Working Man

Well, after complaining about having no work, I finally got a job. Two of them in fact. Now I don’t know which is worse, not having a job, or having a job. (BA DA DA TA DA DA DUM).

First off, I got hired by a well known supermarket that you probably know of. I mentioned I had an interview with them a month ago, but now they finally had a position open up.

As Brett would say, “Working this job sucks but...Well working this job sucks.” It’s a stocking job; nothing exciting. And legally they couldn’t possibly pay me any less. But at the same time it won’t kill me. I’ve done this kind of thing before during summer vacation when I was 18 and 19, before I discovered the wonderful world of dorm cleaning. And I survived alright then.

Although at the time you do tell yourself, “I’m never doing this again once I get my college degree.” And then here I am. Well, after 5 years overseas you can’t just drop right into a great job, right? And I figure its good to be doing something well I look for that better job. In that respect it would have been good if I got this job a couple months ago, but there’s still one more month of summer.

Actually I shouldn’t rip on this job too much, because most of the people I work with are a lot older than me and have been doing it for a long time. For me to think that this job is somehow below me is probably a very ugly form of elitism. I feel like I have to be making excuses for doing this kind of job because I get a lot of flack from people, especially my sister (actually just my sister), but there’s nothing that really makes me any better than the people who have been doing this for 10 years.

Still, I wouldn’t want to support a family on what they’re paying me. Hell, I wouldn’t even want to move out from the parents on what they’re paying me.

Also the job is 3rd shift, which I’m thinking will work out pretty nice because I’ll have both my days and evenings free. People have been telling me recently, “You have to sleep sometime,” (as if I hadn’t thought of that), but I figure at least I can choose when I sleep and that way keep a flexible schedule. But we’ll see how well I make the transition. I had fun last week training myself by staying up as late as I could watching movies, and then trying to sleep in as late as I could.

The other job which I start in the fall I’m a lot more excited about. It is teaching English to migrant workers. This is an example of why its good to apply for jobs you don’t think you’re qualified for because you never know. Ordinarily they like people who speak Spanish and have a ESL degree, but I got hired on the strength of my ESL experience in Japan and my history teaching license (I guess any licensed teacher works).

I’m really excited about this not only because it is a “real job” where I’m using my degree (kind of) but also because I think it would be a great experience. When I did my teacher-aiding at Pathfinder’s School for Immigrants and Refugees I really enjoyed working with the kids there. People who don’t speak English are the most disenfranchised people in America and I really felt that I was doing some good working with them. Plus it was something they could immediately apply to their daily life, so they were really eager to learn. (A contrast to many of my junior high students in Japan).

(I’m not sure what is going to happen to the supermarket job once teaching starts. Teaching is only 4 hours a day, so I might be able to juggle both, depending on how much work lesson planning requires. But if I have to drop the supermarket, I won’t be shedding a lot of tears).

The dark cloud at the end of this silver lining, however, is this migrant program is only for two months, and then I’m back to square one. And my provisional teaching license expires next summer, after which I’ll need to take something like 18 higher education credit hours to keep it valid. So depending on what happens this time next year I might not be qualified to do the same job.

Shoko has been talking about staying in Japan until December 2007. Previously we had agreed she would come to America in July 2007, but she wants to stay a little bit longer. I don’t think it would be healthy to continue an overseas relationship for that long, so there is a strong possibility that starting this winter I'll head to Japan for one last year. But we’ll blog that bridge when we come to it.

Useless Wikipedia Fact
In the Bible Slaves are allowed to be beaten, so long as they are alive a couple days after their beating. The punishment for striking a free man, on the other hand, was quite severe.
"He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death." (Exodus 21:12)
"And if a man beats his male or female servant with a rod, so that he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished. Notwithstanding, if he remains alive a day or two, he shall not be punished; for he is his property." (Exodus 21:20-21) (Newer translations like the New Living Translation, New International Version, New Century Version, etc. show verse 21 to mean "if the slave lives and returns to health in a day or two, then the owner is not to be punished.)

Link of the Day
I tracked down another 2nd Boer boy who's got a blog. Nectar's blog (I'm trying to bring back the old nicknames) can be found here.