Job Search 2009

i finally have a job that i am thrilled about, but this road was long & hard...

i graduated with my master of education in special education, and was finally ready to delve into the world of applying for a job. i applied to almost every district in the salt lake valley because i was panicking about making sure i got a job somewhere...

i started interviewing in May, and i was offered the first 6 jobs i interviewed for. a funny thing happened at this point: i was simultaneously encouraged, and discouraged. on one hand i was encouraged that i had many things employers were looking for, but i was also getting really sick of interviewing & just wanted to have something set in stone.

unfortunately, in a moment of weakness & desperation, i accepted a job that i didn't feel good about, but it was with a district i thought i wanted to be in. i tried to look @ the positive and not worry about all the things that made my stomach feel uneasy. yeah, that little voice inside your head - ummm, it's good to LISTEN to it!!! duh liz.

so thankfully, last monday, i got a call from the assistant principal at the 1st school i interviewed @ and she wanted to offer me ANOTHER job! keep in mind that i had spoken with her a few times over the summer, and lamented that she had only had a 1/2 time position to offer me, but i was really impressed with her & her school, and her school was actually the bar that i compared other schools to (they never quite measured up btw).

my immediate gut reaction to this offer was TAKE IT!!! and this time i listened. i called my former district & got out of my contract 2 hours before the deadline - it would have cost me $1000 after! and i made the switch.

i am soooo grateful that i have had this opportunity! i was foolhardy & impulsive and it almost cost me my first year of teaching. the thing is, they teach you a lot in school, but leave it up to you to navigate the system of interviewing, and working with districts and choosing a school. but after this experience i definitely feel like i've learned a lot about the process.

my advice to future teachers: don't accept a job unless you really love it! there will be others out there you just might have to be patient.

snow and ice fishing

after a short break it's snowing again... i am really pleased because i was so sick of the nasty terrible inversion air! pete and prathap are stuck in a traffic jam on I-80, so i am trying to pass the time & not be worried about the roads! they went ice fishing at rockport state park & are on the way back... no catches this time but they learned a lot from other ice fishers up there apparently :) i'll be going on one of those trips when a snowstorm isn't likely!!!

we're official!

it's crazy but true... my prathap proposed to me on christmas morning 2008... i got a stocking from him and it was full of lotion, hair clips, chocolate and little trinkets, and at the very bottom was this box... i pulled it out and he grabbed it and said, "that's for me" then he took it and knelt down in front of me. he said, "i love you, will you marry me?" i totally started crying and hugging him saying yes yes yes... then he asked, "are you even going to look at the ring?!"

needless to say, it was a very happy morning and i am very excited to start our official life together. . . although we aren't planning on getting married for about a year. we need to have real jobs for a while first! ;)