Wrapping It Up

Wow! I can't believe I've been home nearly a month. It feels like I never left but at the same time there's a part of me that's envious of the new group of Foreign English Teachers. I wish I was them starting out a new year in Taiwan again. I have my moments of Taiwan-sickness and I'm finding ways to cope. I've found some places in C-bus where I can get pearl milk tea aka bubble tea. I've also found a couple of good Asian markets where I can get my fix with all those yummy Taiwanese treats like mochi and red bean filled steamed buns. I realized that all these places were here before I left. I just didn't have my eyes open wide enough to see them. Now, I do. Thank goodness I went to Taiwan.

It was a whirlwind week for me last week. First, I had an old friend from high school give me a lead on a job. The principal called me in for an interview for kindergarten. By the day of the interview, the enrollment had shifted and they needed a third grade teacher. That was fine by me. I student taught in third grade and that's my favorite grade to teach. A few hours later, the assistant principal called me and said they loved me and I was a top candidate for the third grade position but they thought I would be perfect for a fourth grade opening they had. She wondered if I could come back in to meet with the fourth grade teachers. Of course, I would. I'm just not licensed to teach fourth grade. Fortunately, they're a charter school and that won't be a problem for next year at least and Ohio has added a 4/5 endorsement for the early childhood license that I can get with a few classes. I met with the other teachers and we clicked. They offered me the position about two hours after the interview. I'm excited and scared at the same time. I always loved subbing in fourth grade classrooms and I love teaching Ohio History which is a big part of the fourth grade curriculum. However, fourth grade math scares me to death and after a year of traveling from classroom to classroom teaching English, I'm afraid I've lost my chops for regular classroom teaching. I'm pretty sure once we get into the year, I'll be fine. It's just those new job jitters getting to me. I'm more excited than anything. The school has a great philosophy and I think I'll be working with a great team. I'll be fine after the first week with the students.

Now, I have a job. I needed to find an apartment. That didn't take me nearly as long as I thought it would. Craigslist to the rescue! I found an apartment in Grandview, a really cute neighborhood in Columbus. The best part is that I'll have two bedrooms, a basement, a garage and a back yard. Yipppppeeeee!!!!! I can walk everywhere except to work. The price of the apartment was a lot less than I thought I was going to have to spend. It's priced way under the market but right in my price range. Now, I just have to wait for the current resident to move out so my landlord can clean and do some upgrades that he's had planned for a long time. He said I'll definitely be able to move in by Sept. 1 if not sooner. I was so excited to be moving there that I bought a bike with a basket on it to ride around my new neighborhood.

Well, that's it folks. It looks like things are falling into place for me for the time being. Life doesn't always work out this nice and tidy. I'm just glad it did for me at this moment. I'm ready to start the next phase and see what's in store for me.