Applying, Volunteering, Vacationing

 

It’s been a busy year so far! I kicked it off in Manhattan and eventually made my back home via DC, visiting with a now-healthy Sarah, before taking Megabus back to Durham. Megabus was an interesting experience: all very positive up to a point, then just ridiculous and irritating. The good parts included a relatively cheap fare, free and functioning wi-fi and power outlets on the bus, and two seats to myself on the top level of a double-decker bus. Woo!

The irritating came in the form of a loud man in the seat behind me, who asked early on if he could use my netbook, which I was using, to surf the internet. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t generally give my netbook to strangers and I was particularly not comfortable with him using it. So I politely said no, that I was using it to finish up some work. Not strictly true, although I was working on a project. Throughout the entire bus ride he would mutter loudly if he saw me using Facebook or checking my e-mail, and he would lean over the top of my seat regularly to peer at what I was doing. Just before we arrived in Durham, he picked up my TracPhone, which, unknown to me, had slipped through the crack between the seats and fallen to the floor. It was only when I heard him talking on a phone after having complained loudly for the past hour and a half that his own phone was dead, that I realized my phone was missing. Sure enough, he was using mine. When I asked him if he had found my phone on the floor, he blustered and backpedaled, giving it back to me and “not wanting to steal” anything. Like I said, irritating.

And finally, the ridiculous: two thirds of the way through the bus ride, the driver suddenly pulled over onto the median – on the left side of the road – stopped the bus, got out and walked away. We passengers glanced at each other uneasily, and I thought maybe he had an emergency call of nature. Fifteen minutes later, however, he wasn’t back yet. People started to panic, call Megabus or, in the case of the loud man behind me, curse a lot. Finally the bus driver came back and refused to speak to anyone at first, saying that he just wanted to get back onto the road. Unfortunately, the median he had pulled into was muddy and the bus’s wheels spun and spun. Someone demanded to know what was going on and he explained how he had opened his window for some fresh air, accidentally pushing his phone and other personal stuff out of it a moment later. So he had pulled over to go find his stuff.

It gets better. After several attempts to get the bus moving with no success, he asked all the gentlemen on the bus (his words) to please get out and push. I’m completely serious. One woman who tried to leave the bus was told to get back on. As you may have guessed, getting a dozen men to push the bus did nothing whatsoever to get it back on the road.

Anyway, we arrived in Durham over two hours later than scheduled. I wasn’t nearly as grumpy as I could have been, for some reason. Maybe it was just too ridiculous!

So, yeah, Megabus.

Since my return I have been diligently applying away at things: I am waiting for NOAA to get back to me with an offer; after doing some paperwork and fingerprints, I’m now waiting for the Peace Corps to call and schedule an interview. No word from any of the private contractors. Meanwhile, I’ve volunteered and now trained to work with the Durham Literacy Center and this coming Tuesday I shall begin co-teaching my first adult ESOL class! It should be really interesting. It’s a beginner level class and I’ll be teaching with a recent college-grad named Madeline on Tuesday nights. The same class also meets on Thursdays but another pair of volunteer teachers will take that night. The class goes for a semester.

Meanwhile, I’m studying for several tests. First, the PRAXIS tests, which are for becoming certified as a teacher. I’m taking the ones required for DODEA, the Department of Defense schools for dependents of folks serving overseas. That’s four tests. And lastly, since North Carolina requires it, I’m studying for a driving test so that I can get a North Carolina driver’s license.

Next Saturday I’ll be heading down to Miami along with many others of the family to attend a luncheon honoring my grandmother for her past, present and no doubt future active role in community activities,particularly at Temple Beth Or. Also, she’s turning 93 which is no small thing! If you’re interested, here is an article about her from a Florida paper!

So, I’m keeping pretty busy!

--Z