of 55m people where the average age is only 27 years.

South Africans will look up to Ramaphosa to see whether he can continue the legacy of the Rainbow nation’s icon, Nelson Mandela, who dreamed of an united, prosperous and equal South Africa. The previous presidents (looking at you, Jacob Zuma) could not realise this dream, but instead looted state resources at the expense of foreign investment and the people in need.

The African National Congress (ANC) calls for populist policy changes under the guise of “redress for apartheid” and promises the voting base land expropriation without compensation, free tertiary education, free national health care, access to a national pension scheme and the nationalisation of the South African Reserve Bank.

The funding for those populist policies would come from a diminishing tax-payer base and joining this populist chorus will possibly result in a collapsing economy, increased unemployment and poverty, and possibly public revolt. I covered a recent research paper on my blog “Three stories of how South Africa’s future might unfold by 2030” which depicts possible scenarios how South Africa could unfold in the next decade.

The harsh reality is the ineptness in government. There is the reliance on government to provide employment, give free housing and free education, instead of just enabling people to get on with it. The South African government has failed to create an enabling environment that provides the policy-certainty that would give people the confidence to invest. The recent scandals highlight rampant looting of state resources, at the expense of investment and at the expense of the people in need. This economical climate has resulted in several downgrades by major rating agencies.

Instead of taking responsibility and accountability, the politicians will redirect people’s attentions away from their own failings to other groups. Although this is not peculiar to South Africa, it is a very dominant part in South African society. Many might still remember how British PR firm Bell Pottinger assisted former president Jacob Zuma to capitalise on, and introducing the mantras of #WhiteMonopolyCapital and radical economic transformation into the national discourse and to seek a scapegoat for the lack of development and the failure of government to provide better lives to ordinary people.

The scapegoat is white business and the white minority generally, and of course those who are labelled as protectors of white privilege. President Jacob Zuma’s reckless decree on free tertiary education on the eve of the ANC’s conference in December 2017 is an example of cheap populism. As is the EFF’s encouragement for students to arrive at universities for free education or asking people to just take “their own land”. As an European all of this is a bit like Brexit: ill-informed citizens changing the course of history through a ballot.

Neither ANC or DA or EFF (the dominant political parties in South Africa) have a concrete plan on how to stabilise the economy. Until the country is in a position to look beyond the past and stop blaming history for shortcomings, the political landscape will not change.

Complacency is often at the heart of South African society – enter the three different types of “Now”, “Just Now” and “Now Now” (none of them have an actual commitment to time):

• Now: As in “I’m leaving now to fetch your laptop!” meaning anytime between several hours from now until maybe next week, or, quite frankly, never.
• Just now: “Just now” is a bit higher on the priority list than “now.” It’s a distinct improvement but still nowhere near “this instant.”
• Now Now: A term widely used in South African conversations relating to the period of time which will elapse before the given task, time or opportunity will present itself. “I’ll do it now now” means “I will get to it as soon as I can.”

Reason for exit: Political outlook and populist choices by the government will disadvantage the working class and businesses, cementing the “Have vs Have-nots” environment even further.

The indirect taxes

It comes as no surprise that the ineptness of the ruling government has resulted in a failing educational-, health- and social-system which forces citizens who can afford it to “top-up” services generally provided by government. A typical middle-class household in South Africa will pay:

• ZAR 3,000-4,000 per month per child going to High School (fee rates from Fourways High School) or upwards of ZAR 7,000/pm per kid in private schools. By the time a child has matriculated, a family would have paid between ZAR 500,000 – ZAR 1,3m.
• A minimum of ZAR 800/pm per medical aid member for a basic hospital plan. An average family will pay in excess of ZAR 5,000/pm on medical aid contribution.
• An average ZAR 1,000/pm for car-insurance due to high accident rates, theft and hijackings (add to that monthly costs for satellite tracking services)
• Between 10-15% of the salary for pension contributions
• About 3% of the value of your house goes towards levies, rates & taxes, water, electricity, sewage (for a typical ZAR 1,5m property this will be around ZAR 4,000-5,000/pm)

Including income tax, a typical middle-class income be left with about 20-30% of their gross earnings to make a living. Within the next few years, South Africa will introduce the National Pension Scheme (NPS) and the National Health Insurance (NHI). The NHI itself is problematic as the government seeks to fund the NHI from the currently 14% of the population already paying for private medical insurance in order to fund the remaining 86% to achieve equal health standards.

Reason for exit: Financial feasibility and cost of living. There is no point in earning a R70,000 salary ($ 5200/pm or EUR4,500/pm), when indirect taxes eat into your net-salary.

How would a businessman look at this?

It’s quite simple: I am running a business (my life and my family) with diminishing returns and no positive outlook. My labour-force (my son) will not receive an equal opportunity and has been experiencing this inequality for the last 4 years in high-school. It is certain that the cost of running my “business” will increase, eating into savings or requiring steep salary increases.

Any businessman would look at this and try and find more favourable conditions for the business to flourish. South Africa is not the place for us any more and the above sums up why the decision was made to emigrate. In future, both my wife and my son will share their sentiments and even more interesting will be their future posts in 2019/2020, looking back at South Africa from Europe and the challenges & opportunities they had to face.

The post Some background and why this blog appeared first on Leaving.Africa.

The post Some background and why this blog appeared first on naschenweng.eu.