Looking forward to a week in the Village

This week coming I will be heading in to work in the Village, which is what the shopping precinct around my new place of work is called.  The office is directly above “Slightly Twisted Coffee Lounge” and a PC Gaming store which closely resembles the comic shop in “Big Bang Theory”.  There are lots of other interesting places nearby, including a Laundromat which I need to locate so I can wash the kitchen tea towels when it is my day to do kitchen roster duties. 

I just love the area around the office.  It is so interesting that I could happily live in the area, but only if I had family there, too, I guess. 

I have already planned my desk layout for files and documents, and will take in some basic folders on Monday to set things up for official documentation, despite hoping to be paperless for most of the time.  Paperless is very cool.  The next thing I would like is some kind of green plant with lots of leaves like the Peace Lily.

 

 

 

Week One in the New Job

It’s been great fun at work, with all the new faces, new resources and new neighbourhood. The whole week has been focused on work, with two early nights to start with and a few hurried mornings of looking for things.

The challenge of setting up my filing and e-filing is the next big thing, so as to make work easier in the long run. It’s made easier by watching what the others do but the tricky part is using a minimum of paper.

There is a swap card and e-gaming shop under the Chapel Street part of the office, directly under my desk. For the first few days they kept the door propped open, even though it was very hot weather. By Friday, they let is slam with each customer, which is more normal.

A different kind of preparation

It’s a great feeling, having a job to go to on Monday!  Normally, I am up at 4:30am to prepare for school, as I am on call.  However, since September 2012, I have only been called in for 50 days.  Make that 51 if you count the day the Deputy Principal at a school was testing out the online booking system.

My aim is to find sustainable work.  It seems as though being a Distance Trainer is the way to go, due to the popularity of online courses which articulate to university programs in Australia.  It remains to be seen how a trainer can develop professional teaching relationships using the internet, but clearly it has been done before.  My teachers for online courses have shown professional support in the past, and some have been very motivating and supportive.

This weekend, my preparation has been to focus and plan.  I have been investigating the web site for the company, reviewing my qualifications, reading in my specialty areas and considering transport and which shoes to wear.

At home, everyone has been very supportive, but they are preparing me for the worst as they hate to see me be disappointed.   In Australia, the labour market moves fast and companies regularly close down and release 3-500 workers around the Christmas/New Year break.

It has been a blessing for me to be able to study while on call for supply, even though I would never have thought it would be helpful for finding work.  As it turns out, that might have been a good move and the study and research  has given me great independence and understanding in Education, Training and Communications including IT and Engineering.

While my family is a bit out of the loop with the subject matter I have been researching, they have been so supportive and understanding of the discipline I have been trying to cultivate.  So now I hope to show them that it has been worthwhile, they need not fear me being disappointed, and things are working out for the best.

Monday and a new job

I heard about my new job on Thursday and was sent a letter of offer on Friday. 

It’s so exciting to be about to start work as a Distance Trainer, where I will be working with people who are studying online courses and using the computer to connect to their studies.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon at the hairdressers where Lou worked her magic on my hair with a new type of smoothing treatment.  It was very relaxing, as I sat sipping tea and watching the passing traffic, being tended to by the experts.  Ros trimmed my hair back into shape, and it turned out really well.  I think it is my best cut and treatment ever!  Now the trick is to stay out of the rain and other water for 48 hours, or just dry it quickly and use a flat iron if I am caught in a sudden downpour.

When I arrived home, I had a message to send details of my qualifications in to my Academic Coordinator so that things could be sorted for Monday.  I look forward to meeting the team, although I suspect there might only be one or two people at the office since the Head Office is in Melbourne with a campus for students there, too.

So this weekend, I am looking at the web site to find out their policies, working out what I need for my job and planning.  Having full-time work is just perfect for me now, as I will be in a position to sort out my finances and help out more at home.  It’s just brilliant!

A strange type of job interview

Yesterday, when I was at the grocery store, my phone notified that I had a message.  As we were on our way home, I waited until we returned home to follow up.

It was a message from a company where I had applied as a VET teacher.  They were looking for someone to start very soon, so they said they would send a letter of offer.  This is a very unusual way to hire staff, but perhaps it is going to be interesting and worth while.  In the meantime, I await the letter which hopefully will be arriving by mail. 

Today we also heard that my nephew has suddenly found himself without work, a place to stay or money.  He visited us on the weekend to let us know he is moving out of his previous shared house situation.  We keep telling him he is welcome to stay with us, so perhaps that is what he will be doing soon. 

Now I just need to tidy up the spare room where I have been keeping some books and boxes of school equipment.

Bananas don’t make good doorstops

This morning, Mum and Dad went sailing – actually Garage Sale-ing.  At some stage during their sailing expedition they used one of the shopping bags from the back of the car to prop open the door.  It didn’t work very well, but they noticed something inside.  It turned out to be two bananas from yesterday’s shopping trip.

Dad told me about it this morning.  To finish the story, he said, “…so we ate it!”  This set of torrents of laughter from me, especially when I saw the look on his face (a sideways smile) as he went to the back of the house.

That was a great way to start my day, especially as I sat up until about 1:30am doing some literature searches while watching American UFO programs on the television.  One program even mentioned Vannevar Bush, who we studied in my graduate library degree. 

I found 15-20 articles and was quite pleased to recognise some themes that are important in my thesis.  Out of those, only two or three will be deeply relevant, I expect. So it is onwards and upwards, once again.