J.O.B.

So, for those of you not on Facebook (and thus not privy to my every movement through status updates), or who haven't yet received a personal e-mail from me, I started my new job on Monday.

Things are good so far: everyone has been extremely nice, I work down the hall from everyone I worked with as a graduate student (so I know practically everyone on our floor already), and I haven't had much of a problem adjusting to an 8 hour work day....Okay that's not entirely true. I work an 9 hour work day because at around 11:30 every day I go work out with Scientist, making my day longer as I have to stay later for taking a long lunch. This makes my day seem really long by the time 5 rolls around, but I'm glad I can work out during the day--it makes me more productive in the afternoon, when I have a serious energy slump.

Anyway. I don't really have an idea of what my work load is really going to be like yet; my boss and other people I work with are actually out of town this week, and won't be back until Monday. I was told that come Monday things are really going to start 'movin'. Whatever that means. I'm okay with that though, I would much rather have stuff to do than be super bored, as I was during my graduate assistantship.

What I did with those two years

Thursday, I submitted my background check to my future place of employment. If you've ever done this (which, I actually have--I was fingerprinted and thoroughly checked out before I left for Ukraine), it's a little unnerving, no matter how clean one's record is. I didn't even have to submit that much information: just my social security information and the addresses of every place I've lived in the last 7 years. I hate this sort of thing not because I have anything to hide, but because it is SO annoying. Especially if you've, say, spent a significant portion of time overseas and have to explain to someone why it would a giant pain in everyone's ass for you to write down every address you've lived at ( a) they're in Russian, and b) I don't remember all of them and c) if you want a really good picture of what type of citizen I was thru 2005, its easier to check with the Peace Corps office in Kyiv than with the local police department in a small town in southern Ukraine). It always sounds like you're lying or hiding something.

This is actually something I run into frequently: having to explain my Peace Corps service and all it entailed to people who haven't spent any/ a lot of time in a developing country. I had a less than idyllic Peace Corps service: I started out my service with a giant, painful cyst in my ear which I had to have removed (after 2 operations I'm finally okay); I had a very difficult time with the administration at my school; I moved a bunch because of a bad landlord or two; I had put up with some seriously childish, asshole-like behavior on the part of other volunteers(think re-living high school in a bubble); and I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder 3 months after arriving home (I didn't tell anyone about the anxiety while I was in Ukraine for fear of being sent home). It sucked. Not everything, and not the whole two years, but a significant proportion of it.

So, when I try to explain why I moved four times in a year, or why I don't consider Peace Corps the best time of life, or why I don't even bring it up right away when I meet people, it's hard. I don't want to scare anyone off from trying the Peace Corps, or, God forbid, traveling/living overseas, but I don't want to lie and say everything was sunshine and roses. It wasn't: but not for the reasons that most people think (no heat, intermittent water, frigid weather, etc.). How do you explain that? I don't play the "poor me" violin and ask for pity. I just want to put the bad parts behind me completely and forget about it sometimes, which is difficult when I have to constantly talk about the circumstances surrounding my service whether in an interview or filling out a background check.

JOB!

I done gotten myself offered a job! Okay, I actually received a "contingency offer"; meaning, my offer is contingent on me passing a background check. God willing, I will pass said background check and then my ass will be employed!! YAY!

I will be working on a tobacco cessation project. Actually, there are two projects I'll be working on: one is smokeless tobacco intervention and the other is a smoking cessation project for pregnant smokers.

I'm super excited. It could definitely pay better, but its in my field and my future boss is a master grant writer, who, hopefully, will impart some wisdom and experience on me and teach me how to write an awesome grant. Researchers love people who can write grants and get them money. Love. It.

Cranky

Reasons why I'm pissed:

1. The economic stimulus package: I'm unemployed and, if/when the SP is passed, I will be (hopefully) working in a field that benefits enormously from it and is STILL PISSES ME OFF. What a huge waste of money.

2. Unemployment: I supposedly live in the city with the lowest unemployment rate in the country....So, where's my job, biatch?

3. Having to avoid the woman at Starbucks who, for no reason, scolded me for reading 'A Year of Living Biblically'. I see her all the time now, and, because I'm a nice person who was raised with manners (unlike SOME people), I feel like I need to say hello and exchange niceties with her.

4. My former adviser.

5. My mom hurt her back.

6. I'm about to be offered a job that pays crap. Seriously. Like, imagine what you might think would be normal for someone in my field with a Master's degree and experience, and then lower it. Lower. Lower. That's about right.

7. I'm ambivalent about children.

8. It's February.

9. Next month will be March.

10. I LIVE IN WEST VIRGINIA FOR GOD'S SAKES.

Fingers Crossed

I had a second interview on Tuesday for one of the jobs I applied for a few weeks ago. It went really really well. I gave some great answers about why I was interested in the job and why I got into Public Health, and the women I was interviewing with (the boss women) seemed to take quite a liking to me. I kept emphasizing that I wanted to become more familiar with the grant writing process, as look at how Public Health policy can work to improve the overall well being of communities in need, which they seemed to really like (who doesn't want an employee to VOLUNTEER to help write a grant that will get you federal money?). Towards the end of the interview they really started talking in concrete terms: what I would be doing, as well as the work environment, etc. A good sign, for sure.

When I e-mailed both of them yesterday I was told they both enjoyed meeting me, enjoyed my enthusiasm and I would be "hearing from them very soon". Now, either they are playing a cruel mean joke on me and I won't hear anything, or I've got it. The second interview seemed almost like a formality; the first interview was really the "vetting process" and I managed to somehow impress the first set of women who interviewed me the first time.

The only thing that isn't so great about this job is the pay. It sucks. I mean, really. I don't think I'm unreasonable in my salary expectations: I have a Master's degree and 3 years of public health experience (1 1/2 of which was overseas). But this pays nothing....The one up-side to all this is, the review process through the university is frequent and the pay increase is "significant" (or so I was told by another employee). Still, the starting pay is about $10 K less than I envisioned. All jobs here pretty much pay poorly, and I'm getting a job in the recession, so I'm trying to be positive about it. A job, is ultimately a job, and I can always keep looking.