Saturday, July 2, 2011

Prelude

Back around my birthday, in January, I begin looking for something to kick start things. As some of you may know, the last year has been...quite dreadful. A great deal of hurt, disillusionment and betrayal. Yet through all of that, I discovered that I am surrounded by some of the most caring, loving and downright wonderful people. People who love me more than I can ever deserve and gave me the care and encouragement I needed to get through the nightmare I found myself in. Some of these people came from the most unexpected quarters and some have been here all along. Without those people and without my church.  I don't know how I would have gotten through this horrible, horrible year. They gave me the strength to look at my dreams, hopes and goals and take this step.

I looked for jobs in school counseling overseas, applied for all 5 and had two top choices: Vienna, because it's, well, Vienna. And this one, because it had a killer job description. A counseling position that is student focussed, not program focussed, not data focussed, not managing all the myriad details that are more administrative than counseling. Counseling wouldn't be squeezed in between setting up MRT or CELLA testing or gifted screenings or any of that. It would be a lot like what I did back in my Orlando days. I interviewed and was offered the job. I snapped it like a duck on a Junebug.
I began frantically disposing of things I owned, packing up some of it to take, some to store. My contract is for 2 years, but if I like them and they like me, I'll stay.

And so I begin anew...


The flight over for this scouting trip for a flat (thank you, Mom, for the frequent flyer points and the free flight!) was long and tedious. Luft Hansa was not my friend. I got to Amsterdam and found that my connection to Frankfurt was delayed just exactly long enough to cause me to miss my connection to Leipzig. They were supposed to have someone meet me to whisk me to the Leipzig plane but they took us to a different gate at a different terminal!! No one was there. The first rep I spoke to was absolutely horrible. There was no line, no crowd of people around her, just me asking standard questions. She was awful. I was discouraged, didn't know how to let the folks at the school know I would be hours late (and they would have to pick me up at nearly 11pm) exhausted, starving and my ankles were starting to swell from too many hours on the plane. Oh, lovely. I made my way back to the correct terminal, got to the Luft Hansa desk and found a short line that became a hugely long line after I got in it. I would not want to be working for Luft Hansa in Frankfurt these days. Though people were upset and impatient, they didn't lose their temper, they stayed polite, gave me a meal voucher and helped me make the call to the school. They did have to get tough with the man next to me who kept saying F this and F that all over the place, but I don't blame them for that. I was getting tired of him, too.

I did eventually get to Leipzig and was picked up by the headmaster, himself who drove me to my wonderful little pension. I was so tired that I was a bit loopy by then and it was all a haze.

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