Job Interview...

So I had a job interview yesterday for a German position at Vicksburg High School in Vicksburg, MS.  I was rally nervous because this is ultimately me dream job.  To be in control of a German program at a high school where I can help it grow and realize the potential of the German language.

The interview wasn’t until four p.m., but we headed home to “get ready” at about 3:15.  The principal at Vicksburg High School, Mr. Derek Reed, very so kindly let me do the interview over the phone because of the current situation: living in Florida, just flew to Iowa, and the seriousness of the situation with Ed’s dad.

I was told that there old be 4-5 other people on the other end of the phone (Mr. Reed, two assistant principles, head of the Modern Language Department, and possibly one other person), so I was really nervous.  I thought back to the phone calls on skype when there were more than one person on the other end and you start to talk over one another.  The idea of that happening made me even more nervous.

It was 4 p.m. and I was sitting on the bed waiting.  Only Ed and I were home, so the house was nice and quiet.  At 4:05 I thought, well maybe it was at 4:30. 

At 4:10 my phone rings.  It’s Mr. Reed.  He asks me if I was waiting on his call for the interview….welll duh!  And so he said, “Let’s get this thing started.”  I expected then for the others to join in.  But it was just him.  He asked me the normal interview questions, which took about 15 minutes.  And mostly because I talked A LOT.  He did the normal, “Do you have any questions?” question, to which I asked a couple questions. 

He then said that at this point he would normally tell the applicant that they would have to discuss all the applicants with the other principles and decision makers and get back to me in about a week, but he had already made his decision and asked me if I wanted the job!

Of course I immediately said yes, in hopes that we can work everything out.  A lot has to happen before we can actually accept the job and move to MS, but there was no way I was telling him no!

So we’ve got a lot to discuss, plan, and research in the next few weeks.

We decided later in the evening to send Mr. Reed an email and ask for help finding Ed a job.  We attached Ed’s resume and other important information and hoped he could direct us to something.  Early this morning (7:30), Mr. McDonald, one of the assistant principles, called me to ask what Ed wanted to do and the types of jobs he is interested in.  He then said that he would forward Ed’s information to a couple of the jobs that had already closed that he thought Ed would do well.

So it’s looking possible that Ed and I both might have jobs in Vicksburg soon!

Up in the air...

That seems to describe our lives for the last couple of years.  The most common phrase in our household is, “Let’s wait until  _____.”  You can fill in the blank with phrases like, “we start school,” “we finish school,” “we get there,” “we find out about ____,” and the list goes on and on. 

There are a lot of exciting/emotional things going on right now.  Ed has his job here in FL at FGCU, but I’m still looking.  I have a potential job at a high school a little over an hour away, but it depends on the FL legislature and which way they vote on the class size amendment.  I read an article that they capped classes at the larger number, so I’m still unsure if I have a job here or not.  I continue to apply in this area, but after the “traumatic” experience of the Collier county recruitment fair, I’ve expanded my job search a little further.  How much further? Eh… all 50 states? Sort of.  If they have a German position, I’m applying.  But if not, I’m sticking to the southern states.  The next time we move we’d like to move to a place where we both have job offers and be closer to family.

That being said, I applied for a German position at Vicksburg High School in Vicksburg, MS.  It’s very rare for a German position to come open in MS.  So I jumped at the opportunity to apply.  I wasn’t sure when the ad been posted, so I called the school to get some more info.  Turns out the posting was closing and they wanted to do interviews the very next week.  The nice little lady at human resources told me I could speed up my application (because it is a snail mail only process) by emailing her my resume.  I quickly assured her that I could email her everything they could possibly need to hire me and so I did.  She then forwarded my email directly to the principal.  And that was it.

Ed always tells me to apply and forget about it….and that’s really hard for me to do.  I usually obsess about everything.  I mean, if it’s a job that I really want, I think about it.  Is that not normal?  But I tried my best not to think about it.  We’re getting ready to go to Iowa to visit Ed’s parents, so I did some house cleaning.  I checked my phone and noticed I hat two missed calls and a new voicemail.  One of the missed calls was form mom, so I just figured she left the voicemail, especially since I didn’t recognize the other number.  I’ve been getting a lot of wrong numbers lately.  So I called mom back and chatted for a while.  Afterwards, I did some laundry and thought back to the voicemail.  So I went back to my phone and gave it a listen.

“Hi Ms. Whittington.  This is Jamie Creel, the assistant principal at Vicksburg High School.  We looked over your resume and are very, VERY impressed.  We’d like to get you in here for an interview on May 17^th.  Please give me a call.”

Um…AHH. So I called back immediately and he was on bus duty.  I called back the recommended 15 minutes later and he was in a meeting.  So I called back today and they again said that they wanted me to come in for an interview.  I told them my situation that I was flying to Iowa this Friday and not coming back for over a week and on top of that I live in FL.  I asked if it were possible to do a phone interview and it was confirmed.  Phone interview, May 17^th and 4 p.m. 

I’m super excited.  This is a great opportunity (if I get the job) to stay in an area for a long time, we may be able to finally settle!  But all of this depends on if I get the job, if Ed can get a job in the area, etc.

At the same time, I tend to be a mental cart before horse thinker.  So of course I went to zillow.com and started looking at houses in the area.  I also contacted a friend who lives in Vicksburg and asked about potential areas to or not to live in, in Vicksburg.  Zillow showed some beautiful houses in our price range. 

So all our hopes and dreams are still up in the air.  If I get a job here, we want to move, possibly by a car, get some real furniture, and a host of other things.

If we both get jobs in MS, we have to move, possibly get a car, hopefully get some real furniture, and again, a host of other things. 

Also, when we both get jobs, wherever that might be, we want to move to a house.  Whether we rent or buy, we don’t’ want to share walls any more.  Having neighbors is nice, creates a sense of community, etc., but this whole sharing a wall thing has got to stop.  I’ll save the neighbor rant for another post.