Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts

Work Woes

Posted by Elena B. , Sunday, June 6, 2010 10:11 AM

Lately, both dear bf and I have been having work issues. Mine being that I had no work, because I had no job! For months I've been planning to be a Nanny for the summer (U.S. summer that is, June-August). I became a member of several babysitting/nannying websites, and often sent messages in response to job postings. But I received hardly any responses, despite the fact that I am highly qualified! Yeah, degree in education, years babysitting, time spent in many many classrooms, but still people didn't respond! It was also tricky because I'm taking a photography class two nights a week (more on that later) in New York (I live in New Jersey, but very close to NYC), so I'd have to leave work at 4pm two days a week, which is tricky when you have two working parents that need someone there with the kids. Then there were a lot of people who wanted a long term commitment (1-2+ years), which I wasn't willing to do. There were others who only wanted a couple days a week, and I really needed as much work as possible to save up some money because I'm broke right now. Then, there were those who were offering practically nothing for pay, and with my qualifications I wasn't willing to settle that low. Maybe I was being picky, but hey, I think I'm worth something, and I don't think I was expecting too much!

So starting the beginning of this past week, I still had nothing set for the summer and I was getting anxious. I was stressed. I had called a summer camp/family center/daycare I had previously worked for in High School to see if they had any positions open (even with the lousy pay, I figured it would be better than nothing), but they never called back. So I decided to check out craigslist for non-childcare related jobs, and found a couple office jobs that looked promising. On Monday, I called and set up two interviews for Tuesday. Not ten minutes later, I get a call from a woman about a Nanny job! She wanted to meet right away, so I set up an interview with her on Tuesday as well! So yeah, I spent monday night refining my resume and making a few different versions, printing directions, and just feeling nervous. I ended up running around the whole day to these interviews, and they actually went well! One was really intense because the company was expanding and they were interviewing around 30 people at the same time for several positions. I ended up getting offered a full time position there as a marketing trainee, basically going to people's houses and selling them products. I originally went there to interview for a part-time clerical office position! I was pleasantly surprised. At that point, I didn't know yet whether I was being offered the Nanny position, but had a good feeling about it. The family seemed wonderful.

Long story short, I have a job! I declined the marketing position, because it wasn't something I was all that interested in, and the family for the Nanny job seems wonderful and the pay is good, although not as great as the other position. Plus, I wasn't looking for a full time position, just something for the summer (more on that in another post). I'll be working mostly with a 1 year old girl (she is ADORABLE!),and the 9 year old girl when she's home in the afternoons. The mom is also expecting another baby in 6 weeks, so she'll be home, but obviously busy (I don't have to care for the newborn). I'm not worried about the Mom being home because I really like her a lot, she seems great. So that's a releif! I start tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes!

I'm taking this photography class though, and it's cool, but way harder and more time-consuming than I expected! It's film photography, so we process and develop our own film, which is awesome, but really complicated and takes such a long time! It's going to be tricky trying to fit that in with the job because I need to go into the lab (in NY) separate from class to do some of the work. So I think my sunday afternoons and evenings are going to be spent there every week! Once I get some good prints, maybe I'll try to scan them if I'm feeling confident. We have a critique on Tuesday (yeah, this is serious), so wish me luck, I'm so nervous!

Now for the second half of the work woes, which doesn't have such a happy ending, unfortunately. So, aside from being tired of his job as an accountant and kind of bored there, dear bf is having other issues with his job. For months now, we've been hoping that he could come visit me here in July. You see, he works full time and goes to law school at night, so he's busy, which makes it hard for him to come for a visit. But he has 'winter' break from school in July, so he figured he could get time off from work and come then. He works for a state government agency, and apparently after working there for several years (which he has) you get the right to up to 3 months leave. So he applied for leave for just one month in July, and they denied it. He went and talked to them, and they basically said that they didn't have anyone to replace him, so he couldn't leave. Ridiculous! First of all, they owe him that leave, he has a right to it! And second of all, he's an accountant. Now, I imagine he's probably good at his job, but it's not like he's a rocket scientist or something, can it be that hard to find a replacement accountant?? So he appealed the decision, and they ever so nicely replied with, 'well, ok, you can have off in August.' Great. He starts classes again in August. There's a reason he chose July! He told me that it was really unlikely he'd be able to come in August. Big bummer. Ughh, so now he had the visa appointment all the way in Recife (a flight away), and payments already made for that. He was supposed to have the visa interview on Thursday, but we've both been so busy and out and about that I haven't even had the chance to talk to him to see how it went! Not that it matters anyway...

So basically, they're jerks at his job, and I'm bummed that I don't get to see him and that he doesn't get to come here and visit, meet my family and friends, and just get to understand my life better. I can explain as much as I want, but there's nothing like being in a place to be able to understand it. Hopefully someday he'll get here, but at this point, I don't think it'll be anytime soon. So yeah, that sucks.

I'm not totally distraught though, because I do have a little something up my sleeve, and will probably be seeing him in a few months, but you'll have to wait to hear more about that until things are set, I don't want to jinx it!

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The Story of Us

Posted by Elena B. , Monday, November 23, 2009 10:56 AM

It was a warm, tropical, Wednesday evening in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil; February 18th, 2009. I was on vacation traveling around South America and it was the night before the famous 'carnival' was to begin. I was hanging out with my friend R, who I was staying with, his roommate, and a couple of their friends. And while I certainly was enjoying the Brazilian eye candy, I wasn't planning on meeting that someone 'special' on this trip. But apparently fate already had different plans.

So, we were walking down the street, looking for a fun spot to stop, listen to live music, and dance (you can find music and dancing all over the place, in the streets, this time of year in Salvador). Suddenly, R's roommate spotted an old friend of his walking along by himself. They greeted each other, and his friend decided to tag along with our group.

The moment I saw him, I had to keep my jaw from dropping. He was so handsome! He had a brilliant smile that practically lit up the street at dusk (or at least in my imagination it did!). Even his eyes smiled. He was just a bit taller than me, and had beautiful milk-chocolaty brown skin, and a perfect little nose. And of course, being the coward that I am when it comes to guys, there was no way I was going to approach him and introduce myself.

Luckily for me, after our group walked for a little while and stopped to buy drinks, he approached me. He introduced himself and asked about me. I was shy, trying to explain in my broken Portuguese (or more like fluent Spanish trying to throw in any Portuguese I knew!) who I was and what I was doing there. But he didn't laugh at my silly mistakes or move on to talk to someone else when it took me several minutes to make simple things understood. He was patient, and sweet, and really made an effort to talk to me. We ended up laughing about our miscommunications and somehow still understanding each other perfectly. Then, we ended up in different conversations with different people as we walked along the road that hugged the coast and watched the waves roll in. But even while I was talking to other people, I'd find myself occasionally searching for him.

Eventually, we all found a big crowd of people listening to a live performance of a woman singing samba and other Brazilian music. So, of course we stopped and started dancing and singing just like everyone else! The atmosphere was buzzing with happiness and positivity. And he was nice, but I didn't think I had a chance. I mean, there were gorgeous, half-naked Brazilian girls dancing all around us. Why would he choose me? He was standing a few feet away near some of our other friends, and as I danced I would occasionally look at him, wishing he'd come dance with me. Once in a while our eyes would lock and I would quickly, awkwardly look away.

Finally, he came over to me. Inside, I panicked. I got what I wished for, now what? But I just kept dancing, and he started dancing with me, charming me with his sweet smile and quick feet. After dancing together for some time, exchanging shy smiles and occasionally trying to talk over the loud music, he asked me if he could kiss me. I replied with something like, "No, I hardly even know you!" to which he replied by wittily attempting to give me his entire life story in two minutes. He rambled on in Portuguese and I struggled to keep up, but the whole time that smile of his and the gleam of his eye was luring me in! And at the end of him filling me in he said "there, now you know who I am!" Of course, he was half-joking, but it was quite charming. I have no idea how much time passed, but we danced the night away, and eventually I did give in to a kiss. And that was definitely the right choice because oh was it wonderful!

Once the music died down, we all decided to go to the beach and he and I continued to talk and learn about each other. At the end of the night (or should I say the beginning of the morning, since it was almost dawn!) he drove me back "home." When he asked if when he would see me again, my heart skipped a beat from excitement. We decided to meet the next day on the beach at two o'clock.

What seemed like a logical plan at 6am after an exhausting night out turned out to be a pretty bad one. You see, we obviously needed to sleep, and me and the friends I was staying with didn't even wake up until two o'clock. So by the time we got ourselves together and got to the beach, it was already past three. Not to mention this was summer and carnival and the beach was packed. I looked around as we walked trying to find a spot to sit, but there were people everywhere. How was I ever going to find him? Eventually I gave up and sat down. As I went for a swim, I kept an eye out for him, but had no luck. Then I laid out working on my tan, still hoping I'd see him pass by, but nothing. Sad that I'd probably ever see this guy again, I laid down for a nap.


Sometime later, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I opened my eyes, and sure enough, it was him! In my blurry-eyed, discombobulated, just-woke-up state, I somehow asked him "how did you find me?" He just smiled and said he had walked up and down the beach a few times until he spotted me! I think I was in a state of shock. He had cared enough to search for me among the throngs of people! We talked and swam, until it started raining. Then we ran through the warm, tropical rain shower into an ice cream shop, leaving my friends behind. Well, we spent my last four days together seeing the city and just having a wonderful time.

He made me laugh, he made sure I knew how beautiful I was, he was sincere, he was sweet, he took care of me, he made me feel safe, he was passionate, he was so intelligent, and most of all, he made me happy.

But then I had to leave. It was the saddest moment of my month-long trip traveling around South America. Tears were streaming down both of our faces, and we were stuck in an embrace that we didn't want to end. I was feeling hopeless, thinking that this could never possibly work. But after I left Brazil, he was all I could think about. We stayed in touch, and although I didn't ever expect it to turn into a serious relationship, he convinced me that what we had was too special to give up. Back in August I had the (unexpected) chance to go visit him for 3 weeks, and seeing him again for the first time since we had met was amazing! We had a wonderful time together and the three weeks passed much more quickly than we wanted! So here we are, nine months later, going strong as a couple. There have definitely been some really big bumps in the road, and at times it's been a struggle, but it has been worth it.

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