"The Waiting is the hardest part"

Tom Petty said it best with this song.
















Joshua and I have been in Austin for 2 months now, unfortunately still unemployed.  I completed the 6 week summer training program for my alternative teacher certification and worked as a student teacher in two summer school classes.  From mid-June to July I was in a pre-K/pre-1st ESL classroom on the south side of Austin.  It was overwhelming at first, but I caught on and was teaching lessons after the first week and working a lot with them in small groups.  From mid-July until yesterday, I was working with 9th grade ESL students, many of them were refugees from Myanmar, and a few from Congo and Iraq.  They worked very hard to get the right answer, the difficult thing as a teacher was to show them that knowing how to find the answer is more important than the answer itself.  The teacher told me and the other volunteers that they made incredible advances over the summer in literacy and fluency and she wants us to come in and work with them during the school year if we are able to.  I would love to, but of course, finding a full-time job is the priority now and she certainly understands that.

Last Thursday, I had a huge break through in the form of a call for an interview!  Now I finally know that I am doing something right with my cover letters and I do have a chance of getting hired as a teacher.  It was a huge wave of relief, then frantic panic as I only had 2 hours to prepare for the interview.  Since then, I have been waiting, staring at my phone and my inbox, hoping for a positive response, nothing yet.  I continue to apply for other positions, though with an Austin district hiring freeze, the possibilities are few at the moment.  I am also looking for part-time positions in restaurants, have had a few interviews, but no luck yet.  Joshua and I are learning the unfortunate reality that this is a very tough city and a tough time to get lasting work.

We keep trying to stay positive.  When one of us gets down, the other tries to boost their spirits.  We are a great team and good things are bound to happen if we are determined.