New Job!

The moment I've been waiting for, for about 3 years now, has finally come. I've accepted a full time teaching position for this coming school year in northern Virginia/suburban DC. I'll be teaching at two different high schools, every other day because it is a split position, but it works because they are on block scheduling, and I'll be teaching Algebra 1 and Geometry! Needless to say my life is about to drastically change!

The story leading up actually receiving the offer is kind of crazy. I've written about it a little before. The phone interviews leading to a call about wanting to do a face to face interview but not having clearance to hire. Well at that point I was pretty discouraged, granted that was 2 1/2 weeks ago. I decided to try calling the school this past Tuesday to check in, which was 2 weeks after I had gotten the news that they weren't sure the status on the position. When I tried to call, first I got a busy signal, then a recording from Verizon telling me that my call could not be completed, and then another busy signal. I got a little worried, I mean it's not like a school just up and moves, but I figured I would try calling the next day. Well the next morning I received a call from another department head at a different high school in the same county. Which led to yet another interview in which she told me they are looking for someone to fill a split position between the two high schools. So she was asking if I was still interested, and then continued with a bunch of different interview questions, granted she didn't even have my resume in front of her because she had just gotten my information from the other people who had interviewed me at the other school. As we were ending the conversation I asked what the next steps would be, and if they would like to meet me in person. At that point she told me I was in the top two and that she wasn't sure if they would want me to come down or not but that she was going to talk with everyone involved and try to give me some indication of where we stood before the weekend. (This was Wednesday). Thursday morning I had a message from her asking me to email her my resume, so I did. Thursday evening after I got out of work I had a message from someone in the personnel department asking me to call her back. Of course by the time I got out of work it was 7:30 and too late to return that phone call, so I was left guessing what it could be about. I returned the call in the morning, and still hadn't heard anything in the afternoon and was getting antsy, so I tried calling again and left another message. She finally called me back as I was on my way to work. I answered the phone and lo and behold she was offering me a job! I was shocked! After 3 phone interviews and a few weeks of waiting I was being offered a position! They didn't want to meet with me in person, which was a little surprising, but I'll have to go down to fill out paperwork and start the whole process, but I have a job!!

I pulled into a parking space at work, wrote down all of the important information she was giving me, and then quickly called my parents as I was walking into work at Old Navy. It was ridiculous! I had 7 minutes to call both of my parents and tell them what happened. I'm pretty sure my coworkers thought I was crazy, but once they heard what was going on they were excited for me as well. My parents went out to dinner and celebrated (I think they were just as excited for me to have a real job as I am). Once I got through work (hardest 4 hours to make it through of my life) I went out and had a low key celebration with one of my girl friends and then came home and just sat in awe of what my life is about to become. What was hilarious was that we also had evaluations at Old Navy... I was On Target in all of the areas, and I got a whole .19 cent raise!! What a day!!

So now starts some craziness! I have to figure out how to move to Virginia! The first day of new teacher orientation is August 8th, which means my life is going to be uprooted pretty quickly. I'm going to become an adult quickly. I need to go down there to fill out paperwork, sign my contract, transfer my certificate, get fingerprinted (again), and all of the other lovely things that go with new jobs. Not to mention I need to find a new place to live and get to know the area. I did just find out that the assistant principal at the school I've been working at the past two years used to work in the county, so I feel like the stars kind of aligned (he was one of my references) but also because he will be able to give me a lot of valuable information on both the schools and the area itself. My parents are being super helpful and have already started looking into things with moving and the area itself. My mom works in a school so she has the summer off and I know having her help will be invaluable. I am still in shock about all of this. Absolutely excited, thrilled, and terrified all at the same time! It's wonderful!

Other information in my life: This week is day camp!! So on top of trying to figure things out, I'm helping to run a day camp with close to 30 kids here in Rochester. It will be interesting for sure. There will be some staff coming down from Camp Fowler where I used to spend my summers. Plus some great volunteers from the church. I'm not sure what the week will hold, really I never am, but I'm sure it will go well, it almost always does. It's always a little stressful but fun! I get to play with kids all week, what can be bad about that?!

Oh I also went to the neurologist this week. What a waste of time! My appointment was at 10:30. I didn't see the doctor until 11:15. And then we hemmed and hawed about whether to up my dosage or keep it where it was (we left it alone). And the one concern I had (seeing stars), I was told "Well it's not glaucoma, I can tell you that, but other than that I'm not really sure, I don't think it's a side effect of your meds though so I wouldn't be too worried." Great!! Luckily I don't have to go back for a year... oh wait I won't be here, which means I don't have to see her, I'll either have to find a new doctor or just stay on these drugs! Sometimes I get frustrated with doctors... can you tell?! Oh well, my headaches are stable and better than they have ever been in the past so I guess that's all I can really hope for. We'll see what happens.

I think that is all for now! I'm sure there will be more exciting life changes as things progress!