It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career

I have news.

So, as AmeriCorps is winding down in August, I have been sending out resumes to libraries, in the hope of actually securing a job before I have to move back home with my parents. I haven't heard anything from anywhere, yet. One university in the area actually called up to schedule an interview, but then they kept putting it off for a couple weeks, and then when I e-mail them about it, they thank me for my continued interest, but they've already hired somebody. They will keep my resume on file in case anything else comes up. Honestly, I think this was pretty shitty on their part; I didn't expect to get the job, but the fact that the first resume I sent out was going to result in an interview had me feeling really good about myself. And then the opposite happened when they yanked that opportunity away. But then my AC supervisor told me that that particular university tends to pay rather poorly, so maybe it's OK after all.

Anyway, so then I get an e-mail from said supervisor, about the opportunity to teach ESL at one of the other sites next year. Like, for actual money! The girl who works at that site then e-mails everybody with the details; she was offered the position, but she declined because she wants to move back to be with her family. Fair enough. She says the position is teaching adults, that she thinks it pays about $30,000 a year, and it has health insurance. Plus, you get vacation time, and something about 1 week paid vacation at Christmas. Sounds good, huh? Nobody in AmeriCorps seemed to be interested in the position, so I decided that maybe I would try for it. I think I have enough experience and all that, and honestly, I'm getting a bit tired of libraries not paying me any attention because I have no experience because libraries won't pay me any attention. So I contact the lady in charge, and we set up an interview.

The interview itself was actually very depressing. The contact person's supervisor, the woman who I actually needed to interview with, wasn't in that day. So the contact person described the job to me. The responsibilities seemed OK, but she told me that I would only be working 30 hours, which, at $16.00 an hour, only amounts to about $25,000 a year. Considering how high the cost of living is here, I would have a hard time living on that. I was told that if the supervisor was interested, I would be called back in for an interview with her.

After the interview, I was pretty depressed. I came back to De Porres, but left early because my student couldn't come in. I spent the afternoon trying to find something to do next year that would be useful for my career, and was almost willing to apply to the Peace Corps. I didn't, but only because I don't want to be that far away from my family myself, but I was seriously considering it.

Cut to Thursday. I am teaching classes all day, but during one class, I check my phone, to see if any students called me to say they were absent. Indeed, there is a message from the 561 area code, and I assume it's Rommy Munoz. I check the message, and instead, it is the contact person, telling me that as far as they are concerned, I am hired. I freak out.

After the class is over, the contact person calls back again. She asks if I could work 40 hours rather than 30. I say yes. She asks if I want the job. I say yes. She asks if I can start on Monday. I say no. I still have to fulfill my obligation to AmeriCorps, after all. She says that's OK; that they will just wait until August. We agree that one of these afternoons I will come in, see the classes in person, and fill out the paperwork. I will also ask all the questions that I didn't get a chance to ask before, about retirement accounts and whatnot.

Not only this, but a friend of Ray's, an AmeriCorps member from last year, is going to need a roommate. Rent'll be about $630 a month. I need to speak to her about it, but it's in the same area as the site, so that would work out very well.

And then my parents were here over the weekend, and the AmeriCorps folks threw us a congratulatory dinner, where I announced the good news. Everybody got drunk on Shiraz, and my dad started asking people to pull his finger.

So I'm in a pretty good mood. It seems that I finally have my life together; I think my parents were surprised by how sociable I am down here, and how well I seem to teach my students. They feel a little better about me not moving back to New York. In fact, my mom is talking about trying to get a travelling nurse position, so that for 16 weeks over the winter she will be over in Tampa. Which would be very nice.

There's probably other news, but I don't remember it right now, and it isn't as big as all that, so it can wait. Right now is lunch hour, so I'm going to walk over to Miami Subs.