No, not a paying gig yet, unfortunately. :) This week I started volunteering at Eduardo's school three days a week. It came about because I asked the Spanish teacher at Eduardo's school if she could help me with my business Spanish / give me someone else to practice with, as so far every job has asked how my Spanish is and I always reply the same way - I am pretty decent in a regular conversation, but I know no business words as I've never had to use them before. Since it's looking like I have to be patient and wait to get a job until my residency / job permit is finalized, I figured I might as well take some steps to change my answer when companies ask me about my Spanish, so it looks like I've been doing something with my time while unemployed, other than incubating, birthing and raising a child that is. :)
So, I asked the Spanish teacher for help, but also asked if there was something we could work out in a barter system vs. me giving her cash due to the whole unemployed thing. :) She is also now one of the teachers for the new preschool that Eduardo's school started this semester and I think it's been a little crazy for her trying to get used to the new schedule / additional responsibilities. She's also trying to get her residency finalized here through a refugee status and has been working on that on her own the last few months. She had two appointments with Immigration this week, so it was a good week for me to start helping out! She said if I would help her at the school in the preschool class, she would help me with my Spanish. Plus, the preschool is semi-bilingual as many of the kids use English and Spanish interchangeably, so I'm practicing my Spanish with them too.
In addition to the Spanish help, I decided volunteering at the school would be good for me as I need to ease into being gone from Kaylynn / Davie and not jump into a 40+ hour work week whenever I do get a job and have that be the first time I'm consistently away from them. I was so, so, so lucky to be able to spend 18 weeks with Kaylynn without having to work, but I know that's not sustainable long-term. I will eventually, hopefully sooner rather than later, have to go to work again, and to help make that transition easier for me, it is nice to be able to gradually build up to being gone 5 days a week, 8+ hours a day. I have to work, but I also want to work. I enjoy getting out of the house and talking with people and doing different things. At the same time, I miss being home, as ultimately I am a homebody at heart and, somehow, Davie and I are pretty much able to be together 24-7-365 without needing or wanting regular breaks from each other. Plus, Kaylynn is SO cute right now and it's sad to be away! Needless to say, I was a big mess Tuesday morning. :)
Which is another way that starting with volunteering at Eduardo's school is such a good thing for me - they are our Costa Rican family. Melissa and David have not only provided an amazing education for Eduardo in a place where he feels comfortable and has so much fun, they have also taken us under their wing and provided us a safe place to go when we are struggling and an ear when we need to talk and a taste of America when we are feeling homesick. When I start a real job again, I can't show up an emotional mess the first day of work! But, I was able to do that at school and it helped make that first day so much better because I was able to talk to the teachers about how I was feeling and they are almost all parents themselves and so could relate to what I was telling them. I didn't stay a mess for long, as when you are dealing with seven 3-5 year olds, there's not a lot of time for being a mess, but it was nice to have a place where I could be myself and struggle. Wednesday I was much, much better, although still a little emotional when I said goodbye to Davie. Thursday, I was just fine and it ended up being my longest day away from Kaylynn ever and that thought didn't even cross my mind until just now! By the time I do start work full-time, I think I will be able to make that transition without too many, if any, problems thanks to the school.
There are other pluses about volunteering at the school as well - I get to see Eduardo during the day. He's so cute when he sees me and it's fun to watch him there as he does love it so much. I get to practice pumping in a new environment and get used to juggling that and "work". (Yesterday I was flustered as Kaylynn hadn't woken up to eat before I left so I needed to pump earlier. Plus, I had been alone with the kids for an hour and that was CRAZY! So I got myself set up and started pumping and looked down to make sure all was going ok and realized I hadn't put a bag to catch the milk on the right side and I was pumping milk all over me and the floor. Melissa just laughed and laughed when I told her. This is why it's good I'm starting at the school and not at a "real" job so I can hopefully get all of these types of things out of my system and pumping will be old hat by the time I start work!) It's also just fun to play with the kids for a few hours, 3 times a week. (Although I find it very ironic that I'm leaving my child to go take care of other people's children.) I never know what's going to come out of their mouths or what might happen. Wednesday one of the little boys licked my hand. Yuck. :) And yesterday another little boy said "You're a little fat. My dad is really fat." And then we got to talk about how it's not nice to say someone is fat because it can hurt their feelings, and we shouldn't talk about people when they aren't there, and that yes, I'm a little fat. :) But the boy said girls are normally fatter than boys because girls have babies, so I guess it's okay that I'm a little fat. At least he only said I was a little fat and not a lot fat! The kids are really just too cute! I also get to feel like I'm really helping the school and making a difference there. They've given us an amazing discount on Eduardo's tuition because of the work situation and because I help them with accounting. But they haven't used me for accounting services nearly as much as I would like in order to feel like I'm giving back to them what they give to us. So being able to help them with the preschool helps me feel like we aren't just completely taking advantage of their generosity. I also like getting to feel like I'm a part of the school and what they are doing there. It's really a pretty amazing place, in my opinion.
So that's our update. We're three months into waiting on our application for residency to be finalized. Our lawyer said she thinks it should take 4-5 months, so hopefully there's maybe just another month or two to go. I am continuing to apply for as many remote positions as I can find, where I could work from here for a US company, but so far I haven't had any luck in that regard. It would be great to be able to work from home for a US company, it just takes the right position to come along! I've also heard of some potential positions that are coming open here in the next little bit, that would be very exciting if I could get one of them. But we just have to wait and see what happens. The kids are great. Eduardo has decided he loves reading now that he has found the Captain Underpants series. Yes, I do think the books are as silly as the title suggests, but he loves them and that's all that matters! They are chapter books in English, which is just so amazing that he's reading them considering he knew almost no English at all just this past August. He's finished two in two days and I'm sure he'll bring a third one home today. I love that he's found something he enjoys reading! Kaylynn is continuing to get more active and alert and fun every day. She's on track to double her birth weight this month, chunky little thing (although she's still just in the 50th percentile for weight and 75th for height). We're tentatively talking about going to the beach tomorrow. Melissa and David want to take their boys and asked if we wanted to caravan. They are going to a beach we haven't gone to yet, so we might as well go and check it out! David also said he would take pictures of the kids before we left for our Valentine's Day cards I'm planning, so it would work well. I hope the cards turn out cute!
I hope everyone else is doing well and that you have a great weekend!!! Here are some pictures before you go. :)
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| Planking / tummy time |
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| Reaching for Bella |
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| My little monkey loves trees |
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| Trying to get a picture of the three of us, but Kaylynn was mesmerized by her foot! |
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| Eduardo was helping me try to get Kaylynn to roll over. I think she'll do back to stomach before she does stomach to back! |
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| Davie took Kaylynn out on the balcony while I was at the school. It's our new favorite place to play! The weather here has been gorgeous lately! |
