i'm just overqualified, folks....

so I've been offered positions in both Busan, South Korea, and in "various locations" in Taiwan - both teaching kindergarten-elementary kids....and yes, I am thrilled, but dang - it was just way too easy to sink these jobs!....I basically sent my resume, picture, and cover letter all over (although i avoided Iran this time:)) and then I started getting massive amounts of badly-written, horrible english emails from everywhere ("Hi Jen! we like resume, i would love talk on phone soon. We like come Korea." - and I was like: geez, these people reeeeeally need my help....) So anyways, I had a phone "interview" on Sunday with a woman from Korea, and she was basically begging me to come -she kept saying that with my qualifications and experience I would be an excellent asset to the school - it's cuz I have a B.Ed, and most ESL teachers just have any old B.A. and a TESL certificate....but anyways, I felt like I could've demanded a limo to pick me up at the airport and free season's passes to the nearest ski resort and she would have agreed....anyhoo, that i did not do, but basically the job is mine for the taking, and it seemed like a decent one....I always swore that I would not go to Korea because I've heard horror stories about it - but most of the bad jobs are in crazy concrete-jungle Seoul teaching business men, and Busan is a smaller city right on the ocean farher south - I've been told its a lot "earthier" and "relaxed," and its a fishing port apparerently...so this all seems much more me....and the Taiwan one is through the other guy who offered me the UAE job before the school crapped out on them....

BUT, I'm holding out for the UAE...I feel it is where God is leading me....there is sooooo many reasons now why I want to go to the middle east, I really just want to be involved in Arab/Indian culture, and I want to travel in Egypt and Israel, and the church there is apparently wicked because there are so many young people from all over the world - like S. Africa and Britain and Austrailia - how cool is that??? ...so pray people, cuz I could be hearing wrong.

love you all,
Jen

p.s. the silly thing that allows for easy commenting stopped working, I'll set it back up soon...so just email me for now!

Jahan's offer and a brand new ibook

so all week this is what i've done....sat in my room, on my dad's LOUD, old, crappy '95 PC laptop and sent out resumes all over the world - taiwan, korea, poland, iran, UAE....and then i realized halfway through the week....hmmmm, maybe i should only send my resume to places that i really WANT to go to, instead of just everywhere...reason? oh, i got a phonecall from a guy in Ottawa who is conducting phone interviews for a sketchy job that i applied to in Tahran, Iran....yep, so i look it up on a Lonely Planet site, and it says, of the city, "Iran's capital is definately not the most beutiful place in the world, as the pollution, crowds, and traffic jams are much of the focus....but the museums are great." wonderful...i may be hot, sick, clausterphobic, and wait in traffic for 3 hours a day, but hey! at least i get to see some ancient iranian jars that nobody cares about. sweet! ....no, none the less, i'm not calling this guy back, and i think i'm going to stick to more appealing places to send out my resume.....my next door neighbour tim took the photo for it and he did quite the fixin up on it, so needless to say, when the people who hire me meet me for the first time, they're going to be like "who ARE you? how did your skin get so pourous and blemishy and your teeth so yellow?" ha...oh well, by then i'll have already signed my contract, suckers....

in other news, i have a new ibook! well, technically, my brother should have it by now....my dad bought an Mac ibook G3 for me for grad and he's getting it sent to my bro in the states and i'll get it in July...i'm sooooooo excited cuz then i'll actually be able to listen to music and upload pictures and see what being a MAc geek is all about....i've always wanted to know....

ah, one more thing....if you all think about it, pray for the Raponi's - David, especially....pray for peace, forgiveness, understanding, and the nearness of God. Pray for me, too - that I will be forgiving and peace-bearing and understanding. Pray that God will be near me.

thanks, y'all.

i'll say goodnight, not goodbye.

J.

the classy pick-up

k, funniest thing EVER - so after kind of a sketchy weekend, i had a great hilarious shift at the Lonestar tonight...
the best thing in the world is to have fun with your tables....so these four guys come in and order two pitchers of Keiths...and we're joking around and such about stuff, and then i ask them if they want more chips...they say no, because they're too warm, and its too hot outside...so they ask if i can make "ice chips" so i tell them i'll see what i can do....so THEN, i come back with half a bowl of chips with a mountain of ice cubes on top - ha! twas funny....but folks, the story doesn't end there....

so the guy tries to pay with a credit card, and afterwards, as i'm going to pick up the slip, i noticed that he left me his number on it, saying "call me"...but the hilarious thing is, he left me the wrong slip so i'm thinkin that i'll have to pay for this bill...so i run out to try to find him , and he's gone...so then, my great friend Sheriff says, "hey, why don't you call him, and let him know?" so i'm of course, all game....so i call him and leave a msg, to the effect of, "um hi, Peter? this is Seniorita from the Lonestar...um, yah, i just thought i'd let you know that its pretty smooth of you to try to pick me up and then leave me the wrong slip, so now i have to pay for your beer. way to go. hey, so if you don't mind coming down to the Lonestar and giving me my 38 bucks, that would be great. thanks!" ha....so it turns out, i didn't have to pay for the beer but i just lost the tip...still...sooooooo funny...

on another note, i have the best friends in the world. seriously, i'm loving my girls these days....the last month hasn't really been steller for me...and my truest friends have really showed their true colours....here's thanking God for Christy, Kathy, Sarah O., Emma, Anne, Esther, Jessie and Anna....you girls rock and i'm thrilled to know you...its nice to have friends that you know you can count on...and even when we all make mistakes, forgiveness is jumping at the door....and that's sweet to know.


and now for sleep.
i love Sheriff, btw. :)

J.

unlikeness

The lesson of my life thus far: God is more concerned that I am different than that I am popular. He doesn’t want me to blend in, to be like everyone else. I am to be odd. Separate. Independent. I am to respond differently to catastrophe. I am to look differently, to have a unique perspective. I am to think differently. I am to work differently. I am to ooze unlikeness. I am to turn the other cheek. I am to love those who wish me harm.I am to forgive and carry on. I am to respond with grace and humility, and if that means to receive a little injustice on this earth, so be it. God is in control and one day His justice will be complete. Great I Am, praise you.

Too bad to carry through with this is much less romantic than proclaiming my intentions….

Father...do it for me?

J.

its a start, but only that

i'm glad that the problem of the third-world debt is making international headlines these days....for those of you who know nothing about it, here is a great intro article found on cbc webpage:

www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/06/10/african-debt050610.html

click on the "in-depth" link - it provides a great overview for the problems and solutions surrounding the third world debt.

pray for our world leaders, that they would make wiser and more selfless decisions that would benefit our poor global neighbours.

may we all seek to think globally, act locally, and serve the poor in our own communities first.

J.

a closed door

so i didn't get the job in the UAE...i called the guy last week and he said that they received some devastating news from the school - apparently they are switching to a British curriculum and are now hiring only British ex-patriates to teach there. ah well, though, it wasn't meant to be. i'm always excited when there is an obvious block in my plans like this because i know that God has something better....what, though? don't know right now. i'm sending out my ESL resume to places in the UAE right now (Dubai, i think) and all over rural Taiwan. The guy who recommended me for hire said that he would for sure hire me for a Canadian language institute in Seoul, S. Korea, but I'm not sure I want to live there...when i was there last year for a bit on the way home from Nepal, i remember not liking the concrete-jungle-ness of it....i need trees, and water, and preferably, mountains and dirt roads....so anyways, we'll see. keep me in your prayers, pray for wisdom and clarity of mind to make a healthy decision that will grow me and that i will love...

love you all,

J.

thankyou tim forbes

so after a looooooong day at work, all i have to say is this:

life is way too short to abort friendships...we need all the ones we can get.

my next door neighbour tim gave me the best advice that i've heard in a long time: true friendships are not self-aware - they just are. you don't analyze them, you don't chase them - they just exist. if its this complicated early on, cut your losses, because its not going to get any easier.

so don't abort friendships but don't fret over the ones that abort you? i don't get it. i don't want to be aborted at all.

Cheers (from Lonestar) said last night, "people come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime."


whatever. am i too greedy if i want all three?

feels closer to bliss

wow...sooooooo much to tell i don't even know where to start! so say hello to your brand new granduand!! (no, i didn't spell that wrong, apparently Queen's is too pretentious to spell the word how the rest of the world does.) Yep, i graduated yesterday - well, okay - there is a funny story here - um, i didn't actually GET my diploma but i got a tube like everyone else but with a piece of paper in it that said something to the effect of "um, Jen, you suck. you forgot to pay your $36.75 in library fines, and because the University is so needing desparately that money you can't have this piece of paper which is the key to your future unless you pay it to us. haha."
yeah, such is my university career summed up.

i'm workin at the Lonestar which is going fab - i love it and it's so fun and the people make it so worth it....I'm outside all day in a cool cow-girl like outfit introducing myself in broken Mexi-spanish and doing singing human pyramids for people's birthdays - what more could one ask in a summer job?

no news yet on abu dhabi - pray people - cuz i really want this job! i'm still awaiting a second phone interview and the guy in TO keeps telling me it'll be "any day now" but it's not really up to him anymore - i have the feeling i'm competing with tons of people from all over canada so who knows....i'm chasing other leads in the same area though - because my heart is so set on going to that country - i've been reading Middle East travel guides and studying a bit on Islam and I really really really want to go there....

going to abi and chris' wedding tomorrow and camping overnight in the open field where they are getting married - jared spent tonight turning his cowboy shirt into a clerical collar - like a priest collar - dude - this hippie wedding is going to be so much fun...!!!

so yeah, life is good and i'm feeling great....much .....um.....different than the last post....eek...i'm loving kingston and next and my friends to death and am so glad i am here this summer....

k i'm out! must finish knitting abi and chris' wedding present (shhh...i'm knitting them his and her bikini/undergarments - bright red with blue stars - i cannot wait till they open it!)

p.s. abi is my next door neighbour who also was in my small group at Next and who was also my pottery instructor...she's a really great girl...

k now i'm really out!