When it rains ....it pours

You know that I have been underemployed here and have been looking for meaningful work for this time and nothing right? Consider this conundrum. I just got a job. Teaching 3-4 year olds so adorable you could bunch them up with a head of lettuce and eat them. The hours are great. I get to still have my freedom everyday from 2pm. So what is this dilemma? ESC just received a verbal offer for a job (a promotion and a fast-track development plan for him to advance to Exec Chef status in 2 years). Still no conflict observed? Try a different country for size.

We are waiting to see what the offer on paper will be. The person offering him the job is also trying to ensure that I get one also because if you thought I was on the Island Behind God's Back before, this one is Way Beyond God's Back. So unlike Dubai where I can happily dabble in a little photography and read a be a woman of pleasurable leisure let's just say this other place will be 'otherwise."

Either way you take it, both elements are really good news! I get to earn my own money. So ESC would buy me a car (because the job is all the way in another Emirate) but I would be able to make car payments. I have learned that we work not only for money but for sanity. Don't ask me if a bunch of Arabic speaking toddlers are going to provide much stimulation, I just know that I would have 20 of my biggest fans at work instead of the corporate bitches to contend with. But also, I have to seriously continue to tend to my career because anything can happen. Four hands are better than two.

On the other hand, ESC's career would benefit GREATLY and we could be pregnant by the end of that assignment (InShalah) while he scouts for an EXec position that would take care of family. Plus he will have more time in two years to spend with his family. And the perks would REALLY kick in. I could also get an opportunity to enter the hospitality industry which is not a bad idea if I am going to be moving up and down the globe with him. I am also thinking of getting my certification in Nutrition and Fitness whether we stay or go as another way to enter the industry and get freelance jobs when raising our family. You know me, I think short, medium and long. I also find a way to incorporate all my skills into something marketable in the long run. If we went, we would also be able to save because God knows we wouldn't have to spend much unless we were traveling. So that means that we could put down something to put towards a home for when we have sink deeper routes. He is currently in the negotiation process and the post hasn't been advertised. The GM is impressed with his resume and the Exec Chef is the one personally recruiting him.

Another thing is that my visa is tied to his so if and when he goes... there will I be also. The blessing is that we are making the final decision as a team with lots of continued prayer on the matter. The fact is that we already surrendered the issue to God so it is only a matter of time before the way is made clear.

"The devil finds work for idle hands"

My granny always said that. It's a popular idiom in Jamaica. Being busy is the work of the progressive. Being idle is the work of ...well... idlers.

I feel like my mind is one big idler's paradise right about now. I am so dying for a brain challenge. Stimulation. I can feel it. I can smell it. A job is around the corner. Somewhere. It's beginning to feel like the proverbial "just around the corner" countryman's reply for directions for a destination that's no less than halfway to forever away.

I am working out and looking around for cheap places to buy smart work clothes when the time so demands. I already got one pair of work shoes and will get another in a little while. It makes more sense to start building my work wardrobe in small steps and be prepared for my first job. It takes a lot of pieces to fill up the first 30 days of work and I have only 5 suits here (which do not fit).

I have discovered that clothes are not as expensive here as I thought. In fact, it is quite easy to look very smart for less- you just can't look for the same western labels. I need to look the part without paying the price. These are discoveries you make after living somewhere for a while though. I could stand to lose one or two dress sizes before making certain purchases though.

I also toned down the colour in my hair and have been maintaining it at a very presentable level consistently. It takes at least 4 hours for me to groom my hair after washing and a half day to dry so it makes sense to be as ready to go as possible, just in case I get called in on short notice.

I have overhauled the way I apply to jobs, sending out tailored cover letters with each application, and researching each company first. I haven't been applying anymore to third party recruiters acting on behalf of "Our client, a communication firm of high repute," etc.

In the meantime, I need to clean up the weekend mess in our studio, pay some bills, run to the mall, and do my weights circuit workout.

Today I did a good thing

Today I applied for a job with an exciting entity. I have somehow gone to taking a few days per application to feel out if I want to be filling that vacancy or mine. I am only applying for jobs that move me- that get me excited and have me thinking about what I could learn and contribute. I know all too well the feelings of frustration over posts that bring me no professional or personal fulfillment... Like the last posting where I was hired without a budget and ended up getting carpal tunnel designing newsletters myself from a laptop ( I am not a designer and a laptop is not a designer's tool).

I agree with L.A. that God is preparing my for my next appointment and it will be everything it should be. I know love is work made visible and I am just praying to get a job I love that pays me a salary I can also be happy about. It's often times either or. Money or fulfillment. With faith, I beg to differ.

Industrious Expat Wife

I applied for a record 44 jobs today. Yep...not 4 but 44. I filled out two particularly tedious forms which I had to do at intervals. The jobs were in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Oman, Kuwait, Riyadh, Jeddah, Cairo, and Beirut. I just needed to feel proactive. Just needed to feel like I wasn't just let a day pass by.

I am limiting my blogging due to my painful carpal tunnel which is now affecting both hands. They need rest. I cannot even make tea without pain.

I am still in good spirits. I feel particularly good about one entry level marketing job for which I am over-qualified so I hope to get. Going in at a lower level isn't such a bad idea when you are in a totally new market. Plus I will just apply my sheer fabulousness and wow them over!

The job is within Easy Skanking Chef's group (though a totally different division). It would be interesting to work in the same company- that would mean I could use the company transportation to get to and from work and have time to save up to buy a car cash.