spread the word

I need work... badly. So on top of the job hunt that continues I've decided to widen my babysitting advertisement audience. Today I made this flyer and this week I will be canvasing my neighbourhood looking for places to post it. Also, I learned how to take screen shots on my computer today, yeah!

this week

In the last seven days...

1) I enrolled and started school.

2) I purchased, and received, my course books.

3) I finished knitting a hat and a blanket and began a new project.

4) I started looking for work.

5) I registered for a National Insurance number. (The UK equivalent of a SSN.)

6) I went to a knitting group for the first time.

7) I had dinner at a friend's house.

8) I watched five movies, including South Pacific and Casablanca for the first time.

9) I opened a British bank account.

10) I booked a trip to Dundee next weekend and a trip to London the following.

11) I received, and set up, my printer.

12) I made a collage on a small notice/bulletin board for my room.

13) I visited my first wool/yarn shop in Belfast.

14) I went to the Linen Hall Library for the first time and was overwhelmed by their Irish section.

15) I've renewed friendships and begun to make some new ones.

16) I got caught in a heavy rainstorm and soaked my TOMS so that it took a couple days for them to dry out.

17) I had my first skype conversation on my new computer.

18) I did laundry.

19) I registered at the Doctors and applied for my medical card.

20) I played with legos and puzzles and painted a portrait of one of my classmates.

And at the end of it all I'm tired!

a long awaited update (perhaps I flatter myself too much!)

So, I guess the last significant update into my day to day life was written way back in the beginning of July. (Was that only a month and a half ago???) So, I figured it was about time for another!

I was in Florida for just under six weeks. I went down to be a summer nanny for the wonderful girls I used to care for before I left to do Transit and their wonderful baby sister who was born while I was gone and their wonderful cousins who live in Jacksonville. I think I can safely say that everyone involved had a great summer.

We were right on the beach, as you can see from this picture. This is the spot where I did quite a lot of reading when I was "off duty," not bad, huh? The summer was full of sand and water and sun and origami and reading time and ice cream and the dynamics of little girl relationships and naps and trips to the park and trips to the girls' Papa's tree farm and good food and all kinds of other fun things like getting caught in the rain almost every time I went out for a walk in the evenings. And big, beautiful rainbows.

No summer would be complete without a trip to the zoo and this one included petting and feeding sting rays. (Their "stinger" had been trimmed, apparently much like you would trim your fingernails.)

We drove back to Charlotte on the 29th of July, I think. It was definitely a Wednesday. And that evening I booked my flight to Ireland. I fly into Dublin on the 12th of September and will make my way north to Belfast where I will be living until I find a job or run out of money which I project will be sometime in December! No, seriously, I'm heading to Belfast to job hunt and make connections and do some volunteering and have committed to stay through December, which hopefully will give me enough time to find a job so I can stay forever, or at least two years which is how long my visa will be issued for.

So, naturally, I'm excited and nervous and thinking about packing way more than I'm actually doing the packing. And I'm sure to run out of time to do several of the many things I have projected to finish before I leave. So it's all rather exhilarating and tiring.

On a sort of side note I saw movies 24 and 25 of the summer this week. Time Traveler's Wife with my sisters, Laura and Emily, and Nights in Rodanthe with my mom.

I feel a bit like Clare in the Time Traveler's Wife. (If you haven't seen the movie or read the book I'm going to be giving away plot here...) In the scene where Henry travels to and from the bathroom. She's very pregnant, but has tried to keep herself from hoping about this baby because she has lost so many before. Henry comes back from travelling to the future where he meets their daughter, Alba. He tells Clare all about her and she says, "You mean it's all going to be all right?" It was such a moving scene and I feel like her. There's this thing that I've been dreaming about and hoping for and working towards for so long, but because it's been so long it's so very hard to understand that it's really happening. That the dream is becoming reality. I think it can't be true.

But in three weeks from today I'll be sitting (well, sleeping actually) in Belfast. And I'll never again have to cry when I leave Ireland because I don't know when I'll be coming back. It's all rather overwhelming.

So anyway, that's my update.

so happy to be here for this prettiest of Charlotte springs

Spring in Charlotte this year (which seems to have ended when summer temperatures suddenly appeared yesterday) has been the prettiest I think I've ever seen. And after living here for over 10 years that's saying a lot.

Spring in Charlotte is full of color. Soft but vibrant color. The white of the flowering trees. The pinks of the azalea bushes. The purple wisteria growing wherever it can. The rainbow of greens in the grass and brand new leaves and the evergreens and magnolias. And don't forget those Carolina blue skies. At the horizon the blue is so pale it's almost white and as you follow the curve of the domed sky higher it becomes more saturated, but never darker. It's beautiful.

There is something very different about the sky here and the sky in Britain and Ireland. I haven't been able to fully put my finger on what it is. Sometimes I think the sky here is bigger. Sometimes I think maybe it's closer in Britain. I just can't pin point it, but there is a difference. I love the sky in both places, but this Carolina blue has captured my heart this spring.

So, not much measurable progress has been made on my job search. But I have received some helpful emails and links to websites and lots of encouragement. If I could get a job and move to Ireland purely on the good wishes of my friends I would be there tomorrow!

I've been doing other things to prepare for the move. Going through all my boxes of stuff and down sizing. This is always a hard thing for me as I tend to be very sentimental. For about 4 hours this morning and afternoon I was pulling boxes out of the storage room, opening them up, and sorting through what was to keep and what was to get rid of. I am very happy to say that the get rid of pile was several times larger than the keep pile. I've let go of over ten boxes of stuff. And I think the keep pile would maybe fit in 3 boxes, it has yet to be repacked. I only cried a little bit, when I opened my Christmas box. I think that was mostly about not having seen it for several years because I didn't make myself get rid of much from that box. Just the twinkle lights (it's just silly to keep electric stuff when you're moving internationally) and candles. Oh, and a box of plain red balls and some gift books. Nothing I was really attached to.

I kept reading the labels on boxes and thinking, "Oh great, this is where it gets dicey" and then having no problem what so ever. That is huge for me!!! (I guess that's not news to you after I memorialized a pair of shoes!) Speaking of which here is a picture of my other pair of new shoes. I like the pair they replaced, but not nearly to the extent of the brown pair. So no need to include a picture of them. The only thing memorable about them is that, more than any other pair of shoes, they taught me the valuable lesson that it is worth paying to have good shoes when you live in Europe and have to walk everywhere. (They were the "get one free" part of a Payless Shoes purchase.)

job hunt

I've been waiting a while to get my CV (resume) back from the dear lady who has been making it for me. The waiting paid off this weekend with a CV and basic cover letter much more strongly built than I could have ever hoped to make myself.

So now, I am ready to begin looking for a job in Ireland. I am SO excited and a bit nervous about this. When something that has been a dream or a hope for so long suddenly becomes a reality it takes a bit of getting used to. At least for me. I remember how I felt when I was accepted to Transit. This is a very similar feeling, on a smaller scale. (I still have to find that job after all!)

If you know of any churches or ministries in/around Dublin or Belfast or anywhere else in Ireland who are looking for someone to fill a position involving outreach to small children (and their families) let me know!