I thought I would share a short update on what is going on these days with me. I am currently living in Edmonton at Uncle Doug and Auntie Judy's place. I am unemployed for the time being, with no job interviews yet, or really any sign of employment. Two weeks ago I applied to 6 portering jobs with Alberta Health Services, with no response to any of them.
Today I applied to another 2 portering jobs, 3 warehouse vacancies, 2 medical receptionist postings, and a hospital security guard position. I'll apply to more places if I can find them tomorrow, and the day after, and again, and again. I'll also continue lowering my expectations for compensation until, unless I'm provided with employment sooner, I may end up working at McDonald's. I think those AHS applications are the first job applications that I've made where I haven't received at least a response, if not a job offer. It feels to me a little like there may be difficulty getting in with Alberta Health Services even when I do have my EMT training...although I suppose the difference between EMR and EMT is rather large, and by that point I would be applying to a job that I am specifically trained for. While looking ahead to EMT training, I'm also beginning to take a look at what it would take to get certified as a firefighter and class 3 driver. I can really see my future being in firefighting as well as emergency medicine.
I've spent the last two Sundays at Southside Nazarene, playing piano for worship this week past. I don't know where I'm going next week, but I would like to visit a few other churches so that I can make an informed choice before settling down for the time being.
I've also been able to get involved with an IVCF small group, which has so far been a huge blessing. Two weeks in, I still haven't seen a number of the members of the group, but maybe this Tuesday will work out better for everyone... I met a number of the people in this group through camp at Pioneer this summer, and so it has been refreshing to be able to start with them from somewhere, rather than being all new relationships. I'm hopeful that once I get better settled in that I will be able to build friendships outside of the group. Actually, I've started towards that already...last weekend I had plans for both Friday and Saturday evenings, but they ended up both getting kiboshed.
I have also been able to play a little drop-in soccer at the Commonwealth Fieldhouse every week, which has done much to fill my soul. It was really a lot of fun last week, as everybody was there playing for fun, not taking it too seriously. At the same time though, everyone was competing. There were few goals scored, mostly because we were trying to pass it around so much that we kinda ignored the whole scoring thing. I was by far the least skilled player there...the only other white guy was from Brazil, and everyone else was Middle Eastern, African, or Fijian. Pretty cool that all of us could be brought together by a love of playing soccer.
I have been able to continue reading and studying a fair amount since coming to Edmonton two weeks ago. I have finally begun working on learning the ancient Hebrew language. It took me a week to learn the alphabet, but now I'm off to learning the vowels. Quite a bit harder than Greek, at least to start. The alphabet is way different than English, and I don't have a teacher or classmates to help push me. I've also finished off my reading of Mark Buchanan's Your God Is Too Safe and Peter Scazzero's Emotionally Healthy Spirituality (both of which were very challenging and practical reads), with more books begun and others still waiting to be opened.
So the days to come will be filled with more job searching until I find a job, and once that occurs I will at long last be able to set up a schedule and routine. Right now it's hard to stay focused and believe that I am doing any good at all while unemployed. I'm also finding myself falling head over heels in my pursuit of the career that I want (ha! and you thought I was going to say something about a girl!). Getting ahead of myself, and worrying about things that aren't an issue at this point along the way at all. Or even worrying about the timing of training and such, when there are no timelines except for what I make in my mind. As a friend reminded me last week, it's so much harder to "be" than to "do". I'm not doing much these days, so all I want to do is plan what I will do in the future. Maybe it's time to just be...
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