Today

Today was good because:

LivingSocial hired me to write for Escapes (YESSS. I CAN WORK IN PAJAMAS FROM HOME UNTIL I DEPART FOR WHEREVER).

I sold several pieces of furniture.

I got to see Emily! Yay.

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I had a couple of pre-interview interviews this week for two schools in Shanghai. Both went well.

I got two more interviews confirmed for the fair: Prishtina, Kosova and Guayama, Puerto Rico. Beginning to think I overbooked myself. We'll see.

I'm starting to get sad about leaving Austin.

This song is currently cheering me up:



Ai se eu te pego!

More Fair

Yesss my fair binder is done. I organized all the school fact sheets and sticky noted with different colors so I remember which ones have invited me to interview and which other ones I want to talk to. I also have a sticky note color for "last resorts," but shh don't tell anyone.

I usually suck at organizing things, but this was pretty essential to do unless I wanted to lose my mind trying to keep all of them straight.

Days until UNI Fair: 10

Adventures in the Kitchen: Raspberry Poppy Seed Dressing

I made this for a strawberry and spinach salad on New Year's Eve, and ooh it was good.

Raspberry Poppy Seed Dressing

Ingredients:

1/4 cup grated/minced onion (half of a small onion)
1/2 cup raspberry vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup canola oil
1-1/2 teaspoons poppy seeds

Directions:

Add minced onion, vinegar, sugar, mustard, and salt to a blender or food processor and mix until combined. With the blender/food processor running, add the oils in a thin stream through the hole in the top. Blend until well mixed. Add poppy seeds and pulse just until mixed.

SALAD TIME!

Grammar Lessons from the Future English Teacher: Installment 4

Today's lesson will be a quick one: direct address. If you are directly addressing someone/something, this means that you are talking to him/her/them/it. If you are writing or typing your direct address, you need to use at least one comma.

Example:

Did you hear me, Watson?

Easy. Now, if your address is in the middle of a sentence, there needs to be a comma before AND after the name.

Example:

What I said, Watson, was to stop eating all of my cheese.

Also easy. If your address is at the beginning of the sentence, the comma goes after.

Example:

Watson, please buy me some more cheese.

EASY. Please use commas.

UNI Fair Update

Finished my credential file for the UNI Overseas Job Fair and sent my resume and cover letters to 33 schools in total, all around the world. An additional five schools contacted me separately (only one of which I turned down), so I've got some interview invitations set up already:

Barranquilla, Colombia
Manizales, Colombia
Shanghai, China
Jakarta, Indonesia
Taichung, Taiwan
Hawalli, Kuwait

I just finished sending out letters today, so I'll hopefully get a few more responses before the fair and some other interviews scheduled once I get there.

On an information type note, I've had a couple schools turn me down because of my lack of full-time experience (a lot of schools want candidates to have at least 2 years), but there are definitely options for new teachers like me.

I'm really excited about all of these prospects! I might be going to the Middle East, but I'm definitely going somewhere.