Job. Church. Where my money at?

Job

So, I got a job. Yeah, baby! I'll be working with an organization that helps provide youth from difficult backgrounds with life skills. I'll be teaching English for 2 hours once a week to the young people and the volunteers who work with them as well as to the administrators in charge of running the program. I never imagined that I would have an interview in a foreign country in a foreign language within 2 weeks after my arrival.

Sometimes I get frustrated because my level of French is not where I want it to be yet. But getting the job reminds me that though my French is far from perfect, I know enough and can understand enough to conduct myself well enough in an interview to be chosen for a position.

This should be fun. I've got plenty of language learning activities and stuff that I've created during my previous years teaching Spanish, so I could just adapt them to teach English. I sign the contract this week, and I'll start the beginning of next month.

Church

So, I went to church yesterday. The missionaries in the area are incredibly nice and connected me with another young lady who lives in the same city as I do who started going to their church. We navigated the train system together. It's just . . . much more difficult and expensive getting to church than it was when I was in Spain. But I guess that's because I lived right outside Madrid and there were always plenty of trains into the city. Here it's a bit different. I live in a bigger city, but the church is in a teeny city and there aren't a whole bunch of trains that go out there, especially on a Sunday.

Nevertheless, I am super glad that I went. I learned a lot just listening to the message, and I was shocked at how much I could understand. Everything was so encouraging. What never ceases to amaze me is that there are people of many differing cultures, languages and customs who possess the same power, the same Spirit. The young lady I went with, originally from Madagascar, the French young man who picked us up from the train station and I hung out after service. Three people from wildly different backgrounds, brought together by a common faith.

Where my money at?

For real. It's goin on three weeks, yo. My bank account has since been set up, the scholarship money supposedly transferred a millenium ago, but every time I check my little French bank account online, it says that I have 0,00 Euros available. (They use commas instead of decimal points). Anyway, my host counselor got professionally crunk with the folks who were responsible for doing the transfer ("Thees eez unacksepteebul," he told me), so the money's supposed to show up this week. No later than Wednesday, I hope. In JAY-sus name.

Anyway, every Monday night they have this little meeting called Café de Langues where a bunch of students get together at a café in one of the main plazas and speak French all night. I went last week and it was great. And I need all the practice I can get, so away I go. À la prochaine fois!