March.. I mean... Spring Break
I'm on March break now.. which means.. that I'm finished my learning assistance job. I was feeling sort of low (not depressed, but a tad worried that I didn't have employment) when I left school Thursday afternoon. However, on Friday morning, I received a call from Human resources saying that they had inadvertently left me off the recall list and I didn't get the postings that were sent out the previous week. Because of their faux-pas, they asked me to take a look at the postings that they emailed me (ironically, I had just applied to all of them the previous evening, the day they had been posted) and to select the position that I wanted. SO, no interview, not even an application, and a position would be MINE. BIZARRE! Anyhow, I selected a grade 6 position at a school in North Delta. My story does not finish here however. That afternoon, I received a phone call from the principal of the school that I had selected. He was talking all about the models that they had put in place of the school and how important their learning support teachers were, how they were central to the entire web of the school. While he was talking about all this, I was kind of confused.. wasn't sure why he was telling me all of this. It finally dawned on me that he was trying to ask me to take the learning support position rather than the Grade 6 teaching position. I guess, he knew that through external candidates, there was a slim chance that he'd find anyone that had the qualifications or experience necessary to fill the role. SO, now, I'm sort of.. employed, but not? I don't know 100% what position I'll be in come April 1st. We shall see.
In other news, CE and I have purchased a house. Yes, a house. Not a townhouse, but a house! It's still sort of surreal as we never imagined we would be able to afford a house.. at times, a townhouse was even questionable. The recession has brought the real estate down (not enough, but it's down). The house is over 2000 square feet and is in a quiet residential area that is not near city center (unfortunately). It is however, closer to CE's office and will be less of a drive for me to get to work as well as it's quite close to highway 99 southbound (known as the Massey Tunnel).It's an "older" house (I say "Older" as it's old to standards in Vancouver, but definitely NOT older compared to houses on the east coast), around 35 years. Very well kept, the owners were extremely clean and have put a lot of effort in upkeep to the place. The downside to the house is it is very outdated. We will have to pull up all flooring, paint, completely renolvate the kitchen, change the electrical system (it's on copper wiring right now), change the siding and the windows, update the washrooms (the master suite has PINK tiles .. PINK!!) and a ton of other small details. It boggles my mind how much we need to do to make this place look more updated, and what gets to me even more is the money we have to sink into it ... all the while paying off our extremely large mortgage!! Now you can see why I was a tad freaked out about not having any employment following the March break.
You'd think I'd be extremely excited with a new job and a new house. The fact is though, life has not been all pink and rosy. My grandfather passed away on Saturday and although I had been trying for a few years to mentally prepare myself for this event, it still hit me pretty hard. To some extent, I'm comforted that he is not suffering any longer, however, since I have not really seen him very often in the last few years, I still remember him as the grandfather who was healthy and active. A lot of memories have surfaced in the last few days and it makes me even more sad as I wish I had been able to spend MORE time with my grandparents. I guess I should be grateful for the time and the memories we have together considering we live so far apart. It's sometimes hard to not be depressed or to find the motivation to do something productive (it could also be that I'm sick). I am just finding it really hard to believe that he has left this world...
posted by jaryee @ 3:42 p.m.
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