His ways always amaze me !

One of my biggest worries about my temporary move to Orlando has been.... WHERE THE HECK DO I LIVE FOR JUST 9 WEEKS !   Anyhow, today I got a wild hair and decided to look on Craigslist for Orlando.  I came across this ad there:  "From July to Sept. only I am renting my spare bedroom.  Beautiful two story townhouse in Winder Garden, Fl.  Furnished queen sized bed and TV, Wi-F- and utilities included, except for the phones.  WOW !!  I thought, this is just what I need and the time frame is perfect !  So, I called...
Needless to say, my new landlady's name is Christine.  I will be living in the bottom of the two story town house.  The reason she only needs to rent the room out for such a short period of time is that she is getting married in October.  Did I say the rent is only $400 !!!   Also, it is quite near where Travis and Sarah are and very close to work.... When she made the comment that "The Lord must have brought us together."  I knew I had found the right place!

As the World Turns.... so are the Days of My Life !

My philosophy these days is to take life one day at a time... I actually read a statement just last night that said
"I try to take life one day at a time---but sometimes several days attack me all at once!!"  Don't you love that??!!
Anyhow, because I know my Disney experience will be short lived and I know that I am not rich enough to retire, I have been looking at "less than traditional" employment.  Most of you know that I have been applying to agencies who recruit teachers to work overseas.  Specifically, I have been applying to work overseas in South Korea.  Although I have had great response to my online applications and have had two over the phone interviews with the recruiters for the schools, I have discovered one sad fact.  The odds of my getting an opportunity to teach overseas in specifically Korea are getting lower and lower.  It is not because I am not highly qualified.  The problem is I AM TOO OLD!    The retirement age in Korea is 55.  Most parents pay big bucks to these schools for teachers to teach their children English at a early age.  My preference of students is from ages 12 through Adult.  not necessarily the "little darlings"   Therein lies the problem. ... Most parents expect their child's teacher to be YOUNG and full of endless energy.  Although my energy level is high when teaching, my age is also "higher" than most Kindergarten teachers.  Thus, the recruiter's problem with me... They are doing their best, but......   
Because I really want to work somewhere overseas, I am open to all kinds of possibilities.  Also, because I really like to do things just a tad different than other people, I want a job now that most people would not normally think of.   I got an offer yesterday to be the manager of a new cooking school that will open up sometime in the fall of this year.  That was a really cool offer.  The funniest part and the one that makes this opportunity unique is that it is in Manchester, England.   I am supposed to be talking with the lady who made the offer in the near future.  That is when we will both see if we can come to an agreement on what she wants as compared to what I want.... I will keep you posted ---"As the World Turns on the Days of My Life!"

Florida or Bust !!

I realized today that although I had posted the results of my interview with Disney on Facebook, I didn't give a lot of details on it.  Soooooo...... here's the update--   A week ago today, I had my face to face interview at Casting at Disney.   I learned a couple of things even before I had my interview.   I already knew that Disney employees are called Cast Members because they all play a role in helping people have a magical experience at Disney.  However, CAST also stands for  Compensation, Appearance, Schedule and Transportation.  These are all the categories that a new employee needs to know about.  Cool, huh?? 
Anyhow, I was interviewed by a guy named Steve.  His wife is actually the secretary of the VP of Casting.  We hit it off great because we are both a bit old !  I had applied for a job in either Housekeeping, The front desk of one of the resort motels or to work in the child care center.  None on those jobs were available.  However, he looked at the screen and said "Wow!: This one wasn't here yesterday!   It just happened to be a job in Merchandising (sales clerk) at Mouse Gears.  For those of you who are uninformed (as I was prior to this experience), Mouse Gears is the largest gift shop Disney has.  It is at Epcot just back behind the big
"Golf Ball"  Epcot also happens to be where Sarah works.  The uniforms the Cast Members wear are not too hideous looking and the best part is THAT IT IS INSIDE AND THE A/C WORKS WELL !!
Needless to say, I said "Yes- Gimme that job!" 
I will be leaving Tifton around noon on July 2nd.  I have to start the training process at 8 am on July 3rd.  My position is considered "Seasonal" which means it is temporary- sort of...  After the training period is over, a seasonal employee can work pretty much on his or her schedule.  For instance, if I were a seasonal Cast Member and also a teacher and I had a long four day weekend.. I could call up and say "Put me on the schedule for 2 days (or however long I wanted)   Also, once you are training in merchandising, you are able to work in any of the gift shops on Disney property which means OVERTIME !!! I can pick up overtime shifts pretty much as needed while I am down there at Disney.  My official dates for this employment are from July 3-Sept 4th.  Because it is only for about 9 weeks, I will not be able to rent an apartment very easily.  So, I will probably be staying in an extended day motel unless some generous person wants a roommate for a short while or a church member has a room to rent out.
I am really excited about this opportunity for several reasons.   Top of the list--I can see my kids more often and I will be working at "The Happiest Place on Earth!"  Nuff said !!

Reducing, Rethinking and Removing.....

     For the past two days, my good friend, Debbie and I have been hard at work organizing, packing, labeling and stacking my "worldly goods."  At age 56, I find that I own a king sized bed (which I haven't used for almost 6 months cause it won't fit into the room I live in), one double bed, one chest of drawers, a small kitchen table with I use for my desk and 47 boxes of other " stuff."
     I find that today I also have 4 fire ant bites, 2 yellow jacket bites, a SORE back and hips and several bruises and scrapes!   But I do feel almost like my house is a house of order again for the first time in a long time... Even if that house is just a house of boxes !
     

Oh No !! The Mouse !!!

About 3 months ago, I put in an application to work seasonally at Disney... Well, today I started the interview process by doing the online interview.   Have my "in person" interview next week... Even if I get a job overseas, I can still work at Disney because I think it is only 20 hours a year you have to work in order to stay seasonally employed.  With the 20 days paid vacation in the contract with the overseas schools, I could fly home, visit and still keep "current" with Disney.   Oh..... so many options... so much paperwork....so little "ready cash" left this month to get it all done..... one step at a time.... one step at a time... one step at a time...**breathe**    Okay... I feel better now...

What am I thinking ???? !!!!!!

In my search for the direction for my new adventure in my life, I find that said direction has taken a decidedly different turn than I first anticipated.  This weekend has been spent on polishing up my Academic Vita (resume for you non educational types).  The reason for this is that I am actually applying for a teaching job in.... wait for it..... South Korea !!!   For some reason,in the past month,  I have had two emails from a website about teaching in Korea.  In addition, Sarah has suggested the same thing.
Also, I have just found out today that one of my very good friends here in Tifton has a sister in law who is actually employed by the Department of Defense as a teacher.  Needless to say, I think that would be an awesome job too..... so, my friend Debbie is getting info from her sister in law as to the "how to's, what fors and
everything I wanted to know about teaching for the DoD but was afraid to ask...
I cannot believe how long the process of filling out on line applications for teaching ANYWHERE are.... but, then again.. why would I be surprised... ???  What would a teaching job be without PAPERWORK?????