New Job :-)

I just had a great interview. It's so ironic that I get bored in life and feel like I am wasting away if I am not making 18 glamorous plans for the future at the same time*, but at the same time I feel so happy and relieved when one of them works out and I know for sure what I will be doing. It puts an end to my dreaming and scheming for a while, but it leaves me feeling less confused and lost in the universe.

(*In my head most of the time: First I'll adopt a kid, unless I go to China first, but if I go to China for a year I should go to Mexico and bum around for a few months first. Maybe I should learn Navajo and go live and pioneer on the rez... Why don't I start a non-profit. I should apply to serve at the holy land and then get a degree in social work....)

So this interview was at this great little school in the South Valley. The South Valley is almost all Spanish speaking, is ridiculously over populated and under developed and as a result, the big high school there has an over 70% dropout rate. I know that's true of the a lot of schools, but I am young and sheltered and naive and that is a crazy statistic for me. 70%?!?! So the only other high school available is this little tiny charter school. 200 students. Service learning magnet. College prep. Same kids, new higher expectations. The teachers run the school completely and work really hard to make it work well. I love this idea. This is exactly the kind of place I want to be associated with.

So I had an interview there today for an educational assistant position. Student advising (which is all hardcore at this school, no one gets sent to the principle, they get sent to their advisor.) substitute teaching, and clerical work. So they were asking all the standard questions blah blah great interview, then the head teacher stopped and he was like, "look: your really kind of over qualified for this position. What is it you want to do here? are you looking to become a teacher? service learning coordinator? What do you want to do? because you will need more in a job than just this." That's a good interview. So I have no idea what the position will look like, but they told me they would consult together and then talk to me about what they could do. They mentioned getting alternative certification and teaching and they mentioned giving me an ESL class right away.

I would love to be able to do less administrative work and to get summers off, but I will have to see if they can offer me that. I think those are some of the core requirements they are looking for, but I really don't know, they do want to create, or at least alter a position for me, so who knows...

Anyways. This is making me happy. The details are still coming, but I know I will be employed next year, I may not make a ton of money, but I will have benefits. I know I will like the organization a lot and that I will get to work with youth again and get out of the office. I know I will be breaking out, to some extent, from the white middle class bubble I am still living in despite making not enough money to be middle class and living in a city that is far more brown than white. I still need to figure out where I am going to live, but that will not be too hard and once I know what my salary will be, I can make that decision with more confidence.

I am happy. I hope they call back soon.....