Day...oh dear...who is counting anymore?

I should be counting, but I'm afraid with the public-ness of a blog and my job search over the past couple weeks, I didn't really want to be writing much. So I believe today, November 22nd, is Day 77 but really the story of the past two weeks spans about Day 59 til now. 

The Job Search:
Well, I sent my resume off to various staffing agencies listed on Indeed in order to work in the schools. Various places contacted me with this or that part time position in Bellevue or nearby but none came up with much. 
Then I saw a position at a private clinic just south of Redmond that looked perfect. I was called in for an interview the next week. Then, at about the same time as the interview, I applied to an Early Intervention agency in Bellevue as well. Well after a week and a half, I was offered Job 1, praise the Lord! But it was a new type of job for me, new age group, new setting, new everything, and a very small clinic where I would be the primary therapist delivering intervention along with the boss who handled some therapy and all the insurance billing and everything else.  Then Job 2 called me up for a phone interview while I was debating about Job 1. After a phone interview, in-person interview and observation in the preschool, they offered me the position as well. 
The crazy thing was, I was just super anxious about the whole situation; for some reason I was just stressing out the wazoo about Job 1. 
Job 1: More money, later workdays (til 6:30pm), different population, largely independent intervention, small clinic
Job 2: Less money, more vacation, Early Intervention in a setting similar to CFA, lots of colleagues, team-based approach. 

I just felt so much more peace about Job 2. And I realized, I'm living in a new country, a new city, going to a new church, living in a new place, trying to make new friends, looking for a new job...and I just want as little 'new' about my job as possible until I settle in and feel confident enough to branch out. Although Job 1 may be a dream job, for me it's a dream job for in a few more years. 

Plus, in Vancouver, my colleagues at CFA became some really good friends of mine. I think my 'social butterfly' side, needs to have more people in the workplace and the opportunity to build friendships while I'm still "Friendless in Seattle" :P (Well not quite, there's a few). Plus, this new job isn't exactly like CFA. We do get the 'just speech and language' kids, as opposed to just the complicated kiddos. And there seems to be opportunity to move around and learn new things in various teams as opportunities arise. 

In the end, God showed me which one to pick just by giving me peace in one direction over the other. He knows that I don't like change and I'm adjusting to everything here and that I'm just nicer to be around when I'm not stressed out. 

So there you have it; I'll be starting a new job soon! 

Day 56 & 57: Vantage, WA

(1, 2 skip a few)

Saturday November 9th dawned bright and early, and we beat Mr. Sun to it. Bryan's highschool track buddy Jacob, his girlfriend and her coworker, met up at our house and we zipped off in the Subaru to Vantage WA. Just over the mountains, 2 hours each, the rainy wet coast turns into a desert. Near where Creation Fest is held at The Gorge, is an awesome area called Frenchman's Coulee which is an incredible climbing area. 

I was debating going because I'd been coughing and sick for almost a week but I was feeling a bit better and decided to go. 

We got there around 9am and started off at The Feathers with a warmup 5'4 and 5'6. I haven't climbed in ages so I thought I'd be super nervous, but a 5'6 is so easy that I even cleaned up at the top and remembered pretty well how to clip in, untie myself, reset the anchor into the chains and lower down. It was so fun in fact, that I then tried at 5'8. With a few rest breaks, I made it to the top of that one too, so that was fun. 

The rest of the day I belayed Bryan on the sunshine wall and watched Anna's coworker Karin float up the basalt pillars. Bryan and Jacob did well too. 

All in all a beautiful day and powered by Top Pot doughnuts (thanks Anna) so what could be better? 

Day 52: Lost all over Kirkland/Redmond

Today was not my favorite day. 

Woke up still sick, coughy coughy, ick. Went to work with Bry so I could have the car. Then visited 5 stores in an attempt to find bean sprouts for a Vietnamese dish I was attempting to make tonight (Lemongrass pork bowls). Finally found them. In the process I followed my GPS to Costco's office, not Costco, and accidentally got onto I-405 South at about 10:30am. You'd think rush hour would be over...not so much. At least I was getting off at the next exit, but still! It's 1030 people, aren't you at work yet?! I eventually did make it to Costco where a plethora of delightful goods met my eye: Hunter boots, Frye boots (!!), soft and cozy thermals, gaiters, driving gloves, balaclavas, snowshoes, kids toys, kids books...ah!! 

But have no fear! My Dutch sensibilities did not allow me the ability to actually buy any of these wares.

3 hours after dropping off Bry, I made it back, and collapsed on the couch. You know when you're sick, any exertion results in achey tiredness? Even though you've basically done nothing?  Yup. To the couch for me. Jordy slept nearby...he's not cuddly these days though. 

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, but guess what happened at dinner?
Bryan bbqed the pork, I cut veggies nice and thin, rice vermicelli cooked to perfection, salad looking pretty with starfruit slices...we ate, we enjoyed, and then I realized,

AFTER ALL THAT DRIVING AT 5 GROCERY STORES I FORGOT TO SERVE IT WITH BEAN SPROUTS!!!!  

Sigh.

Days 43-51: Mostly Kirkland, WA

As you can tell by my lack of posting, the past week has been, well...uneventful pretty much. I think I left you in Langley but who wants to read about me driving back to Kirkland and doing the various things that make up a day such as 

Getting up after Bryan's done his shower
Making a fire, making his lunch, eating breaky, reading the Bible
Bye to Bryan, Hi to God-time and prayer
Diddle around, clean up
Go for a run (ugh, why does 2.5 miles seem so long even though it's so gorgeous out?!
Apply for jobs, figure out EI, think about dinner, eat lunch 
Waste time on the computer, skype with people, play with Jordy, etc. 

It's been a blessing to know that God has my future job and timing and everything under control. I'm getting a bit of cabin fever, but I'm also at peace. 

In any case, TODAY, November 5th, is not only one of my best friend's anniversaries (Holla to Jenna Lee Falk!) but it is also a day where I had an interview at a private clinic in Redmond. I woke up with no voice (ack! not good for a speech path to be forcing her voice through an interview) but I babied it all day while prepping and it felt decent by 3pm. 

Note to self: when prepping for interviews, don't bother with facts, focus on answering case-based questions instead.

Well I didn't think of my note to self above until after the interview. 
It went pretty well I think; some of my answers were not very polished, especially to "What do you do when the mom bringing in the kid doesn't speak English and the child is a nonverbal 3 year old" ..."and we don't use interpreters"...ok, well there goes a case history for starters. 

In any case, it's in God's hands and we'll see what happens after this. I haven't really heard back from some of the staffing agencies I've applied to so right now this is my only lead. It also starts in January...soo that would be another 2 months of not working, yikes! I could then get a nanny job or something to fill the time. 

Love to the readers who care about my now-boring post-awesome-road-trip life!!

PS. Including my cheat on the last week, I'm past the halfway point of this blog! It's been fun.