Because A Peace Corps Readjustment Salary Will Only Get You So Far...

Financial peril is not too far behind.

I am also experiencing the job seeking blues hard core.

I started applying for exciting and interesting jobs that I felt qualified for. I heard back from two places. Interviewed at one over a month ago. Am still waiting. The other interview takes place at the end of this month. Because of the first sentence, I can't wait for either of these things to pan out or not pan out. I have heard nowt from anywhere else (well, I got one e-mail rejection).

I have now decided to take whatever I can. I am applying for jobs that I know that I am overqualified for in hopes of simply being able to afford my rent and bills and nothing else. Scarlet O'Hara ate dirt. I probably can too.

Living in Boston for less than a week, I already have a "fundraising" position that I have no idea whether or not I'll actually see any money for. I have yet to do any real phone calls and if I don't make the performance quota, I'll be cut. It's minimum wage, which no one can live on.

It's frustrating how long this process takes and so besides the "fundraising" job, I'll also be trying to substitute teach and from there I go to temp agencies.

Right now Ukraine and Peace Corps is looking SSSSOOOOOO good.

This Blog Needs a New Name

Two Dollars a Day should now be Two Cover Letters a Day, as I basically write and send off an average of two a day now.

I have settled into the apartment in S-- and have had a chance to return some much belated phone calls, but still need to catch up with basically everyone. Sorry.

The transitioning continues and in extremely surprising ways to me.

Grocery shopping takes three times as long as it used to, looking over everything as if I've landed from a strange planet. And yet, I get frustrated at things like not having the same selection in things like yogurt and juice as was in Ukraine (enjoy it Christa).

People move so fast, so quickly, so carelessly. Cars triply so. It's frustrating that people won't even wait for you to move back to the right lane when they are riding your bumper when you are in the left lane and just carelessly pass you on the right. (Think about it if you are one of these people--not everyone drives for a living or has the same Andretti like reflexes that you do). I've been honked at, passed, flicked off, etc, and never for doing something illegal, just for perhaps taking up a bit more of their precious time as I try and figure out exactly where the heck I am going, or if I am *gasp* going the speed limit.

The cost of living in America seems pretty high as well. I think about what I need to make to even maintain the lifestyle that I lived in Ukraine and (to me) it is astronomical. It seems ludricous that a person would need to make somewhere in the mid-twenty thousand range just to survive but there it is. In Ukraine, I could save approximately 20% of my monthly living allowance. I don't even see how that will be feasible for me even when I do get a job.

So those are just some thoughts that I've been having for the past few days when I'm not job searching online or doing crunches with my new housemate.

Bratislava!

View of St. Michael's Tower, Bratislava, Slovakia, late November 2007.

Why Not Book Your Next Vacation Here:

In beautiful Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. March 2007.

On the Famous Potemkin Stairs.

Odessa, Summer 2006.

The Largest Square in Europe

The Soviets weren't no slouches. This is a photo of largest square in Europe (as was reported to us) found in the Eastern city of Kharkov, Ukraine. Photo from July 2006.

Moving Day

Today I am heading up to Boston to hopefully start life anew up there. It has been nice to be in Pennsylvania and visit my family and friends, but I suppose a girl has gotta find a job sometime.

Found this and thought it true/funny:

"For many people, their 27-month tour will be one of the most challenging things they ever do. As a volunteer you will be bored, you will be lonely, and you will get some sort of exotic illness. You will need a good sense of humor, heaps of flexibility, and donkey carts full of patience. You will have to lower your comfort level and raise your tolerance level."

This was written by someone who was a PCV over 4 years ago who served in a very different geographic place than myself, but it rings true I suppose no matter where you served.

(the source)http://www.transitionsabroad.com/publications/magazine/0409/the_real_peace_corps.shtml

First batches

Got some photos back the other day and here is one shot of Bachkhisaray (spelling?) from March 2007 when I took several students to Simferopol to participate in a Ukrainian student conference. Good times.