Re-posted from October 11, 2010
wow! a lot has happened in the past month! we had a HUGE garage sale that took days to set up and we made some pretty good money at it!
i also started my event and wedding planner certification course at uta's continuing education building. it's only on monday nights so we've only met twice so far. i've been surprised how much i've learned already. it's not only about learning how to plan events but how to start your own business, getting vendors, dealing with clients, the whole nine yards! and there have been tons of assignments! i can barely keep up but i'm glad to be busy :o)
i've really delved into looking for a job lately. i applied to several event planners and professional organizers as an assistant as well as the library and central market. i'm still waiting to hear back from most of them but i do have one lead on an organizer assistant position.
i just hope i get some kind of job soon because i don't wanna spend all our savings!
jens has been SUPER busy with fire academy! it's taken a while for him (and me for that matter) to adjust to the drastic change in lifestyle but he's doing really well! he's been making great grades on the tests and he was appointed lieutenant of his shift (or group)! so that's exciting! he'll do emt in jan./feb. and then he'll start his paramedic training which may last til nov. of next year. it's a long process to become qualified but it'll be worth it in the end. he may do some substitute teaching during emt training and then ambulance work after that.
as for our social life it's been pretty good but it's been really hard adjusting to the different social scene here. in korea we had one big group of friends. everyone knew everyone and we all had the same job and most of us had the same schedule. so it was super easy to get everyone together not only on weekends but on week nights! for the majority of us our jobs were fairly easy so we weren't too tired to go to dinner on a week night or go camping all weekend. stuff like that.
whereas back home we have various friends who don't all know each other, they all have different jobs and different schedules some of which are super tiring and stressful so it's hard to get people together. i might be able to make plans with one person every two months! granted there are friends of ours that are more available and we see more often and that's great. i just wish i could get more people together, more often. i wish i could call someone up on a wed. night and go to a bar for a drink.
but that's another difference here- things are super spread out! the people AND the business we wanna go to. plus there's no public transit! so it's this huge ordeal to get people to meet at a place (some having to come from far away) and then be able to drink whilst worrying about being sober enough to drive home! korea was so much more conducive to relaxed, fun nights out! everyone lived within 15-20 minutes of each other, they could take a cab all the way across town for about $5-6, there were tons of bars, restaurants, karaoke places, etc. all near each other, there were pedestrian areas to walk around and at the end of the night you could just take a cab home with no problem!
i really, really miss that! that's probably what i miss the most in fact! i wish i could wave a wand and turn DFW into a more compact city with great public transit! lol that would make all the difference in the world! because the longer i'm here the more i realize that there ARE fun things to do in the metroplex, they're all just really spread out. we love the museums, performance halls, theaters, the few bars, etc. there have been arts festivals, beerfests, latino cultural festivals, free concerts, eco-fests, etc. it's just that they're in all different cities and the way the area is set up it's actually kind of difficult to find out about them. you don't have people out and about on foot, mingling, looking at flyers and such. the only way i find out about anything these days is facebook and the internet in general. it's so impersonal :o/ i'm happy that there's stuff going on at all. i'm happy that i can find out about it at all. it's just that i miss that sense of community and closeness and ease of having fun.
jens and i are still thinking about eventually moving to portland or the surrounding area but i don't think it'll be for a while. jens won't even be fully qualified for a firefighter position until the end of next year and then he may need to work for another year to get experience before applying in the n.w. which is fine. i'm happy to stay here and get our careers established before we start to move again. i just need to adjust to the car culture here.
happy halloween if i don't write again before then!
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