Why am I even talking about jobs, you may ask? Don't I already have a great one at a golf course? I did, but now I don't. I quit at lunch time on day two. While I know this is totally out of character for me, I did it and I feel sooo much better for having done so. It ends up that while I can weed and mow with the best of them, there was a whole lot more landscape design and actual knowledge about the plants required than I was prepared for. Doing the golf course job well and doing my masters at the same time seemed next to impossible or at least panic attack provoking. Had I been looking for a career position in horticulture this would have been an awesome position. However, I am not looking for a new career. I already have one that I am quite happy with and have taken a short break from in order to enhance by way of further study. Which leaves me wondering, what next?
I have applied for several different jobs, most at local nurseries (which still leaves me with the problem of not actually knowing much about local plant species, this not being the tropics) who pay very little and are kind enough to inform me before the interview even starts that I am highly over-qualified for the position and "Oh, by the way, what are your salary expectations?" To which I respond, "LOW". I am a realist and I realize that in this field none of us are out to get rich, and if we are then we are seriously misled! I just need to pay the rent and have time to study. So for now, I am working at a local garden centre until I find a more suitable job. I have been offered an equally low paying job at another garden centre, however, it appears to be more promising, is full time and they won't let me go at the end of the busy season. In fact, they may even send me on a cruise. If I do take this job I will tell you all about the serendipitous circumstances of getting it. Oddly enough, it is all tied into the golf course.
I talked to Clarisse on Saturday and she is well. I do miss her and I long to be back in Central Africa where I feel so much more at home. I feel rather lost here and wish I had people down the street to drop in on. We have been spoiled for the last 6 years but I believe it is possible to find that again, we just have to look in the right places. Maybe spoiled is the wrong word. Maybe it is just that we have lived what life can be and so we long for that again.
I will stop babbling. Our life isn't that dull I suppose. We do live with 10 llamas after all!
I took all my braids out just to look 'normal' for the golf course job, only to quit two days later. I did wash it before I started so, no!, I did not go to work looking like this. Despite the volume, I did lose quite a bit of hair in the process.
During Roy's visit last week we spent an evening doing tourist duty and Roy found an RCMP to have his picture taken with.
