A Job for Christmas

Awesome news: I have a job! Best Christmas present ever!

I have been hired for the next six months at Victoria University's child care. I will be teaching 2 1/2- to 4-year-olds (my favourite age group), as well as collaborating with university professors on research projects and supporting students studying ECE at the university. Those of you who remember my years working at Stone House at K-State will notice that this is a similar set-up. And you will quickly realize why I am so excited about this position! The combination of hands-on teaching children and participating in the more academic side of child development is perfect for me!

The position only lasts six months as it is filling in for a teacher who is taking some time off. I would, of course, love for it to be longer-term, but six months is a long time. I know that I will learn a great deal and feel good about my contributions to the centre during that time. You also never know what will happen in six months, so I will keep my options open. No matter what happens after six months, I know it will be a great experience and I will be a better teacher for it.

I start on the 18th of January, so I still have some time to relax and explore Wellington. I am consistently amazed at the difference between unemployment and being on holiday. I have been handling unemployment well, but have had some stress hanging over my head and have been extremely motivated to get this unoccupied period over with. However, now that I know that it will end on January 18th, I am excited to think of all the fun things I can do in the next three weeks! I am also eager to start my wonderful new job, but the time is suddenly a peaceful vacation, rather than a stressful problem to be solved. Magic, isn't it?

In other news, J and I will be going to Wanganui again this year for Christmas. We'll be spending it with Jonny and his family, as has become our wonderful tradition. We are then going to stay with Jan and then Kirsten and catch up with them and our other friends. We're going to go waterskiing on the 27th (J's first time, my third time) and then head home. We're going to relax just the two of us between Christmas and New Year's, which will be great.

I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas with people you love! Here are some beautiful Pohutukawa Trees (New Zealand Christmas trees), along with J's and my summery Christmas greetings!