Thursday, December 9, 2010

My Call to Prayer... Back in the U.S.

Its strange the things you miss when you’ve left your home, no matter how temporary that home was.
The first thing I missed about the U.A.E was the call to prayer. This might sound like an odd thing for a
white anglo-saxton not very protestant girl from North Carolina to miss about the Middle East. After
living there, the daily call began to sound less foreign. For me it became a solemn reminder that I should
to take a moment and think about where I was and what was important. Be it sunrise, midday, or
sunset, when I heard the call the world seemed to get quiet and I would feel calm and aware.
Not to get too “Eat, Pray, Love” with my audience, but finding a little balance in a hectic life can difficult.
The older I get I find I’m looking for more moments with balance and less moment fueled by adrenaline
and questionable decision making. Speaking of questionable decision making… Where to next?
I’ve been waiting ever so patiently for my job situation to pan out before I starting gabbing about my life
on the internet. One thing everyone should know before taking on any kind of temporary assignment
is that no one should assume transitioning of the project will go smooth. Since leaving the U.A.E. I
still have not received my shipment. (I hope the Emirati customs officials are enjoying my How I Met
Your Mother DVD collection.) Process time for interviewing and receiving an offer for a new position
hasn’t been ideal. I’ve been in a bit of a limbo state. I’ve interviewed for four positions, including an
interview in another state, and received 3 verbal offers for employment and only one in paper form. I
was told at one point I would have to take the only one I have documented, then told I would be able to
take the interview in another state, then told something else. My recommendation is that anyone in a
similar position to finalize you next project at least 2 month in advance and make sure your company is
required to keep you on salary until the next assignment is finalized. While I am confident that everyone
in my HR department is trying their best and that in the end all things will work themselves out, I’m
ready to get out of job purgatory. A little incent and a call to prayer would be helpful I think.
I’ve narrowed it down to 2 different job I have sincere interest in. All of the jobs are great opportunities
in their own right and all could not be more different in scope. I should note that I am extremely lucky
that several people are interested in paying my salary. I know a few people coming off assignment
who can’t find one option nevertheless four. I had to work my network pretty hard to find these
opportunities and had to put up a well documented fight that I was doing the work to find a job I was
interested in. Very ready for everything to be over with.

I was asked by one of my loyal fans ( i.e. a close relative) what I would write about after I get off this
assignment. This thought has been a bit a conundrum for me. Below is what I could come up with so
far…
1. Regular Blog of the day and life of a young woman early in their career. ( Zzzzz. I was bored in
the middle of the fragment sentence. I barely care about writing about the mundane details of
my day. Not quite sure why anyone would find that interesting. Pass.)

2. The trails and tribulations of the single life as I take a swing at dating (again) in Connecticut.
(Cliché. Overdone. And while I’m sure many of you would find this extremely humorous, there
ain’t no way on God’s green earth I’m sharing those details. Pass.)

3. A Food blog. (Really how many articles do you want to read about Pizza in New Haven. I’ll leave
it to the Food network. Pass.)

4. Video blog of my attempt of breaking into the Performance Art industry( Ok. Now I’m just being
silly.)

5. A compilation of Satirical Fictional Short Stories of Office Life, Adjusting to the real world, and
Escape travel. (Eh. Maybe.)

6. Suggestions? Please?

I guess you all are going to have to stay tuned if you want to find out where I’ll end up!

Up next: New Job (I hope) Christmas vacation. New Year’s Tradition - South Africa 2010. And
WorkTravelAdapt is getting a makeover.