Place of Internshipping No.2

Today was my first day at place of internshipping #2. I mostly did busy work: I made up and printed out name tags for Monday's evening event (meet and greet the new British ambassador), start a "phone list" of all of the companies that are members, and stuff envelopes with event receipts to send out to the members. Busy work, like I said, but they did say that I saved them an entire day's worth of work, so at least I'm being productive.

The office has windows, it's bright, there is absolutely NO funny smell, and the other two people in the office (yah, three of us, total) are nice and communicable. BIG change from the museum, where only two to three out of...10 or more people talked to me like normal sociable human beings. And as we all know I don't require much social attention, it speaks volumes when even I end up complaining about silence.

Today lasted from 9:30-5ish, with a wake-up time of...7:15 (blaarrrfh) I'm surprised I didn't pass out on the bus ride into the city center. There's also a Coffee Nation a few blocks down from the office, so I can't think of a much better locatio.

What surprised me today was that after only a few hours of being in the office, the Exec. Director came and asked me what my plans after internshipping were. I told her about the possibility with the English Learning center, etc., and she explained then, that one of the BCCL's members, a translation company, had gotten a copy of my CV and wanted to talk to me about a job possibility. I said that was funny, because I had sent them my CV a few months back and had gotten no reply. I was then informed that the Latvian CV sending system is weird, and apparently it's necessary for someone on the "inside" to send the document before it actually gets noticed.

Long story short (how many times have I used this phrase, only to end up lying to you?), the rep. from the translation company wants to talk to me at the event on Monday and hope that something could be worked out. Now I have to figure out where my loyalties are. The English learning center got back to me first and technically has offered me a job for 2008. On the other hand, they're a new company, not even a year old, and are asking me if I can take on classes to teach NOW, even though I've expressly stated that I have other obligations.

The translation company has been around since 1994, is well known, respected, and most importantly, if you haven't caught on, IS A TRANSLATION COMPANY. They also offer English lessons, but my guess is that that's not what I'd be good for to them. I posed this job-market ethics question to the BCCL Exec. Director, and she said, "Job market ethics whatever. I'd go with the company that's established itself and been around longer, and the one that pays more." Good advice, I guess. I haven't decided yet what to do. We'll see what the translation firm offers.

On a different note, tonight I saw a Latvian-made film about agriculture and farming. A sort of documentary, I guess. It was interesting, kind of funny, had lots of animals in it--like a very bossy duckling and a hedgehog who pigged out on milk left out for cats--but I didn't really get the main point. There was all this information about three or four separate families who are in the agriculture business, and then all of a sudden the narrator would talk about global warming, and then all of a sudden about the EU...so I think the film was SUPPOSED to be about how Latvia joining the EU affected Latvian farmers. I think. I couldn't watch most of the movie because the camera work was really shaky. Put me on a roller coaster and I could fall asleep, but show me a movie with bad camera handleage, and I get sick to my stomach.

On the way to the bus stop I was talking to my relative when a British guy suddenly joined her under her umbrella. Then another guy from the group decided he would join me under my umbrella; at least they asked us if it was okay, which I guess it was, and at his request I let him hold the umbrella because he was taller, but on the condition that he wouldn't steal it from me (which he promised he wouldn't do). This then turned into a 5 minute conversation on how my English was very good (which I then had to explain), where I was from in the U.S., then the assumption that I had heard of cheerleading (apparently he was a male cheerleader. from the UK. I don't get it.), how I didn't seem impressed (who would be?!), how I explained that cheerleading was, stereotypically, not respected in the U.S., and how he explained that in the south it was respected more than in the north, and why I was in Latvia in the first place. Then I got my umbrella back from him, taught him how to say, "Hi, my name is Rob" in Latvian (which he'll probably forget, they had been involved in alcoholic activities), then shook hands and said our farewells.

So today I started a new job, saw a movie that almost made me physically sick, and met a British cheerleader named Rob. Too much excitement for one Friday, I think...