Holy Cow, April!
Thanks for hanging in there, friends! I'm alive, I swear, but just barely. So much has happened in the past couple of weeks that I don't know where to begin.. but I'll try to summarize while it's still fresh. I'll also try to call, email, and message you back soon. I'm charging my batteries (the literal and figurative) this weekend, so I'll try to make it happen!
Since the beginning of April, I have been offered three jobs, accepted two, and quit one. I worked more hours than I didn't work and spent more time standing than I spent sitting or laying. I had no idea what I was doing most of the time, but I mastered the art of winging it. I frantically looked up recipes, threw together lesson plans, and prayed the taxi driver knew where he was going (because I sure as hell didn't).
Monday through Friday, I spent 10 hours a day teaching ESL to students who often came from countries that I have never heard of. I learned every single one of their names: Xiang, Nadezda, Donguin, Shakonoza. I taught the progressive and perfect future tenses, and I taught irony and personification. I taught the idioms: "in over my head", "bit off more than I can chew", and "shit hit the fan." (I had a lot of personal examples to offer.)
Then on Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday (12+ hours each day), I nannied for a West Coast Senator and his bookstore owner wife and their twin three-year-olds. I cooked, cleaned, and carried shopping bags at the Lego store and Disney store. I hailed my first taxi cab with a three year old in each hand and filleted and cooked a real swordfish (and I'm not talking about the canned kind.) I had dinner at the Trump Towers with their grandparents and spent an entire afternoon with the children and the Senator (who was mistaken as my father and the children's grandfather... twice). I wiped butts and vacuumed ants.
I was offered a full-time nannying job from the Poconos family.. but told them that I should probably stick with the teaching job. At least I get to talk to grown-ups there. I'm still not sure what direction I should be going, but Saturday is my first day off in April, and I've decided that I am going to be doing as little going as possible.
Since the beginning of April, I have been offered three jobs, accepted two, and quit one. I worked more hours than I didn't work and spent more time standing than I spent sitting or laying. I had no idea what I was doing most of the time, but I mastered the art of winging it. I frantically looked up recipes, threw together lesson plans, and prayed the taxi driver knew where he was going (because I sure as hell didn't).
Monday through Friday, I spent 10 hours a day teaching ESL to students who often came from countries that I have never heard of. I learned every single one of their names: Xiang, Nadezda, Donguin, Shakonoza. I taught the progressive and perfect future tenses, and I taught irony and personification. I taught the idioms: "in over my head", "bit off more than I can chew", and "shit hit the fan." (I had a lot of personal examples to offer.)
Then on Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday (12+ hours each day), I nannied for a West Coast Senator and his bookstore owner wife and their twin three-year-olds. I cooked, cleaned, and carried shopping bags at the Lego store and Disney store. I hailed my first taxi cab with a three year old in each hand and filleted and cooked a real swordfish (and I'm not talking about the canned kind.) I had dinner at the Trump Towers with their grandparents and spent an entire afternoon with the children and the Senator (who was mistaken as my father and the children's grandfather... twice). I wiped butts and vacuumed ants.
I was offered a full-time nannying job from the Poconos family.. but told them that I should probably stick with the teaching job. At least I get to talk to grown-ups there. I'm still not sure what direction I should be going, but Saturday is my first day off in April, and I've decided that I am going to be doing as little going as possible.
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