Switching Gears

I just finished my first week of being back in the work force. Since returning from Korea and living off our hard-earned won savings, Jenn and I have been unemployed for a month and a half, but I am once again part of the legions of 9-5'ers who sit in cubicles and mingle around water coolers. A far cry from sitting in a McDonald's-themed classroom fending off dozens of Korean rugrats vying for my attention so that I can give them a smiley face on their latest writing assignment or calling out "G-24" as I play my umpteenth game of Bingo. I never thought I'd hear myself say that I miss playing Bingo, but I just went back and read some of our old blog entries from Korea and I really miss the whole experience. Glad we did it and glad to be home, but I would be thrilled to see some of those kids again. I think teaching has one of those love/hate relationships - You can have some completely frustrating days that take everything out of you emotionally and you will be all too happy to never see any of the brats again, but when they are not in your life anymore, there is a void. I miss them.

But I have my new work to focus on. And not only is it work, it's accounting work, and not only is it accounting work, but it's accounting work on the brink of tax season. So it will take a lot of focusing. The office I work in is very nice. It is an old house renovated as an office with exposed brick walls, ceiling skylights, nicely-painted walls (not sterile white), plenty of plants, and a huge fish tank. It's quite nice and I'm trying to convince myself that the work is as attractive as the office, but I'll save you the boring details of what I did in my first week, because it is only accounting afterall. Jenn has one more week of free time and then she too will be back to work and it will be much more exciting than mine. She may not get to work with children again just yet, but she is diving into a field that she is familiar with by making lattes, mochas, etc. for the coffee-lovers in the world.