301 Posts and One Job Richer

Thursday: I didn't realise that the last post was my 300th! A milestone in my blogging career!

So I mainly celebrated that in the car, then in a ugly office in a ugly place south of Aix, then in the car getting lost, then on a infinite motorway to nothing, then in a newly built office in the middle of a valley with a magnificent view of snowcovered mountains. But I was not thinking of any of this.

After 20 minutes in the valley office I got back into my car and raced home with music filling my ears and kicking myself for not having added an important aspect of my career to Mr. Head of Office and the RH lady. Overall the interview went well - I did well even on the tricky parts. But it will be far and costly working for them - a cost in terms of time, petrol, péage (motorway fees) and the risk that the long stretch of motorway brings. Seeing a weird accident on the way home just confirmed the latter. (Southbound lorry loose a tyre which bounce and rolls, crossing three lanes, and from the it jumps the barrier causing two northbound cars crashing into one another).

Seeing the distance and calculating the costs made me rather depressed: a great well-paid job and a great opportunity but. But. BUT. I wasn't feeling happy about it. I realised that I need to sacrifice a lot if I they offer me the job and honestly I just wanted to cry. It all seems too difficult.


Friday: I slept very little. A combination of packing until 01.00 am and being anxious for the feedback. With one unhappy cat in the cage and presents in the booth of the car we started off at 06.30am. Left the cat at the hotel and continued to Milan for a pre-Christmas celebration with the Italian family. Every time the mobile phone rings I'm jumping, an instant cramp sets in the stomach and I feel like throwing the thing out the window.

Friday afternoon: A lovely lunch prepared by MIL soothes many things... Until the phone rings and I see the name. Somehow I wished that I wouldn't be offered the job so that I didn't have to think about the difficult decision but I was. And all I told Mme G. was "wow" - and I felt like vomiting. The family here was very happy for me but couldn't bring myself to tell anyone else because I wasn't sure if I wanted to accept the offer or not. And I still needed to be sent the contract and salary expectations before I would even consider saying 'yes'.

Friday evening: Mme G. called me back with the salary info. Better than any other job I could expect to be offered in the South of France. But I'm still waiting for the contract - I need to know the conditions. And I still haven't officially said yes.


Later that evening: L. and I discussed it a lot, a lot more than a lot actually. And after a few hours I was feeling more relaxed and felt a hint of excitement. Since it's only a 6 month contract I have decided to become a weekend commuter! I'll find a furnished studio that I'd stay in from monday-friday. It's 40h work week which would only allow me to come home late (8 + 3h on the road), tired, eat and go to sleep. This solution will get me the experience I need to find another job closer to home! (For reasons I already know about there is no chance I'll ever be able to get a fixed term contract with this company. I could possible get an extension but this is uninteresting if there's not a future prospect in sight thus making it uninteresting for us to move closer).

Then I sent an sms to everyone making it 'official' to myself and my family/friends that I had been offered the job and that I will I accept it (99% sure if the contract is OK) ... and then went to see my nephew. He put on a big smile and show just so I could see him take his first wobbly steps :)

In This Moment...

...I'm starting my interview now in this minute so cross all your fingers and toes for me.

And to a very special girlfriend: HAPPY BIRTHDAY & Grattis med Dagen AB!! I hope you get to keep your birth day to yourself ;-) KLEEEEM!!

The Dutiful Citizen

...calls the police when necessary. So I did, and I don't think they cared about what I had to say. Never mind, I did my duty.

On my walk to day, cut very short, I noticed between 10-20 boxes thrown into what had become a river after the last days of rain. It didn't look at all like rubbish so I went to have a closer look and found that about half the boxes contained medicines destined for medical offices, there were toys, bags and who-knows what else in the other sealed ones. It looked like the post office van had dumped it's load there - packages with names and addresses, letters etc.

I first didn't know what to do and since nobody was drowning it seemed a bit excessive to call the emergency numbers. So I found the owner of two of the boxes and rang them and they rushed there to thank me and pick up their stuff. It was about then I saw medicines and medical equipment and called the police.

The police asked me if I could pick the stuff up and keep it safe. And that made me almost laugh out loud - if that stuff was stolen and then dumped there would it be wise for me to keep all that at home??? I don't think so! I've seen way too much CSI for that ;) Anyway, it was too much for me alone to pick it up and soaked with water. Nope, I thought - pick it up yourself Monsieur Flic!

Gasp!

I have another job interview!!! On Thursday. I'm so excited ... and nervous. I'm sure it'll be fine though. What makes me even more nervous is not knowing the place thus risking not being there in time because I'll get lost somewhere around Aubagne or Aix en Provence. Which is why I'll be leaving home early and having time to get lost and re-find my way. But I never get lost because I've apparently inherited some of my dad's sense of direction which means I'll probably be there 1h30 ahead of time looking like a person not having better things to do than sit stationary in a parkinglot while waiting for my appointment. This is standard procedure. And I'm rambling because I'm nervous.

The interview will be in English this time (sigh of relief) which is an advantage I have over my French competition. At least I'm capable of pronouncing "TH" for what it is and not some hazy "Z" - but for the more important aspects like skills we'll see how it goes.

I Love Santa!

Gabriele: 1 year old and the cutest Santa ever!

It's been a lazy weekend at home. On Saturday we went to Toulon to buy a few presents and I'm really proud of my L who didn't complain a single time. The absolute worst I can do to L. is take him shopping on a Saturday, add Christmas and a zillion more people and I'm getting close to a divorce. But he was calm as a Saint and it was actually quite cozy under all the Christmas lights in town.

Sunday we woke up to thunder and rain, a lot of rain. And compared to saturday L. (and I) had a dream sunday! Rainy and grey, fireplace, hot cups of tea, homemade cinnamonrolls and snooker on BBC - what more can you wish for?!? Mind you that I had a book in my hands and only partially followed the snooker...

This week will go by in a flash of preparations for the holidays. On thursday we'll pack the car and go to Milan to spend three days with the family there before we fly to Norway where we'll spend the rest of the Christmas holidays.

It Actually Works!

So far I have thought that leaving my CV on different websites was just a waste of time. However I have always done it though, being the optimist that I am. And today, a lady from an angency called me about a job! Who knows where she found me, but I'm glad she did. She asked for my CV in english and after spending an hour updating it with the new layout I've sent it off.

This job too is at some distance to my house but it's all motorway, etter paid and no work in the weekends AND it's in English! It's a 6 month temp job but that will buy me a lot of photo equipment I can use when the contract is done!

Now all I can do is wait and see if I'm selected for an interview. These are all positive signs. Here the whole of Europe goes into recession and suddenly now things seem to brighten up on the job market for me....hmmm

Weekend Recap

• A long weekend in Milan! Left friday morning and was home just in time for lunch, prepared by mother in law. Yam!
  
  
• Helped L choose my Christmas present :) Normally I like surprises but this wasn't planned so I just have to fake a surprise while opening it on Christmas day.
  
  
• Lots of family time - our nephew has new two teeth now and can walk with a little help from us! It's a shame we're missing out on so much of his life and growing up. He's a very willing model though and my sister in law had asked me to take some Christmas themed photos of him. And they turned out really well :)
  
  
• Got a taste of my favourite italian savours : Pizzoccheri, Pandoro, Stracchino, homemade gnocchi, olive ascolane etc.
  
  
• On the way home we stopped in a tiny village for lunch. The great thing about Italy is that you're almost always lucky in the choice of a resturant or a trattoria - all you need to do is exit the motorway and find the nearest village. We stopped close to Ovada - searched the GPS for the nearest trattoria and we ended up in a hilltop village with great views of the snowy hills around. We had fresh ravioli with a sauce made from meatroast juices and tagliatelle with eschalot sauce. Divine! I'm mean, it was jsut about the best ravioli I've ever had in my life. As a main dish we had rolled rabitt roast and duck in honey and tabasco. Needless to say that I fell asleep shortly after in the car while Lorenzo took me safely back home.
  
  
• The cat was offended that we had left her at home but couldn't help herself and purr'ed once we had got comfy on the sofa.
  

Moments

It doesn't happen often but when it happens it's like having found a treasure. A treasure not to be shared but kept safe and enjoyed like a newfound gem.

It's going to be difficult to explain. This is because these moments, which could be anything; a meeting, a conversation, a realisation or even a revelation etc. (you name it. What is special for each one of us is is completely different...) feel so prescious, and if you share it with someone it will be less worth in some weird way. Or it might be misunderstood, dissected or rationalised until the beauty disappears.

In the last 10 years I have had two moments like this - two very different moments. I still remember the first as if it happened yesterday - a strange "Sliding doors" moment which left me quite confused like a pawn in a chess game. It was a long time ago and now the beauty has faded and I have actually told a friend about this some time ago - and confirmed the fact that it was better to keep it to myself.

And the second happened a few weeks ago and I feel more tranquil and happy than I have in a long time.

For the record :
No I haven't been recruited into a sect/religion, nor am I mentally unbalanced (though I'd probably say that even if I was :) but I'm sure a lot of internauts out there are safekeeping special moments that meant a great deal at some point in their lives too.

I'm just so grateful for this particular 'moment' that I felt like blogging it out loud.