Any day now

It’s been quite the month since my last blog. I had the assessment for the traineeship I applied for and did well on them (better than most even) yet didn’t get into the program. It was both a surprise and a disappointment, because their reasons for not accepting me into the program were more due to the current economic climate than based on what I had shown them in the interview and assessments. I knew they had doubts about my ‘placeability’ at organisations after my interview because of my more theoretical social sciences background and little practical experience. Yet when they let me through to the next round anyway, I figured they were willing to take that risk with me if I did well on the assessments. Obviously I figured wrong… After a year of getting rejections for basically the same reason over and over again - lack of work experience, that is - I am just so fed up with this whole job hunting thing and so very tired of feeling like I’m constantly not getting anywhere. Any day now, something's got to give.

And then last week happened, and I currently find myself with a job. Not one I ever thought I’d be doing or am likely to find particularly challenging, but a job all the same. It’s callcenter work for the city council where people ring in with all the questions they might possibly have for the local governing body - from how do I get a new passport to how do I go about getting a building permit to put an extension on my house. It’s not that exciting job-wise, but it’ll get me off welfare and finally on my own two feet. Plus it’s only 20-28 hours a week, which will give me plenty of opportunity to look for something else. Training starts in two weeks. Then again, I might not even start it at all, for I am also in the running for a temp job as a research assistant at the social science department of the Ministry of Defense. Obviously that is much more in line with what I’d like to be doing and has more of a challenge in it for me. So we’ll see what happens in the next two weeks and where I’ll be at the end of it.

Luckily there’s been plenty of other good things this month as well to counterbalance the disappointment of not getting the traineeship. Like the visit of my hostbrother Jack and his wife Vanessa to Holland. Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to see Jack, as he had a conference the two days they were here which pretty much consumed all of his time. But I did get to hang out with Ness for those two days, which was so nice :) Especially because it had been almost 5 years since we had seen each other in real life. We did Amsterdam one day and Utrecht the next. It’s always fun being a tourist in your own country and seeing it with someone who’s never been here before. They always see things you take for granted. We did a lot of walking in Amsterdam past all the sights, both with and without a guide. In Utrecht we did less walking but instead ventured onto the canals on a canalbike. Unfortunately we couldn’t climb the Dom tower in Utrecht because someone had just jumped off it. So for obvious reasons it was closed to the public for the rest of the day.

And then there were the random evenings with friends… Going out to an 80s & 90s party and dancing deep into the night to all the music from my teenage years again. Gosh, the 90s had some wonderfully awful music, didn’t it? Or having dinner and drinks with an old friend I’ve known for almost 21 years now. We don’t see each other as much anymore since we live in completely different cities or often different countries even, but when we do see each other it’s always good :) Or enjoying a night of stories and laughter and an unsightly French green corn Hawaii shirt. Or spending an evening at a café or simply at home relaxing with friends, watching a movie or playing card games while catching up. Those are the things that always make things better :)

Hope life is treating all of you well. Sending my love to all corners of the world.
xx