All right. I’m about to sound like a jack ass. I can’t distinguish who’s calling me — their accents all sound the same!
I think this one was a new caller. I was especially happy for two reasons, the first one was because I was actually awake when Mal started ringing, and the second one was because I had the presence of mind to grab a pad of paper and a pen so I could write stuff down. I even caught the woman’s name this time: Joanna.
Joanna was a lot like Natalie the first time she called. Her first question had been if I was still planning on coming over in September and I told her honestly that I still hoped so. I didn’t add the part where I was thinking “it all depends on if you give me a job”.
She asked me questions about where I would like to be placed and what not. I told her London would be dandy, but I specifically mentioned Exeter. She seemed surprised by that location ‘cuz she said it was, well, not a small town, but not quite like their other placements. I was starting to wonder if Kate had lied to me about her hometown. She said it was great that I was willing to go around England and not just London. I mentioned to her that I was a bit apprehensive of London because of expenses.
“Well, it is a city. I don’t actually live in London myself, I live on the outskirts. So it is possible.” Some part of me wondered if she thought I was a moron. I know it’s a city. It just happens to be one of the most expensive cities in the world is all. Although, the more I think about it, maybe London would be a fine placement. As noted in a previous post, I seem to be more inclined to the urban lifestyle.
Joanna asked me about my credentials. She noted that Natalie sent information regarding both my English and Drama background, so I clarified that English had been my major and Theatre had been my minor. She wanted to know what ages I was experienced with; technically, according to the certificate I have 6 - 12, but my actual clinical experience was with 9 - 12. She said that sounded about the same as in the UK, so basically fourteen to seventeen year olds.
She went on to tell me about a possible position in Reading, just thirty minutes by train outside of London. She mentioned the name, which I didn’t catch except for the “Girls’ School” part. (Okay, minor detail number one.) She told me about the area; it’s close to Windsor and Berkshire, and she mentioned Oxford, and that the area is something of a college town, so basically it’s a nice and affordable place especially for the university-aged set.
About the school, she said that the girls are from all different backgrounds, so there would be students who come from fairly wealthy families, and students from something of a less-than-wealthy family. She mentioned that some of the students might be troublesome because of those factors.
“I placed two teachers from Canada there, and they’ve both signed on for another year. One of them, Amy, had said she was a little nervous about teaching there, but she really loves it now. I’m friends with her through facebook and she’s always uploading pictures of her trips, one of the most recent is from Greece. So it’s really quite affordable and a good place to work.”
Some part of me couldn’t help but laugh when she mentioned the facebook part.
The way she was talking up the place, I couldn’t help but think that it might be something I was interested in.
So here’s the part where things got a bit wonky. I had put Mal’s number on my resume, and well, Mal’s had some battery troubles since returning from Japan (I used to use him as an alarm clock). Joanna was in the middle of telling me about how the students would probably be more accepting of me because of my age and accent, when Mal decided he didn’t feel like working anymore and started to cut out.
In my panic, I lunged for the charger, cursing the fact that his battery is somewhat temperamental since his meter read full power when I initially answered the phone. Oh great. Isn’t this a lovely impression.
Lucky for me, Joanna called right back. We laughed about it, “I thought, ‘Oh no, she’s already fallen asleep.’” Whew! She was in a good humor about the mishap.
She asked me if I would be interested in the school. “I can send you some more information, I know it’s one thing to hear about the place and another to actually look at it.” I told her to go ahead. I played the e-mail confirmation game again and she said she would be in touch either “this afternoon or tomorrow”. I’m guessing at tomorrow because the UK afternoon was just about at its end when she called.
“Great talking with you!” she said cheerfully before hanging up.
John was already up and AVGing whilst I was on the phone, so I checked my “professional” account first. Nothing yet, but I wasn’t nervous about it since I just got off the phone with her. I went to wikipedia next to check out a bit about Reading.
After a few minutes of browsing the article, I went back to my e-mail and sure enough, I had a new message.
Ah…Reading Girls’ School. That’s what she said.
I spent about an hour or so browsing the school website as well as a few of the other links Joanna provided in the e-mail. Despite trying not to jinx things, I even went to an apartment finder website, too. (How the hell is $1000 affordable for a university student?!)
So far, the only downside to the whole gig is the all-girls part. I freely admit that some part of me envisioned a scene from Mean Girls, only multiplied by like a hundred billion.
But other than that…yeah. I liked what I heard and what I read.
Now let’s just see if I actually hear from her again, otherwise, it looks like I’ll have to buy a phone card.