Coming off the “high” from my sisters engagement, I figured
it’s about to share the other big news in my life – I’M EMPLOYED! It’s hard to
call it NEWs since this has been my reality for the past 3 weeks, but it’s
certainly one of the biggest things that’s going on in my life right now. While talking to my Dad last night, he asked
me why I hadn’t written about my job yet and ironically I answered that since I’ve
had the job, I’ve barely had time to write about it! But here goes:
Never in a million years did I dream that within a month of
my moving to Israel that I would land full time (plus) work… I really consider
myself very lucky and in the big picture, I think this is what is good for
me. Back when I was working in NY, an
Israeli company had made contact with my organization, and I helped to
facilitate the meeting. I had a good
connection with the woman with whom I had been in touch and so I kept her
contact information in preparation of my Aliya. Long story short – I got here, I called her to
see if she might be able to help me network, she told me they were hiring, we
went out for coffee, she shared my resume with her bosses, I got an interview
and started work that Sunday. (Oh yeh, for
those of you who don’t know, the Israel work-week is Sunday through Thursday…
ADDITIONALLY I work alternating Fridays – shoot me, shoot me now!)
So where am I working?
The place is called Ulpan Or – Hebrew at the speed of light! It is a private Ulpan where we do intensive one
on one courses where people can start speaking Hebre within a week or 2 (free
advertising – I should get a bonus).
Clearly I’m not teaching Hebrew as I’m still brushing upon my own
skills, but one of the main perks of working there is that I’m surrounded in
this Hebrew environment (and they made a rule for my benefit – which I actually
find to be really helpful – that everyone has to speak to me only in Hebrew and
I have to speak Hebrew back – except for with one person, the one who I originally
made the connection with). I’m working
in the office taking care of a lot of the administrative stuff but I’m also
doing some sales and marketing. I’m
learning a TON, but it’s been a little bit hard. Aside from the fact that I’m learning a whole
new system in a new job, while I’m still new in in the country and thus far I’ve
been averaging about 50 hours a week, every program that I am using on the
computer is in Hebrew as well! I can
read and write in Hebrew, but I’m just so much slower than I am in
English! It’s all a bit challenging but I
think having all this hard stuff in the very beginning just means that I’m going
to progress much faster.
To talk about some of the GOOD stuff, I actually love the
people that I work with! They are really
fun and welcoming and awesome in their approach to be accommodating to my
learning Hebrew as well (they are Hebrew teachers after all). I also like the work environment (other than
the times when I’m feeling super pressured and working more hours than I should
be – yesterday I pulled a 12 hour shift – I don’t even want to get started on
that….) where we really feel like a family.
That’s a new experience for me.
And also the fact that you can wear jeans, T-shirts and flip flops to
work every day? Sweet! I don’t actually dress like that usually – I was
taught that you should dress for the job that you want, not the job that you
have – but it’s cool to know that I can!
I’m also really happy to just have a job.
I didn’t come to Israel to be a tourist – I came to start a
life, and part of life is working. Yes,
I have less free time, and yes I complain a lot, but this is what I came here
to do. I’m employed and I’m a
contributing member of the society, and I’m learning Hebrew and I have a
paycheck! Life is good.
No comments:
Post a Comment