Nice Work If You Can Get It

So I'm officially on vacation.

Last week at work, The Principal offered me a new job. The position is for a teacher's aide in the kindergarten class. It's not really what I had in mind for my life, but I think I'm going to take the job. I was hoping to get something working with ESL but they don't really need anyone at this particular school, just for kindergarten. So I guess we'll see how that goes. I feel like I should be doing something more exciting, like that it's kind of embarrassing to say that I'm working as a teacher's aide when I have a college degree. I'm a catch. But it's just for a year and I will at least be in the school environment. Maybe I can figure out if teaching is something I want to pursue at the end of this year or I can just walk away and try something else. That's one thing about this stage of life I'm in: I can pretty much do anything. I'm not tied down to any one area of work or even city to live in. I could move to Mexico or Vermont next year.

I guess that's both good and bad. Because I'm a planner and I like to know what's ahead of me and there are just too many options. But I'm trying to enjoy the positives of this and really broaden my ideas for the future. Because, really, who knows? No one.

So...in taking the aide position, they no longer need me to work in the office for the summer and I don't have to report back to work until August 15th. Vacation!! Woo!! Although it's only 3 days into this vacation, and I'm worried about being bored. But I do have a rather exciting trip planned in the very near future. San Diego here I come! I'm going to visit my friend Anne that lives out there and I'm very excited! I've never been to California before and I'm looking forward to seeing the Pacific Ocean for the first time. I am ready for the beach.

So if anyone has any ideas on how to spend these weeks of vacation I've got left, let me know. And preferably not anything that costs too much money (as I will not be making any in this period).

Oh, we are all moved into the new apartment and it's looking good. I think we picked a winner. And our new roommate/dog, Tigger, is doing splendidly and is enjoying all of the attention he's been getting from his three lovely roommates. I'll include a foto.

I'm the only one here at work....it's creepy.

Here are some random things that I feel like sharing. Of course, in your favorite and mine, a bulleted list...

• I'm reading Anna Karenina right now and it's a beast. I'm on page 587 of 817, so I realize it's all downhill from here, but still. Maybe I'm not connecting with the characters of something because I can't stay focused.


• The other day I went to the library and as I walking in there was an old man sitting on a bench outside. I guess I looked sad or something because he told me to smile. When I did, he said "now you feel better, don't ya?" And I did.


• I've been listening to many, many episodes of This American Life at work because I have nothing to do. If you don't know it, it's a show on NPR where they do stories on real people and it will make you laugh and cry. http://www.thislife.org/. I listened to one yesterday where these two brothers were fighting over what to name their new dog. They couldn't agree, so mom came up with a compromise. The dog's name? Pasta Batman. I laughed a lot at that one.


• I rented this movie: Mistress of Spices. Don't rent it; it's not good.


• I want to see the new Harry Potter movie but I don't have anyone to go with. Help!!


• I talked to some of my Spanish friends online yesterday and it made me really really miss Spain. And speaking Spanish. Ay! Como os echo de menos!


• http://www.pandora.com = my lifesaver at work.

That's all for today! I have way too much time on my hands at work; I apologize. : )

Sticky Note

I really don't have anything to say today but I'm bored and felt like writing something down. We'll just see what comes out I guess.

I like this job less and less everyday. I don't know what to do with my time here and instead of trying to find something to do, I just sort of sink into a lethargic state where all I can do is listen to episodes of This American Life and play solitaire. Which, I haven't played solitaire for an extended period of time since probably 1996 when we got our first computer and playing solitaire on the computer was pretty much "da bomb" and/or all there was to do on a computer with Windows 3.1. So I'm rediscovering solitaire and slowly losing my mind.

I feel like I'm waiting for something. I'm waiting for something new to happen and I don't know what it is. I'm one of those people that always likes to have something they're looking forward to. But right now, my life is stretching before me with nothing in sight, no landmarks to get to or anything I really need to get done. I feel like I need to be working toward something, but I haven't figured out what that is yet. People keep asking me, "well, what do you want to do? What do you like to do?" And is it bad that I don't know the answers to that? Because I really don't know. I have, at the same time, too many options and absolutely nothing. About a month ago, there were other things happening that were a welcome distraction from the work worries, but now all I have is this job that makes me crazy. So the moral of this story is that I think I need a new job. Ok, the end.

I'm in a good mood today. The other day I was feeling down, so I made a pie. A dark chocolate pie with merengue and chocolate chips on top. It was delicious if I must say. Mmm, I wish I had a piece of that pie right now.

I wish I had a funny story to tell right here. But I can't really think of anything. But there is 6 hours left in this workday so you never know.

Sigh.

Scene: I am seated behind a desk in a school office on a dreary Thursday. The day has been slow (Cue: tumbleweed rolling past the office door). A fourth grade girl comes into the office to call her parents and wait for them to come pick her up. She sits opposite me in one of the chairs in the office and kicks her legs back and forth. I tear myself away from the online article I'm reading on how to set up a Roth IRA.

Me: Are you having a good summer?
Fourth Grade Girl: Yeah.
Me: Do you have big plans? What are you doing?
FGG: Well, I'm going to NRH2O tomorrow with my friend. Then I'm going with my dad to Sea World and I'm going to stay with my grandparents for two weeks too.
Me: That's cool.
FGG: Yeah.
Me: Have you been to Sea World before? Are you going to ride the roller coasters?
FGG: Yeah.
Me: Awesome.
FGG: What are you doing for the summer?
Me: This. (Points to desk.) Work.
FGG: Oh.
Me: Yeah.

Counting toilets.

Yep. That's what I did at work today. The Principal called....wait. Let me back up so you can get the full effect.

The Principal's wife is pregnant with their first child and could have the baby at any moment, she's ready to pop. He cancelled his interviews this afternoon to be with her and who knows if he'll come back tomorrow. So, I get a call this afternoon and it's The Principal's wife. And she sounds...panicky. Well, maybe not panicky, but like something is going on. So I think 'oh, man. She is having a baby and I am useless.' But to my surprise, she passes the phone and I'm talking with The Principal. And he asks me this: How many restrooms are in the school? I pause. Uhh...I have no idea. He senses my hesitation and asks me to go count the restrooms and he will call me back in five minutes.

So I get up from my desk and start searching the school. I note the four restroom doors pretty quickly, but then I panic. What if he wanted me count the actual number of stalls? Or toilets? And why does he need this information? So I hurriedly go back and go into every restroom counting stalls. And going into the boys' restrooms, I knock and announce my presence loudly even though I know the only other person in the school is the IT guy and I've already seen him sitting at his desk. But just to be safe. So I'm walking around the school, looking for hidden toilets, trying to remember how many urinals the boys' restrooms had and if those counted in the grand total and coming up with mnemonic devices to remember that the girls had one more stall and what exactly was the ratio of boys' stalls to urinals. I must have sounded like Woody Allen in Scoop (17 jet planes, 23 swinging midgets...). I neglected to bring a pen and paper with me. I didn't know that it would get this complex.

As soon as I get back to my desk, the phone rings. It's The Principal. "How many restrooms?" "Well, sir, are you wanting actual number of toilets or just uh..rooms?" I actually said that.

This is my job.

Work.

I have decided to share with all of you the ever-increasing joys of my new job.

If you don't know or remember, I'm working at a school office for the summer. Most of the time it's just me and the principal in the school. He's interviewing for teachers for the fall right now, so sometimes the applicants will sit a minute in my office. I'm getting better at making small talk. You know things like "That rain's really coming down out there" or "Yes, this place really did used to be a Winn-Dixie" or my favorite, "Oh, the lights just do that" (More on that one later). Some people are really chatty and some people sit in a fidgety silence. Who enjoys a job interview? It' s pretty interesting being on this side of the interview, getting to see everyone who comes in, because for them, this is a nerve wracking, out-of-body experience and they will question everything they did or said as soon as they get in their car to leave in 20 minutes. (How I wish I was getting in my car to leave in 20 minutes.) But, me, I get to calmly observe their different behaviors and sometimes offer encouragement and distraction if they look like they need it. I think the principal is interviewing until the end of the month. Yay.

Amusing work anecdotes:

Anecdote 1: The lights in my office shut off every 10 minutes. They are motion activated and the sensor is by the door, so if no one comes in or out in 10 minutes then they just turn off. And I don't know how to keep them from doing this, so it happens often. So I'll just be sitting there, doing whatever, and boom, I'm in the dark. Most of the time, I don't even care that much to get back up and wave my arm around by the door so I just sit in the dark. It's funny if there's someone waiting to interview in here when it happens. People react differently to it. Looking around bewildered or just a raised eyebrow or just pretending like they weren't just plunged into darkness. So that's when I offer my line of "Oh, the lights just do that" and then go into the finer points of light-sensing mechanics. Quite stimulating. I feel it's a part of my job to reassure them that this is normal and no, they are not going crazy or experiencing a seizure of any kind.

Anecdote 2: Turkey. Turkish people. Everywhere. I have discovered that a lot of people from Turkey work at this school. The principal, vice principal, all the computer teachers and the IT guy. The IT guy is funny because he's so painfully shy and kind of won't talk to me. I don't know what that's about but oh well. So if you know anything about Turkey or Turkish customs, let me know.

Anecdote 3: My boss is strange. He's the principal. We have a serious breakdown in communication. Often. Take Wednesday for example. He had previously told me that he would not be in the office all of Wednesday so I was surprised to see him go into his office at 8:30 Wednesday morning. He came right back out, stopped by the front office (where I am) and told me that he would be at the school until 12. I repeated what he said back to him in the form of a question. "You will be here until 12?" I asked. "Yes," he replied. Then he went out the front door, got in his car and drove away. I did not see him for the rest of the day. What?!?!

I don't know about this job. Am I working for the Turkish mafia? Will I ever get paid? Why is the IT guy scared of me? These burning questions and more will soon be answered. Well, that pay check one better get answered.

Beautiful Texas Sunshine

Howdy.

I'm sorry I didn't write anything for my last weeks in Madrid. I've been home for awhile now and I miss Spain tremendously. The people, the food, the accent, and of course the dog poo on the sidewalks. Ok, so I don't miss that last part as much it sounds. But things that got on my nerves in Madrid have now become endearing back in the comfort of my own home. As it is with most things, I suppose. That's how the 'good ol' days' become the 'good ol' days'. Everything seems sweeter when you're looking back on it.

My last days and hours in Madrid were filled to the brim. Trying to squeeze in one last coffee with a friend, buying last minute souvenirs, having one last...fill in the blank with everything, and trying to soak up all the Madrid-ness possible. I remember in the last few days I would try to physically stop and listen and smell and take note of what was happening around me. Try to remember the taste of a fresh cafe con leche or the way my friend would say "hombreeee...". I don't know how successful this memory-making attempt was but I hope some things stick.

It was incredibly sad leaving. Saying goodbye is something that I'm not too familiar with and it was harder than I expected to leave these friends behind. Because, when I thought about it, I've never really had to do that before. Friends from high school or college, I didn't really say a final goodbye because the possibility still exists that I would see them again. We still live relatively close, most of us, in the same country at least, and there's more of a chance you can run into them at Wal-Mart or a wedding or something. But saying goodbye to friends that in all likelihood, I might not ever see again, is a weird experience. I don't recommend it. I hope that I see some of my Spanish friends again and although I will try to stay in touch through emails and things, it probably won't ever be the same. And I guess that will have to be ok.

Being back home is good. And strange. And sometimes boring. But it is fantastic to see my friends and hang out "en plan tranquilo". Sometimes Spanish just fits better than English. Now, it's getting even better because we're past that initial hang out where you have to try and catch up on the last three months. Now we can just be normal. Or whatever that is. I'm moving into my new apartment next month and I am really excited. I just started this new job working at a school for the summer and it's depressingly boring. Most of the time it's just me alone in the school getting calls from parents with questions that I don't know the answer to and I hate not knowing what I'm doing. But I'm praying that it will get better.

Which, if anyone knows any good churches in the Haltom City/ Watauga area I would love to know. I'm in the market.

I don't know if anyone is still reading this, but if you are, thanks. Thanks for sticking around. Or maybe this is the first post you've ever read. And to you, I apologize for it being pretty uninteresting.

I'll keep you updated.