Job Hunting

Vacation is officially over. I just finished my first week of work for the new year. I love my job but there are some days that I dread the sound of my alarm going off in the wee hours of the morning. However, this week I had a completely different outlook. I was so excited to go to work and see my students! Thursday is the day that I never look forward to because I am kinda scared of some of the teachers and some of the students are slightly out of control. This past Wednesday, I felt prepared and ready to wake up and tackle the day. My dad has always told me that it is important to love your job. Obviously, there wil be days when you don't want to work, but overall it has to be something that you enjoy doing. I think I've found it, teaching. Back in September when I first arrived, I told myself that I wouldn't start job searching until the new year. Like always, time flies by and here we are, in a new year. Leslie and I have created a "thoughts map" with several columns of ideas/contacts/places/etc etc. Yesterday we were very productive, I sent out 4 or 5 e-mails to some contacts asking for their advice, did some Linkedin searching, and even stopped by the French Rectorate for some advice. If I decide to stay in France, I need to know by April in order to renew my visa without having to leave the country (don't worry family I am coming home this May if I stay here or not!!!). So first on the list is to exhaust every resource I have in France. If it turns out that I can't stay here, then I begin my search back in the States. Through teaching English and tutoring business professionals, I have found that I enjoy teaching my own language. I learn how to teach a language that I don't fully understand while learning more French at the same time. Being here has shown me that even though I have studied French for 9 years and have a degree in it (still not quite sure how), there is SO MUCH that I still don't know. It's a very humbling thing. One of my new year's resolutions is to humble myself and realize that I don't know everything, to accept people's help and continue the learning process. Since I have realized this, I don't feel fully adequate to teach French in the States. While I love having an impact on students' lives, I want to teach them to my fullest abilities and right now, I think I am still in the learning phase. I love learning new expressions, words and cultural tid-bits. I want to be able to pass that along to American students, but first, I want to continue learning and soak it all in. Since I know I want to teach, yet continue to learn myself, I am on the search to continue teaching English in France. I can't re-apply for the program I am currently doing, but ideally, I would love to find a full-time position in a school or teach English to French business people. While I have started to take the necessary actions, ultimately I know it is in God's control and he will lead me to where I need to be, what a freeing feeling. Rather than being stressed (which is pointless since no one knows the future), I am trying to look at it as an adventure and enjoy every step of the way!