New Job...

I took this photo a few weeks ago during the height of the summer-that-never-happened. I was surprised to see some sheep, but there were several on our bike ride that day. Amazingly, there was never an opportunity to get anything but the butt end of them.

Yesterday was a two-interview day. The first was a five minute walk away from the apartment and the second was fifteen minutes away on a bike. (I like that better than the hour and a half commute with trains and trams.) They both offered me a job. I only took one of them.

The job I didn't take was teaching English at a high school. I wasn't thrilled with the level of students I would be teaching, but also after hearing about the other job, the high school job sounded a little bit...underwhelming. I had such a good time last year that I can't imagine being just sort of extra on a huge English Department staff with students whose English was, by all accounts, not that good.

The job I took is teaching English to business people. Mostly it's just cleaning things up and critiquing presentations, with some basic instruction and grammar explanation. Their motivation level will be higher, which will make my job easier, and my motivation level higher as well. It was one of those jobs where that MBA of mine came in handy. I'm sort of relieved to be employed, but it's freelance and my first official assignment isn't until October 10, so it doesn't feel like a job just yet. It's not exactly "Come in on Monday and get started." But it's promising and I can stop wondering when someone will call me for an interview. The woman I interviewed with is American, which was an extra added bonus. I'll have to write something soon about talking to Americans. It's a strange thing, the kinship I feel, the comparing of notes that goes on during conversations with other Americans.

That reminds me of a talk I had with a woman I worked with right before I moved. She was around 60 and originally from New Zealand, but also had an Irish passport and an American passport. She said, "There are so many wonderful things about being an expat. There are certainly several drawbacks and negative aspects, but on the whole it's a great experience." I think about her regularly, and we exchange emails around Christmas every year. Yes, there are definitely some drawbacks to living here, but I can't think of a lot of them. Mostly it's things like not being able to fly to Ohio on a moment's notice, like I would be able to do if I was in New York. And I would like the opportunity to see my family more. And the variety of toothpaste here sort of sucks.

My next challenge is to see what I can do about writing for money. I know there are some opportunities out there. This native English thing, according to some people I've talked to, is a hot commodity and I intend to find a way to capitalize on it. I can't imagine being able to do this in America. In New York there was so much competition. Even that guidebook I wrote for. (Did I mention that? It comes out in the fall. I'll write more about that later.) I wouldn't have even been in the running for that in New York. Here, I was in after an interview and two writing tests.

So It's time to enjoy the fall. In the next day or so I also need to write about a wonderful book I just read.