Found a Job

Got myself some employment!

It came from a somewhat unexpected place, left field I suppose you'd call it, but it came nonetheless. I had a phone interview with ASA (www.asaprograms.com), the Barcelona RA job I applied for god knows how many months back. As it turned out , somebody backed out last minute on them, and they contacted me saying they wanted to interview. I sat (actually I was pacing) through a 45 minute phone interview thinking I was just barely hacking it and not caring that much, but at the end she told me I already had the job. They didn't know at that point whether or not I would be working in Barcelona or England, so the details are a bit hazy. If I work in England, apparantly it'll be two programs (@ Oxford and Cambridge University respectively) consecutively. I think I'd rather work in Barcelona, just because at this point I've grown really attached to Spain, even though it would be less money and a shorter time span. If I end up in England though I wont compain much.

Basically, my job will consist of being a mentor type to the kids, giving them advice and helping them adjust to a new and unfamiliar culture. There are lots of activities every night that I am to help create, modify, organize, and run. I'm kinda interested to see how that goes. I'm also supposed to lay down the law as necessary, but I was told they aren't trying to create a "police state atmosphere," so despite the program's "no tolerance policy" on drugs and alcohol, I'm assuming there is a lot of gray area when it comes to dealing with kids that will come home after a night of indulging in the benefits of a culture whose attitude is a bit more lenient towards the topic of consumption than the one they are used to. Of course, I'll know about all of this once I get there and go through orientation and talk to staff and all that, blah blah blah.

So Matt finally finished with his exams and has been liberated from the shackles of acedemia. That means I have a lot more to do during the day. Tuesday night Pub Golf was supposed to be going on, yet didn't because people ended up just wanting to save money instead of hitting up 9 different pubs. The result was finding 3 or 4 relatively budget places to drink, and staying at each for long enough to get the Job done. I didn't take part in any of it really since I seemed to have contracted some sort of stomach bug. I joined everyone for a little while to hang out, but wasn't able to imbibe quite like the others. I did manage to learn a small handful of (interesting) British Drinking Games which will be fun to bring back to the States, but for the most part the night seemed to be one huge absurdity. I'm sad I had to miss out on it.

Last night we barbecued at Butcher and Sam's place. This was a great deal of fun for me just because it was the first English barbecue I had been to (not to mention the first of any kind of barbecue since last summer). Basically it was a hell of a lot like an American barbecue with the same delicious results one comes to expect from such an affair. Ironically, this happened to be the most excessive, gluttonous barbecue I've ever been to. Despite the fact that there wasn't over 10 people present, we were grilling for over 3 hours straight. I have no idea where all the food came from, but there seemed to be no end to it. In any case, I had a great time and was finally able to sit back and relax without the responsibility of having to find a job or make the decision to find my way back home hanging over my head.

Tonight there is a house party at Gruber's we are charged with attending, and tomorrow Gemma is having a BBQ at her place. It seems to be a general time for summer celebration as college is out until October and everybody is enjoying the incredible weather that has become all-pervasive as of this week. It's actually starting to feel like summer here. Incredible!

I'm sad I'm missing the Zappa concert I wanted to attend, but oh well. Maybe if it goes well enough they'll do another one next year. I'm also sad I don't get to see Bill before he heads off to NH, but I will make it a point to catch up with him before he's off to Cali. It's interesting - albeit not exactly surprising - how life continues to go on seamlessly in my abscence. It can be tough to keep up with everyone all the time but I've been trying the best I can. The internets make this much easier on the whole.

So now I'm just loafing around, waiting to find out where I'm working for July, and generally just trying to enjoy some summer break whilst keeping costs relatively low. I keep forgetting to bring my camera out, but I will try to remember for tonight. I'm interested to see what a British House Party is going to look like, and am already figuring it's going to be worth having some pictures of. These people are insane.

I've decided to keep the blog up for as long as I see fit. If I figure it's getting ridiculously monotonous or a waste of time I can always take it down. I do need a new name however, since I'm no longer in Spain.

Any suggestions?