For some reason, it's STILL August!
I like August, as months go, but could it be any longer!?
I've been doing lots of applying for jobs. Didn't get the Red Cross education position I interviewed for, but I've had a couple other interviews, and I have lots of other applications out. And I'll keep applying for things. If nothing else, I'll be working at the barn in September and October. Hopefully that schedule will come out soon...
Also, I've been thinking about the future. As usual. You know I've been aiming for a steady job, an apartment, and eventually home ownership for a while now. It was suggested to me that there are other possibilities that don't involve staying in one place. As is my way with ideas that will rock my future, it took a lot of thought and rumination to come around to the idea. But I'm thinking that might be the way to go for me. Currently I'm planning to go to India (probably) for a month or so when I'm finished with school and get a TEFL certificate, which will open up numerous new teaching opportunities in other countries. Not EVERY opportunity, but with that, a Master's in education, a B.A. in English, an American teaching certificate, and prior experience, I'd say I'll be a pretty good candidate for almost anything I want (excluding Europe, which requires a much more expensive and difficult CELTA certification, but I'm okay with letting that go, at least for now). I'm also going to apply to the Antarctic program, because that would be the penultimate awesome situation. Work there for about 6 months, travel for a couple months, work at camp in the summer, then back to Antarctica. I do hate cold, but I'd be working inside... I'd make it work. We'll see if I can get hired!
It's been rather lonely. It always is right after camp, when I'm making the adjustment from living closely with a bunch of people to relative solitude and peace. It's lonelier this year because the greatest friend of my adult life (at least for the past summer) flew back to Antarctica (yep, that's why...).
I got sick of the refrigerator being crammed full of stuff, and there being nothing in there for me to eat, and no room to put anything I made, so I went on a mad cleaning spree one night that involved mass purging of food and lots of scrubbing of shelves. It smelled like bleach for a couple days afterwards. It's messy again now, but I can tell the difference, and at least it's not filthy. There's room for things I make now! And speaking of making things, I pulled out a couple curry packets I brought from Korea and made a vegetable curry (which could use some work, but it's not bad), some lentils, and two big jugs of Thai iced tea, minus the condensed milk. DELICIOUS! And it will last quite a while, assuming my mom doesn't take it into her head to like it! She won't like the curry, I know, because it's rather spicy. Or the tea, because it's sweet.
Last weekend, someone in a white car (some paint scraped off on my door) hit the side mirror off my car in the middle of the night. So I had to call my insurance company and the police department, and I took it to be fixed. Luckily, my mechanic had the replacement mirror part in already, so he just stuck it right on and I got it back the same day. It wasn't too expensive either, but that's still $100 that I feel I shouldn't have had to spend. I was mad for a while. Real mad. But I'm okay now.
My class this semester is, happily, the last one for my Master's degree. How sweet that feeling is! It looks like it's going to be plenty of work, but it also looks (hopefully) fairly straightforward. The teacher seems very understanding so far. I'm hoping I can use teaching at the barn as my research project, because otherwise I'll have to find a classroom to borrow. There's a guy in the class who has the same taste in books and video games that I do, and we talked quite a bit. Also, there's a grade school/high school classmate of mine who I hadn't seen in quite a while. We were never friends, but we weren't generally enemies either.
Today I went to the Festival of Nations in Tower Grove Park. I wasn't 100% sure I wanted to go, but I figured I would since it was free. SO worth the trip!! There was all kinds of good food (I had some Ethiopian curries and cabbage stuff for lunch, then baklava, and loads of different drinks), and stalls selling beautiful clothes, scarves, jewelry, carvings, instruments, etc... All kinds of people, and SO many dogs! One lady even brought her blue and gold macaw on a bird harness. Cool! I'm thinking of going back again tomorrow. I'd bring Mr. S, but he just ate yesterday, so he still needs time to digest.
I've been doing lots of applying for jobs. Didn't get the Red Cross education position I interviewed for, but I've had a couple other interviews, and I have lots of other applications out. And I'll keep applying for things. If nothing else, I'll be working at the barn in September and October. Hopefully that schedule will come out soon...
Also, I've been thinking about the future. As usual. You know I've been aiming for a steady job, an apartment, and eventually home ownership for a while now. It was suggested to me that there are other possibilities that don't involve staying in one place. As is my way with ideas that will rock my future, it took a lot of thought and rumination to come around to the idea. But I'm thinking that might be the way to go for me. Currently I'm planning to go to India (probably) for a month or so when I'm finished with school and get a TEFL certificate, which will open up numerous new teaching opportunities in other countries. Not EVERY opportunity, but with that, a Master's in education, a B.A. in English, an American teaching certificate, and prior experience, I'd say I'll be a pretty good candidate for almost anything I want (excluding Europe, which requires a much more expensive and difficult CELTA certification, but I'm okay with letting that go, at least for now). I'm also going to apply to the Antarctic program, because that would be the penultimate awesome situation. Work there for about 6 months, travel for a couple months, work at camp in the summer, then back to Antarctica. I do hate cold, but I'd be working inside... I'd make it work. We'll see if I can get hired!
It's been rather lonely. It always is right after camp, when I'm making the adjustment from living closely with a bunch of people to relative solitude and peace. It's lonelier this year because the greatest friend of my adult life (at least for the past summer) flew back to Antarctica (yep, that's why...).
I got sick of the refrigerator being crammed full of stuff, and there being nothing in there for me to eat, and no room to put anything I made, so I went on a mad cleaning spree one night that involved mass purging of food and lots of scrubbing of shelves. It smelled like bleach for a couple days afterwards. It's messy again now, but I can tell the difference, and at least it's not filthy. There's room for things I make now! And speaking of making things, I pulled out a couple curry packets I brought from Korea and made a vegetable curry (which could use some work, but it's not bad), some lentils, and two big jugs of Thai iced tea, minus the condensed milk. DELICIOUS! And it will last quite a while, assuming my mom doesn't take it into her head to like it! She won't like the curry, I know, because it's rather spicy. Or the tea, because it's sweet.
Last weekend, someone in a white car (some paint scraped off on my door) hit the side mirror off my car in the middle of the night. So I had to call my insurance company and the police department, and I took it to be fixed. Luckily, my mechanic had the replacement mirror part in already, so he just stuck it right on and I got it back the same day. It wasn't too expensive either, but that's still $100 that I feel I shouldn't have had to spend. I was mad for a while. Real mad. But I'm okay now.
My class this semester is, happily, the last one for my Master's degree. How sweet that feeling is! It looks like it's going to be plenty of work, but it also looks (hopefully) fairly straightforward. The teacher seems very understanding so far. I'm hoping I can use teaching at the barn as my research project, because otherwise I'll have to find a classroom to borrow. There's a guy in the class who has the same taste in books and video games that I do, and we talked quite a bit. Also, there's a grade school/high school classmate of mine who I hadn't seen in quite a while. We were never friends, but we weren't generally enemies either.
Today I went to the Festival of Nations in Tower Grove Park. I wasn't 100% sure I wanted to go, but I figured I would since it was free. SO worth the trip!! There was all kinds of good food (I had some Ethiopian curries and cabbage stuff for lunch, then baklava, and loads of different drinks), and stalls selling beautiful clothes, scarves, jewelry, carvings, instruments, etc... All kinds of people, and SO many dogs! One lady even brought her blue and gold macaw on a bird harness. Cool! I'm thinking of going back again tomorrow. I'd bring Mr. S, but he just ate yesterday, so he still needs time to digest.