happy news
Dear everyone I care about,
Well, when I first got to Boston I wanted to hold off on a mass email until I had something to say on a postive note. Then things got much better, but I wanted to wait until I had a firm grasp on the new situation. Now I've just decided there's no time like the present, otherwise you never get anything done.
First, I would like to illustrate the yuck of my previous situation:
I arrived in Boston on the 5th of September and spent almost the whole month trying to find a place that was cheap and nice AND would want me. This took me almost the entire month of September, during which time I slept on a friend's couch and did more living in her house than either her or the housemates that I didn't actually know. And I knew the housemates were getting darn sick of me. I did a lot of work getting ready for a job teaching SAT prep only to find out first that there was no work in the immediate future, and later to find that there was no work at all. I ate incredibly cheap food. Right at the end of September, I finally found the place where I am now, which I like very well indeed except for a couple little things that I shall address later. Their rent was reasonable, but I still had yet to work.
I subbed for my first day for the Somerville school district the first week of October for only one day. To get by I knew I needed to be working 5 days a week. The next week was the same story: one day. So the situation was that I was making only a fifth of what I needed simply to get by, and looking at having to move out due to not being able to pay the rent. I had nothing to do but think about how miserable it all was and how I might have to leave Boston and go hike in the freezing snow of Utah again just to have an immediate job. And then my grandma died.
Good setup, huh?
Within a week after I got back from the funeral, I started subbing on an every single day basis. Digger joined me in Boston. I played euchre at the bar. (Still eating incredibly cheap food, though.) The next week after that, I GOT THE JOB!! I know I barely mentioned it to anyone because I wanted it so bad I was afraid to hope for it & be disappointed.
This is the job: I'm the associate teacher at Prospect Hill Academy middle school.
These are the perks of the job: It's a 15-min bus ride from the house, I almost doubled what I was making subbing, I get benefits, and I get to learn from amazing teachers how to be an amazing teacher.
This is the woman who is the best and helped me get the job: Sandra Mehl, who is included in this email. Sandra, my new boss specifically mentioned you, and you know... words cannot express. Thank you.
What my job mostly entails is making the other teachers' jobs easier. I sub whenever someone's out, and I assist in classes when they want extra help. I also am the co-advisor for the 6C class. I also sit in on faculty meetings (jury's still out on whether this is more of a pain or a learning experience). Words cannot describe how much easier it is to sub for kids whose names (and teachers!) you know. Plus it's really cute when they pass me in the hall and go "Hi Miss Myers!" That part may be my favorite. I am taller than the 5th graders, but often shorter than the 8th graders. Almost all the kids in this school are minority, meaning, yes, Black and Latino, but also Hatian, Cuban, Brazilian, Jamaican, Indian, and Arab. The kids are amazingly inquisitive--more so than I think I've ever seen before--and actually ask questions during a lesson that are related to the topic, instead of interrupting to ask to use the bathroom when they already know the answer is no, which is what I had been used to. And every day so far I've had the door held open for me by a student. All these kids are so sweet, even if the 8th graders can be total screwballs (and boy howdy can they).
Here is something I hate: paying $100 a month for health insurance and having to refer to it as a good deal. That's... ugh, I'm going to start swearing again. I'll admit to having been a little nervous living without it, but if it wasn't mandatory in MA i sure as blankity-blank-blank wouldn;t be shelling out that kind of money on the off-chance that I develop some terrible early-striking disease that is nowhere in my family's health history or the one in a million chance I'm hit by a truck. I agree with insurance in theory, yes... but for something more like... oh, $30 a month. At $100 a month all I'm doing is paying for people that take worse care of their health than I do, or who are way older than me. I should be able to have insurance that reflects that I don't drink, smoke, overeat, or own a car and that I stay in good shape and am a low risk. Instead, I am someone else's health subsidy. That's $1200 that could be paying off my student loans. It makes me WANT to step in front of a bus just so I can get my money back.
Anyway. Another thing to complain about: We still are not heating our house, and it is freezing in here. My housemates don't want to turn the heat on until we put insulation plastic on all our windows, many of which already have storm windows anyway. But they haven't purchased them, and I don't know how to install them even if I did buy them. The house is somewhere between 50 and 55 degrees. I wear wool sweaters and socks and thermal underwear daily and still have cold hands. (So I'm drinking a lot of tea.) Dad... I feel like I'm home again.
Digger and I are having a very fine time though. (I know I said we would break up for the summer, but... we missed each other and decided to scrap that idea.) He makes pretzels and I make soup, then we enjoy each other's good cooking. While he was here before Halloween we carved pumpkins and they looked SO awesome. I can't remember the last time I carved pumpkins at Halloween, but it's been at least 6 years. We also roasted the seeds. I decided to set up a compost bin in the backyard for the house so we dont' waste food & Digger helped dig the hole for it (ha ha). We have gone looking for live Irish music when we have time, but so far haven't gotten it yet. We have eaten out at some really nice restaurants, though. Before it got so cold we also took an exceptionally nice walk in the park that runs along the Charles River and watched the college teams practice sailing and looked at the dazzling blue sky and the bright yellow & red leaves and remarked to each other how fine it was to be alive. That was a very good day.
Halloween night I met up with two friends I went to India with and we had a really fun talk about what we're all up to and I had a very tasty tomato-gargonzola soup. Afterward Digger & I went to the Rocky Horror Picture Show which we didn't get to finish because the show went later than the trains ran. It was spendid anyway.
Sometime I need to write a little something about my very interesting roommates, but this email is now long and I am now hungry for more pretzels.
Hope everyone is doing well, and much love--
Emily
Well, when I first got to Boston I wanted to hold off on a mass email until I had something to say on a postive note. Then things got much better, but I wanted to wait until I had a firm grasp on the new situation. Now I've just decided there's no time like the present, otherwise you never get anything done.
First, I would like to illustrate the yuck of my previous situation:
I arrived in Boston on the 5th of September and spent almost the whole month trying to find a place that was cheap and nice AND would want me. This took me almost the entire month of September, during which time I slept on a friend's couch and did more living in her house than either her or the housemates that I didn't actually know. And I knew the housemates were getting darn sick of me. I did a lot of work getting ready for a job teaching SAT prep only to find out first that there was no work in the immediate future, and later to find that there was no work at all. I ate incredibly cheap food. Right at the end of September, I finally found the place where I am now, which I like very well indeed except for a couple little things that I shall address later. Their rent was reasonable, but I still had yet to work.
I subbed for my first day for the Somerville school district the first week of October for only one day. To get by I knew I needed to be working 5 days a week. The next week was the same story: one day. So the situation was that I was making only a fifth of what I needed simply to get by, and looking at having to move out due to not being able to pay the rent. I had nothing to do but think about how miserable it all was and how I might have to leave Boston and go hike in the freezing snow of Utah again just to have an immediate job. And then my grandma died.
Good setup, huh?
Within a week after I got back from the funeral, I started subbing on an every single day basis. Digger joined me in Boston. I played euchre at the bar. (Still eating incredibly cheap food, though.) The next week after that, I GOT THE JOB!! I know I barely mentioned it to anyone because I wanted it so bad I was afraid to hope for it & be disappointed.
This is the job: I'm the associate teacher at Prospect Hill Academy middle school.
These are the perks of the job: It's a 15-min bus ride from the house, I almost doubled what I was making subbing, I get benefits, and I get to learn from amazing teachers how to be an amazing teacher.
This is the woman who is the best and helped me get the job: Sandra Mehl, who is included in this email. Sandra, my new boss specifically mentioned you, and you know... words cannot express. Thank you.
What my job mostly entails is making the other teachers' jobs easier. I sub whenever someone's out, and I assist in classes when they want extra help. I also am the co-advisor for the 6C class. I also sit in on faculty meetings (jury's still out on whether this is more of a pain or a learning experience). Words cannot describe how much easier it is to sub for kids whose names (and teachers!) you know. Plus it's really cute when they pass me in the hall and go "Hi Miss Myers!" That part may be my favorite. I am taller than the 5th graders, but often shorter than the 8th graders. Almost all the kids in this school are minority, meaning, yes, Black and Latino, but also Hatian, Cuban, Brazilian, Jamaican, Indian, and Arab. The kids are amazingly inquisitive--more so than I think I've ever seen before--and actually ask questions during a lesson that are related to the topic, instead of interrupting to ask to use the bathroom when they already know the answer is no, which is what I had been used to. And every day so far I've had the door held open for me by a student. All these kids are so sweet, even if the 8th graders can be total screwballs (and boy howdy can they).
Here is something I hate: paying $100 a month for health insurance and having to refer to it as a good deal. That's... ugh, I'm going to start swearing again. I'll admit to having been a little nervous living without it, but if it wasn't mandatory in MA i sure as blankity-blank-blank wouldn;t be shelling out that kind of money on the off-chance that I develop some terrible early-striking disease that is nowhere in my family's health history or the one in a million chance I'm hit by a truck. I agree with insurance in theory, yes... but for something more like... oh, $30 a month. At $100 a month all I'm doing is paying for people that take worse care of their health than I do, or who are way older than me. I should be able to have insurance that reflects that I don't drink, smoke, overeat, or own a car and that I stay in good shape and am a low risk. Instead, I am someone else's health subsidy. That's $1200 that could be paying off my student loans. It makes me WANT to step in front of a bus just so I can get my money back.
Anyway. Another thing to complain about: We still are not heating our house, and it is freezing in here. My housemates don't want to turn the heat on until we put insulation plastic on all our windows, many of which already have storm windows anyway. But they haven't purchased them, and I don't know how to install them even if I did buy them. The house is somewhere between 50 and 55 degrees. I wear wool sweaters and socks and thermal underwear daily and still have cold hands. (So I'm drinking a lot of tea.) Dad... I feel like I'm home again.
Digger and I are having a very fine time though. (I know I said we would break up for the summer, but... we missed each other and decided to scrap that idea.) He makes pretzels and I make soup, then we enjoy each other's good cooking. While he was here before Halloween we carved pumpkins and they looked SO awesome. I can't remember the last time I carved pumpkins at Halloween, but it's been at least 6 years. We also roasted the seeds. I decided to set up a compost bin in the backyard for the house so we dont' waste food & Digger helped dig the hole for it (ha ha). We have gone looking for live Irish music when we have time, but so far haven't gotten it yet. We have eaten out at some really nice restaurants, though. Before it got so cold we also took an exceptionally nice walk in the park that runs along the Charles River and watched the college teams practice sailing and looked at the dazzling blue sky and the bright yellow & red leaves and remarked to each other how fine it was to be alive. That was a very good day.
Halloween night I met up with two friends I went to India with and we had a really fun talk about what we're all up to and I had a very tasty tomato-gargonzola soup. Afterward Digger & I went to the Rocky Horror Picture Show which we didn't get to finish because the show went later than the trains ran. It was spendid anyway.
Sometime I need to write a little something about my very interesting roommates, but this email is now long and I am now hungry for more pretzels.
Hope everyone is doing well, and much love--
Emily