Allow me to fill you in on the past six months:
Through the snow storms of February all was going well and I was enjoying many delays and days off from school. Danny found a job in Manhattan, which meant a new two-hour each way commute and an end to his house-elfing duties. (Yes, Danny, I said duties.) Dinners got later, chores increased, and finding time to write, call, or visit became more of a challenge. I probably would have settled into a routine, but then the bottom dropped out of my universe. On March 2 the official word came down from District Office that 41 more positions were being eliminated in Mahopac, and that my teaching job was one of them. Thus began three months of intensive job hunting. If you haven't been through that process in a while, consider yourself lucky. The resume updating, cover letter writing, and process of mailing letters of reference, transcripts, and certifications is both time consuming and expensive. Most schools use OLAS to hire, which is like an application abyss, as schools get inundated with applicants from all over the country. (See this NY Times article about the teaching job market this year.) The first month or so was a stressful time of waiting for responses...then the real fun began. There were screening interviews, first-round interviews, demo lessons, second-round interviews, writing samples, third-round interviews, and three-hour drives to schools state-wide multiple times. Let's not discuss the gas and tolls, nor the stress of writing sub plans for all the days I was missing. After all, I was still teaching full time through the end of the school year. It really turned into two full-time jobs: one that was currently paying my bills, and one that would hopefully yield future income. Poor Danny, my roommate, chef, and proofreader extraordinaire.
Finally, finally, finally, after all of that, the offers started to come in...then began the juggling of which schools wanted answers when and how to decide which to accept. Don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining about that part - it's a much better dilemma than trying to find some minimum-wage job, but it is stressful. I've heard too many stories of people who didn't juggle well and ended up losing both opportunities. Ultimately, I narrowed my options down to three schools. One made me a great offer, thus, I decided not to play anymore and withdrew my candidacy from the other two schools. On June 2, 12 weeks exactly after the bombshell of being excessed, I was officially appointed as the new English Department Chair at Calhoun High School in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District.
The job is great! I teach two classes (periods 3 and 4), one is 10R and one is 10I - an inclusion class with a full-time special-ed co-teacher. I am responsible for the English and drama departments as well as the library at my high school. There are two other high schools in the district, each with their own chair, which is nice because it means I have great resources in colleagues. My department is 16 people, including me, 11 of whom are men. This is highly unusual in an English department. They are all tenured, which is also nice in that they are all veteran members of the school community. My administrators are pleasant and supportive, my teachers are dedicated and enthusiastic, and my students seem like students I've taught before - fun and interesting. I have an air-conditioned office and a secretary! And I work a teacher's calendar plus 8 days in the summer, 4 on each side of the school year. The ONLY down-side (other than needing to buy my first "grown-up" wardrobe - no more jeans!), is my 33 mile (read 45-90 minute) commute via car. Oh yes, the girl who hates mornings and hasn't commuted farther than 22 minutes in the past 10 years will be trekking from Brooklyn to Long Island. And while this is technically a "reverse commute" - those of you familiar with the city and the island know, there is no such thing as a traffic-free drive in either place.
That brings me to the next segment of the story...the apartment hunt. What an error in calculation I made! Silly me, I thought finding a job would be the hard part - no, no - finding an apartment proved to be much more difficult. Beginning June 3, as soon as I was official, I began scouring craigslist, the NY Times, and other real estate sites for apartments that would be available August 1. I searched Long Island, I searched Queens...I kept hoping to find a place where Danny and I could split our commutes and our rent. No such luck. I broadened my search to Manhattan, after all, when I decided to come home last year, the city was really where I wanted to be. After hours and days of pounding the pavement and dealing with brokers who stood me up, couldn't get into apartments, or tried to up-sell (or is con the right word here?)
"Really, $2600 for a 4th floor one bedroom walk-up with no a/c, no d/w, and no laundry on premises that's a 5-block walk to the garage where you have to pay an additional $600/month to store your car plus the $11/day toll over the Triborough bridge is a great deal to be in this neighborhood - Spanish Harlem is really up and coming!"
I finally heeded the advice of so many and moved my search to Brooklyn. More hours on the internet, more hours on Metro North, more hours listening to brokers who didn't listen to me...after viewing no less than 40 apartments and burning up hundreds of minutes on my cell phone (sorry Alanna!) I finally found a place that I loved. In fact, I found two. One had the lock on price (and the added bonus of no broker's fee), storage, and was BRAND NEW! It even had outdoor space and a d/w. The other won hands-down for location and layout. It too had a d/w and it had a w/d as well. But it also had a higher rent and a hefty broker's fee. What to do, what to do? I dragged Alanna to see them both, went with Danny to see them both again, we both called our dads for advice and finally, we made a decision. We all know the three rules of real estate are location, location, location and you know I'm a rule follower. So we ended up with a third floor, floor-through walk-up in a brownstone right on the border of Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill. We have two real bedrooms (we saw some "bedrooms" that were smaller than closets I've had in the past), bedrooms that house queen-sized beds with room to spare, a living room, bathroom, kitchen (not kitchenette), a/c, d/w, w/d, ceiling fan, and southern exposure. Our landlord let us pick our paint colors and even installed a brand-new oven! Every day when we walk the 3 minute, 1 block walk to the subway or amble around the corner to the bakery or a great Italian restaurant, we know we made the right choice. I will have to drive to work, so I have my car here, but it's street parking, so no fee and it's Brooklyn, so no tolls going to school. Alternate side of the street rules don't impact me because of my hours and thus far, I haven't had to go more than two blocks away. We're on the F and G lines, which means Danny has a straight 25 minute ride to work with no transfers and we can easily access the LES, midtown, and Coney Island. To get uptown it's a quick transfer to the west side. The east is a little less easy, as are some parts of Brooklyn, but not bad and certainly between the subway and the car, we can get to everything. Now if only the MTA would stop raising prices!
On a side note, there was a quick jaunt to Vegas over Memorial Day weekend - a celebration of my new job, a respite from the stress, a pacifier for she who didn't travel during February or April breaks, and a foodie fun-fest. There are pictures from incredible meals at incredible restaurants and stories to tell. All for a later post.
We signed our lease on July 4 and then began the madness that was packing, arranging movers, selling Danny's car, switching cable, electric and other utilities, changing our address with everything under the sun, and finding places to store all the items that wouldn't be relocating with us. Needless to say, there has been little rest and no vacation this summer! We finally moved in on August 1, a horrendous 16 hour day (to move 50 miles - a story better saved for another post) and after a full week of intensive unpacking and shopping (Ikea, JC Penny, Bed Bath & Beyond, and The Container Store have claimed my first impending paycheck) we can now reach the refrigerator, wash clothes, shower, and sit on the couch without tripping over boxes. I spent hours cleaning this weekend, as my feet were turning black every time I walked on the hard-wood floors and what was behind the fridge and in the air conditioner probably qualified as a pet and should have been named. There is one more shopping trip needed to purchase a full-length mirror (lest I end up at work wearing mis-matched shoes!) and some items to hang on the walls, and then I promise, pictures will be taken and posted. So, there it is...my long list of excuses for why I haven't posted in months. And slowly but surely, I'm getting back to writing, as well as calling and seeing those of you I've neglected all this time. I took one day off from the house-work to visit with my BG peeps in Baltimore and today has been spent doing school-related work. Perhaps a routine is going to emerge soon...perhaps I'll even manage to plan a trip somewhere, even if it's just for 4 or 5 days - these gypsy feet itch...they have a case of the travel bug!
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