I've haven't posted anything on my blog in ages. Mostly that's because when you're unemployed (even in an exotic new country) you life becomes pretty dull. And then when you find employment your life gets all busy. But I wanted to write a post to bring anyone who's interested up to speed, then I'm going to be a little more regular in my writings.
Right. So since I last posted the following things have happened:
- Passed my driving test
- Finished watching the X-files
- I appeared on the radio
- Started volunteering with a suicide hotline
- Found a job
- Got a little bit political
- Joined the gym!
So.... my job is pretty cool - I'm working for a non-profit that helps elderly, ill and disabled people stay cool in summer and warm in winter. It's called EnergyCare. Temperatures in St Louis can get pretty extreme: the city has the 4th highest rate of heat related deaths in the USA and winter temperatures get well below freezing for extended periods. It's a fun job - I do most of the agency's fundraising, plus some program management and then a load of standard dull work admin stuff. There's only six of us working there which means I get involved in everything we do, and most of them are pretty cool people.
Volunteering with Life Crisis Services hasn't been fun exactly, but really rewarding and apparently I'm pretty good at it. I got promoted from 'Crisis Worker' to 'Crisis Worker Plus', which means that I now have a cup holder arm-rest. Because of my accent I also get asked questions like "are you from China or something?" Anyway - I've really got a lot out of it, and I'm thinking a bit about social work as a future career direction.
I've been driving since February, and I'm a safe, if not elegant driver. Touch wood. I've started getting agitated about the price of gas (i.e. petrol) and wince when the price goes up even though it's really only 61p per litre. And it was less than that a few days when I last filled up - score!
I find it very difficult to feel apathetic about politics in the US. There's so much crazy stuff that goes on - e.g. Congress just repealed the law that banned them from insider trading. e.g. guns. e.g. poverty. On the one hand I feel like I'm a foreigner (I still feel like a foreigner rather than an 'immigrant') so I wonder whether it's any of my business, but on the other hand it's people in the city where I live that are getting murdered by gun fire, it's my neighbors who are living in abject poverty, and simple human empathy says I should care about that. I've signed up to work with the St Louis Young Democrats, which I'm excited about and will hopeful help me feel like I'm being a good citizen (even if I'm not a citizen).
So... there's the highlights.
