new job, new routine

As many of you know, I got the job I was interviewed for! It has been almost two weeks now (they called me on a Monday evening to offer me the job, and asked if I could start Tuesday at noon!), and I'm really enjoying it so far. There is still a lot to learn, but most days I'm up for the challenge :)

I've been taking the train to and from Newcastle each day, which means getting up a good 3 hours earlier than I had been (and thus going to bed much earlier each night), but is well worth it, given that we don't have to buy a car and pay for it, insurance, and registration ('rego' here), as well as gas (petrol here) and parking. That, and I can't get an Aussie license until I've been here 6 months, so I'm sure that would complicate things. But the nice thing about the train is that it takes about the same amount of time to get to Newcastle as driving would, plus I don't have to deal with driving. I've been able to do a lot of reading, which caps each end of the day off nicely. There's a short walk to and from the office, and Jesse's been dropping me off at our train station in the mornings and often picks me up at the end of the day. So I'm getting limited exercise out of the deal :)

Jesse's been helping out by doing more of the grocery shopping (or should I say, all of the grocery shopping) and we've been making dinner together, which is fun. Evening activities are quite a bit more tiring for me now, but we're continuing to monitor our schedules and make sure we still have time for 'us'.

As a brief update on my grandmother's story, things are still progressing in amazing ways in that situation. It would seem that there is redemption at every turn, and I'm watching the story unfold in anticipation to see the new ways God will use it for good.

As I settle into my new routine, I'll try to post more, but be aware that it may not happen - due to both time constraints and personal convictions about posting too much about work online. We'll see!

forgiveness

Saturday, we received word that my grandmother had been assaulted for her purse in her own driveway, in a relatively tame area within the suburbs of Syracuse.  She was taken to the hospital, held for observation overnight, and then released after satisfactory test results.  My mom was able to travel there, and all her siblings were around too, so it was good for them all to be together.  She's now home, in good spirits, and getting around ok.

They actually caught the guy who attacked her, and even recovered some of the money he'd stolen.  One of the investigators apparently called my aunt, and told her that he had said to the guy [my paraphrase, as I don't know the exact words], "that woman you assaulted, she's still in the hospital, but she wants you to know she forgives you."  Apparently, the man just broke down and cried.  Powerful.

When Jesse and I had first heard what had happened, he suggested we pray.  I was so angry, I couldn't close my eyes (an odd defiance, to be sure, but the truth).  He prayed for her health, and that something redemptive might come of the situation.  I was still quite upset.  Yes, taking food because your family's hungry is one thing, but hurting a woman for her money - that's another.  At least, in my mind it was.  By the second time we prayed together for the situation, I was able to fully participate; to truly ask for redemption to come out of the messed up event that had occurred.

As I've thought about this, I think about Jesus' words in Matthew 5.21-48, where Jesus challenges his listeners' view of the law.  Over and over, he says, "You have heard this action is wrong - but I'm saying it's your HEART that's in the wrong place"  (clearly, my paraphrase).  Where was my heart? Crying for justice, for vengeance, if I'm honest.  It was only when confronted with Grandma's forgiveness that I could begin to see the broken situation for what it was: depravity, desperation the likes of which I hadn't personally experienced.  Does it excuse this man's behavior?  Of course not.  But it goes a long way to bring my heart to where it needs to be - saddened that this happened at all.  Committed to orient myself toward God, to leaving vengeance in God's hands.  Cognizant of the ways I allow my heart to be in the wrong place, while doing "right" things.

That man you put on a cross, he wants you to know he forgives you.

de-layed

(This subject is dedicated to one of my favorite movies, The Terminal.  I won't get into why I love it so much just now.)

This update is somewhat delayed.  We attended the annual Pastors' retreat for the district, and it was a wonderful time of learning, meeting, discussing, praying, and staying up way too late with our friends (who do we think we are, college students?).  There were many good things about the conference, and we left not only feeling recharged, but also with some good ideas for how to allow our congregations to "catch the fire" (this is a reference to an obscure joke/prank I once heard about between two religion profs at HC; if you are unfamiliar with it, I will enlighten you.) and continue building up the church, through church planting and other means.  Following the conference, we spent the remaining day with friends at Koorong and hanging out at their place, then headed to Newtown for dinner with a friend from the conference we attended earlier in January and his family.  It was great to meet them, enjoy some delicious food, and relish conversation with friends.

During our time at the retreat, Jesse and I brought our mobile internet (we may only have 2G/month, but it uses the mobile phone network, so we can bring it with us places).  It was a good thing too; I had forgotten my phone charger, and received an email that one of the companies I'd  applied for would like me to come in for an interview.  Between limited cell reception and time constraints on both ends, we finally connected and I set up to go in for an interview on Thursday (yesterday).  I thought it went very well.  We will find out if they thought so too.

On the home front, we are in need of groceries (having been away through late Wednesday night) and some cleaning.  Right before we left, temperatures were so high, that we dragged the futon mattress into the living room (where the a/c is) and camped out for a couple nights.  Now, temps have been in the low 20's, with some rain, and we are enjoying the cool break (and a chance to sleep on our real, comfortable mattress).

That's about all there is with us for now.  We're relaxing until youth group tonight, with cricket on tv this afternoon.  If I'm feeling motivated (and take advantage of the cool weather), I may even tackle some of that cleaning; for now, there are au gratin potatoes in the oven (we DID have some potatoes) and I'm catching up on email.

minutiae

Aqua class yesterday was exhausting, but good.

I received a stuffed loon from my father-in-law for Christmas.  Visitors like to squeeze it so it makes its loon call, which is actually quite accurate.  Some of the visitors don't seem to believe that loons actually sound like that.  Jesse is not usually amused by the loon call.  I like it, because it reminds me of the Adirondacks.  Cool mountain air and friends at Star Lake - great times.

I like the word "minutiae" because of all the vowels at the end.  In third grade, I would try spelling my name different ways, just to see the vowels interact on the end: Jessey, Jessiey, Jessiy, etc.  My teacher made me stop, unless I wanted to be called "Jessie."

A friend emailed me today asking some questions about our wedding (planning, etc.); I wrote her back a novel and attached two substantial excel spreadsheets.  Yikes.

Our house is staying cooler, as we're turning on the ac before it gets too hot.

This post brought to you by all the "25 things" notes I've been reading on facebook. :)

a time to socialize

Since my last, semi-defeated job hunt post, I've found a couple more opportunities, which I've applied for.  We'll see what comes of those.  In weather news, it was hot today, but not crazy hot, and I was able to get two loads of laundry done.  Scintillating stuff, I know.

Friday afternoon, Jesse took me out to lunch and to see Bride Wars.  He's well aware that a movie is, in some ways, a "quick trip home," even if I never lived in NYC.  For a chick flick, it had some good character development, and wasn't completely predictable.  It provided the entertainment I desired, and it was nice to have a surprise date.  In the evening, we had the first youth group of the year, which went quite well.  Saturday, after a day of tidying up the house and relaxing, we went bowling with the young adults, plus some of their friends.  I didn't do too badly; but anyone who's ever seen me bowl knows that I didn't break any records either :)

Sunday night, we headed to Sydney and had a great time hanging out, talking, watching cricket and tennis with our gracious hosts.  Monday morning, we had a Super Bowl party with friends of a friend, which was cool - the Aussie commentators were quite interesting, as was watching our poor host (a Cardinals fan) suffer through the game.  We had pizza and snacks, but not nearly to the magnitude of Super Bowl parties past.  It's hard to eat that much when the game starts just after 10am!  After the game, we drove back home, then to a family's house for dinner and a lot of laughter. 

It's been nice to spend so many days in the company of other people.  On the way to dinner last night, I saw my first wild kangaroos; I'd seen several at the Melbourne Zoo, but never any in the wild.  That was an exciting milestone.

This evening, I'm taking a break at home.  Jesse's playing soccer, and I'm looking forward to a quiet evening of tv, laundry, and possibly some scrapbooking.  I realize that I'm typically home, and you'd think I would jump at the chance to get out of the house.  While that may be true, it's in the cool of the evening that I can actually feel motivated to  get things done - fun or otherwise - so it's nice to have the option now and then. 

A job-hunting we will go

In my typical (pretty much everyday) online job search today, I came across a position that looked somewhat promising.  An international company looking for an accountant to be 2nd-in-command to the controller, and serve as the "technical expert."  It was advertised by a recruiting agency, and the description of the company and position were vague enough that I thought I'd call for further information.  The man on the other end was very nice, and actually told me the most helpful thing anyone has so far - there is an overabundance of commercial accountants in the area.  So, it would appear that the competition for the auditor who is looking to switch to industry would be from those who made the choice to work in industry from the start.

For those unfamiliar with the politics of the accounting world, the position of an auditor is the fastest track to a CPA, at least in the States.  It's high stakes, long hours, challenging, intense work, but you learn things every day.  It's client service, with high intellectual requirements; both sides of the brain are required.  The hope for many people going into auditing is that either they will love it and move quickly up the ranks, or learn from it and then switch to a less time-intensive job further down the road.

Frustrating, then, that in this case experience as an auditor is somewhat detrimental to my marketability.  But at least I know one of the reasons I haven't had much luck in the job market here.  Yes, there is demand for accountants, but there are plenty of people willing to take the nice analyst jobs and not so many to take the auditor jobs.  Employers look for people with experience in the specific roles for which they're hiring - and I can't necessarily blame them for that.  Combine that with the fact that I'm not from around here, and that makes me a complicated hire, to say the least.  

I can only hope that someone will give me a chance.  In the meantime, I keep hunting...

Heat, Celebrations, and Antics

This weekend was quite full.  Friday, Jesse and I left in the morning for Sydney, where we met up with friends to attend a one-day cricket match.  Once we arrived at "the cricket" (as it is referred to here), we were in the sun pretty much from 2pm until it went down, gloriously, around 8pm.  I have never been so hot in my life!  But Jesse had a great time, and I enjoyed watching it, during those brief moments when the sun went behind a cloud, or during the cool of the evening once the sun had set.  There was what appeared to be 2 families sitting in the row in front of us, with about 5 boys and 1 girl in total, ranging in age from about 4 to about 9, all dressed in Aussie jerseys and hats, waving flags and shouting things like "shot!" and "that was well fielded!" There is something incredibly charming about little children with an Aussie accent, particularly when it involves a phrase like "well fielded."  We had a lovely 20-30 minute walk in the cool evening back to Sydney Central to catch a bus back to our friends' house.  Great day.

Saturday, we got up quite early (for us) to head back to Maitland.  An elderly woman in the congregation had passed away this week, and Jesse was presiding over the funeral.  We arrived at our house in time to meet with her cousin, go over some last-minute service adjustments, scrub the temporary tattoos ("Go Aussie Go" and "Australia") off of our faces, and head to church.  The funeral was a great tribute to her life, and many folks hung around for the morning tea afterward to discuss remembrances and enjoy each other's company.  

It's interesting to contemplate grief, and how we honor the memory of our loved ones.  I may have blogged about this story in the past, but it comes to mind again.  I remember when we were putting together the services for my great-aunt Lois a couple of years ago, which included a handbell choir piece to honor her love of the handbells.  I was standing next to my sister as we practiced before the service, and it must have been particularly warm, or I was particularly nervous, or something.  At any rate, I rang one bell with unusual gusto, and it slipped from my hand.  I panicked, reached out, and caught the bell just in time to ring it again (and, honestly, to prevent damage to the bell and its surroundings).  My sister and I dissolved into laughter.  My grandmother commented that it was just such a moment that Aunt Lois would have enjoyed.  In that crazy moment, we honored her memory.

Saturday was one of the hottest days yet.  A couple from the church who have a pool took pity on us and invited us over for a swim.  It was glorious.  We had lovely conversation, watched a bit of the Melbourne Cup, had tea (dinner) together, and then Jesse and I headed home.

Sunday, Jesse began his sermon series on Leviticus, for which he'd given the congregation a reading assignment last week.  It seemed to go well, and it was nice to have the rest of the day to relax.  While job-hunting online, I found a couple of positions that seemed like they may be a good fit, and applied for them.  I'm optimistic; we'll see what happens, however.

Today, Australia Day, we had a church outing to a nearby lake for a day of cricket, boating, cricket, barbecue, and of course, more cricket.  We had a great turnout amongst the church families, and played a few rounds (innings) of cricket with a group of guys enjoying the lake as well.  Jesse and I have the sunburns to prove that we were thwarted by the overcast sky for much of the day (I didn't put sunscreen on until about 3:15), but we felt like we had celebrated Australia Day properly.