Finally!

I finally got a job! 

 On the count of three, everybody take a collective sigh of relief: 1, 2, 3.....ahhhhhhh.

It's not exactly what I was hoping for, but it will definitely work.  I'll be teaching part time at two different schools.  In both schools I will be teaching middle school Spanish.  There will be an introductory level course for 7th graders and then a more "advanced" introduction for 8th graders.  Basically the kids will get exposure in 7th grade and then choose if they want to continue with the class in 8th grade, where they can potentially earn credit for high school by taking an Advanced Placement style exam at the end of the year.  The nice part is I'll be teaching the same thing at two schools, so I really only to plan for two classes, just teach four of them.  

Altogether the four Spanish classes count for about half time, and so in order to qualify for 75% time (leading to more benefits and tad more pay) I will be filling in as a certified aid for 1st and 2nd grade at the first school.  I'll be working with small reading groups and doing testing and whatnot.  Basically I'm their "Jack Of All Trades", or gopher, or whatever.       

Although I'm not terribly keen on teaching Spanish again (or working with the tiny elementary people...why are they always sticky?), it's way too good of an opportunity to pass up.  I love the first school (have yet to learn much about the second, but I'm sure it will be nice too) and the principal has been more than generous in helping me get my foot in the door.

Now that I am gainfully employed, I can afford to treat myself a little bit.  Although I may not go this far: 

But I may need to buy some Manchego cheese and a bouquet of flowers or something.  Treat Yo'Self!  

Tour!

I got a call from HB Lee Middle School yesterday, and I (again) did not get the job.  To console myself, I made this silly video.  I rarely use iMovie, so don't judge me too much.  

I've also created a pathetic attempt at a floor plan to help explain the layout of the place.  It's clearly not to scale, and I'm sure I forgot to draw some doors or something, but it works.   

There! I told ya I'd do it! :) 

Busy Busy Busy

I had an interview at HB Lee Middle School on the far Northeast side of the city yesterday, we'll see what happens.  I'd like to get the job, it seems like a decent place; although I'm not as gung ho as I was about my previous interview, but I'm sure I could be happy there.  In the mean time, I've been applying to more jobs although most of them aren't teaching jobs.  I'm working on substitute teaching applications, but I'm starting to submit some retail stores too, we'll see what happens.  

As I wait to hear on jobs, I'm discovering a bunch of dirty spots in the apartment that I apparently missed the first time around.  This concept baffles me, since I was certain I'd wiped down every surface of this place, twice.  But this grime is a force of nature.  It appears to grow on its own. 

Case and Point: 

I hard core mopped the floor the other day.  I'd mopped with water before, and wiped down parts, but this time I used a combination of hot water, vinegar, baking soda and castile soap.  And the key: a scrubby sponge.  Although it's hard to see in this photo, that water was  BLACK.  So filthy.  Blech!  The water was saturated with grime.  And that my friends, is only from the kitchen floor!  I had to use four different buckets to clean all the floors.  It was bad.  

Now, this is the upper portion of the bathroom door.  Somehow I managed to miss this spot when I was scrubbing the walls and doors.  This is the mystery goo that was on nearly every surface of this place.  Let's play a fun game: Name That Substance!  

Another view of the goo.  See how it's just splattered on the door?  Gross. Gross. Gross. 

Luckily my go to multi-purpse cleaner of vinegar, castile soap and water works well and cleans it off.  

I'm in the process of creating a video tour of our place, so keep checking back to see it.    

Week-aversary

We've officially lived in Portland for a week.  Now that the apartment is more or less clean (yes, it has taken me this long...I thought I was done, but I kept finding more!) we've been starting to put our home together a bit.  We've made countless trips to Bed Bath & Beyond (Dan's favorite...NOT) to get essentials.  We discovered a Target, Bed Bath and Beyond and an IKEA all quite near one another.  Dangerous!  We've only been to IKEA once so far and walked out with one $60 item, so we're doing well.  The whole no-income-flow thing helps with the self-control a bit.  Once we felt like we were on a roll piecing together the house however, our kitty decided she needed some attention.  

Around Wednesday or so we noticed that Futty cat wasn't acting herself.  She was really lethargic and quiet (she normally meows constantly and will actually have a conversation with you...did I just admit that I talk to the cat?).  She started sneezing a ton, and her left eye seemed extra watery and kinda goopy (pleasant, right?).  We called a veterinarian and got an appointment.  Yes, this means the cat has a doctor, but neither of the humans do.  Meh, priorities.  We took her into the vet on Friday to discover that she has herpes.  Yeah.  Gross.  Apparently it's very common in shelter cats and there's no cure.  She'll most likely deal with flare ups her whole life.  The vet said that when a cat is stressed, the herpes often shows itself in the form of an upper respiratory infection (which Futty has).  

The vet gave her a bit of medicine to help with the infection, but we basically need to let the virus run its course.  We have some vitamins that we're giving her now to help boost her system against the herpes and prevent flare ups.  She seems to be on the mend and was hunting flies today.  Although she still doesn't want to be too social

Once we get more of the artwork up on the walls (or in the storage space downstairs, which is a Godsend), I'll share a tour of our tiny space.  

Home Sweet Home?

We're finally done driving (sound of raucous applause)! We made it to Portland around 4:00 on Friday afternoon.  We were assured our place was emptied, cleaned and prepared for our move-in, so we stormed in, guns-ablazin'.  We quickly discovered that the apartment was indeed emptied, but not cleaned...at all.  

We moved everything in (since the idea of our earthly belongings spending one more vulnerable night in a truck on the street scared us)  and started to clean around it all.  And here I am, finally coming exiting my haze of cleaning products and into the fresh Portland air.  I'm still not convinced the place is clean to my standards (which make me look more and more like the F.R.I.E.N.D.S character Monica Gellar every day) but it's close to livable now.  I still need to sweep and mop, but that will have to wait until the key to our storage unit arrives and we can move those items out of the way.  

The total tallies of cleaning products used:

10 Mr. Clean Magic Erasers (not even kidding..TEN)

2 Large bottles of Goo Gone

4 Rolls of paper towels (rags were filthy after the first wipe and I couldn't clean them fast enough)

1 gallon of vinegar

1 container of dish soap

1 box of baking soda

1 bottle of hydrogen peroxide

2 cups of bleach 

Seriously...it's clean now, I swear.  

Aside from being excessively grimy, the place seems like it will work.  It definitely feels much smaller than we were hoping, but I guess that's what you get when you sign the lease sight unseen.  It's in a building from 1910, with an Otis elevator from 1889.  Don't try to do the math, it's illogical any way you  look at it.  I like to imagine a large elevator towering in the middle of the block, then someone built the building around it.  The apartment living space is small, but the closet: Narnia!  It's insanely huge.  It's more than "walk-in."  We have two dressers in there, and that only takes up a quarter of the space.  We also get a storage locker in the basement which seems to be about the size of our old bathroom.  The neighborhood is pretty fun too.  We're definitely not in Pilsen anymore.  There's a ton of restaurants and bars on our street.  Two blocks away there's tons of shopping.  Paper Source, Pottery Barn, Trader Joe's, hip clothing boutiques and the "Best Ice Cream in Portland" apparently reviewed as such by the New York Times, although I can't find the review, haha.  Anyway, it'll be a fun change of pace.  We're still waiting on our own internet, and getting things in their place, then photos will be shared.

Saddle Sore

Day four is done and I'm starting to get a bit tired of the driving.  Good thing we're planning for tomorrow to be our last day.  We're starting out pretty early and expect to make it to Portland by nightfall.  

Tonight we're in Missoula, MT.  Many of our friends suggested we stop here for a night, so we're excited to see what all the hoopla is about.  Dan's currently out for a run (his favorite way to explore a new town) so I'm sure he'll have spied some places he'll want to check out.  I'm sitting in our hotel room.  Definitely the grossest place we've stayed so far.  There's magenta carpeting.  And curtains.  And bedspread.  Don't get me started on the nasty stains and marks on the wall.  I keep telling myself that it's better than any of the hostels I stayed in when I was in Argentina.  I'll live.  

Today's Superlatives: 

Most Exotic License Plate: British Columbia (these Canadians!) 

Most Disgusting Roadkill: I'm pretty sure it was a porcupine, but who could tell, it was all squashed.  

Most Interesting Car/Driver: The gawdy red sports car with flames and a fake racing number on the side.  This guy was classy, I tell ya.  

Stupidest Billboard Ad: "It only takes once to get hooked" with a creepy yellowing syringe...more disturbing than stupid 

Strangest Town Name: Anaconda Opportunity.  Seriously!  What?   

Most Offensive Sight: This carpeting. 

Portland tomorrow!  And probably no internet until Monday.