Square One

I called Dale during his break at work on Monday.

“We’re going to Oktoberfest!”

“Oh, are we?”

“Yes, I bought tickets last night! 65 euros each, both ways, and including tax!”

“For when?”

“October sixth to October ninth, so if you have Sunday and Monday off, you’d only need to ask for Tuesday and Wednesday.”

“Oh, right on.”

So much for a reaction! That guy is too calm for his own good. He was pleased about it though, and managed to get the days off work without any trouble.

I spent most of my time this week either reading or applying for jobs. I now have a sizeable amount of emails clogging my inbox so I don’t forget who or what job I applied for in case someone calls. I have already had an interview for a nannying position. Dale and I took the bus out to Sandymount, which involved a meltdown because the woman still hadn’t sent me her address and I waited long enough in an attempt to make sure we had the right bus that I was going to be sufficiently late. However, when I eventually received the family’s return call, they didn’t seem bothered at all. Perhaps it’s because they have three triplets under nine months as well as a four year-old boy and two nannies living in their busy household, while the mum has just returned back to work. The interview was on Thursday, which was also Arthur’s Day, though Dale and I didn’t mind not celebrating Mr. Guinness’ day because our money is only dwindling and we had already visited the brewery.

When we arrived in Sandymount, which is by the coast, I had to stop a passing man to ask for directions to Sandymount village. The man was perfectly willing to help and cheerfully led us all the way to the village. He told us he was a retired pilot and often travelled from Vancouver to Seattle and the surrounding areas. As usual, he told us the Irish go to Canada for work, and not the other way around! After some more chatting, we said goodbye to the former pilot, and the family’s dad arrived in his car to take me the rest of the way. I introduced him to Dale, who would hang around and find something to do in the village while he waited for me. The interview itself went on for over an hour. It felt like a visit rather than an interview, so there was plenty of time for me to be awkward, and I hope they won’t hold it against me. I learned that one of their nannies is going home to Brazil for family reasons, and while her friend is staying, they need someone to pick up their oldest son from school and watch him while the other nanny takes care of the triplets. Money was a bit of an issue, since they wanted someone for four days a week and only from one o’clock to seven. But it sounded like they have had trouble finding someone to fill this requirement, so they are willing to offer two full days and two shorter days. Money would still be tight, but I really like the idea that I could volunteer at Niall’s school on my Fridays off and have a better chance of getting into the Teacher Education Program when I return home. And on the off chance I actually had money, it would be easier to go on a vacation. In the meantime, Dale managed to find the house on his own because he was bored. It was a pretty miserable night for him, waiting around that entire time as it got cold out so close to the ocean. Hopefully it will have been worth it. The family said they would get back to me this week, and as I have tons of experience with kids I like to think I have a decent shot.

I have had a rollercoaster of ideas this week (incidentally I found that family through rollercoaster.ie, which Leonie recommends as a good website for childcare). Having finished my second novel, I got hyped up about creating my own website from scratch to promote my novels, which is something I have never done before. I started researching how to do it and learning more about HTML. I then felt a little disappointed as I realized I shouldn’t even spend the ten-odd dollars on it at the moment. I had just gotten excited about the newly-occurring idea of self-publishing because it would mean a more immediate result than sending my books to publishers. However, my plan was always to send them to publishers, so I have returned to that idea for now and will return to self-publishing only if they are not picked up. It’s too bad that without an agent it’s likely my books won’t get looked at for six months, and they aren’t edited yet on top of that. Having said that, a friend of mine is on the case! And in the meantime I have had an idea about collecting short stories out here and publishing them as an e-book for practice and experience, with myself as editor. I ran the plan past a few friends, and they seemed enthusiastic. Plus I have experience as an editor and webmaster for UFV’s Louden Singletree, so I am up for the challenge if only I can get some writers fired up too! November is also on it’s way, so I ought to start thinking about my next idea for Nanowrimo. Nanowrimo is too amazing of a challenge to pass up, even if I am idealess at the moment. Not to mention the more novels I write, the more likely it is that my name will stick out one day.

Another idea that has bubbled and fizzled was going to Barcelona at the end of November to visit Danielle and Tank while they are on their vacation. I can’t see it happening on the current budget, and am very disappointed. I will keep my eye on the price of flights, but Dale is especially stressed about money now, and we do have Germany ahead of us. I even asked my dad for a loan, and he quickly obliged. Hopefully I won’t have to touch it, but after withdrawing this month’s rent and waiting for our other bills to arrive, we thought we were cutting it a little too close for comfort. My fingers are certainly crossed for work! The other thing about that nannying job is that it might start in mid-October, which means I wouldn’t be pulling in any money until two weeks after that. That is, apart from a gig this Saturday that Roisin offered me at what sounds like a conference for teachers. Maybe I can learn something! I now feel that I have way too many options to consider for next year, what with debt, the faint possibility of staying longer, and the need to figure out where to go to school (I’d always planned on attending UFV, but other choices have now been suggested that I might have to either settle for or strive towards) and I don’t want to miss travel opportunities while I’m out here, despite the cost. I am very aware that travelling from home would be more expensive, but Dale has never had debt and doesn’t quite understand why I value travel over savings.

Speaking of travelling, we went to a good old Canadian potlack on Saturday at Heather, Anne, and Sydney’s new place, where Viv gave us some advice about Munich. He had just come back from his own visit to the Oktoberfest grounds, and recommended a few must-sees. It certainly sparked my interest, which makes it difficult to regret buying the tickets. And amid the banging clangs of the air hockey table that the girls had unbelievably found in their shed, the music blasting from their laptop in the corner, and the laughter coming from the kitchen, the backyard, and the living room, it was hard at that moment to worry too much about the future. I left the party armed with an email address to send a job application the next day, thanks to Heather and Anne. So overall I found that a little socializing was not too bad for me!

The Millennium Spire from Henry Street

On the following day, Dale and I took the bus into town to try out some advice from our hosts of the previous night. We headed to the market just off Henry Street to see the prices of fruit and visit the Aldi and Euro Star for our grocery shopping. It became an all-day affair, and while there were some decent savings, we realized that with the bus fare and needing to eat out, we probably spent as much as we would have done if we shopped just around the corner. It was worth the shot, however, and we were able to stop at the bank on the way home to withdraw our rent money. The rest of the day was devoted to laundry, Harry Potter, and budgeting. I’m also pretty happy it is October tomorrow because that means it’s time for our landlord to turn on the radiators!