What I’m doing here

Posted on 3 May 2011 by amandalindsey

I finally worked out (just today) what I’m doing here.

That’s not to say I didn’t have lots of perfectly good answers to that question before, now it just makes more sense to me!

I’m doing research.

We’ve already been through the whole I don’t know what to do with my life, and will no doubt go through it again and again, as soon as I’ve made a decision I feel great, then gradually start to think about all the other things I love, the things I passionately wanted to pursue before ‘financial security’ became an issue. Then I question my decision again.

When you are in your groove, your normal everyday life, doing the work you usually do, seeing the people you usually see, completely in your comfort zone, you, or at least I, would never have thought of quitting a stable permanent job just to hang around in the same town trying some other things out. Maybe people have done this, Gala darling is certainly someone who did, if any more of you have I’d love to hear about it! Now that I’ve written it down it doesn’t sound like such a bad idea, and would probably have been both cheaper and easier than the path I chose to find my way. Somehow though spending copious amounts of money comes more naturally when you are ‘travelling’. When you’re not travelling you’re usually saving for something and thus more concerned about money. As well as not worrying about not being employed, being so far out of your comfort zone opens up a world of opportunity, why not push your boundaries further, you can be anything, go anywhere, be anyone. So who do you want to be?

I left my ‘stable’ life and ‘secure’ career behind for so many reasons. For experience, for a challenge, for adventure. I knew there was more out there for me and I came out to find it. A year of self discovery. A year of discovery in general. A year of trying out as many of the other things I’ve thought about doing for a career as I can fit in, while still taking care of myself, to see if they are right for me. Can you imagine? How much happier would everyone be if we were easily able to properly try out different careers before choosing the one/s to commit to? Not a new concept, that’s why temporary employment is so common, (there’s a great article on it here for those of you who are ‘temps’, despite the lingering opinions that staying in the one organisation for 10 or more years is the only way to go).

Whilst I am thoroughly enjoying learning all I can about running a cafe, I now also have a part-time job at an English language school where I can learn about teaching English as a second language, very important for people who want to be able to work all over the world. I will also be doing a few hours a week during May as unpaid work experience at the book shop. Yay! I love books.

Now that I’ve started this though, and realised what is possible, I’m going to have to strictly prioritise the rest! I’ve wanted to be a lot of things in my time! 

So! Hi ho, hi ho and off to work we go!

Aufwiedersehen!

Posted in Life | Tagged | Leave a comment

Cooking again!!!

Posted on 26 April 2011 by amandalindsey

I hadn’t realised it had been such a long time since I’d baked! 4 weeks!

While I was staying with my couch surfing friend I took to her kitchen and whipped up Banana bread for her birthday and then two batches of muffins, just because I could!

It was so nice to be cooking again! The Banana bread came out really well. The muffins I based on a basic recipe I found on the internet, propped my iPhone up on the bench and got to baking! Low fat wholemeal apple, walnut & cinnamon and raspberry & almond muffins. The apple ones were the best. The raspberry ones weren’t so good but we ate them anyway.

I was glad any of it turned out really, it is always difficult to adjust to baking in another country, the flours and other ingredients are often slightly different so things don’t always go the way they usually would.

Posted in food & food experiences | Leave a comment

Trading cards

Posted on 21 April 2011 by amandalindsey

Some days I feel like I’m going around in circles! It’s like trading cards, I swap one  I have for another one but don’t end up with any more cards than I had before. Just different cards.

The interview on Monday was fun, if you’re allowed to use the word ‘fun’ in description of an interview. The people were really nice, it felt more like an induction than an interview. I kept getting asked things to the effect of ‘does that sound interesting’ and ‘do you think you’d like to work here’. The more I heard the more I thought I would, the job was repetitive and process intensive but the potential international opportunities within such a massive multinational company were obvious. At the same time I had to wonder if this would be selling out as I’m not entirely sure my values would match with all of the goings on and wider associations of the organisation.
Also I found out during the interview that it wasn’t a maternity leave position, the woman had left and got a job somewhere else, and that while they were advertising it as a six month contract they’d actually like to extend it for longer. I nodded and smiled and agreed and said yes I could work for more than six months and that my visa is valid until March.

By Thursday I hadn’t heard anything and was contacted by another organisation (a very bright lovely organisation, also multinational, definitely more in tune with my values) and offered an interview on Friday.

Aaaggh! Dilemma. I didn’t want to muck any organisations around, but I need a job and I like this organisation so of course I went.

This interview was great as well, it was more like a normal interview, discussing my background etc. I really like the people and the job is not high stress all of the time and certainly not repetitive. It’s  only part-time, so at this stage it would be weighing up money with morals. That’s how it always works though isn’t it. Otherwise we’d all join Greenpeace or Oxfam or another ‘save the world’ organisation and spend our lives fighting crimes against the environment and humanity. If it weren’t for the fact that we needed the money.

Lucky for me the world decided for me the dilemma was diverted, the world decided for me and put me back on the right track.

The first job was a no ‘they really liked you but have gone with someone else because really you were only looking for a job for six months’. Hmmm, did I say that? Wasn’t the job advertised as a 6 month job? Anyway, trade that card in and I got offered a second round interview for the really lovely, bright, friendly helping people job. YAY!

So that’s the interview I’m waiting to attend now. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Sometimes trading this interview or application for that one but not ending up with any more cards in my hand.

I hope that changes soon!

Posted in Life | 1 Comment