gettin the used and abused.

I've had a fantastic week so far - just as predicted! I didn't start work today because the other 2 guys that got hired are starting on Monday, so they thought it was best for us all to start on the same day. Makes sense. So I'm enjoying my last 2 days of freedom.

Yesterday I had a day of supply teaching and it went fairly well. The first half of the day was good and the last half was hell. But I survived. Mostly on the idea that I don't have to do this full time!

But the night was capped off with The Used in concert! It was amazing, but I went in the mosh pit and am paying for it today! But Lou was nice enough to stick around with me so I could try and meet the band. And I met Dan Whitesides (the drummer)! It was awesome.

Going out in Soho tomorrow with Lou and some of her friends. Should be good - then work starts on Monday! Thank God!

a job worth it's weight in 24 carat gold.

This is shaping up to be quite the week. I interviewed at Carat last week and thought I did quite well. Turns out I was right! I was called today by their HR rep and was offered the job! I start on Thursday!!

I finally have a job!!! I'm ecstatic. Hence the exclamation marks. I haven't been able to contain my happiness and smiles all day long.

On top of that, I booked a day of supply work on Wednesday that I'm still gonna do despite the fact that I start at Carat on Thursday. And on Wednesday, I'm also going to see my favorite band alive, The Used.

So let's recap. Work. Concert. WORK. Drinks with friends. Amazing week. Yes? Yes.

(Oh and here is a link to the company website so you can see for yourself where I'll be working - http://www.carat.co.uk/index.php)

I GOT A JOB!!!!

what do you carat bout?

Alrighty, so first and foremost, the lack of blog updates? This is due to a lack of things happening right now. There's only so many posts I can make about going to the cinema or watching TV at home. The job front came to a stand still for the last 2 weeks BUT fortunately came booming back this week. This is ironic because this was the week I was going to start making calls for supply work but now I don't have time!

Today I had to go in and do some testing for the first round of interview for an administrative job at Carat (pronounced Cara - it's French). It's an entry level job where I'd be working on a team of administrators assisting the TV buyers for the company. They're the ones who buy advertising space, etc for TV (obviously). Anyway, I made it through testing and have an assessment day on Thursday. I'm really hoping this works out for 2 reasons. 1) I want the job and 2) this just happens to be the company that Lou works for! And that would be amazing. She's told me nothing but good things about it as a company and the perks are supposed to be pretty great.

While I was at testing, one of my non-teaching agencies called about an interview day tomorrow for a sales role within telecommunications. So tomorrow I have that all morning. And then directly afterwards I have to go and register with yet another teaching agency (keeping my options open). And then Thursday is the assessment centre.

Busy busy week! I also have plans for Friday with my 2 new teacher friends, the Aussie and the Kiwi. I should really just refer to them as Team South Pacific. That's what I call them in real life anyway! They're lovely girls and it's nice to have some other people to chat with and have to call on.

Anyway, that's it for this post. I will keep you all posted on any progress on the job front - keep crossing those fingers! (They probably hurt by now seeing as it's been 2 months of no job). Love you all and miss you! xxx

aboot a trunk.

A boot = a trunk. Just another vocabulary lesson from Paige.

Just thought I'd do a quick update - this weekend was a Bank Holiday, or as we Canadians know as a statutory holiday. It was actually quite eventful.

On Friday, I went to a pub in central London where one of my teaching agencies was having a welcome night for their international teachers. I met 2 girls there - 1 aussie and 1 Kiwi. We got on quite well and decided to go out afterwards. We met up with the Kiwi's flatmates, who were also from New Zealand, at a pub called The Walkabout. It's a franchised type place, basically Australian themed pubs. It was an amazing night! They were really cool people and it's nice to have met others in my shoes. Definitely will be keeping in touch with them.

Then on Saturday, Lou and I went out to Sussex for a barbeque. One of Lou's friends from university has this barbeque every year out at her parents' place in Battle. It was so nice! It felt a lot like going out to the lake because we were out in the countryside. After living in London for 2 months, you forget what space and trees and such look like! We had a wicked time and had loads of fun.

To cap off the weekend, Lou and I spent most of our time watching films and staying in. Despite the beautiful weather, we wanted to just chill out a bit.

Now I'm off to meet Lou for lunch. In terms of the job front, it basically is as follows. No job. But school's back in on Thursday so supply teaching should theoretically start pretty soon. I say theoretically only because it's quite slow for supply teaching at the beginning of the school year. So my plan is to get a retail job for September-October, use my days off to do a few days of supply then move to full time supply come November. I have an interview for a sales assistant job at the shop in Westminster Abbey which doesn't pay too horribly (about the equivalent of 13$CA an hour) and it would be quite cool to work there! I've also applied at Vodafone, which is basically a UK equivalent of Telus. And that would be in Wimbledon which is quite close to me. So fingers crossed that come next week I'll be working. If I get the job at Westminster it starts Monday. NO MORE BOREDOM!

Miss you all and hope you all have a great September Long Weekend!

xxx

brought to you by the letter p.

Well, it's been a few days since I last updated and I've been keeping busy! Nothing job related - I decided to take a few days off seeing as it was Lou's birthday last week and she took time off from work. So mostly I spent my time helping her get set up for her party on Saturday night.

Last Wednesday was Lou's actual birthday and her brother cooked dinner for her and invited me to tag along. It was wicked. Lovely dinner with her brother and his wife. They were amazingly cool and we got on quite well. So that was definitely a highlight of the week.

Let's skip to Saturday. Had loads of people over at Lou's. The party was themed and everybody was to dress as something starting with a P. I went as a Pink Lady. Lou was a pilot. There was a prom queen, Pocahontas and a peacock among other things. We all had a wicked time and I got to meet a lot of new, nice people. One of which was a girl called Becca and she's one of Lou's best friends from university. She's invited me to come along with Lou to her birthday party this upcoming weekend out in Sussex. I'm stoked! I get to see yet another little slice of England.

The only other news I have is that I've been enthralled in True Blood and that my flatmate, Ken, is amazing. He handed me his external hard drive today and let me copy loads of movies over to my computer. So now, I have about 15 new movies to watch. And you all know me well enough to know of my fondness of film and seeing as I only brought 24 of my 200, I'm happy for new ones.

Love you all and miss you. And happy birthday Mom!

this time baby i'll be mullet proof.

Again, it's been a while since my last post but I haven't really done a whole lot. Pretty much been doing the same thing as I was a week ago! Just been keeping busy with job interviews and assessment centres. It's been a good experience in the way that I'm only getting better at it but I still have not gotten a job. It's ridiculously competitive! I have to keep reminding myself that there's 400,000 grads that have just been released by the UK. All looking for jobs and all crazy Type-A high flyers. But I've made it through to the end of a few interview processes, which I guess is a success in itself. Oh well. Just gotta keep pushing. If anything, school starts in about 2 weeks so I can start supply teaching to make some money! Plus, it's really not that bad of money!

I chatted with Lindsey and she wants to come over here in November. So excited! She'll probably stay for 2 weeks - in which we'll obviously explore London and go to Paris for a few days. I can not even explain to you how stoked I am. I can not wait to go back to France! Plus, it'll be so cool for somebody to come visit. I keep forgetting I live in London.

It's Lou's birthday this week so we're busy with that. Her brother is cooking dinner for her tonight and he's invited me to join. I'm sure it'll be amazing. She's got the next couple days off so we'll be busy getting ready for her birthday party on Saturday. It's brought to you by the letter "P" so everybody has to dress up in something starting with the letter P. I'm going as a Pink Lady from Grease. It'll be amazing.

Anyway, I gotta go get ready to meet Lou for lunch. Then I'm off to register with another teaching agency - keeping all my options open.

save it for a rainy day.

I have had a lovely weekend! I'm writing this right now as I sit in the garden (aka backyard) with a pint of cider and my sunglasses on. The weather has been fantastic this weekend -- all sun, no rain. I decided to take my mind off things for the weekend and give the job hunt a rest. I have conceded to the idea that it will take time to find a job and there's no sense in worrying about it. Most people I've met have spent 2 months finding work in London, so I shall not fret ... yet.

I didn't get the job at Haymarket, but to my credit I made it to the last round of interviews, which is a huge deal considering this was my first ever career related job interview. I'll take what I can from it and move on. I had an interview with Nielsen (think Billboard magazine and Soundscan, etc) and it went well, in my eyes. Apparently though they weren't as happy with the group that my agency sent -- which might I add was 6 people. Not one of us 6 made it to the second interview. This I blame on them because the interview was only 40 minutes, divide that by 6 and you don't get a lot out of us! Most group interviews take 2-3 hours so the fact that this one was just over half an hour said a lot. Even my recruiter was confused. She has told me to contact her on Monday though and we'll set up a new interview this week. It's awesome now that I've been registered with an agency. They want to get me a job because me getting a job means they get paid. So yay.

I went to a lovely dinner party on Friday and it was illuminating. How so? I've discovered that any sort of "formal" event that you're invited to is really just a front for "Let's all drink!" Dinner parties, baby christenings, you name it. The Brits like them a pint or two.

Anyway, just thought I'd give a quick update -- I'm off to enjoy the lovely weather and my pint of Magner's.

Oh and P.S. I added a slideshow to the side of my blog that I'll keep updated as best I can with new photos. Love you and miss you all. xxx