Small World ... and Encouragement

This past week, I was attacked by a terrifying monster! It went for my throat first, striking me where, as a singer, I'm most vulnerable. Then it went for my nose. I valiently fought back with my powerful Vitamin C. I managed to shake off its slimy, nasty tentacles, but it took my voice away yesterday. While I'm thankful that I'm feeling much better, I hope my voice returns by the time I need to use it to sing at church in 9 hours!

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I was home for a brief visit this weekend (home as in real home, not MySchool living quarters). As I was driving home on Thursday after school, a van drove up extremely close behind me. I don't like being tailgated, so I moved over to another lane so the rude driver could pass me. The van didn't pass me for awhile, and I wondered why the driver had been so persistent in trailing me. When the van did pass me, I noticed it had out-of-state plates (not MySchool state or Home state). Then the van slowed down again, so that I was pulling up along side it.

"They must be on their cell phone," I thought. "Or maybe they've got small children and that's why they're not paying attention to their driving!" I looked over, annoyed, and was startled to see my high school youth pastor and his daughter waving at me! People from Home. Home, which is 250+ miles from MySchool. Approximately a 5 hour drive. And here we both were, driving along the major highway in MySchool's state just 30 miles from MySchool. How bizarre! When we exited the major highway, my former youth pastor called my cell phone (I didn't know he had the number) to say hi. (I'm guessing they had tailed me because they noticed my license plate and the MySchool logo on the rear of my car.)
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Yesterday morning, I met with the lady who could be my boss if I get a job at Home after graduation. As I prepared for my appointment with her, I tried to think of this meeting as an unofficial interview. I talked with Cooperating Teacher and the chair of my department (a professor of whom I think highly) a great deal: What questions should I ask her about potential employment? What should I ask about the school system? What information should I already know before I speak with her?

I was grateful that I'd had the extra help from my mentors because our appointment felt like an informal preliminary interview. She asked me some typical interview questions: What did you like most about student-teaching at the high school level? The elementary school level? What are your strengths in the classroom? What area do you want to teach? Do you have a copy of your resume that you can leave with me? (I had brought along a copy, even though I'd attached it to the email I had sent her. She skimmed over it, nodding and murmuring her approval over various items.)

She gave me the names of her colleagues in neighboring school districts and suggested that I send applications to those areas. While she wasn't anticipating any openings for next year at this early date, she'd have a clearer idea in a few months. Give me a call at the end of March, beginning of April. She told me twice to pick up an application and to get it in as soon as possible. As we parted, she said, "It's good to know there are people like you out there."

Even though I had been secretly hoping that she'd know of openings for next year, I was very pleased with how everything went. I survived my first [unofficial] job interview! Even more so, her positive feedback encourages me: I should be able to get a job, somewhere, next year. :-)
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I called Cooperating Teacher afterwards to tell him about the meeting. After I thanked him again for his help in preparing for the appointment, he asked a favor of me: One of the choirs had been asked to sing for some event early next semester, but he's going to be out of town. Would I be willing to conduct them in his absence? I tried to restrain some of my enthusiasm as I brightly accepted the offer. Yay!

What a compliment! He could have declined the invitation since he knew he'd be unavailable. Instead, he believes in my abilities enough to have asked me to step in! Who knew? By that, I mean ... I've never had a clear sense of how he views me. He's very guarded, and I've been unable to figure out his thoughts. His asking me to do this tells me, at the very least, that he doesn't think I'm incompetent. :-)