Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Quelques jours ailleurs

J'avais promis à ma fille que je retournerai m'occuper de ses enfants, lorsqu'elle irait en voyage au mois de septembre dernier. Lorsque je lui avais fait cette promesse, nous n'avions aucune intention de déménager à tant de kilomètres de distance. Cependant, tel que prévu, je me suis rendue chez elle aux dates indiquées l'an dernier. Cela faisait un mois que je n'avais pas vu les enfants,qui m'ont paru avoir changé et grandi en ce court laps de temps. Nous avons passé une semaine mouvementée,nous lever tôt le matin pour aller à la garderie, et bien sûr amener Chiqita avec nous...



Pour remplir mes journées, j'avais apporter mes tissus et mes patrons avec moi, et je me suis confectionnés quelques vêtements. Car de retour ici, je suis encore à la recherche de boulot et je me vois mal aller aux entretiens en portant des jeans, si propres soient-ils. Je me suis donc fait un pantalon, une jupe, 2 blouses et 2 hauts -genre T-shirts mais "propre". J'ai encore quelques items que je veux me faire, car à mon retour j'ai eu l'heureuse surprise de voir qu'Ousmane a acheté une table de salle à manger, donc je peux m'installer pour coudre ici aussi. Il a d'ailleurs complètement aménagé l'appartement et c'est très joli. Nous devons quand même finir de ranger les bacs, mais au moins pour le moment, ils sont cachés dans une des chambres.

J'ai eu le bonheur de revoir deux de mes bonnes amies pendant ce court séjour. Visites-éclair, mais au moins nous avons pu passer quelque temps ensemble et nous rattraper un peu dans les nouvelles. Peut-être auront-elles un jour la possibilité de venir ici à leur tour et nous pourrons les recevoir chez nous. Je l'espère bien! J'ai aussi pu découvrir 2 restos végétariens, aux menus délicieux, un offrant des mets chinois et l'autre des burgers. Je me suis régalée.

Je ne parlerai pas des mes mésaventures à l'aéroport avant de quitter ici. On m'a même fait passer dans la machine rayon x, le scanner, contre mon gré, mais... refuser est mauvais signe: on vous soupçonnera de tous les torts. Je n'étais pas de bonne humeur, mais je suppose que c'était (à peine) plus acceptable que de me faire palper... Au moins au retour, pas de problèmes suaf qu'on me dit que mon tube de lotion pour peau sèche est trop gros! Lorsque j'ai voulu en mettre un peu avant qu'ils me le confisque, ils ont refusé. Bandes de!!@#$! Heureusement que je ne l'avais pas payé cher, mais c'est énervant quand même. Un tube de lotion pour les mains. Rien du tout.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

First interview

was a 10:30 this morning. I arrived at 10 after 10, afraid of being late, so walked around the mall for a bit. At 10:24 I went to the office and waited to meet my HR person. All went well, and we had a good conversation/discussion.

She explained about the hours, those hours I do not really want. Hey no one wants to work until 1:30 am, and really, do people actually enjoy getting up at five am to go to work??? Not me that's for sure. So we both talked abot it, and I think I had already made up my mind yesterday, but I thanked her for her time and decided that this job might not be a perfect fit. She did seem genuinely disappointed, and in a way, so was I, but I'm holding off my my dream job.

Speaking of which, I go to that interview tomorrow. It is supposed to last over 2 hours. Reminds me of my first interview with CVG... And I did quite well with that one. So keeping my fingers crossed, and reading up on the position and the company. It's still a call center, but the hours are a lot better.

And yet another interview on Friday, by phone this time. This is where our friend Abdouba works and if I don't find anything else, would be an acceptable choice, although once again, the hours are pretty crazy. Why are call centres opened so darned late all the time???

So things are going well, and fast. One of them is bound to be the good one.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Jobs, jobs, jobs

It's not like I really want to work. It's more like I have to.

So I have been poring over job sites on the internet, sending resumes, wondering if I should apply here where I don't really want to work, or wait till something really interesting catches my eye. Hummm I may end up waiting a really long time.

I do have an interview tomorrow. It would be interesting, except the hours are brutal. Who wants to work every weekend, and sometimes until 1:30 am? I want to be able to spend some quality time with Ous, more than once a mnth. However going to a job interview is good, it allows me to hone my job interviewee skills. And who knows, maybe I am misinformed about the schedules. The good thing is that most of the jobs I am interested in don't start until October. Which gives me time to get my brain organized.

I did sent one resume to a potential employer that I find very interesting. Hours are good, schedule is acceptable, and pay is more than reasonable. I hope they contact me in the next couple of days. They did send me an email with a questionnaire to fill out, and hopefully they will be impressed enough with my answers to want to meet me. It's not to far away, accessible by bus and somewhat related to what I used to do in Winnipeg. We'll see.

Let the dust settle

The first couple of weeks we took care of paperwork: car and house insurance, new drivers licences, new health cards, changing all our addresses, getting the phone, internet and tv hooked up.

Unpacking... We still have a lot of plastic rubbermaid crates in the living room, as we have no storage area. Trying to unpack means also trying to find where to put all the stuff. C'est décourageant.On prend notre temps. I'd rather be outside.

It's been very hot in August. A nice change from Winnipeg, where it seems our last 3 summers were rain and cold. We found a lake close-by and went a few times. It felt so good to roll up my pant-legs, take off my shoes and walk in the almost warm water. Even went swimming one day last week, when it was sooo hot and school had started so the place was deserted. We thought we would bring a picnic, but as were are still in the middle of Ramadan, unless we have that picnic at night... it ain't gonna happen this summer.

Ousmane has discovered garage/yard sales. So now, as we drive around, he is forever on the prowl for"Deals". He is a pretty good negociator, and has managed to find us great "Deals" for our new place. We still need a few items, but as there is no room right now, I am boycotting any type of outdoor sales as we see them.

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We decided last Wednesday to drive out to Montreal. The plan was to see BenGen, Dima and dear old Matante Hélène. The plan did not take into account traveling time within the big city, and the fact that we wanted to be back home before sunset. So unfortunately, we did not get to see my sister. :(

Ben was busy in his studio, but Gen sweetly guided us to the bagel place, or should I say THE bagel place, where we bought 3 dozen to take back home with us. Their sweet smell in the car on the way back was mildly distracting, and we were quite happy not to have to wait too long when we got home before sitting down with our coffee and yummy fresh sweet sesame bagel, still warm might I add.

Matante Hélène was thrilled to see us. When I called her the night before, she sounded ecstatic to find out she would have visitors the next day: I'll wait for you by the front door at one o'clock. I gently told her that I would call her around 1PM, not knowing quite how our schedule would work out. We were there at 3:20. A smiling aunt sitting in her chair by the window, greeted us very cheerfully. Lots of hugging and kissing. Gee, I hadn't seen her in maybe 10 or maybe 15 years... Along time.

She immediately adopted Ousmane, and rumor has it she thinks he's the best thing since sliced bread. At least that's what she implied, when speaking with her younger sister, my mother, for an hour on the phone the next day. Mother called me to relay the story. Cute.